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

Pairing: KaitoxShinichi

Chapter Rating: T

Warnings: None

Collection Summary: No matter where or what they are, their lives are always entwined. KaiShin stories in fantasy settings.

Chapter Summary: Shinichi is the new detective at the magical crimes division, and Kaito is the demon he's made a contract with to help him on his cases. Their successes are drawing a lot of attention—perhaps too much.

A Demon's Jealousy

[Demon Verse]

Part 2

It had been two weeks, and Kaito was already beginning to curse the day they—well, Shinichi anyway—had been assigned to work with the new transfers.

Well, new transfer. The Masumi girl he quite liked. It was the blond prat he couldn't stand. If it weren't for the fact that Shinichi would be upset, he would seriously be tempted to do something unpleasant to the blond. He was still tempted to do something unpleasant anyway since, as long as he avoided causing any real physical harm, he thought Shinichi would forgive him for most things. But it wasn't worth the turmoil, temporary or not.

He'd scented trouble from the very beginning, but he hadn't realized how annoying it was going to get until the third day of their acquaintanceship with the newcomers. That was when they were instructed to resume their field work.

"Our daughter won't wake up," the man sitting before them said. His looked haggard. There were dark circles under his eyes, and his clothes were a rumpled mess. The buttons were all mismatched. He had his arm around his wife. The woman had her face in her hands and was sobbing quietly.

"When did this start?" Shinichi asked.

"It was about three days ago. She went out with her friends from school that day. She said they were at the shopping district near their school. She seemed normal when she got home—really happy, in fact. We didn't suspect a thing. But she—she didn't get up the next morning. She hasn't opened her eyes once since then."

"Did ya take her to the hospital?" Hattori asked.

The father looked offended. "Of course we did. But they couldn't wake her up either."

Hakuba cleared his throat. "Did they have any theories about her condition?"

"They…they told us a lot of things that it wasn't," the woman replied, speaking for the first time since they'd arrived. She brushed the tears from her eyes and sat up straighter. "They concluded that it's magical—whatever it is. But they…they didn't know anything else. They said they've never seen anything like it. They…they said it could be a curse."

Shinichi traded glances with Hattori. "Can we see her?"

The couple nodded and rose from their seats, gesturing for their visitors to follow. They were shown up the stairs to a bedroom at the end of a clean, well lit hall. There was an awkward moment at the door to the girl's bedroom as Hakuba informed both the parents and Kaito that it would be easier for them to investigate if all the non-officers remained outside. Kaito thought he should be applauded for not laughing in the blond's face. Shinichi had hurried to smooth the situation over by noting that there was more than enough room for everyone.

The girl in question lay thin and pale in the middle of her bed. She was lying so still that she would have appeared to be dead if it weren't for the shallow rise and fall of her chest as she breathed. Straight, brown hair framed a delicate face that would have been pretty if not for the sickly pallor of her skin and the unhealthy blue tint to her lips. An IV had been set up beside her bed, looking rather out of place in the otherwise comfortably furnished room.

"They wanted to keep her at the hospital, but we…we didn't want that," the girl's mother murmured. Her husband wrapped a supportive arm around her shoulders, his own expression grim.

"So what do we do now?" Sera whispered to Shinichi, leaning over to examine the sleeping girl's face. "Do curses leave signs?"

"Not usually. But we can do this." Raising his hands, Shinichi muttered something under his breath that the female officer couldn't quite catch. A moment later a faint, blue glow spread from Shinichi's hands to blanket the sleeping teenager. It stayed around her like a foggy cloak before fading away.

Wait, Sera amended, looking closer. Most of the light had vanished, but the girl's necklace was still glowing with that eerie, ice blue color.

"There." Shinichi's eyes narrowed as he leaned closer, studying the necklace. Then he straightened and turned to the girl's parents. "Excuse me, but do you know where your daughter got this necklace?"

"Necklace?" Both parents looked confused. They moved closer to see for themselves.

"I…don't remember seeing that before," her father said, frowning. "Why is it glowing?"

"What I just cast was a magic detection spell. The fact that it's glowing means that it's magical."

The girl's mother gasped. "Does that mean it's what's doing this to her?"

"Very likely."

"Then what are you waiting for? Let's get rid of it." That said, the father reached out and seized hold of the necklace. The next thing they knew, there was a blinding flash of light and a scream followed by a loud thud. When they could all see again, the man was slumped against the wall, unconscious. It was his wife's turn to scream.

