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

Pairing: KaitoxShinichi


Lure

Chapter 14 - Arrivals

The sensation that swept through Shinichi as the Mouris' rental car finally turned into the resort's parking lot could only be described as relief. The reason for this lay entirely at the feet of his traveling party. How Ran had managed to get her parents to actually drive to the place together in the same car was beyond even his deductive skills. But you didn't have to be a detective to figure out that that had not been a smart move. Not at all.

He shuddered as he recalled the torturous trip. Things had started going downhill the moment they'd all taken their seats. It had started with little things—small comments let slip into the conversation and the like. But it had quickly snowballed. By the time they were an hour into the trip, the car was filled with nothing but a stony silence. Neither of the elder Mouris would look at the other, and Ran was silently fuming at her father for it. That left Shinichi stuck uncomfortably in the middle of all the bad feeling filling the air. He ended up tucking himself into the very corner of his place in the back seat and trying to be invisible.

He leapt out of the car as soon as the wheels stopped turning.

Ran seized his elbow almost immediately. "We'll go check in," she declared. Not giving her parents a chance to argue, she began bodily dragging Shinichi away. It wasn't until the elder Mouris were out of sight that her steps slowed to a more reasonable pace, and she released her grip on her friend.

Shinichi rubbed at his arm to get the circulation flowing again. "What was that for?"

"We get two rooms," the girl explained, face set into a determined expression. "If they got a hold of the keys, they'll insist Dad stay with you. So I'm going to give you the second key, and you're going to make it disappear. Don't tell them what room you'll be in either. That way Dad won't have any way to escape."

"Er… Right…" The idea was a logical one, Shinichi had to admit. But the scent of disaster was growing exponentially stronger by the second. Hopefully, no one was going to get hurt. He'd feel terribly guilty if it came to that since he was half the reason they were all here (the other half being Ran's relentless determination to force her parents back together).

The resort's front desk was located in a large lobby that had a winding mote of water sunk into the floor. Wooden bridges allowed people to walk freely over the water. When Shinichi looked down into the shallow mote, he could see several koi fish swimming lazily this way and that. Their orange, white, and black bodies drew graceful curves through their liquid home.

He followed Ran across the bridges to the front desk. There, he waited as she chatted with the receptionist—a young man who appeared abnormally interested in asking Ran about her plans. Shinichi studied him carefully for a few minutes before deciding that he probably wasn't the criminal sort. So that was okay then.

"Here you go," said Ran, handing him a key card. "It turns out one of the rooms was bigger than the other one. So my parents and I can stay in the larger room, and you can have the smaller one to yourself."

"Sounds good," he agreed. It was more than good, actually. Now he wouldn't be trapped in the middle of the Mouri Family Feud. "We should probably go see the rooms."

"Yeah. We'll meet back up here at seven and get dinner together."

Shinichi nodded mutely, hiding a grimace. He really hoped that Kogoro and Eri would be over their current spate of annoyance with one another by then because eating with the two acting the way they had at the end of the car ride would probably give him indigestion. He would have asked if he could be excused except that he would feel guilty leaving Ran alone to deal with the tension—even if she had brought it on herself. She had supported him through his ordeals. The least he could do was be her moral support in this battle.

Keys in hand, they parted ways at the lobby doors.

The resort's rooms were spread through multiple buildings, none of them more than four stories high. Shinichi found himself walking down the hall of the building next to the resort's swimming pool. Reading the numbers as he went, he spotted his room and turned—

Only to crash into an elderly woman coming from the other direction. They both stumbled back a step and turned. Two pairs of eyes blinked at each other.

"I'm sorry," Shinichi apologized. "I wasn't looking where I was going."

"It's okay. I wasn't either," the old woman replied, giving him a rather grandmotherly smile. "I was just looking for my room."

"So I was," the detective said. "Do you need help?"

"Ah, no. But it was very sweet of you to offer. Thank you." With that, the woman stepped forward and opened the door of one of the rooms.

The same room Shinichi had been about to open.

