Warnings: Written far too quickly, little closure, drama, SLAP'dness, future!fic, ONESHOT, cheesy ending, etc...
Pairings: (ALL CANON) aka: ShinichixRan, KaitoxAoko, HakubaxAkako, KogoroxEri, HeijixKazuha, etc...
Summary: What if Kaito never told her...? When Aoko discovers that Kaito is Kid, she runs to Akako for advice. Meanwhile, a reluctant Shinichi talks to Kaito.
Through the Heart
She had been stabbed through the heart.
They were married. They were happy together, the happiest together--but she had been betrayed.
He hadn't even told her. She had discovered it one evening behind the painting of his father. She had found Kaitou Kid's secret closet--filled with costumes and tricks. It had moved with them, apparently.
Her lover, her best friend, her soulmate, the father of her child, her Kaito...was the infamous thief who only filled her heart with hatred.
Yet she loved him.
She had confronted him with the dim hope that he would laugh and say it was a prank. Early April Fools' Day or something. But he hadn't laughed. He hadn't met her gaze. He just stood there with an expression of guilt and sadness unlike any other. He began to explain but she ran.
Aoko wasn't even sure where her legs were taking her. Her mind blanked and time seemed to move too slowly--or was it too quickly?
She couldn't tell anymore. She couldn't rationalize or think or consider or listen...
"Stop your babbling."
These were the words that drew Aoko Kuroba--formerly Nakamori--out of her daze.
"I am unable to reply when you will not cease your conversation with yourself." The beautiful redhead added.
"Akako, Kaito is Kid." Aoko whispered, tearing up again. How many times had she cried tonight? "Aren't you surprised? What if you discovered that--"
"Saguru has nothing to do with this." Akako interrupted, knowing what her longtime friend intended to say. "It matters not why I am so calm, the only thing that matters is your mental health." Chuckling, she added, "although we have always been concerned about your husband in that respect."
Aoko normally would have commented on that, but she was far too distressed. "He's the one who has made my father miserable, the one who took my daddy away from me, the one I protested against, the one I loathed..." She sat on the couch and wrapped her face in her hands. "But I love him. He's my husband, and the one person who makes me laugh despite the circumstances. He's my baby's father, my closest friend..."
Noting Akako's raised eyebrow, Aoko couldn't resist a tiny smile. "You're a close second."
Satisfied with that, Akako leaned back. "So you are unsure if you love him or hate him."
"No, the problem is I love him but I hate Kid. They've never been the same in my eyes. Obviously, since I didn't know before this." Aoko corrected her.
The witch twitched. "But they are the same. So the question is...does his love make up for the pain he has caused you?"
Staring at the redhead for a full minute, something occurred to Aoko. "You know."
"We have known since high school." Akako answered calmly.
"Haku--Saguru, too?" She sometimes caught herself using his last name, but they were too close for that now. "And you never told me?" Aoko felt heat rising in her cheeks. "Akako, how could you? You knew this whole time that he was hiding this enormous secret from me and yet--"
"I said cease the babbling!" Akako repeated her earlier sentence, glaring at Aoko. "Answer my question, Kuroba Aoko! Does his love make up for the pain he has caused you? He had his reasons, and they were hardly frivolous. He has never been evil, Aoko. He wore white!"
She stood up now and loomed over Aoko. "Do you not see? True evil is black, but he is good! Sickeningly so sometimes." The redhead leaned in, nearly touching Aoko's nose. "Would anyone evil return his stolen items? Would anyone evil avoid murder? Would anyone evil love you!"
The last part wasn't a question.
"I don't know...maybe it was just pretend...another character. Kid has lots of those." Aoko sobbed, trying to wipe away the tears. "Akako, how do I know he loves me? He didn't love me enough to tell me! I found out myself. He's been hiding it from me all these years. How do I know it's really him? Maybe my Kaito doesn't even exist!"
SLAP!
Aoko felt her mouth open as Akako's hand met her cheek.
The door clinked open, and a worn-out Saguru Hakuba entered his house, walking past the living room to see his wife in a post-slap position with Aoko holding her cheek.
The British detective blinked at the pair. "Did I interrupt something?"
Akako gave him a look that implied that he had and he turned on his heel.
