InsaneJournal

The pair was breathtakingly beautiful, moving with perfect grace as they danced in the grass. The soft wind made flower petals swirl around them, and the sun made the woman's long, black hair look like it was filled with dark blue highlights.

The woman said something, and the man laughed, and kissed her cheek, without missing one step of their dance. There was a feeling of perfect understanding, and intimacy, as if no one could ever get between them.

Kaito was blushing, and torn between wishing he was somewhere else, and wanting to stay and watch. There was no way he was ever going to see something that beautiful again. He almost wanted to go and ask to join them, but held back since it was obvious he didn't belong there. How could anyone?

So he ended up just standing there, staring like an idiot, until the woman noticed him. She laughed, and motioned towards him, and her partner turned too.

"Are you lost, man-child?" The woman said, her voice cutting through the air like crystal. "Far from home, with no way back? Or do not wish to go back?"

Kaito wasn't, he was on a school trip, and had gone out for a walk while the rest was playing games around the cabin they'd rented, and opened his mouth to tell her that.

"I am." He said instead, and the words felt right.

What home did he have? A mother who let him run around and nearly get himself killed more than once, without doing anything to avenge his father, a best friend who wanted to have him arrested, a bunch of friends who didn't know him at all, a rival that was trying to arrest him and steal his best friend, and an insane witch who wanted to make him her slave.

Why would he want to go back to that?

He didn't.

"Come with us then, man-child." The man smiled. "We come from a wonderful place, where your every dream can come through."

"Where you can have everything you want, even your friends and family, the way they should be." The woman continued. "Where you can be eternal young, with whomever you choose. Come, man-child."

The pair held out a hand each, and Kaito stepped forward, holding out his own. He was a few steps away, but the pair smiled as if he'd already joined them, as if he'd was the most precious thing they could ever receive.

"Eternal frozen in time, while the real worlds goes ahead without you, with shadows of your friends and family around you, where nothing is real, and nothing is fake, where both your most wonderful dreams and your worst nightmares will all come through." A voice interrupted quietly, and an arm wrapped around Kaito's waist, holding him in place against someone's chest.

Kaito tried to wriggle loose, but the person was stronger than he was, and he was already at an disadvantage.

"If you will miss him so much that keeping him here, where he does not wish to stay is worth it, then come you too." The woman said. It made perfect sense to Kaito, and he hoped the person realised it.

Something cold was wrapped around his wrist. Kaito glanced down, and saw that it was a thin metal chain. He guessed iron. Looking bakc up, he tried to step backwards at the sight of the pair in front of him.

They weren't beautiful anymore, or rather they were, but they were beautiful in the same way a mannequin looks human. Kaito glanced up at his now rescuer for an explanation, but the blond ignored him, staring at the pair with narrowed eyes.

"You will not have him." Hakuba said coldly, his grip on Kaito tightening.

"His thoughts revealed to us that he is not happy here. We wish to make him happy." The man objected.

"His thoughts were tainted by your presence. They are very different without it." Hakuba replied, in the same cold tone. 

It was true, Kaito thought. He had a mother who loved him enough to let him do something he had to do despite the danger, not only for himself, but for all the people Snake and his friends killed. He had a best friend with a strong moral compass, who helped him to keep his do-no-harm rule, even without her knowledge.

Friends who, while they didn't really know him, thought he was hilarious and was happy to play his audience when he wanted one. A witch, who after getting over her obsession, helped him out, and had once saved him outright. And a rival who challenged him constantly, made him stay at the top of his game, and who was now saving him from something.

"Leave." Hakuba said, and his tone went from cold to commanding. "You have no business here."

There was a wordless snarl in reply, and the two glared. Hakuba didn't seem worried, but his heart was beating hard. Before Kaito could react, he had thrown something towards the pair. It hit a stone that had been standing in front of them, and the pair shrieked. Whether it was in fear or fury, Kaito couldn't tell.

"The next goes through the circle." Hakuba said. "Leave."

The pair disappeared, fading away like fog in sunlight. Kaito nearly flinched at the glares they gave them. If looks could kill, Kaito was sure no one would ever have found their bodies.

Hakuba didn't let go, and Kaito didn't dare to move. Then, in one fluid movement, Hakuba shoved him down, and threw something towards where the pair had been standing. Kaito could have sworn it hit something, and that someone had screamed, but there was no evidence of it.

He got back on his feet as Hakuba walked over, and picked up the knives he'd thrown. Kaito stared, feeling that he really should do something useful instead, but why was Hakuba suddenly throwing knives around?

"What the hell?" He finally got out. "What happened?"

"Just forget about it." Hakuba ordered. It was definitely an order, and Hakuba really should have known better.

"Hell no." Kaito growled, and was ignored. "What are you doing withh that?" He added, as Hakuba bent down, and lifted up a rather large stone.

"Breaking the circle." Hakuba said, as if that was an explanation.

Kaito waited until Hakuba had dropped it into the small stream nearby before he pounced. Literally. He pushed Hakuba down on his stomach, and twisted his arms behind his back. Not painfully, just so Hakuba couldn't move.

"What the, Kuroba! Get off me!" Hakuba near yelled.

"Not until you explain this!" Kaito growled. He wondered if he was overreacting, but decided he wasn't. He was terrified, and just hadn't had a chance to actually react until now. "Who were they? Why the hell are you carrying knives around? And what's with this chain?"

"You're not going to believe me!" Hakuba hissed. "So let me go!"

"Not believe you? That's your problem?! In case you've forgotten we're classmates with a witch, and a girl that breaks the laws of physics with a freaking mop!" Kaito tried to lower his voice, but wasn't exactly successful. He hoped no one had come to look for them.

"That's not the-"

"It's the same thing, stuff no one else believes in!" Kaito interrupted. Hakuba fell silent, and after a while there was that tell tale sigh, the one that said the detective had given up arguing.

"They were the Fair Folk. The knives is made of iron. So is the chain. Iron is poison to them. They can't go near it. It also removes any effect their magic have on people." Hakuba listed it off the same way he did any other random facts. "Now, let me go!"

"Wait. Fair Folk, as in Elves?" Kaito had trouble keeping the  disbelief out of his voice.

"I told you you wouldn't believe it." Hakuba said coldly. "Get off."

 Kaito did. "I belive you." He said. "But, how do you know all this stuff? You're the, the normal one."

"England have plenty of stories about them." Hakuba said, tone indicating the end of the conversation. He got up and started walking towards the cabin.

It was an perfectly reasonable explanation in this situation.

Except that it didn't explain the knives.

Kaito looked at Hakuba, decided to let it go, and followed.