AN: It's a new story! Again, yes, fight me.

Anyways, this story features some vague ideas I've been tinkering with off and on for awhile now- the idea of incorporating a strong fantasy bent while also keeping the overall mystery and detective aspect of Detective Conan- because what is the series without that? Eventually I settled on something of an urban fantasy scenario, with devils and exorcists, and magic abound. I'm not quite sure how I came to the idea of Shinichi and Ran being adults, whereas Heiji and Kazuha remained as teenagers, but I think it'll create a dynamic that's really interesting to work with, so I'm looking forward to writing that!

Also I tossed some sketches related to the story (pretty much entirely of Heiji) up onto my art tumblr- the username of which is cureange, so you can find them there if you're curious! Anyways, I hope you enjoy, and it would mean the world to me if you took a bit of time to comment!

Devils Bleed Black

Chapter One

Two Sides of the Same Coin

"This isn't what I was promised."

With the truth delivered, and the case closed, Kudo Shinichi couldn't help but dwell on the final, half-whispered words of the man who had been lead away into the patrol car, a bitter expression on his face. It wasn't the first time that a culprit of one of the cases he'd solved had been more than a little disgruntled at having been caught- in fact, he'd more than gotten used to such things in all the years that he had been working as a detective. Rather, it was the words themselves that bothered him.

This isn't what I was promised.

There had been no evidence, of course, of anyone else being involved in the murder. The man was being blackmailed, and in order to escape it, he had decided to take the life of the one who was blackmailing him, disguising it to look like an accident. It almost had the police fooled- until Inspector Megure decided to call in private detective and police consultant, Kudo Shinichi, that was. No sooner than he had arrived, did he find several things about the scene that were out of place, all of them hinting towards the fact that this was no accident- but a murder.

The case was closed, the culprit was arrested, the body had been taken away. But something, he thought, was still amiss here. Casting his eyes towards the full moon that almost seemed to spread out through the night sky, he narrowed them in thought, feeling a tug on the edge of his senses, a whisper that this case would soon become the hint of something much larger, much grander than this.

It had been awhile since he'd dealt with such a case. Five years, in fact. Not since the fall of the shadowy Black Organization had he dealt with anything on such a massive scale- sure, there had been the drug ring he'd helped the police bring down a year back, but even that had still been rather small compared to the feat he'd accomplished at just seventeen years of age. And yet, it wasn't that case that made him famous as a high school detective, though he already had a good deal of fame even before that. In fact, he'd actually requested his name to be stricken from the records of the investigation entirely, knowing that he would put his loved ones at risk if the truth was revealed.

It was, after all, a case that had just as much to do with his surface work- that of a detective, as it did with the work that he did in secret. If he'd gotten his detective skills from his father, a famous mystery novelist, then it was the latter set of skills that he had been taught by his mother, ever since he was a young age. Declaring his intent to help protect the girl who was quickly becoming his close friend, Mouri Ran, he'd implored his mother to start teaching him her trade- the trade that she continued in secret, even after she had seemingly retired from her surface job not long after marrying his father.

The work of an exorcist.

It was the kind of work one had to keep secret, save to those you trusted. After all, if one's identity spread, one would risk facing the retribution of those that they hunted- the devils that lived in the shadows of human society, tempting and manipulating humans, casting their hearts into darkness and leading them down wicked paths. As both detective and exorcist, he knew full well that a devil's whispers were not impossible to resist, and any fool who tried to claim that it was only the weak who ever gave into the temptation of what they promised clearly had no idea what it was that they were talking about. Those who went down the wrong path, following a devil's lead, he thought, were still very much responsible for their actions, just as much as those who killed without the lure of a devil's prompting were.

Especially if that path of dark temptation lead them to claiming another life. That was unforgivable.

It wasn't as if the existence of devils in itself was any big secret. The whole world knew of them, and the fact that he'd brought down a massive Organization of them five years prior barely had anything to do with it- although it certainly did shake things up a bit. Never before had there been such a thing- for all that they were by and large wicked creatures, devils generally worked independently, and when they formed groups they were usually small, held together by blood ties. Something of the likes of what he'd ended up uncovering- a massive Organization of devils who had blended themselves into human society, was something that had been unheard of at the time.

It had taken everything he had in him- both his skills as a detective, and his skills as an exorcist, for Shinichi to bring them down- and he wouldn't have been able to, were it not for the fact that he'd found allies in the way. Most notably, he thought, in the FBI- they had been key to helping to bring down the Black Organization, and he'd kept in touch with those allies he'd gained then even now, never knowing when he might need their help again.

