The sparrow & the fox

Sixth year. 

With 16, Shinichi decided he hated double dates. Especially double dates with Sonoko and her newest addition to the long list of guys she broke up with shortly after the first date, because the guy wasn't interesting enough for her. 

This time, he wouldn't even blame her, because the guy practically had peas for a brain and kept constantly talking to him (instead of Sonoko), about topics that didn't interest him in the slightest. 

Like herbology. Or which quidditch team was most likely to win the world championship this year. He also didn't care for flower arrangements. Like, at all. 

He didn't even like to dance, especially not while he was wearing his traditional yukata, hakama and haori. 

Since the moment they sat down at the table in the moya, he had felt too hot in his clothes and had felt a headache coming on.

"The flower arrangements this year are really beautiful, aren't they?", Ran smiled and brushed a strand of her hair behind her ear.

"Mhm...", he answered non-committal and looked around the hall. Flower arrangements bored him to death... She really looked pretty tonight though. 

Ran was wearing a light blue kimono and he could tell, she wanted to impress him with her looks. And she did. He even told her how pretty she looked and had kissed her cheek before. Somehow, it still felt strained between them. She kept trying to involve him in their conversations, but it was so damn boring... 

The evening went on and he kept thinking about the latest article involving 'the shadows' and their newest crime activities in Tokyo, while the others were talking about the music group who played, the food and what they wanted to do on their next holiday. 

Sonoko kept boasting about an upcoming trip to Singapore. Shinichi tuned out again. If only he had at least something to read, like a newspaper. He was following up on the activities of 'the shadows' for years now. 

He kept turning over the details of their latest crime in his head, not only to keep himself entertained at the moment, but also to maybe find a reason or pattern in their recent activities. 

He didn't understand how some people could just go on with their lives right now and pretend nothing was going on in the wizarding world, while the Swift Feather was full of daily news about gruesome attacks committed by the shadows and terrible things going on in their world, like forbidden curses used, break-ins and even abductions of people. 

Only last week, a known wizard was found murdered in Tokyo. Tortured to death with the cruciatus curse by a so-called shadow, which was seen leaving the house in a black, long hooded cloak and a white mask, by a terrified neighbour, who was now in hiding. 

Shinichi still had that day vividly in mind, because it was the first time, he had seen Ai shocked to her core. That day, after reading the newspaper article, she was white as a sheet and had left the table like a bolt. 

Later that night, Heiji and him found out, why she had reacted that way... Under tears, she had told them for the first time, how her parents had died and why she was living with headmaster Agasa since she was a child. 

Shinichi had hugged her close then and had tried to calm her. But he wouldn't forget the moment, Heiji and he looked at each other, swearing silently, they would catch them one day, after they became Aurors. 

He sighed. Hattori... He hadn't seen his best friend the whole evening. He knew, he and his long time girlfriend Kazuha were also on a date tonight. He wished the four of them had gone on a double date tonight instead. 

Then, he would have had someone to talk to... Even Ai wasn't here tonight. His other best friend wasn't feeling too well and said she rather wanted to stay in her room, reading. He wished he could do the same right now. 

Another thought stroke him and he kept looking around, searching the masses of people in the moya with his eyes. 

Where was that no good prankster Kuroba all night? Shinichi was sure, the guy was planning something for tonight... He always did, at nights like this. If he could catch him red handed this time, he could prevent his pranks and shenanigans. Even if they were never serious or harmful, they often caused a great deal of chaos and-

"Shinichi?", Ran asked and he looked up.

"Hm?" When had they wandered onto the balcony? And where were Sonoko and her boyfriend- Oh well, he didn't really care. And what was that in that tree up there? He saw a piece of white cloth and smirked. There you are...

"Maybe I will go dance with Sera...", she said, a slightly distant look on her face and he frowned, a bit confused. She seemed angry. Had she said something and he hadn't listened again? But, if she wanted to dance, even better. He smiled relieved.

"Oh yeah, you should definitely do that."

Anger flitted over her face now.

"Fine. Oh, and Shinichi?"

"Hm?"

"We're breaking up", she said coldly and turned away from him.

"Wait- wha-" He froze and tried to get a hold of her, completely in shock. She whirled around, but her anger was a thunderstorm now. He gulped. 

Normally she only had that look reserved for the quidditch field. He loved that about her... Her fierceness and her strength as a Beater. She always looked liked a fearless warrior princess in moments like this. 

Now, she looked at him like that and he gulped nervously, taking a step back. He knew she could also throw a mean punch and practiced Karate, he had seen her train several times. 

