DISCLAIMER: Magic Kaito is the respective creation and property of Gosho Aoyama.

AUTHOR: Melpomene-the-Tragic-Parody

MAIN CHARACTERS: Kaito Kuroba, Aoko Nakamori

CHAPTER: #10

TITLE: I'll Hold Them Back

INSPIRED BY: ~ Save Yourself, I'll Hold Them Back, by My Chemical Romance

~M.K~

If it hadn't been for that gunshot, this would never have happened. It was supposed to have been a typical Kid Heist, not this precarious disaster.

It came as no surprise that when a wealthy benefactor decided to purchase an exquisite jewel from a foreign country and import it to Japan, a notice from Kaitou Kid would turn up to the press and the police HQ. In this case, the Everlasting Teardrop had journeyed from France to end up on display at another prominent Kid Heist within four days of its arrival. Inspector Nakamori had gone to great lengths to secure the gem against any of Kid's magic tricks to the point that he had forgotten to eat breakfast and lunch.

The poor inspector was starving before the heist was set to begin.

It had been against his better judgment to let Aoko into the building after all that preparation, but he knew it would not be for long. Aoko had braved through a crowd of Kid's most devoted fanatics to get through security just to give her father a homemade bento. Two officers escorted her toward her father, both wearing solemn expressions along the way. The inspector stood near the doorway leading up to the gem. Smiling, she hurried to his side with eager spirits.

"Tou-san!" she called, clutching the bag firmly to her chest. "Here's your food. You're going to want your strength before the heist."

As if sensing that food was close by, Inspector Nakamoristomach let out a low, ferocious growl that caused the poor man to blush with embarrassment, especially when other officers whipped around in surprise. It sounded as though he had a lion for a stomach and it was worse when it began echoing through the hallways. Aoko tried not to giggle. Instead, she handed her father the bag and turned her gaze to the gem held on display in a bulletproof glass case.

The Everlasting Teardrop was a beautiful, deep royal blue gemstone piece, the most wondrous part of an exquisite golden necklace. It was far from small, perhaps the size of Aoko's hand. How anyone could wear it was a mystery. It was formed in the shape of a teardrop, and its iridescence reflected in the light, shimmering across the walls in the room as the reflection of the sun on the sea.

It was mesmerizing and majestic, being the most spectacular gem Aoko had ever witnessed in her life.

"Wow," she murmured softly to herself as her eyes drank in the radiance of the gem.

She could have stared at it forever, but the time was running short and it was time to lock the room down. The heist was set to begin within half an hour, and once Kid showed up, her father would set his fullest attention on capturing the infamous phantom thief. Aoko spared one last glance towards the gem before turning around and following the two officers who brought her to her father back to building entrance where she would join the crowd and cheer for her father's success.

Her other option would have been to go home and spend the evening with Kaito, maybe watch a movie together, or end up in another kissing frenzy on the couch where she would end up scolding him for his wandering hands and cheeky smirks. However, Kaito had gone on a trip to Okinawa with Jii and wouldn't be home in a few days. The thought of him made her heart flutter like the smitten girl she was.

Dating Kaito was something of a dream; though they had only officially been together a few months, it felt like two pieces of a puzzle finally coming together. Regardless of whether he made her want to rip her hair out, or his hair instead, everything about being with him made her feel alive.

A smile cropped up on her face at the thought, but it soon vanished when the unexpected happened. She was moments away from the front doors before everything in the building went out of control. She should have known then, that something wasn't right. Something bad was about to happen.

And the awful omen in her stomach terrified her to the bone.

~M.K~

The heist hadn't gone as planned.

Bullets had rained from the moment the precious jewel was touched by the fine silk of Kaitou Kid's glove. In the chaos, Aoko had spotted him disappearing into the stairwell and without hesitation, her blood pulsing with fear and determination, she raced after him, racing past her father who called after her in alarm, only to realize after whom she had taken chase and hastened to join her.

It was only later on that she wished she never followed him.

"AOKO!" she heard her father yell from the lower levels of the stairwell. She barely glanced down when suddenly the sound of gunfire blazed into the air again. She felt something sting at her feet, like ricocheting metal, and her instincts took over. She ran with her heart in her hands against all odds. Pure shock and terror had possessed her shaking limbs.

"Get down!"

Aoko yelped as someone grabbed her by her shoulders and yanked her out of harm's way, just as a stream of bullets shot directly at her back. Smooth, leathery material pressed over her mouth, concealing the scream ready to pierce the tense air around them. A long, dark cloak was thrown over her head and shoulders, shielding her from sight as her captor concealed her in a shadowy corner. Heart hammering, she looked up and her eyes widened.

It was Kaitou Kid, half-hidden in shadows. He held his finger to his lips, a sign of silence, before releasing her mouth and moving away.

