Blue Birthday
It was the same, old routine. Steal the Big Jewel. Done. Shine it under the moonlight. Doing so. Now the main question; did the it glow red? No. Alright. Guess it was time to return the loot- BUT not if it'd suddenly transformed into a nude, cute and remarkably frenzy woman, that is. AU
NOTE: I only did very little research on Japanese mythology, so you can say most of what I've written here are made-up. If you're still with me, then that's actually quite bad for you because you're about to read a crappy, OOC and full of plotholes 14.5k fic. You are warned.
In most occasion, Kaito was hardly surprise. A gem that sheds tear and could bring about immortality? Okay, that was weird, but not weird enough when he'd got a creepy witch 'friend' who once broke into his house to steal his underwear. A nine-years-old kid that brought down a nasty organization mostly by himself? Okay, that was pretty amazing, but not amazing enough when the said organization was actually filled with more spies than real members in the first place. Everything, to Kaito, had its own faults and flaws that made the whole magic of the situation... plain idiotic. Nothing seemed to faze or interest him anymore.
"Watch your back." Akako whispered into his conscious the very moment he stepped out of his house with his props for his heist tonight. He knew a reaction would only satisfy that creepy woman (and he knew she was watching him somewhere in her dungeon from her pot of bubbling potions), so he put on his usual poker-face and dumped his loot in his car, even though he felt like scratching out his brain after hearing her voice in his head.
Other than Akako who known about his job through her truth-seeking mirror, or so she proclaimed, there were a couple of people who knew his identity; his mother, Jii and that same nine-years-old kid, though he was technically no longer a child anymore. The silver bullet, the Detective of the East, the reincarnation of Sherlock Holmes (or Kaito's favourite nickname, the little Shrunken-Hellish-Inconvenient-Troublemaker, which was also known as little S.H.I.T), had turned back into his real form years ago after crushing the organization to bits. Kudo Shinichi had long since reunited with his childhood friend and restarted his new life, working with the Police force and also the FBI and doing what he did best.
(It wasn't like he caught the stalking disease from Akako. This news was all over the headlines for a week, and Kaito had been partially involved in Edogawa Conan's schemes in the first place anyway.)
As for Kaito, now, he was still dealing with men named after amphibians instead of alcoholic names and struggling between his real and night life. But all was well. He was not tied down to anyone or anything. He didn't have to answer or cover up for all the lies he possibly had to make in order to hide his secrets from someone.
He was alone.
Kaito started his car and began driving towards the museum. Halfway through his destination, his phone on the passenger's seat lit up with a message from little S.H.I.T.
"Hakuba is involved in a case of mine so he's not participating in your heist for the time being."
Well then, Kaito mused. Tonight will be a quick one.
The blonde detective was another grand story to tell, but not today. Shinichi occasionally helped in solving tiny hindrances (mostly Hakuba) and kept to his promise to never interfere with Kaito's heist, as an honour to Kaitou Kid. It was all fun and games in the past to have challenges to entertain him besides the incompetent police force, but Kaito was exhausted. He had been Kaitou Kid for nearly seven years, and seven years was... He just wanted to find Pandora and be done with it, even if a piece of his heart and majority of his brain told him that it was all a myth. An illogical myth.
Because if he chose to not believe in it, then what exactly did his father die for anyway?
.o.
Fast forward thirty minutes later, the Kaito Kid Task Force, lacking its only useful leader, was blinded in the entire chase. Kaitou Kid had retrieved his loot and was standing on the roof alone, the cool wind constantly flapping his cape. The treasure today was a sapphire named Blue Birthday, an ancient Big Jewel passed down from some dynasty marked ages ago, which belonged to an old collector who died last month and the gem was kept for an upcoming auction that was to be held two days later. It was blue, like its name, and big, like its title, but there wasn't anything special about it, just like the past few hundreds of diamonds he'd stolen. Kaito didn't hold too much hope on this one. He lifted it to the sky and let it shine under the moon.
Nope. He drawled in his head, his bored eyes staring through the glinting stone. Not Pandora.
Just when he was about to put down his hand, the diamond reacted with a tiny spark and Kaito froze. He raised his arm hastily and got back to the same position right away, anticipating for something similar to occur.
Nothing. Five seconds passed. Ten seconds passed.
Ok. Totally my imagination and not Pandora. Kaito squinted his eyes in displeasure and put down the-
The-
-What?
It happened again. A twinkle, a spark, and both of it occurred at the same moment, so fast that even Kaito couldn't react. He shut his eyes, wincing at the pain from the brightness that nearly blinded his sight, and what made everything worse was when something heavy knocked him back on his heels and to his falling doom.
If Akako's warning was for this moment, Kaito clearly understood its meaning now. His back hit the concrete with a loud thud, the useless cape didn't cushion the impact at all. He groaned, feeling the cool wind rippling through his hair, which meant his top hat must have fallen off. Still cringing at the bright light that was hurting his eyes (Now he felt sorry for the pain his flash bomb had caused to everyone), he struggled to reach for his hat that was an important factor to his disguise, but stopped midway when his cheeks brushed against something... soft.
He slowly peeled open his eyes.
Alright, it would be practically stupid to expect the thing that was soft, crushing his body and producing heat that seeped through his suit to be the Blue Birthday. But what else could it be? A person? A woman? A woman with the softest hair that smelt as good as heaven?
"Ugh..." Kaito heard a small husky voice muffling into his chest, one that magically sent his stomach flipping upside down. He peered down at the mess of brown hair and noticed, much to his utter shock, that he was partially right. In a bad kind of way.
It was a naked woman with the softest hair that smelt as good as heaven.
He was instantly grateful when she lifted herself off his body since she was nearly choking him with her weight, but thinking again, it wasn't a great move (for her sake) as his eyes distractedly trailed down her smooth shoulders and her brown locks that barely covered anything except for her collarbones. He skilfully rolled away before he got up to his feet, his eyes piercing straight into the distance just over her head, not at her butt, not at her boo-
"Who the heck are you?!" He demanded to know.
A soft horn beeped from the street below. "Where am I?" The woman impassively dusted her stomach and whirled around in her position, exposing every inch of her body that Kaito was desperately trying to avoid looking, and the beautiful city lights reflecting her skin did no help in making the situation any better. "What is this place?" She frowned, her blue eyes (So blue, like the jewel) darting around the rooftop.
On the cue, and to Kaito's baddest luck of the year, the sound of raging footsteps and chaos could be heard near the rooftop door. He would've laughed for the squad's slowness, but there wasn't even time left to contemplate his decision right now. Having no other choice, he whipped out a large white blanket from his inner suit pocket and sprinted across the roof to where she was.
"We got to leave this place." He spat as he wrapped the blanket around her like a bandage, much to her dismay.
"What are you doing?!" She struggled to get out and miserably failed.
"Just shut up now for now."
"You're rude!" She glared at him, her features almost scandalized. "How dare you ask me to shut up!"
He scowled. "I'm not asking you. I'm telling you." When he finally used up all of the sheet, he tugged the end of the blanket inside the space near her neck before scooping her up in bridal style and dashed towards the edge.
"What-!" Her shout almost destroyed his eardrums.
The rooftop door burst open.
His cape solidified into giant wings.
What a wonderful night it was.
.o.
On the positive side, everything didn't end that terribly since he had successfully shook off the police much easier than he thought, despite the large burden he was carrying. Kaito had considered shutting the woman's mouth with his special method if she didn't, but she did, disbelievingly. She was mute throughout the ride, her eyes wavering and observing the city streets below them. She only started to shift in her position once he flew to his neighbourhood district, where the view was getting boring and there were lesser things for her to gape at.
He dipped his shoulders and angled his glider towards the quiet playground, where he made use of how isolated it was to change back to Kuroba Kaito before heading home as a normal citizen after every heist. He hadn't even landed properly and the woman had decisively bounced her burrito-form off his arms and onto the ground. She struggled to keep straight, which she succeeded, mainly due to luck.
"Alright," Kaito sighed and knocked the switch to change his glider back to his cape. He then wasted a few seconds, watching her wiggling attempts to shrug off the blanket in mock amusement before continuing. "Who are you?"
She stopped her self-wrestling to scorn at him. "And who are you?"