"Oh, so now you can listen to me? Alright, listen good. You are an egocentric idiot, you hear me? I know I deserve better than you treating me like I'm air!" 

He winced. That hurt... mostly, because it rang true.

"But Ran-"

"No!", she said in a shaking voice. Oh no. Now she definitely was crying. Her pretty grey eyes filled up with tears, which were running down her cheeks now. He felt terrible. He had done this. This was entirely his fault...

"Please don't cry Ran. You know I hate to see you sad. I'm sorry, really, I was just-"

She turned away from him.

"Don't- just- don't. It's not just this night. It's... We just aren't good for each other. And if you are honest, you don't even want to be with me, Shinichi."

"That's not true!", he said hurriedly.

"Oh really? You never actually want to spent time with me alone... and even if we are alone for once, you always seem distant. I've felt like this for a long time now. We don't even go on dates anymore, because you always say, you have no time for it. You and Heiji constantly have your heads in some articles because of a crime 'the shadows' committed again or you don't have any time for hanging out with me or my friends, because you have to do excessive school work, because you want to be an Auror so much. Or you have prefect duties three times a week or quidditch training on weekends and if it isn't that, it is stupid Kuroba. You talk about him non-stop, did you ever notice that? Why are you so obsessed with him anyway?" 

He sputtered and bristled at her accusation, feeling suddenly hot.

"You've got to be kidding! I am not!" 

Her expression became flat and disbelieving.

"Even now, you were looking for him- admit it!"

"What, but-", he stuttered.

"Shinichi...", she warned. He threw his hands in the air, defeated.

"Yeah, okay?! It's just- I know he's planning something. He always does something at times like these. And if I can stop it beforehand, then everybody else can have a better time, don't you think?", he protested. 

Ran shook her head. Her eyes hardened in a glare before she turned on her heel and left.

"Urgh. It's like talking to a wall with you."

"Ran, please wait-"

"Leave me alone!", she threw angrily over her shoulder. Shinichi sighed frustrated, turned and leaned heavy onto the wooden balcony railing. He looked over the lake, feeling completely drained and depressed.

"You can come down now...", Shinichi sighed. "And it's very impolite to eavesdrop by the way..." 

Kuroba jumped down from the tree nearby, as if it was an easy feat and landed beside him, almost soundless. Sometimes he wondered if the guy was part cat. Shinichi didn't want to look at him directly though and kept looking over the railing. He felt utterly embarrassed that Ran had said all those things in front of Kuroba, even if she hadn't known he was there.

"I'm sorry. I didn't want to, but then I thought it would be even worse to make myself acknowledged while you two-...", Kuroba muttered, trailing off. He didn't finish his sentence, but he didn't need to. Instead, he leaned beside him at the railing.

"Are you um- are you okay?", he asked.

Shinichi snorted, still not looking at him.

"What do you care... don't you have rules to break or cause mischief again with one of your stupid pranks?", he groused.

"No." His tone was carefully blank, which made Shinichi look at the other in surprise.

"What?" 

Kuroba was looking over the lake too, his face unusual serious.

"I wanted to at first. But now I think... I can give it a rest for one night."

They were silent for a while.

"I'm sorry", Kuroba said quietly. Shinichi sighed.

"Don't be. It wasn't your fault. You heard her. It's not just you or tonight... it was coming for a long time now", he replied resigned. 

"Still...", Kuroba protested. Shinichi smiled, humourlessly, shaking his head.

"You can go now. You don't have to stay or anything. I'm okay." Was he though? He couldn‘t say how he felt exactly... it was all a big mess. He knew he should feel sad or angry. Instead, he was just tired and felt mostly guilty... 

"I know I don't have to. I want to", Kuroba answered stubbornly. 

Shinichi threw him a bewildered look.

"Why?" 

Kuroba shrugged, smiling playfully.

"To look at the lanterns? The view from here is spectacular and I think they will start soon." 

Shinichi felt stupid again. Of course, he didn't stay for him. They weren't even friends, they weren't... really anything. A year ago, he would have said, Kaito Kuroba was his long-time nemesis, his forever rival. Since their first year, teachers kept comparing them, as they were both on top of their shared classes. Kuroba just liked to use his wit for much different things, than Shinichi. 

Sometimes, it seemed to him, they were like two sides of the same coin. Kuroba was everything, Shinichi wasn't. Loud, attention seeking, troublesome and he liked to break or bend rules, most of all. 

