Lessons in Life
Kaito taught Aoko a lot of things; That love doesn't come easy.
Aoko stared proudly at her test paper. She didn't score full marks, but she was very satisfied with the improvement she made since the last test.
She glanced over at Kaito who was snoring at his seat, arms sprawled out on the desk. His test paper was clutched loosely between his two fingers, about to drop and float to the ground anytime.
Aoko didn't understand how he managed to sleep instantly when he slumped onto his seat after getting back his results. It's a Monday and he should have slept enough during the weekends since he told her he wanted to rest at home instead of hanging out together with their friends.
'He must be watching Kaitou Kid's heist yesterday night.' Aoko rolled her eyes at the thought and snatched the papers from his hands, scowling at the bright red ink that wrote 100 at the corner of the paper. Not that it was surprising, but it frustrates her that he always get good grades even though he spent his time sleeping in school all day long.
"Eh...?" Kaito's eyes fluttered as he rubbed it like a child. "Is the class over?"
"Tachiban-sensei is still handing out the results."
"Then why did you wake me up?"
"I didn't wake you up." Aoko slapped the paper onto his face.
Kaito grimaced. "Hey! What's that for?"
"Nothing, nerd."
Even with his sleepy eyes, he gave a smirk that sent butterflies in her stomach. She turned away quickly, hoping the blush on her face wasn't too obvious. Looking down at her clean desk, she realized her test paper was gone.
Aoko glared at Kaito who was feigning an unbelievable expression as he stared at her test paper. "Give it back!" She growled.
"Not bad." Kaito patted her head with the paper. "I'm proud for my little student. At least my effort isn't wasted."
Aoko snatched it from his hands and stuck out her tongue.
"A thank you would be nice."
Aoko sighed, her cheeks twitched but she forced herself to stay angry for a little longer. "Thank you, my saviour."
He chuckled. "That's better."
0o0
"Please."
"I can't hear you."
"Please."
"Huh? What did you say?"
"Kuroba Kaito!"
"Fine I heard you!" Kaito snickered as he took her hand and she grabbed it more desperately than she wanted to show. Kaito pulled her up from the snow and she almost toppled right onto him if he wasn't holding onto her waist firmly.
Her feet were frozen on the snowy ground. 'What a perfect pun,' she thought. And thanks to the ski, it was hard for her to move about easily too, not to mention that she was slowly sinking into the snow due to her weight. No, not her weight. It's because of the gravity.
She felt Kaito's warm gloved hands moving away from her waist and she slightly blushed, realizing she was so comfortable with his touch that she almost didn't realize he was holding her in the first place.
"Try taking another step."
"I'll fall again."
"That's the entire purpose. You'll fall enough until your legs naturally get tired of falling and you'll do it perfectly like me."
Aoko huffed. "You copied my lines." She mumbled.
"An eye for an eye." Kaito laughed.
Just last week, Aoko brought Kaito to the ice ring and she laughed at his falling performance so much that her stomach hurts the whole day. Well, now it was Kaito's turn to bring her to the ski resort and she couldn't say no, since it was sort of an agreement they made between each other. I'll do what you want to do, but you must do what I want to do.
Basically, what the both of them wanted to do was to watch the other suffer and laugh for the whole day.
"Come on!" Kaito's moved away and turned his back towards her, making a stance like he was about to speed off. "We shouldn't waste our time."
"W-Wait no! Please, Kaito. You can do anything you want but don't leave me alone." Aoko begged, her ski poles protruding out like wings as she waved her arms around pleadingly.
"Then you should trust me." Kaito whirled around.
"Trust?"
"Take a step and then push yourself forward." Kaito threw his ski poles aside and stuck out both of his hands, his smile never left his face. "You won't fall this time. I'll catch you if you do."
Aoko's face turned redder at his innocent-yet-heroic usage of words and hoped Kaito would mistake it for the cold. She then closed her eyes, stuck her two ski poles into the snow and pushed.
0o0
Summer sucks.
Not really... but the weather was just unbearable.
Aoko already turned on the air condition, but it didn't help much when the sun rays and heat were glaring into her house through the windows. It's definitely the time to change the curtains
She huffed and slumped onto her sofa, her hair tied up to a pony tail. She switched on the television and changed the channel every five seconds when nothing caught her attention.
'Homework done, part time job starts next week, I've finished reading the books I've borrowed...' Aoko mentally made a checklist, wondering if she had anything that she hadn't done so she could start doing them instead of sitting and pressing on the remote. 'I'll buy new curtains when it isn't that hot outside. But if it isn't that hot anymore, what's the point of buying them?' Aoko sighed, pinching the bridge of her nose. Why was she getting a headache over buying curtains?
