Circle of Fate

10: Spiral Up

"Your stars are aligned."

Kaito glanced up from his glass of gin and turned towards the voice. Another fine piece of rejection was leaning against the bar counter beside him, her slender fingers running through her smooth hair that swayed around her waist. He frowned, not really understanding what he just heard and decided to pretend nothing happened. He returned to his alcohol.

Her wry smile didn't falter. "You're meeting your destiny soon, but you're going to crash hard in the end if you make the wrong move with this chance."

Is this woman going bonkers? All he wanted to do was to spend some time alone and get his mind off the charred body he had to see in the autopsy room to follow up on his arson-murder investigation, and here was what God had given him to test his patience even further. He placed his glass down as gently as he could and face the lady again-

"I'm Koizumi Akako." She purred and angled her chin in a way she was looking down at him. "Nice to meet you."

"Please don't tell me that you're my destiny," Kaito muttered, deadpanned. "And no worries. I'm not going to crash into anything, not your fine-looking chest too, at least not tonight. So there won't be any wrong move I'm going to make. Goodnight and goodbye." He took the last remaining sip of his drink and was planning to order more.

She placed the back of her hand near her mouth and gave a creepy cackle. "Let's see about that."

That was it. Time to go home. He slid the bill across the counter and jumped off his seat, his feet shuffling towards the exit and out onto the streets. The faint music was out of his earshot after he walked a distance, and the nonsensical conversation he couldn't believe he just went through was long forgotten.

Kaito never met that woman again, not like he wanted to either. But somewhere in the future, her words came back to him.

Koizumi Akako was right, to a certain extent. He did meet his destiny, by crashing into her around the corner of the corridor and scattering all the reports and papers he had spent hours tidying onto the ground. That was all about the crashing part if it was supposed to be taken as its literal sense. Regarding the wrong move he could make to destroy whatever chance that would happen between them... Maybe he would start to care when her existence even mattered to him at all.

Of course it wouldn't. He couldn't possibly give a shit.

.o.

The thing about Nakamori Aoko that irritated Kaito wasn't her damn eyelashes. Hers were long, nice and perfect (no, that's not the main point), but the fact that her eyelashes fluttered more than the times she spoke was what annoyed him.

She was observant and meticulous in her own weird ways; Smart was a simpler adjective to describe her. He never doubted the people Holmes' freak recruited into his team, but the problem was her level of confidence that prevented her from saying her opinions. Kudo was always in his own world once he'd entered a crime scene, and no one else really took notice of her quiet form. It pained Kaito to think this actually bothered him. Nothing ever bothered him.

He took the bad guy route because he noticed, since a long time ago, that she displayed anger better than other emotions. Fury was what drove her and made her speak and retaliate. He would boast about his wisdom to her and mock her several times to get her talking, to get her to disagree with him and explain what was on her mind. And it worked. Many times, something she said in her comments sparked something and the complex murders were solved within an hour. Case closed. Wonderful. Time to go home.

Though it was meant to help her in the first place, it had become a habit to tease her for no reason once in a while. He liked to see a reaction from her, and he liked that he was the only one who could evoke it out from her. She certainly didn't like it, obviously, and he knew she didn't like him for various other reasons too. That was when a new rumor started within an office about how Nakamori Aoko liked someone in the headquarters, he inwardly knew it couldn't be him, that's for sure (And he didn't want that too).

He had put a clear front and showed his obvious lack of concern for her personal life, but for the joke, he could throw a celebratory party for the new chapters in her non-existence love story as a pity, though that wouldn't be the case if the person she liked was Kudo. For once, luckily, he was glad to be wrong about her. Kaito had bet a hefty amount of money that Holmes' freak would hook up with a duty lawyer called Mouri Ran sooner or later, and he wasn't going to let a cute and innocent junior whose chest hadn't struck puberty yet to ruin it all for him.

