Hakuba Saguru was not napping when he heard the insistent knocking on his front door. If he'd been napping he wouldn't have heard it but he did suddenly jerk to full attention from where he'd been lounging in his study. He sat up and waited to see if he could hear it again. The sound repeated and he made a few quick calculations-it was just after noon and by the sound of the knocking it sounded like offender was short, and very upset.

He pushed himself out of his chair and moved out into the hallway, following the noise as he did and making his way to the entrance hall. He didn't have to ask his guest to identify themselves as he already knew who it was when he yanked the door open to reveal the short brunette girl he'd come to see as a friend. She was soaked, and… wearing jeans as was something he hadn't actually seen before. Her face was red, eyes blood shot, cheeks tear-stained and...was that blood on her hand. What in the world had happened? He didn't say anything to her before grabbing her hand, she squeaked in response and he inspected it-it wasn't her blood.

"Aoko-kun." He finally addressed her, pulling her out of the summer rain and into his house. "What happened?" She obviously needed a moment, taking in big gulps of air as she tried to calm herself-chest rising and falling rapidly. Of course Baya would be out at this exact moment.

"I-..." She started, breathing increasing again. She was going to start hyperventilating if she didn't calm down. He sighed and took her by the elbow and steered her to the kitchen, letting her sob and hiccup the full way there while he tried to piece together what had her so upset.

He hadn't received a call from the station so as far as he knew, Inspector Nakamori was safe and sound in his office at work so it couldn't have to deal with her father meaning that the cause for this distress likely fell on the shoulders of Kuroba Kaito. It couldn't have been life threatening or else she'd have been at his side in the hospital and she'd clearly run here from somewhere-she probably needed to clear her head and it started raining. But the blood.

It had been a full three days since that priest tried to kidnap the Kaitou Kid, somehow pulling Aoko into the mix. Forensics had found a broken display case on floor of the room Kid and Aoko had been dumped in. There hadn't been any indication that either of them had been injured-at least according to forensics but Hakuba had reason to believe otherwise. The glass was smashed in the fall, undoubtedly but it seemed something might have landed on top of it as well-glass didn't shatter like that when it was dropped. He'd personally checked Aoko over the moment he'd helped her to her feet and the only injuries he'd seen were the inevitable bruises she must have gotten in the fall. Kid landed on the display case-he had to have.

"Sit down." He instructed the poor girl as he led her to a seat at the countertop bar. Aoko seated and still sobbing he moved away to grab the tea kettle and set about boiling the water. Aoko liked lemon in her tea, he remembered, going to the fridge to get one out he could he could prepare for her, letting her sit on the barstool and sob as much as she needed. Her breathing was coming in hiccups but she wasn't close to hyperventilating anymore. "Aoko-kun."

She took in a sharp breath at the sound of her name and looked up at him, tears still falling out her eyes. He pulled the handkerchief from his pocket out and handed it to her.

"Can you tell me what happened?" He asked, moving closer and sitting on the barstool next to her, hesitantly placing a hand on her shoulder.

"I…" She sniffled and took in another breath, and then another followed by another in increasingly rapid succession. Something really had her rattled and he had to keep her from panicking. The tea wouldn't be made in time so he let out a sigh and wrapped his arms around her in a comforting embrace. He felt her stiffen at the close contact but she didn't pull away. After a moment she even accepted the comfort.

"It's alright." He tried to reassure her, rubbing her arm. "It's alright, just breathe. Just. Breathe." He felt her swallow, he waited until her breathing started to slow down. She trembled in his arms and started crying harder. If this was Kuroba's doing…

The tea kettle interrupted his internal threat and he gently let Aoko go so he could prepare the tea. He wouldn't ask her again until after she'd had a good few sips in her. He wordlessly handed her the mug and she took it, holding it but not drinking. He looked around for that lemon again and set about slicing it up, dropping a slice into her cup so the liquid sloshed around in her cup, catching her attention with the slight 'plop.' She startled and looked up at him again.

"H-Hakuba-kun." She breathed, voice a bit shaky and he smiled slightly at her.

"Are you back?" He asked, sitting next to her again. He watched her swallow and then looked at her cup before finally taking a sip of the steaming liquid. He took a breath and waited for her to get several sips in before trying for the last time. "Aoko," He left off the honorific. "What happened?"

She looked up at him again, her chest starting to rise and fall quickly again before she swallowed and took in a shuddery breath.

"H-he…" She started. "K-Kid I mean… he was injured. Bleeding." Ah. Of course. Hakuba placed a hand over hers to cut her off.

