Disclaimer: In case there was any doubt, I don't own DC/MK or any of their characters.

Love is Blind

Summary: "Sherlock Holmes once said 'You see, but you do not observe.' But if he met you, I think he would say you observe even though you do not see." (KaiShin Oneshot.)

Relationships: Kaito and Shinichi, Aoko and Hakuba

Warnings: This story includes brief mention of a debilitating injury resulting in blindness, probably inappropriate but intended to be lighthearted references to sight and blindness (I apologize in advance), and yoai since Kaito and Shinichi are both male.

The day it happened, Kaito didn't tell a soul. He couldn't. Only Jii knew and that was because he had been there. Kaito was a good enough actor to keep it a secret. At least that was what he told himself.

The next day at school proved him wrong.

"Kuroba-san, please read the next passage aloud." His teacher requested from the front of the room.

Kaito turned his head to look at her, his chin still resting on the palm of his hand. There were a million excuses that he could give her. But none of them would exempt him from having to read aloud again. "No thanks."

There was a short delay before the teacher responded. It wouldn't exactly be out of character for Kaito to retaliate if she pushed the issue. "The passage after that one then. Nakamori-san?"

Kaito could feel Aoko's gaze threatening to burn holes in the back of his skull before she started reading. She had sensed something was off since they first met up to walk to school that morning. She just hadn't figured out what it was yet.

"Now then, Kuroba-san?" The teacher prompted after Aoko finished.

"I…"

There was subtle shift in the air as heads turned to look at Kaito. He wasn't known to stutter or mince words.

A mischievous smile stretched across his face. "I really don't want to."

The teacher could either back down or spend the afternoon cleaning confetti out of her desk. She elected to make a strategic retreat, drawing the other students' attention back to the textbook. Except for Hakuba's of course, irritating detective that he was, his eyes were glued to the side of Kaito's face.

"What?" Kaito asked with distain in his voice.

In response the British bastard did the least helpful thing he could have. He pulled out a piece of paper, scribbled a quick note, folded it neatly, and set it on Kaito's desk.

The teacher's attention snapped back to Kaito. Her one and only remaining pet peeve after adjusting to Kaito's standard classroom antics was passing notes in class. "Kuroba-san, what does your note say?"

"Read it yourself." Kaito offered as he extended the paper towards her.

She cleared her throat as she unfolded the paper. She always read students' notes aloud in her 'public speaking voice'. "You can't see anything right now can you?"

Kaito turned to glare at Hakuba as the rest of the class shared sounds of surprise and alarm.

"Is it permanent?" The detective questioned.

Yes. There was no way it wasn't. "How should I know?"

Aoko responded before Hakuba had chance to. "Bakaito! You haven't seen a doctor?!"

Kaito rolled his eyes as he bent over backwards to 'look' at her. "So I'll have to learn braille. It's not a big deal Aoko."

She was out of her chair and reaching for his arm before the last word even left his mouth. And he of course, was bailing out of his chair at the same time. He almost made it to the door before he lost his footing on a stray book bag strap.

After that, it was the angry leading the blind all the way to hospital. Once they arrived, Kaito vehemently insisted Aoko not be allowed to see the doctor with him. She of course, vehemently insisted she be allowed in. The argument ended with an explanation of patient rights. Then it resumed when the police were called.

"Why didn't you say anything to Aoko?" The girl demanded when the nice officers had finally left. Kaito was an exceptionally good liar. They had bought his story hook, line, and sinker. New magic trick gone awry. No foul play. 'No. I didn't know I was mixing such dangerous chemicals officers.' 'No my mom didn't buy them for me. I was just borrowing them from the school.' Everyone knew he worked with a chemistry set regularly. It wasn't that much of a stretch to imagine him messing up badly enough to blind himself.

"What was I supposed to say Aoko?" Kaito asked with exasperation in his voice. Some mad scientist liquefied my optic nerves as part of his twisted experiments. How exactly was I supposed to explain that? Especially the part where he did it because I'm Kaitou KID. And what about the part where it would have been 10 times worse if Jii hadn't saved me?

After that Hakuba never said another word about Kaito being a phantom thief. It didn't stop Kaito from dyeing Hakuba's hair fun colors though. Just because Kaito couldn't see it, didn't mean others couldn't enjoy it. Besides, it was almost second nature at that point.