The whole affair had been made needlessly all the more complicated by the fact that he'd found himself having been reverted into a seven year old. Thankfully, in the end, he'd been able to return to his normal age, and he could never be more grateful for it- after all, had he not been able to return to being Kudo Shinichi, had he been left as Edogawa Conan for the rest of his days, he might have never been able to marry the love of his life.

"Ah, Shinichi! Welcome home!"

To be quite honest, he'd been so lost in thought, he hadn't even realized that he'd made it home already. Blinking a little at the bright greeting of his wife, his childhood friend who now carried his own surname- Kudo Ran, he thought, a small smile twitching at the edge of his lips. Perhaps spending time as Edogawa Conan hadn't been all that bad, he thought, since it had allowed him to not only realize that she had feelings for him- but for him to realize that he had feelings for her as well.

"I'm back, Ran. What's for dinner tonight? It smells good, whatever it is!" Giving a testing whiff of the air, Shinichi could almost hear his stomach growl in response.

"Tonight's stew." Ran told him. "It'll be ready in a few minutes, so why don't you wash up?" She asked, carefully making her way over towards her husband, pulling off his jacket and hanging it up on the coat rack, before she gave him a quick kiss on the lips. "How was today's case?"

"Fine." Shinichi told her with a quick grin- no need to tell her that the man's last words were still bothering him, he thought. It might very well be nothing, but his detective's intuition was telling him that there was still something more there, waiting to be uncovered. And if his intuition as an exorcist was likewise on the mark, it was going to be something that would involved both lines of work. "The culprit was arrested."

"I see. That's good." Nodding her head, Ran headed back towards the kitchen- before pausing midstep, turning back to look at him. "Ah, that's right. There was another lottery in the shopping district today! And guess who won the grand prize?" She asked, a bright smile on her face, one that made him love her all the more.

"You?" Shinichi asked, giving her a kiss of his very own. "What's the prize this time?"

"An all expense paid trip to a hot springs inn." Ran told him. "I was actually considering going with Sonoko. It's been awhile since we've had a girl's weekend, just the two of us."

"Now that you mention it..." Shinichi trailed off. How long had it been since Ran and Sonoko had gone off on one of their trips together? Not since they'd gotten married five months ago, he thought to himself. Granted, he kind of wanted to go on the trip with her- but it wasn't as if he was going to begrudge his wife wanting to spend time with her best friend. After all, she was the one who had won the tickets in the first place, it was only right that she decide how to use them.

She did, after all, possess luck that was nothing short of divine.

For as much as devils existed, the force that counterbalanced them wasn't exorcists- but rather, those with feathery wings of white. Humans had taken to calling them angels, though that perhaps, wasn't quite right- although they were beings with white wings, who blessed humans with good fortune and helped send them down lucky paths, it wasn't a name they themselves used. But it was the name that had stuck, in the end, and these beings didn't do much to question it, being fond of humanity as they were. Some of them became so fond of the humans that they watched after that they would occasionally trade in their wings for a chance to live among them as a normal human, usually out of love.

Sometimes though, that love just didn't work out. Sometimes Shinichi wondered if Kisaki Eri still thought it was worth it- giving up her wings to marry the likes of Mouri Kogoro, who in the end, she had formally divorced. But judging from the fact that this relationship, however failed it had been in the end, had given her Ran, he was pretty certain that the answer was yes- it had been.

Those children born between of the union were usually ordinary humans- but without fail, all of them were born lucky. And without fail, all of them were tantalizing to the likes of devils- which was the reason that Ran's mother had contacted local exorcist, Kudo Yukiko, in the first place, to watch over her daughter in times when she couldn't be there herself. There had been a near call before- a call that was far too close for anyone's tastes, and it had been that call that had prompted Shinichi to implore his mother to teach him everything that she knew in the first place.

Thinking back on it, maybe he'd already been in love with her even back then.

"When are you and Sonoko leaving?" Shinichi asked.

"This weekend. We've already made arrangements." Ran told him, glancing back at her husband, giving him something of a stern look. "No getting into trouble while I'm gone, Shinichi. That goes for both of your jobs, mister."

"I promise." Casting her a fond smile, Shinichi reached wrapped his hands around her waist, pulling her close. "I won't go anywhere again, Ran. Though, really, it's not like I actually went anywhere the first time."

"Well, that's true." Ran said, giving him a small laugh. "Conan-kun sure was cute though. Sometimes I miss the little guy, even though he's right here with me."

"Isn't your own husband cuter?" Shinichi almost pouted, lips twisting together in a slight frown, though he knew she was teasing him.

"My husband is handsome." Ran stated, casting a slight smile back towards him. "And also needs to get his hands from around my waist. There's a timer beeping and a stew that needs to be fetched."