It was as if he was back to those elementary school days, where you use stupid excuses to win an argument. "I asked the question first." He declared.
"I'm Aoko." She said, her face as guarded as her tone. "Blue Child."
"Blue child." Kaito repeated, dragging the words slowly and steadily. He didn't bother to sound irritated or act like he was in disbelief as he choose to focus on his task of stripping off his costume. He was left with his blue shirt and white pants, proper enough for him to go home without suspiciously looking like he'd stolen a jewel half an hour ago. The heavy suit and tie was slung over one of his arms, his other hand was readied and prepared to whip out a taser from his back pocket anytime if this woman suddenly went bonkers and attacked him. He was always ready for situations like these. Maybe. Provided the blanket around her stayed in place and didn't drop when she was ran towards him. That would be a different story.
"Yes. Blue Child. Aoko. That's my name. I have answered you." She narrowed her eyes. "What about you?"
"Actually, I'm not asking what's your name. I'm asking who are you." Kaito weaved a hand through his hair. "How the hell did you appear on the roof?"
Her eyes instantly grew wide and uncertain, her defensive barrier seemingly shattered within a millisecond after the words left his mouth. She glanced down at her temporary attire, at the playground, and then at her bare feet that were sinking slightly in the sand pit she was standing on.
She looked utterly pitiful that it made Kaito's heart cringe, for reasons he couldn't comprehend.
But it wasn't the case anymore when Aoko lifted her chin and stared at the full moon that was hanging in the sky, no clouds to ruin the night and the stars were littered all around, like children dancing around their mother. Her face was bathed with the pale natural light and her eyes gleamed so beautifully that all the weariness she previously looked were washed away. At that moment, Kaito inwardly swore she looked like, perhaps, a Goddess-
"I'm one of the seven children of the Moon Goddess." She lowered her head to gaze straight into his eyes. "You've summoned me on the roof with the Blue Birthday."
Kaito now knew why he had been single throughout his life; All the women he'd met had this similar crazy bug in the brain.
.o.
He wasn't sure if the reason for his silence was because he was tired, too tired, or very tired of the things he had went through tonight. Nonetheless, he did try to register Aoko's words in his head as he trudged his way back home, with her following closely behind him. It was near midnight and everyone in the neighborhood was mostly asleep, but to give her some dignity, he spared her his suit, all buttoned up, to cover her top instead of the blanket, which she now used to wrap it around her waist like a maxi skirt. A fashion disaster, but better than before.
"You'll stay at my home for now," Kaito spoke in the weariest tone he could muster, not like he even needed to try to sound like one. "We'll deal with this on the next day."
Yes. It was insane that he'd even suggested this idea when he'd only known this woman, or some child of a Goddess, or a patient that might have escaped from the mental institute, for less than an hour. But when the image of how her lonely eyes appeared so lost flashed across his mind, he couldn't decide what else to do other than shoving all responsibilities and tasks for tomorrow to handle. What was important first was to at least get her some decent clothes and a shelter over her head for the night.
There were many things that didn't seem right, yet made sense to him in some way or another. But honestly, believing the existence of the Moon Goddess wasn't that hard when he had already experienced so many weird crap in life. Unlike things such as witch craft or pills that could de-age a human by ten years, he'd partially learnt about the Japanese folklore in history classes, just that there weren't any recollection about seven children or a woman with pretty blue eyes named Aoko.
"Erm," she made an undignified noise that almost stopped him in his track. "How long will the day come?"
Her question sounded so sincere he couldn't bear to give a sarcastic comment even when he really wanted to, which was quite unexpected of him since his asshole-mode was usually switched on after his tired heist. He tugged his blue sleeve back, revealing a small watch he wore around his wrist. It was technically already the next day, but assuming he was talking to someone who couldn't register the difference between the stroke of midnight and sunrise, he'd decided to use the latter to make his own life easier too. "There's 7 more hours to daylight."
They strolled the way back home without exchanging any more words, but constantly, he could still feel a bundle of uneasiness behind him. He occasionally glanced over his shoulder to check, to find Aoko looking doubtful and tense, and after the fifth time when he couldn't stand it anymore, he finally spoke.
"What is it?" He decided to walk beside her instead. His neck was growing sore for turning around.
Their steps strangely, yet naturally fell into sync. "You said we can only talk about this in 7 more hours."
"Best to spit it out if something is bothering you." Pot calling the kettle black, but whatever.
It was like rattling a dog's lead when it had given up being taken for a walk. Her head shot up and her blue eyes glinted in surprise. "Really?"
"Don't make me take back my words."
"You-" Aoko started off confident, but as if something inside her deflated, she suddenly cowered into a little shell. He could see her swallowing a lump in her throat before releasing a sigh he suspected she had been holding in for very long. "You believe me? About my identity?"
"The facts tally, at the moment." Kaito shrugged, looking barely serious in contrast of the heaviness in her tone. "My mind isn't functioning well because I'm bloody exhausted now. But I'm a magician, not a detective. I don't care shit about evidences. I trust my gut more."
"I see." She smiled in great relief.
They arrived to his house faster than he thought he would like. It was surreal, to have his private space exposed to a someone that wasn't... human? Nothing was getting inside his brain, and he didn't plan to think any longer. Waste of his brain cells. He chucked his shoes aside and lazily flung his red tie onto his sofa before proceeding for the stairs. There was this uncanny feeling in his stomach, as though there was something out of place, and he realized instantly when Aoko was innocently climbing up the stairs behind him.
He'd almost forgotten the reason why he'd even brought her home. She needed the change of clothes, and speaking of which, maybe she would like a bath, too. In all those pictures or art works he'd ever seen, most Goddesses were depicted either near or inside water areas, so he presumed they liked to be… clean? This was the reason why Math was the only subject he aced in.
"Anyway, uh, do you need a bath?" He spoke absently in the middle of the stair ways, fingers lingering over the banister as he eyed down at Aoko from a step above her.
She blinked at him like a curious cat. "A bath?"
The last thing he needed on this planet would be communication problems. Kaito sucked a breath through his teeth and turned to continue up until they reached the second floor. "Cleaning yourself?" He began thinking of several synonyms for the word. "Wash? Cleanse? Disinfect?"
"Oh, sure!" Aoko glimpsed around the corridor with mild skepticism, like she was searching for something but gave up in the end. "Though for me, I often do it by the horizon of the Sun's blood stream."
"I shall pretend I understand even though I don't because honestly I don't want to know." Kaito muttered to himself before opening one of the doors, which belonged to the bathroom. He treaded inside and Aoko copied, her head moving everywhere to inspect every single spot with utmost appreciation. "On Earth, we settle our cleaning needs in here. No Sun. No blood. Just water." He unnecessarily added.
By then, Aoko was too focused on the mirror and was making ridiculous faces to care about Kaito's comment. "What is this?!"
He tried not to judge, he really did try. "It's called a mirror."
"This is so amazing!" Aoko leaned up close and stuck out her tongue before she gave a loud gasp that sent Kaito's hair standing up. He scowled at the little ruckus she was creating with herself.
"What is wrong now?"
"And what is this?" She pointed at the mirror and he looked wearily, just in time to see the mist from her breath fading away until the reflection became clear again.
"It's science. Very complicated." Kaito rubbed a droopy eye.
"Alright." Aoko agreed very willingly and finally left to basin and to where he was standing.
"Okay," Kaito enunciated and stepped under the shower head. He tweaked the knob with just a small angle, allowing a couple of water droplets to slowly seeped out from the tiny holes just for show. Aoko squealed amazement and admired the metal hose like it was made out of star dust. "As shown, you turn this knob to produce water. To increase the amount of water, continue turning it in the same direction. If you want to stop the water flow, do it the opposite way."
She nodded excitedly.
It was hard to not smile at her childish demeanour, which Kaito had managed to do so because achieving the impossible had always been his forte; He cheated and bit his inner cheeks to stop himself. He then pointed at two bottles on the small ceramic shelve. One was shampoo while the other was for body wash. "Uh, well. This is the soap. Press the top and you'll get some substances." He sighed inwardly and starting pretending to rub it over his body like he was cleaning himself. "Rinse it off with water afterwards and you're done." It was the biggest joke of his life, but since he'd begun the task, might as well finish it.