Kaitou KID himself pulled 3 more heists before announcing his retirement. Or more accurately Jii pulled 3 more heists for Kaito. It wasn't like Kaito could steer his hang glider anymore. Or borrow the faces of people he couldn't see. And retiring at the same time as Kaito went blind would have all but proven he was KID.

A part of Kaito died the night he lost his sight. He just hadn't realized it at the time. He'd figured that there would be small changes, but the changes weren't actually small. He would always be a magician, but his chance to be the best had been taken from him. And revenge for his father, the reason he had adopted the role of Kaitou KID in the first place, that too was lost to him.

"Do I know you?"

It was a male voice. One that Kaito actually knew quite well. He turned to 'look' at the speaker, his eyes sweeping up and down before resting at face height. "I don't think so."

"Could I get to know you?"

Well that was pretty blatant for Kudo Shinichi. Last Kaito had checked, the detective had been back in his normal rut of solving homicide cases with the occasional outing forced by his not-sister/not-girlfriend, Mori Ran. Although, that had been nearly a year ago. "Coming on a little strong don't you think?"

Kaito could all but hear the gears turning in Kudo's head as he took a minute to think. There was a slight intake of breath as he pieced together the implications of 'Could I get to know you?'. "I…" The detective began, then he seemed to think better of whatever he was originally going to say. "Sherlock Holmes once said 'You see, but you do not observe.' But if he met you, I think he would say you observe even though you do not see."

Kaito felt his eyes widening. He knew Kudo Shinichi. Well, not Kudo Shinichi as much as Edogawa Conan, but he knew the mind no matter what the body looked like. He knew that Kudo was sharp. But Kaito hadn't expected the detective to have figured him out so quickly.

The insides of Kaito's eyes were useless, but the outer form was still intact. No one could tell that he was blind at first glance. He had been very through in creating his image so no one could tell. The only people who knew were his high school classmates, his mom, Jii, and the professors at his college. The latter he had needed to tell because he couldn't read the exam sheets in class.

Kaito sighed and leveled a 'what is wrong with you?' stare at Kudo. "Seriously?"

Kudo nodded. Kaito could tell by the sound of hair brushing the collar of his suit jacket.

"Give me your phone number. I'll think about it."

The sound of Kudo smiling was bittersweet. It reminded Kaito of past heists when he would face off against Kudo, Edogawa at the time, adrenaline pumping through his veins as the chase came to an end. The thrill of testing his mettle against Kudo's had been what Kaito lived for once upon a time. It stung to be reminded of that.

A week later Kaito still hadn't decided what to do with Kudo's phone number. The detective had written it on a piece of paper and handed it over just like any normal human being would. Except Kudo knew perfectly well that Kaito couldn't 'read' it. He had figured it out of course, feeling the indents of the writing on the paper, but the point was Kudo knew about Kaito and still chose to act like nothing was wrong with him.

"What are you doing, Kaito?" Aoko asked as she settled down in the seat opposite him at the small café table. The scent of her perfume followed her, a special blend she had made so he could always tell when she was nearby.

It was only then that Kaito realized he had pulled out the scrap of paper with Kudo's number on it and was playing with it. "Someone gave me their phone number. I'm deciding if I want to call them."

The paper was gone from Kaito's grasp a second later. "Does she know?" Aoko demanded as she pulled out her phone. She had adopted the over protective best friend persona almost immediately after his 'accident'. Part of that, was researching any potential dates before letting Kaito go out. Not that Kaito always told her if he had a date.

"Yeah. He figured it out."

Aoko didn't respond. She had stopped moving before Kaito had even gotten the chance to respond. "Kaito, this piece of paper is blank."

Kaito sat up a little straighter. Blank? As in not written on? But he had felt the ridges of the numbers. He had memorized every digit.

"What a jerk. Pretending to give his phone number to a blind guy."

"Someone actually did that?" Haukuba asked as he sat down next to Aoko. Then, turning his attention to Kaito, "I'm surprised he could tell you were blind."

Kaito glared at the blonde. He had to be blonde. Kaito hadn't dyed the Brit's hair in over a week. "I'm calling him."

