Fic: Holiday Spirits: 1/?
Dec. 25th, 2008 11:11 pm![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
soc_puppetOh God. I tried, guys, I really really tried, and frankly, cranking out eight pages in two or three days is pretty amazing for me. B-but I think this fic is going to reach about twice the length it is now, if not more, and it's already half past eleven on Christmas. I don't feel like I can put this off any longer, especially with other stuff to work on; I guess I'll just have to make it a (hopefully not too drawn-out) WIP. Worse comes to worst, I'll knock it out in January for ![[livejournal.com profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/external/lj-community.gif)
fic_off.
Fandom: Magic Kaito (with Detective Conan cameos and Christmas Carol fusion elements)
Summary: Hakuba is visited by the Ghosts of Christmases Past, Present and Future - but it's not about him this time. Roughly 2300 words and counting.
Fic:
Holiday Spirits
Saguru yawned as he turned the key and unlocked the door to his house. It had been a long day in the department - major holidays always were - but he had managed to wrangle one of the coveted Christmas vacation days, and was looking forward to spending tomorrow with friends and family and generally adding to his holiday waistline. Even the fact that the Kid had a heist scheduled for Christmas night couldn't disrupt his holiday cheer; the Kid, he thought ruefully, had always been bad at remembering important dates, so it wasn't much of a surprise.
Smiling crookedly, Saguru shrugged off his coat and began preparing for bed. After changing into his nightclothes and brushing his teeth, Saguru made a quick trip to the kitchen for a glass of water - which he promptly dropped after returning to his room and opening the door.
A strange man was sitting on the edge of Saguru's bed, taking in his surroundings. He wore a suit and tie and a wide grin. A pair of dark glasses was perched on his nose, completely at odds with the half-lit room, and he was crowned by a mess of short, dark curls. He also had not been there fifteen minutes ago when Saguru had left the room.
Saguru hastily picked up the glass he had dropped and glared at the man. "Who are you and how did you get in here?"
"Ah," the man said, his grin stretching somehow, "my name is Matsuda. It's a pleasure to meet you, Hakuba-san. Sorry for startling you earlier; I've found it to be something of an unavoidable job hazard." Despite the dark lenses, Saguru got the distinct impression he had been winked at. "Anyway, I'm here to warn you that, tonight, you will be visited by three--"
"Oh no, not again," Saguru cut in. "I've already done that once, and I've been keeping Christmas since then, all right? All bloody year round."
Matsuda shook his head. "You've got it wrong, kid. It's not about you this time."
Saguru's eyebrows went up as he turned the new information over in his head. "It isn't? I mean, oh, good."
The man - the ghost, Sagurur corrected himself, chuckled. "No, it's not. It's about a friend of yours, actually. See, he's taken a course of action that's going to land him in some nasty situations in the future, and the Powers That Be want to change that. Problem is, he's got protection from most of the magical and spiritual forces, and that includes the ones in charge of Japan.
"That's where you come in. See, since you've been doing such a fantastic job after your own visit, and since he is your friend, the Powers figured you might be able to influence him on their behalf."
Great, I finish early so they assign me extra work, Saguru thought dully.
Matsuda continued. "The Japanese Powers were all ready to intervene right then, what with your friend being Japanese and you being in Japan, but the British Powers had to step up. You have already successfully gone through their system, after all, so why try and introduce something new? There was a bit of a row then, but they eventually reached a compromise."
"That being?"
The ghost leaned back and studied the ceiling. "They'll be using the British system, but with Japanese representatives. Which brings us back to where I started: I'm here to warn you that tonight you will be visited by three spirits. They'll appear to you to show you what Christmas could and does mean to your friend. After that, what happens is up to you."
Matsuda got to his feet then, and began walking leisurely to the bedroom door. He clapped a not-quite-opaque hand on Saguru's shoulder as he passed. "Expect the first spirit when the clock tolls one," he drawled. Then, without fanfare, he was gone.
Saguru stood dazed there for a moment. When he registered that the ghost had gone, he set the empty glass on his bedside table and slipped between the sheets; there was no point in waiting up for the first spirit to arrive. Besides that, now that the adrenaline was fading, exhaustion was catching up to him, and it had still been a long day. He might as well try to get what sleep he could before it was back to work (such as it was).