Her doorbell rang and Aoko flung up from her seat, wondering who the possible visitor could be. She opened the door and when she realized who it was, a weird thought flashed across her mind. Maybe her headache was a warning that this special visitor was coming over.
"Kaito...?"
"Hurry and let me in, oh my god." Kaito rushed in and kicked his shoes aside before he excused himself for entering (intruding) her home. "It's so bloody hot."
"What are you doing here then?" Aoko raised an eyebrow.
Kaito shrugged. "I'm bored at home."
Aoko narrowed her eyes and shut the door behind her. "Your homework?"
"Done." He looked so proud, as though he just stopped a meteorite from crashing earth.
"Sorry to disappoint you," Aoko gestured to the simple looking living room to prove her point. "You've come to the wrong place. I have nothing here to entertain you."
He waved her off and went to take a seat on the couch, picking up the remote and began switching channels, just like what she had been doing for the past ten minutes. "Do you have something to drink? I practically ran here to avoid the heat."
Aoko put a hand on her hip and sighed. She walked to the kitchen and pulled the refrigerator door open, sticking her head in and feeling the cool air before focusing on the drinks she had. "Milk." Aoko raised her head over the fridge door and stared at Kaito. He stared back, seeming to be waiting for Aoko to continue.
"And water." She added.
"Not even tea? I mean ice tea."
"Milk and water only." Aoko emphasized. "There's no tea."
Kaito made a face before lifting himself from his comfortable seat, shuffling his lazy feet over to the kitchen. He stared in the fridge to confirm his disappointment before raising an eyebrow at a lone carton that was placed at the corner of the fridge.
"You have a carton of heavy cream, but no tea."
"My dad accidentally bought it because he thought it was milk." Aoko sighed.
"Ha?"
"Dad's just too stress lately, I guess."
Kaito closed the fridge door for her and began ransacking her cabinets. "What a lousy host." He commented casually.
"I wasn't informed of your arrival, my lord." Aoko gritted her teeth. Aoko watched him for a moment, not long after, she put two hands on her hips. That was it. She didn't put just one hand, but two hands on her hips. This meant that she was pissed.
"May I ask what are you doing to my kitchen?" She hissed, a vein popped on her forehead.
Kaito took out the box of sugar and shook it happily. "Sugar!"
Aoko blinked. "Are you alright?" She referred to his mentality.
He gave a motion to ask Aoko to move aside and she did. Kaito opened the fridge and his smile grew brighter. He placed the sugar on the kitchen table and took out the heavy cream, milk, ice and the box of untouched strawberries that he noticed when he was looking over the fridge previously.
"W-What are you doing?" She asked again, this time her tone sounded more curious than mad.
Kaito slammed the fridge shut with a satisfaction smirk. "We have the perfect ingredients to make ice cream!"
"You know how to make ice cream?" Aoko scoffed.
He started treating Aoko's kitchen like his own, rummaging through the cabinets again to take out the spoon, metal bowl and miraculously, the electric mixer, which Aoko didn't even realize it existed in her own kitchen until now. She cooks, but she never bake or make ice cream. She must have bought it long time ago and never used it.
"Well," Kaito cleared his throat and Aoko was snapped back to reality. "I have this trick that involved ice cream so I need to know how to make ice cream to perform that trick."
She narrowed her eyes. "You're going to clean up the mess afterwards."
"We."
"You."
"We."
"You!"
"You can't eat the ice cream then."
Aoko contemplated for a while and crossed her arms. Eating ice cream would be perfect for the weather now. "I'll consider again once I see the final product."
"Aren't you going to help me?" Kaito grinned while crushing the ice with a towel.
"But I don't know the steps."
His grin grew wider and Aoko almost stopped breathing. Almost.
"I'll teach you." He simply said.
0o0
Aoko never knew it was possible for her chest to hurt so much.
She wasn't shot like Kaitou Kid. She didn't fall off the three-story high building like Kaitou Kid. But why was she hurting so much? She couldn't clearly identify which part of her chest was in pain, but it was near her heart.
'It's not my heart.' She screamed in her head. 'My heart does not hurt for him.'
Aoko clutched onto the front of her shirt, immediately wrinkling it in the process. Slowly, she pulled her hand away from her moist shirt and stared down at her hand. Blood. It was mostly dried, but not dry enough to not slightly stain her small and fragile hand.
It wasn't her blood.
"Kid, you gotta stay awake."
Aoko glanced up and stared at her father who was frowning very hard at Kid who had an oxygen mask over his face. His eyes opened slightly, but they were drooping.
The ride to the hospital was bumpy and Aoko could hear the faint siren from inside of the ambulance. Right now, her head was in a mess and she didn't even know what to focus on. Her painful chest? Her blood stained hand? Her stained and wrinkled clothes? Her father who was more concerned over Kid than his daughter? The Kaitou Kid who was lying right in front of her and dying?