"Alas!" Finally letting go of Ran, Shinichi gave her a slight laugh. "Well, I hope you and Sonoko have fun on your trip, Ran. It really has been awhile since the two of you got to go on one together. I'll hold down the fort here, and I promise- I won't get into any trouble."

Well, not any more trouble than he usually found himself in, he thought.

Hattori Heiji still remembered the first time he'd realized that, technically speaking, he was one of the 'bad guys'.

At the very least, that was how his nine year old self had put it at the time, still possessing a child's simple view of the world. It had been a devastating blow to his younger self, especially as his parents had carefully tailored his life to avoid exposure to such information, not wanting him to deal with it until he was older- old enough to understand, old enough to realize that the world wasn't quite as black and white as everyone thought it was. That there were still allowances for shades of gray in what everyone else thought was clear cut.

Even back then, he hadn't been entirely naive, having always wondered why he wasn't allowed to go out and play on his own, not unless one of his parents, or Kazuha was with him- or sometimes one of Kazuha's parents. He'd always wondered why his mother never showed her true self in public, even though her wings were majestic, and her horns were all the more so. His own had still been tiny nubs at the time, having only really begun to start growing in around that age- and they still hadn't quite fully grown in, he thought to himself, carefully placing a finger over one of his smaller pair, that peeked out ever so slightly from his forehead, straggling far behind the larger pair that sprouted behind his ears, arching upwards above his head.

But still, when he was a child, his only real worry was why they were a white color, so different from the deep red of his mother's. He never suspected that the reason why his mother was so careful to keep the truth of what he was concealed from those around them was because half of his blood came from a race that those around them considered to be evil, dark creatures. He didn't understand why it was so important that the rest of the world kept viewing him as a normal human child, and why his parents had been so hesitant to send him to school amongst normal children.

He'd only just wanted to go to school with Kazuha, at the time, he recalled. He'd begged his mother with pleading eyes, and she'd relented, promising him that she would speak with his father. He never would have expected that what he thought was a simple desire would have completely turned his view of the world on it's head. It wasn't easy having to come to terms with the fact that most of your kind were, quite frankly, monsters. He still hadn't, not really.

"Geez, Heiji!" Kazuha's voice drew his attention away from the mirror, and he turned towards his childhood friend to give her something of a sheepish grin. "We both have mornin' practice today, so what are ya doin', still standin' around with yer horns on full display? If we don't hurry, we're both goin' to be late!"

"Ah, sorry, sorry." Heiji's sheepish grin turning into a broad smile, he rubbed the back of his head. "Don't ya think they've grown a little though?" He asked, a slight hint of optimism in his voice, using a finger to indicate one of his smaller horns.

"They look the same as they've always been ta me." Kazuha said frankly, watching her friend's expression fall a little. "Honestly, of all the things ta have a complex about, Heiji. Even yer mother said that they might not grow anymore than they already have. Ya only have half of her blood, after all. Now put 'em away, we can't have the team captains for the kendo and aikido clubs running late."

"Fine, fine." Grumbling a little to himself, Heiji folded his arms in front of his chest. As the golden color of his eyes faded back into a far more normal blue color, the traits that marked him as anything other than human vanished in the blink of an eye, as if they had never been there. "I still think they grew."

"Sure, sure, they've grown." Nodding her head, her words clearly meant simply to appease the boy that she'd known since she was in diapers, Kazuha watched as he pulled on the jacket of his school uniform, and grabbed his bag, her eyes narrowing slightly. "Did ya forget somethin', Heiji?"

"Nope." Heiji said quickly, attempting to duck through the doorway past her- but the ponytailed girl stood there, forming an iron wall, her gaze boring holes into his skull. "Aw, c'mon Kazuha! There's need fer me ta drag that silly charm of yers everywhere! Yer the one who said ya weren't even old enough ta make real ones when ya gave it ta me, so it's not even like it works. An' who ever heard of a devil carryin' around a good luck charm anyways?"

"Ya got shot the last time ya didn't have it on ya, Heiji, an' yer dad had ta work real hard ta cover up the fact that ya bleed black." Kazuha said sternly, her gaze brokering no argument. "I might just be a priestess in trainin' now, but ya know ya can't win against me, right?"

Heaving a long, exasperated sigh, Heiji cast one final glower at the stubborn girl he called his best friend, before he stalked over towards his desk, retrieving the charm from within, making a show of stringing it around his neck and tucking it underneath his shirt. "There. Charm. Ya happy? You were the one fussin' about us bein' late after all."

