A New Beginning?

Chapter 11

For the two of them time seemed to freeze and they stayed as they were for a number of minutes: Kaito with his mouth open and Aoko leaning towards him. The sound of thunder from the sky broke the silence and Kaito closed his mouth and tried to work out what to do.

It wouldn't so any harm if he confessed now and returned her feelings, would it? If she really was in love with him and he died in the next few days she would be upset whether or not he confessed or not. I always lived for the present when I was younger and never worried about the future he thought to himself. It wouldn't hurt and it would be wrong to leave her sad forever by ignoring her confession.

"Aoko…"

As he said her name Aoko spun round to hide her face from him.

"I'm sorry about forcing my feelings on you," she apologised and he could sense that she was on the verge of crying again. "Good night."

Before he could say anything she flipped off the light and the room was plunged into darkness. Kaito sighed inwardly and wondered if he should be glad that she had stopped him from answering as he didn't want to get too close to her now as there was a high chance that he would die in the next few days due to his participation in Hakuba's hare brained scheme.

"I remember the day I met my first love as well. It was when I was 7 and I went with my father: Kaito Kid, to case his next target, I was left outside under a clock tower and I met a girl who was also waiting for her father. I introduced myself to her and gave her a rose and fell in love with her. Sound familiar?"

There was another silence and he heard Aoko gasp and then sigh.

"I'm an idiot, aren't I?"

"Yes, you are," Kaito grinned and felt for her hand. He found it and clasped it tightly. "I would do the same trick again just to prove it, but it's dark."

"I wish I had met you again, before I met Him," Aoko said, wondering how differently events would have occurred if she had never fallen in love with the person that had ruined her life.

"I wish that as well, we wouldn't have been involved in this at all, or at least you wouldn't be. I think that I was destined to discover my father's secret sooner or later."

"But I'm glad we came here. I've managed to finally get some peace," she interjected. "Maybe when this is all over we can return here."

Kaito frowned, knowing that it would never happen one way or another. He searched for something suitable to say that avoided promising her anything and he eyes fell on the glowing number of the digital alarm clock next to him.

"Aoko, you're getting an early start tomorrow or rather today. I think we should get some sleep. It's 1:10am."

"You're right," she agreed sleepily. "But can we stay like this?" She indicated their joined hands.

"Yes."

7 hours later Kaito was jolted awake by the sound of the neighbour's dog barking.

"Damn dog," he cursed under his breath, "That's the fourth time he's woken me up."

As he gradually woke himself up and removed the vestiges of sleep from his eyes he realised that he wasn't in his own bed or even his own bedroom and he was surprised to find he was holding hands with Aoko. He blinked and the night's events came flooding back to him. He smiled to himself, remembering how he had had searched for the girl he had met under the clock tower for a month by returning there every day before giving up after a month. It seemed like a miracle that he had found her now and that she returned his sentiments.

Using his left hand he conjured up a single red rose and leaned over without letting go of Aoko's hand to wave it under her nose.

"Rise and shine to the smell of roses," he sang in a high pitched voice, the one he used to use when had to cross dress.

Her only response was to groan and roll over causing her to let of his hand. Kaito decided a more drastic method of waking up was required. He produced several more roses and placed them in her hair before suddenly pulling the cover off her.

This time she woke up instantly with a shiver and sniffed the air quizzically. "Why does it smell like roses? She asked without opening her eyes. "Kaito?"

"Yes, Aoko dear?"

She was definitely wide awake now. "I confessed last night and so did you," she grinned, then blushed.

Kaito couldn't help but find her embarrassed face cute and vowed that he would cause her to make that face at least 3 times before she left.

"Breakfast time," Kaito said, commando rolling off the bed. "You'll need your energy today so I will make you some chocolate chip pancakes."

Butterflies grew and twitched in Kaito's stomach every time he looked up at the clock in the living room. Hakuba had informed him that he would be picking Aoko up at 11:30am and it was now 9:30. 2 hours to go and he still hadn't plucked up the courage to even kiss her yet.

Aoko chose that moment to walk into the living room.

"Kaito, have you seen my- why are you frowning?" Is there something wrong?" she enquired worriedly, concerned about that fact he was just standing there staring at the clock with a frown on his face.

"Uh, I'll stop frowning if k-kiss me," he stuttered before giving her his best puppy dog look.

Aoko flushed red again stood up on tiptoes to give him and brief one on the cheek. As she stepped away from him he grabbed her back and leant down to give her a proper kiss on the lips. Her eyes widened momentarily and she relaxed into the kiss, noting amusedly that his lips still tasted of chocolate. Kaito himself was lost in the softness of her lips.

Their moment of bliss was punctuated by the sharp peal of the doorbell and they drew way from each other reluctantly and Kaito let go of Aoko.

"I'll go answer it. I'm expecting a parcel, I ordered something off the internet last week," Aoko informed him and rushed out of the room excitedly.

"Aoko," Kaito called before she could reach the front door.

She stuck her head around the door, "Yes?"

"Can we continue after?"

"Yes," she smiled and left the room again to answer the door.

Aoko grabbed the key for the front door from the bottom of the stair and unlocked it before opening it. Standing on the doorstep was not the usual local postman, but a tall man with silvery blonde hair attired in a black trench coat. He had a hat jammed over his eyes. However Aoko recognised him instantly.

"It's you," she breathed.

"Yes, it's me Aoko-chan. Would you mind doing me a small favour?"

Although Kaito couldn't hear the conversation between them as they were speaking in low voices he had a strange feeling of unease telling him that something bad was going to happen. And she did seem to be having a long conversation with the postman. He walked out into the hallway just in time to see Aoko slam the front door and run like hell was after her up the stairs, or rather he saw an Aoko-shaped blur. From the creaking of the floorboards he guessed that she had run to her bedroom Then as he went to go up the stairs she ran into the bathroom.

"Aoko?" he shouted up the stairs. "Is everything okay?"

"Yes, I just feel a little sick," a muffled voice rang out.

The sound of water being run in the bath became apparent as the force was increased. At this point Kaito began to get concerned. If she was feeling ill she wouldn't need to run a bath. He decided to leave her for a few minutes just in case he was being paranoid or hadn't heard her properly and was actually taking a bath.

5 minutes ticked by on the lock and she still wasn't out the bathroom the water was still running loudly and a loud splash occurred. On hearing the splash Kaito lurched into action coming, guessing what was going on.

Frantically he rushed up the stairs and tried the bathroom door which was locked. Fearing the worst he pilfered a hair pin from Aoko's dressing table and used to pick the lock to so he could get in/

A horrifying sight met his eyes. The bath water had flowed over the top of the bath and onto the floor and that water was strained red with blood. The body of a dark haired woman was lying face down in the bloody water and there were open slits criss crossing both her wrists. Her hair was slicked flat with the stained water.

"Aoko!" Kaito shouted hysterically, dropping down on his knees beside her. "Wake up!" he turned her body over and began compressing her chest to get her to breathe. "You can't die now. Wake up! Please!"

Thank you for all the reviews on the previous chapter from lion799 and GothicAngel09. I feel that my writing has improved a lot since I joined fanfiction 3 years ago.