The only thing about her appearance he wasn't so judgmental were her eyes. Her eyes were pretty, and he got to give her some credit for it. And maybe that was all it took for him to approach a lady with the similar deep gazing eyes at a bar one night, to realize it was that very girl he was thinking about in the first place. The light was dim, and she was sitting down, which directed his attention on somewhere else rather than her body figure. It was the greatest first mistake he ever made. He couldn't believe it at first when it was her, and he couldn't believe he'd used a pickup line on her.

Anyway-

One thing he started to notice was how people began pairing him and her together for many occasions, just because they were table partners, just because he asked Kudo one time for assistance and the latter picked Nakamori Aoko for him, just because he told the rest of the team to make their own damn coffee, just because he was always there and she was always there and they were always at the same place at the same time. He didn't mind going with her or anyone else, because honestly, it didn't change the fact that he was really relying on himself rather than whichever partner that was assigned to pair with him. The problem was the walls he remembered building around him a long time ago were crumbling, bit by bit. He could feel it, and he wasn't sure why or how.

It scared him to think this Nakamori Aoko could possibly mean anything to him in his life. There was no way. But random moments like smiling and remembering the mayonnaise stain on her nose whenever he was buying his chicken sandwich from the cafeteria... That was too much.

What on earth was wrong with him?

.o.

Bloody hell.

Four magicians had died. Four. Four people had to die before the higher ups decided to package these critical cases and consider this a serial killing and let the best team to handle it. Kaito knew Kudo was finally authorized to take charge of these murders last night and it was the first time Kaito cared enough to reach the office so early. But no one was around, and the first thing Kudo did when he saw him was to send him off to a park's telephone booth to aid in an investigation of a bomb hoax call. Did that murder magnet really think Kaito was dumb? Did that asshole really think he did not know? But for the sake of winning any upcoming argument and proving he was level-headed and responsible enough, he obeyed the orders and fulfilled his assigned duties, only leaving the investigation team ten minutes later after pinpointing the obvious facts and helping to close up the gaps of the mystery by eighty-percent.

He returned back to the headquarters, his feet stomping past curious onlookers who glanced at him and probably wondered if someone he knew just died. They weren't wrong. Everyone he knew was all dead, long ago. But those days always haunt him like it happened yesterday.

The office was empty, again, saved for Aoko. He walked in right at the moment when she left Kudo's office, her brows furrowed and lips pursed and most importantly, a file in her hand. What file was that? The case? Something else? It must be important enough to distract her to the point she didn't even realize he was standing by the door and watching her every move.

After she sat down on her seat, he trudged towards her.

"What are you doing?"

Aoko slapped the file shut and spun around, eyes wide.

"N-Nothing."

Great. Even she was assuming he was dumb enough to believe her lie. He stared at the file underneath her hand. He took a different approach.

"Where the hell is everyone? The office was bloody empty when I came in the morning."

No answer.

Fine, then- "I've heard the team is placed in charge of the four magicians' murder." He observed how her fingers curled on the file, agonizing. "Is that the case file of the fourth victim?"

"No." She spoke boldly, perfectly reminding the reasons why he liked it when she was confident. But in this scenario, he didn't like it at all. If the file wasn't about the fourth victim, then what was it?

He slammed his hands on her chair to tilt it properly towards him, but her hand still didn't move away from the file, much to his annoyance. "Your first word is a lie. Second isn't. So is it the third victim? Second victim? Which one are we investigating now?"

"We aren't."

It was the same as her giving two slaps across his cheeks. They weren't? They weren't? He slowly straightened his back, eyes unable to leave hers. He was always cautious and never allowed anyone to possess the power to make their words had any effect on him, but bravo. Look at how much Nakamori Aoko had grown for the past one year. Look at how much her simple words could hurt him.

"What are you saying?" He growled. "You are and I'm not? Who has the rights to cut me out?"

"I did." Kudo's voice spoke.

Oh, for God's sake. This stick in the ass knew why Kaito was doing this job, why he was even serving the bloody government and seeking justice for dead people because he couldn't do it for the people he cared about. And now-

"Why?"

"You know as well as I do."

"I've asked you." Kaito stomped over towards Kudo. "I've begged you."