"Good." Nodding her head, a pleased smile crossed her face, as Kazuha finally stepped aside to allow Heiji to leave the room, watching as he stalked past her, still muttering underneath his breath about how it was embarrassing to wear matching charms with your childhood friend when you were already seventeen. Falling into step behind him, Kazuha paused to wait for him as he laced up his boots.

"Ah, are you two leaving already?" Emerging from the living room, a bright smile on her face, Hattori Shizuka cast the pair a smile. "It's a bit early, isn't it?"

"Mornin' practice." Heiji told her, briefly sparing his mother a glance. In the privacy of her own home, she was free to take whatever appearance that she liked- and she chose not to waste her energy masquerading as a human woman when she had no reason not to. She wasn't like him, after all, who was both at once, neither of his two forms being fake- the human guise that she showed to the world was just that- a disguise.

He knew the story of his parent's whirlwind romance all too well- they told it to him practically until he'd memorized it, word for word. Who would have ever thought that his stern faced, stoic father would manage to not only sweep a devil woman off of her feet, but also all but pull the darkness out of her own heart- a total inverse of what she had been trying to accomplish when she'd approached then police detective Hattori Heizo, hoping to bring a paragon of morality down into the dirt.

She'd never been happier to fail anything in her entire life, really.

Still, she never could have imagined that one day she would marry the man she'd tried and failed to lure down the wrong path, much less have a child with him. A child that bore blood from both of them, a child that she treasured more than anything else in the world. A child that she wished would put more faith into her words about him being inherently good, and didn't feel the need to prove himself as such.

"I see. Well, do your best, the two of you." Shizuka told them, giving them a smile, before giving her son's head a little ruffle, a sly grin on her face as he protested this, all but swatting her hand away. "Remember to mind your strength, Heiji."

"M'not a baby anymore, mom, ya don't need ta keep remindin' me." Grumbling to himself as he tried to fix his hair, he shot Kazuha a look as she tried and failed to mask her laughter. "Anyways, we're off."

"Do be sure to call if you get mixed up in another case again, Heiji." Shizuka chided him lightly. "Ah, and your father will be coming home late tonight, so it'll just be the two of us for dinner tonight. Maybe I should fire up one of my old specialities while I have the chance."

"Agh, mom, don't." Heiji made a face at her words, knowing full well what she meant. His mother's old specialities sometimes still moved after being cooked and served up in pieces on a plate.

"Well I'm just worried that human food isn't enough for my growing baby boy." Shizuka told him with a frown, reaching out to pinch one of his cheeks- which he quickly stepped back to avoid. Honestly, it was because of things like this that his second pair of horns were still on the small size. He seemed to have inherited his taste buds from his father, as fate would have it. "There's nutrients that you can only get from hell beasts, Heiji! You shouldn't be so picky with your food!"

"I like my food not movin' anymore, mom." Heiji told her, a dry tone to his voice. "Anyways, I'll call ya if I get involved in another case, I promise."

"And I'll call you if he doesn't, Auntie Shizuka." Kazuha said lightly, a smile on her face that spoke of how well she knew of Heiji's habit of losing track of everything else around him when there was a mystery to be solved. Honestly, the fact that he had been gaining fame lately as a high school detective did nothing to help matters- he was getting praised left and right by the police and the media alike, and she was pretty sure it was starting to go to his head.

Not that she wasn't proud of him, mind you. How many people could say that their childhood friend was a high school detective?

Perhaps, admittedly more than those who could say their childhood friend was half devil. And it was that, she knew, that motivated him to pick up detective work in the first place. He didn't talk about it often, but she knew that he had a complex about being 'one of the bad guys' as he sometimes still put it, unable to lay the childish notion to rest. He wanted to prove himself to everyone around him- and to himself, as well- that he was just as good as any other human was- and would sometimes put himself at great risk just to do so.

Honestly, she wished that he wasn't so reckless. It was all that she could do to keep up with him, and hope for the best. There was only so much that the charms that she made could do for him, even if she was learning the ways of being a priestess from her mother. It wasn't easy creating charms even a devil could use, even a half blooded one.

There was no doubt in her mind that Heiji was doing a lot of good- he was, quite frankly, brilliant, and more than deserved every ounce of praise he got. And while he grumbled and fussed at being compared to Kudo Shinichi, a young detective who had first rose to fame as a high school detective seven years ago, she knew that it was that very same young man that had so inspired the then ten year old Heiji, hot off the heels of his realization that by all accounts, devils were supposed to be wicked creatures, and had him declaring that one day, he was going to be a cool detective, just like that!

