Disclaimer: I do not own Detective Conan/Case Closed.

A Case of Wishes

[Nature of Love series]

Part 3

"The Ruitori family?" Even over the phone, Shinichi could hear Sonoko's raised eyebrows. "Why do you need to know about them? Don't tell me one of them's been murdered."

"What? No, that's not it at all," Shinichi said, rolling his eyes. "Not everything I investigate is a murder."

"Ah hah! So you are investigating," Sonoko said triumphantly. "And you can't possibly deny that, like, ninety nine percent of the things you look into end up involving dead people sooner or later."

The unfortunate truth of her observation was not something Shinichi could refute, but nor was it, for the moment anyway, relevant to their situation (and he hoped it stayed that way). So he decided to simply ignore the comment and get back to the point.

"Can you tell me about the family or not?"

Sonoko sniffed. "I'll only answer your questions if you get me two tickets to Kuroba-kun's next show."

"You need my help getting tickets?"

"They're already sold out," the girl replied, sounding aggrieved. "I was in an exam when they went on sale, and they were all gone by the time I got out!"

"Okay, fine. I'll talk to Kaito about it."

"Awesome. So what did you want to know?"

"Well, do you know Ruitori Taichi?"

"Of course. You met him too."

Shinichi blinked. "What?"

"He was at that mixer we went to right before the start of freshman year. The one at the beach house. I even introduced you to him while we were there. Don't tell me you forgot."

"Oh, that…was a while ago," Shinichi said a bit lamely. As a matter of fact, he really had forgotten that mixer for single alphas and omegas that Sonoko had dragged him to. In truth, he had blocked the entire beachside mixer out of his memory and had no desire to unblock it now. The only part of the entire fiasco that he remembered was the double homicide that had put an end to it.

Sonoko made a disgusted noise. "You even talked to him for, like, ten whole minutes before those bodies turned up. Jeez, it's no wonder you stayed single for so long. Hell, it's a bigger wonder that you're not still single. Kuroba-kun must really be persistent."

She had no idea, Shinichi thought, but he was not on the phone to discuss his love life with Sonoko (his love life was, in fact, something he never wanted to discuss with Sonoko if he had anything to say about it. But unfortunately it was one of Sonoko's favorite topics). Best get back on topic before she got too carried away to listen.

"Have you heard that Ruitori-san is getting married?"

"Oh, right, that. Yeah, I did. I already got my invite to the post honeymoon announcement celebration that they're actually inviting people to and everything," Sonoko said offhandedly. "Apparently the actual ceremony is family only. I have to say I was pretty surprised though. I thought he wasn't planning on getting married for another few years at the least. Guess his parents finally got to him."

If it had been physically possible, Shinichi's ears would have perked up. "What do you mean?"

"You know his family's rich. They've got a lot of fingers in a lot of pies, and their business is doing well, but they've been worried about the next generation. Taichi isn't just his parents' only child. He's the only kid in our generation for his entire family. His aunt's had no luck having children at all, and his own parents haven't been able to have a second child. His uncle had a daughter, but she passed away from an illness when she was still really little, and he was in an accident after that and can't have any more kids. With only one heir, they already have loads of competitors and business partners angling to take over their business. So Taichi's been under a lot of pressure to settle down, take an active position in the family business and start having kids."

"Sounds rough."

Sonoko snorted. "No kidding. I feel bad for him. I'd hate to be in his shoes. But if he's marrying Minako, that might just make it all worth it for him."

"Do you know her?"

"Yeah. She and Taichi go way back. I'm pretty sure he loves her—or at least that he did for a while. I don't know why they never got together, considering both their families were all for it. He told me he wasn't even planning to tell her how he felt because he was sure she didn't feel the same, but this means he was wrong, right? So he'll be getting something good out of this being forced to marry early thing."

And the pieces are coming together, Shinichi thought.

"I guess you know Taichi-san pretty well?"

"We're not close or anything, but his family attends a lot of our functions, so we talk."

"Could you arrange for us to meet him today or tomorrow?" Shinichi asked.

There was a startled silence. "Kind of short notice, isn't it?"

"It has to be before the wedding. Basically the sooner the better."

"Well," Sonoko said, considering. "I suppose I could say I want to pass on my well wishes in person beforehand since they're not holding a big ceremony. But I expect you to tell me what this is all about."

