Just a little twoshot exploring Aoko and Kaito's thoughts and motivations. Only this one has dialogue. The next chapter should be up in a few days.
Disclaimer: I don't own. If I somehow get the rights to Magic Kaito, I promise to take up three pages of announcements telling you all about my good fortune.
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"Why Kaito? Why did you do it? Why? You know I hate Kid, you know he takes my father away from me. So why?!"
Kaito hadn't pictured this encounter before. He'd thought about a lot of things that might happen, but not this. At least, not like this.
Kaito was a lot of things. A high school student. A magician. The son of the famous, deceased magician Kuroba Toichi. A kaitou.
Some of those things just happened because they did. He was a high school student because seventeen year olds were required to attend school.
Who his father was, that was something he had no control over as well. And it wasn't his fault that his father was dead, it was their fault. At the time, Kaito had been only eight. Too young to do anything to prevent it without getting killed himself, not that he'd had any idea his otousan would be murdered in the first place.
He was a magician because he wanted to be. It made him feel closer to his father for one thing. More than that, he loved the excitement of astounding people, pulling off some trick that they couldn't explain. It was so much fun, to be able to do things that other people couldn't, and to be able to make them happy by doing so. Plus, he was good at it.
Kaito just loved magic. Perhaps it was hereditary.
Why he'd become Kaitou Kid though, he wasn't sure anymore.
At first, when he'd found that secret room, he'd put on the costume out of curiosity, after hearing some snippets on that broken tape.
Once Jii had told him the whole story about his father's murder, he'd been doing it to catch the syndicate and make sure they were brought to justice. Also, he supposed, for revenge.
Kaito didn't like thinking about that one. In the past he'd scared himself when thinking about what he'd do if he ever got his hands on Snake. Kaito was afraid he might make an exception to his rule and kill him. Much as Snake deserved that, Kaito didn't want to stoop so low as to be a murderer.
He was actually mostly over that strong a hatred however. Snake had only tried to kill him three times, and nothing could bring his father back. Absolutely nothing. No matter how good a kaitou he became, the one thing he couldn't steal was a life, once it had been lost. Even the alleged "Phantom" Thief Kid couldn't defy death. His own death or that of others.
He enjoyed being such an enigma when he was Kid, and the fact that everyone acknowledged him. Kaito hadn't received any outright compliments in his life, so he'd had to start taken implied statements and things like the fact that he had his own taskforce and fan club as compliments.
It didn't feel good, being unappreciated and unnoticed.
So part of him did it to be noticed, and noticed only for what he'd made himself. Sure, Kaitou Kid was originally his father's reputation, but no one mentioned that much anymore. No one knew who Kid really was, so who he was under the monocle became what they wanted him to be.
People were more fascinated by things they didn't know the truth of, because that left limitless possibilities for people to imagine and dwell on. Teenage girls tended to be the most accurate, imagining someone under the age of twenty four that was young and handsome.
The police, on the other hand, usually thought he was forty or something.
But very few people actually knew what lay beneath that monocle and top hat. There was Jii, Akako, though Kaito had no clue how she knew. Of course she'd used her magic, and he didn't doubt for a second that it was real, unlike the illusions he employed.
Certainly there was his mother. There was absolutely no way that she didn't know, though she'd never mentioned it. Kaito believed his dad was a good enough person to not lie to his mom about something so drastic. He'd be somewhat appalled if his father had, but he knew there was no way. So it didn't matter.
The only thing that was relevant about that was that he hadn't told Aoko, the person who was closest to him out of everyone in the world. But that distance was growing, and he hated it. Kaito's only excuse was that he wasn't married to her. Despite the fact that he had heard his mother discussing something like the wedding plans on the phone, with a "Yukiko-chan".
Kaito honestly wasn't sure if he loved Aoko, but he knew she was one of the two most precious people to him in the entire world, and was definitely in the small circle of people Kaito knew who he truly cared for. The people whose death he would regret more than anything else.
Kaito thought he loved Aoko, and before he'd hoped that she could love him. Now, there was no way. She utterly despised Kid, for all he'd taken from her. It wouldn't happen.
He'd hoped that this would all end soon, and he'd be able to drag the police across them, but that hadn't happened yet. From the looks of it, that day wasn't coming, and the syndicate seemed bigger than he thought.
Kaito had been hoping that when this all ended, he'd be able to be open and honest with Aoko again, get as close to her as he used to be. Preferably even closer.
Now those hopes were obliterated. He hadn't planned on it, but Aoko had just found out tonight. Minutes ago, his future had changed. Chances were, she'd go tell her dad.
Once before he'd had to drug her on a train to pull off a heist. He didn't want to make her feel guilty handing him over to her father.
No, that was wishful thinking. Her hate for Kid would be reflected onto him now.
It was too much to hope for, and Kaito refused to hurt her again if at all possible. Maybe it was time to give up. He knew he shouldn't, that it would get him, and possibly Aoko, killed, but still. If it were her that caught him, his only regret was that she'd now hate him.