Hattori rushed to the fallen man's side and checked his pulse. "It's okay," he reported. "He's alive. It just knocked him out."

"B—but what was that?"

"It's a protective enchantment to prevent people from removing the necklace, obviously," Kaito replied from where he was leaning against the wall with his arms folded across his chest. "Quite a powerful one too."

"Why would anyone do such a thing?!" the woman exclaimed, anguish and fear making her voice crack.

Sera moved to place a soothing hand on the distraught mother's arm. "That's what we're going to find out." She paused before continuing in a softer voice. "Would you like to wait outside?"

"You can show us where ta place yer husband," Hattori added. "It'd probably be better not ta just leave 'im lyin' on the ground."

"O—oh. Right…"

"Oi Hakuba, come give me a hand."

As the two male officers left with the couple, Sera turned back to Shinichi. "Can you tell what exactly the necklace is doing to her? Is she just sleeping?"

"No, it's definitely more than that," Shinichi replied, frowning in concentration. "I have a few guesses, but… Kaito?"

The demon left his spot against the wall and wandered over to stand beside Shinichi, hands stuffed in his pockets. The two conversed for a moment in low voices that Sera couldn't quite make out. She watched them with curious eyes. It still amazed her how human the demon seemed. While she didn't share her fellow transfer's prejudices against demon kind, she did have to admit that she found Kaito's constant presence both confusing and just a bit intriguing. She found herself trying to figure out how much of it was an act. No, it wasn't because she thought Kaito had malignant intentions hidden behind that cheery grin like Hakuba thought, but rather that she had noticed certain…moments. They were few, fleeting, and difficult to pick out, and she might have thought it was her imagination except that she knew she wasn't prone to imagining such things. It had happened when they had first stepped into this house and heard the worried parents explain what had happened to their daughter. It was a brief pause between expressions as though the man was calculating what that following expression or reaction should be. And yet his behavior didn't seem insincere or fabricated. She supposed he could just be a good actor or just naturally the calculating sort—he'd definitely shown signs of both. But part of her (call it intuition) thought that perhaps at least some of it was because he was still learning what the responses from a human point of view should be. And she had to wonder…

What could lead an entity whose very nature was so different from their own to want to learn how to be human? Was it just to perfect his act? Or did he really see something in them that he wanted to have as part of himself?

She suspected that her more romantically inclined friends would squeal that it was love, but she rather thought it was more complicated than that. After all, you had to see worth before you could really love something or someone.

There was a clatter at the door, and Hattori came back in followed by Hakuba.

"So ya guys find anything?"

Shinichi nodded. "We think her soul's been sent away."

"Really?" The dark-skinned detective frowned faintly. "I thought for sure it was some kind of life energy draining thing."

"That was my other guess," the blue-eyed detective admitted.

"But the abruptness of the change in her condition from perfectly healthy to this suggests otherwise," Kaito finished for him. "The victims of most draining spells show symptoms gradually over an extended period of time. Faster acting drains just take everything all at once, so if it was that then she should've just died when it went into effect."

"A body without a soul can't sustain itself for long," Shinichi continued. "One week is the longest most can manage, though if we use the right protective charms, we should be able to keep her body stable for up to a month—maybe a month and a half if we're lucky."

"Can we not break the spell?" Hakuba asked.

Kaito smirked. "You can, but I wouldn't bother if I were you."

The blond glared. "Well we're not you. We don't need payment to put effort into helping people."

The demon sneered. "Listen, Amateur, if someone breaks that spell and removes the necklace before the girl's soul is found and secured, her soul will be lost for good. She'll die."

Hakuba opened his mouth then shut it again.

Shinichi pinched the bridge of his nose. He was developing a headache. "What we need to do right now is set up the necessary charms that will help sustain her body. Then we have to find who made this necklace and figure out where he or she sent the girl's soul so we can retrieve it."

"I'll run over to the Charm Emporium then." Hattori turned to the door then turned back again to grab Hakuba's arm. "You come with me. You gotta brush up on yer basics."

Shinichi flashed his dark-skinned friend a grateful smile and got a wink back in return before the two officers disappeared.

"Now we have to explain everything to her mother," he said, not looking forward to the task but knowing it was necessary.

They found the woman in question sitting alone in the kitchen and watching a kettle heating on the stove. She looked up with no little amount of dread when they entered.

"How…how is she?"

The three traded looks before joining her at the table. Shinichi cleared his throat and set about explaining what they had found. The woman's expression grew cloudier with each word uttered. When they were done, she looked little better than her comatose daughter.