"Stay there and don't move, Nakamori-san," he said swiftly. "They won't see you if they're following me."

And without another word, he flew off into the open space, long enough to catch the attention of whoever had decided to have a gun gala in the building and fly up the stairwell with a step so light he really could have been a phantom. Without hesitation, whoever was after him followed his lead and ignored that Aoko was even there. Frozen to the floor, she took a shaky breath, gazing down at where he had stashed her. She was in a darkened corridor with no windows, and with no light to illuminate her form, shrouding her with a black cloak had been the perfect disguise.

'He protected me,' she thought numbly. 'They would have killed me, but he protected me…'

A little voice in the rational corner of her terrified mind reminded her that Kid had a code of conduct: no harm would be inflicted on others during his heists. He was known to put himself in danger to protect innocents, regardless of what they thought of him.

Her brain slowly clicked into place as the sound of gunshots knocked the reality of the situation back to the forefront of her mind. Her entire body was electrified with terror. In the whole of her life, she had never been witness to such a horrific assault on any Kid Heist. Everyone knew that someone had been tailing the infamous thief for months, attacking only him as far as anyone was ever concerned and never the Task Force, but this was different. She could hear the screaming outside now. Were they targeting the public audience as well?

Who were they? What did they want? Where was her father? Was he injured? Where had Kid disappeared to?

The roof. That nagging little thought answered the only question it could: Kid almost always went to the roof.

She didn't know what possessed her to move to the stairwell and continue her ascent; there were gunmen above her and below her. She should have just stayed there, but she had a feeling that safety only lasted if someone didn't accidentally find her or shoot her with that random gunfire. Even in darkness, she was still exposed. She highly doubted her cloak was bulletproof.

Still shrouded in his black cloak, her shaky legs finally brought her to the final landing. Across the long corridor, she saw the outline of another stairwell, just as she heard the sound of her father yelling at Kid. He must have taken that other route to get here. Her hammering heartbeat was far too painful in her chest; she rushed to the door, only to freeze when she heard Kid's voice.

"Leave the inspector out of this, Snake," Kid said firmly. "This is between you and me."

The dark chuckle that responded sent a shiver down Aoko's spine.

"He heard us speak of Pandora, you fool," the voice said. Aoko didn't know anyone could have such malice in their voice. "As if we could ever let him go."

Fear had turned her entire being into an Aoko-shaped ice pop. Did those words imply what she feared they did?

"It's quite a public risk you've taken," Kid commented. "It's certainly not a feat that the media would ever overlook. Either you have grown exceedingly desperate, or—"

"Quit your chattering, Kid, or I'll blow his brains out," the menacing voice warned. Aoko choked softly, pressing her icy hands over her white lips "Hand over the jewel, and it'll be a quick bullet to the heart. For the both of you."

There was a brief pause. But for Aoko, it was an eternity.

"I suggest an alternative," Kid said coolly. "Let Nakamori-keibu go first, and I hand over the jewel once I know he's out of the way. Otherwise…" There was a sudden round of yelling that burned through Aoko's frozen being. "Ah, ah! Be careful. You wouldn't want me dropping this lovely piece, now would you?"

That was it. She refused to stand by and not know what was happening to her father and Kid. Holding her breath, Aoko peeked through the open doorway at the scene on the roof. There were at least three men standing there with her father and Kid. Inspector Nakamori was held down on the ground by two men in black while the third pointed a gun towards the ledge. Four bodies were motionlessly sprawled on the ground by her father, each wearing a Task Force member uniform. Aoko shivered in horror. Were they dead? A flicker of movement caught her eye; it was Kid, standing on the ledge, holding the Everlasting Teardrop over the side.

From this particular building, Aoko vaguely recalled, there was a river only a mere jumping distance away. Not only was Kid threatening to drop it, he was threatening to toss it into a place where it may be lost forever. All for the sake of keeping their attention on him.

Whoever these men were, they were threatening her father's life. Kid was bargaining to save him. In the distance, he heard the trampling sound of boots on the stairwells, and the distance voices that came with them.

They sounded like the rest of the Task Force coming up to the roof.

"We've been over this, Kid," the man with the gun. Snake, was it? It was certainly his voice that contained that godawful malice. "We don't negotiate with troublemakers. You should have heeded our warning and stayed away from jewels. Your predecessor was just as insolent."

"'My predecessor'?" There was a sudden edge in Kid's tone. "You mean the man you murdered? I'm only fulfilling his wishes. As if I would ever let you gain the power Pandora could give you."

Aoko's eyes widened as the shaft of his gun immediately pointed at her father.

"Your choice on how he dies, then," Snake said. "Brain or heart. You have five seconds. Four. One."

"No!"

