He woke from a restless, fruitless sleep, and lay with his eyes wide in the dark for quite some time. There was no particular thought crossing his mind, only the blue numbness that accompanied three o'clock in the morning cocooning him. After a while, though, a singular notion floated through the ethers of the room- that of his pillow, and the fact that it was getting rather sweaty. Arms and legs struggled a bit as they untangled from their bedspread, and he sat up with a lurch, blinking in the resulting vertigo.

Dark, bruised eyes stared unseeingly into the edge of the bed. A moment later another thought came to him: Nakamori-san. He should probably check on her. Neglecting to put on a robe -- it was May, so why bother? – he puttered down the shadowed hallway of his flat, peering into the guestroom in gray-striped boxers and a stained t-shirt.

She wasn't in there. Panic for three horrible moments – and then he noticed the kitchen light was on, a muted yellow glow coming from the sliver under its door. And a vague, almost detached worry that she could be hanging herself in there came to him…although it really wasn't that irrational, considering how wet and almost delirious she had been when they first met two days ago, clinging to him like a drowning 5-year-old. A drowning 5-year-old, not quite sure what to do in the body of a 24-year-old, and surprised that time had flown past so many years.

He edged open the door and promptly froze in shock. The woman was sitting at the kitchen table and gripping the (no longer) hidden bottle of whiskey he'd stashed in the oven drawer, empty, unused wineglasses lying all around the tabletop. In one hand she nursed a half-filled one, and this she looked up from upon his entrance.

Her eyes lit up. "Kuh-aito! I haven't seen you in so long…come and pay me some company!" She stabbed at the air in his direction with the wineglass, liquid sloshing feebly.

"I" – he moved towards her, concerned. "I'm afraid you are mistaking me again for him, Nakamori-san. What" –

"HahaHA! NAKAMORI-SAN!" She tilted her head and chair back, face full of drunken mirth. Finally landing the chair back on its four legs with a 'thump', she continued. "Ah…you are such a riot, Kaito. Nakamori-san. That's hilarious. Now come and sit."

Warily, the slightly younger man approached the table, setting himself down. She reached out for one of the glasses on the table, knocking some others away and making them roll in circles weakly. Still smiling to herself, Aoko started pouring whiskey into the new glass, skewed aim causing for some of the alcohol to come pooling onto the tabletop, running across it, and begin dripping off. He got up to get a towel.

"No. Sit back down." Gingerly, he did as she said, eyes flicking back to the spilled whiskey. He reached out and swiped the edge of the table, stemming the flow of the liquid. It lay sullenly, a little pond among the wooden textures.

"Here, Kaito. It's whiskey. I won't tell you where I got it…because I don't know." An amused and almost sad smile now. He accepted the glass, playing along. Only now did the man realize the magnitude of her hurt, her brokenness. He stared into the depths of the glass, unwilling to let himself release the shuddering breath that was building up.

"Let's make a toast, Kaito. A – A toast to…" She gulped in the wine in one sudden tip of the arm, and he watched as strands of her hair fell into the glass and dipped into the alcohol. A terrifying surge of pity came over him.

"Naka – Aoko, I think it'd be better if you slept now." Her eyes were shockingly red and puffy, the bottoms swollen so much that he couldn't tell if it was the result of hard crying or insomnia. Her hair was even wilder than usual, a crown of disorder leaping off her skull and tumbling down her back in brown waves. He idly wondered if his hair could get as messy.

"No! Can't sleep, keep getting nightmares, whiskey is good. Oh, my toast! Ah…a toast to your friendship, Kaito. Remember – remember you once said you'd always, alwaysalways stay by me? In high school. High school was nice. You turned Hakuba's hair green." She stared at him, eyes hollow and smile cheeky. Voice, intoxicated and bitter, as if the whiskey had been a horrible medicine.

And no, he did not remember, because he was not Kaito, the man who he assumed had deserted her several years –

"Kaito, ask me to ask you a question." I am so tired.

"Uh…ask me a question, Aoko." Blinking was a whole language in itself. And he was silver-tongued…silver-eyed? A clock ticked near the microwave.

"Why…why did you leave, Kaito?" Another shot. The wine went down, down, down…

He didn't reply, immensely uncomfortable and hot in his position. The untouched wineglass sat between his fingers.

"Why" –

Her fingers were trembling, he realized. Her glass was shaking- so subtly, but it was.

"Did" –

It wasn't cold in the room. He stared at her hand.

"You" –

The whiskey shook and shivered, eager to escape. He felt he should grab for it, but didn't.

"Leave!"

The entire glass fell from her suddenly still fingers. It collided with the floor and shattered spectacularly under the table, bits of window-color and droplets of dark splashing all over the linoleum.

Aoko stared down, quiet, hair obscuring her face. He said nothing. Time seemed to pause for them. For a moment or two, anyway, because she then looked up again and grabbed a new glass from the tabletop, silently pouring another shot. Sliding it down. The splintered goblet lay ringing near her feet.

Shinichi looked into his own cup, and raised it to his lips. It was three in the morning.

A/N: Hey there! This is a strange preview of a massive story I'm working on, in the form of a one-shot. The rest of the actual story will come in...uh, due time. -shot'd- WHY AM I POSTING FICS ALL OF A SUDDEN?! AND NOW OF ALL TIMES?! I HAVE A RESEARCH PAPER, APPLICATIONS, EXAMS COMING UP, A TON OF MUSIC NOTATION TO DO...AHH -shot'd again-

Anyhow. I've been lurking around this site for around two years just favoriting stuff, and have finally summed up some courage to actually POST something. |DD I know, hurrah, hurrah. I'm a bit nervous, really, because this fandom has seasoned, AMAZING writers. Actually, I think I might have to extend some thanks to s2lou and her constant updates (KEEP THEM COMING PLZ 8D) for inspiring me to finally write something of my own for DC/MK.

Luls, thanks for reading all this and please reviewww!