"We need to know if you have any idea who she might have gotten the necklace from," the detective concluded.

"I…I don't know."

"Does she have a boyfriend?" Sera asked.

"She hasn't mentioned anyone," the woman said a little uncertainly.

"How about an ex?"

"No, I don't think so. She's never shown much interest in dating."

"You mentioned that she went shopping that day with her friends," Shinichi recalled. "Do you know where exactly they went and who she went with that we could talk to?"

"I don't know where exactly they went, but she went with her two best friends. I can call them right now and see if they're available to speak with you."

Ten minutes later, the atmosphere in the kitchen was a cross between shocked, disturbed, and worried.

"No way," Sera muttered. "This is serious."

Kaito turned to Shinichi. "Shall I pop over and let Hattori know we'll need more of those charms?"

Shinichi nodded. "Thanks."

The demon flashed him a quick, reassuring smile then vanished, making the lady of the house jump.

The rest of the day had been something like a train wreck. The charms were rushed to the comatose girl's house (or rather Hattori and Hakuba rushed because the latter refused to let Kaito take the charms and teleport them back with him). Shinichi had set them up and then they'd all headed over to the girl's friends' houses to set up the rest of the charms. Both those friends had also been out cold. According to their respective parents, it had all started on the same night, and, as they had anticipated, both the other girls also had necklaces like the first.

The one stroke of good luck they had all day was that the last victim had an older brother who knew where the three girls had been. Unfortunately, the shopping district they had been visiting was the largest and busiest in the entire city. The brother himself insisted it had to be one of his sister's male classmates who, he said, had been bothering her. But since said classmate had no experience with magic or any connection to anyone who did, the police decided that he was unlikely to be the culprit.

The entire department was in a somber mood that evening. It looked like things were about to get busy again.

By then, Kaito could already tell that things were about to take a turn for the annoying.

Not only were they going to have to train the new transfers' magical skills in addition to solving cases, but one of those transfers had an attitude that would vex the most patient of demons. Considering his dear detective's workaholic tendencies… Well, suffice to say, they probably wouldn't be having much in the way of time to themselves in the near to semi-distant future.

-0-

"This is a map of the shopping district where the soul-stealing necklaces were apparently given to the victims," Shinichi said, spreading a large, paper map over the conference room table. The edges of the map flopped over the sides of the table.

Hattori let out a low whistle. "Ya know, I didn't notice before, but that shopping center is gigantic! There's gotta be more than a hundred stores on that map!"

"Four hundred and fifty six, to be exact," Hakuba said. "That count includes restaurants and permanent vendors' stands." He produced a handful of pamphlets and handed them out to his fellow officers, pointedly skipping the one non-officer present. Shinichi shifted when he opened his copy so that Kaito could look over his shoulder. It was one of the shopping district's mini maps.

"The problem is, we don't even know if they got the things from a store or from another visitor," Sera pointed out, skimming over the listed shops in their different categories. "If only we had more to go on. It's too bad none of those girls bought anything that day. Then we could have narrowed down the areas they were more likely to have visited."

Shinichi sighed. "We'll just have to start the old fashioned way. Maybe someone in the area saw them. It may also be a good idea to examine the work of all the local jewelers. The design of the pendant on the necklace was pretty unique. We can look for jewelers with similar styles of work."

As they left the conference room that day, each with their own assignment, none of them suspected just how big the case was going to get. Hattori was thinking about the Charm Emporium and how it had contracts with many of the city's jewelers and often participated in joint craftsmen shows. Maybe they would be able to identify whose work the necklaces might have been or at least suggest people they could ask. Hakuba was mentally drawing a grid over the section of the shopping center he would be searching the following day and planning the most efficient way to cover all that ground without missing anything. Sera was remembering how she'd overheard her neighbors talking the other day. One of them had mentioned meeting up with his girlfriend the very day the victims had been there at a café Sera knew was situated just beside one of the shopping center's main promenades. He'd mentioned being there all afternoon, and from what she knew of him, he'd always been a people watcher. On top of that, she recalled that his girlfriend worked at that very shopping center. He would be a good person to begin her investigation with. Shinichi was trying to remember where he'd stashed his books on soul related magic. He knew he had some, and maybe they would shed some light on why anyone would wish to steal souls. That was what was bothering him most. Who could possibly benefit from such a crime? If it was attempted murder, there were many, many easier ways. No, there had to be more to it. If they could work out who would benefit from the necklaces then it would be much easier to track down the missing souls and save the victims before they actually died.