"We'll talk inside."

It had been long since Kaito needed to do his breathing exercise. He couldn't really remember the blunt words he said in the private office, or the reminders Kudo constantly said and interruptted in the middle of Kaito's pathetic pleas, but he remembered one sentence very clearly.

"Don't find Aoko," Kudo warned. "Don't involve her in your selfish-"

Kaito left.

Kudo did mention giving him a week of vacation to have some time to reflect, but sorrowfully, Kaito preferred staycation. He went straight home and set up all his private computers and got working until the second morning when the fifth murder happened. He gathered all the data he could from the newspaper and left his house with a perfect disguise to get even more information.

Things slowly fell into places, and the result wasn't what Kaito originally wanted. It wasn't the act of the same killer he was finding, or having to do with the possible criminal organization he was searching for. Just a pitiful daughter named Ichiya Sawako seeking revenge for her father who died due to magic. Maybe, just maybe, he could relate to the woman in some sense.

His revenge plan would be so easy. Get dressed in that Kaitou Kid's uniform he happened to find in Jii's old safe house after he died, get the attention from the killers who murdered everyone he loved and revenge. Bring them down. Destroy them. Ruin them to pieces. Maybe if he still loved magic as much as he did last time, maybe if he hadn't sworn to himself to not follow what his father did-

And maybe if someone, that someone would stop smiling in his mind and giving him a reason to start to learn how to trust people, he could finalize his decision about reviving Kaitou Kid easier.

The filled whiteboard he had been staring all evening switched back to the Television with a simple press of a button on his remote. Silence filled his living room like usual and he sat on his sofa, eyes blank and unsure. Kaito honestly didn't intend to involve anyone in his matters, ever, because that was how he lived for all the years in his life and nothing was supposed to change. But he wanted to give it a shot and try something he never dared to try before; he wanted to put his trust on her.

He pushed himself off the sofa and walked out of his house and towards the direction of the bus stop he knew she always went to.

It was stupid, really. Because if he ever thought back about that night when Nakamori Aoko got into the cab with him, he would realize the whole issue he was fretting about wasn't whether he should trust her or not. It was all about being afraid the person you'd built your courage to trust in might not have trusted you back. He was just an oblivious, worried fool.

All in one verdict, and as sickening as it sounded, he was starting to care.

.o.

Every single time, it was because of these horny scumbags that made Kaito feel he was useless at his job. He had the perfect disguise skills he learned since young and could've been the team's best asset, but there was no way he was going to use his art to flirt with suspects. So he kept his talent hidden to play backstage, letting the women on the team shine for a bit with their fancy makeover and pretend there were men who were legitimately interested in them when they were technically a soon-to-be-victim if the suspect really happened to be the murderer.

Aoko was the main star today, and like usual, there wasn't much confidence within the team about this plan. The suspect was a rich businessman whose only flaw was being perfect, and he had high standards of the women that attracted his attention, and also at the same time, the women he killed. Kaito could handle the appearance, but Aoko was the only one who had the perfect thing that he couldn't achieve. Her height.

Kaito wanted this mission to succeed, personally, because the suspect looked like a smug ass. He tried not to get immersed in the conversation between Sakamoto and Takashi as they discussed the chance of failure, even as boldly when Kudo was there. Holmes' freak was silent most of the time and showed no signs of disagreeing or agreeing with their opinions, which irked Kaito a whole lot because he was the one who choose Aoko and gave her the confidence to do this act. Was he also regretting now? Did he lose faith too?

"I bet it won't work out." Sakamoto shrugged and glanced over at Takashi. "What do you think?"

"Who wants to bet?" Takashi daringly looked at Kaito. "You're joining our side, aren't you?"

"No."

Everyone was slightly taken aback by his response, except for Kudo, who was smirking at him. "It seemed you're on the other side."

"I'm not on any side." Kaito crossed his arms.

"I'll represent Kaito. Aoko will be great at this." Kudo's annoying smile didn't go away and Kaito wished he could pluck out all his teeth at the moment.