It was with these thoughts in mind that he turned out the small reading lamp beside his bed and closed his eyes. Despite his best intentions, however, he found sleep eluding him, and tossed under the covers for some time. He must have drifted off at some point, though, because he was woken abruptly by his bedside light being turned back on and someone saying, "Good morning, Hakuba-san."
Groaning tiredly, Saguru reached for his pocket watch on the bedside table. Grasping it in still sleep-heavy hands, he squinted at its face. "Ah. One o'clock," he muttered. "Of course." Blinking the sleep from his eyes, he peered blearily around his bedroom. A familiar-looking boy of about seven years of age stood not far from the bed, smiling blandly at him. The boy had short, slightly tousled brown hair, piercing blue eyes masked by a pair of over-large spectacles, and was wearing a red bow-tie and a child's sized dark blue blazer. "The Ghost of Christmas Past, I presume?" Saguru said mildly.
The child's mouth turned up at the ends. "Your deduction is impeccable, Hakuba-san. I wasn't sure you'd know me in this form."
"Yes, well, I did have an idea of what to expect," Saguru responded, moving to leave the bed; he was feeling much more awake now. "Though since you brought it up, I am curious as to why you're appearing in this shape."
"Ah, that." The spirit shrugged his shoulder. "It was part of our bargain with Japan. Usually, we have pre-set forms to rely upon, but the Japanese Powers felt that our Western appearance would be inappropriate for the setting. Since they had no forms ready for us yet, it was decided that we should appear instead as persons in whom they have some vested interest."
Saguru frowned at the spirit-turned-boy. "I suppose, after having spent so much time with famous detectives and the like, this child will grow up to solve crimes of some sort?"
"Something like that, yes." The spirit tilted his head up and extended a hand. "Shall we go, then?"
Saguru spared a minute to consider things. The spirit was quite obviously changing the subject, but had come for a different reason, after all; Saguru couldn't say he hadn't been thoroughly informed of this. He also couldn't deny that there was worse attire for such a journey than full pajamas, slippers, and a housecoat. Taking the proffered hand, and feeling not a little unlike Arthur Dent being led along by Slartibartfast into Magrathea, Saguru nodded and said, "When you're ready, spirit."
Turning, the spirit began to walk, Saguru a step behind him. Though he had made a similar journey not too long ago, he had been less disposed to mind the details at the time. Now, he watched in guarded fascination as, with each step he took, scenery and years flashed by, too quickly to leave more than a lasting impression.
It wasn't long at all before they reached their destination: a nice house in the Ekoda suburbs - a familiar one, at that. He examined it as the spirit lead him through the front wall (a benefit of time-shifted incorporeality): there were a few garlands up, and a tree in the corner with wrapped presents beneath, which was more than he expected in a Japanese household. The television was on, tuned to a news station, revealing the date at about fifteen years prior to Saguru's present.
"Might I ask whose house this is?" Saguru inquired of the spirit. He had his suspicions, but he hadn't been told the identity of the person he was to help, so he'd just as soon be sure.
"You'll see in a moment," was the spirit's cryptic reply. Saguru supposed served him right for trying to ask a spirit a direct question.
At that moment, the front door swung open, admitting a man in his late twenties or early thirties. "I'm home," he called out, shutting the door against the winter's chill and stepping out of his shoes.
There was at once a clatter from elsewhere in the house, and a boy of about six came rocketing into the room yelling, "Daaaaaaddyyyyy--!" The child launched himself at his father, who caught him deftly. "Daddy Daddy Daddy, you're back!" The man chuckled at his son's antics and held him close.
"Now, Kaito," a woman chided, emerging flour-dusted into the room, "what are you supposed to say to Daddy when he comes home?"
"Oh, yeah." The child hugged his father tight around the neck and said, beaming, "Welcome home, Daddy!"
"Thank you, Kaito," the man replied, squeezing the boy lightly around the middle. With his free arm, he reached out to the woman, who joined the family hug with happy grace.
"Welcome home, Toichi," she said to him, kissing his cheek.