When word from her mother's grapevine passed down information that Kudo Shinichi was also, in fact, an exorcist, Heiji's expression had fallen a little- but he nevertheless hadn't lost sight of his dream. Now that they were in high school, he'd begun to do just that in earnest, solving all sorts of complicated cases that had even the police baffled. And whenever he flashed that broad, triumphant grin of his, baring his sharpened canines for all the world to see, the one trace of his hidden blood he could never quite shake, knowing that he'd caught the culprit out, that he'd found the truth, she couldn't help but fall more and more in love with him.

Even though she was fairly certain he never looked at her that way at all.

"The Wish Fulfillment Foundation?"

"Yes." Sliding the card across the table, Takagi Miwako- who had formerly gone by the surname of Sato up until three years ago- gave Shinichi a rather stern look. "We found the business card amongst the culprit's belongings. Forensics detected a slight trace of magic to it, so we thought we should call you in and have you take a look at it yourself, Kudo-kun."

"Sounds shady." That wasn't his intuition as a detective nor an exorcist speaking- but rather just general common sense, he thought, as he took the card in hand. It had no numbers and no names on it- nothing was printed on the card but the name of the Foundation in question, a Foundation which he'd never heard of. He could feel the faint thrum of magic underneath his fingers, but whatever spell had been cast on the card, it had already been used.

"This isn't what I was promised."

"I can't tell that much from the card alone." Shinichi said with a slight frown. "Perhaps it might have had a one shot spell cast on it to allow it to be used as a communication device. Whatever spell it was, it's long since been used up by now. Does anyone in the police know anything about this so called Foundation?"

"No, we haven't been able to turn up anything. That's why we called in you, Kudo-kun." Miwako told him frankly. "When we asked the culprit about it, he claimed that he had no memory of the card."

"He's either lying, or his memories have been erased." Shinichi observed, setting the card back down. "And I'm banking on the latter. Is there any chance I could keep this card, Miwako-san?"

"You're welcome to it." Miwako said, nodding her head. "It's probably better off with you than us anyways, now that our department's only magic user has retired."

"How is your husband, by the way?" Shinichi asked, carefully pocketing the card, making sure to dispel any lingering magic on it, on the off chance it carried a tracer spell on it. "Not to mention your children. Your oldest has a birthday coming up, doesn't she?"

"They're very well, thank you for asking. And yes, she does." Allowing herself a small smile, Miwako nevertheless quickly got back down to business. "We can't really say anything yet, Kudo-kun, but it feels like there's something a bit more to this case than just what meets the eye. We'd like you to look into it, from both angles, if possible. This may very well be the start of more trouble."

"Let's hope not." Shinichi said, a grim expression crossing his face at the prospect of having to deal with another such thing. "Once in my lifetime was enough."

"And the world is grateful to you, Kudo-kun, much as they don't know it was you behind the fall of that Black Organization." Miwako told him, a hint of a smile dancing across her face. "But if you turn anything up, please call me. If this does turn out to be something big, I'd like for the police to be involved with the matter."

"I'll give you a call the moment I know something concrete." Shinichi promised her, giving the woman an easy smile as he got to his feet. "Is there anything else?"

"No, there's nothing else. Other than the card, everything regarding yesterday's case is proceeding quite smoothly." Miwako told him. "Thank you for that as well, Kudo-kun."

"No, it was really nothing. You know that you can call on me any time, Miwako-san." Shinichi told her. In the past, he might have gloated over the praise he was getting, but he'd grown and matured since then- thank god, really, since reflecting back on it, his self from before his days as Edogawa Conan had been almost insufferable. It was a wonder Ran managed to put up with him at all. "I'm always more than happy to help. That's what I'm here for, after all."

His instincts had sharpened since then as well- and as he felt the card that was now tucked safely away inside of his pocket, he got a feeling that the police Inspector in front of him was right- that this was the start of more trouble.

"The Wish Fulfillment Foundation?"

At the two voices that spoke up, almost in unison, the girl they were addressing slowly nodded her head. She had come from the neighboring middle school in order to consult with the high school detective of rumors that attended school there, to speak with him about things that had been troubling her lately.

In her hands, she carried a single business card, which she placed on the table in front of them. The three of them were sitting in a cafe near Kaihou High School at the moment, having brought the girl there to discuss the matter. She had told them that she was on her middle school's volleyball team, and that lately, some of the members of the team had been acting a bit strangely- they were more aggressive than she remembered them, and were becoming careless of their teammates.

And, incidentally, they had gotten a lot better.

"So yer sayin' that when ya started snoopin' around, ya found this card in their stuff?" Heiji asked, taking the card in question. Almost instantly, his eyes narrowed, feeling a strange tug at his devil's blood. Quickly, he passed the card on to Kazuha, whose eyes also likewise narrowed the moment she took it from him.