As for Kaito, he was wondering what it was about humans that made them go out of their way to bother each other and cause trouble. True, most demons didn't much like each other's company, but at least they could all mutually agree then to just keep themselves to themselves (there were a few exceptions, obviously, but still, it worked most of the time). The majority of conflicts between demons resulted from their contracts with humans, and those instances were generally matters of business. Nothing personal. Perhaps it was because humans cared so much about what other people thought, he mused. Most demons couldn't care less what their fellows thought about anything. Since they didn't care, they didn't argue. It was that simple. Then again, he supposed, humans didn't have the power to live on their own. Since they had to rely on each other, they had no choice but to care what others thought and did.

Come to think of it, Shinichi had said something about that to him once a long, long time ago. It had been sometime near the beginning. Back then though, Kaito hadn't understood.

-0-

"Shinichi, you've been at this for hours."

No response.

"You realize it's almost dawn, right?"

Still no answer.

"You already skipped dinner. You can't skip breakfast too."

Silence.

"Did you fall asleep reading again?" Padding across the study, Kaito leaned down to peer at his detective's face. No, those pretty blue eyes were open. Not asleep then. They were a little unfocused though, clearly miles away.

Kaito straightened and considered the cowlick on the back of the detective's head for a moment. Then he snapped his fingers. A mug of coffee popped into existence on the desk beside the pile of magical texts Shinichi had been reading.

Blue eyes blinked, their owner lured out of his daze by the tantalizing aroma of fresh coffee. Like a moth to a flame, he turned towards the mug. His eyes brightened, and he had just made to pick up the mug when it vanished just as quickly as it had appeared.

Shinichi pouted and finally turned to look up at him. "Kaito," he complained, his tone conveying his disgruntlement with the little trick.

"You can have the coffee after you eat something."

The detective gave him a reproachful look that only made the demon smile. Recognizing a lost battle when he saw one, Shinichi surrendered. "Fine." He stood up and almost fell back into his chair as pins and needles assaulted his legs. Okay, note to self. Long hours on a hardwood chair without moving? Bad idea.

A strong arm wrapped around his waist, steadying him. "That's what you get for not taking breaks when you should."

Shinichi blushed and scowled, but he couldn't argue that Kaito had a point. So he let the demon lead him to the kitchen where a to-go box of pasta from one of the local restaurants sat waiting on the table. He felt a twinge of guilt when he saw it. That restaurant only opened in the afternoon, so Kaito must have gotten it last night. Shinichi hadn't even noticed. And it looked like Kaito hadn't touched it either. Of course, the demon didn't strictly have to eat, but Shinichi knew he enjoyed it very much.

"Here." Moving quickly to the cupboards, Shinichi fetched two plates and set about dividing up the pasta and reheating it. It was only as the tantalizing aroma of hot pasta started permeating the kitchen that he realized just how hungry he really was.

They ate in a companionable silence. When Shinichi had finished, he looked up to find that the mug of coffee that had eluded him earlier had made a reappearance sometime while he wasn't looking. He picked it up and turned a grateful smile towards his partner.

"Thank you," he said, referring not just to the coffee and food. There were, he thought, many, many things that he had to be grateful to Kaito for. Sometimes, he wished he was better at saying so, but he had the feeling deep down that Kaito already knew.

Kaito wasn't just a—a business partner like most demons were with the wizards they made contracts with. He was a confidante that Shinichi was comfortable sharing his thoughts with and a thoughtful friend who paid attention to the little things. He watched Shinichi's back—indeed, had saved his life on multiple occasions—and offered support and comfort when the detective was feeling down. Kaito had taught him how to enjoy many of those little things in life he had once paid no attention to. Looking at all that, Shinichi thought that it really shouldn't be surprising that he had fallen in love with the demon even if he had struggled for so long with admitting it. Although he also had to admit that he still didn't entirely understand why Kaito had chosen him.

Kaito had sought him out, he was sure of that. But how the demon had even known he existed was a complete mystery that the demon himself had never explained. When Shinichi brought it up, he only ever laughed and said something about the wheels of fate (who knew a demon could be such a romantic?).

Shinichi gave himself a shake. Now wasn't really the time to be pondering the oddities of his partner and the development of their relationship.

"What's on your mind?"

Looking up, Shinichi blushed and cast around quickly for something believable to say. "I…was wondering what anyone could want with dislocated souls." It was true too, he mused. He'd been wondering that all day—er, night. It just wasn't what had been on his mind a few seconds ago. "I don't suppose you have any guesses?"