He smiled warmly at her and returned the kiss. "It's good to be home again, dear."
His suspicions confirmed and then some, Saguru couldn't help but feel somewhat of a voyeur to his rival's childhood memories. "This is what Kuroba's Christmases were like?" he addressed the spirit as the family performed magic tricks in the background.
The spirit nodded. "Some of them. The ones up to now and for a few more years as well."
The year faded out as Saguru watched, a new one taking its place. It was quite similar to the year before it, though Kuroba's father had a bit of gray in his hair now, and moved a bit more stiffly. "What changed?" Saguru asked, a new year fading into place again.
The spirit's expression turned grim. "His father."
Seeing the man's still more wearied posture, Saguru thought he understood.
Then the next year faded in, and Kuroba's father had vanished completely. Many of the decorations from previous years were gone as well, only a few sprigs of holly and the odd dove (live, of course) remaining to acknowledge the season.
Kuroba himself sat hunched on the floor, practicing a card trick Saguru recognized as a staple from his teen years. When Kaito missed the shuffle, cards fell into a small but messy pile around him, and the boy seemed to fold in on himself a bit more, sniffing.
"Kaito?" The boy wiped his eyes and looked up as his mother entered the room. "What's wrong, honey?" she asked, kneeling down beside him.
Kaito hiccuped, and wiped his eyes again. "I m-miss Dad," he confessed quietly.
His mother wrapped her arms around him at this, enfolding him in her embrace. "I know, Kaito," she told him, her voice strained. "I do, too."
They stayed like that a while, Kuroba's mother rubbing her son's back as he sobbed quietly into her shoulder, Saguru growing more uncomfortable with each passing second; he felt wrong to intrude on their grief, such a private affair, and couldn't help blaming the spirit a bit for bringing him there.
At last Kuroba's mother pulled back, wiping first her own eyes and then Kuroba's with a handkerchief she dug from her apron pocket. "Let's get you cleaned up then, dear," she murmured to him. "Now, what were you working on?"
Kuroba hiccuped again and shoved the cards into a more comprehensive pile. "I was trying to do the trick with the flip-change, the one Dad liked," he explained.
His mother smiled, mussing his already untidy hair with her fingers. "That's a good one. Want to show me how it's going?"
Kaito curled away from the idea. "I'm not - I don't have it right yet," he admitted wretchedly.
"Okay; you can show me when you're ready, then," she told him, planting a kiss on his forehead. "Remember, whenever you're working on a magic trick, whether you get it right or not, Dad's working on it with you."
"'Kay," Kuroba sniffed.
She smiled at him, somewhat wetly, and said, "I'm going to work on supper now. You want to keep working on the trick?"
"Uh-huhn," Kuroba grunted.
The woman's smile lightened somewhat, and she ruffled his hair once more before getting to her feet. "That's my boy. You show me when you're ready to, all right?"
"'lright."
"All right. I'll let you get back to work on it."
Saguru observed Kuroba organizing the pile into a deck for a few more seconds, then as it faded into future years, each one with less acknowledgment of Christmas until there was nothing at all to celebrate it. He asked, "Is that what I was supposed to see, spirit?"
"You've seen what you were supposed to, yeah," the spirit answered. "I'll be taking you back, now."
Saguru nodded, and the spirit took his hand again. Space and time warped around them a second time, though this time it was independent of movement. When Saguru's bedroom had settled around him again, the spirit released his hand.
"Expect the next spirit when the clock strikes two," Saguru heard. With that, the Ghost of Christmas Past vanished.
Noting the deadline, Saguru checked his pocket watch again; only a few minutes had passed since they'd left, though it had seemed much longer. Time was time, though, and sleep was sleep, so Saguru decided to try for more time in the land of Nod.
This time when he fell into bed, though his mind was buzzing with questions, he fell almost immediately into a dreamless sleep.
--To Be Continued--
Leaving it there, so I can get some sleep myself. This is about twice as long as my longest oneshot to date already (IIRC), and probably three times as long as my average oneshot, so it should definitely count for both Day Four and Day Five, I think. I'll try and double up anyway someday soon.
