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A Curse Marked Fate

60: A Thread of Resonance

"You're saying you've been seeing invisible threads?"

Shinichi frowned at Kaito over the mug of orange juice he was nursing. "I wouldn't be seeing them if they were invisible."

The Sky Mage waved that observation away with a dismissive hand. "Details. The point is that these visions started recently, and you're sure they're not hallucinations. Do you think they're related to what Shiho-san's Curse Mark did to you?"

Shinichi directed his frown down into the vibrant, opaque depths of his orange juice as he thought. Then he shook his head. "No. I don't think it's her Mark. I think it might be mine."

"Oh?" Kaito leaned forward, gaze intense. "Explain."

Shinichi did so—or tried to. He described the handful of times he had thought he had seen something beginning with that spider's thread back in the pocket library and working his way, case by case, to the recent incident when he thought he'd touched one of said threads.

When he'd finished, Kaito sat back, looking thoughtful.

Realizing abruptly that he'd talked his throat dry trying to describe the dream-like yet indescribably real texture of those moments of vision, Shinichi drained his mug. Kaito absently picked up the pitcher on the trolley and leaned over to refill it.

"Have you had visions like these before?" he asked.

"No," Shinichi replied.

"And they started some way into our stay at the Foundation."

The detective nodded.

"That certainly is suggestive," Kaito concluded. "What do you think they are?"

Shinichi hesitated. "Well, I…sort of think I might be seeing how people are connected."

"Are you saying you can see relationships?" Kaito asked, clearly intrigued.

"I…don't think it's quite that advanced? Maybe it's more to do with how people are feeling towards one another. I don't really know."

"Do you see any threads now?"

"No."

Undaunted, Kaito took a moment to think back over Shinichi's story then snapped his fingers. "Meditation."

"…What?"

"It sounds to me like you generally saw these things while you were relaxed. So you should try meditating. Besides, meditation was the first thing Dad made me do when he started teaching me magic." The Sky Mage made a disgusted face at the memory. "I hated it. But I'll admit it was helpful eventually."

Shinichi sighed, finishing his second mug of juice then setting it aside. "I might as well try it. It's not like I can do much else right now."

And the more time they spent on figuring this out, the less time they would have for boring card games.

The little detective sat up straighter and crossed his legs as he'd seen people do on television then stopped. "Um, I've never meditated before. It's about clearing your mind, right?"

"That's the basic gist of it," Kaito agreed. "But if you're planning on trying not to think about anything, I'll tell you now that that never worked for me. And somehow I get the feeling you're not big on not thinking either."

That made Shinichi laugh. Unfortunately, the laugh immediately became a cough, which he struggled hastily to suppress. Once he had it under control, he peeked out of the corner of his eye at Kaito. The Sky Mage's expression had smoothed into that cheerful, laid back Poker Face of his, but Shinichi could see the concern tucked behind his eyes, and he winced inwardly, wishing that their time together wasn't always salted with unpleasant reminders that reality was waiting for them, and it was not in a good mood.

"I don't think I could actually think about nothing on purpose," Shinichi said instead, pretending that their conversation hadn't been interrupted. "Is there something else I can try?"

"You have a few options," Kaito replied, playing along. "One of the most common pieces of advice I hear is to focus on your breathing. So you try to take deep, even breaths and focus on how the air feels as you breathe in then breathe out. Some people imagine breathing in good things and breathing out darkness and illness."

"So they envision a simple purpose to go along with the exercise," Shinichi concluded.

Kaito shrugged. "That's one way to look at it. Envisioning things is another form of meditation though. There are people who go on vision quests through meditation. Or, on a simpler level, they might simply devote their attention to building a single clear, peaceful image and then filling in each of its delicate details."

"So…" Shinichi said slowly, thinking. "It's less about not thinking and more about focusing your mind on something peaceful."

"That's how I came to think of it," Kaito agreed. "You need calm and focus to work magic. How you find that focus is up to you though."

Shinichi knew that all too well. Letting his hands rest on his knees, he closed his eyes and began to try and take deep, even breaths. At first, it was easy, but once he had a rhythm going, his thoughts immediately began to wander.

"It might help if I had something to focus on," he said eventually with a sigh.

For some reason, this made Kaito beam, which in turn made Shinichi nervous.

"What?" he asked warily.

"I was thinking it might help to try actively looking for a thread. So once you think you're calm enough, you, well, start looking. It'll give you something to focus on and tell us if we're moving in the right direction. You can try me."

Shinichi looked dubious. "Pardon?"

"You said you think you're seeing either relationships or at least emotional connections, right?"

Shinichi nodded.

"So I'll sit here and think about people I know, and you see what you can see. Simple."

It was certainly logical, Shinichi mused. But simple? Not so much.

"Could you maybe stop staring at me?" he asked exasperatedly about ten minutes later. "It's not helping."

"I wasn't staring," Kaito defended himself. "I was watching."

