I'm baaaaaccccckkkk! Yep, I'm not dead!
This is a fic I have been promising to fix for like a month, and now its finally here! Yayness! to those who have read this before, all of the original material is here, just grammarl has been improved. there are some new scenes, so read all the way to the end! To those just seeing this, this is a KaiAo, and has a fun little back story that I thoink could be canon. So come here for a bit a pick me up :D!
Usually at this time I would personally write a response to all of my lovely reviewers, but, being tihe absolute n00b I am I didn't know it was etiquette to reply by the PM system, instead of stories. Which makes sense, you know, cos like one-shots like this, how ELSE would you contact them? So, this time, I will be using that system.
Now, to all to all Detetive Conan Archive followers. As of late, I have realized that the Magic Kaito Archive has been terribly neglected. As of now, oh, 46 stories total? A personal goal of mine is to get that archive to 100 by the end of the year. This little fic was originally in there, but since Neko was yelling at me that MK was hard to find, I decided to move it here temporarily. When it's off the firs few pages or a week- whichever comes first. Then this will return to MK. I'll prolly do this on all of my MK cast centered fics, so be looking out!
Well, that's enough blabbering from me. On with the fic! R&R!
'Crap, that's cold!' Aoko thought bitterly as she ran her tongue over her teeth. She had gotten so excited at the thought of ice cream that she had none-to-smartly took a huge spoonful at once and was now paying for it with the unpleasant chilly sensation on her sensitive incisors. Her lesson learned, she set down the bowl on the coffee table, and took a break from her in the middle of the second serving.
While tenderly massaging her mouth, she caught a glance at the figure occupying the other side of the couch. He was currently clad in a a dark gray sweater with some simple graphics, the faded and slightly ripped jeans and the good old navy blue vans, his favorite. At the moment, he was hungrily devouring his (fifth? eighth?) serving of the cool treat, appertnly not one for having sensitive teeth. The lucky idiot.
Aoko shook her head and looked out the window to her right. It was midday, and the clouds above were a smoky color that expanded for miles in radius. The wind was low and gentle, albeit nippy. Though it wasn't storming, a steady rain of snowflakes and fallen in the late February afternoon. And here they were, inside of course, all decked out blankets and the fireplace going, putting extra toppings on their frozen treats.
Ice cream in the dead of winter. Her boyfriend could come up with the most absurd of schemes sometimes.
He had done it in the most random of ways too! He was just minding her own business, reading a novel downstairs when the doorbell rang. Silly, naive Aoko actually gotten up to see who it was. When opened, the porch reveled no one to be there or even evidence that they were, as the freshly fallen snow had remained undisturbed.
Befuddled and slightly unnerved, Aoko closed the door after an etended once over of the lawn, resolved to arm herself with the nearby door mop and migrate to second floor until her father came back for the station. As soon as she turned her back to the door, she met with a wall of smoke and a tall frame. There seemed to be a sort of explanation admist the jarbled words of excitement, Aoko sprang into action. This weirdo would do anything to her without a fight!
She swung her mop at the figure, with all intentions of hitting it in the head, but it along with the smoke somehow disappointing just as the first strand of the head would be barreling through their skull. Then she heard a somewhat familiar puffing sound behind her and was shortly entangled in much stronger arms that could have only belong to a man.
Before she could struggled to position her foot for a very lovely kick in his soft spot, a smooth tenor voice sounded in her ear, giving a simultaneously cryptic and yet telltale brief explanation, giving his identity away. She breathed his name in a stuttered relief, which only earned a snicker from the voice. This wasn't any weirdo, it was her weirdo. Because that made it so much better. There had to be a reason why she premitted the idiot to continue breathing, right?
Still pissed, but not homicidal as previous, Aoko was half-lead half-dragged into the living room, not without some very violent sounding threats that they both knew were fallacious. Gently but hurriedly, he set her down on the couch and disappeared again. Just as her hand grasped the mop she kept on the old couch (a girl had to be prepared everywhere, right?) a very pleasant taste invaded her lips until she had to open her mouth to allow it full passage.