Tears gathered in her eyes and she blinked, allowing them to flow.
Was it her fault? Yes. It was her fault. Because she choose the wrong day to deal with Kid. Kaitou Kid already had an appointment with some men in black and didn't have time for her, but she insisted on running after him even after she was handcuffed to a window and warned by Kaitou Kid himself.
In the end, the almighty Kaitou Kid protected her and was shot when she was too busy trying to catch him instead of taking good care of herself.
Aoko gave a soft whimper.
She noticed Kid's finger twitched and she glanced up to his face. Charming. Very charming. He still had a monocle on his face, but his hat was gone. White suit stained with the color red.
Wasn't it supposed to be pink? Since red and white turns pink.
Maybe it's because there's too much red.
There's just too much red.
Kid was staring at her. His eyes were focused on her. Eyelid drooping, but still staring intently at her. He made no sound, or maybe he tried but Aoko couldn't hear thanks to the oxygen mask. His fingers twitched again. Aoko could tell from the corner of her eyes.
"Kaitou Kid..." Aoko mumbled. Her chest began to hurt again.
He slowly closed his eyes. His fingers stopped moving.
"Kid!" Her father yelled.
Not knowing what overwhelmed her, she scrambled and grabbed Kid's hand, tightening her grip around his fingers. "If you die right now, I'm just going to hate you even more. You hear me!" Aoko brought his gloved hand towards her quivering lips. "We're going to reach the hospital, so please... don't die..." She cried.
His eyes didn't open.
0o0
Hakuba sighed.
It was the fifth hour since Kaitou Kid entered the operation room, and exactly five hours that Aoko used to stare at the red light just above the door. Her eyes never leave a single moment, except for blinking.
She was afraid that if she looked away, the red light might disappear and the doctors would come out, shaking their head and telling them how sorry they were and they tried their best.
"Aoko-kun, you need to rest. It's 4 in the morning."
She made no movement.
"At least you should sit down." Hakuba placed a hand on her shoulder.
"He's going to die." Aoko whispered.
There was a pause. "No he won't."
"How do you know?!" Aoko shrieked in the silent corridor. And for the first time, her eyes left the red light and she glared at the young detective.
Hakuba didn't flinch, instead, he stared back at Aoko with that gentle and calm gaze he always used. "He has unfinished business. He won't die just like that. He's not that type of person."
Her hands slowly brought up to her face. "He was shot; one time. And afterwards- he fell off the window." She was muffling into her hands, but her voice was loud enough to make her sentence clear. "How can he not die?"
"Aoko-kun." This time, his voice sounded sharp as he used his other hand to grab hold of her other shoulder and shook her. Her hands instantly fell to her side as she stared dazedly at Hakuba. "What Kaito needs is you to believe in him."
"Kaito...?" She let out a sharp breath. "You mean Kaitou Kid...?"
"No."
Aoko slapped his hands away. "What are you talking about now?" Her face darkened.
He closed his eyes and ruffled his hair, a sign of frustration, but his face didn't show.
Aoko took a step back and she dug into her pocket, fishing out her phone. A childish Minnie mouse phone strap was dangling over her shivering hands. Her attention were suddenly on the strap and nothing else mattered for a second.
"For you."
"What is this?"
"A phone strap, stupid."
"No. I mean, what is this?" Kaito gave a look of disbelief and pointed at the Mickey mouse charm on the strap.
She chuckled and lifted her own.
He stared at it for a moment before turning to look at her. "So are we dating now or what?"
Aoko blushed and slammed her phone onto her lap. "What the hell are you saying?! I just thought it was cute so I bought them!"
Kaito chortled, he tugged the strings carefully and in a second, the strap was hanging on his phone as he swung it around.
"Thanks anyway."
Aoko's chest hurts again. She suddenly didn't know why she took out her phone for. To look at the strap? No. To call Kaito? Her grip tightened around her phone.
No. But why? She should call so she can prove his innocence, wasn't that right? Yet... something in her gut told her not to call.
Aoko flipped open her phone and immediately dialled the number. She didn't even go through her contacts to pick him out to call because his phone number was like a tattoo on her brain.
After the seventh ring, Aoko was directed to his voice mail.
At that split second, she realized two things that she never noticed before. 1) For the past decade, she was never once directed to his voice mail. He would always pick up her calls, even at the dead of the night and answers with a sleepy voice but never grumpy. 2) She never once call him when a heist was occurring.
On the cue, the phone slipped through her thin fingers and fell onto the floor, hard. Hakuba closed his eyes and looked away.