"I'm going with the usual betting amount." Sakamoto grinned.

"Same." Takashi nodded and glanced at Sakamoto as they exchanged a winning look. "You can't draw lines on a pumpkin and call it a watermelon."

Kaito had seen nicer pumpkins that looked better than Takashi's dumb head right now. This was such an unfair judgment on Aoko. He'd seen her from his desk, researching on her computer about the suspect and being hard at work remembering and reciting the plans over and over again. They had no idea how much heart and effort she had put on this mission. Besides, why didn't they take notice of her blue eyes? Weren't her blue eyes pretty to them?

"She's not a pumpkin," Kaito muttered. "She's a watermelon with faint lines on it. Just need some time and it'll show."

Kudo laughed.

"What?" Kaito frowned.

"Nothing."

It was then the sound of clacking high heels drove their attention away and down the corridor, a perfect sign of Aoko's arrival-

At first sight, Kaito thought he was in some kind of dream state when she was practically glowing and illuminating the white walls around her. Her brown hair was swiping over her smooth shoulders with every step, her red lips, perfect contours of brows, the tiny wings at the corner of her eyes, the pink blush... He didn't even know where to look first; His eyes were all over her goddamn face. It was like watching the last flower falling from a withered tree. Slowly, time stopping and hypnotizing...

He caught the flower that fallen onto him, catching her with grace and securing her firmly in his arms. He couldn't think, he couldn't breathe, and the only thing he knew he had to do was to build up his usual defense mechanism he'd always shown around her and tried to execute it. The nasty and completely unnecessary joke flowed out from his mouth smoothly, but he prayed the pause he created two seconds before didn't blow his cover, which he knew it didn't when she glared at him with the cutest frown he'd ever seen and pushed him away. This was a safe and correct reaction from her to tell him that his cover was perfect, and that was exactly what he wanted-

"Oh Aoko-chan. Do you want to sit in my car?"

"How about mine?"

No, for God's sake. Kaito didn't want that. He didn't want to be the only bad guy when the other two men were the true assholes quacking negative things about her earlier. But this was what she knew and saw of him since the first day they'd met, and it probably won't change in the next millions of years. Wasn't she on his list of people whose opinions about him was the least of his concern? He should stick to that.

Concentrate. Ignore it.

"Erm," Aoko glanced around skeptically, the million-dollar question still hanging in the air. "I'll sit in Inspector Kuroba's car." She finally replied.

Kaito turned away and walked towards the lift. If they'd noticed hard enough, they would've seen the slight skip in his steps.

.o.

One day, some day, Kaito would set a law about how the only person allowed to harass Nakamori Aoko was him.

He abandoned the lady who was flirting with him with her nonexistence boobs and cheap pearls and went to where Aoko was struggling with her own situation. He could tell she was desperate to leave the scene by her uncharacteristic eagerness to touch his hand when she was always treating him like some kind of disease. It was funny as a joke but nice to know she needed him.

It had been long since he truly danced with a proper partner, and he wasn't even very good at it in the first place. But he managed to pull it off well and swirl her around with the beat. That was some part of her power and effect on him; the unexpected and stunning kind that made him feel good about whatever he was doing

(For her).

.o.

The first thing Kaito thought when Sakamoto's brother whipped out a kitchen knife wasn't to reach out for the hidden gun tucked at the back of his pants. It was a mistake to even look away, but he couldn't help it when it was a reflex, to see if Aoko was there and in danger from getting stabbed by the knife. It was the most careless and stupidest reason to die, but knowing he wouldn't have to die worrying if she was alright, it was better that way.

"Inspector Kuroba!"

Kaito wanted to sleep, and maybe the pain on his stomach would eventually go away. But the voice that was shouting over his face...

"Inspector Kuroba!"

And then he felt something warm around his cold hand, squeezing it so tightly as if the person wanted to extract the calcium out of his bones. He peeled opened his eyes and stared at the blurry mess of brown locks hovering over him, the blue shimmering eyes that were filled with fear changed to an abundance of hope within a blink. Was this a dream? He was feeling conflicted between wanting it to be and not, but he confirmed his guess by squeezing back her hand. Her hand was soft. It was always soft.