"There's a spell on this card." Kazuha mumbled, putting a hand to her chin. "Or, no, actually, I think it's already been used up, but..."

"A spell?" The girl who had asked to consult with them- or well, with just Heiji, actually, Kazuha had been the one to bring herself along to the meeting- could only blink, before leaning forward. "Like magic?"

"Ah, yeah." Kazuha told her. "My mother's a priestess, ya see. That's why I can tell that sort of thing."

"An' yer sayin' all the girls that started actin' strangely had this card with them?" Heiji asked. "An' that when ya asked 'em about it, they denied havin' any memory of the card, or anythin' ta do with it."

"That's right." The girl said, nodding her head. "These girls aren't usually like this, really. They all quite nice, actually!" She was quick to say, before her shoulders slumped, and she leaned back in the booth, closing her eyes. "Losing our last tournament that badly really hit them hard, so I can understand why they might be striving to get better, but even if that were the case, there's no explanation for their aggressive behavior. We all used to be so close, even."

"Almost like they're under a spell as well." Heiji muttered underneath his breath, his eyes narrowing, a flash of anger coursing through him. He had a feeling that he knew what was going on here, even without having to do a deeper investigation into the matter- the feeling that card had given him was more than enough for him to know that more than likely, devils were involved.

Honestly, why was the rest of that lot- his mother excluded, of course- such a huge pain in the ass? Targeting depressed middle school girls was low. He was ashamed to share even one iota of blood with them.

But even though there was no mistake that devils were involved, there was something still that bothered him about what he'd been told. While it wouldn't be that strange for one devil to target an entire team of disappointed, disheartened players- what was the matter of the business card in question? Such a thing normally wouldn't have been necessary for a devil, and yet, here it was, in Kazuha's hands, as she intently studied it, trying to decipher what kind of spell had been cast on it just from the faint traces left behind.

Something was fishy here.

"Ya should probably call fer an exorcist, not a detective, Natsumi-san." Kazuha told her, briefly glancing over at Heiji, who gave her a slightly annoyed shrug of the shoulders, unable to help but agree with her assessment. She knew by and large, he didn't care for that lot either- not that she could blame him, really. He'd had some less than pleasant run-ins with them in the past. "But can we keep this card?"

"Sure, I don't mind." Natsumi told them, nodding her head. "Are you certain, though? That they're, you know..."

"Flippin' what ya told us on it's head, there's every reason fer yer teammates to be more aggressive an' angry after losin' that badly, but there's no reason as to why they would have suddenly improved so quickly." Heiji told her, casting one eye in her direction, ignoring the look of mild concern that he got from Kazuha. "Kazuha's right, ya should probably contact an exorcist. I'm sure that they'd get yer teammates back to normal in a hurry."

"Then, I'll do that, then!" Getting to her feet, Natsumi gathered up her things, giving the pair a quick bow. "Sorry for taking up your time, Hattori-senpai, Toyama-senpai."

"Don't worry about it, Natsumi-han." Heiji told her, giving the girl a quick grin. "I hope everythin' works out fer ya. Give yer squad a pep talk once this is all over, they must be more down in the dumps than ya thought to let themselves be manipulated by devils."

"Ah, yes, I will!" Giving them another quick bow, the girl quickly made her way out of the cafe. It was only once she was gone, that Kazuha turned towards Heiji, placing the business card back down on the table, giving her childhood friend a rather considering look.

"Devils don't give out business cards." Kazuha said frankly, tapping the card in question. "I know that look in yer eyes, Heiji. There's somethin' more behind this, isn't there?"

"That's the feelin' I'm gettin'." Heiji told her, picking up the card himself now, turning it over in his hands. "Thanks fer askin' fer the card, Kazuha. I was about ta do it myself."

"I thought as much." Kazuha told him, giving him something of a knowing grin. "How long have we known each other, Heiji? It's not that hard fer me ta guess what yer thinkin'. But Heiji, if this is somethin' that really does involve devils, shouldn't we be talkin' to an exorcist? I'm just a priestess, an' one in trainin' at that, an' it ain't like ya can use magic yerself."

"Where the hell would we dig up an exorcist that's willin' ta work with me?" Heiji asked her, casting his friend a pointed look. "The risks's too high. Besides, don't sell yerself short, Kazuha, ya might still be in trainin', but even yer old lady says yer magic is more powerful than hers was at yer age. Ya should have some more confidence in yerself."

"Mm." Folding her arms in front of her chest, sensing that this attempt at flattery was based on more than just wanting to boost his childhood friend's confidence. "So? What is it that ya want from me, ya silver-tongued prince of lies?"

