Across the Universe
Right there. Right that second her world shattered.
They had been drifting apart, slowly but steadily, unstoppable, never to be stopped.
The monocle came off, next came the hat and all that was left was his face, his eyes that never left hers, never strayed even a single inch away from her gaze. Her shocked, unbelieving eyes never leaving his, either.
She knew things had started to change when Kaito suddenly started doing things without her. He was busy with things he never told her about, he was always tired in the mornings, more even after heists and before. Now, of course, it made so much perfect sense and yet it did not make any sense at all.
This was supposed to be her best friend. The bestest friend she ever had, in fact. She thought, she always thought, she was the same to him, but right now she wasn't so sure anymore.
She had always told him everything. She told him all her secrets so that now she had none he wasn't aware of. None besides one, anyways, but right now that didn't matter. It didn't matter at all anymore because there was no way, no freaking way, she'd ever come to tell him now.
Kuroba Kaito was her best friend. But right now she found out that Kuroba Kaito was also Kaitou Kid. He was the person she trusted the most, the person she loved and treasured and now she found out that he was also the person she hated the most.
And something, something so deep inside her that she never even knew existed, broke. Not only did her world shatter and fall apart around her, making her walk on debris, making her make her way through ruins and dust and bricks and nothing, and nothing, and nothing and nothing and nothing.
And then she couldn't breathe because her bestest friend was actually her nemesis and they just put handcuffs on his wrists and they were about to take him away, to take away her bestest friend and she knew she'd never ever see him again and nothing would be the same ever again.
It wouldn't even if they did not take him away, though she did not want to think about that just yet.
His gaze never wavered, he never lost his Poker Face, not even for a second, not even when she was breaking apart, and there was no oxygen and why couldn't she breathe and where are you taking him and what's going to happen? No, no, this couldn't happen.
She should have felt anger, she should have felt a just rage towards him that should have left her feeling satisfied that finally, finally her father succeeded and apprehended that underhanded thief and yet all she felt was panic of losing her bestest friend and never ever seeing him again. And he, he never stopped looking at her, fixing her with his blank Poker Face and she couldn't breathe.
And then one second passed and then another and there was a pull and she had to do something! This was her best friend and even though he was her nemesis and he did not tell her and he lied to her and she had proved her father wrong when her father had actually been right and oh God Hakuba knew. Hakuba knew. Hakuba was right.
And yet, and yet she could not let go, she could not let her bestest friend be taken away.
She still had the Endless Skies that she was supposed to take care of inside her pocket and all she had to do was play her cards right. That's what Kaito taught her anyway, right? Always keep your Poker Face, that's what he did. And Kaitou Kid never let his Poker Face slip in front of an audience, at least.
Just be smug and full of yourself and they're never going to see the difference.
Kaito was Kaitou Kid. And Kaito had handcuffs around his wrists. And Kaito was to be led away, arrested, never to see sunlight again.
Suddenly, clapping could be heard and everyone stilled in their doings. They stopped pulling Kaito with them and instead turned their faces towards her.
Aoko was grinning from ear to ear and even though her heart was going 180 beats per minute she was the epitome of calmness on the outside.
"Ne, ne keibuu" she said smugly and looked her father straight in the eyes. Slowly, she took the diamond out of her jeans' pocket and threw it lightly in the air. When the energy left the small gem and gravity took over, she caught it with ease and repeated the process. Throw and catch, throw and catch, never taking her eyes off of her father.
"Aoko, what is the meaning of this?!" he bellowed, obviously waiting for a good response because she was keeping him from putting that outrageous thief behind him behind bars. And that, after he was finally able to catch him, even if it was a shock that the thief was actually Kuroba Kaito, a boy he's known for too many years to not be affected by this.
"Really, keibu, it's as easy as always" she exclaimed and with one last throw she let the diamond disappear out of the air. (Suddenly she was incredibly grateful that Kuroba Touichi had taught her a few magic tricks when he was still alive.) Never losing her Poker Face and the widest grin she ever sported she pointed towards Kaito who looked at her like she had just grown a second head and probably also a third one. "That guy being Kaitou Kid? Don't make me laugh, keibu."
Aoko put both her hands into her pockets and hoped very much they wouldn't actually see through her anxiousness and her wildly beating heart. She was still feeling like not enough oxygen was entering her system but she's never felt so clear in her mind before. And even though there would be consequences, consequences for everything, for Kaito's betrayal, for Aoko's betrayal, Kaito being the Kid, the lies, the lies, the lies, Aoko did not think about it.
"This boy" she pointed towards Kaito who looked like a deer caught in the headlights "is actually my biggest fan. Did you know that, keibu? It was easy to find out that the real jewel would be with Nakamori-chan, so I had to disguise someone else as myself to be able to get to Nakamori-chan, no?"
Hakuba spluttered and took a step towards Aoko, pointing angrily at Kaito. "Now, Nakamori-chan, don't do this to yourself. Obviously, the real Kaitou Kid is Kuroba Kaito and you're just trying to take the blame, aren't you? He isn't who you think he is, stop protecting him!"
