Author's Note: A year or so ago I took on the 31 days challenge, and decided to do it again this year. They'll be out of order since I posted a couple already, but not all thus far are written up… we'll see what happens—but chances are you'll be getting an update daily for the next 30 days ^^;; You've been warned. They'll range from drabbles to full lengths to omakes or side scenes from fics I'm currently working on… whatever I manage to get out basically— Don't worry—other stuff will get updated too… but let me finish up with Japanese and then we'll discuss that. ^_^ Enjoy!

Title: Illusionary Reality
Author: Fyliwion
Fandom: Detective Conan/Magic Kaito
Pairing: Aoko/Kaito
Day/Theme: July 9/but I'll come back to haunt you if I drown
Word Count: 2552
Disclaimer: Not Gosho… don't know where this came from…

He was everywhere.

Surrounded her every time she walked down the street. Every bar. Every case.

Escape?

Hah.

Once it was so bad she'd nearly grabbed someone as she yelled "Kaito!", but the minute the man turned she knew it wasn't him.

Brown eyes not blue.

Cheekbones not as high.

Hair that didn't hang just the same way, and a puzzled expression as he placed a hand on her shoulder and asked softly "Miss are you alright?"

He was gone. She knew that. She that as well as she knew that she was Nakamori Aoko, but sometimes she'd see a glimpse of laughing blue eyes, or a smile that was far too akin to his smirk and she couldn't quite believe it.

The irony was unbelievable.

She was ready to tell him to get out of her life. Ready to call and tell him that if he showed up one more time she would see to it he was behind bars for good. She was going to hand him over, or at least threaten to kill him herself.

Gone.

She'd have taken back every thought. Every time she wouldn'tlisten when the words were right there. Forgive anything to just have him make her laugh one more time.

Haha—

A magician was playing in town once. She went to see the act, but found she couldn't even bring a smile to her lips as the tasteless tricks flashed before her eyes. Colored balls, dancing lights, a scarf pulled from midair, and roses scattered on the audience.

Disappearing acts and illusions, but she could see through them all.
The hidden pocket in his coat, the compartment in his sleeve, the trapdoor underneath, and the switched flower when he handed it over to the girl in the front row.

She began to make a habit of it. Every show she'd catch more and more of the tricks, they didn't hold the same magic as they did when she was a child, nor were they ever quite as good as Kaito's had been, but once in a while they'd spring a new one she'd never seen and sometimes she'd almost break a smile.

Nobody ever wanted to see the shows with her, and she never asked.

Hakuba tried.

He would set a hand on her shoulder and look at her sadly as he shook his head, "He's dead Aoko."

"They never found a body—" it was a curt automatic reply. "No body was ever found-" her fingers tapped quickly against the keyboard.

"He wouldn't want you to do this…" he said with a sigh. "He'd want you to move on, it's been nearly three years now—"

She kept her lips pursed as her fingers continued to type away in the silence. She never looked up, didn't dare to look up and meet worried amber eyes.

"There are other people who care about you—" he added softly, "Remember that."

Nothing.

It was another few minutes before he finally gave up, and from the corner of the eye she saw him walk out of her office.

On her computer she went to buy a ticket for the next show…

When something finally changed it was on the train.

She'd worked later than usual, and had to pick up some things from the store before going home. She might not have even noticed the man if she hadn't decided to put down her notes and just take a breather for a moment.

It wasn't crowded. There was only her, three small children that looked like they might be siblings, the woman she suspected was either their older sister or mother, and an elderly man whom she thought might be homeless-

The youngest child looked as though she had been crying, red eyes and scuffed knees that he kicked angrily. She watched him with a small smile, and the older man seemed to be doing the same.

All at once the older man leaned down slowly and picked up a coin. Just a normal five yen piece, the type most people might wear as a good luck piece when their small. He twisted it in his fingers, but for some reason her eyes were drawn to the shine of it.

Then it was gone.

She blinked not sure what she'd seen. Except he had it once more, in his other hand now as it played across his finger tips.

Flicked it up.

Gone.

The little boy had noticed and was watching wide eyed.

The man said nothing as the coin ran to and fro from one hand to the next. Appearing and disappearing. It shouldn't have surprised Aoko—she knew where you kept the coin. Kaito use to tease her with it all the time, so she knew exactlywhere you hid it. Knew exactly how you set it in the crevice of the hand, or might keep two. She began watching the otherhand in hopes of catching a glimpse.