Kaito actually looked chagrined. "Unfortunately, souls aren't really my area of expertise."

Shinichi blinked. Kaito rarely ever admitted to being bad at anything. "Oh. Um, well, do you know anyone who might know more then?"

Kaito hesitated for a moment before answering, his words slow and measured. "There is one demon whose very well versed in these kinds of things," he said slowly. "She's another one that can travel between our plains as she wishes, and last I checked she kept several manors in assorted locations. But she's—tricky. She doesn't make deals with humans. The deals she does make, she makes only if the task amuses her, and even then her prices are hefty."

Shinichi sighed. "That's not much help then."

"No," Kaito agreed. "But I can tell you what I've heard from her, although I cannot guarantee that any of it is completely—if at all—true."

Shinichi had to smile then. "I guess we'll just have to compare notes then."

"Not much luck with the books?"

"Unfortunately." A grimace flashed across his face, but he shook it off. "As far as I could gather, most soul related magic is focused around how to read people. There is a minor study on how to safely send your soul out of your body to travel, but it's tricky and dangerous if done improperly. And it doesn't explain why anyone would want to dislocate someone else's soul."

"So you still don't believe it could just be a very round about attempt at murder?"

"I guess it's not impossible, but like we discussed before, it doesn't make sense to go to such lengths. Someone with these skills could just as easily have just slapped a killing curse on the necklaces and been done with it. No, there must be more to it." He paused to take another sip of coffee. "So you said you've heard some things…?"

"Mostly general things. Souls are the essence of a person—the core of your personality, talents, and that sort of thing. They are also, for the most part, eternal. When a human dies, its soul travels first to a higher plain before returning to be reborn. The length of time between reincarnations varies—"

"Wait, you mean people really do get reborn?"

"Yes." The demon's voice was unusually quiet. "But the soul is also the only part of a person that makes the transition. Bodies are often similar—or so I've been told—because souls get accustomed to certain vessels, and that has some influence over the way the bodies develop, but again, it depends."

"Have you ever recognized anyone from another life of theirs?" Shinichi asked, intrigued.

For some reason, the question made Kaito laugh. "A few times."

Shinichi frowned slightly. Was it just him or was there a note of sadness in Kaito's voice when he said that? "Have you heard anything about what someone might actually be able to do with it if they got a hold of another person's soul?"

"For the most part, no. I believe there were humans in the past who thought you could use souls to animate faux or dead bodies, but it didn't generally work too well. Not a good fit. And life energy is part of the body, not the soul, so actually moving still required something else. If the original body is still alive, the soul will retain access to the memories it has in that life, but communicating with a disembodied soul isn't easy either. Understanding them is even harder. Oh, and I've heard that some souls can be quite pretty."

Shinichi stared at him. "…Huh?"

Kaito shrugged. "It's just what I've heard. Remember, I'm not an expert on this subject, and Koizumi only tells me things when she has a motive to do so."

Shinichi supposed that meant that this Koizumi was the expert. "Well, that's more than I knew before. Thank you."

Kaito smiled. "No problem." Draining the last of his own sweetened coffee, he rose from the table. "If you go now, you should be able to get at least an hour or two of sleep before we have to head out. I'll clean up."

Shinichi rose too. "You really don't have to. I can do that later."

But the demon waved him away. "That's alright. I don't need to sleep, remember?" Leaning down, he stole a quick coffee-flavored kiss before giving Shinichi a push towards the kitchen doorway. "Now go on. You won't be any use to anyone if you don't get at least a little rest."

Later, as he stood by Shinichi's bedroom window, looking up at the brightening night sky and listening to the soft, even breathing of his slumbering love, Kaito wished once again as he had done countless times before that there was some way for Shinichi to remember all those other lifetimes they had spent together. All those memories, so precious to him yet lost forever to the one he'd made them with… He wondered sometimes where all those memories went for Shinichi. Were they truly lost? Or was it remotely possible that they were tucked away somewhere deep inside him? Somewhere where even Shinichi himself couldn't reach them but there all the same, safe…

Kaito would like to think that that was it, but it wasn't a matter that he allowed himself to dwell on too much.

Their time together was too precious to waste on such pointless thoughts.

His hands clenched reflexively by his sides.

It felt like they never had enough time. Those few blissful years between each reunion and parting were never long enough.

If only…

-To Be Continued-