"So this is how people on Earth keep clean." Aoko smiled, as if she was talking about her hobby. "If I'm unsure during the process, can you help me with it?"
Kaito's eyes twitched. "No. And stay here. I'll go get something." He then marched around her and headed towards his room and for the closet, rummaging through one of his secret compartments while hoping that none of his blood vessel wouldn't burst in the process of trying to calm his heart down. For the purpose of his disguises, he'd kept a few girl's clothes, ranging from fancy dresses and normal clothing wear that were suitable to be used as pyjamas. He grabbed a pair of matching undergarments and a T-shirt and shorts and stomped back to the bathroom. Aoko was in the midst of goggling at the metal hose, looking so innocent and completely oblivious to the current inner turmoils Kaito had been going through thanks to her.
"Wear this." He shoved the clothes into her arms and pointed at the spare towel hanging over the rack. "Use that to dry yourself first."
"Oh, thank you." Aoko curiously leafed through the clothes until she lifted a bra and swung it around Kaito's face. "But what is this?"
This got to be the longest night of Kaito's life, ever.
.o.
After nearly a forever had passed, from explaining which of her body parts should go through which hole of the panty and to teaching her how to squeeze a toothpaste out onto a toothbrush, Kaito had almost forgotten about his priorities. He still got a few props he needed to fix, and there was also a couple of documents he need to forge in explanation of the lost Blue Birthday too. After shouting through the closed door, informing that her bedroom was located next to the bathroom and that she should understand the processes-and-steps-to-sleep, he ambled his way into his bedroom to start his work.
Kaito had shut himself in his hidden room behind his father's portrait during the next half an hour, one hand twiddling with his card gun while the other was typing vigorously onto his laptop. He had honed his multi-tasking skills to near perfection, and what was stopping him from achieving the full success was due to one part of his active brain that was prone to distractions. Especially noises. Any little noises could ruin his concentration, and now was the greatest example to showcase his failure.
He sighed, stopping whatever he was doing and glanced back. The wall that separated the secret room and his bedroom wasn't exactly soundproof, and whatever that was behind was... flapping.
What could be making that sound? Had some fairytale princess come to life and began conversing with a bunch of birds in his room? Did his doves gone mad and sent some mafia pigeon gang to raid his territory? Kaito prayed, really hard, that it wasn't going to be anything more bizarre than tonight. He had enough in his life.
Kaito decided the fixing of his tools and documents amendments could wait later. He stood up from his seat, plodding towards his father's portrait and pressed his hand lightly onto the frame to give a tentative push, his world flipping back to Kuroba Kaito's.
There was no pigeons or any kind of birds. But close enough, there was indeed a fairytale princess, or similarly, a beautiful woman kneeling on his bed, arms propped on his window sill as the curtains moved when a wind blew, the thick cloth slapping against each other and producing the flapping sound he heard previously.
It was Aoko, Kaito had come to realize after staring for eight full seconds. She had pushed his window wide open, allowing some breeze to disturb his curtains and all the natural light from outside to shine into his bedroom. Her eyes were warmth despite how its colour looked like it was reflecting a cool lake. There were moments when her rippling hair covered his sight of her rosy cheeks and the perfect contour of her brows, but it was alright. Everything was alright, since he had almost forever to look at her the entire time.
But good things always come to an end. When Aoko turned her head to look straight at him, he glanced away and pretended like he was searching for some money on the floor.
"Sorry," she spoke, her voice was delicate and soft, perhaps similarly to how her lips might be. "Your room's window is the only one where I can see the moon."
"Oh." Kaito scratched the side of his cheek, unsure of what else to say. He spent quite a long time to process his thoughts. "Then, uh, aren't you going to sleep?"
"To be honest," Aoko bit her lips and lowered her eyes to his bed sheets. "I've slept for, maybe more than a millennium. I can't go to sleep."
"A millennium." Kaito echoed almost jealously. With so many heists, deadlines for projects and the terrible lack of sleep, he would've wished he was in her position to gain that privilege. When his clouded mind cleared, he frowned at himself. Talk about being insensitive, wow.
Luckily, Aoko didn't seem to catch the tone from his voice, and even if she did, she didn't show it at all. "Yes." Her head turned to the window again.
It took him a while before his brain started to work out the information and everything dawned upon him. He settled himself at the edge of the bed and scrutinized her carefully before asking the question that hadn't struck him until now. It was similarly to being hit by a large truck; he didn't know he had been ramped over until he woke up from a coma. Kaito cleared his throat to begin. "How did you end up in the diamond?"
She was tight-lipped at first, but he waited patiently for her to speak. There was something painful about her face that made Kaito to not have the heart to prompt her to reply until she was comfortable. He recognized that look, the same one he saw in the reflection of his mirror when he remembered running back home to hide in his bathroom after a couple of his past playmates asked why he no longer had a father.
"There was a bad war over the commanding power to control the celestial ladder, which is used to gain access to the Heaven. The war lasted over centuries and it was really, really-" Aoko closed her eyes and took in a deep, shuddering breath. "I was sealed inside Blue Birthday to be protected from it."
Everything about tonight was one huge, conflicted pain in the ass. Part of him knew sympathy wasn't going to help anything, because he'd been at that point before. But another part of him wished he knew what to say in such circumstances. It was not his usual nature to show his concern, yet he couldn't find the will in him to shrug her off like what he did occasionally to Akako, or Shinichi, or sometimes even Jii and his mother. Something between them connected, and even if it was a one-sided feeling, he thought he almost recognized her woes.
But there was nothing he could say. He simply stared at her with his parted mouth that opened and closed repetitively like a goldfish. He hated fish, and now he looked similar to one... Maybe there wasn't a difference to it-
"Thank you."
Kaito's heart almost stopped. His eyes blinked incredulously at Aoko, who was smiling at him with gratitude that he didn't understand. "For what?"
"You've comforted me."
He was truly taken aback, and the tiredness didn't help to motivate him to properly wear his poker-face. But he thought, at the same time, that he didn't really need to use his mask on her anyway. "I didn't say anything."
"Nope, you didn't." She affirmed with a nod, but her lips spread across her cheeks. "But I felt it."
His tongue was too tied to say a lie, and he couldn't find any proper or smart-ass words to rebuff her accusations-that-were-somewhat-true. Aoko's smile was still plastered in place, her gratefulness and sincerity were basically radiating out of her. Was this what she meant when she said she could feel like he had comforted her? He nervously scratched his nose, hoping to dispel the embarrassment that was eating him inside out. What the hell was wrong with him?
"Anyway," She initiated and sliced the peace between them before looking out of the window again. "How long is it till it's daylight?"
Kaito glanced at his digital clock and sighed inwardly. It was close to four. "Soon."
"I see."
He didn't miss the slight gloom in her tone. It would be easy to pretend he didn't notice it because he was good at pretending and it was a better decision than anything else. But in the end, he betrayed himself and his mouth moved on its own. "Why did you ask?"
Aoko shook her head very insistently. "You've said to talk about everything till the next day come and I'll keep to that. Besides, you're tired." She gulped and surveyed his shoulder with more care than the way he regarded a jewel that was worth millions of dollars. It was odd to say that he felt honored to be looked like that. "You flew, didn't you?" Aoko continued her words, her voice low and almost disapproving. "You must have wasted a lot of your energy."
Kaito scoffed, inwardly amused at her exaggerated distress. "Technically, people on Earth can't fly. It is related to the law of science, and like I said before, it's very complicated and we're not going to touch on that." He couldn't help but smirked as he watched the way her face lit up when she finally grasped the meaning of his words. "But you're not wrong. It does use up my energy."
"Then you should get ready to rest." She said firmly like the decision had been already made.
True, it was the most obvious thing in the world, yet her words sounded as if she was trying to prove the sun was smaller than the moon. And it had been a long time since anyone said that to him, to the point he couldn't comprehend the meaning for a moment.
He awkwardly lifted himself off the bed and stretched over to his chair where he had hung his towel to dry on the night before. "I'm heading to bathe first." He said and right on the cue, he felt everything, maybe even his internal organs, froze inside him. It was so weird and unnatural of him to randomly say it out loud since there wasn't a need for it in the past. His house was always empty, and if he was lucky enough, a wind would blow by occasionally, as if it was a signal from mother nature to show that something out on Earth cared about him. All of the sudden, a wave of pathetic-ness flooded him. He pursed his lips and headed for the door.