"You found the same injury on Kuroba-kun?" He asked, the way her breath caught-she was frozen for a moment. It was all the confirmation he needed.

"How did-" She started.

"I'm a detective. It's my job to notice things. There were plates of glass in that room shattered in accordance with someone falling on them. Glass like that would have cut the skin like butter and you didn't have any scrapes on you-it had to have been Kid. And now, here you are on a holiday I have no doubt you and Kuroba-kun had reserved to spend time together on, but you discovered Kuroba has the same injury as Kid. The conclusion was inescapable this time." He took his hand off her arm and watched to see what her reaction would be.

"H-He told me to hold onto him more tightly-I thought it was okay but-" She sniffled and Hakuba couldn't help but roll his eyes.

"Oh, that idiot." He muttered under his breath. "So you did as he said and then it opened the stitches." He pieced together the rest. She nodded mutely. So Aoko knew beyond a shadow of a doubt that Kuroba Kaito and Kaitou Kid were one in the same. It was evidence but he could never ask her to testify against her childhood friend. Kuroba would avoid the cuffs yet again.

"He's… being looked after." She stated. Hakuba nodded, so he'd assumed by her presence. Poor girl was obviously overwhelmed by all this.

"What do you want to do?" He chanced asking, Aoko shook her head.

"I don't-" She hiccuped. "I don't know." She admitted. Well, she'd come to him rather than her father so it was clear that she didn't want Kaito arrested. If that's what she wanted, then he wouldn't breathe a word of this conversation to anyone. "I-I should go." She said suddenly, "I shouldn't have-thank you." She said setting the cup down and starting to leave quickly.

"Aoko-kun-wait!" He got up at the same time as her and grabbed her wrist, holding her in place. "Stay. You needed to talk to someone-so let's talk." She hiccuped again and turned to face him, her eyes welling up with tears again.

"Are-Are you going to turn him in?" She asked, the fear of his answer evident in her voice. She swallowed, watching him closely. God knew he should. He doubted if Kuroba could fully comprehend the weight that such a secret would put on Aoko. Her father was the head of the Kaitou Kid taskforce, for god's sake.

"No." He finally admitted. "Not based on your testimony. If I catch him I'll do it another way, okay?" She swallowed again, still watching him before nodding slightly. He pulled her gently into him, hugging her again, his hand resting on the side of her face. This was a terrible, terrible time to notice how soft and warm she was-how he could feel her breathing against him, her head against his chest. "Are you feeling any better?"

She shook her head and nuzzled further against him and he took in a breath, inhaling the sweet scent of coconut in her hair. She was still crying into his shirt and before he could think to stop himself, he pressed a kiss against the top of her head. She froze at the contact and looked up at him. Her eyes still damp from her recent onslaught of tears. He should apologise-this was incredibly inappropriate behaviour given the circumstances.

She looked confused, the action clearly wasn't registering correctly and her mouth was slightly open. He could see the lip balm on her lips and swallowed. Inappropriate Saguru. This is not the time-why wasn't she looking away? She took in a breath and exhaled gently. Oh, he was going to hell for this.

He pressed a strand of hair out of her face and slowly knelt down to press his lips lightly against hers. He gave her plenty of time to pull away but she didn't, instead he felt her mouth moving to kiss him back. That was-unexpected. He moved his mouth again to kiss her, a movement which she followed.

He couldn't keep kissing her though-not like this. He pulled his lips away from hers and took a breath.

"A-Aoko-kun." He stammers a bit. "I'm sorry-I" She gripped the lapels on his jacket and pulled him back down for another kiss. Well, if she insisted he was happy to kiss her back-even if her kiss was wet with her tears. Her hands tentatively reached up to touch the sides of his face as he continued to kiss her. His hand moved slowly to the back of her head, fingers entangling into her hair and massaging gently. He could feel her shifting, her head tilting back. His other hand moved down to the small of her back. He could tell by her movements that this was her first kiss so he couldn't go too far with her. Still though, his tongue brushed her up against her lips, as if asking for permission. He felt her mouth open and pushed his tongue in, exploring and taking in her sweet taste.

Inexperienced as she was, she still tasted so good. He should pull away-she was still upset and the only reason she was kissing him like this is because of the comfort it offered. This wasn't how he wanted her but-He pulled his mouth slowly away from hers, his teeth gently scraping across her bottom lip. She tried to kiss him again but he was on his way to kissing the side of her face, her jaw bone and down to her neck. She let out a soft moan and Saguru knew he was playing a dangerous game as the sound went right through him.