Some notes:
1) Yes, we'll find out more about Hakuba's previous visit by the three ghosts.
2) I could not resist the Hitchhiker's reference.
3) Comments and constructive criticism greatly appreciated. Even "Christmas is over already, you idiot!" (she types at twelve forty-five, Central time).
To be posted elsewhere eventually.
fic_off.Fandom: Magic Kaito (with Detective Conan cameos and Christmas Carol fusion elements)
Summary: Hakuba is visited by the Ghosts of Christmases Past, Present and Future - but it's not about him this time. Roughly 2300 words and counting.
Fic:
Holiday Spirits
Saguru yawned as he turned the key and unlocked the door to his house. It had been a long day in the department - major holidays always were - but he had managed to wrangle one of the coveted Christmas vacation days, and was looking forward to spending tomorrow with friends and family and generally adding to his holiday waistline. Even the fact that the Kid had a heist scheduled for Christmas night couldn't disrupt his holiday cheer; the Kid, he thought ruefully, had always been bad at remembering important dates, so it wasn't much of a surprise.
Smiling crookedly, Saguru shrugged off his coat and began preparing for bed. After changing into his nightclothes and brushing his teeth, Saguru made a quick trip to the kitchen for a glass of water - which he promptly dropped after returning to his room and opening the door.
A strange man was sitting on the edge of Saguru's bed, taking in his surroundings. He wore a suit and tie and a wide grin. A pair of dark glasses was perched on his nose, completely at odds with the half-lit room, and he was crowned by a mess of short, dark curls. He also had not been there fifteen minutes ago when Saguru had left the room.
Saguru hastily picked up the glass he had dropped and glared at the man. "Who are you and how did you get in here?"
"Ah," the man said, his grin stretching somehow, "my name is Matsuda. It's a pleasure to meet you, Hakuba-san. Sorry for startling you earlier; I've found it to be something of an unavoidable job hazard." Despite the dark lenses, Saguru got the distinct impression he had been winked at. "Anyway, I'm here to warn you that, tonight, you will be visited by three--"
"Oh no, not again," Saguru cut in. "I've already done that once, and I've been keeping Christmas since then, all right? All bloody year round."
Matsuda shook his head. "You've got it wrong, kid. It's not about you this time."
Saguru's eyebrows went up as he turned the new information over in his head. "It isn't? I mean, oh, good."
The man - the ghost, Sagurur corrected himself, chuckled. "No, it's not. It's about a friend of yours, actually. See, he's taken a course of action that's going to land him in some nasty situations in the future, and the Powers That Be want to change that. Problem is, he's got protection from most of the magical and spiritual forces, and that includes the ones in charge of Japan.
"That's where you come in. See, since you've been doing such a fantastic job after your own visit, and since he is your friend, the Powers figured you might be able to influence him on their behalf."
Great, I finish early so they assign me extra work, Saguru thought dully.
Matsuda continued. "The Japanese Powers were all ready to intervene right then, what with your friend being Japanese and you being in Japan, but the British Powers had to step up. You have already successfully gone through their system, after all, so why try and introduce something new? There was a bit of a row then, but they eventually reached a compromise."
"That being?"
The ghost leaned back and studied the ceiling. "They'll be using the British system, but with Japanese representatives. Which brings us back to where I started: I'm here to warn you that tonight you will be visited by three spirits. They'll appear to you to show you what Christmas could and does mean to your friend. After that, what happens is up to you."
Matsuda got to his feet then, and began walking leisurely to the bedroom door. He clapped a not-quite-opaque hand on Saguru's shoulder as he passed. "Expect the first spirit when the clock tolls one," he drawled. Then, without fanfare, he was gone.
Saguru stood dazed there for a moment. When he registered that the ghost had gone, he set the empty glass on his bedside table and slipped between the sheets; there was no point in waiting up for the first spirit to arrive. Besides that, now that the adrenaline was fading, exhaustion was catching up to him, and it had still been a long day. He might as well try to get what sleep he could before it was back to work (such as it was).
It was with these thoughts in mind that he turned out the small reading lamp beside his bed and closed his eyes. Despite his best intentions, however, he found sleep eluding him, and tossed under the covers for some time. He must have drifted off at some point, though, because he was woken abruptly by his bedside light being turned back on and someone saying, "Good morning, Hakuba-san."