She always was a sucker for cookie dough.
turned out her had brought to full cartons of the stuff. 'To get in the winter spirit!' he had said among some other childish gibberish. Yeah. At 20 degrees with a snowstorm due for next week? But in retrospect, who was she to challenge her boyfriends (if not questionable) motives in this? This also bought her an excuse to eat the stuff as well! It had been weeks since she had some. He always had an uncanny way of knowing exactly what was on her mind at any given moment it seemed. It was the least she could do was let him use he own means of acquiring what she wanted.
In the present, the sweet, sticky substance had gathered all around said boyfriend's mouth and cheeks, miraculously not touching any of his clothing or unruly hair. Nevertheless his face becoming an even sticker clown's face, her boyfriend attacked the defenseless ice cream with all the zeal and enthusiasm as a seven year old. It could have been the continued sounds of delight escaping from his stuffed cheek or the happy light in his eyes that made her want to beam herself, but the overall thought of inncoen registered in Aoko's mind.
And just for what may have been moments to the onlooker but year to Aoko, they were throw back in time where such as small thing was so huge, and cookie dough was no ordinary ice cream.
One lazy afternoon over a decade ago, on an early out Friday a lone Nakamori Aoko was on her front lawn under her tree, drawing a picture. She was pretty bored; Kaito hadn't stopped by in a while and Daddy was busy with work and wouldn't play dress up with her. Satisfied with her flower being a perfect hue of azure, the young girl pouted about the upcoming weekend while absentmindedly fiddling with her thumbs. She had to invite three girls to her birthday party who she didn't even like very much.
It was an all girls sleepover, as her invitation stated. Meaning for her that her best friend couldn't come, because he was boy. Aoko sighed from her spot on the front lawn and twirled a fallen leaf, her mind elsewhere. It would be so boring!
This wasn't to say she didn't have a girl friends- she had one. Keiko. Keiko was always happy to sit on the sidelines with her and just talk. But she had come down with a cold and couldn't come. She remembered how they would play with each other's hair, play dress up with Mommy's old clothes or ride bikes around the block. Most other girls were more or less acquaintances that she happened to associate with on a normal basis. So of course there was difficulty finding female friends to attend her impending birthday party the next September day. It mainly came down to who could run the fastest in recess.
It could be fun. Maybe. Sort of. Not really. All the girls wanted to do were play house or use make up or talk about boys. No indoor tents or stargazing or tag? What kind of party was that? Sensei always looked funny with make-up. She looked like a clown, but Aoko wasn't sure if she should mention it.
What WAS so fun about boys and boyfriends and husbands that you had to have one or talk about them all the time? If that were the case, Kaito would be her boyfriend, she reasoned. She liked to talk with him and play with him, and he was a boy and her friend since last year. But apparently had to be a mutual 'like-liking'- or at least that's what the big girls said. Aoko got the feeling that her like for him and his like for her weren't the same level as that. Though she wondered…..
"Huh?" It was then she realized she wasn't alone under the tree. "Kaito?"
"Earth to Aoko!" A hand poked her again in the forehead. The boy said in a scolding tone, "You were thinking again, weren't you?"
Aoko swatted the finger away and glared at him, not entirely sure why she was irritated, "What are you doing here?"
"Aww I told you already! Why didn't you listen? I'm here 'cause I needed to drop off your gift. Remember?"
"Oh yeah." She remembered his saying something of the like. "Where is it?"
The young magician raised his hands dramatically and called out in English: "One, two, three!" A white box with a blue ribbon appeared next to her from a muted "poof". Aoko giggled and clapped her hands, elated. "Thank-you!" she hugged him tightly-not noticing his faintly pink cheeks-and went to open her present. The box disappeared from her just as she was within a inch of her reach and reappeared in the young magician's hands.
"Uh-uh! No cheating! Today is only the 25th. You can open it tomorrow."
Aoko pouted. "But it'll be boring without Keiko and you."
"I am a pretty fun guy."
She replied by sticking her tongue out. "Meanie."
Kaito was going to retort in the same fashion, but a familiar melody was swept up in the early autumn day, pleasing his eardrums. He searched for the cause of the music; It didn't take him long to find the source. On the other side of the street was a worn-down, multi-colored truck with designs of several delectable frozen treats on its flanks. A large mob of children had already surrounded it, a half dozen midget people with spare change bulging from their pockets.