Aoko had shot through the door in seconds, Kid's cloak slipping off her shoulders as all eyes turned to her. She couldn't even look at her father as he exclaimed her name in fear. Instead, her gaze was fixed on the man wearing a dark overcoat and fedora; his most prominent feature was a large horseshoe mustache. That and the fact that his gun was now pointed at her.

Aoko never heard her father's scream of terror.

She never heard the gun go off. The world had gone still around her, and all she could think about was the clock tower. Of standing in front of it on a busy afternoon, waiting for her father to pick her up. Of a little boy with a cheeky grin saddling up to her and giving her a pretty rose from thin air. Of making her scream and smile and laugh ever since.

"Kaito," she whispered hoarsely as the man pulled the trigger.

Her whole body went numb. She felt herself crash to the ground, her vision overwhelmed by the sight of glittering stars in the night sky around a full, bright moon. Only she hadn't fallen because she'd been shot.

She'd fallen because someone had pushed her to the ground.

Her breath hitched when she recognized the gleaming white suit above her. Tall, slender, and partially concealed with shadows, the infamous phantom thief towered above her, completely still as the Task Force bounded through the open doorway, some to disarm and arrest the gunmen, the others to surround Kid and prevent him from escaping. Except, he didn't run. He simply stood there and stared down at her in shock.

Then she saw him stagger.

"Oh," she heard him say before he collapsed beside her.

Aoko's entire being was uncooperative. Her eyes trailed on Kid as he sprawled out beside her, one hand tightly gripped on the Everlasting Teardrop, and the other trembling as it clutched at his heaving chest. Her heart quickened at the sight of bright scarlet fluid dripping on his white gloves. From his chest, the pooling bloodstain spread and spread until it was soaking the ground beside him, casting a dark stain trickling toward her.

Aoko had seen Kid bleed before, on the day the both of them had been kidnapped and forced to solve their way out of their imprisonment. He had been stabbed and had pushed through the pain to get them both out. But he wasn't doing that this time. He lay there, perhaps as shell-shocked as she was, breathing harshly as his fingers grappled with his chest. He was losing blood too rapidly.

Aoko felt two warm hands grab her shoulders. "Aoko! Aoko!" It was her father.

"I'm fine," she said disbelievingly. "You—Kid—"

Kid coughed, flecks of blood splattering his face. "Well, Nakamori-keibu, it looks—like I won't—get away—this time…"

He coughed so hard that Aoko could have sworn he was trying to hack up a lung. Blood dripped from the corners of his mouth as his top hat fell sideways, revealing a full head of messy hair. Even with the monocle, there was truly no mistaking the face hidden beneath the brim of that hat.

Something inside Aoko's heart vanished. The world truly was a cruel place. Even Inspector Nakamori exclaimed in shock at the sight of the young man spitting blood and convulsing on the ground. He squeezed his eyes tightly together, so hard that the monocle slipped off his eye to reveal the full image of such a handsome, clammy face.

The same face that made her heart race with hope and love every time she saw it.

"Kaito?" Aoko whispered in dismay. "N-No! He's in Okinawa! Are you wearing his face again?! What the hell's the matter with you?!"

Kid fought to breathe. "If only… Aoko…"

The thought refused to click. Between memory and denial, Aoko couldn't bring herself to accept the oncoming storm building up inside herself. Of the time she had been alone with him, confused as to why Kid had been so good at intimidating her best friend, down from his scent to his breathing. Kaito had claimed to be perfectly fine when she next saw him, with no signs of injury or that he knew what had happened to her.

Kid and Kaito were two different people.

Somehow, the lie sounded too feeble to believe this time.

There was no way that Kid knew how Kaito looked at her... like she was precious and infuriating all at once; how that smirk would move to the side like that when he knew she was trying to figure him out; how he would whisper her name like it was prayer.

"No," she said to herself. "No…No. No, no, you can't be!"

Aoko's hands moved before her brain could follow, and she found herself trying to staunch the wound on his chest, so close to his heart that all Aoko's instincts were screaming at her that the shot had done more damage than she had initially thought.

He winced at the pressure, staring up at the night sky.

"Aoko," he said, his voice no longer deeper or smoother. A little hoarse and lighter. It was all Kaito Kuroba. Her best friend. Her boyfriend. Kaitou Kid.

"Call for an ambulance!" Inspector Nakamori screamed at his subordinates as the gunmen were dragged away. He glared at the young man in white, more horrified than angered. Without thinking about it, he grabbed onto the thief's bloody cheek and gave it a sharp tug.

"AH!" Kaito yelped in pain, the corners of his eyes watering.

It sealed all confirmation.

Neither father nor daughter knew what to say before another officer broke free from the unit and rushed to their side, his expression absolutely delirious as his hands joined Aoko's in the attempt to stop the bleeding.

"Watanabe-san, what are you—?" the inspector began, but the officer completely ignored him.