Shinichi agreed readily enough, and Sonoko hung up to go do as he'd asked.

-0-

Kaito absently added a bright yellow ball to the eight other balls he was already juggling as he leaned back in his seat. Across the table from him, Yanagi was gazing morosely into the mug of tea he had barely touched which had to be cold by now.

The two of them were waiting in the Kudo Manor kitchen while Shinichi phoned Sonoko from the other room. They had opted to go back to the manor instead of staying at the coffee shop for however long it would take to sort things out. It just seemed the sensible thing to do, especially considering the somewhat delicate nature of the problems at hand (that, and Shinichi had felt it would be rude of them to continue taking up a table while the shop was busy).

Kaito technically agreed that moving the discussion to the manor was the right thing to do, but it was getting damned boring just sitting around and watching Yanagi be a wet blanket. The guy hadn't even bothered to look when Kaito had pulled a dove out of his sleeve. If they were still at the shop, he'd at least be able to occupy himself with people watching.

Taking pity on the guy, he cleared his throat. "Would you like me to heat that up for you?"

"Huh?" Yanagi looked up then blinked, visibly confused. "Sorry. Did you say something?"

"You really don't have to worry, you know," Kaito said kindly. "We'll find Minako-san."

"Oh." Yanagi looked away. "Yeah…"

Kaito frowned. "Okay, I understand you're not feeling optimistic, but don't you think you're taking this a little too far? At least wait until Tantei-kun's finished his first round of investigations to decide whether you need to be upset. He's good at what he does."

"What? Oh, no, it's not that I think Kudo-san can't find her or anything like that. I was just thinking."

Kaito resisted the urge to say that he'd noticed and instead nodded encouragingly. "And?"

Yanagi sighed. "I guess I'm just wondering if this is really the right thing to do."

The magician gave him an incredulous look. "Are you serious? I thought you loved this girl."

Yanagi flushed. "I do! That's the point."

"I don't follow."

Yanagi gave him a look like he thought Kaito was being obtuse (which was just insulting, but the magician magnanimously decided to ignore it).

"I was just thinking that, well, Minako might be happier with Ruitori-san in the long run. I mean, let's be honest, he has a lot more to offer her than I do—probably than I ever will. And he's an alpha, so they can actually bond. That's something else we'll never have. It might be better if I just let her go."

Kaito leveled the despondent young man with a long, hard look. Then he flashed Yanagi a grin that showed his canines. "My good friend Aoko is an omega who's dating a beta. And if he ever gives up on her the way you seem prepared to while she still has a modicum of feelings for him, I will skin him alive."

Shinichi walked into the kitchen to find Kaito performing some kind of complex juggling trick with a dozen rubber balls and their guest sitting frozen, face white as a sheet. He blinked.

"Um, Yanagi-san?" he asked. "Are you all right?"

The beta in question started violently at the sound of his name then visibly made an effort to compose himself.

"I'm fine," he said a bit weakly. "Um, so…?" He started to ask then trailed off, shifting uncomfortably in his seat.

Deciding that the important thing for now was to go over what he'd learned from Sonoko, Shinichi took the seat next to Kaito. There was a puff of smoke, and a mug of coffee appeared on the table in front of him. He smiled and murmured a "thank you" to the magician.

"So I asked Sonoko to see if she could get us an audience with Ruitori Taichi," Shinichi began. "It didn't work out, but we learned some interesting things."

Kaito chuckled. "I'd say the fact that they turned her down is an interesting piece of information all in itself."

"That's part of it," Shinichi admitted. "But there's more to it. She started by trying to call Taichi-san, but her call kept going to voicemail. So she contacted Taichi-san's mom, who's an old school friend of her mom's. She explained that Taichi-san's grandfather requested his presence at his home in the mountains recently for some sort of 'passing on of the family legacy' kind of retreat. He is supposed to be staying there until he and Minako-san leave for their honeymoon. She was surprised that he hasn't been answering his phone, but she suspects it is the location. The grandfather's villa doesn't have great reception, and he's old fashioned enough that he doesn't use the internet. She thanked Sonoko for the thought and promised to arrange a meeting the moment they got back from the honeymoon though."

"So Taichi-san didn't actually go missing," said Yanagi. "He's just visiting his grandfather in a difficult to reach place."

"Maybe," Shinichi hedged.

"So there's more," Kaito concluded.