So this was definitely not a dream.

"Oh, you're here."

In the mixture of the worried and angry growls, Kaito couldn't remember anything he or Aoko said. The next thing he remembered was waking up at the hospital and staring at the walls for two whole days with the most uncomfortable bandage around his waist before someone finally acknowledged his existence. He got an interrogation about Sakamoto's brother, and Sakamoto himself came to visit not long after. The painkiller wasn't effective, the guilt was ruining him, and nothing was better at all. Nothing had ever been better in his life.

But the world proved him wrong when the door slid open. At first, he wondered if some doctor was going to annoy him again, but what stood by the entrance of his ward was the one unexpected person he never knew he wanted to see for the past two days of his life. He smiled, and he swore he saw her lips tugged a little.

"Hey." Aoko said.

Their conversation was favourable, and that was the problem. Kaito should have known better than to talk about his feelings to Aoko. He trusted her, but he couldn't trust her with a hint of his weakness, especially things to do with feelings. It was too dangerous. When Kudo suddenly stepped into the ward with his unnecessary gifts and sort-of saved the silence he didn't know how to break, Kaito used the flowers as an excuse to re-adjust the level of their friendliness between each other back to the usual and watched her leave with the same annoyed look she always used on him.

Don't care for me too much. Please don't care for me too much.

Kudo crossed his arms and half-glared at Kaito after the door closed. "If you want to kill yourself, please do it after office hours."

"Fine, fine." Kaito sighed and leaned back onto his uprighted pillows. "I'll write that explanation report for you, alright? As my punishment."

"Not just orders, you're also giving out punishment to yourself now?" Kudo scowled. "When are you ever going to see me as your superior?"

"I-"

"Aoko cried, you know?"

Kaito blinked, his mouth hanging open from the crude replies he had forgotten all about when Kudo interrupted him. "...What?"

"She cried for you." Kudo shook his head. "Please wake up and stop doing stupid things."

It wasn't funny to think about Aoko's tear-stained face. It wasn't funny at all. "Why would she cry for me?"

"I wondered about that too." Kudo drawled and shoved both hands into his pockets. "I have some matters I need to attend to so I'll be going now."

All the better. Kaito silently stared at his bedsheets while his sidelong glance observed Kudo approaching towards the door-

"And yes," he stopped on his track and turned back. "You're writing that explanation report. I want it on my table the next morning after you're discharged." With that, he finally left the ward and slid the door shut, leaving Kaito alone in his white cell, the four walls echoing the nudging feeling swirling repetitively in his chest.

He then realized, very much too late, that he had yet to even thank her for saving him too. He'd missed his chance, and had probably ruined every opportunity to bring it up again.

.o.

Kaito knew most girls liked flowers. But Aoko had always struck him to be the kind of woman who would say "I'm not like most women.", and in fact, to him, she was unlike most women he knew too. That was why this was quite unexpected for him.

He was staring at Aoko grudgingly from a distance, her face lighting up as brightly as the fire surging inside of him. True enough, those flowers she received were pretty, and true enough, she had every rights to be. But he felt... betrayed. Didn't he give her flowers too? Alright, not in a proper way like a surprise, but more of treating her as if her life was pathetic and she had to use flowers to change her luck in her life.

Oh. Or maybe it was because the flowers were from the Mr-perfect-guy who had teeth that were so charming it deserved to be exhibited in the museum. Hakuba and Kaito had attended the police academy at the same time and they didn't really have a good time enjoying each other presence at all. Hakuba was a great role model and the best of everything that most men wished to look up to. But Kaito was not like most men. The fact that the Criminal affairs' department was just two floors above theirs was putting an extreme strain to Kaito's life whenever he possibly had to feel the air Hakuba had breathed out.

Aoko finally had the decency to stop admiring the flowers and acknowledge his existence.

"What?" She muttered.