Her eyes lingered over nothing before she stared down at her cell phone on the floor. Her phone was in one piece, her strap was there.
But the Minnie mouse charm wasn't.
It had split away from the strap and was leaning against her feet.
And then she couldn't see anything.
0o0
Kaito taught her a lot of things. Some, or most of them were ridiculous and things that would never benefit the society, but she learnt them seriously and enjoyed most of the lessons.
Aoko remembered that one time when he taught her how to pick her way out of handcuffs with her hairpin, and because she remembered, she did it on that night when Kaitou Kid cuffed her to the window.
She wondered if he ever regretted teaching her that lesson.
When she woke up, she found herself alone in an empty ward with sheets covered to her neck. Her phone was on the bedside table, along with the Minnie mouse charm. Not bothering to inform anyone, she stuck her phone and charm into her pocket and dragged herself back to the operation room.
After finding one of her father's subordinate loitering around the corridor, she forced him to reveal Kid's ward before continuing to drag herself across the hospital floor, this time a lot more faster.
So far, in that three hours when she was unconscious, Kaitou Kid's operation was apparently successful, in a way. Maybe he got brain damage, or maybe he turned blind from falling from that height even though the trees saved him, but he's alive. That's the only thing she knew from the officer.
He's alive.
"Aoko-kun. You should seriously rest." Hakuba frowned when he found her rushing to his direction.
"I want to see him." Aoko stated.
He glanced at the door before looking back at Aoko. "He's still in a coma."
"Is my dad in there?"
"No. No one's in there. Your father should be in the office. He told me to not let you –"
"I want to go in." Aoko tugged onto Hakuba's sleeve. "I need to go in." Her voice turned into a whisper.
Hakuba sighed. "I can't let you. Even I'm not allowed to. Doctor's orders."
"Through the window. I can see him through the window, right?"
He let her and she rushed to the door and peeked through the small window.
Machines, machines and a lot of machines surrounded him. A mask over his face. Eyes closed, arms tucked under the blanket.
Aoko's lip quivered and her heart hurts. She was sure this time. It was her heart that hurts.
Kaito taught her a lot of things. Some, or most of them were ridiculous and things that would never benefit the society, but she learnt them seriously and enjoyed most of the lessons.
But why... why didn't he teach her about the feeling of betrayal and how much it would hurt. Maybe she would learn and then she would be prepared and her heart wouldn't hurt so much like she was going to die.
It was pointless anyway. Even if he taught her that, she would never use it on him because the last person she could ever imagine betraying her was him.
"So you're going to teach me a lesson about life?" Aoko raised an amused eyebrow as she shuffled Kaito's magic card mindlessly before placing them back on the floor and leaned against the side of his bed.
"Life is unpredictable." Kaito waved and a dove flew out from his hand and he smiled. "Instead of treating bad days as bad luck or regrets, just treat it as a surprise! Because life is full of surprises!"
"Surprises..." Aoko echoed the word out loud and closed her eyes as tears fell like tap water.
"I've never hate surprises so much..."
0o0
For the past week, all the news headlines were about nothing but Kaitou Kid.
And in a week, summer break was going to end.
Aoko crawled onto her bed and spread herself out like a starfish, staring at the ceiling like it was the most interesting thing in the world. The sun was setting and she felt calm; Calm enough to think about what was going to happen to everything in her life. However, she pushed the thoughts away as though it burnt her brain just by thinking about it.
After leaving the hospital on the first day, she never went back. Her father told her not to and honestly, she didn't have the energy to do so either. Hakuba, however, had kindly sent her messages about Kaitou Kid's condition even though she didn't ask for it. But she read them.
She then realized it's been nearly a day since she last checked her phone. She crawled on her bed and over to the table, stretching to reach her strapless phone before slumping back on her bed when she got it. She received a message exactly four hours ago.
'He's awake.'
For the first time since the start when he began messaging her, she replied.
Is he going to jail?
Surprisingly, Hakuba replied in a heartbeat.
'Depends if he's willing to cooperate.'
What do you mean?
'Reveal his motive for stealing. We know there's some connection with the people who were involved in shooting him. They seemed to be the real problem and not Kaitou Kid.'
And if he does cooperate, is he going to jail?
'You seemed more concern about the jail part, Aoko-kun.'
I want to see him in jail.
Hakuba didn't reply for a while and Aoko thought it was the end of their conversation when her phone vibrated again.
'I guess he isn't going to jail.'
Why not?
'He escaped.'
How the hell did he even escaped? Aoko was jabbing the buttons, frustrated and her oncoming headache wasn't helping. Instead, she deleted her half-typed message and was about to call Hakuba when she heard a tap on the window on her balcony.
For a moment, she didn't consider how absurd to be hearing a knocking sound on her window when her balcony was on the second floor. But before she could even think, she turned around and her eyes widened.