"Hey, it's the ice cream man! Come on, let's get some!"He grabbed her hand casually and half-dragged half lead her toward the truck, leaving no room for argument.
Once on her feet, Aoko could notice how pretty it was outside; a few leaves had falling from her deciduous tree at mercy of the whimsical breeze. Although it was late in the month, the breeze still retained a warm, gentle softness, triggering nostalgia for the ever fleeting summer. The girl took a deep breath of fresh air, only half listening to her friend's excited tirade over the treat. "-Kaasan hasn't let me have any in forever! Can you believe that? So, whatcha gonna get?" He asked, jarring her from her lazy observations.
"Ano, probably a chocolate chip cookie."
Kaito's eyes widened in disbelief, like she'd dropped from the moon. "Baka! You can't get cookies! It's the ICE CREAM man!"
Aoko pursed he lips in response, then shouted back, " Baka yourself! I can too- I've don't it before! Besides, cookies are better than ice cream!" She grinned in amusement as he stopped dead in his tracks.
"Cookies only have so many flavors and only a few are actually good! Sides, they go stale really fast…" A shudder. Stupid Aunt something or another and her dumb tooth-breaking coconut butter pecan oatmeal raisin "cookies".
"Ice cream goes bad even faster and at least you have fun making cookies!" Aoko smiled sadly; her mother used to make the yummiest cookies with her Mom. She and her Dad almost never did now- always on the job.
Seeing her expression, Kaito continued to lead her through the lessoned crown more determinedly than before for some reason. The crowd had lessened, so he could see the unfamiliar illustration on the side of the van. "Hey, there's a new item!"
Aoko followed Kaito's gaze until her eyes rested on the said item. She pronounced the words slowly and carefully as she read, " Cookie-dough ice cream."
The two eight year olds raised eyebrows at each other, not believing their luck. Aoko pointed to the new treat. "Two, please!
After their ice creams were paid hey didn't speak for a whole three minutes as they devoured the dessert hungrily on the curb of the street. As they were licking their cones for any leftover traces, Kaito asked in a smart alec-y voice of what she thought of ice cream now.
"You were right Kaito! This is great! But it still is a cookie." She beamed at him, then continued to munch of the remains of her cone.
He rolled his eyes when he saw small pieces of waffle cone stuck in her messy mane. He sighed. "Dummy," and set to work.
Aoko didn't have time to protest or even ask why Kaito was staring at her before he began to gently tease the food out of her hair. Not that she would have minded anyway. Half the time she couldn't get all the pieces out.
And as a bonus, she got to see his eyes. She liked looking at them; they were such a pretty dark blue, which reminded her of the ocean, for he was named. They were currently trained on her and her alone, his eyebrows furrowed, completely focused on the task at hand. Aoko was grateful for his concentration- he didn't seem to notice her pink cheeks. Her mind pondered a reason for her burning cheeks as Kaito mused how it was even possible to get food in your hair.
Was this what it's like to like-like someone? There was this funny feeling in her stomach, and she was pretty sure it wasn't the ice cream. Well it made sense; there were lots of things she liked about him: his magic tricks, how smart he was (though she was smarter, of course), how he could make her laugh, how he always stood up for her. But she wasn't sure if she particularly like-liked any of those. She was sure on the eyes though. They were always happy and bright, and made her want to be laugh, even when she was mad at him. She had always like-liked those ever since they met.
So…. This meant she like-liked Kaito? Aoko grew confused at the use of the foreign expression. If she did, then how come he hadn't said anything? Then again, she had heard from somewhere that girls grew up faster than girls, so Kaito probably didn't know she liked him. And there had to be a 'shared amount of liking', whatever that was. This realization came at relief for her. She got the feeling that like-liking someone was supposed to stay secret. Aoko was good at keeping secrets.
That day was the day when Nakamori Aoko officially decided that she like-liked Kuroba Kaito, her best friend. Years later would prove she still did, and currently does. But we digress.
She still was fuzzy on one thing though- when? A secret was no fun until you told someone about it! And Keiko wouldn't get it and she could couldn't tell him, obviously (Yes, him was now italicized). She pressed her memory for more knowledge of… dog love? No, puppy-dog love. That was good. That meant the secret would end after puppy-dog love was over. Then she wouldn't like-like him, right?