Nothing.

Nothing there.

By now the children were laughing and cheering him along. He'd begun pulling more coins from the air, twisting them further and pulling them from all sorts of places. The old man whom she swore couldn't have been a day younger than fifty, suddenly looked younger as tired eyes sparkled at the children.

He saw her gaze kept where she'd normally look for a hint of hidden coin, and he winked her way as he held up his hands to let her see… he even rolled up the cuffs of his shirt as she found herself smiling embarrassedly at being caught.

The children and their escort finally got off a couple stops later, laughing and showing no sign of the sullenness when they first got on the train. The woman smiled gratefully at the elder gentleman who threw her a knowing smile as the doors shut and left just her and the man in the car.

She nearly jumped out of her seat when he said, "Anything you'd like to see?"

"What?" She asked looking up quickly. She felt her heart race from the shock, she knew he'd noticed her but…

"You were watching yes? Any particular tricks you'd enjoy?" The coin rolled to and fro along his finger tips and she found it was far easier to watch that then meet his sharp gaze.

"Ah—Um… No... nothing in particular…" the lie rolled off her tongue easily, but for some reason she felt a stab of fear as she said it.

The man slowly moved over a seat to lean closer. His back curled forward in a slight hunch, and his movements were still slow—but…

If only he'd stop watching her.

"I know others… what if…" he began to hold up his hand and a rush of anticipation flooded through her.

"No!" she choked out at last, "No… Not… Not that one… Please—"

He froze and let his hand drop. A single eyebrow raised in question before he shook his head, "If your certain."

"…I—"

"I just thought such a lovely young lady as yourself—"

The words wouldn't, couldn't come out as she looked back up and met his gaze. She sighed, "I… I just… it was a trick my friend use to do… No offense sir, but usually it takes some of the suspense from it."

"Was he very good?" A wry smile played on his lips.

"The best…" she felt a smile fight its way onto her face. It had been a long time since she'd been able to smile at the thought of Kaito.

The old man nodded and held up his hand once more, "You should keep it then. For a memory of him-" there was no poof. No puff of smoke. No glittering light. Just a single flower outstretched in his rice paper hands.

Somehow she didn't feel like crying.

Kind eyes smiling at her.

"Thank you-" she said softly taking the rose in hand.

"Of course-" he said with a nod before turning away.

It wasn't until he stepped off the bus that she realized that his eyes had been that exact shade of cerulean blue.

-. -. -.

"Damn these heists," the angry voice of the boss echoed through the room. "If I wasn't so sure he was dead I'd damn well say it was KID doing them!"

Aoko held her tongue even as the others began arguing over the logistics of the most recent case files that had been planted on their lap.

Gems missing. Every type and every color, although most specifically leaning towards shades of red. No apparent ties in anyways. When you added minor burglaries concerning a few antique heirlooms, there didn't even appear to be a real gem involved, but sometimes just cheap cut glass.

They weren't returned though. They never appeared again, and there was no note, no warning, and no sign there had ever been a person there.

"KID was known for his gaudy actions. Part of what made him who he was is his ability to draw a crowd. Too many of his heists relied on that alone, without the crowd there is no KID," this was Hakuba, well of course it was Hakuba… when wasn't it? "He was first and foremost a showman, so it would make no sense for him to have survived the fall, and then reappear and steal at whim. Nothing about the two are the same."

Mumurs of agreement except for the chief who shook his head, "No one else can get in and out like that without so much as a sound. What if he faked his own death and now he's just leading us off his trail? Weren't things getting a bit heated after those last few heists? You yourself got shot didn't you Detective?"

"Mmmm…" Hakuba threw a look to Aoko who had long since stopped taking notes, and was now gripping her pen tightly in her fist.

She cleared her throat and decided to speak up, "Well it doesn't matter really does it? After all we couldn't catch KID, and this person might as well be a real phantom for all we can find a lead on him. We might try a KID tactic to throw him off, but in the end even if it's the same person we can't do anything more than we have yes?"

She set her pen down, but her heart was still racing in her chest.

"True true Aoko-kun—good observation."