Aoko didn't move and wonder if she should let him stand outside and gain enough attention before someone call the police and take him away. Her heart wavered when her eyes glided across his pale face. She could see bandages on his arms and although he was wearing a shirt, the bandage on his chest was thick enough to be seen through.
Kaito didn't knock again. Instead, he silently stared at her.
She turned away. After long consideration, she turned back, to find him still standing there like a fool.
Aoko stood up from her bed, annoyed, and pushed the glass door aside, her brows furrowed and lips pursed.
"Can I come in?" He whispered, voice hoarse.
Not answering his question, she gave him space to walk.
He wobbled in.
"Sit." She ordered him when he just stood by her bed and not moving. He hesitated, but sat on the very edge of her bed, like he was afraid to dirty her sheets. She sat on a chair, right opposite of him, but not close enough to share any contact even if he stretched out his hand.
"I don't know how you ended up here but I want to know why." Her tone was sharp, clearly stating that there were no room for arguments.
He didn't argue. "I want to see you."
"You're hurt." Aoko didn't want to sound like she cared. She really tried but she failed miserably. How could she sound like she didn't care? She had been talking to him for a decade and every single time, she cared about him.
"You're hurt too." He whispered.
Tears gathered in her eyes and before she could control herself, they flowed down her cheeks like nobody's damn business. She sniffed, whimpered, sobbed and made many weird noise while trying to control her tears and he just watched. That poker face was covering everything well, like what he always told her about.
"Remember to keep your poker face."
So other than his smiling, laughing and joking side of him, she saw nothing else. Everything else was replaced by that poker face and it's always been like that.
Right now, was he sad? Angry? Disappointed? Hateful? Worried? She wasn't sure. She wasn't sure of anything anymore. Maybe from the start, she never understood Kaito at all.
Aoko suck in a deep breath. "Now you've seen me. You can leave." She gave an embarrassed hiccup.
He lowered his gaze. "I'm sorry."
"You're sorry?" She repeated in a mocking tone. Aoko wanted to scream out horrible things at him. For a moment, she was really tempted to do so, but her heart took over and she couldn't speak.
His poker face seemed to be slipping. His brows were furrowed, fist clenched, jaws tightened, shoulders stiffed. He seemed to be preparing for the blow, all the harsh words that would knock him down forever, pinning him onto the floor and never allowing him to stand again.
Aoko never seen Kaito cry before, even at his dad's funeral.
She didn't want to see it at all. Not even now. Her heart wouldn't be able to take it.
"You can leave now." Aoko said tiredly. "I'm done talking with you."
Kaito looked up.
"I'm serious." She closed her eyes.
Her phone started to vibrate. She looked over to see that it was Hakuba calling. Not even caring about Kaito's presence, she picked up the call.
"Hello."
"Did you receive my message?"
"Yeah I saw it. I don't have any comments about it, I guess."
"Is he with you?"
"No." She stared up at Kaito. "I'll murder him if he comes here."
There was a pause and she could tell Hakuba was deciding if he should trust her.
Instead, he sighed. "Tell him to see me. Either he cooperates with me or face life sentence."
"Tell him yourself."
"To be honest, we don't even have the evidence against him." Hakuba sounded irritated. "We've got Kaitou Kid's fingerprint, so what? We don't have any suspects' fingerprint to match with."
"Why are you telling me this?"
"He's not going to jail. Kuroba Kaito, I mean. He's in my suspect list but he isn't on the police records."
"I want him to go to jail!" Aoko exclaimed.
"No you don't want him to."
"..."
"Just tell him to contact me immediately once he's done acting like an idiot. If he don't, I'll submit his fingerprint and it's over for him."
She cut the call before he could continue.
"Is that Saguru?"
They met eye contact. Aoko glanced away immediately.
"He wants you to meet him." She muttered, followed by a small pout.
Kaito slowly nodded and stood up. He clutched onto his chest and took in a deep breath.
"Before I go, can I give you one last lesson?"
Aoko glanced up from her seat, eyes narrowed. "Are you going to teach me how to rob a bank?"
He managed a smile. "Robbing a bank is too cliché, but if you like, I can teach you."
She flew up from her seat and growled. "Don't you dare. I don't want to hear any of your stupid and dirty tricks."
There was silence. It was rare to have silence between them, but if there was one, it was always a comfortable. This time, it was anything but comfortable. Her sudden outburst two seconds ago did remind her of all the times when she was angry with Kaito for various other reasons, but none of those memories did anything to heal her wounded heart.
But was this the same? Could she say that she was just angry because he lied, betrayed and probably make use of her all the time to get information about her father's plan to capture him?
"Are you feeling better now?"