"Not seeking for a promotion, hmm?"

"I don't understand what you mean."

Hakuba's identity was more of a mystery, unlike Kudo who appeared in the newspaper almost as much as pop stars. The blonde often travelled to England, so it wasn't weird if Aoko didn't meet him before. But the name? Was she so dense to not notice the name? Her following reactions proved to be true though, but he wanted to stir up some more reaction from her because she had basically shaken his whole pot of feelings into a jumbled mess. It was unfair to him, so there's that for her.

And then she made an (unconscious) attack back at him by agreeing to the lunch invite and it was a fatal blow that made him end the game he was playing with her. Despite the free meal and the amount of money he would make Hakuba pay, he didn't want to be present to see those disgusting moments between them. It would ruin his appetite, and that would defeat his purpose.

So he slumped back on his seat and opened up his newspaper, ignoring Aoko's gaze before she left with the other two cancer cells out of the office. None of his business. None of my business. He'd got a can of coffee from the vending machine for company anyway, nothing else mattered.

But everything suddenly mattered when that freaking horse turned up to their office more times than murder cases came knocking on their door. And that was some serious matter when Kudo was the Shinigami of the team. There was seriously nothing the Homicide Division had to do with Interpol, but Hakuba always used the excuse of settling matters to come, even when Kudo wasn't in his office. The rest of the team had noticed his frequent arrival, but no one seemed to have the idea Aoko was the true reason he was there. Like how could that be? Aoko? Attracting the Superintendent General's son? Really? Was that even possible?

It was actually possible.

"Damn, Aoko." Takashi gaped. "You've changed out into something... Whoa. Where are you going?"

Kaito looked up from his computer and glanced at the little commotion beside him. It was definite he would be staying for the rest of the night in the office, but if he was going to get constantly distracted, it would be next morning when he finished the report, which was exactly the time it was due.

Then again, he didn't mind this distraction.

Her silky smooth legs went on and on till they reached the frilly hem of the black dress. His eyes wandered up past the fabric that was sticking tightly and fully embracing the shape of her waist and to her chest and the obvious collarbones. Reluctantly, without regrets, he looked at her face and saw her blossomed lips, rosy cheeks and the striking blue eyes that drowned all the colours around her.

"For dinner." She answered sheepishly.

"Who's that lucky guy?" Akira swooned. "And your heels are so pretty!"

"They're gorgeous!" Sawako added.

Could these people ignore the shoes and look at her eyes?

"Thanks everyone, and I've got to go. I'll see you guys tomorrow" She glanced at her phone and gave everyone an apologetic look before skipping out of the office with her bag. Honestly, she didn't owe anyone any apology. It should be them who owed her the apology for wasting a beautiful woman's time.

Wait- What?

Kaito pinched the bridge of his nose and stared at his computer, the bunch of words suddenly feeling alien to him. Everyone was still lingering near him, wondering aloud who the man Aoko was having dinner with, but Kaito didn't feel like showing his wisdom this time round. It was obvious the answer was Hakuba, with the little hints and the small pool of possible suspects, and Aoko did actually mention it to him this morning, which he purposely deleted the information from his mind until now.

Focus on what is important. He straightened his posture and began typing vigorously on his keyboard.

Seconds turned to hours and only when he decided to go for a toilet break then he realized the office was empty. He should just set his computer on fire and go home, but work was the only good distraction for him that night to not let his mind wander off to even more destructive thoughts-

"Hey."

His destructive thoughts had come to life as he spun around from his seat, eyes widening by a fraction at Aoko who was grinning at him. He only noticed the can of his favorite coffee when she waved it in her hand (He was getting a little confused with the entitlement of the word favorite now).

Their usual jab and tease filled the empty office and only momentarily stopped when he made the decision to send her home. He already knew the report was going to be at the back of his priority list now when she came back to the office, but just like what he thought a few hours ago, he didn't mind this distraction.