"Your toothpaste is finished though."
That stopped his track. He kept his expression carefully neutral as he tilted his head to face her sideways. It wouldn't be that hard if it wasn't his favourite toothpaste she was talking about. "I only started using it less than a week ago." He informed her.
Aoko jerked her head back and stared at him, disgusted. "I thought you were hygienic, with all the methods you taught me to be clean."
"Excuse me?" His jawbones would've cracked if he snarled harder.
"What?" She raised her voice in defence. "I brushed each tooth with ultimate care."
He proceeded to pinch the bridge of his nose, preparing for the ever worse. "... How many time did you squeeze the toothpaste out of the tube?"
"Around 30?" Aoko tapped a finger in the middle of her front teeth and moved her counting towards the left. "I've cheated at the back, where I couldn't exactly brushed each tooth on its own." She chuckled sheepishly.
That would finally explain the extreme scent of mint even when he had been keeping a distance away from her. "We'll talk about that lesson tomorrow morning." He waved her off and spared a brief glance over his bed and back at her. "Anyway, you can take my bed. I'll be camping in the other room."
She straightened up and watched him in amazement. "Really? Can I?"
"Yes. Just tonight." He stated and exited his bedroom, at the same time trying to ignore the delightful gaze he could feel piercing like teasing pokes at the back of his head.
For the next five minutes, Kaito was standing in front of the sink in the bathroom, staring at the flat tube of toothpaste and the new but almost worn out toothbrush settled inside a glass cup just next to his. Despite knowing his future seconds spent with Aoko would highly bring him multiply troubles and misfortunes, he briefly wondered why he could still be smiling in the mirror, like it was the first time he was ever happy since his father died.
.o.
He woke up to the sound of muffled noises he wasn't accustomed to hearing when he'd been living in his house alone for so long. It was ten in the morning, from what the alarm clock by the bed told him as he pushed himself off the hard mattress, the book he had been reading before he unknowingly fell asleep slipped down from his chest and plopped onto his lap. He groggily dumped the Tales of Old Japan aside and trudged out of the guest room, messy hair and drowsy eyes searching for the source of the noise. It was coming from downstairs.
The stairs creaked as he descended down to the first floor, alerting his grand arrival to the living room. But Aoko, the cause of his wake, didn't even glance his way. Still clad in the attire from last night, she was attentively glimpsing at the photos that were lined on a cabinet beside the couch, something that his mother did to spice up his house more than a decade ago. He didn't bother to change the now-rusty frames or update new photographs, just because, so the only photos available for Aoko to see were ones of his younger self, his then-alive father, mother and Jii.
"What are you doing?" It was meant more of a statement than a question, but Aoko didn't catch on.
"Looking. At these." Aoko pointed. "It's not a mirror, but I can see you."
"They are called photos. Photos are captured moments." He responded automatically and began to wonder where the patience he didn't know he had in the first place were coming from.
"Photos. I see." She nodded. There was a faint, foreign look that didn't quite match her supposedly happy eyes and her faltering smile was merely a little tugged on one side. "You're smaller. And happier."
"Now that it's daylight, it's time to discuss some important matters," Kaito decided to ignore the pointless conversation that happened for the past two minutes and sat on the bottom of the stairs, the tiredness still lingering in his brain. Memorizing blueprints took him ten minutes. Reading a book was much worse at keeping him up later than he wished for.
"Ah, yes. There's something important that I want to know." Aoko turned her back against the row of photo frames and watched him with the similar level of seriousness his mother once showed him when she demanded about her desires to carry a grandchild a year ago.
"What is it?" He hoped it wasn't something to do with why he had the Blue Birthday with him. Or why he was donned so weirdly with a monocle and a white top hat. Or why he was escaping from a bunch of people by jumping off the roof. Or why he'd got woman clothes with him. Something like that.
She took in a deep breath and he did the same, though more discreetly. After a second passed, she spoke. "What is your name?"
Kaito arched both of his eyebrows. Oh. That was it? That was the important thing she wanted to know? He scratched the line in between his eyes and answered her easily. "Kaito. Kuroba Kaito."
"Kaito." Aoko grinned and cheekily skipped over towards him. "Kaito!"
"Uh, okay." In lightning speed, he stood up from his temporary seat and walked to the kitchen before she managed to reach his side. He opened the fridge and pretended to be finding something even when he knew it had always been empty, but he needed time to regain his composure about seeing her delight over simply knowing his name. It was stupid, but it made him feel weirdly… weird.
"What are you doing?" She poked her head inside the fridge as well.
"Nothing." Kaito slammed the door shut and stepped towards the sink to wash his hand. Shit. The more time he spent with her, the more abnormality was starting to show within him. He shut the tap and turned towards her, finally deciding to focus on his main task. "So, do you have any more questions?"
She looked away, thought for a while and returned his gaze. "Nope."
"Aren't you wondering, like, how are you going to go back into your… stone? Your, I don't know, home?" Kaito gestured, trying to give some suggestions.
Something dulled the light in her eyes and her face flushed with different shades of red that he didn't know existed. "I-, um. I've never considered that."
"Why not?" Kaito honestly didn't get it. "You don't belong here."
Alright. Disguising as a woman was one of his talents, dealing and understanding one wasn't. But this time round, he didn't need a full five minutes to reflect on his words or mannerism to understand that he'd said something damaging to a woman's delicate heart. He pursed his lips when he noted the way her pupils dilated before she glanced down at her feet. The same bare feet that were sinking into the sand last night.
Dang it.
"Actually," Kaito tried again. "I've been thinking of seeking help from a person I know about this, but if you're not interested in going back-"
"It's good. I mean, sure." Aoko interjected and smiled, even though she didn't sound or look half as convinced as she should look.
"Sure?"
"Sure." She confirmed.
Kaito decided to leave the conclusion like this for now. He tapped a foot on the ground, wondering what he should do next. Akako once mentioned her beauty sleep was very important, to which Kaito agreed (She then proceeded to choke up his toilet bowl for the next month and it had been a hell of his life). If he wanted to contact her or drop by at her dungeon, it would have to be afternoon. No way he was going there at night.
"Are you hungry?" He inquired. "After eating, we'll head to that place."
"Oh," Aoko rubbed her stomach, seeming as if she just realized she possessed the said organ. "Kinda."
"What do you usually eat?"
"Dragon wings!" Aoko piqued. "My favourite."
"Well then… I have some bad news for you."
.o.
"Okay so," Akako raised her hand, her five fingers spread out. She curled each one into her palm when she spoke out like a checklist format. "You shine the Blue Birthday under the moon. The jewel didn't glow. The jewel sparked out a bright light instead." Akako flicked her gaze over at Aoko. "Then this Blue Child fell on you. And now you're here and asking what to do about it."
"Yes, correct." Kaito couldn't hide the appeasement in his tone, which was the first time he'd ever used towards Akako. "I can't believe we're on the same page for once."
Akako didn't look as pleased as he was. Her arms were crossed and her brows were furrowed, a usual defense mechanism she set up when she felt her knowledge of power was challenged. "I've never heard of this before."
"Look!" Kaito clapped and gave a half-hearted laugh. "That's another rare thing we have in common."
"It took me nearly a month to convince you that I'm a witch, and it take less than a day for her to prove to you she's some child of a Goddess." Akako shot him a glare and a wry smile as bonus, the combination fitted her well in a menacing way. "I'm utterly offended."
"You're not seriously going to discuss this, are you?" Kaito afforded a dry laugh. He didn't wish to remember those convincing tactics Akako had used on him back then.
She ignored him and turned towards Aoko, who was curiously viewing the shelves of different potions that were lined up the wall. Akako deliberately produced a cough that caught Aoko's attention as the latter spun around, her brown hair danced from her back and settled over her shoulders.
"I would like to ask you a question." Akako waved her over. Kaito narrowed his eyes in suspicion and at the same time, his sidelong glance watched Aoko bounce towards them.
"Yes?"
"You'd mentioned that Kaito had summoned you from the Blue Birthday," Akako eyed Aoko up and down, vaguely unimpressed. "Then may I know what kind of power do you have to be deserved of his calling? Being summoned means you have to be useful to the summoner."