Groaning tiredly, Saguru reached for his pocket watch on the bedside table. Grasping it in still sleep-heavy hands, he squinted at its face. "Ah. One o'clock," he muttered. "Of course." Blinking the sleep from his eyes, he peered blearily around his bedroom. A familiar-looking boy of about seven years of age stood not far from the bed, smiling blandly at him. The boy had short, slightly tousled brown hair, piercing blue eyes masked by a pair of over-large spectacles, and was wearing a red bow-tie and a child's sized dark blue blazer. "The Ghost of Christmas Past, I presume?" Saguru said mildly.
The child's mouth turned up at the ends. "Your deduction is impeccable, Hakuba-san. I wasn't sure you'd know me in this form."
"Yes, well, I did have an idea of what to expect," Saguru responded, moving to leave the bed; he was feeling much more awake now. "Though since you brought it up, I am curious as to why you're appearing in this shape."
"Ah, that." The spirit shrugged his shoulder. "It was part of our bargain with Japan. Usually, we have pre-set forms to rely upon, but the Japanese Powers felt that our Western appearance would be inappropriate for the setting. Since they had no forms ready for us yet, it was decided that we should appear instead as persons in whom they have some vested interest."
Saguru frowned at the spirit-turned-boy. "I suppose, after having spent so much time with famous detectives and the like, this child will grow up to solve crimes of some sort?"
"Something like that, yes." The spirit tilted his head up and extended a hand. "Shall we go, then?"
Saguru spared a minute to consider things. The spirit was quite obviously changing the subject, but had come for a different reason, after all; Saguru couldn't say he hadn't been thoroughly informed of this. He also couldn't deny that there was worse attire for such a journey than full pajamas, slippers, and a housecoat. Taking the proffered hand, and feeling not a little unlike Arthur Dent being led along by Slartibartfast into Magrathea, Saguru nodded and said, "When you're ready, spirit."
Turning, the spirit began to walk, Saguru a step behind him. Though he had made a similar journey not too long ago, he had been less disposed to mind the details at the time. Now, he watched in guarded fascination as, with each step he took, scenery and years flashed by, too quickly to leave more than a lasting impression.
It wasn't long at all before they reached their destination: a nice house in the Ekoda suburbs - a familiar one, at that. He examined it as the spirit lead him through the front wall (a benefit of time-shifted incorporeality): there were a few garlands up, and a tree in the corner with wrapped presents beneath, which was more than he expected in a Japanese household. The television was on, tuned to a news station, revealing the date at about fifteen years prior to Saguru's present.
"Might I ask whose house this is?" Saguru inquired of the spirit. He had his suspicions, but he hadn't been told the identity of the person he was to help, so he'd just as soon be sure.
"You'll see in a moment," was the spirit's cryptic reply. Saguru supposed served him right for trying to ask a spirit a direct question.
At that moment, the front door swung open, admitting a man in his late twenties or early thirties. "I'm home," he called out, shutting the door against the winter's chill and stepping out of his shoes.
There was at once a clatter from elsewhere in the house, and a boy of about six came rocketing into the room yelling, "Daaaaaaddyyyyy--!" The child launched himself at his father, who caught him deftly. "Daddy Daddy Daddy, you're back!" The man chuckled at his son's antics and held him close.
"Now, Kaito," a woman chided, emerging flour-dusted into the room, "what are you supposed to say to Daddy when he comes home?"
"Oh, yeah." The child hugged his father tight around the neck and said, beaming, "Welcome home, Daddy!"
"Thank you, Kaito," the man replied, squeezing the boy lightly around the middle. With his free arm, he reached out to the woman, who joined the family hug with happy grace.
"Welcome home, Toichi," she said to him, kissing his cheek.
He smiled warmly at her and returned the kiss. "It's good to be home again, dear."
His suspicions confirmed and then some, Saguru couldn't help but feel somewhat of a voyeur to his rival's childhood memories. "This is what Kuroba's Christmases were like?" he addressed the spirit as the family performed magic tricks in the background.