First thing on his list was to give her his flip-flops and let her walk better, the second was to drive her back and thirdly was to hope these things could make her understand that he was happy he wasn't a scumbag in her eyes. Happy might be an understatement, but he decided to just stick to the simpler term and went with it. He couldn't give her expensive dinners or nice high heels, but he hoped he could give her more than that, like the comfort of the flip-flops that those fancy things didn't provide for her. Her satisfying smile expressed better than a million thanks, and he couldn't help but stare at her a bit longer before she almost caught him in the act. Kaito bent down and took her heels that she had taken off for the slippers and passed it to her before heading to the door. He only stopped when he realized he hadn't said anything about the plan.

"I'll go get the car and you'll wait for me at the roadside." He glanced at her over his shoulder.

"Okay." She smiled at him and it was like watching the last flower falling from a withered tree. Slowly, time stopping and hypnotizing...

Kaito quickly left the office.

Round the corner of the corridor, he hastily leaned against a wall and pressed a hand on his chest and felt his heart beating rapidly against his rib cage, struggling to get out. Was his stamina weakening? Did he walk very fast? It couldn't be-

No. Forbidden. It shouldn't get out. Don't get out. He closed his eyes, knocking the back of his head against the wall as he sighed out all the air in his body.

"Shit."

.o.

Of all the talents Kaito had, comforting people wasn't his forte. He could whip out roses for upset women and surprise kids with doves if times for those were necessary, but to comfort people when they were sobbing, no, bawling like a waterfall with all the snorts and sadness, he didn't know how. So he learned and used the method Aoko was always good for and patted her back as gently as he remembered her doing to others, though it wasn't like his fractured hand really allowed him to exert any more effort than now.

"Th-Thank you. I'm fine now."

She was obviously not fine and he kept on going, but the stinging pain won over his determination and he gradually let his hand return back to his lap. The night was dark and she shouldn't have noticed, but she did anyway as she gasped about his injury. He debated disagreeing with her for the sake of it and that it couldn't be worse than the other casualties, but the defeated slump of her shoulder made him pause. He simply answered her question and watched her fumbled with her words, her face overwhelmed with guilt. He didn't like it when she was like that. He preferred the feisty and fierce Aoko who choose to care and stand up for what she thought was right for herself, not being guilty of things that weren't even her fault. Yes, even if her words did hurt him, even if her words reminded him for a split second when Jii died in his arms, it still wasn't her fault. It was never her fault.

He suddenly felt a vibration from his pocket and distractedly pulled out his phone. Holmes' freak was calling. He clutched onto it tightly and answered, trying to ignore the piercing gaze Aoko was staring at him with.

"Hello?"

"Sawako's surgery is a success. She's out of danger as well." Kudo's voice filled his ear and Kaito could also hear a couple of excited chatters in the background. "And the nurse complaint that you haven't even got your hand injury properly checked. Where did you run off to anyway?"

Kaito instantly cut the call, a moment of relief washed over him. Everything was alright now. He didn't want anything to happen to Sawako, and he didn't want Aoko to go through those days like he did when Jii-

"What ha-happened?" Aoko choked. "I-Is it Sawako?"

He turned to her with a smile. "She's out of the operation room. Out of danger too."

Aoko literally flew up to her feet and began her jumping spree, her face filled with happiness and tear-stained marks on both sides of her cheeks. It was hard to sit and watch her bounce up and down without spraining his neck, so he stood up and let her continue her celebratory dance without any complains.

And then, like a million of times, she caught him by surprise and pounced onto him. He, or rather, they were lucky that he managed to stood firmly onto the ground or they would've fallen together.

"She's fine. She's fine! Thank God! She's fine now!" She exclaimed into the crook of his neck. "Thank you! Thank you! Thank you!"

Kaito should have used the chance to enjoy the moment rather than trying to regain back his composure. He gradually stared down at her brown hair rubbing against his face and...

His hands slowly moved up to her back and he closed his eyes, breathing in her scent as he rested his chin on her shoulder. She might not know, and would probably never know, that he needed this more than her. He was just a selfish man, and she was too kind to think it like that. His lips tugged and his fingers curled, feeling the soft fabric and her skin underneath it. He could be even more selfish and asked for the power to make the time pause, but he let her break the hug just because he could see her smile before she sprinted into the hospital and towards the direction of Sawako's operation room.