She gave a nod and finally stood up, "Excuse me… I… I think I need a glass of water," a wave of a hand from the chief and she took off from the room that had been slowly suffocating her.

-.- .- .- .- .-

She leaned over the bar in front of her and smiled at the bartender, "I'm one of the officers in charge of catching this new burglar you know."

The man gave a laugh and shook his head at the young woman. He'd seen her enough times in there that he was well aware of this but he slid her a glass of water, "I'm not giving you more than two drinks tonight Aoko-chan."

She shrugged as she took a seat and looked at the alcohols, "Why couldn't I get a nice normal exciting case. Like that one organization… I heard they all had names dealing with alcohols like Gin and Vermouth—" she said listing off the ones in front of her. "They had some trouble, but they were able to catch them in the end. One big shoot out… I mean I wouldn't really want a shoot out, but at least they weren't ghosts you know?"

It was a young man next to her. At least a year or two her junior who looked up with a questioning look, "You really can't mean that?"

Blond hair hung messily in his eyes, and she was surprised to see how attractive he was. Not her type though. Not really but…

"Of course I do. You actually get to dosomething. All I can do is stand and watch… and if or when the real bad guys show up, it's in the shadows where you never know if they're there."

"Careful what you wish for-" the young man went back to his own drink. A cocktail of some kind that she wasn't familiar with .

Watching the red liquid swirl in the martini glass she frowned, "What is it? I've never seen something quite that shade… well I've seen some, but usually not in a martini glass—"

The bartender grinned, "S'called a Rose," she jumped slightly and the young man gave her a sheepish grin. "One of the sweetest thing you could drink what with cherry juice, kirsch, vermouth, and cherry brandy. Not to mention this one here actually wants a drop of rose syrup in the stuff—" he added giving the young man a wink. "Don't have too many who ask for it."

She felt a wave of surprise, and then met the young man's nervous blue eyes.

Blue eyes.

She bit her lip, and then took a plunge.

"May I have a sip?"

The bartender stared at her in absolute shock. The young man looked surprised as well, and she felt her nerves roll but…

Well either they thought she was a tramp, especially rude, foreign, or just plain crazy… Unless…

The young man's eyes touched her own and she felt another jolt as familiar smile crept onto his lips, "Of course-" he handed the glass to her.

She wasn't so sure anymore. This was ridiculous… if she was wrong then she was committing enough indecencies to shame anyone.

Too late.

Her lips set on the rim, and she tasted the residue to sugar along the glass. Of course… why not make the thing sweeter.

It was surprisingly good, and in some ways did remind her of the faint scent of roses, and far too sweet for her to ever drink.

His eyes never stopped watching her.

She handed back the glass, "Thank you."

"No problem…"

She could see the resemblance now. She usually noticed it immediately but this time it took her a moment longer. Perhaps because she was tired, or perhaps because she realized it wasn't a wig but his own hair. She wondered that he didn't wear contacts when it was so obvious… but she hadn't noticed immediately so perhaps it wasn't as obvious as she thought.

He spoke first, "Would you like to get dinner? I know it's late but-"

"I haven't had a bite yet… was at work until late-" she said with a small smile. "I'd love dinner."

A grin.

A normal grin that held all the familiarity she was use to, "Excellent. I was too… Right then.." he slipped a bill to the bartender and held out his arms, "I know a great little restaurant that keeps these hours. It's a bit unconventional but-"

"Unconventional sounds good…" she slipped her arm in his as she stood lifting her purse.

"Excellent!" they started to stroll out of the bar as he added, "I don't think I ever introduced myself—I'm-"

She shook her head and squeezed his hand, "It's alright I already know." She grinned back at him feeling the weight gently drift off her shoulders, "Right?"

Laughter.

"Yeah… I guess you do."

Author's Note: On some of the bits inside… I use Aoko-kun in the one instance since… well I kept it vague on whose still in the department. –kun can be used when discussing co-workers who are female and given I had her in law enforcement but her father's also there… it seemed more likely than possibly Nakamori or especially Aoko-chan which would be possibly insulting. I'm not certain where the fic came from… I had some stuff I started a while ago where Kaito saw her everywhere… possibly in a previous 31 days challenge… and after the last one I thought I'd switch it up… Here's the first in your new series of ficlets!