"Hm...it seems that I have business to attend to. Drinks! Yes, Hattori invited me for drinks a few months ago. Perhaps he and Kudo would like to go out." He left and shut the door behind him awkwardly.
Pretending that her husband had not just ruined the moment, Akako went back to staring at Aoko. "Do not say such things! Has he not proved his love for you?"
Proved...? She felt guilty as she began to remember the truth in Akako's words.
He had always comforted her when things went wrong, been with her through deaths and birth, loved her despite her flaws (especially that temper), asked her out, proposed to her, married her, loved her in every single way, fathered her child...did Kaitou Kid matter anymore?
Aoko shed another tear as she turned back to Akako. Silently, she just nodded.
"He is not pretending for you, Aoko. The man who you love has never hidden his true self for you. He has hidden the mask, rather. The costume is behind the portrait, not the smile." Akako said, gaining back her even tone. "He is still the annoying, arrogant prankster you've always known. He trusts you with all his heart. Surely the reason you went uninformed was because of this very moment. Kaito must have known that you would react this way and that is the reason he did not tell you."
"But--" Aoko began.
"He was wrong, I am not denying that!" Akako ignored her friend's protests. "He should have left no secrets between you. But he has, and you are understandably hurt. Yet you still love him, so there is no use sulking here. Go home and ask him for the full story. Then you are free to kiss him, or smack him with a mop." The witch smirked. "Or both. You can decide what he deserves."
Aoko nodded again, trying to take in the witch's words and absorb the full meaning--Akako had an odd sentence structure that made her difficult to understand. Finally, she stood up. "Thank you." She said sincerely and slipped out the door.
Watson landed on the couch beside Akako and chirped as the door closed again.
Petting the hawk, Akako sighed. "Do not be surprised by my kindness, I am capable of it." She paused as Watson chirped. "That is a valid point." She agreed, albeit with a frown.
X
She was gone.
It was his fault.
He had screwed up and now she wasn't coming back. He knew he should have told her years ago but he had abandoned his family tradition after they married, and he thought it was in the past.
He should have known better. She hated him now.
And Kaito deserved it.
After all, he was a criminal who had tormented her father for years and stolen him away from her on so many evenings. He was a monster in the eyes of the Nakamori family. A rival unlike any other. Aoko hated Kaitou Kid with every fiber of her being. And to discover that her husband was...
Her heart must have broken in two.
Where had she gone anyway?
To Ran's? Akako's? Sonoko's? Kazuha's? There were so many options.
Where was their son?
Oh, well that was obvious. At the Kudos, naturally, tormenting Shinichi and Ran's kids.
His son...would he also take the monocle? Did he have to? Kaito had never discovered Pandora, in all honesty, and the traditions of thievery were so thick in his blood...maybe his son could.
No, no, no. He was Aoko's son too, and no child deserved the pressures of being a thief. Aoko would never approve anyway--if she ever came back.
He wanted to explain so badly...
Now he would never have the chance. She was so gone...
He heard a knock on the door but ignored it. He wasn't in the mood. The door snapped open anyway. Damn neighbor opening unlocked doors.
Then again...he had decided to move here exclusively so that he could torture said neighbor.
"We saw Aoko running down the street." The man commented, crossing his arms and sitting beside Kaito on the couch.
"The kids didn't see her, but we did. Ran insisted that I come see what had happened. She said that knowing my luck, you had been murdered." Shinichi wrinkled his nose, and Kaito decided that he didn't want to know why.
"Sorry to disappoint, tantei." Kaito muttered. "She just...found out."
"About the water balloon thing? Ran found out weeks ago and my children are banned from visiting your son until next month." Shinichi commented with a sour expression.
The almost-twin man shook his head. "No, about Kid."
The detective narrowed his eyes. "You waited this long? You're a moron."
"I know." Kaito buried his face in his hands. "I don't think she's coming back. What happened when you told Ran about your chibi adventures?"
"She beat me into a bloody pulp." Shinichi answered, twitching at the memory. "But then she forgave me and said that she understood my reasons...and that she was proud. But only a little."
"That's not so terrible. Well, the first part doesn't sound like fun." Kaito tried to see the humor in the detective's words.