"What?! Why?!" Aoko screeched loud enough to earn irritated looks from all of the surrounding tables. It was evident from how all of the background conversations paused for a few seconds.

Hakuba followed up with a more reasonable volume. "How?"

"You see, but you do not observe." Kaito answered with a smirk. He could image the look on Hakuba's face; one part confusion, one part 'how dare you of all people quote Holmes', and one part curiosity.

"You called sooner than I thought you would."

"When did you expect me to call?" Kaito questioned.

"Seven fifteen."

Kaito pressed one of the buttons on the alarm clock by his bed. 'Seven o seven pm' The clock informed him in its digital voice.

"I'm unpredictable like that." Kaito replied as he put the phone back to his ear.

Kudo snorted. "So I'm told."

Kaito's eyes narrowed on reflex. He hadn't even told Kudo his name. Who could have possibly been talking about him? "Told by who?"

"Hakuba Saguru. Apparently, you are his friend Kuroba and I am a sorry excuse for a human being for pretending to give a blind man my phone number and actually handing over a blank piece of paper. Not that Hakuba knew he was talking about me."

"Did you tell him?"

Another snort. "Of course not."

"Why is that?"

There was silence on the other end of the phone line for so long that Kaito was beginning to think the call had been disconnected.

"He wouldn't understand."

That was a sentiment Kaito had heard far too many times since losing his sight. The world was full of people who 'wouldn't understand'. For once Kaito let the venom he felt flavor his words. "Wouldn't understand that you want to be friends with a blind guy?"

"Wouldn't understand that I want to be friends with a former phantom thief."

Kaito's heart beat hammered as he flipped his phone closed and ended the call. Kudo knew.

Three weeks later and Kudo hadn't called. Kaito hadn't been arrested either. And he had sort of been expecting one of those two things to happen.

"Why hasn't he called?" Kaito asked the large cup of hot chocolate in front of him. It was a bad sign that even the smell of coco couldn't distract him from his thoughts.

Finding out that Kudo knew who he was, what he had been, had terrified Kaito, but at the same time, the few minutes he had spent talking to the detective had been the highlight of the last year. Being blind was boring. At least for someone who had spent most of his life learning to fool the human eye.

"Having another conversation with your hot chocolate, Kuroba?" Hakuba asked as he set what sounded like 4 books on the table.

"Sure."

"Aoko is worried you know."

Kaito raised an eyebrow.

"She thinks you are depressed. She's been trying to come up with ways to cheer you up for the past 2 weeks." Hakuba sighed before he continued. "You've been like this ever since the incident with the phone number."

Hakuba sure had a way with words. 'The incident with the phone number.' At least Kudo didn't talk like that. "Yeah. I wish he would have called me back."

"Called you back…? Which implies you actually called him."

"Well yeah, that's what you do when someone you're interested in gives you their phone number."

Hakuba was quiet for a long time. Either the librarian was shooting them a death glare, or he was considering Kaito thoughtfully. Kaito was kind of hoping it was the former. It wasn't. "Did you say something so obnoxious he hung up on you?"

Kaito scratched his head and let himself look just a tiny bit guilty. "I may have been the one to have hung up… when he said something I wasn't ready to hear."

The soft exhale from Hakuba was all Kaito needed to know the detective was looking at him accusingly. "If you hung up on him, he isn't going to call you back."

Damn it. Kaito hated when Hakuba was right. He pulled a scarf out of his sleeve, wadded it up, and handed it to the Brit.

Predictably, Hakuba grabbed a corner so not to catch whatever incurable madness Kaito had, and a notecard dropped to the table. "Coupon redeemable for one week without pranking. Blackout dates apply." Hakuba read aloud. He let that sink in for about 30 seconds before turning his attention back to Kaito. "Why?"

"For letting me borrow your phone of course." Kaito replied as he produced Hakuba's phone in a puff of what was probably blue smoke. Jii had been getting more creative with some of the colors and scents. Kaito pressed down the button at the bottom of iphone. "Siri, call Kudo Shinichi."

Kudo picked up on the second ring as Hakuba made choking sounds in the background. "I'm still working on the last case you referred me to. It was only an hour ago."

"Is that seriously how you answer the phone?" Kaito asked.