The detective nodded. "Sonoko got the phone number for the grandfather's villa and called it. The butler passed her call to the grandfather, who thanked her politely for her well wishes and refused to let her speak to Taichi. He said that his grandson and his fiancé were resting, but he wouldn't give her a time to call back."

"Wait, fiancé!" Yanagi gasped. "So Minako's there too!"

"Did Suzuki-chan know what the grandfather is like?" asked Kaito, suspecting his partner's train of thought.

"Hard, old fashioned, and very concerned with both appearances and keeping the family business in the family—which currently has only one heir in our generation and no possibility of more without adoption."

"And let me guess," said Kaito. "Grandfather's not the sort who'd consider adoption."

"You would be correct."

"What does that mean?" asked Yanagi.

"It means you might be right that Taichi-san is being held against his will. "But it also means that we have a good guess about where we need to go."

Yanagi frowned. "I assume you're saying that they're probably at the grandfather's place, but Minako's and Taichi-san's families have a lot of properties all over between them. And the grandfather obviously doesn't live alone. He's got a butler, for one, and he's got to have a cleaning staff for a big house. Probably a cook too. If they're trying to make sure Minako and Taichi-san bond, wouldn't it make more sense for them to be keeping the two somewhere isolated completely? So, like, maybe a cabin in the mountains with no one around to get in the way and that they can't easily escape from?"

"That is a possibility," Shinichi agreed. "But I feel the villa is more likely."

"Why though?"

"There are several reasons," the detective explained. "The first is that, to put it simply, there is too much you would have to arrange logistically speaking to stash two unwilling but healthy individuals in an unsupervised place. If they're resourceful, it would be extremely difficult to prevent them from trying to get a message out, especially since you would need to make sure they had the provisions they need to take care of themselves. It's much easier to stop them from trying things—and to prevent anything they try from working—if they're kept somewhere nearby where they can be watched and otherwise dealt with. There is also the fact that arranging a bonding like this is illegal. That means the perpetrators would want to minimize the possibility of discovery."

"It's much easier to make sure something you've hidden stays hidden if it's inside your private estate as opposed to out in the forest where some random hiker might stumble across it," Kaito agreed. "So long as you trust all your help anyway."

"Which brings us to the point about the presence of other people," Shinichi continued. "The risk that someone else might accidentally get in the way of the bonding is actually fairly easy to avoid. If an alpha or omega is already bonded, they will not be affected by the scents of someone who isn't their mate, so they would basically be immune to the situation. And Betas aren't affected by alpha or omega scents at all at any time, and they make up sixty percent of the population. In short, it would be easy to ensure that you staff your household only with betas and already bonded individuals."

"Basically, all the old Grandfather has to do is lock his grandson and Minako-san in a room together, deny them any preventative medications, and wait," Kaito said grimly. "And if they try to resist, he could easily try lacing their food with drugs to either wear down their resistance or stimulate their natural urges."

Shinichi grimaced. "Ideally, we would locate both Minako and Taichi, free them, and get their testimony on what exactly happened before Minako-san's cycle starts."

"You said this whole thing they're doing is probably illegal," Yanagi pointed out. "Can't we just tell the police?"

Shinichi sighed. "It isn't that simple. We don't have any actionable proof. And the police can't barge into a private home and demand to search it just because they think something might be wrong. They need some kind of proof."

Shinichi's hand rose to his chin as he thought this over for a moment. Then he nodded. "I think the best thing we could do would be to provide Minako-san and Taichi-san with some means to communicate with the outside. As the victims, they could ask the police directly for help."

Yanagi opened his mouth then shut it again. "Okay, yeah… I guess I can see how that would be better than just getting them out if we don't want to end up with a huge scandal or something, but how are you going to do that?"

"I have some ideas. But Kai?"

"Yes, Dear?" the magician asked, balancing his now empty mug on the tip of one finger. Shinichi tried very hard not to look at it and even harder not to imagine it falling in case thinking about it somehow contributed to it happening. "There's some information we need that we'll probably get faster if you helped. Do you think you have the time?"

"I'll always make time to help you," Kaito assured him. "Just tell me what, and I'll figure out how."

Shinichi smiled at him. "Thanks Kai." Then he turned to Yanagi. "I'm sorry but this may take some time. If you'd like, I have a lot of guest rooms. Do you want to stay the night?"

Yanagi agreed, and so Shinichi left to show him to his room.

-To Be Continued-