He stared as the door swung shut. Then, without a word, he turned and headed back to the front desk.

"Excuse me," he said, setting his key card on the counter. "I think there was a mistake. The room I was given was also given to someone else."

"What?" The receptionist looked at his key card and turned to the computer. He tapped around for a few moments then blinked. "Hey, you're right. That's weird. There must have been an error in the system." He turned a sheepish grin to Shinichi. "We're really sorry about that. Here, let me see what I can do."

"That's okay. Accidents happen."

Shinichi waited as the receptionist's frown grew deeper and deeper. Finally, the man turned back to him with an apologetic look.

"It looks like all the other standard rooms have been booked as well. I really don't know how it happened."

"Oh. Uh…" Shinichi trailed off. It wasn't okay. This meant he didn't have anywhere to stay. And it wasn't like he could just go home. It was way too far away, especially for someone with no car. And Ran would kill him if he provided her father with a way to escape the family vacation. "Is there anything that can be done? Are there any smaller rooms I could use instead?"

"The standard is our smallest room, but let me go talk to my manager. We might be able to work something out for you."

"Alright. Thank you."

Shinichi wandered over to lean against the railing running along the mote behind him. The place was certainly peaceful. It had to take a lot of work to maintain the mote and the fish though.

"You—you're Kudo Shinichi!"

Shinichi's head jerked up at the exclamation. The shock was accompanied by a spike of dread. He so did not want to deal with being bombarded by questions right now. He was a little confused when he spotted the receptionist standing just behind the man who'd said his name.

"It's an honor to meet you," the newcomer said enthusiastically. "Welcome to the resort! My family runs this place, and we're delighted to have you here."

"Uh, thanks…?"

"I heard about the error regarding your room. I'm terribly sorry about that. We've arranged for you to stay in one of the suites instead."

"That really isn't necessary—"

"Nonsense! It's the least we can do. Besides, it was the only vacancy we had left. The suite's a little farther away from the main areas of activity, but I assure you it's very comfortable."

"Oh, I guess if it isn't any trouble—"

"No trouble at all, no trouble at all," the man assured, cutting him off again. "Incidentally, could I get your autograph for my kids?"

Well, Shinichi thought a few minutes later as he made his way across the grounds of the resort in search of his new rooms, he may have lost most of his desire for recognition over the past few years, but he had to admit that it did occasionally have its uses.

-0-

"Honestly Bakaito, you can at least pretend you're happy to be here!"

"What is there to be happy about?" the magician retorted. He was standing with his back to one of the lobby bridge rails, indigo gaze sweeping the surroundings while determinedly staying above the waterline. He had spent all of the previous day mentally bracing himself for this—this abomination of a resort. Whoever had built this place had to have been completely insane. Talk about terrible tastes.

"It's a vacation!" Aoko exclaimed, throwing up her hands. "I mean sure, there's an aquatic theme, but it's not like they have tanks in every room or anything."

"Yeah, sure. But you're also making me share a room with that blond idiot of a detective. This has got to be the worst vacation ever!"

"Well I feel sorry for poor Saguru, having to stay in the same room as you. But obviously I have to room with my dad. It would be inappropriate for me to room with either of you—Dad would never allow it, and these are all rooms with only two beds."

"I know, I know—wait, why the hell do you only feel sorry for Hakuba?"

The inspector's daughter snorted, planting her hands on her hips. "Isn't it obvious? Because we all know you're going to end up torturing him with all your stupid pranks."

"Well I have to get something fun out of all this."

"Argh! You see? You're impossible!"

"I take that as a compliment~."

Aoko huffed, but she decided to let it go just this once since Kaito was finally in a better mood. She'd actually started feeling bad about dragging him out here with them, but, well, this was still the first chance in a long time they'd been able to spend more than just a little bit of time together. She just hoped that Saguru wasn't too traumatized by the time they were all ready to head home. Well, she'd make it up to him later.