Aoko wanted to scream and rage because Hakuba had no right to tell her what to do and if she knew Kaito or not. But right now she was playing to be the thief so she couldn't just blow up on him.
Instead she grinned a little wider. "You are so gullible. Just because you see someone in a costume doesn't mean it's the real deal." She had to wrap this up real fast and go. Really, she had to make them believe Kaito was not Kaitou Kid but really, what was she doing? How was she going to leave anyway? She took out the diamond again and watched it carefully. It was clear, see through if you squinted enough, just like glass and for a second she wondered if it even was the real deal. "This one was with Nakamori-chan so I'm taking it now. You might want to free her from the closet I locked her in. Oh and of course, you should get her some clothes." She pocketed the diamond again and looked at her father with a winning expression.
"Well then, Otou-san, I'm outta here." With that, she turned around and sprinted. Her father was flabbergasted behind her but caught himself pretty quickly. It was just so Kaitou Kid to have a double disguise and then to have the nerve and disguise himself as his daughter. Again!
"Catch him! That's the real thief! Catch Kaitou Kid!" he bellowed and ran after Aoko.
Hakuba cursed quite creatively and pointed an accusing finger towards Kaito. "This is not over, Kuroba. Why ever it is she protected you, I'll find evidence to lock you behind bars. Mark my words!" With that he turned and left after all the officers to make sure Aoko did not get hurt.
How Kaito always escaped the squad was honestly beyond her. Right now, they were quite far away from her because she got a nice wide head start but they were continuously gaining up on her and she didn't like that one damn bit. She needed to think a way out of this and fast. If they got her and found out that she wasn't Kaitou Kid but indeed just Nakamori Aoko everything would be blown and Kaito might run but he sure couldn't stay in this country anymore and she was having none of this. So running it was.
She would jump out of the window because that was what Kid always did, only she couldn't just fly away so jumping out of windows was crossed off the how-to-escape-the-police-squad-list. What then? She turned yet another corner and spotted the door for the staircase. Yeah. That would have to do. She should probably just run down, so that she could hide inside the crowd outside and lose them. Or something along the lines, only her body was disobeying her and why the hell was she running upstairs, dammit?
Soon footsteps sounded behind her and her heart stopped for a second. Just how exactly would she shake them off?
Try thinking for a second, Ahoko Kaito's voice resounded inside her head. Well. That wasn't helping much but that voice was right. Only she really couldn't think about much else but run, run, runrunrunrun don't stop. So run is what she did.
There was a door she slipped through, a corridor, another door, another corridor, turn right then left, another door, downstairs, door, corridor. Next thing she knows she was standing in front of a glass front overlooking all of Tokyo and her heart sunk because now she was trapped. There was only the way back which she didn't dare go in fear that Otou-san was already waiting for her but what else was she going to do?
And before she could despair a second longer something beneath her exploded and the glass beneath her feet cracked and suddenly she was falling and this was not supposed to happen. Panic gripped her when she felt glass break her skin and pain, there was pain everywhere and she was still falling and falling and how far would she fall, she'll surely die here. Protecting Kid was a stupid idea was her last thought before the world around her stopped and only pain stayed.
"Shit shit Aoko! Do you hear me?! Shit! Don't move, I'm getting you off there, just stay put, you hear me?"
She opened her eyes slowly, the world around her shapeless and blurry and really, she felt nothing but pain. She was hearing things quite clearly, though. Or as clearly as she could with her head pounding and her chest hurting so much and really why was breathing so painful again? But still, she heard Kaito's voice as clear as she could or was she hallucinating, after all? Since when did Kaito sound as scared and panicked as then? It was absolutely out of his character. He was arrogant and full of himself, so being worried for someone and even openly showing it, was something that Aoko's never seen before. At least not like this.
When things started to take on edges and she felt like she could see again, she saw that thief in white fretting quite a distance. He looked highly concentrated on doing what – she couldn't say.
She couldn't feel her arm, she was sure she could not feel it. And there was blood. Or was it? There was red around her. So if it was blood, was it hers? Her heart sped up again in panic. Was she bleeding? Was she dying? She fell quite far and wasn't she standing on some glass platform before she fell?
The thief slowly crept ever closer and she didn't understand why. What was taking him so long? He was suaveness in person – usually that is. So what the hell was he doing now?
She saw the jewel, the Endless Skies still clutched in her hand. Only, weirdly enough it wasn't see through anymore but of a dark red color – red like her blood. Maybe it was just her blood, though. Or maybe she was just hallucinating because her vision got blurry again and the world around her lost its shape again. Kid was just a white speck on the horizon or maybe that was something else. She couldn't tell. And when the pain got so bad that she couldn't even think anymore because that pounding in her head was so bad and couldn't she just stop breathing dammit? If this was what dying felt like, she really wanted no part in it.
Before she heard or saw the cracks that suddenly started beneath her or the hand that grabbed her forcefully and pulled her towards a body that brought her towards solid ground again, everything had long since gone dark.