He watched her back just long enough until he was sure he couldn't see her anymore before he followed inside. He couldn't believe himself for saying something as stupid as fate, but if this was the reason why this moment happened, if this was the reason why he met her, he was willing to be stupid and believe in everything he thought was once ridiculous to him.

For her.

.o.

There wasn't really a reason for Kaito to go to the bar as of late. He didn't have to drink as much to sleep without nightmares, or picking up women because they weren't the company he wanted. But he occasionally went to the bar to visit Hiroshi and share about everything, and Aoko. The old man was the only one who he thought was comfortable enough to talk to, and besides, no one else should know he cared enough to be talking about her. That was that.

Kaito had many things he wanted to update Hiroshi about, but luck wasn't on his side as the old man wasn't on shift that night. He planned on leaving and coming another time, not until when his eyes glanced across the bar and he took noticed of a woman with striking resemblance to-

It was Aoko.

He scoffed to himself and shook his head disbelievingly. Without thinking further, he approached towards the bar counter and to her side. She was frowning at her beer and for a brief moment, he wondered if it was because of him. The frowning part seemed possible, but the fact that she was thinking about him? Nah, that couldn't be.

"You don't look so well," Kaito smirked down at her. "I think you're suffering from a lack of vitamin me."

She tensed and turned, her eyes wide with shock. "Kuroba-?"

"Can I sit here?" He hung his black coat on the back of the chair.

Maybe he was wrong about Hiroshi being the only person he deemed comfortable to talk to. He was wrong about many things actually, especially about Aoko. She wasn't drinking because she was lonely, she had self-esteem problems about her body, and her father was her dream. There were bits of mockery sometimes, but they'd managed to have a conversation that wasn't full of spikes and pitfalls, that flowed without either of them bristling into defensive mode (He managed not to even when she talked about magic, but he had to say something in regards to fishes).

Kaito was staring at her with his chin resting on his hand, watching her fondly recollecting the times when she was in high school and meeting her best friend named Keiko. The music in the bar was soft, but Kaito couldn't concentrate on her words. It was just his seventh glass for that night and it was considered little for his strength, yet there was something in her voice that was driving him to dreamland. He wanted to hear more of her stories, but the power of her soothing voice was...

The first thing he expected when he opened his eyes was his bare ceiling and window that showed the night sky and telling him it was just another dream he had woken up from. But it wasn't. He blinked and focused his eyes on Aoko, who was sleeping next to him with both arms crossed on the counter and acting as a pillow for her head. Her lips were slightly parted, eyes closed and cheeks slightly blushing from the possible alcohol. He took his own sweet time staring at her before realizing a few minutes later, deep in his gut, he wanted to see this every single morning after he woke up. He straightened his posture and shook himself out of the impossible thought, to only notice something had fallen off his chair. It was his black coat.

Silly girl.

He jumped off his seat to pick up his coat and dusted it clean enough before spreading it over Aoko's body. Making sure he tucked her well, he sat back on his high chair and watched her for a few minutes until he lost focus again when a few strands of her hair dropped over her face. He was losing grip of the reason why he'd become a police detective in the first place and the answers for everything he desperately lived for was neither close or far. Yet there was a lock of hair that had fallen across her cheek and at that moment, it was the only important thing in the universe. His tentative fingers slowly inched toward her face as the sound of his heartbeat thumping against his ears had drowned the music in the bar. Carefully, he pushed her hair to the back of her ear and it happened in succession.

What hole had he fallen into? What trap had he set himself up now? Kaito retreated his hand to pull out his wallet and dumped a bunch of bill onto the counter. As he headed for the door in a hurry to escape from whatever his feelings were even attempting to feel, he had to use all the cells in his body to not turn back.

A/n: Well... let the "happy" parts be "happy" together in one chapter while the sad parts be sad together in another chapter, right?