-0-

Hakuba Saguru stood outside the room he'd been assigned, eyeing the door like it was the maw of some terrible monster ready to rip anyone who got too close to pieces. It wasn't a real monster, obviously, but there was definitely something dreadful on the other side of that door. The blond was seriously tempted to just find some lounge area to sleep in for the night, but he had the feeling that the resort staff wouldn't allow something like that. He wouldn't either in their shoes. It would cause problems for the other visitors, not to mention it would just be kind of a shady thing to do. And whatever else, Hakuba didn't do shady. He refused to be forced to lower himself to such things, especially by a thief.

So he braced himself and opened the door. Slowly.

Nothing. Only darkness greeted him from beyond the doorway. Had Kuroba not gotten here yet? But he left dinner before any of the rest of them had. If he hadn't gone to the room then what could he be up to? The detective shuddered in horror at the idea. On the bright side, if Kuroba was causing mass mayhem elsewhere, he wouldn't be here. And that was the best news Hakuba had heard all evening.

This could also be a trick though. He could be walking straight into a trap. It would be just like Kuroba to booby-trap the room then hide in the shadows to laugh at whoever had the misfortune to fall into his traps. The man's sense of humor was, in Hakuba's opinion, about as twisty as they came. So he supposed they should all thank their lucky stars that the crazy bastard had no aspirations for world domination or some such. But he was just dawdling now wasn't he?

He gritted his teeth. He couldn't stand here all day—well, night. It just didn't make practical sense. He was just going to have to face it.

Whatever it was (because he had no doubts that there was an it to face).

The first thing he did before even moving was to check above the door. Seeing nothing nasty waiting in the wings up there, he stepped gingerly across the threshold. He stopped, tense and ready for anything, but once again, nothing happened.

Okay, so far so good. Now, where was the light switch? The sooner he got the lights on, the happier he'd be. He hated the idea of being stuck in the dark with Kuroba lurking out there.

It took a moment, but he located the light switch and flicked it. The small light over the room's entryway blinked on, casting a feeble glow into the darkness. The next switch turned on the lamps above the room's two beds. Blond brows furrowed. There was no sign of either Kuroba or his luggage. So he really hadn't come by the room yet?

Relieved and feeling much more relaxed, the blond detective shut the door and moved to put his things away. He still made sure to check the closet and the drawers for traps though. It wouldn't pay to let his guard down yet. But when they too came up clean, he decided it was okay to take a breather. He felt sorry for whoever the magician had decided to harass today, but hey, he wasn't going to complain.

Normally, he would have liked to pick the bed by the window, but considering who his roommate was going to be, he opted for the one by the door. It would make things easier if he had to run. With everything neatly put away, he headed into the bathroom to check that everything was in order and get ready for bed.

He had just finished brushing his teeth when he noticed that his reflection wasn't as clear as it had been a moment ago. It looked almost like the mirror had fogged over. No, wait, it wasn't the mirror. It was the air that was fogging up—and getting foggier by the second. His eyes widened. Smoke!

Spinning on his heels, he threw himself at the door, but it was already too late. The knob wouldn't turn, and no matter how hard he pulled, the door wouldn't budge an inch. He pounded on it in a last desperate effort.

"Kuroba! Let me out of here!"

He didn't really expect an answer. He wasn't disappointed. The last thing that crossed his mind as he blacked out was that this was going to be the vacation from hell. He loved Aoko, he really did, but he should have turned her down when she'd asked him on this trip.

-0-

Kaito whistled to himself as he left the room and locked the door behind him. He supposed that he hadn't actually had to knock the nosy blond out, but he liked to err on the side of caution. Now he knew for certain that Hakuba would have no idea that he had spent the night elsewhere—or, well, was going to spend the night elsewhere. He'd hit the blond with enough sleeping gas to make sure he didn't wake up until well after morning then left signs to suggest that Kaito himself had just left early.

Of course, Aoko would probably be annoyed tomorrow when she inevitably heard about this little prank, but he knew that she would forgive him once he gave her the photo he'd just taken of her boyfriend in frilly pink pajamas snuggling with a giant teddy bear.

-TBC-