"Kaito, tell me already! Why!?" Aoko had asked, after an extremely long pause. Kaito had been tuned out, lost in thought. With her so impatient, he wondered whether she'd been thinking too, since she hadn't snapped him out of it before now.
Finally, Kaito gave a dejected response. "There are a lot of reasons. Why do you even care, you hate Kaitou Kid. You hate me." Bitter humor touched his voice; in fact Kaito was smiling with nostalgia and sadness. Smiling at the distant, vague idea of what might have been.
Unfortunately, this was reality. Might-have-been's didn't matter all that much here, except that it could either cheer someone up or make them feel even more depressed.
"You took my dad away from me. You know how miserable I was. I want to know if you really don't care if I'm in pain—"
"Aoko! That's not it! I don't want to see you hurting, I couldn't bear it!"
"Then why did you hurt me?! What reason justified it for you?! Tell me!" Aoko was crying now, with anger or with sadness. Kaito didn't know which, but it was probably anger. To her, this whole ordeal would seem like a betrayal.
Kaito hung his head. He would come clean, but he didn't think that would matter to her. "I'm trying to catch the people that killed my dad."
"What. . .?" Aoko asked, clearly shocked. The world thought Kuroba Toichi had died in an accident, so how did Kaito know different? And why hadn't he told her father, who was relatively high ranked in the police force?
"They murdered him, because he refused to steal something for him. You're smart enough to figure out that my dad was the first Kid, right?
"They murdered him and I didn't even know it until about a year ago."
"But, why didn't you tell anyone? Tell the police what you knew?" Aoko didn't understand. What would possess him to run around on rooftops, doing magic, and stealing and returning gems instead of just going to the police?
"The case was closed. Years ago. Besides," Kaito crooked a half-grin. "Otousan was the first Kaitou Kid, and he's dead. I don't want to tarnish his reputation, or spoil the enigma that was known to the world as Kaitou Kid. Plus, my mother could be arrested as an accomplice. I didn't want that.
"Also, to tell you the truth, I hadn't thought of it at the time. When I first put on the costume, I was confused. Then I was angry, when I found out the truth. This is my fight, but the syndicate is too dangerous. I didn't want any of the police to die, especially your dad."
"Too dangerous?"
"They'll kill anyone who stands in their way. I didn't want to put anyone else in danger. But also, I stole because it was fun. I enjoy the heists, outsmarting the cops, being chased by your father, facing Tantei-kun and Hakuba, and most of all, doing magic. Being the one who can shock the world, without them having any idea who I really am."
"Oh," said Aoko, looking to the side with a kind of dejected acceptance. He was surprised that she wasn't fuming mad. "Kaito, why didn't you trust me? We used to tell each other everything."
Now it was Kaito's turn to look down. He was ashamed of the distance that had formed between them, and he hated it. "I didn't want you to get hurt. And I was afraid that you'd hate me." Besides that, he'd thought she didn't deserve to have to lie to her father. She deserved better than knowing that her best friend was a liar and a thief. As they say, 'Ignorance is bliss'.
"Baka. I don't hate you."
"What? Really? You're not mad?" Kaito shone with new hope, hope he didn't think even Poker Face could conceal. Not that he'd bothered with it this time. Once Aoko had known, he'd seen no reason to hide from her.
Aoko, however, just glared at him. "Baka. I said I didn't hate you. I'm still angry with you."
Kaito sweatdropped uncomfortably and said, "I'm not sure I like the sound of that."
"Prepare to face the wrath of fish every single day for the next three months," said Aoko with an evil smirk. Kaito gulped and started to shy away from his friend.
They acted like what they really were, beneath masks and pretenses. Two teenagers who were childhood friends and loved making life hard for each other.
"Kaitou Kid! Get the hell down here!" yelled the voice of Nakamori-keibu from below, reminding the two of their situation.
"Took him long enough to realize I was gone," Kaito remarked with a laugh, earning himself a scowl from Aoko.
"Don't make fun of my dad!"
"Oi oi, I was just saying. No need to get upset. Besides, I respect all my opponents, no matter how much I make fun of them."
Aoko didn't believe him. It was obvious. "Oh really?"
Giving her his trademark manic grin, Kaito replied, "Yep! Now I suggest you think up some reason why you're up here, as your father's coming. Wouldn't want him thinking you're an accomplice, would we?" Kaito winked as he walked towards the roof.
"See you tomorrow Aoko! Ja ne!" Kaito dove of the roof into a freefall, feeling the wind supporting his glider, allowing him to fly back home. He didn't see what Aoko had done, but he knew she was smart enough to get off clean. Besides, her dad was in charge, and she'd always displayed a violent hatred of him up till now. There were plenty of excuses she could use.
Feeling a weight lifted off his shoulders, as he glided though the sky, Kaito tilted back his head and started laughing. A purely happy type of laughter filled with joy and relief.