Disclaimer: Detective Conan and Magic Kaito is not mine.
I'm SO sorry for taking so long to update. And sorry if I messed up somewhere. It's been so long and I may have forgotten some of the changes I made from the original I had.
O Pandora, Pandora, Wherefore art thou Pandora?
Chapter 11: Without that title. Romeo, doff they name,
After everyone's gone to their rooms for the night, Kaito knocked and opened Shinichi's door to find Shinichi seated on one corner of his bed with his legs stretched out along the length, back against the wall. "Hey," he greeted before entering, "I, umm, have some questions." He said, unsure if the other would want to answer them.
"I'm sure you do, and I still owe you a bed time story," Shinichi said fondly, walking over to Kaito and lead him out the door. "Just not here. Follow me."
Kaito found himself led to the same park where Shinichi found him hiding in the trees and sat under one of the larger tree, motioning for him to do the same.
"Why are we out here? Couldn't we have talked in your room or the backyard?" Kaito questioned.
"We could, but it feels better out here." He shrugged. "Besides, Hakuba is there. It's better if he doesn't get involved."
"That would be kind of hard if he gets suspicious. Hakuba's very persistent when he has an idea in his head. He still insists that I'm Kid even though he doesn't have any evidence." Kaito chuckled.
"It's what makes him a good detective. It's just too bad that he's too wrapped up in finding Kid's identity to see through the reason for Kid's being. Anyway, let me tell you a story that I've never told anyone before. Try not to fall asleep though." Shinichi grinned.
"'Kay~" Kaito sang and got himself comfortable, somehow moving himself behind Shinichi, and hugging him to his chest, settling his chin on the detective's shoulder. The warmth of the thief made him feel safe. Safe enough to let down his walls and share his secrets and his past. Really, after watching Kaito for so many years after Toichi's death, he'd fallen for the silly magician at some point, even before he became Kid. He knew he could trust him to his secrets.
Shinichi laid his head back on the other's shoulder to look at the dark branches of the tree as he told his story.
-flashback-
He was tossed right in to a room with four plain grey walls with a steel door and a sad excuse of a window, so small that even a toddler couldn't fit through. It was the only way they could distinguish day from night, when the sun is up and when the moon is out, some days so dark that they couldn't see their own hands in front of themselves. The smell of urine, vomit and other odor attacked his nose, making him take a step back into the legs of the person who kidnapped him from his own living room while playing with a new puzzle his father had given him. The man just kicked him back in. Before the door was shut with a loud creak and the clack of the door bolt, the light from the hall streamed in enough for him to see a few other children around his age, maybe older, huddled together in the back of the room, whimpering, afraid of being pulled out of their sanctuary.
Being only 4 at the time, he cried with all his might when the door was shut behind him. The pain from being kicked didn't register as he cried for his parents. It was dark, he was scared, he wanted his parents to comfort him, to tell him that he was a good boy that that everything will be ok. He cried until he fell asleep on the cold cement.
The next day, two men in dark clothes came, dragging him and another to a bright room. He fought and pulled as he was dragged there. The other boy would just follow quietly. They were strapped into a cold steel table where they were cut and experimented on. He wasn't sure what they were doing to him. It hurt. The same thing would happen almost everyday, until he gave up on fighting them. He was getting tired from not eating enough and crying. They were always taken two at a time. When they're brought back, they'd take two more. Sometimes, some wouldn't make it back and a new child was brought in not too long after.
He wasn't sure how long it's been, but one day, they brought out a sword and stabbed him in the heart. They watched as he slumped on the table, not breathing. The scientists were about to order the guards to take him away and put him with the other failures, when he started to scream in pain. They quickly pulled the sword out of him and watched in excitement as he thrashed around and was amazed as they watched the wound heal right before their eyes. The stab from the sword quickly sealing up, leaving only the blood that poured out from the wound.
Soon after, one by one, the children in the room with him died. None of the scientists knew how or what happened, since they haven't done any experiments after their first success, wanting to review what was done, so that they could recreate what they did.
Something in his mind told him it was the stench of his blood in the badly ventilated room that killed them. It seemed as if random knowledge made it in to his uneducated mind each day. The sun rises and sets each day, as does the moon; his mind telling him it's because the earth rotates around the sun and the moon rotates around the earth, using the sun's brightness to light up each night. The things he doesn't know and wonders about, somewhere in his mind an answer comes. And something, somewhere in his mind told him to not let the people there know.
The experiments on him stopped. Instead they brought in new children who kept mysteriously dying in the room with him. One day they gave up on new children and took him back into the lab. This was his chance, his mind supplied. He stumbled and scrapped his arm along the catch of the steel door, cutting himself. Landing on the floor as he fell, he held one hand over the cut on his arm and waited for the two guards to bend over to pull him up, only to shove the cut into one's mouth and his bloody hand into the other and ran as fast as he could when they doubled over and passed out.
He didn't stop to make sure they were dead, only one thing was on his mind, "Run, run as fast as you can and get out. You're almost free." But then another thought came; he had to do something if he doesn't want any more children to go through the same treatment. The only thing he could think of was to get rid of everyone and the building, erasing all trace of the experiment, their data, and the people responsible.