Kudo didn't miss a beat. "Did you ask to borrow Hakuba-san's phone?"

"Did you just accuse me of theft detective?"

"Is it theft if you always return what you take?"

Four months later Kudo had arranged an outing for the now intermingled group of friends. This, according to Kaito's very reliable sources, was literally unheard of. What was less unusual, were the sudden 'emergencies' all of their friends seem to be having. Hakuba had to work on a group project. Aoko had to help Keiko get ready for a date with her long time crush. Sonoko's boyfriend had asked her to pick him up from the airport. And Ran… caught a cold.

"Where are we going anyways, Kudo-kun?" Kaito asked as the car accelerated again.

"It's a surprise."

"So I'll see when we get there?"

Kudo started humming in retribution for Kaito's pun.

Kaito covered his ears in hopes of drowning out some of the sound. Kudo's singing really was torturously bad.

An hour, and by Kaito's estimation, 3 near collisions later, Kudo finally pulled the car into a parking lot. Kaito followed the sounds of Kudo's footsteps as he moved across the gravel and opened a door. "So… Are you going to tell me where we are now?"

"Have you ever heard of indoor skydiving?"

Kaito was sure he was wearing a stupid looking grin, but he couldn't help it. It was near impossible to get together with Kudo between their classes, Kudo's cases, and the magic shows Kaito still put on for free in the parks by his house, but when they did, Kaito felt… normal. Not normal normal, but normal for him. The way he felt before he lost his sight, before he became KID, before he had to hide the pain of losing his father. The way he felt when he was just him, just Kaito.

And flying again… Kaito could almost forget that he and Kudo weren't really friends. No that was wrong. Kaito and Kudo were friends. It was the people they were before that weren't friends. KID and Edogawa. They were… enemies and rivals and sometimes allies, but not friends.

"Stop overthinking things, Kaito." Kudo admonished as he rapped on the top of Kaito's helmet. "This is supposed to be fun."

Kaito looked up instinctively, focusing where he knew Shinichi's eyes would be. Shinichi's eyes, not Kudo's eyes, because the detective had called him Kaito, not Kuroba. Kaito could still picture those piercing blue eyes, half hidden by the gleam of the moonlight on Edogawa's glasses. Of course Shinichi didn't wear glasses. At least Kaito didn't think he did. "Did you keep the glasses?"

"I still have them. But I don't wear them anymore. Do you still have the top hat and monocle?"

Kaito smirked. "Why did you want to see me in them?"

Kudo shook his head, the hard clasps of the helmet making quiet tapping noises as they shifted. "No. It's just that… Just because some things are in our past doesn't mean they aren't important."

"Hey…" Kaito started as he picked up the phone.

Shinichi cut him off before he could finish his greeting. "My parents are coming home."

"Okay…"

"Can I hide at your place until they leave?" Shinichi sounded desperate.

"You know they'll find you here." Kaito had been introduced to Shinichi's parents about 6 weeks after their first phone conversation. It had become pretty obvious to him at that point that Shinichi's father was as good of a detective as the detective himself. So, if the Kudo's went searching for their wayward son, there wasn't a snowball's chance in hell that they wouldn't drop in on Shinichi's very small circle of friends.

"My mother… She…"

"She…?" Kaito prompted.

Shinichi's answer came out in a single uninterrupted string of syllables. "Shewantsmetogoonablinddate."

"So you thought we should skip the date and just move in together? Where's your sense of romance, Shinichi?"

"What?"

"Blind date."

"I forget sometimes."

"Forget what?"

"That you're blind."

"When should I expect you?"

"Two hours."

"I'll start cleaning the Kaitou KID cave."

"There's a Kaitou KID cave?"

"And your parents will never find it."

'Five forty three am' Kaito's alarm clock told him. He sighed. It was his birthday, shouldn't he be allowed to sleep in?

The doorbell sounded again.

"Ahoko! What are you…" Kaito started as he flung open the door. Only Shinichi was decidedly not Aoko. "Do you have any idea what time it is?"

"No."

Somehow that wasn't all that surprising. "Did you just finish a case?" The smell of latex gloves that always clung to Shinichi seemed a little bit stronger than usual. Or maybe Kaito was still half asleep.