The spirit nodded. "Some of them. The ones up to now and for a few more years as well."
The year faded out as Saguru watched, a new one taking its place. It was quite similar to the year before it, though Kuroba's father had a bit of gray in his hair now, and moved a bit more stiffly. "What changed?" Saguru asked, a new year fading into place again.
The spirit's expression turned grim. "His father."
Seeing the man's still more wearied posture, Saguru thought he understood.
Then the next year faded in, and Kuroba's father had vanished completely. Many of the decorations from previous years were gone as well, only a few sprigs of holly and the odd dove (live, of course) remaining to acknowledge the season.
Kuroba himself sat hunched on the floor, practicing a card trick Saguru recognized as a staple from his teen years. When Kaito missed the shuffle, cards fell into a small but messy pile around him, and the boy seemed to fold in on himself a bit more, sniffing.
"Kaito?" The boy wiped his eyes and looked up as his mother entered the room. "What's wrong, honey?" she asked, kneeling down beside him.
Kaito hiccuped, and wiped his eyes again. "I m-miss Dad," he confessed quietly.
His mother wrapped her arms around him at this, enfolding him in her embrace. "I know, Kaito," she told him, her voice strained. "I do, too."
They stayed like that a while, Kuroba's mother rubbing her son's back as he sobbed quietly into her shoulder, Saguru growing more uncomfortable with each passing second; he felt wrong to intrude on their grief, such a private affair, and couldn't help blaming the spirit a bit for bringing him there.
At last Kuroba's mother pulled back, wiping first her own eyes and then Kuroba's with a handkerchief she dug from her apron pocket. "Let's get you cleaned up then, dear," she murmured to him. "Now, what were you working on?"
Kuroba hiccuped again and shoved the cards into a more comprehensive pile. "I was trying to do the trick with the flip-change, the one Dad liked," he explained.
His mother smiled, mussing his already untidy hair with her fingers. "That's a good one. Want to show me how it's going?"
Kaito curled away from the idea. "I'm not - I don't have it right yet," he admitted wretchedly.
"Okay; you can show me when you're ready, then," she told him, planting a kiss on his forehead. "Remember, whenever you're working on a magic trick, whether you get it right or not, Dad's working on it with you."
"'Kay," Kuroba sniffed.
She smiled at him, somewhat wetly, and said, "I'm going to work on supper now. You want to keep working on the trick?"
"Uh-huhn," Kuroba grunted.
The woman's smile lightened somewhat, and she ruffled his hair once more before getting to her feet. "That's my boy. You show me when you're ready to, all right?"
"'lright."
"All right. I'll let you get back to work on it."
Saguru observed Kuroba organizing the pile into a deck for a few more seconds, then as it faded into future years, each one with less acknowledgment of Christmas until there was nothing at all to celebrate it. He asked, "Is that what I was supposed to see, spirit?"
"You've seen what you were supposed to, yeah," the spirit answered. "I'll be taking you back, now."
Saguru nodded, and the spirit took his hand again. Space and time warped around them a second time, though this time it was independent of movement. When Saguru's bedroom had settled around him again, the spirit released his hand.
"Expect the next spirit when the clock strikes two," Saguru heard. With that, the Ghost of Christmas Past vanished.
Noting the deadline, Saguru checked his pocket watch again; only a few minutes had passed since they'd left, though it had seemed much longer. Time was time, though, and sleep was sleep, so Saguru decided to try for more time in the land of Nod.
This time when he fell into bed, though his mind was buzzing with questions, he fell almost immediately into a dreamless sleep.
--To Be Continued--
Leaving it there, so I can get some sleep myself. This is about twice as long as my longest oneshot to date already (IIRC), and probably three times as long as my average oneshot, so it should definitely count for both Day Four and Day Five, I think. I'll try and double up anyway someday soon.
Some notes:
1) Yes, we'll find out more about Hakuba's previous visit by the three ghosts.
2) I could not resist the Hitchhiker's reference.
3) Comments and constructive criticism greatly appreciated. Even "Christmas is over already, you idiot!" (she types at twelve forty-five, Central time).
To be posted elsewhere eventually.