Shinichi looked unimpressed. "How exactly is that different?"

"I'm just being polite," Kaito said instead of answering. "You've been looking at me, so I'm looking back."

Shinichi turned pink. "I'm not looking at you. I'm trying to find those threads. And you're supposed to be thinking about people you know and how you feel about them."

"I am," Kaito assured him. "I've been thinking about you."

Shinichi opened his mouth then shut it again. The color in his cheeks darkened, and he ended up looking away.

"O—oh," he managed to say eventually then had to stop and swallow. "Um, maybe you should try thinking about someone else then. Maybe I can't see threads that connect to me. It might explain why nothing's showing up."

Kaito mulled that over then nodded, growing thoughtful. "You could be right. Curse Mark talents are meant to help with their bearers' Tasks. Considering how Fate's been so insistent on directing you towards crimes that need to be solved, I'd bet anything that your Task has to do with that. And a way to gage people's true feelings towards one another would be invaluable for that."

"I think we're getting ahead of ourselves," Shinichi said, though something in Kaito's words struck a chord with something deep inside him. Maybe the Sky Mage was onto something. But there was no point speculating about it until they actually knew what they were talking about.

"I'll try my old man," Kaito said decisively. "And I promise not to look until you're done. Actually, I'll just close my eyes."

He produced his poker cards with a flick of the wrist and started shuffling them. His hands were swift and sure in their control of the cards even while the Sky Mage had his eyes closed.

Shinichi spent a few seconds just admiring the way the cards arced and slid between Kaito's hands before he too settled down and tried, once again, to clear and calm his thoughts before turning his attention to the air around his friend.

For a long time, nothing changed. But then the glow from the overhead lights seemed to shift and slide along a brilliant, golden thread. When Shinichi's gaze focused on it, the thread seemed to thicken and become more solid. He could see that it was a tightly braided cord, delicate but strong. One end of it faded as it neared Kaito, fragmenting off in a spray of lights tracing intricate, barely there patterns in the air around the Sky Mage. The other end of the braided gold stretched away and through the room's wall, unhindered.

Moving slowly and carefully, Shinichi shifted to the edge of the bed and reached out to touch the braided gold thread.

Once again, despite its clarity, his fingertips passed right through it. When they did, however, he felt a tingle and a wash of warmth, respect, pride, admiration, gratitude and love. Kaito and Toichi's faces flashed across Shinichi's mind's eye, and he knew intuitively that these were Kaito's feelings towards his father. He could also sense, though in a less concrete, more distant manner, that many of these feelings were ones the elder Kuroba shared towards his son.

"You got it that time," Kaito said softly.

Shinichi opened eyes he hadn't realized he'd closed to find the Sky Mage watching him again, gaze intent and pleased.

Shinichi smiled a little shyly. "I think I did. Try it again?"

Kaito laughed. "Only logical thing to do. This time you'll have to tell me who I'm thinking about."

This time it was a soft, smooth ribbon of silver and pearl.

Shinichi blinked. "Huh…"

"What?" asked Kaito.

"The thread's moving," Shinichi explained. "I don't remember seeing one do that before."

"Moving how?"

"Like the other end is moving. So it started out over there towards the street out front, but it's traveling this way." He swept his arm across to illustrate his point. His finger ended up pointing at the closed door to his room just as a knock sounded.

The two boys blinked.

"Can I come in?" asked a female voice.

Kaito's eyebrows shot up. "Aoko?"

The girl in question took the sound of her name as an invitation and opened the door.

"Well," she said once she had given the two startled boys each a critical once over. "I'm glad to see you two are all right. But you have a lot of explaining to do." She speared Kaito with a ferocious stare. "I can't believe you were hiding all of this all this time. And for what? So you could play spy? I hope you realize how irresponsible that was. And dragging a little kid into it too! That's stupid, even for you."

Kaito, who had started to protest her allegations about his intentions, suddenly had to stop and rethink as the rest of her tirade made it clear that she still didn't know the whole story. He was still offended. He would have said as much, but Shinichi spoke before he could.

"Going was my idea," the little detective said, big blue eyes earnest. "We never meant for things to end up the way they did. But we needed information."

"And we got a lot of it too," Kaito jumped in. "So it was worth it."

Aoko's brows furrowed, and Kaito could see that she wanted to argue. But then she seemed to think better of it. Her expression shifted momentarily to a strange mixture of worry, sadness and resignation that Kaito had never seen her wear before. Kaito didn't like it. It didn't suit her. He would have preferred if she'd stayed angry. He knew how to deal with her anger, which had always been simple and bright and straight forward: quick to come and quick to go.

This was different, and, for just a moment, he could see the whole fiasco through her eyes. And he realized that she'd been terrified and was unsure even now whether it was time to relax.

"I'm sorry," he said eventually because it was really the only thing he could say. "We didn't mean to worry you."