"Botchama!" he exclaimed frantically. "Botchama, please hold on!"

Aoko gaped; she knew that old voice. "Jii-san?" she squeaked disbelievingly.

"This can't happen again! Not again!" Jii continued without hearing her. "Toichi-sama would never forgive me, or Chikage-sama!"

Kaito gave him a grim but bloody smile, as feeble as it was. "You're wrong… Jii-chan…"

Nothing in the world made sense anymore, from the screaming around her to the helicopters overhead. Her Kaito was Kaitou Kid? His father's former assistant was his accomplice? The old man who ran that bar? Kaito's mother knew about this? And what was that about his late father? Her own father's rampaging questions fell on deaf ears as Kaito weakly raised his hand toward the disguised Jii, the gem glimmering between them.

"Jii-chan," Kaito said hollowly. "I have to know… is it—Pandora? Snake was that desperate. He… really believed it…" Jii froze, completely distraught, as Kaito forced the gem into his hands. "Please… Jii-chan…"

The older man wheezed out a mournful wail as he lifted the gem toward the night sky.

"What are you doing?" Inspector Nakamori demanded. His contorted expression, filled with every ounce of emotion blazing through Aoko, diminished at the sight that came to their eyes.

For a moment, the gem gleamed in the moonlight, practically untainted by Kaito's blood, but then, from its very core, a burning spark of crimson light burst to life, bleeding from the center until the outline of a bright red jewel glimmered ethereally from within the outer gem. The glow bathed over Kaito, casting his white suit to dark pink and faintly blue. There was something beautiful and utterly wrong about looking at it.

Kaito let out a low, hysteric laugh, his teeth stained with his blood.

"Ironic," he choked out. "The day—I finally find—what I've been—looking for… I die." He laughed weakly. "Should have—seen that—coming…"

Jii reached up a shaking hand and ripped the mask of Watanabe's face from his own, revealing the worn and heartbroken face of Kaito's guardian and friend. Tears streaked down his face as he placed the gem back in Kaito's hand, only for it to be refused.

"D-Destroy it!" Kaito wheezed. "There's more of them—more like Snake… Destroy it... Jii-chan."

"Botchama, don't talk like that!" Jii pleaded. "The ambulance is on its way!"

But Kaito was growing paler by the second. In their hearts, they knew it wouldn't make it in time. Even now, beneath Aoko's fingers, she felt the beat of his heart weaken. Her hands were coated with his blood. How the hell was this even happening? Was this all a bad dream? She hadn't taken notice of her own tears until Kaito lifted his straining hand to brush them off her cheek.

"Hey, don't," he said softly. "Don't, Aoko."

"Shut up, Bakaito!" Aoko screamed at him. "Just a few more minutes and—"

She choked on the thought. She couldn't say it.

Kaito's eyes flickered, dazed. "I'm sorry… Aoko… Maybe one day… you'll forgive me…?"

The pain twisting in her chest flooded through her veins as the lights in his eyes began to dim.

"Don't you dare!" she yelled at him. "Kaito, look at me! Look at me, you idiot!"

He coughed again. "My Aoko… my Aoko," he whispered, the tiniest bead of a tear creeping up in the corner of his eye as they met hers. Blue as sapphires. Bluer than the bloodied gem in Jii's hands. His hand brushed lightly against her chin as his gaze fell passed her. His eyes widened.

"Oyaji?"

Aoko's lips trembled. Kaito had gone very still. From the warmth on his chest, his heartbeat grew steadily softer until…nothing. There was nothing. His eyes peered up at her thoughtlessly, unmoving and unknowing.

"Kaito…? No, Kaito, look at me!" Aoko's trembling hands clamped to either side of his face, uncaring of the streaks she left behind. "Say something! Kaito look at me!"

She could almost see it, that regret peeking through his poker face. Her eyes were fixed on him, frightened of the handsome, terrible face she had known since childhood. His mouth, stained with blood, was absent of his teasing words or ardent kisses; no laughter or smirking or tears. The face of the man she loved had been defiled by a truth she couldn't accept. Inspector Nakamori held his daughter as she screamed at the phantom in her arms, begging him to say something.

Anything.

But he said nothing as the light died from his eyes, unknowing of the tears and fury in hers.

Kid had a code of conduct: no harm would be inflicted on others during his heists.

Why couldn't that code have included Kaito?

~M.K~

FURTHER NOTES:

Aaaaand I've returned to my angst corner. Sorry guys. Especially for killing Kaito. Again.

The heist originally had more detail, but it got so long that I thought it would never end, so I cut it down a lot. Essentially, while it would seem that this chapter was inspired by chapter one, it's actually the other way around. I originally discarded this draft around that time but I came back to it and decided to try and clean it up.

Reviews and criticisms are welcome.

—MELPOMENE-THE-TRAGIC-PARODY, signing out.