Summary: "I'm not as smart as Hakuba-kun, or as pretty as Akako-chan, or even as talented as Kaito! But I swear, KID, I'll catch you!" In which Aoko is wrong, every way to Sunday. /AoKai/

GA: A shorter one, this time. I actually wrote this quite a while ago, but just now am I porting this from AO3 to here, which is why I'm uploading it, like, half a day after Words Without Voices.

Enjoy!

ALL OF THEM

It was supposed to be an easy out; nobody expected him to escape to Tokyo Tower, not when he always disappeared towards the moon instead of away from it. He landed on the top deck, alighting with barely the click of his dress shoes, and disengaged his hang glider, letting his cape flutter back to wrap around his shoulders.

Nobody expected him to escape to Tokyo Tower, which perhaps was why Kaito was on guard more than usual as he felt a presence somewhere in the darkness. He couldn't see anything off, but a thief always knew better than to doubt their instincts, and his in particular were never wrong. With a hand on his cardgun, he inched slowly further into the tower, eyes darting between the shadows, searching for whatever it was that was triggering his mental alarm system.

What he didn't expect was a girl dressed in black, blocking the elevator. "KID!" No, Nakamori Aoko was the last thing he expected. "I knew you'd be here! Now give it up!"

"Is that so, Nakamori-keibu-chan?" His voice remained silky smooth despite his apprehension; how Aoko of all people know he was going to be here? Was Hakuba here, too? No, that bastard was one for flashy appearances. He'd have shown his face by now. "Pray tell, how did you know?"

She puffed her chest out in pride, and he couldn't help but find the action amusing (and perhaps the slightest bit endearing). "This place means something to you," she said confidently. "The pin I got, and when you tricked me and dad into coming here. This is...your secret base...or something." Her arrogance slowly petered out, replaced by confusion and a tiny pout. "I'm right, aren't I?"

"...somewhat." He tilted his head, letting the moonlight bounce off of his monocle. He wouldn't tell her the real reason why the tower was so special to him, of course. That was something for Kaito to tell Aoko, not KID. "Although now that you've caught me here, it seems as though I might have to change tactics for a while. Do you know any good hideouts around here?"

The scowl on her face was so...Aoko. That was the only way to describe it. "Don't patronize me," she barked, grabbing a pole from behind her and wielding it at him. "You're not going to need another hideout, because I'm arresting you right now, in the name of the KID Capture Brigade!"

Well, that was to be expected. He sighed slowly, keeping his baritone deep and dark, making sure she would never be able to connect the voices of magician and thief. "Nakamori-keibu-chan-"

"Stop calling me that!" He was surprised by the force behind her words, and his mouth closed mid-word with an audible click as she continued. "I'm not my dad, so stop calling me that."

"I know you're not, Nakamori-ke-...Nakamori-chan." Although her reaction surprised him, to say the least. She looked up to her father, as terrible as a dad that he was, so why did she seem so frustrated at the comparison? "You're nobody but yourself, Nakamori-chan. Not Hakuba-san," here a yellow rose flickered into existence in his hand, "not Koizumi-san," it turned from a bright yellow to a deep orange, "and not Kuroba-san." The orange faded into sapphire blue. "You aren't anybody but yourself, Nakamori-chan."

And with that, he held out the rose, a vibrant ruby red, to Aoko, accompanied with a small smirk that only Kaito could ever pull off. He - Kaito, not KID - always knew how to put a smile on Aoko's face; it was something that he prided himself on. Something that Kaito could do that nobody else could. Not even KID.

But she wasn't smiling, and the tears that caressed her cheeks were most definitely not from happiness. His smirk turned into a frown of worry as she clenched her fists, the pole in her hands breaking in two from the force. "I know..." Her voice was weak but audible, building slightly with every word. "I know I'm not...I'm not as smart as Hakuba-kun, or as pretty as Akako-chan, o-or as...as talented as Kaito..." She swallowed thickly, and his heart dropped through past his stomach. Was that really what she thought? "But," she continued, her eyes desperate and pleading as she stared right at him, "but I'm going to be the one to catch you, okay? Aoko swears she'll catch you, no matter what!"

He almost breathed a sigh of relief at the fire in her eyes - almost, because her words of self-negligence still hurt, regardless of the outcome - and held the rose up a bit higher as she lunged at him, releasing a spray of sleeping gas straight to her face. It wasn't enough to knock her out immediately, but it gave him the chance to catch her and gently set her on the floor as her eyes fluttered shut. "If you know that much," he murmured, "then stop trying so hard to catch me."

And he surveyed her as her breathing slowed, her words replaying over and over in his head, fallacy after fallacy. It was Aoko, not Hakuba, who had deciphered his landing spot. It was Aoko, not Kaito, who had managed to hide her presence from even the master of disguise and trickery himself. And it was Aoko, not Akako, whose sapphire eyes shone blazing and brilliant in the moonlight that filtered through the tower, brightened with determination and ferocity beyond compare.

No, she was far more than any of them. Than all of them, really.

"Stop trying so hard to catch me," he repeated softly into her ear, tucking a piece of hair behind her ear, one final lasting gesture before he stood up to leave. And even as he took off into the night sky, his final words resounded around her, in hopes that she'd wake up and hear their truths.

"Don't you know, you've already caught me?"

OMAKE

"Oi, Ahoko."

"Hm?"

"...good job."

"E-Eh? What for?"

"I heard you got to meet KID-sama up close and personal, and...almost caught him, so. Good job."

"Wait, really? You're actually complimenting me?"

"What do you want me to take it back?"

"No, no! It's just...thanks, I guess."

"...yeah, don't mention it. So what's for lunch?"

"Well, I've got octopus sausage, and-"

"Oh, my favorite! Thanks!"

"It's not for you!"

"Well you can't eat it! If you do, you'll get fatter, and girls don't like fat guys!"

"BAKAITOOOO-!"

GA: Kaito, you goddamn tsundere.

'Til next time!

~G. Annihilator