Disclaimer: If I owned Detective Conan, there would be a LOT more Kaito.

Kaito couldn't find it in him to go back to class, choosing instead to walk home. There wasn't anything in his English class that he didn't already know, anyway, and it was last period. He opened the door with the key his mother had given him at the start of the year, locking it behind him. He trudged upstairs and pressed on the portrait of a smiling magician and stepped into the room he had known of for the last two years. Against the wall was another picture of his father, this time as the infamous Kaitou Kid. He looked over at his costume, now hanging innocently in the closet. He wanted to just beat it up and never wear the hat and monocle again, but couldn't bring himself to do it. Instead, Kaito found himself pulling out a CD player and sitting down to listen to his father's explanation.

"Hello, Kaito, it's been a while. I want to tell you this: My true identity. I am the Kaitou Kid, and I want you to know the story and ask you to follow in my footsteps. I won't say that it isn't dangerous; just by being the next Kid you will have many enemies, the same enemies that were hunting me. All I want is to know the end of the Pandora Gem, to see it out of the hands of the Shadow Syndicate. The gem could be disastrous in their hands, so you must see to its destruction. All I can tell you about it is that it glows red and you can see a smaller jewel inside it when you hold it to the moon. When a certain comet passes, it will shed 'Pandora Tears', and those tears will grant immortality. Kaito, I made this message so that when you found this room you would know what you had gotten into. I hope that you will take up this duty and bring back the Kaitou Kid."

"Oyaji, I know you wanted me to do this, and I know I accepted, but how did you manage to break the news to mom?"

The recording remained silent in response to his question. Sighing, he pressed the rewind button to hear it once more.

"What do I do? How can I get her to listen?" Kaito heard the door close and his mother's footsteps.

"Kaito? Are you home?"

He left the secret room, turning the CD player off. "I'm here."

"What's wrong? You don't have the same energy you normally do."

"Aoko knows now. She knows about who I am. I tried to explain, but she left. I don't know what she's going to do now, and I don't know what to do to get her to listen again."

"Just let her be. If she tells anyone else, then I suppose you'll have to explain it to them, too."

"But what if she tells someone who won't listen to me? If she tells Hakuba or her dad I'm dead!"

"I think that Nakamori-san would be willing to listen to you, and Hakuba-kun has to go through him. Aoko-chan will come back around to you; the best thing is to just wait and let her think it over."

"All right, I guess."

"Do you want dinner?"

"No thanks, I'm just going to go think about this."

She nodded, watching him sulk up to his room. After a few hours, Kaito found his eyes closing into sleep.

"Kaito? Wake up, it's time to go."

"Huh? What?"

"Come on, you overslept your alarm. You have to leave now."

He moved sluggishly, changing into a spare uniform and grabbing a cup of coffee. The walk to school was lonely as he noted that Aoko must have taken a different route today.

Class was dull as usual. Trying to flip Aoko's skirt, trying to do anything to get her to talk to him, did nothing. She only remained silent and cold towards him, withdrawing from everyone else who tried to talk to her as well.

"Aoko, I—"

"Don't even try."

"What did you do to her?" Saguru asked from behind.

"I'm not about to say." Kaito expected that the British detective would try to get him to confess to being Kid now. He was completely unprepared for a hand on his shoulder, pulling backwards, encouraging him to leave her alone.

"She won't talk to anyone. Just leave her be for now. She'll talk when she's ready."

He nodded and returned to his seat, trying to focus on the lesson at hand. He tried several more stimuli throughout the day to get Aoko to hit him, to scream at him, to do anything. Each and every attempt failed, leaving him to shut himself up in his room and think on what had happened.

"Kaito? Would you please come out?" His mother's voice called for him from the other side of the locked door.

"What is it?"

"It's time for dinner, honey."

"All right, thanks." He rolled back and up off the bed, walking down to the kitchen and seating himself at the small table. Eating the curry mindlessly, he didn't notice that she had mixed a bit of haddock in with the meal. He retreated to his room and left his mother staring after him in worry.

(=^_^=)

Aoko sat on her bed. Her father was home tonight, but she didn't want to talk to him. If she talked to anyone, she might just spill out that Kaito was the Kid. She couldn't believe that it was possible, and yet here it was, it was true.

"Aoko? You in there?" That was her dad knocking on the door.

"Yeah."

"Do you want to come out?"

"No, I'd rather stay in here."

He walked in and laid a hand on her back. "What happened?"

"It's nothing."

"Something with Kaito-kun?"

"Yeah."

"Do you want to share it?"

"I can't. It's just too big. I can't tell anyone about it yet."

Ginzo tensed. "Did he hurt you?"

"No, I'm fine. It's just…It was really shocking to know."

"Well, as long as you'll start talking to people again?"

"I guess so."

"All right. Get some rest, and don't worry about it."

She nodded, curling up onto her side. The lights flickered out as she fell into sleep.

Well, this isn't the most satisfying chapter I've ever made, but I felt it necessary to give them this opportunity to think about it.

Next chapter: Aoko talks about what she's discovered and things get patched up between her and Kaito. ^o^