Kaito raised a hand, stepping in. It would be great if they were not going to waste time touching on such complicated and unhelpful subject. "Is that question even necessary?"
Akako shushed him with a don't-interrupt look and faced Aoko with confidence. "So? What is your magic?"
"Well," Aoko sucked in a shaky breath. "My powers are on a private level. They aren't for attacking or defending. That's why…" Her eyes darted over to Kaito and he understood before the words even left her. "That's why I'm not very useful to the war."
"And that would be?" Akako leaned forward expectantly.
Without a word, Aoko closed the distance and was barely an arm away from Akako. The witch appeared nonchalant, but Kaito recognized the discomfort from the way her eyes wavered, as if it was shivering in slight fear, if it was possible for a witch to even feel fear in the first place. Aoko placed a hand on Akako's shoulder and shut her eyes in a peaceful manner, like she was about to sleep. The only thing that convinced Kaito she wasn't going to was the soft murmurs that suddenly echoed the quiet and dim dungeon.
"Sapphire. Hikari." Aoko whispered. "Her darkness is gone."
In an instant, Kaito felt the temperature in the room dropped by a few degrees. He slowly exhaled a breath and observed the two women standing there in their completely motionless spot, inwardly debating on whether he should split them apart before a possibly disastrous outcome could happen between a mythological being and a witch.
Halfway through his contemplation, Akako abruptly woke up from her daze and stepped behind, separating their physical contact and knocking her back into her truth-seeking mirror that was hanging on the wall. Aoko flung open her eyes and shook her head exasperatedly, unwilling for whatever-the-hell she was doing to be stopped midway.
"There's still-"
"Enough. I get it. I get your powers." Akako pressed a hand over an eye and flicked the other available gaze over at Kaito. "You've gotten yourself a treasure."
"What the heck just happened." Kaito frowned, his head shifting from Aoko to Akako, as if he was watching a table-tennis match.
Akako's head jerked upwards in a warning manner while Aoko responded by nodded her head reassuringly, a silent agreement was signed right in front of his eyes. He didn't like the feeling of being left out, but he knew the results for yearning for the answers would be pointless now. Best was to fulfill the purpose of his visit first. He couldn't wait to get out of this place as well. "What's your verdict?" Kaito muttered.
"I'll do my best to find a solution." Akako straightened her posture and had regained much of her proper face colour. She waved a hand and a tattered book materialized in her hand as she began flipping through a couple of pages that were filled with alienated words that Kaito couldn't understand. "However, I can't guarantee any answer or result."
"I owe you one." He mumbled almost reluctantly. It sucked to say this to the same person that once trapped him inside a white-chalked pentagon drawn on the rooftop floor of a museum, a magic spell as announced by the witch that would bind them together forever (He barely escaped by destroying the entire floor with his explosive. Desperation often drove people beyond their abilities).
Akako purred slyly. "I'll remember your words."
Since she's back to her usual self, what Aoko did shouldn't be anything serious. "So uh," Kaito turned to Aoko. "Let's go. We need to buy some toothpaste."
"Oh! Okay!" Her previous tension had evaporated and she perked up with great happiness that seemed over the boundaries when it was simply a mention of purchasing toothpaste. Kaito winced at her bright smile that was as strong as the sun and he trudged towards the door, with Aoko following behind him.
"If I found any, I'll tell you." Akako announced while leaning against a suspicious-looking cabinet and winked, or blinked, whatever.
"Thanks. And just a minor suggestion," Kaito stopped by the door and Aoko almost knocked into his shoulders. He did well in ignoring her curled eyelashes that fluttered at him multiple times. "Contact me like a normal human being, even if you're not. And I meant by phone, if it's not clear enough." With that said, he made his way out of the room.
Akako simply waved her manicured hand.
"Earth is cool. There's many different perspectives to it." Aoko chimed as they stepped out of the secret tunnel that connected to Akako's dungeon, its entrance was decorated and laced by spider webs, with multiple kind of poor species stuck and mummified on it. If Kaito didn't know better, he would have thought she was being sarcastic. He tugged his hands into his pockets and continued his quick pace.
"Do you have any more interesting friends like Akako?" She continued when he gave no response to her comment.
Kaito didn't have a wide circle of friends, or barely enough to even form a triangle, if he actually counted; there was a fine line between acquaintances and friends and he wasn't really sure which category to place each individual under. Nonetheless, the people he knew or met were all… rather unique and one-of-a-kind. He glanced at Aoko and wondered if his direct gaze on her was enough of an answer. Guess it wasn't, when she was still looking at him incredulously.
"I've, uh, known one or two detectives." He shrugged. "A scientist too. Cross paths with several undercovers working for the government, and have collaborated with people who are good at technologies." He shrugged again. And also someone who comes from the moon.
"That's nice. They must be as amazing like Akako." Aoko beamed and nudged his arm. "You should hang out with them often, then."
The statement had literally come out from nowhere. He frowned at her. "Why should I?"
"You look lonely." She replied within a millisecond.
Kaito wrinkled his nose and gave her a once-over. "I've noticed you speak weird things when you talk for long."
They finally reached to the main street where he could see some passing cars and a few people loitering around, who Kaito hoped were human beings since he could never be sure when he was still within the Akako's district. The pavement by the road was fitted for one pair of feet to walk on, but Aoko did a brilliant job and squeezed beside him, their shoulders nearly joint.
"Don't brood to yourself." She placed both hands behind her and walked like some kind of philosophical professor. "It's terrible."
Kaito wasn't going to start a conversation about that. A change would be great. "Anyway, what did you do to Akako back there?"
Aoko mimicked a zipping gesture over her lips. "It's a secret between us."
"Aren't I your summoner?" Kaito scowled. To put it in a less-manly term, he nearly showed a pout. "Shouldn't I know?"
She shook her head, firm and persistent. "I can't say."
"Fine, not like I'm that curious." Kaito managed to resist the urge to roll his eyes because he deemed himself as a mature man. "I guess for now, you'll continue to stay with me until Akako figures something out, which I hope is soon."
His innocent-sounded statment had drastically changed the mood, for reasons he wasn't sure about. Aoko simply gave a half-hearted nod, eyes lowered and lacking the enthusiasm. But everything was flipped again with a switch as she raised her head in an adventurous sort-of delight. "So where are we going to buy the toothpaste?"
"Supermarket."
Aoko nodded her head but her face was still slightly bewildered. Kaito hadn't even counted to three and the next question was already fired. "What's so super about the market?"
"Uh, I guess it's because they sell many things." He replied blankly.
"Really?" Her eyes twinkled playfully. "I can't wait to see!"
Deep inside his gut, he knew this five-minutes trip might, in many possible ways, end up becoming a five hours one.
.o.
It wasn't often Kaito had nightmares. Even if he did, it was those weird and unrealistic ones that he forgotten all about after walking down to the kitchen to get a drink. Except for one. It was one that he couldn't wake up from, one that made him struggle on his bed, with his eyes sealed shut and teeth biting into lips till they bleed. He would only wake up when he died in his dream, which he did, by jumping into the fire in attempt to save his father who was trapped inside the burning building that exploded in flames. And then he would remember the nightmare for days. And then he couldn't sleep for the entire week.
That nightmare decided to haunt him today.
Little Kuroba Kaito was standing before the same building, the building where his father held his magic show. He knew what was about to happen next, like it had been all scripted, but no matter how much he tried to alter his dream, he would always be standing outside the building, helpless and weak and unable to do anything at first. And then in a split second, everything burst into raging hell.
He knew it was pointless. He knew he could never save his father. But he had to try. Maybe it would be different time. Maybe he could… die with his father too.
Unconsciously wiping his cheeks that were stained with tears he didn't know had fell, he made a sprinting stance and-
"Sapphire."
This voice.
"Hikari."
What?
"His darkness is gone."
The burning building, somehow, somewhat, disappeared. What was beyond his sight was a piece of whiteness and only his father remained, but he was walking away. Further and further…
"Wait- Dad!"
There was a strong force stopping him from moving and he tried to resist it, until the same voice came along again.
"Your father is no longer with you in your world. Though despising the fact that you have to watch him go, it doesn't mean you have to let him go. He will always be in your heart."
