Disclaimer: I don't own DCMK

A Curse Marked Fate

58: Static Whispers

Taking a shower had never been so difficult.

Every muscle in Shinichi's body felt like jelly, and every limb seemed to have tripled in weight. Even holding his head up was proving to be a bit of an ordeal, though this was also due in part to the fact that he kept catching himself beginning to nod off.

He had assumed that the spray of the hot water would help clear away the cobwebs in his brain and ease the ache currently suffusing every inch of his person, but it was turning out less effective than he'd hoped. If anything, the heat was suffocating, but turning the temperature down was even worse. More than once, he found himself clinging to the walls to stay upright.

At least it still felt nice to get cleaned up properly. While the restroom that their little library had been equipped with had contained a sink and towels, it had not been blessed with a shower or a tub (a lack that Kaito had vowed to find time to fix).

After the shower came the laborious process of drying off and getting dressed. Halfway through, a new wave of dizziness had Shinichi snatching at the towel hangers. He managed not to fall, but his knee hit the wall with a painful thud.

"Shinichi?" Agasa's worried voice called through the bathroom door. "Are you okay in there? Do you need any help?"

"I'm fine," Shinichi called back, wincing at how feeble his voice sounded even to his own ears. He cleared his throat and tried again. "I'm okay. I just bumped my knee."

He emerged from the bathroom to find the old inventor still hovering outside the door, clearly unconvinced by his declaration.

"You should have told me you wanted a shower," Agasa said, sounding equal parts worried and reproachful. "I know you don't like to ask for help, but your body is under a lot of stress right now."

Shinichi wanted to point out that, whatever he looked like at the moment, he was far too old to need help bathing, but he couldn't muster up the energy. Instead, he accepted the hand that Agasa offered and let the old man help him back to the guestroom.

They entered to see that the empty curry bowl had been replaced by a basket of hardboiled eggs and a large bowl of fruit salad.

Standing beside it with her arms crossed was a glowering Ai.

Shinichi gulped and fought the urge to shy away when she pierced him with an icy glare.

The moment was somewhat ruined when the diminutive detective's stomach growled.

Ai blinked then sighed and gestured for him to climb back onto the bed. "You better keep eating."

Half relieved and half chagrined to have been saved by a stomach rumble, Shinichi moved to comply. It didn't stop him from voicing his confusion.

"I don't understand. I know you said I'd need to eat more once my body started growing faster, but I think that mountain of curry might actually have been a third of my size. It shouldn't have been physically possible for me to eat it all. But I did, and I'm not bloated—and I'm still hungry. Digestion doesn't work that fast, and I don't feel like I need to keep running to the bathroom either."

Ai handed him a pair of chopsticks. "You are thinking of normal biological growth. But remember, the power driving your body to grow at this increased rate is magic. Moreover, it is Mark magic, which, as we all know, does not always conform to the usual laws of the natural world. You are eating now not so much to give your body the biological materials to use to grow as you would normally but to give your blessing the energy it needs to restructure your body back to the way it was before you were almost killed. I have no doubt that large portions of what you have already consumed have themselves already been consumed by the magic to fuel this restructuring and recovery."

Shinichi grimaced, but he finished another hardboiled egg in two bites. It was unflavored but still somehow the most delicious egg he had ever eaten. "I don't think I get it. But I guess if it works, I won't complain. I just feel so…tired. It's hard to think."

Ai nodded. "You should rest. Food isn't all that you need right now. Finish this food and the milk and orange juice I'll bring you in a minute. Then you can go back to sleep for a bit. I think this wave of illness should pass by the time you wake up."

Trusting her words and too out of it to think of anything else, Shinichi did as he'd been instructed, ate, and slept.

X

The next time Shinichi woke, it was to the sound of arguing voices.

"—prepared with proper nutritional balance in mind. Now eat it."

"But it's salmon!"

"Which is a very healthy fish. We asked what you wanted. You were the one who said that anything was fine."

"But—"

"Are you allergic?"

"Well, no, but—"

"Do you have a health condition that would cause you to be harmed by the consumption of seafood?"

"No, but—"

"Then just pretend it's something else and eat it. Let this be a lesson. Next time someone asks you what you want to eat, don't say anything if you don't mean anything."

The very final statement was followed by the sound of retreating footsteps and the firm shutting of a door.

A sulky silence ensued, broken only by the soft clinking of cutlery.

Shinichi couldn't help the small smile that twitched at his lips. The exchange had lifted his spirits for all that it had been an argument because he could hear care in the undertones of the voices.

"I'm glad you're amused," Kaito's familiar voice said conversationally. "Anyhow, I know you're awake. How about helping me clear this plate?"