Aoko shook her head, Kaito unbeknownst to the reason for the sudden movement. She would worry about that later. Not when it was pretty outside and Kaito was with her. Her secret would come out when it was time. She would just keep swimming in those cobalt eyes until that day came.
Aoko was jarred from her memories back into the present. A familiar finger poked her in the head and called her name. "Huh?"
"Earth to Aoko!" Kaito poked her in the forehead agin. "You weren't thinking again, were you?" he chided in a condesending tone.
She swatted the hand away playfully and stuck her tongue out. "So what if I was?"
"Aha! I knew it! What were you thinking about?"
"Contemplating the universe?"
"Do you really expect me to buy that?"
"You of all people would."
"Awwww Ao~ko"He whined, voice hitting an new octave on the final octave, sounding much like a boy she'd met a decade ago.
She turned from him in mock contempt; what would have been a convincing face was given away by her growing grin. Seeing this, Kaito decided to pull out the big guns: a all out puppy-dog pout. A feat greatly enhanced by how his bands hung perfectly over his eyes, oddly watery and bright. Kaito's cheeks were marked from his lost battle with the ice cream carton lid, bestowing an innocent, juvenile aura around him. His lips- so flawlessly shaped and chocolate stained stuck out in a endearing indignant expression when paired with his confused furrowed brows. It was just so cute and...
Aoko burst out laughing, as did Kaito turned, well, kid. Through giggles, Aoko admitted, "I was just remembering the first time we had this ice cream," her eyes softened to match her voice.
"Oh yeah..." He smiled while reminiscing as he pulled her into his lap with an arm over her waist, head on top of hers. Together they curled up onto the navy blue couch, ice creams forgotten. At a year of dating the position was natural and certainly not unwanted. Aoko leaned back into his chest with eyes closed, expression thoughtful and contnent. "To this day I still don't get how that food got in your hair."
Aoko didn't bat an eye. "And you never will."
The magician made some sound of displeasure, "I also can't figure out how it's possible to get food behind your ears."
"You know as well as I do that after that first time I did those on purpose."
"Remember that time when we tried to make it homemade for the first time?"
"What is this, a memory episode in a manga? But yeah, I do. Tenth grade home-ec. A Chinese yo-yo, food dye, underwater basket weaving, hair nets and a flour fight was all it took for all hell to break loose. I swear, I don't know why I try doing anything normal around you;It always ends up as a disater that you somehow salveage as a miracle."
"Yep, I'm a memory maker!" he smiled widely.
"You sure are." A roll of the eyes. A sudden melancholic spell washed over Aoko as she sighed and rested her arms over his. "It's been a long time since then."
This got a questing eyebrow furrow from Kaito. "Why? It's only been a few years."
"Well, but with everything that's happened, feels so much longer ago." She turned to get a better look at him.
A look realization dawned on his face. "True, especially after you found out about Kid."
"Mmm-hmm. You do realize I still hate him, right?"
"Didn't seem that way after that hot kiss on the roof."
The quip achieved the wanted reaction: a dusty rose soon arose to Aoko's cheeks. She really did look adorable when she was embarrassed. "Baka!" she huffed."That was YOU. Kid is only a part of you."
"The suave, witty, mysterious, brilliant, charming, absolutely irresistible side; of course, if you didn't include that in daily life."
Aoko didn't miss a beat. "You forgot arrogant, attention seeking,egotistical, annoying, and an overall pain the ass, not excluding daily life." she countered.
"So... More or less all the things you love about me?" a mischievous smirk.
"Isn't someone full of self importance." Without really meaning to she turned her head to the side at the second sentence. "Besides, you're wrong- there's one thing that I've always like about you."
His voice lowered to that of a whisper, subtley asking her to to meet his gaze. "And what might that be?" Sapphire met colbalt.
A moment passed. A moment to search into the dark azure eyes. A moment to find pure emotion,instead of a cool Poker Face. A moment to get lost again. A moment to be found. All in one moment, but at its end Aoko wasn't sure if she ever wanted to be found.