"I'd never lie ta ya, Kazuha." Heiji told her, placing a hand on his chest, a look of mock offense spreading across his face. Besides, he was terrible at lying anyways, ironically enough. For a half-devil, he'd always been incredibly honest, ever since he was a little kid- even when it worked against his favor. Neither of his parents was quite certain where he'd picked up that particular trait from. "I was just thinkin' that maybe we could try knockin' out one of the devils an' maybe askin' them some questions real nice like."

Heaving a long sigh, Kazuha gave her friend an equally long look, watching as his expression shifted into that broad grin of his that she was so in love with. Unfair, she thought to herself- there was no way she could say no to that kind of look. "Fine, fine. I'll help ya out, Heiji. From the sound of it, it's probably low level devils doin' the possessin'. But listen, Heiji- ya'd better catch it right away once I knock it out, otherwise there's gonna be trouble, ya here?"

"I will, I will." Flashing Kazuha a reassuring grin, he couldn't help but notice that her skeptical look didn't fade from her face. "When have I ever let ya down?"

"Ya want the bullet point list?"

When he'd sent out a request to the exorcist's guild to direct any jobs that had anything to do with something called 'The Wish Fulfillment Foundation', Shinichi hadn't expected to get a hit so soon. It had only been a day since he'd placed the request that he got a response, informing him of a likely mass possession incident down in Osaka, involving a middle school girl's volleyball team. One of the members of the team came forward with the information that her teammates had been acting oddly lately- growing more aggressive, and more importantly- suddenly more skilled.

She had also mentioned that when she had started looking for clues, that she'd uncovered a business card in their possession- a simple card that only read The Wish Fulfillment Foundation on it. The card itself was no longer in her possession- she'd told them that she'd handed it over to a certain high school detective that she had decided to consult about the matter at first.

A high school detective- now there was a blast from the past, Shinichi couldn't help but think to himself, even as he carefully observed the brightly lit streets of Osaka from his perch on top of a building. He half wanted to meet the guy in question, though the girl giving the report hadn't given his name, and the exorcist taking it didn't think it was important. Come to think of it, he'd heard Inspector Megure mention something once before about a promising young detective from the Kansai region- and he guessed that the high school detective and the promising young detective were one and the same.

Well, hopefully said high school detective wouldn't pry too hard into the case- though if he was anything like Shinichi was at that age, he knew that he likely would. There was a limit to what a normal human could do against a devil, even if they were low level ones, like the three he'd already captured. It would be nice if he could ask them questions, but the language of low level devils wasn't something that humans could understand in the first place. They weren't like their more humanoid counterparts, who could speak human languages with ease, lies and false promises alike falling from their tongues.

He'd captured three of the four devils that were involved in this case- although if he didn't miss his guess, the one who had been spreading them to the members of the volleyball team was probably a higher level devil, using the lower level ones as their underlings. It wasn't an uncommon practice, especially in situations like this, where the promise that they delivered on was making the ones they tempted more skilled at something. Thankfully, the girls in question would be alright- children and teenagers might have been more susceptible to a devil's manipulation, but they were also better at bouncing back from it.

Now he just needed to capture the fourth and final one- but the girl it had been possessing had slipped out of her house that night. Shinichi wondered if it was because they had caught wind of the fact that he was after them- but he doubted it, quite frankly. When he'd spoken to her parents, they had said that they'd gotten a call from a friend, and had left to go see them in something of a hurry.

This would be easier, he thought, if he were at all familiar with Osaka's streets.

Still, after a moment, he detected a trace of the twisted energy that the creatures gave off, and he turned his attention towards it. Using it to guide his path, he passed by those gathered on the streets of Osaka without them taking notice of the masked man, as if he existed almost out of focus. And he did- that was the entire purpose of the mask, to conceal himself from the view of normal humans, and to protect his identity alike. They were special items, important to an exorcist, each mask custom made and enchanted to prevent both recognition and detection- even by those who knew the wearer well.

He'd felt a little silly wearing it when he was younger, but he'd gotten used to it now. His experiences with the Black Organization had taught him the value of keeping secrets, as much as it had also taught him the value of trusting others.

The trail lead him to a more secluded part of the city- here there was no bustling foot traffic, and Shinichi found himself truly alone. Instantly on guard, wondering if this were perhaps some kind of trap, he quickly came to realize that he presence of the devil that he was looking for wasn't the only one that he could detect here. It didn't take him long to come across the source of the rest of the twisted energy that he sensed- because it in fact, held the low level devil that he'd been seeking out in one of his hands, grasping it firmly by the head, keeping the squealing gremlin-like beast from escaping.

"I finally caught ya, ya asshole!"