Aoko blinked, her face fell lax as she stared at him. He was looking at her too.
She always felt better after screaming at him for making her embarrassed or angry in any sort of situation. Shouting was her best way to vent out her stress and anger, and he knew it too.
Her eyes moved away from his.
Kaito closed the space in between them and Aoko looked up in surprise. She stepped back a little, knocking onto the chair as her hands wrapped around her body as a shield.
"Sorry." He took a small tentative step back.
"You said..." She spoke, ignoring his apology and took a small step forward, closing the increased gap that was made beforehand, "about the lesson."
She hated herself because she couldn't bear to hate him. Hate was a strong word and there's no other words she could use to describe the feeling she had for him right now. Her mind was in a mess, though at least she wanted him to say the last thing he wanted to say before he leave.
Kaito's face brightened a little.
He slowly leaned forward, his lips almost brushing against her cheeks as he moved to her ears and she froze. She couldn't breathe. Literally.
"Learn to wait."
Aoko turned to his side, her lips almost touched Kaito's cheek. "Wait-"
"Wait for me."
"What-"
Kaito interrupted again. "One week." He smelled of medicines and cinnamon. "After that one week, we'll talk. And you can do whatever you want after that."
If this was some romantic movie adapted from some novel, they would be kissing vigorously right now and doing all sorts of throwing of clothes and messing of their hair. But they didn't. This wasn't a movie, or a fairy tale.
Love doesn't come easy.
Instead he moved away, his eyes sparkled despite the heavy bags beneath his eyes. One second, he was there. And the next second she blinked, he was gone.
0o0
Her father was furious. Like bloody furious.
Kaitou Kid was missing for the past one week. No heist notes, nothing to confirm if he had escaped the hospital alive or half dying or already killed by those men in black. That were her father's complaints since the very day he returned home last week.
Aoko silently nibbled onto her carrot while her father tightened his tie around his neck.
"You want me to send you lunch?" Aoko broke the silence.
"I'll eat at the cafeteria." His frown deepened. "Maybe not. There's no time to eat either." He rushed over to the door and began putting on his shoes. For a moment, he stopped and turned to look at his daughter.
"Aoko."
She looked up. There was a hint of guilt shown on her father's face but she shrugged the idea off.
"School is starting tomorrow. Don't stay up for me tonight. I'll be back when I'm back."
"Okay."
With that, he shut the door behind him.
Aoko placed the fork on the table and sighed, staring at her almost full plate. She should have known there was no point in wasting her time, money and effort to prepare so much food when her father wasn't going to eat and neither was she making the effort to finish her food. She sighed again.
"Wait for me. One week."
Until now, there was no news of Kaitou Kid or Kaito at all. Hakuba didn't call or message her back anymore and she wasn't sure what exactly was happening to both of them. They were never on agreeable terms before and she wondered how they would even cooperate in whatever they were planning to do together.
"After that one week, we'll talk. And you can do whatever you want after that."
Talk? Talk about what? Talk about all the excuses he probably scripted out on why he decided to take up this part time job? Talk about how skilled he was to lie and betray her without batting an eyelid? Talk about why he choose to protect her that night and nearly died? Talk about why he felt sorry towards her when he shouldn't since this was his life and she had no rights to complain?
"Ugh!" Aoko ruffled her hair and yelled. She stood up, grabbed her own plate and her father's untouched plate and threw them in the sink.
She missed him. She missed chasing him around with the mop in her hand. She missed the smile, the fragrance of lemon soap whenever he stood close to her. She missed the times when he would make her laugh out of nowhere with his tricks and stupid jokes. She missed everything about him and she hated him for that.
Waiting had never been so painful, but the lesson and the moral behind it was worth it. Somehow.
0o0
"Aoko-chan!"
The said girl turned and she returned a bright smile and a small wave.
Keiko skipped towards her best friend and their steps soon became synchronized as they walked towards their school.
"Where's Kaito-kun?"
Aoko would love to ask her back out of frustration but she held her tongue. "He's sick."
Keiko nudged Aoko in the ribs and the latter gave a small grunt. "Why aren't you playing the nice wife and tending to your husband?"
She looked away, lips giving a small pout. "I'm not his wife. He's not my husband. He can die for all I care."
"Wow, do you have to curse me?"
The two girls spun around in shock and Aoko almost choked onto nothing. Kaito wiggled his eyebrows at them, a weird form of way of saying hello that he picked up before summer holidays started.
"I'll catch up with you later!" Keiko winked and she skipped off, leaving only the two of them alone on the empty and quiet street.
"No wait-"
"Yo." He lifted a hand. She noted there were cuts on his palm and hand but she said nothing.
Aoko gulped inwardly, her school hand bag hanging in front of her as she looked down. "Yo." She whispered as they continued walking.