"Aoko-kun." He whispered against her neck. "...Do you like it?" He felt her swallow and then nod as her hands moved to the back of his neck. At her encouragement he nipped carefully at her pulse and he felt her inhale. She wasn't responding much aside from soft noises. That was okay, she was inexperienced and it was likely that each little gasp he drew from her had her vaguely motionless as she took in the new feeling. His hands moved to her shoulders, gently starting to peel her jacket off. "May I?" He asked again, mouth still on her neck.

She stood still a moment before swallowing and nodding again. With her permission, he gently pushed her jacket off-exposing more skin that he moved his mouth to, kissing at the nape of her neck a few times, taking in the taste before he moved back to her mouth, his hands going to rest on her hips once her jacket was off.

Her hands moved off the back of his neck, back to the front so she could gently shove his jacket off his shoulders. He hadn't expected that but he shifted so she could do what she wanted and his jacket came off. They shouldn't go any further, he told himself, gently kissing her lips and starting to move down to her chin and jawline. He should stop. This was probably too much for her. Besides, as much as he was enjoying kissing her feverishly like this-she was a good deal shorter than him and the angles were just a bit awkward. He finished off one last kiss before moving his hands to her cheeks and pulling away.

"H-Hakuba-kun?" She asked, her hands still resting on his shoulders. He looked down at her now lips red and swollen from all his kissing and his mouth went dry. "Why...Um…" He watched her face heat up and then looked away, not pulling her body away. "Why did you stop? It… felt nice."

And she tasted nice, but he couldn't tell her that. Should he kiss her again since she obviously wanted him to? He took in a breath and pressed another kiss to her lips-this one chaste and pulled away, brushing her bottom lip with his thumb.

"Aoko-kun. I would love to continue kissing you." Specifically all over, stimulating parts of her body she probably didn't even know could react that way. "But this was your first kiss. If we keep going things could get overwhelming for you and I want you to be comfortable." Also in a much better mood but at least she wasn't crying anymore.

"It wasn't Hakuba-kun's?" She asked curiously. He shook his head.

"No. I've done much more than kissing." He admitted, watching her face grow redder and redder as the information processed. "Aoko-kun, I'm seventeen, I went to bridge school in London, I'm a detective and I frequently travel for my cases. It makes me quite popular in that regard-Kind of like Sherlock Holmes." He rambled, hoping to take her mind off what her mind was heading to.

"But Sherlock Holmes never liked anyone like that." She countered and Saguru had to concede she was correct.

"True enough. There was Irene I suppose but even that wasn't-" He froze and then looked down at her, almost as if seeing her in a new light. "...You read the books?" He chanced asking.

"Mystery and thriller are Aoko's favorite type of books. Of course she's read Sherlock Holmes." She stated. Saguru's mouth went dry again as she suddenly seemed ten times more attractive though that couldn't have been possible. He took in a breath, staring down at her before finally pulling away and bending down to grab his suit jacket along with her jean jacket and drape them both over the chairs.

"Do you feel any better?" he asked, deciding they should change the subject. Aoko froze at the question and seemed to be thinking about it. She didn't appear on the verge of tears anymore but Saguru stayed just within reach just in case.

"No." She finally decided. "Aoko's still mad." He touched her lips softly with his finger before gently tilting her chin up.

"With every reason to be." He assured her. "Aoko should be mad."

"It just…" She sat back down in her seat from earlier. "It feels like Aoko can't-She can't trust Kaito anymore." She said dejectedly. Saguru watched her for a moment and rubbed at his eyebrow. She was right. Kuroba had made the mistake of lying to his best friend and now she'd found out the secret on her own which made the reveal so much worse and probably destroyed the trust in their friendship.

"Well, Kuroba-kun likely has his reasons. He's-if you would forgive the expression-a pain in the ass sometimes but he wouldn't do something like that just for fun." He offered "If he knows you know then you might be able to get him to tell you." As much as he'd love for Aoko to choose him over Kuroba (and she kind of had) he had no intention of breaking their friendship up.

She nodded mutely at his words and he stepped back over to press a kiss to the top of her head.

"Have you had lunch?" He asked. She shook her head and Saguru offered her his hand. "Would you like to accompany me?" She looked up at him, considering his offer before she placed her hand in his and he helped her up to her feet.

"Where did you have in mind?" She asked.

"What do you want? And don't worry about the cost-I'm happy to pay for you." He assured her as she thought it over,.

"...Aoko likes italian." Hakuba handed her, her jacket back and pulled his own back on.

"Italian it is."