With an irritated twitch of his tail, dark brown fur bristling as he spoke, the devil in question grumbled as he pulled the tiny winged beast closer to him, muttering underneath his breath about what a pain in the ass chase he'd just gone through. At once, Shinichi couldn't help but be struck by the oddity of the devil's Osakan accent- he'd never actually heard of a devil taking on the local accent before.

But perhaps, even more curious, was the fact that it's horns- a pair of them, one large, and one small- were a stark white color, a contrast against both the night sky and the devil's own dark skin. He'd seen horns of many colors- any number of shades of red and brown, not to mention jet black, but he'd never seen white before- almost the color of human bone.

And, as the devil slowly took notice of the exorcist, golden eyes turning in Shinichi's direction, he caught sight of the most curious thing of all- the devil wore a mask. One that wasn't dissimilar to the one Shinichi himself wore, one designed to prevent recognition from prying eyes. Something that a devil shouldn't be in possession of in the first place.

No, perhaps that wasn't the most curious thing of all, Shinichi thought, his eyes narrowing as he took a step forward, into the light cast by the moon. Perhaps the most curious thing was the devil's eyes- though golden in color, they were far too human for Shinichi's comfort- he'd never seen such eyes on a devil before. It was more than enough to give him pause.

"Are you that devil's superior?" Shinichi found himself asking, narrowing his eyes. The devil appeared young- younger than himself, at any rate, but he knew that age was a meaningless concept for most devils. Odds were, the one in front of him might very well be older than himself. "I have some business with it- and you, if that is the case."

"Hah?" Almost seeming to balk at the accusation, the masked devil glanced down at the winged gremlin in it's hand, giving it a quick shake, listening to the low level beast squeak in protest, whispering out words in a language that Shinichi couldn't understand, but was pretty certain was a curse of some kind. "Me? This thing's boss? Ya insult me! I'm after this thing, just the same as you are!"

"Oh?" Shinichi asked, arching his brows. "What is a devil doing chasing another devil, might I ask?"

"Lookin' fer information." The masked devil replied simply, shrugging it's shoulders. "That's all. I'm not up ta anythin' bad, if that's what ya think, Mister Exorcist. Ya can even take this thing if ya want. Turns out it's got nothin' ta say ta me anyways."

That was odd- a higher level devil should be able to command a low level one to tell it whatever it wanted. And what information was this odd devil looking for in the first place?

"If you're offering to hand it over to me, I will accept it." Shinichi stated slowly, carefully watching the devil's movements. "Provided you tell me what it is that you're doing here yourself."

"Like I said, I'm not up ta anythin' bad!" The masked devil grumbled, eyes narrowing underneath it's mask. Closing the distance between the two of them, the devil's tail twitched as he held out his hand, offering the flailing, squirming gremlin to Shinichi. "Come on, take it, if that's what ya came here fer anyways. An' ya don't have ta worry about the girl it came from either, she's fine."

"Awfully considerate for a devil, aren't you?" Shinichi couldn't help but observe, awkwardly taking the gremlin from him, half unsure from where to hold it, before he decided to grab it from the head, much as the devil had been doing. "I don't suppose that what you're looking for is information on the Wish Fulfillment Foundation?"

The devil masked his surprise well- but not well enough, Shinichi thought. It wasn't so much his expression that betrayed him- but his tail, which bristled at the mention.

"So what if I am?" The masked devil asked, taking two, three steps back, eyes watching the exorcist with caution- before it broke it, flashing the young man a rather broad grin, baring sharpened canines. As he spoke, a pair of wings unfurled from the devil's back, leathery and bat-like- and also a stark white color that stood out against the night sky, the same as his horns. "I don't see why that's any of yer concern, exorcist."

"Because you aren't doing anything wrong?" Shinichi hazarded a guess, the squirming gremlin in his hands more or less preventing him from pursuing the bigger prey.

"Exactly." The masked devil gave a quick nod of his head, his grin only growing, lifting off the ground with a few flaps of his wings, hovering slightly in the air. "I'm on yer side, exorcist."

"Are you now?" Shinichi asked, unable to keep his interest from showing in his tone. It had been awhile since he had heard words like that from a devil. Not since five years ago, now, on that rainy night. "That's very interesting, if that's the case. Why don't we work together, then?"

"That's a mighty generous offer, Kudo Shinichi." The masked devil couldn't help but let out a faint laugh at the brief shock that bolted through Shinichi's body, his tail twitching in response to his amusement. "I'll think about it."

With that, the odd devil disappeared into the night sky, leaving Shinichi with frankly, more questions than he had before. And a knowing feeling that it probably wouldn't be long before they crossed paths with each other again.