Little Kaito could feel something touching the back of his shoulder, caressing it slowly and steadily. The touch was foreign yet comforting, and he turned around to see who it was. But before he could catch the face of the person behind him, he felt himself being pulled forward, his face dug deep into the person's chest. All he knew was the person was warm to his touch and bore a strong scent of fresh mint.
"I'm here too. So it will all be alright."
Kaito didn't open his eyes or wake up from his original nightmare because there wasn't a need. He'd already fallen back to sleep and started a new dream, the repeated imagery consisted of a field of blue roses and a woman with the perfect smile standing opposite of it, waving at him.
The next day, he woke up near ten in the morning with half-lidded eyes and hair as messy as ever. He couldn't remember anything from the previous night, and the dream or whatever he had was vague and blur. But as he trudged down the corridor and passed Aoko, who merrily just came out from the bathroom and mentioned that she wanted to try making toast, there was this familiar scent of mint tingling a bell at the back of his head.
Oh well. He watched Aoko bounce down the stairs before entering the bathroom and slamming the door shut. After confirming his favorite toothpaste wasn't used up, yet, he grinned and turned on the tap.
Today would be a good day.
.o.
Aoko's constant questions and curioisty wasn't all that bad. Kaito learnt the art of patience and also, often, discovered new things with her. It wasn't simply her adventure. He was part of it too.
Just last month, Kaito had saved up to thirty dollars on groceries (Not like those money really mattered to him in any way when he was capable enough to actually retire at his current age, but the way Aoko was so proud and happy with her achievement... that moment was truly priceless). It was all due to the simple fact when Aoko decisively wanted to explore part of the supermarket where he'd never been to for nearly a decade of his life, and that was how they happened to chance upon more interesting, cheaper and better offers than the previous supplies or food Kaito had been buying for.
Then a week ago, Aoko urged him to visit an isolated part of the town. There was only a few fast-food chain restaurants and a couple of food stands that wasn't anything special, until Aoko stopped at one, pointing animatedly at the signboard and started slapping Kaito's arm in pure delight.
"There's Dragon wings!" It was true, in a way.
He rubbed the painful spot that Aoko had hit and afforded a dry laugh. "It's just a special name for the chicken wings. It's not actually from a dragon." He whispered over her shoulder.
"But I want to try it." Aoko said, in a matter of fact tone.
"Are you sure?" He looked at her skeptically before jabbing his thumb at the menu, in a way that conveyed 'Bad idea, look at the picture. Look at how red it is. Extremely spicy, probably. You'll die from it. Please don't. Let's go.' He couldn't say all of it out loud because the owner of the store was staring at them the entire time.
Still, Aoko understood none of his clues and they (Kaito) ended up paying a dozen of wings before she was satisfied to leave. They sat on the side of the empty road and held their little picnic.
After chomping down on her third wing, she broke down crying, with lots of snorts and tears and legs too weak to move. (She begged him to eat the remaining nine wings because she refused to let the food to be wasted, and he ended up almost crying with her too).
And today, Aoko discovered a hill. It was located behind his old high-school, surrounded by tall trees that seemed intimidating and had turned most people away. Kaito wasn't afraid back then, but he couldn't be bothered, not when he'd discovered his father's secret identity during the period of time. The existence of a hill was the last thing he cared about.
She named it the Aoko-Hill, which was seriously stupid, he said, as quoted. She ignored his insults and stomped over the field and yelled here and there to her own free will. Having no thoughts of joining her madness, he plopped onto the grass and weaved his hand through the little flowers and clovers.
"What are you doing?"
"Hmm?" Kaito glanced up. Aoko was looking down at him with a curious gaze.
"Nothing much." He shrugged. "If I'm lucky enough, I might find a four-leaf clover."
"You mean... this?" She revealed her hand that was hidden behind her back and showed him the said four-leaf clover pressed in between her fingers.
"Where the heck did you get that?" He blinked a couple of times, still unable to react properly. He'd never seen a real one before.
"Over there." Aoko pointed at the distance, where she had been jumping around. She then squatted next to him and gently placed the leaf on one of his crossed knees. "I didn't know what it was, but I remembered the shape was the same as the thing that hung on your monocle."
Kaito lowered his gaze and to peer at the rare clover. "Oh."
"You know, instead of focusing on one direction, look around more." She grinned, her eyes twinkling and the sunlight did some help to make her face glow even further. "Unknowingly, you may discover something new, something better that you might not have expected before."
And then Kaito raised his head to stare at her.
Maybe... She was right about that.
.o.
"You're different recently." Shinichi called Kaito and remarked evidently one, random Saturday night.
Kaito tucked the phone from one shoulder to another and sighed quietly. "Different in what way?"
"Slowing down your pace and leading a less work-oriented life?" There was a shifting sound that closely represented a shrug. Shinichi continued. "I've been at that stage before, when I realized there are many important things that I have to treasure in life."
"… What are you even talking about?"
"You're prioritizing things."
"I'm still the same."
"Wait, or does it have to do with Snake? Have they discovered your identity? Are you trying to shake off their radar?" The detective's tone was on full alert now, his typical habit when he felt something was amiss.
"Nothing to do with them. And it's not like you didn't know," Kaito began twitching his toes that were starting to grow numb. "Ever since you'd destroyed the Black Organization, they are keeping a very low-profile, as if they don't exist anymore."
"I'm so sorry for that." Shinichi drawled sarcastically.
Kaito could do the same. "You're forgiven."
"Seriously." Shinichi transparently ignored his jab. "That didn't explain why you're now holding a heist every two weeks instead of one. The media thinks you are planning your retirement."
"I've been doing what I'm doing for seven years." Kaito informed dully. "How many Big Jewels are left for me to steal anyway?"
"Oh really?" Again with the suspicious tone. Kaito could almost see the little S.H.I.T rolling his eyes.
"Hey," he scratched his nose, unable to understand the motive or purpose of this conversation. "You're not calling me just to talk about this, are you?"
Shinichi cleared his throat to steady his voice for the announcement. "Uh well, I actually want to tell you Ran is pregnant."
"What- Oh." Kaito blinked, almost unsure on how to respond. Shinichi's wife being pregnant wasn't unexpected, but the fact that the message was delivered in such a way, to him, was the shocking part. With his line of work and connection with people, bad news were shared more than good news. It took him a while to gather his words, though he meant it from the bottom of his heart, even if he didn't want to admit it. "Congratulations."
"Thank you."
"No wonder you're being strangely philosophical."
"All that I've said still stands." There was an uncertain pause. "It's been bugging me for the entire time but can I ask why are you constantly whispering throughout the phone call?"
"No, you can't ask." Kaito carefully shifted his butt on the couch and moved an inch to the right just to get his shirt in place. "When is the baby due?"
"Early December."
"I see."
"Keep your schedule open for the baby shower."
Kaito replied with a snort and it was enough for Shinichi to understand. They ended the call because their pride wasn't meant for long talk about how-are-you questions, and it wasn't like Kaito wanted to continue the chat either if he didn't want to disturb the quietness. He placed his phone softly on the arm rest of the sofa and glanced down at Aoko, her body curled up and head lying peacefully on his thigh, sound asleep. It seemed the late-night movie marathon she wanted to try backfired.
The numbness of his feet was slowly spreading to his knee and he winced, a low hiss escaping from the gaps between his lips. He hastily checked if he'd accidentally waken Aoko and the result was negative, thankfully. The only change about her was a strand of hair that fell over her face. Kaito corrected it with his nimble hand and brushed off the hair to the back of her ear, revealing her full, flawless and porcelain face.
In actual fact, Shinichi wasn't the first to detect his recent changes. Jii did too during their meetings to discuss certain heists and Akako was the first. Kaito still didn't get what they meant, but since their comments weren't snappy or criticizing, he guessed it wasn't something bad. Whatever. All that mattered was being comfortable and liking the way things were going on with his life now.
His gaze softened on its own and he tried to relax his shoulders as much as he could. Between the choices of waking Aoko up and bearing the pain of a thousand ants eating the inside of his skin, that latter was a better one. Besides providing the best option for her, it gave him a chance to look at her as long as he liked without having her to catch his stare, which was what she almost did every single time he tried.
.o.
"You, young boy over there."
