Cracks in the Ship
Characters: Shinichi and Aoko
Theme: Fan Letter
A/N: I can't believe I would ever get a reviewer telling me he/she was expecting my fic to be about Shinichi and Aoko instead of Kaito and Aoko LOL! But then when I think about it again... why the heck not too? Anyway, (belated) Merry Christmas and a happy new year :)
At the far corner of the kitchen window set a small vase and a rose Aoko received from Kaito when he presented it in front of the clock tower, before claiming he was just passing by and wanted to see Kid in action (A great way to ruin the moment, but nonetheless still sweet. Sweet and cold like an ice cream, as quoted by the magician himself).
Earlier this morning before school, Aoko was told by her father about how the demolishment plan of the clock tower was cancelled. The news made her happy the entire day, but if someone continuously yaps at her ears about his hungry stomach for the fifth time, it was hard not to ruin her mood and (almost) snap the pen in her hand into two.
"I'll be cooking... after you let me finish writing my stuff in peace for just one minute!"
Kaito slumped against the wall and eyed down at her with a grouchy snarl. "Is your stupid love letter so important than my stomach? And who's the one yelling at me to set my priorities right yesterday?"
"First. It's not a love letter. It's a fan letter. And I want to quickly deliver it before the post office closes. " Aoko took in a deep breath and slammed her pen onto the dining table. "Second. You ought to set your priorities right because you regarded breaking into girl's locker room more important than our weekly class meeting. And third," She shifted her head to glare right into Kaito's eyes. "You ate all of my bento's side dishes, including the bento lunch I made for you today! If I'm not complaining that I'm hungry yet, you have no rights to say anything!"
Selective hearing was what Kaito does best. "Fan letter? What fan letter?" He slowly ambled his way towards her seat with a smug smirk. "Is it for me? Oh Aoko, you don't have to."
Aoko covered part of her writing with her hand and stuck her tongue out at him. "Dream on."
Instead of replying her childish antics, his eyes were focused on the paper under her hand. "I think the last thing you'll ever do alive is to write a fan letter to Kaitou Kid, isn't it?"
"No. It's the last thing I'll ever do alive and dead." Aoko corrected, her eyes watching Kaito's impassive features. He tended to avoid talking about Kid these days, or at least not as much as she did... Pushing away the disruptive thoughts, she continued. "The fan letter is for Kudo Shinichi, if you're so interested to know."
"Kudo... Shinichi?" He blinked, face masked with confusion. "Who the hell is that?"
"He's the guy that stopped Kid from stealing the clock tower that day!" Aoko chimed and stared down at her paper merrily again. "Kudo-san is a detective too, just like Hakuba-kun. My dad said it was mostly thanks to his help that Kid failed."
Kaito rolled his eyes to the back of his head before an exasperated shout followed. "As if!"
She cast a withering look. "You sound like you're totally the one who deserves the credit."
That, shocked(?) Kaito to silence. It took him a while to speak, which was how Aoko made use of those seconds of quietness to quickly finish her last sentence of her letter.
"Pfft. As if that Kudo whoever will read your letter." He sneered, "What era are you living in? People use emails, stupid."
Of all times he could say and of all the times he could interrupt, it was only that moment when Aoko finished her little tiny signature at the bottom of the paper then Kaito stated the obvious. Aoko sucked in a deep breath and tapped a foot thoughtfully on the ground. "Well... handwritten is more sincere?" She weakly suggested.
Kaito, for the first time, didn't disagree or scorn at her obvious pitiful excuse. He simply shrugged her off and mentioned his hungry stomach again, for the bloody sixth time that day (She purposely took the longer route back home after sending out the letter, just to spite him and made him wait at her home a tad bit longer than he should).
.o.
It was easy for Shinichi to differentiate a fan letter and a normal letter such as bills, without having the need to look at the words on the envelope. The envelope for his fan letters tended to be of pastel colours and always had this common sweet scent or perfume sprayed over it. Typical. That was why when he saw a business-like envelope with no scent on it, he instantly assumed it was most probably for his father, until he noted the cute, tiny handwriting that spelled out his address and name.
This was a first.
He placed the rest of the mails he took out from his mailbox onto the corner of his desk before slumping heavily on his leather seat in his library, his fingers holding onto the unique letter. After so much experiences, he easily tore the envelope open neatly and pulled out the folded letter from inside.
To Kudo Shinichi,
Not Kudo-sama. Not Greatest-Detective-ever!. Not Shinichi-kun.
This was a first, again.
He continued reading on.
Among your fans, which is a quite a bit of an amount as I've seen from the forums online, I'm glad you've taken your time to read my letter.
I'm the daughter of Inspector Nakamori, the Inspector in charge of the Kaitou Kid squad. I was told you'd assisted in foiling Kaitou Kid and his plans to retrieve the clock tower, and I am entirely happy that you did. Besides the fact that Kaitou Kid was insane and had no rights to steal the clock tower, the clock tower happens to be very important to me because of a special memory, and that's why I am grateful that you've saved it, and saved it once more as the demolished plans were now cancelled.
Thank you so much for everything you have done, and I hope you'll continue to be the great detective you are.
The clock tower incident still burnt bright in Shinichi's brain. Chasing thieves wasn't particularly his interest, but that night sure made the boring helicopter ride much enjoyable. It ignited a similar thrill like finding a missing weapon in a murder scene, but more fun and less bloody.
Shinichi flipped back the envelope, his eyes widened slightly when he realized there wasn't a return address or any information to contact the sender, which, again, was a first. He focused back on the letter, eyes trailing past the paragraph till the letter closing and name.
Best Regards,
Nakamori Aoko
The sincerity and innocence of the letter made the guilt Shinichi didn't know he have bit him much harder that he thought. He turned the paper of the letter and the envelope again, just to make sure there wasn't a return address before shrugging to himself, giving up the thought to correct this Nakamori Aoko that it wasn't he that really saved the clock tower for her; It was Kaitou Kid himself. And about the demolishing part, he had no idea how and why she had linked him to it at all. Basically, she had thanked the wrong person.
Wait. Daughter of Inspector Nakamori, right? Maybe he could pass the letter to Megure and ask him to pass it to that Inspector Nakamori, who then can help to pass it to his daughter... The thought of how troublesome it was suddenly made Shinichi a little lazy to-
Even behind closed door, Shinichi could hear the loud shrills coming from the living room. He quickly stood up and paced out of the door and towards the house phone, wondering if it could be Ran asking him out for dinner. Great imagination, maybe, but it still wouldn't hurt to hope.
He climbed down the stairs from the second floor and made a good sprint before picking up the telephone without checking the caller ID.
"Hello."
There was only silence at the other end, not even the sound of static could be heard. He repeated calling out greetings to the phone before ending the call with a frown when he heard no answer after ten full seconds. What a stupid joke if it was a prank. He shook his head and trudged back to his desk, to consider about the-
The... what?
When he entered the library, he realized the letter and envelope from Nakamori Aoko, which he was sure he placed on the table before he temporarily left, were gone.
.o.
Just a distance away from the Kudo mansion, Kaito scoffed at the piece of flimsy letter he'd unbelievably stolen from a detective in his hand.
"Cheh, what an idiot." He shook his head, before rereading "the clock tower happens to be very important to me because of a special memory" sentence all over again until he reached home.
A/N: *whispers* look at me. lying again. this is a goddamn kaiao fic. everything is always about kaiao i'm sorry. i just couldn't betray myself