Chapter 1: The Find
Disclaimer: Everything here – from the characters to the setting – belongs to Gosho Aoyama! Enjoy the story!
~~TheFind~~
The air was hot, filled with dust, the smell of sweat and sunshine. Packed into one room only, it was not the best combination to have. When I couldn't stand it anymore, I opened the window. And inhaled. The fresh smell of grass came in, along with the entrancing scent of hot chocolate. Mum had gone downstairs to see if those cookies she had been baking were done yet just a few minutes ago. To me, it certainly seemed as though they were. Maybe I was just hungry.
Sitting down on the nearby chair,I leaned my elbows on the windowsill and put my head into my hands, simply gazing out the window for a bit. We were re-organizing our attic. Mum called it "cleaning up and throwing stuff away that we don't need any more" but I had been able to glimpse the expression on her face when she was looking at one of those things that she intended to label "useless" and had made it a habit to secretly get them out of that cardboard box that she put out to wait for the garbage collection and sneak them back into the attic again. I was sure mum knew about that, but she never said a word about my behavior. I'd of course taken it as permission to do so again and again. So nothing actually ever left our attic, making the word "reorganization" a better fit to describe what we were doing.
But what was I really doing here? I was just there because I was stuck in my plans. I had wanted to prepare my next heist, the target being a blue jewel in the collection of one of the most renowned jewel collectors, Hughes Hudgens. I sighed. I had hit a wall with the preparations – there being a particular corridor that I just couldn't seem to find my way around but which was observed by multiple cameras (as though four weren't enough… make my job difficult, why don't ya?) and guards patrolling through it every fifteen minutes in addition to several motion sensors distributed carelessly.
I sighed again. Of course it was mum who had the brilliant idea to get my help in her "reorganization" project just then. Maybe some fresh air would do me some good. That was the plan. So here I was, sitting at the window and enjoying the brief respite from carrying boxes needlessly down and then again up the stairs.
"Kaito! Could you get the door? Kaito!" her voice penetrated my ears. It seemed kind of muffled. I blinked. Then I heard a new sound: the door bell was ringing. It must have been for a while, too, judging from the level of aggravation that mum's voice was suffused with. Reluctantly I pulled myself away from the window and rose from the seat to do as I was told.
~~TheFind~~
Aoko and her father had come over for dinner that day. We were sitting at the dinner table, eating dessert, when our parents unearthed stories of our childhood.
"I know it was when we were eight that Aoko grew out of her girlish phase!" I threw into the conversation when her dad told us about that particular time in her life.
"Wasn't that when I told you to just stuff it and not always run to your mum whenever I got hurt?" Aoko raised her left eyebrow in challenge.
"I just went to her because otherwise you'd shout and cry my ears full all day if I hadn't!"
"Phew! I did tell you I'd be strong enough to survive anything, didn't I?"
"Girls!" I rolled my eyes. "I'll never be able to understand how they tick!" Her dad gave me a sympathetic look.
It was a rather lazy conversation during dinner – no things were thrown around, we didn't chase one another as it had become custom lately and I didn't prank overly much. I just made one plate go missing during the middle of the dinner. But it was found on the head of Aoko soon enough, so no worries there. We were both also too full to start anything during the course of or directly after dinner – before the meal was another story entirely, of course. It was a wonder that my mum dared to put vases and glassy thingies up around the house, what with us doing our routine here all too often.
When we grew tired the two Nakamoris excused themselves and went home. Mum and me cleaned the table and mum went off to prepare herself for bed. I realized that I had forgotten to carry up one cardboard box into the attic when I almost stumbled over it on my way to my own room, so I took it into my hands and slowly ascended the stairs.
Once there I also noticed that the window was still open. I had to chuckle at my own forgetfulness. Where was my head these days? It should be at the heist plans! Then again, it seemed as though my mind was all over the place lately. I was thinking too much again. Shaking myself out of my brief stupor, I went over to the window and closed it. I turned around. The room – caked in half-darkness, half-light seemed to pout back at me. I smiled a half-smile. "We're going to finish you tomorrow, don't worry." Tenderly I let my eyes roam through the small space, partly filled with boxes, partly still in disorder. Dad would have supported what I was doing, I strongly believed that.
It was only my own thoughts that made me doubt myself and if I was capable of opposing them. And if I was able to find Pandora. It was possible that the jewel of this illustrious Hughes Hudgens was Pandora. He was a foreigner and the history surrounding the gem was mysterious enough to make me think that this might finally be it.
How come that since Kaitô Kid was active again more and more foreigners seemed to want to get their jewels to Japan, anyways? It might have to do with the fact that the value of the jewels that had been targeted by me or my father had all risen in value, I mused. But what if Pandora was one of the jewels that they'd bring here? Even with my track record of giving back the jewels, Pandora was one stone I'd keep. And destroy. If I could. I snorted quietly to myself. Yeah right. If Pandora really was that powerful, it would have been found already. Oh well. Sisyphus, comrade in arms, here we go.
I made one step forward when my foot got caught up in some net or other that was hanging out of one cardboard box. I hadn't switched on the light and the moon was the only source of brightness, so I couldn't really see what it was. I crouched down and detangled my unfortunate foot from the ropes. There was something else hanging out of that particular box. Curious, I got the box into my arms and went to the door to descend the stairs onto the lighted first floor.
It was an ordinary cardboard box, but with a few postcards having been glued to the outside of it. It looked ancient and a nostalgic feeling grew in my stomach. I sat myself against the wall and opened it. The treasures inside – especially the stories related to those – could probably fill more than two books, but the thing that my eyes were drawn to was just a small letter, lying prone on a book close to the bottom of the box.
~~TheFind~~
AN: I do implore you to press the review button below; it only takes about two seconds to leave a comment! And I can tell you now already, I'm happy with one-sentence comments, too!
Besides, does this count as a cliffhanger?
Also:
IMPORTANT NOTICE: The next chapter will come on the 10.06.2012!
I am deeply sorry for the huge break in-between, but real life truly doesn't want to let me go, and – as I already told you before, this story isn't yet finished; the next two chapters being somewhat extra-important and vital to what happens next in the story, I would rather postpone them (and edit both about a million times) than simply writing the story, posting it immediately upon having finished writing it and getting it all out in a wrong way.
Désolée! Gomen nasai! Es tut mir leid! I'm sorry for the inconvenience and crushed hope of having the next chapter out by some strange date next month, however I will give you something different to soothe your ruffled feathers, dear fans:
CHAPTER 5 OF MY OTHER FANFICTION "We Are Golden", THAT I AM CURRENTLY CROSS-POSTING, IS COMING OUT ON THE 12.06.2012
AND
I will be publishing a ONESHOT on the 16.06.2012!
So please check in once more then! Until then, thank you for your patience – and a biiig THANK YOU for any reviewers out there! :_D *doing a jig*