What bugged him the most though, was how ruthlessly clever and talented Kuroba actually was. Even if the guy always made trouble and never seemed to take the time to learn, he still bested Shinichi in some subjects, like potions. 

In addition, there was the fact, that Shinichi was a prefect... He couldn't count anymore, how often he had chased the guy down a corridor at night, trying to catch him, while he was out at night, breaking the curfew rule for the thousandth time, because sleep was also something Kuroba just didn't seem to need as much as other people. 

But a few months ago, Shinichi had changed his mind about him. Kaito Kuroba wasn't always the cheeky troublemaker and class clown he made himself out to be, no... He could also be charming and actually nice. 

Like right now. 

They kept looking over the lake and the village in comfortable silence, following the ministrations of the villagers. It was almost time, so the people in the village gathered at the lake and started to get the lanterns ready. 

Then it began. At first, they were only in the water, but then, people began to spell them into the air too. And then it was just a beautiful, romantic sight. 

They stood, side by side at the red wooden railing and looked over the thousands of yellow and orange glowing lanterns that covered the black sky before them. 

Normally it was a sight you enjoyed with friends, family or even your lover. Shinichi stole a look over at Kaito and found him smiling at the spectacle with a rare soft smile. 

Something in his chest tugged at his heart at the sight. Kaito was wearing a dark blue and red yukata, with a white hakama and haori. Shinichi had to admit, he looked attractive. He blinked and quickly looked away again, trying to will his unwelcome blush down.  

He shouldn't think like that, he chided himself, even guiltier now. Just a few minutes ago, Ran had broken up with him. He should think about how to get her back... Instead, he found himself thinking about Kaito Kuroba. What was wrong with him? Was Ran right? Was he really obsessed with this guy?

"Beautiful, isn't it?", Kaito asked in a soft tone. And Shinichi looked over at him again.

"Yeah...", he croaked and gulped, looking at Kaito's face for a few seconds, while the other kept looking at the spectacle. His unruly, wild mop of hair that always looked like the wind had just blown threw it, his long black eyelashes, his indigo blue eyes, which seemed to shine, his lips... Why was he still blushing? What was he thinking about anyway? 

He hurriedly looked at the lake again, where the second part of the festival had started now. The enormous koi fish in the lake were glowing white in the dark water, like underwater ghostly light bulbs. 

The moonbeam koi, or tsukikage nishikigois, they were called. It was tradition that, after giving light to the lanterns and watching them fly to the sky, the huge koi would sort of do a dance underwater. 

They symbolized good fortune, success, prosperity and ambition. While watching them, one could wish for success in their year. But some also liked to watch the fish with their intended lover, so the relationship would be a good one. 

Shinichi blushed even more. He had wanted to watch the koi dance with Ran tonight. But then, everything changed. Now he thought, it was probably for the best...

He saw that Kaito had a far away look on his face too while watching the koi dance and Shinichi remembered something. He wondered if Kaito felt uncomfortable watching the koi. He remembered this one Defence Against the Dark Arts lesson... the one time, a few months back, when Kaito had stepped in front of him, out of pure kindness and his view about him had changed. 

The lesson had been about boggarts and their worst fears. Mōri-sensei had stepped out, after one of the other students had fainted, but the class had continued without him. 

It had been his turn and Shinichi honestly hadn't thought about anything at that moment. He never even wondered about what he feared the most, because giving into his fears never was an option to him. 

For him, there were only solutions. But at that time, the boggart had changed from the giant rat with the pink oversized ribbon on its head (who would have thought Ai's greatest fear were rats?) to something else...

Something, he hadn't thought, would scare him. The room instantly got darker and the rat changed into a cemetery. 

At first, he wanted to laugh. What's so scary about a cemetery, he wanted to ask. It's just stones and some dirt, right? 

Death was a natural part of life, he knew that. But then it dawned on him. 

The names on the gravestones... It were the names of everybody he ever loved and held dear. All of them. They were dead and he was alive. He was completely and utterly alone in the world. 

Suddenly he had felt like somebody had punched him in his gut and he couldn't think clearly anymore. He couldn't think about anything funny. 

What was funny about being the last person alive, while all of your friends and family were dead? He had felt cold and helpless. 

What purpose to life was there, if you didn't have anyone anymore to live for? Was this some kind of foreshadowing? A sight into his future? Maybe it was his fault... maybe he had failed to save them. 

The other students in the line behind him had begun to whisper. Some of them giggled uncertainly or fired him on to get on with it already. Ai tried to shush them sternly, but it didn't help much. He had a complete blackout. 