Kaito wasn't that shameless enough to acknowledge himself as the young boy being called when his age had hit twenty a long time ago, but being the only person in the room, he turned his head to see the exhibitor of the prized Emerald Nightingale standing by the door of the Security Room.
"Yes, sir?" Kaito responded, his voice disguised as someone who had a sore throat. He tried his best to remain as calm as he could to avoid any suspicion and he thought he was doing a splendid job, if he had to comment. Because if the man increased the angle of the opened door by another seventeen degrees, the door would hit the leg of the real security guard, who was unconscious, tied up and lying against the wall just beside the door frame.
"Just want to check if everything is alright." The exhibitor glanced down at his watch and growled in frustration. "The police squad hasn't arrived yet and it's worrying. Kaitou Kid is coming in four hours. Can you believe it?"
"I cannot believe it."
"It was supposed to be a rhetorical question."
"Sorry, sir."
"Let me know if there's anything wrong." The man pointed at the wall of security footages.
"Yes, sir." Kaito saluted and the door was slammed shut. He grinned into space and pulled down the black hat that was paired with the security uniform before getting back to the work he was just starting on. Deleting some images here and there… Tweaking and setting off the light system in four hours time…
Halfway through his work, he felt a vibration coming from his back pocket. He frowned and wondered briefly who it could be. Almost everyone that had his number should know about his identity, and calling him on the day of his heist was simply asking for his pranks and trouble to go their way. He pulled out his phone and planned to cancel the call, not before catching a glimpse at the caller's ID.
It was Akako.
He gave a resigned sigh. It wouldn't be a problem if he switched off his phone, but if it was Akako, she would find a way to reach him eventually, by talking in his head instead. An even terrible idea. He decided to answer the call to end the matter in a much easier way.
"What is it? I'm busy." He spoke instantly the minute he pressed the green button, relaxingly leaning against the side of the table.
"I know." Akako barked, her inner demon coming out. "But you wanted me to help you with this in the first place, no?"
His stomach started to churn all of the sudden. It had been so long... "What?"
"About Blue Birthday and Aoko. Have you forgotten?" Akako let out a scoff. "I can't believe this."
Kaito seriously cannot believe it too.
"I've met a few knowledgeable henchmen of Lucifer at a contract meeting in Hell over the weekends," Akako continued.
He paused, waiting for the point of her statement.
"They told me a few possibilities; About how Aoko could go back to where she belonged."
The phone nearly slipped out of his hand. His eyes flickered over the grey and white videos on the wall, but none of his attention was focused on anything. There was a moment when he was wondering if he was actually looking at the footages or if his life had turned grey and white as a whole.
"Hello? Are you listening?"
"And what are those possibilities?" He muttered.
"In fifteen more minutes. The Complete New Moon Phase, or so they called it, can reverse the summon."
Things were starting to get even more confusing. His mind always blacked out when his emotions weren't in check and sometimes, even Poker-Face couldn't help. "What are you talking about? What fifteen minutes? And the what phase?" He snapped.
"Aren't you always up to date about the stars and space because of the Volley Comet?" Akako returned back the similar tone. "There's a solar eclipse happening today. Don't you know?"
"Solar… Eclipse?" He breathed out the words as if those were his last.
"Yes." Akako continued, slightly agitated, as if she was speaking to someone stupid and completely below her standards. "You mentioned she appeared when you summoned her on the full moon, yes? This could be a reverse tactic, with the eclipse."
"You mean…" Kaito's jaw tightened. "I can now summon her back?"
There was a momentary silence. He could hear Akako taking a deep gush of air and what came out was a low and tiny voice he'd rarely, or never heard from the powerful and prideful witch. "This, I'm not sure. Perhaps, she might have already disappeared on her own already."
Kaito widened his eyes and this time, the phone truly fell out of his grasp and slammed right onto the table.
"Hey? Kaito? Kaito?!"
Shit. He held his head with a hand and tried to register what just happened, and how on Earth his life could simply crumble in less than a minute of a phone conversation. He pursed his lips and kept his phone after hanging up the call as his brain automatically listed down the steps of things he should do. Alright, he needed to get home, yes. But he had to get out of the Security Room and the museum first. Alright. The plan had been made.
In the process of his first step, he'd mindlessly stripped off the security vest off his chest, tumbled over the leg of the chair and almost tore the door knob apart with his strength before managing to do something so simple as exiting the room.
Lost case.
Kaito shuffled his way over to the lift.
It was a lost case.
"Hurry up. Hurry up."
Is he having an anxiety attack? Lots of staring. Who is he?
No. No. No.
When he finally left the museum, he noted the surrounding temperature had dropped and the area was starting to grow dark even though it was just late afternoon. He tentatively raised his head to the sky, eyes twitching to see the thing he didn't want to see.
The passersby and onlookers around him begged to differ.
"The-There's gonna be a freaking solar eclipse!"
"I didn't hear from the news about it though. But we're lucky!"
Kaito made a dash down the streets.
He spotted his house after running non-stop for the past fifteen minutes, whilst beating red lights, jay-walking and jumping over metal fences. He'd done everything to be here in fifteen minutes. Fifteen minutes was all he had. Akako said.
The wind was growing stronger, cold and disheartening.
It was getting darker.
Greyish.
Black.
His sun was gone.
Trembling fingers that were resulted from emotions he didn't know he have, he unlocked the gates to his door. Almost all of his neighbours were leaping over their yard in astonishment at the commotion outside. He was the only one entering the house.
"Aoko?" His heart started to palpitate as he pushed open the door and poked half of his body inside. "Aoko." Kaito called out again, louder.
The feeling of dread crept up from the pit of his stomach, a cold wave surrounded him as the hairs rose on the back of his neck. His entire body was growing numb and the only thing he could feel was his pulse beating in his ears and… sadness.
Simply, in plain non-literature form, he was sad. Too bloody sad to even…
He had stepped entirely into the house, but he couldn't move his legs to check the second floor and his voice was trapped deep inside his throat, unable to call for her name the third time. It would be worse, he knew, if he were to open the door to all his rooms to find them all empty. It would be tragic, he knew, if the only voice that replied him were his echoes. He'd been to that stage before, he recognized those stages. Everything would be back to how it originally was, but strangely, the loneliness suddenly turned ten-folds.
"Shit." He pressed the heel of his palm into his one of his eyes, hard and painful. "Shit. Shit."
And then there was the sound of a door being shut.
Kaito blinked, his head shot up to the source of the sound.
"Kaito?" Aoko said as she emerged from the kitchen, almost sending him to the ceiling and he gasped. He'd never gasped in his life, and this was the first. It seemed everyone had their first in everything.
"You-" He swallowed, hard. "You're here."
"I should be the one saying that." She raised an eyebrow. "Aren't you supposed to be at the museum?"
He plucked his hat off his head and tossed it carelessly on the couch. Just a while ago, something inside of him had shattered and now… It was still hard to get the pieces back together when he wasn't sure if this was real. His eyes fixedly remained on Aoko until he found the sense within him to reply.
"I came back to see you." His voice was lacking warmth.
"I'm in the midst of packing your fridge and I've found many expired chocolates stuck in corners." She shook her head with exaggerated pity, but it was quickly replaced with a solemn expression. She'd detected his mood. "Why do you need to see me for? I'll be fetching you from the playground anyway." She added a chuckle behind, just to lighten the air between them.
Her laughter was always contagious, just not this time. And it wasn't her fault for it. He was still- too messed up inside to think straight. He rubbed one of his eyes and mustered all the energy to gather the words in his head for his next explanation. "I thought you've left." Heavy and drained, his head gradually sunk and dipped into both of his hands, leaving only a small gap in between for him to mutter out the rest of his words. "I thought you're gone."
The soft footsteps became louder and louder until it stopped all at once and suddenly, Aoko's fingers circled around his wrists, pulling his arms down and back to his side. His face exposed, mask broken, and eyes wavering and looking straight into Aoko's blue ones. Her eyes always brought back the memory of that night when he held the Blue Birthday up under the moonlight. So gentle, so blue.
Her lips curled up into the shape of a crescent moon. "Why would I be gone?"
The back of his throat naturally turned sour and sore. He faced the window and spotted a few of his neighbours standing on the street, still staring at the sky in amazement. "Akako said the solar eclipse could be- could be a way for you to go back."