Finally, with a secretive smile over her own, she trimuped. "I thought you always had all the cards in your hand, Moonlight Magician-san. You tell me."
He thought a moment. "Well, there's the fact you're wearing my favorite color of underwear which is much appreciated. With pretty blue lace too!"
"Kaito..." She growled menacingly. Where did she put that mop...?
Before she could seek out the killer utensil, Kaito took advantage of her opened to mouth to steal it into his own. After the initial surprise of her cold lips meeting the warm and intimate sensation, she promptly fell into the rhythm of the kiss, and for a while her sapphire orbs disappeared. Strong arms wrapped around her waist tightly, allowing no passage of air between the two.
Several minutes and kisses later Aoko broke the kiss, but didn't go too far. In a raspy murmur, she asked breathed, "What the hell was that for?"
Kaito spared her yet another sexy half smirk. "Like you said, I always have all the cards in my hand. I thought you needed a little reminder. Besides, you still had ice cream on your lip." On Kaito could make such a sentence sound so innocent and erotic at the same time.
Aoko's hands found their way around the nape of his neck, stroking the surprisingly soft hair there."I'm sure. But now you have some on you too..."
Ice cream had never tasted sweeter.
*Cough* Well that was interesting. I've been meaning to fix this fic for a while- I had thought there were a lot more grammar mistakes though- maybe I was lost in the novelty of it all.
Okay, confession time- that whole present day thing at the end? It was originally in the this fic, But I took it out 'cause you hardly get to see child KaiAo... But I felt guilty for my putting it off. But I hope I made up, throwing a little post Shadow Syndicate (I can't stand to use the other initials anymore!)
I can say I pretty happy with this one, not only since this is my most favorite-est couple in the universe, but I this will be a personal pick up for me... And now I will always read this while eating ice cream XD. I actually did get ketchup behind my ear once! And once on my ankle... when I was wearing sneakers. O.o?
Okay, so uh, I know this is odd, but I've never *published* anything this romantic or fluffy before, so I guess what I'm trying to ask is... Was it fluffy? I currently freaking out over how they interacted in both the present and future, the snuggling and the kiss! I'm trying to find a style of romance - do you guys like it?
Please R&R! (Even if you already have! I want to see how you liked the change!)
Lol (Lots of love)
~Daydreamer1412
~*~Omake~*~
Ever since their first meeting at the clock tower, Kaito and Aoko were joined at the hip. Recess for them usually meant on the swings to see who could swing higher faster. Some days were a little more energetic, such as a simple Indian Jones jungle gym game gone wrong when Kaito decided to 'guess' her panty color, resulting in a rousing game of 'Catch the Moron!'. Aoko could recall quieter days though. Days of lazy cloud watching, napping or simply talking. No subject was ever neglected when it was just between those two. Aoko had even made Kaito thumb swear on one particularly dicey subject (or at least dicey for seven year olds) once.
Since when have I ever told your secrets?" Kaito had huffed indignantly.
Aoko was still adamant. "Well, never," she admitted, "But this is really important. So swear on your thumb!"
The young Kaito had raised an eyebrow "Why the thumb; how 'bout a pinkie? I hear you have to cross your heart and hope to die."
She shook her messy chocolate locks. "No way! That never happens anyway. If you break a thumb swear, you get your thumb chopped off; and it's hard to pick up stuff without your thumb!"
He looked at her for a moment, with a flat, dead-pan face. Aoko had begun regret mentioning her stupid saying when Kaito threw back his head and laughed. "You're right! That's way better! I'll promise, but only if I have a secret you need to promise to not tell anyone!"
"I promise!" Aoko shook thumbs with Kaito with more vigor than needed.
The bell rang shortly after that, and her male companion rose first. Aoko didn't immediately at first, but stuck her tongue out at the mere idea of having to retreat from the warm sunlight.
Kaito glanced back and smirked. "You aren't skipping class are ya Aoko?" For the second time in recess, he had surprised her.
Not Aoko-san or even Aoko-chan, just Aoko. Maybe it was a little taboo, but she liked it fine, if not better. "Bet I can beat you there!" she bolted to her feet and took off running. Kaito gleefully pursued, determined to beat his beat his best friend to class.