"I'd rather not put myself on Shiho-san's bad side," Shinichi replied, opening his eyes to smile wearily at the boy sitting by his bed. Shinichi couldn't help but notice that, for all his complaints, Kaito had already cleaned off half the contents of his plate. Either he wasn't nearly as grossed out by the fish as he claimed or he was really hungry. Or maybe it was both. Shinichi knew that Kaito disliked the look of fish with their bulbous, expressionless eyes and elastic mouths, but a salmon steak resembled a fish about as much as a wooden ruler resembled a tree.

Realizing that his thoughts were wandering, Shinichi focused his attention back on Kaito with an effort to find the older boy studying him intently. The affection and gentle concern he saw in those eyes made Shinichi's chest feel oddly tight and his heart rate pick up. He blushed and broke eye contact, looking instead at the trolley on which Kaito's food lay.

He blinked, suddenly realizing that the large, sealed container occupying half the surface area was transparent and apparently packed with something like two dozen ready made sandwiches.

"Why didn't you just eat some of those?" he asked, puzzled.

Kaito dismissed the suggestion with a wave of his chopsticks. "Nah. Those are for you. We didn't know when you'd be waking up, so we prepared stuff that you could eat cold and easily at any time. They're working on filling another few containers outside right now."

"Is all that really necessary?" Shinichi half wondered, half worried. "I don't feel like my stomach is trying to eat itself anymore."

"The little lady's sure it'll be back. It's just a matter of time. And we want to make sure you have access to proper food whenever just in case the rest of us are asleep, out, or otherwise occupied. While it sounds like it might not matter what you eat as long as you eat, the lady says that healthier fuel can only help."

Shinichi nodded slowly, though Kaito didn't miss the slight melancholy that had crept into his eyes.

"Thank you," Shinichi said softly. He was touched by the efforts his friends were putting in to helping him get through this, but it saddened him too. It was the one thing he disliked most about his Curse Mark. It was the way it often made him a burden to his friends whether because they had to deal with the crimes and criminals he seemed to attract or just when they had to look after him in the fallout.

"Hey, speaking of time," Kaito said brightly, purposefully cutting into Shinichi's slowly graying thoughts. "The lady has a question for you about your road to recovery. Do you want me to call her in? Or would you prefer to eat first?"

Shinichi thought for a moment then levered himself into a sitting position with an effort. Kaito rose immediately to tuck some pillows behind him so that he could lean back comfortably using them as a back rest.

"I'm still really tired," he admitted. "And I really, really thirsty. Could I get some water before we talk about anything else?"

"Of course." Kaito hopped up and disappeared out of the room, leaving Shinichi to wonder how the Sky Mage had cleared his plate completely even while talking.

Kaito returned with the largest water jug Shinichi had ever laid eyes on. It had a rubber straw attached to its lid. Kaito removed his empty plate and set the jug down in its stead, pulled out the rubber straw, and brought its tip to Shinichi's lips.

"If the angle's awkward, let me know and I'll figure something out," he told his young friend.

Shinichi nodded but didn't speak because he was already draining the jug of its contents at an astonishing speed.

Kaito watched the water level inside the container go down with a certain level of awe.

Shinichi, on the other hand, found his thoughts wandering again as his body settled in to the task of downing a small pool's worth of liquids. His gaze drifted over Kaito's shoulder, and there it was again.

A thin, nearly invisible thread shining silver in a light that, Shinichi realized, had no source.

It was so close though, with Kaito now back at his bedside seat and describing the groceries they'd all gone out to round up. Shinichi forgot about the water and reached out to try and touch that thread.

His fingers passed right through it. But, for an instant when his fingers did so, he felt…something.

It was a flash of warmth. There had been respect and wariness but also care and a sort of…camaraderie. The sense of equals and of teamwork.

Shiho and Kaito, Shinichi knew without knowing how he knew. It was the way they had come to see one another.

They might tease and make snide remarks, but they respected each other's skills and abilities and saw them as trustworthy allies already most of the way to becoming true friends.

"Hello~. Anyone home?"

Shinichi blinked out of his half trance. "Huh?" He realized his hand was still up and quickly lowered it.

Kaito raised an eyebrow at what had appeared to him like Shinichi reaching for something then changing his mind. "Did you need something? I can get it for you."

"Oh, uh…no, I'm fine. But thank you."

His slightly incoherent response made Kaito frown. "Maybe you should get some more sleep. You can talk to Shiho-san later."

Shinichi nodded slowly, only half listening as he stared hard at the air around Kaito as he searched for the thread from before. "I think I'll do that."

His stomach growled.

He blushed. "Er, but I think I'll have a sandwich first."

Kaito chuckled, opening up the storage container. "Have two. Trust someone who knows, serious magic burns a lot of energy. And the magic working on you is definitely serious magic."

"I think I've already eaten my bodyweight in food," Shinichi grumbled, though he wasn't really complaining. He could feel right down in his bones that Kaito was right.

"That just proves my point."

TBC