"So how's your last week of holiday?"
A vein popped on her forehead and she turned to glare at him. "Is this what you meant by talk?"
"Yeah." He answered plainly. "I want to tell you that's it's been hell for me last week because I couldn't see or talk to you and I'm wondering how yours was."
"If you want me to say that it's the same for me then you're wrong because I loved not seeing your face." Aoko jabbed, trying to hold her breath afterwards so her tears wouldn't start collecting around her eyes. It was a surprise that Keiko didn't notice how swollen her eyes were, maybe it was thanks to her bangs.
It hurts to not see him and it hurts even more to see him. She didn't know what to do.
He nodded. "That's that talk." He said, voice neutral. "If you don't want to see me, I'll disappear from your sight forever. If you hate me, please do so. You can do whatever you want to me."
"Really?"
"Yeah." Kaito said, with no pause in between.
"I can do whatever I want?"
"Yeah." He repeated with the same confirmation tone.
She turned, grabbed his collar and pulled him in, her eyes closed as she crashed her lips onto his. At that split second that seemed like eternity, she pushed him back and opened her eyes. For the first time ever in her life, she saw Kaito looked startled.
Without sparing a second glance, Aoko ran.
0o0
She was mad.
Not angry, but mad as in she's... mad.
Aoko slammed her head onto her desk.
"Eh Aoko-chan, where's Kaito-kun? I thought you two were together-"
"We're not together!" Aoko exclaimed into her desk.
Keiko scratched her head and frowned at her friend's flustered behaviour before turning to find Kaito quietly standing behind her.
"Oh Kaito-kun! Did you make Aoko-chan mad again?" Keiko shouted animatedly.
"I think so." Aoko swore she heard his voice trembled. "I think she's really mad."
Mad. Angry. Rage.
Mad. Insane. Crazy.
Aoko groaned in her head.
At that moment, their teacher came in and tried to settle everyone down before marking the attendance for the day. As the teacher was distracted with the attendance sheet and the rest of the students were fidgeting around and excited to share about what they did during the holidays, Aoko slowly lifted her head, her eyes still staring intently on her desk.
"We really need to talk." She whispered.
She saw him glanced at her from the corner of her eyes.
"Kuroba Kaito?"
His eyes never left her.
"Kuroba Kaito." The teacher repeated.
"Okay." He plainly said before raising his arms and waved at their teacher. "Here!"
0o0
"Wasn't Hakuba working with you... or something." It wasn't a question but a statement. Aoko then shuffled her feet. "Yet you came to school and he didn't."
"I've underestimated them. One week wasn't enough." Kaito's eyes darkened as he stared out at the foyer in front of the clock tower. "He's still finalizing the clues and evidence with another ally before we take the next step. As for why I've came to school... I did promise to properly talk to you after one week, and today's the due date."
Sitting at the lone bench far from crowd, Aoko stared up at the clock tower. Her heart always skipped a beat every time she stared at the first place they met. Today, there was just an annoying pain lingering in her chest.
"How old are you?" She muttered.
Kaito blinked and turned to Aoko, giving an incredulous look.
"17...?"
"17 and you're acting like a hero saving the world." Aoko turned and faced him, jaws tightened and fingers clutched tightly on the edge of the bench.
Kaito managed a faint smile. "Are you worried?" He sounded hopeful.
Aoko closed her eyes and leaned back on the bench heavily as she tilted her head to the sky. "I don't know anymore. I don't know what am I supposed to feel now, Kaito." She placed an arm over her eyes. "You're dealing with my dad's squad and some gang that wouldn't mind killing. So am I supposed to be worried or happy or sad or angry? I don't know."
"And to think that the person I hate is actually the person I -" Aoko bit her lips and pressed her arms even harder into her eyes, hoping the tears would stain her sleeves instead of flowing down her cheeks.
"You're the last person I want to hurt." His voice turned into a whisper. Aoko rubbed her eyes with her arms and let it down before glancing over at him. His eyes were distant, not cold, but distant. If his lips were to curl down just a little bit, he would look like a lost and helpless child.
"You're the last person I thought would hurt me."
"I'm sorry." Kaito closed his eyes.
Aoko frowned. "If a sorry can solve everything, then -"
"I know." Kaito cut in as he slowly bent forward and let his hand dangled between his legs. "I know... But I just want to say it. I'm really sorry."
She choose to remain silent over his repeated apology. What could she say? "Oh you're forgiven." "Oh I hate you and I'll never forgive you." It's either one of it, but she choose neither.