Then suddenly Kaito stepped forward, gently pushed him aside and stood in front of him. Without warning, the boggart changed again and the class erupted into laughter. It was a giant fish, gulping a giant water bubble at Kaito, who paled and shuddered visibly. 

Shinichi wasn't laughing though. He had heard about Ichtyphobia and knew it was a serious phobia, just like any other phobias.

And then Kaito yelled Riddikulus and the fish blew up, like someone left air out of a balloon, making a hideous noise. 

When all the air was out, it even popped and exploded into a reign of confetti and fireworks and all the other students of their shared class laughed and were happy. 

Shinichi just stood there. Frozen on the spot, watching his usual show of tricks with a hollow feeling in his chest. 

But Kaito had looked back at him, really looked at him, while all the others were occupied and distracted and his eyes were asking 'Are you okay?'. 

Shinichi had blown out the air he was holding in, his limbs still stiff, like he was a puppet and his hands clammy with cold sweat. 

Nevertheless, he had tried to put on a shaking little, thankful smile and nodded. Kaito had nodded back and stepped away, as if nothing had happened. He swore to himself that day, he never would make fun of Kaito's phobia, ever.

"Why are you looking like that?", Kaito suddenly asked beside him. Shinichi shook out of his memories.

"What do you mean?", he lied.

"You look like you've seen a ghost..."

Shinichi shook his head.

"It's nothing. I just remembered something." He smiled reassuringly, before he could stop himself. And to his surprise, Kaito smiled back. 

Their hands were lying on the red wooden railing right next to each other and for a moment, they just looked at each other, at a loss for words. 

It should have been uncomfortable. Instead, it was... something warm. And nice... Enjoyable. Then the bell in the tower in the middle of the village chimed midnight... and the next moment, they heard a crash from inside the moya... then a confused scream. 

More screams, agitated, angry voices, and the moment was definitely broken. 

They looked back at the moya. Then Shinichi narrowed his eyes at Kuroba instead, who whether looked surprised, nor guilty...

"Kuroba...", Shinichi grumbled warningly. A sheepish grin formed on the other boys face. Shinichi wanted to hit him with a bludger. Hard... to wipe that stupid grin right off his face.

"Oops, I think I have to go. I forgot about that one."

Shinichi sighed, his expression sour. He wasn't surprised at all though, he knew something like this would happen, didn‘t he?

"What did you do this time?", he asked almost resigned. Kuroba smirked, a little giddy, like he almost had only waited for this question.

"Nothing too serious, I swear. I hexed Hakuba's favourite sweets. Well, all the sweets, to be honest. If eaten, by midnight, it will morph you into your favourite animal for a few minutes. He probably does have a horse head by now, trying to eat Aoko's hair or something...", Kuroba laughed. The most annoying thing for Shinichi was the thought that crossed his mind as he watched Kuroba laugh. He really has a pretty smile...

"What would you have done, if I had eaten some of the sweets tonight and say, my favourite animal would have been a crocodile?", Shinichi asked, crossing his arms over his chest, trying very hard not to smile too. Kuroba smirked and looked at him so confidently for a moment, Shinichi‘s heart stuttered. 

"But you don't like sweets and your favourite animal isn't a crocodile, Kudō", he answered so fast and so sure of himself, that Shinichi was almost certain, he actually had planned it like that. How did he even know these details about him? He didn't know what he should think about that. 

They both turned around as they could actually hear a horse neighing, above other animal cries, coming out of the open doors of the moya. Kuroba grinned wickedly.

"Maybe I should have given her a carrot instead of a flower tonight", he snickered. Shinichi couldn't help the bubbling laugh that escaped him at that thought. He felt guilty for it, a second later. Still...

"That's... actually a little funny. But it's still against the rules- and dangerous-" He really tried hard to wipe that smile off his lips. Damnit. 

Kuroba smirked at him with twinkling eyes. Something in his stomach turned over at that dangerous smirk. He had to look away.

"There is that smile and attitude I already missed... It's good you are your old self again", Kuroba said amused and winked at him with a flirty glint in his eyes. 

Shinichi looked up perplexed, a treacherous hot feeling pooling in his stomach now and his heart suddenly beating faster. In the next second, Kaito was gone though. 

How does he always do that? Instead of him though, there was now a beautiful dark blue rose lying next to him on the wooden railing right beside Shinichi. 

Shinichi took and smelled it and if he later, put it safely in his trunk, nobody needed to know. 

He looked back at the moya and sighed.

First, he needed to get inside and help with the mess Kaito had created...