"She'll come back." Shinichi assured him. "When she does, explain everything to her. Don't hold anything back, and hopefully she'll understand. If she decides to mop you for hours, let her. It apparently makes women feel better..."
Feeling a little better, Kaito nodded. Shinichi stood up and walked towards the door to let himself out.
"Tantei, I've been wondering..." The thief said, and Shinichi stopped walking.
"Why haven't you turned me in?"
Silence entered the conversation but was shoved out as Shinichi came to a conclusion.
"First of all, you helped me bring down the organization. There is also the fact that you have a family now, and I wouldn't want to hurt them."
"Too late." Kaito said, smiling bitterly.
Ignoring this, the detective continued. "Finally, I have to leave something for my kids to solve." He flashed Kaito a tiny smile. "Wouldn't want to end up like my father, solving everything before my eldest can even consider the clues."
"So there's a younger tantei in the family?" Kaito grinned.
"Two. The youngest and eldest both seem interested. Of course, you know all about the other's habits..."
"Karate. I know. My son comes home with bruises all the time." Kaito laughed, remembering his son's excuses last time. Kurobas hated to admit that they had been defeated.
There was a silence between the men, and Shinichi finally opened the door to let himself out. He stepped outside but stuck his head back in. "This is not to be repeated, but I also have policies against betraying my friends." He shut the door.
"Aw, he's such a softie." Kaito chuckled, before remembering his crisis. Feeling depressed again, he rested his head in his lap and barely heard the door open again.
A voice echoed through the house. A soft, kind voice that made him tear up.
"Tell me everything." Aoko said as she closed the door. "Kaito, I want to know the truth. Please."
As she sat beside him on the couch, he began the tale of Pandora...
X
"Mommy and Daddy aren't fightin' anymore." The small boy with messy dark hair explained to the short-haired child beside him. They looked fairly similar, except the Kudo child's hair was much, much neater.
The Kudo nodded. "My mommy beats up my daddy whenever they fight. Does your mommy do that too?"
"My mommy calls my daddy 'ahou'." The eldest Hattori child said proudly to the eldest Kudo kid, who was currently reading an advanced novel.
"Maybe Ai knows what arsenic smells like!" The eldest Kudo snapped, sitting up straight and closing the book. "I'll go visit!"
Ran watched one child run across the street while the other three continued on some random talk. The youngest son was in bed. He wasn't quite old enough to play with his siblings and those crazy neighbor kids.
Which reminded her...she had promised to bring Kazuha some sugar. Although she had originally been surprised when the Hattoris had moved to Beika (about a block away), and when the Kurobas had moved in next door to the Kudos, it seemed so normal now.
Ran went into the Kudo mansion's kitchen in search of sugar but was unsuccessful. Frowning, she called for her husband--he was always misplacing things. "Shinichi! Shinichi? Where did he go now?"
X
"Wow! 'Nd I thought my--" Hiccup. "wiaf wuz baaaad."
Translation: "Wow, and I thought my wife was bad."
"She never--hiccup--she never lit things on fire. Well, that's not true. Eri's always lightinnnng thingsss on firesss. But yer wife--hiccup--she does it a lot."
"Well, it's Lucifer's doing, really." The British detective took a huge swig of his drink. "Not her fault. And we've just learned to keep water and extinguishers handy. The fire department won't come to our house anymore."
"That sucks. They might start doin' that to us, too, if Kazuha keeps trying out her new recipes." Heiji agreed, sipping his own alcohol.
"Same 'ere." Kogoro agreed, sounding worse than the younger men. "Eri can't cook at all--miracle that Ran can, right?" He punched the completely sober Shinichi on the arm.
"There are lots of miracles considering what Ran inherited..." Shinichi muttered. This was slightly pathetic, after all. Out drinking with his father-in-law and some old friends. At five o'clock.
"I'm glad whathisname and Aoko made up." Heiji said with a grin. "They always remind us of you, Kudo!"
"Thanks." Shinichi replied, pretty sure it wasn't a compliment.
"To womenssss--hiccup--the greatest mysteriesssss of all." Kogoro announced, lifting up his glass. Clearly he didn't care about the Kuroba clan. He was concerned about something else altogether. (Ran had mentioned a fight between her parents...)
Still, Shinichi could toast to that.
X