Aoko's shoulders sagged as she shook her head. "I'm sorry too. I've just been kind of…stressed, I guess. I mean, first your dad almost gets killed, and the people behind it try to break into your house. If your parents hadn't told you to stay with the Mouris, you might have been there! I kept thinking about that. I know there wasn't any point, but… And then we learn it's part of some crazy conspiracy and there might actually be real mind control magic out there and…and… Yeah, anyway, I shouldn't have taken it out on you. I know things have been harder for you."

Kaito drew in a deep breath then exhaled slowly. Moving on impulse, he stood and crossed the distance to Aoko in a few quick strides to give the girl a quick, reassuring hug.

"We're dealing with it," he said, and it was both a reassurance and a declaration. "Now enough with the gloom and doom. I'll go get us something to eat. I'm sure Co-chan could use the boost. You should join us."

Aoko hesitated for only a moment. "All right."

"You can have my chair," Kaito added, gesturing back at the rolling chair. Then he disappeared out the door. They heard him opening and shutting cupboards in the kitchen, muttering something about needing to up the length of the grocery list again.

Left alone with Conan, Aoko suddenly realized she'd had her meltdown in front of a six year old child. Mortified, she peeked at the boy, wondering whether she'd frightened him.

He didn't seem frightened, but he did appear to be avoiding her gaze. It looked more like embarrassment though. Which, okay, that was a logical reaction too. She'd be embarrassed after witnessing someone else's argument too.

For both their sakes, she should change the subject.

"Um, so Ran-san told me that you're changing to home schooling," she said. "Is that right?"

"Oh." Shinichi blinked, thrown off balance by the sudden change in topics. "Uh, yeah, I guess. If she and Uncle have finished filing all the paper work."

"So why the change?" she asked.

It was an expected question and easy enough to answer. He could just tell her that he was ill—that his health condition would make it easier for everyone if he stayed home where his caretakers could keep a closer eye on him. It was all even true.

But after seeing that exchange between Aoko and Kaito and feeling the depths of their care and concern, Shinichi suddenly realized that there was another choice he could make.

He also realized that he wanted to make that choice.

Because Aoko was family to Kaito.

He took a deep breath, bracing himself, then asked much more softly. "Aoko-san?"

The girl glanced at him from where she had set her backpack down on the desk next to Kaito's stacks of notebooks. She unzipped the pack and began unloading textbooks. Lots of textbooks.

"Yes, Conan-kun?"

"I…have something I need to tell you."

"Sure. What is it?"

Shinichi took another deep, steadying breath. Then he went for it. "My name isn't Edogawa Conan," he said in a rush. "It's Kudo Shinichi."

She only blinked at him. "You mean like the detective?"

He blinked back, nonplussed. "Uh, yeah."

"I guess that must get confusing," she mused. "Is that why you use a different name?"

"Er, no. I meant I am Kudo Shinichi. I'm actually sixteen. I don't look it right now because of a curse."

X

A rather bemused Aoko departed from the Agasa household a considerable amount of time later. She left behind a detective who was feeling lighter for having made a new friend and a mage who, while pleased on Shinichi's behalf, was personally very annoyed that Aoko had brought him all his textbooks and a small mountain of homework.

"It could have waited," he grumbled to Shinichi as he finished another set of math problems. He'd decided to start with the math because it was a subject he'd always excelled at, and he figured he could knock it out quick. "I mean seriously, we have way more important things to be thinking about. And she said herself that the teachers all said they understood."

"The longer you put it off though, the more of it there'll be," Shinichi pointed out around a yawn. He was beginning to have trouble keeping his eyes open. The round of card games he'd just played with Kaito and Aoko hadn't exactly helped, although he had to admit that explaining everything to the girl while they played had helped make the games less tedious.

He gave himself a shake and looked over at the clock. It was growing close to evening.

"Is Shiho-san still working?" he asked.

Kaito hopped up and poked his head out the door for a look around. "Well, she was out here briefly earlier getting a drink and letting Aoko in, but it looks like she's back in her lab now. And the door's still closed. I recommend we not disturb her unless we have a good reason. Do we have a good reason?"

"Sort of…?" Shinichi said a bit uncertainly. "I'd like to know if she's found anything useful in the data we brought back. And we also need to find time to go over what we overheard, especially those things the boss said."

"You mean about the years," Kaito stated more than asked.

Shinichi nodded grimly. "I have a theory, but, well, I'd like to talk to her and get her input before I get too far ahead of myself."

"That would be wise, yes," the Sky Mage agreed. "But it's not urgent yet, especially since there may be a few others we want looped in when we have that conversation. So sit on it for now and just work on recovering."

Shinichi nodded then was forced to cover yet another yawn. Once he'd managed to reign it in, he was feeling and looking very sheepish.

"Go ahead and sleep if you're tired," Kaito advised, walking back over to Shinichi's bedside and placing a hand on his shoulder to gently but firmly push him back down onto the mattress and awaiting pillows. "I'll be here if you need anything."

TBC

A.N: Still very busy. Thank you for your patience!