"No." There was a moment that Kaito could hear Shinichi shifting his weight from one foot to the other before thrusting a small package into Kaito's hands. "Happy birthday."

The box was roughly the size of a laptop and nearly twice the weight. "You shouldn't have. Or you should have at least waited till noon."

Shinichi didn't seem to pick up on the sarcasm. "Open it."

The detective seemed excited. It was sort of a rarity if the subject of conversation was anything but Sherlock Holmes. "Alright, come on in." Kaito invited before stepping back inside and padding soundlessly to the kitchen table. Shinichi followed, closing the door and securing the lock behind him.

The crinkle of paper could be heard as Kaito set the box down. Wrapping paper. It had been years since anyone who knew about his eyes had bothered to wrap a present for him. He ran his fingertips across the surface looking for the edges that Shinichi must have taped closed. That was when he found it. A card with a note attached to the top corner by a sticky bow. "What does it say?"

"Magic is making the impossible, possible."

"Oh?" Kaito questioned before ripping open the seams of the wrapping paper and popping off the lid of the cardboard box. What he found inside was cool to the touch like metal, but the surface had a texture close to sand.

"Let me set it up the first time." Shinichi said as he took the not-laptop from Kaito's hands. There was a moment when he rifled through the discarded paper before taking Kaito's hand. "If you push this button," he guided Kaito's index finger to an oblong button on the top left of the device, "it takes a picture of whatever the device is sitting on and translates it to braille."

Kaito pushed the button and trailed his fingers down the surface of the device. "Magic is making the impossible possible." He read aloud as his fingertips ran over the raised bumps that had manifested themselves on the sandy surface.

"And if you push this button," Shinichi guided Kaito's index finger back to the top of the device and to a second button just to the right of the first, "you can feel what image looks like."

"Feel what the image looks like?" Kaito asked skeptically before the meaning of Shinichi's words clicked into place. From touch he couldn't tell what the characters said but he knew how many characters were in each word and 'magic' was written large enough for him to trace every line. The 2D lines on the card had been given 3D life on the screen. It had been a long time since Kaito was actually speechless.

"There is one more feature. Professor Agasa is still working out the kinks, but…" Shinichi's words trailed off as he tilted the device up under Kaito's hand and slid something else underneath. "Try pushing the button at the top right."

Kaito did as he was instructed, his mind still hung up on the fact that the device in his hand couldn't possibly exist. He ran his fingers across the screen once again feeling the braille for 'Magic is making the impossible, possible'. He raised an eyebrow at Shinichi. What was different?

"Move your hand lower."

Well that wasn't braille. It was a line connected to another line, connected to another. "Is this a top hat?" He asked in disbelief after he had traced the lines half a dozen times.

"So you can feel the images in your magic books." Shinichi answered. 'And read blueprints and schematics' went unsaid. "The professor is also working on a zoom function."

"How does it work?"

"I don't really know. Something about inducing an electromagnetic field."

"I can't believe that Aoko actually agreed to marry Hakuba." Kaito muttered under his breath. Just because the Brit was Kaito's third best friend didn't mean he actually liked him. Aoko deserved better… even if Hakuba was what she wanted.

The blonde had redeemed his coupon for a week without pranking on Monday and proposed to Aoko on Wednesday. That was why Friday night found them surrounded by friends at an engagement party. Kaito had even given Hakuba another coupon. He had after all, used the first one for a good reason.

Shinichi was unsurprisingly, late, but he had walked up just in time to hear Kaito's muttering. "You know that love is blind right?"

Kaito shot him a disbelieving look. "Some flaws are too glaring to be overlooked."

"Like being a detective?" Shinichi asked.

"Exactly!" Kaito answered. Then a sheepish smile found its way to his lips. "Unless it's you."

Shinichi's arm was warm as it settled across Kaito's shoulders. "I love you too."

The End

A/N: I can't seem to make progress on my multi-chapter stories so I'm just going to keep writing oneshots until something shakes loose in my brain. So, my apologies to those of you waiting for the next chapters of Steal a Kiss in the Dark and Primal Instincts. What I want to write and what is actually ending up on the page just haven't been in agreement the past few weeks. This oneshot even started out as a soulmate AU where you didn't see color until you met your soulmate… and somehow Kaito ended up blind.