He turned around and ran straight to the only other room he knew had people. The lab. Killing off the 5 scientists there, he quickly found ingredients he needed; various poisons, acids, and chemicals. First he set the place in flames with himself in it. He wasn't sure how many others were involved, but at least the data, the lab is gone, and himself is gone, leaving no evidence of the one successful experiment. It didn't work. The building burned, but he woke up after passing out from the pain of the flames. He was still in the middle of the fire, instead he tried all the other chemicals he had hoping something would work. None did.
He woke up in the middle of the burnt remains of the lab. Every last flames extinguished by the rain that came the next day. Slowly, he got up and walked, going where ever his thin and malnourished legs took him until he reached a small village. He would sleep outside and rummage through trash for food or steeling to keep himself fed. He didn't need food to stay alive, but it was better than the feeling of hunger every day.
Not too long after his escape, he was found napping on the land of a wealthy widow. The man felt sorry for the thin boy and brought him home with him to have him fed. When asked why the boy was underfed, he told him the first lie his mind supplied.
He was kidnapped when he was younger and doesn't remember where he lived before or where his parents are. The kidnappers killed each other one day in a dispute and he ran away, but didn't know where to go and ended up there. The man told him he could live with him. His wife died of an illness years ago and living by himself was getting lonely.
"So what is your name? Maybe we can find a way of finding your parents that way." The man asked.
The boy couldn't remember. It's been so long that he couldn't remember his name, his age, or anything about his parents. That was when the widow decided that he'll give him a name.
"How does Shinichi sound to you? 'New One'. You can start your life anew here. We can have the paper works done soon and you can live with me as my son." And that was how he was adopted by the wealthy widow.
Living with the older man was the happiest he's ever been. He had the love of a parent, learned to live without the constant fear of being taken to that lab again, care for others, and other things he missed as a child with his real parents that were taken from him. Everyday had been peaceful. He was finally happy.
But then one day, as he was in the kitchen helping his father make lunch, he dropped his knife and cut his finger. It wasn't very big, but deep enough for blood to drip. Shinichi stared at his finger unsure of what to do. The man grabbed his finger and pulled him towards the well to wash off the blood. Unfortunately, a drop made it into the food they made and killed the man soon after lunch.
Shinichi inherited the large fortune and land left to him by his adopted father.
Years later, tired of all the marriage proposals and older people pushing him have a family of his own, he sold the land and moved around to different villages, towns, and cities, always changing his last name with each childhood that came with him, but always keeping the name that was given to him by the man he felt indebted to. The person who he felt saved him and gave him a life of his own.
-end flashback-
"Every so often, I would hear people talking about random things giving them immortality, like the Fountain of Youth, the Elixir of Life, the Holy Grail, Pandora, and the likes. Hearing those rumors keeps reminding of the past and to never let anyone know. Like you said before, 'if the wrong person gets their hands on immortality, it could be disastrous'. Up until Heiji's grandfather picked me up, I never really thought much about the loss of human life. I've seen war, people killing each other for food, it was an everyday thing to me. But Hattori-san changed my way of thinking. He's the reason why I want to save as many lives as I can and putting murderers behind bars." Shinichi ended his personal account of his very long life.
But in a quieter voice, "I've killed so many people, let so many murderers get away will killing others. There were so many deaths that I could have prevented."
Kaito hugged Shinichi tighter, nuzzling into his neck, trying his best to comfort him.
"Do you still want to be with me, even though I'm a murderer?" Shinichi turned his head to look at him.
"That's all in the past. There's nothing you can do to change it, but to do what you can now and in the future. You've already done what you can to atone for your past." Kaito's heart tightened at the sad, sorrowful, lost eyes looking into his. "I'd never leave you just because of something that happened so long ago. You're different now than how you were before."
Satisfied and feeling very happy, Shinichi relaxed once more in the arms around him, finally feeling at peace with himself. Something he's never felt before. Relaxed and peaceful. "Thank you." He said quietly.
"I'm going to guess from what you've told me that you can give another person immortality. I'm willing to restart my life as many times, as long as I have you with me. I don't ever want to leave you alone. You don't deserve to be alone forever." Kaito pressed.
Shinichi hesitated before speaking, "Yes, I can, but only if you're sure. I'd need a full moon. That'll give you enough time to rethink everything." Then he paused as he thought of something. "Speaking of full moon, that sniper of yours, I left him alone thinking you wanted to take care of him yourself, but I think he must have seen us having dinner together on the roof after one of your heist once. He decided to try and hold me hostage against you, so I ended up taking care of him myself. It kept it low key so you might not have seen it in the news."
"I was wondering why he hasn't shown himself in a while." Kaito said amused that Snake targeted Shinichi despite the detective's reputation.
"He's in jail for attempted kidnapping, multiple murders, weapons smuggling, and theft. He won't be out for a long while."
"So the next full moon?" Kaito looked hopeful as he received a smile in return.
"If you're sure that's what you want." Shinichi gave him a chaste kiss on the lips.
"Great! That means plenty of time to introduce you to my mom and explain things to her."
"I trust her. You can tell her anything you want. I wouldn't want you to lie to her."
"I love you!" Kaito gave him a kiss feeling grateful at how understanding and wonderful his boyfriend is.
Author's note: Bah! I give up. I tried to make this sound better, but this is the best you'll get. . Sorry! If I tried to fix it to my liking, it may take forever for me to upload it. This chapter actually took me 5 rewrites. The original was all dialogues. _ Just one more chapter and an epilogue…