When the silence was stretched for far too long, Kaito continued from where he ended the conversation. He started on how he adored watching his father performed magic and then to how he realized his father's true identity. To lure out his murderer, he became the ghost of his father even though he knew the consequences from it; not the law, but becoming the person who stole Aoko's father away. He didn't recount the tales when he saved her countless times because he couldn't take credit for it. Kaitou Kid was the one that landed her in danger, Kuroba Kaito saved her because he wanted to.
She listened and she didn't interrupt a single sentence. The sun already set and couples were began to loiter about, heading to some candlelight dinner with their loved one. As his stories went on, she began to realize the hatred she felt for Kaitou Kid began to lessen and the blame and anger were shifted to the gem named Pandora and to the people who killed Kaito's father. Even though she felt that way, she didn't mention them out loud.
It was painful for Kaito to admit all these to her. She could tell even though he never say it. His shoulder tensed, hands clasped together tightly, jaws stiff and back hunched. He looked so fragile, like a tall unstable card tower and with a small wind, everything would fall. Kaitou Kid missed death a couple of times, due to his luck and skills at escaping from those bunch of criminals, and Aoko wondered if he would ever regret not telling her all of these if he were to die. Seeming to be able to read her mind, he answered it for her.
"I don't want you to attend my funeral and realizing that I'm Kid the same time." He gave a laugh, a fake one, but light-hearted enough to make it sound real.
"You're not going to die." Aoko spoke out loud.
He glanced at her. "This morning, you said you wouldn't care if I die."
"You're not going to die until I kill you."
Kaito laughed again. "I can't wait for it." He looked back down at the floor. As he was about to continue his unfinished story about his plans with Hakuba and a detective he knew from Beika City, Aoko took his hand and he flinched in surprise.
He looked at her.
"It's enough." That's all she said. "You don't need to continue anymore."
"Aoko -"
"Just promise me you'll be safe." She squeezed his hand. "Whatever you're doing, tell me all of it when you're done dealing with it."
Kaito widened his eyes, his lips quivered a little but he bit it to stop. He squeezed her hand too.
"I will."
0o0
Although it was a Saturday, the cross junction was relatively empty. The rain wasn't heavy, but it wasn't light enough to avoid using an umbrella.
Two people sharing a bright green umbrella stood right beside the traffic light, watching cars zooming pass them.
A sigh. "Today's not the day for Tropical Land..."
"There's always another day, silly."
The rain started pouring a little heavier and the two snuggled closer to each other.
"It's been noted that Kaitou Kid had been missing in action for exactly six months! Did the famous thief really retired?"
"Sonoko must be depressed." Ran chuckled as she stared up at the big TV screen right on the building that was across the road. "She kept on insisting that her Uncle wasn't exhibiting jewels that were fancy enough for Kaitou Kid's taste."
Shinichi gave a withering look at the screen after the words (Will Kaitou Kid ever return?! Is Kaitou Kid gone for good?!) appeared in a flash while the news reporter continued making assumptions about Kid's disappearance. "Never understood her taste for weird men."
Cars were stopping and the red man turned green. They began walking.
"Where shall we go then?" Ran tilted her head.
Shinichi pondered seriously on the question while tapping a finger on the handle of the umbrella he was holding. "There's a new detective movie that just came out recently. We should watch that."
"We've watched four detective movie for the past two months since you came back!" Ran huffed.
Just before they finished crossing the road, a notable pink umbrella could be spotted among the grey and black umbrellas. It was remarkably small and it seemed impossible to share between two people, but watching the couple struggling under the small umbrella seemed to prove the theory wrong.
"You know it's going to rain but you didn't bring an umbrella! Bakaito!" The girl rolled her eyes angrily.
"I would bring one if I knew you brought one that fits a kid! Ahouko!" The guy yelled back.
Shinichi and Ran's attention were obviously being drawn to the couple as they continued arguing under the small umbrella. Both of their shoulders were drenched, but Ran noted the guy was trying to push the pink umbrella to the girl's side, although it might be just her imagination. She offered a soft snicker.
"They look hilarious." Ran commented before turning away.
Shinichi raised an eyebrow at the duo before looking down at Ran. "That girl looks quite like you."
"I was about to comment that the guy looks like you too."
He gave a small frown. "No he does not."
"Yes he does."
"I don't shout in public like him."
"I'm talking about his appearance."
"I'm way more handsome."
Ran rolled her eyes.
They made their way to the movie theatre.
.
.
end
I finally posted something. And it's 8k words. I can't believe how dramatic this story is. It was suppose to be a short fluffy piece, I don't know how it ended so long omg.
I think Kaito suffered enough in my other one-shots so here's a happy ending. It's so tempting to end with a tragedy right at the ambulance part and get it over and done with but I dragged it so much and added a few thousands of words instead.
edit: I've made a very slight change to the end of the story to make the ending a bit more clearer.