"There's a solar eclipse?! That is just a myth in my world!" Aoko gaped and she began shaking her clenched fist like a toddler waving their favorite toy. "Is it true? No wonder the sky had grown dark! And there I thought it was just the Earth malfunctioning."
His brows creased, not just because she had moved away and her hands were no longer on his, but that feeling, that undesirable feeling had returned. His fear, like a slithering snake, was creeping up from his legs and to his chest. He grabbed hold of Aoko's arm before she reached to the window to watch the solar eclipse she was all innocently excited about.
"Don't." He pleaded. "Don't go."
She stopped, like what he wanted, and looked at him quizzically. "Don't go where?"
He bit his quivering lips and looked down at his feet. His fingers loosened and arm swung back to his side. It wasn't his imagination when the floor turned blur and watery. He blinked hard to dispel the cause of it.
"Don't go home."
Aoko continued to stare at him over her shoulder until she changed her mind to fully look at him, her previous desire to see the solar eclipse was gone. "I'm already home." She simply said, with so much fondness that Kaito could simply melt to the ground.
He raised his head sharply. "But you're-"
"Oh," Aoko cut in, her expression turning slightly pained as though she'd stepped on a nail. "You mean my home?"
"I-" It seemed the solar eclipse was ending. There was some light coming back from outside, compared to the darkness a few seconds before. The inside of his house were slowly lighting up by the natural light, his furniture, his flooring, and Aoko's cheeks that he didn't know was reddened all the time. He finally untied his tongue to speak. "Yes. Your home."
"Do I not belong here?" Her voice was soft and low and Kaito didn't like it. But...
People tended to leave Kaito and he would let them go, because no one owed him anything, or was obliged to respect his feelings when they had their own to consider. This wasn't about putting people before him, it was more like his preference of being detached rather than having to fight for something he would eventually lose. Numbers worked well with him, people confused him, that was why he generally chose to avoid things he wasn't at least 80 percent sure he could understand.
But he took a step forward and approached the problem he couldn't understand 99 percent of the time; Like those reasons why he would randomly smile at nothing, those nights when he'd almost forgotten to check the jewel if it was Pandora because he was too busy thinking how the moon was reminding him about someone. Ridiculous. But that was that.
Kaito spread out his arms and almost swopped Aoko off the ground with his tight embrace. He could feel her body froze against his skin, but her muscles relaxed as soon as the next second ticked. She smelt of mint. She always smelt of mint. He closed his eyes.
"No, you belong here." His voice was raspy and dry. "Please stay."
"Then I'm not going to go anywhere." Aoko was starting to blabber, which Kaito had noticed she would do if she was embarrassed. "I mean, that's my original intent. But it'll be comforting to know that you wanted me to. Make sure I'm not un-welcomed, the sort of thing. And-"
"Stay." He repeated sharply. Things would go around in circle and never come to a conclusion if he let her continue. This was the only important point he needed for her to understand.
Although Kaito couldn't see her, not with his face digging inside the crook of her neck, he could sense her smile on her lips, so strong and warm. She patted his back comfortingly and nodded, her soft cheek rubbing against his hair.
"I'll stay."
.o.
From a distance away, Kaito could already spot the figure he had been anticipating to see for the entire night as he dived towards the direction of the empty playground. It was the same place where he would abandon his disguise as Kaitou Kid before walking home as Kuroba Kaito, but he wasn't sure how things had changed and it became a meet-up spot for Aoko to fetch him home.
She popped out from behind the slides and waved merrily as he landed on the ground and his glider changed to his fluttering cape. He pulled off his monocle and kept it inside his pant and snapped his fingers to make his hat disappear, exposing his tousled hair. With the main things that supplied him the mask in being Kaitou Kid gone, it was more than enough for him to be himself in front of Aoko. But for comfort reasons, he shrugged off the thick suit and let it slung it over his arm, leaving him only with his blue shirt, red tie and white pants and boots.
"Is everything alright?" It was always Aoko's first-liner after he finished his heist.
"Good and well." Kaito grinned, but his face fell lax the moment he realized it wasn't really the case. "But there's this unexpected visitor from Osaka that gave me a bit of a trouble or I would've been on time."
"I didn't wait long anyway." Aoko heartened and waved his worries away easily. "I had a little catch-up session with Akako a while ago."
He squinted his eyes, not sure whether to be suspicious or curious. "Is it about something I should know?"
"We were talking about the existence of a sanctuary," Aoko said. Before she continued, her eyes enlarged over Kaito's shoulder and she began jogging over to the pair of empty swing just on the other side of the playground. The heist was exhausting, the new troublemaker had drained most of his energy and the thought that the jewel wasn't Pandora was frustrating, but nonetheless, he entertained her silent race by sprinting towards where she was heading and victoriously snatched the swing she was originally aiming for.
"It's an unfair match." Aoko rolled her eyes, though in an appeasing way, as she stared down at Kaito who was already sitting on his trophy. "I'm wearing your oversized slippers."
"You didn't play fair either by getting ahead of the race without warning." Kaito innocently rebutted and he could feel one side of his lips tugging upwards.
She huffily slumped onto the swing next to him. He could've easily gave her all the chances in the world to let her win him, but he always loved to see her puckered lips and furrowed brows, those little gestures she tried to make in order to pretend she was angry at him. It was cute.
"Annnnnd, back to what you're saying. What's the matter about sanctuary?" Kaito prompted the conversation. He let his suit rest over his lap.
"Well," Aoko dragged her feet across the sand, seemingly trying to prolong the time as much as possible. "It's just that the conversation got me thinking."
"Of?"
She rubbed a hand over her neck and looked at him in a mild, unsettled way. "Do you have one?"
He quirked an eyebrow. "One? A... sanctuary?"
"Yeah." Aoko nodded. "A place where you feel safe and secure, a place where you don't have to hide your emotions or put up a pretense. Something like that. You feel free."
Kaito considered for a moment. If a sanctuary was to be categorize as that, it would definitely be his hidden room behind his father's portrait. He didn't have to think, he didn't have to feel. He'd just cramp up alone in the room and do what he wanted to do without a worry if people would see through him. The only thing that kept him from being determined in his answers was that he never really felt free in the room. He felt suffocated sometimes.
"I'm not sure." He admitted.
"Akako asked me that question and I said the same as you." She raised her hand to the sky, palm facing the moon. It partially hid some light from shining on her face. "When I was sealed in Blue Birthday, I thought that was my sanctuary. I was protected. I'm kept safe. I had believed so for those thousand years, until you summoned me out of it and I've never felt so free in my life. It's weird."
It seemed their mutual connection was endless, but Kaito decided to keep this statement to himself. He twisted his seat to get a better view of Aoko's face. "Must a sanctuary be a place?"
"Hmm?" Aoko's head snapped towards his direction, eyes widening as though her breath had been snatched away. She set her hand down, her face was no longer shadowed. "What do you mean?"
"With the terms you said, a sanctuary could also be a memory. Or an object and even a person." Kaito explained. "As long as you feel at peace and free with whatever it is, that is your sanctuary."
Her lips parted and turned into a beautiful shape like a full moon. Eyes twinkling like the stars, her face was directed at the sky again. "You're right. I think you can interpret it like that too." Aoko nodded to herself once again to confirm his words before jumping off the swing. Even though her eyes were on her feet as she playfully shoved some sand to form a pile, her words were brilliantly clear and focused. "So, considering that you've thought about that, what do you think your sanctuary is?"
It wasn't explaining how toothbrush and toothpaste weren't meant to solely clean one tooth at a time. It wasn't explaining his story of how he lost his father and his world turned to a chaos of black and white. It wasn't simply explaining something. The reply was so much more, so much deeper and significant that it belonged to the very bottom of his soul.
With that, from the swing he sat, where the moonlight mystically spoke louder that the creaks it was making, he breathed out the answer, his voice had never sounded so meaningful as this moment in his entire life;
"You."
.end.
I know I've promised a college!AU fic, but... hAPPY BIRTHDAY MONTH TO AOKO even though I'm late for it! (and me lol, *pathetically whistles at myself*)
if u happen to like this fic *crosses fingers* do drop a review to let me know :)