Chapter Twenty-five:

Reunion

KID POV

Kaito woke to find his arms around Shinara, their bodies pressed comfortably together where they lay on the bed beneath the comforter. He smiled when he looked down at her peaceful face. She always looked so beautiful. Kissing her forehead, he waited for her to open her eyes before sitting up.

"Kaito?" she asked yawning.

He smiled, holding her to him.

"Good morning Shin-chan", he whispered as he set his chin on her head, hugging her close to his chest. She leaned into the embrace, a small smile on her face.

"Good morning Kai-Kun", she whispered back.

She leaned up and kissed him on the lips. He closed his eyes, enjoying the taste of her mouth for a moment longer before slipping out of bed and grabbing some clothes to change into. She watched him in appreciation as he changed before standing up and doing the same.

"So any plans for today?" he asked.

"Not really, but remember the doctors told you to take it easy for a week at least."

"Yeah, yeah", he muttered, hating the feeling of being unable to do what he wanted.

She just laughed at his rebellious and pouty attitude as she slipped on her sweatshirt and pulled on her shoes, waiting for him before heading downstairs to the kitchen where Chikage-san was waiting with breakfast, a smile on her face as she sipped her coffee and read the newspaper.

"This looks great Chikage-san", she said as she grabbed a plate of the bacon and eggs and took a seat at the table across from Kaito's mother.

"Thank you dear. How did you two sleep?" she asked with a knowing smile.

Kaito glared at his mother, knowing exactly what she was getting at.

"Very well thank you", Shinara said, either ignoring the glint in his mothers' eye or oblivious to it.

Chikage just smiled as she glanced at Kaito and smirked. He just glared back as he grabbed a plate and sat down with a tall glass of milk, whereas Shinara was having her usual pitcher of coffee she liked to guzzle every morning before doing anything else. It was something she had desperately missed as Christie.

"So what will you be doing today?" asked his mother, "Nothing strenuous I hope."

"Nah", he said shaking his head, "Actually I was thinking…well…if you wanted to…"

"What is it?" Shinara asked, surprised to see him at a loss for words.

"Do you want to meet my dad?"

His mother froze and Shinara did as well.

"I…" she stopped and swallowed hard before answering, "I would love to meet your father, Kaito."

He smiled as he dug into his food. He kept his eyes averted from his mothers, but had he looked up, he would have seen her smiling.

SHINARA POV

After breakfast, the two of them got ready to leave, but Chikage caught Shinara's arm for a moment before that to have a word with her. Kaito was suspicious of what his mother was telling Shinara, but Shin only smiled and gave Chikage a hug before grabbing Kaito's hand and dragging him out of the house with her. Kaito stumbled after her before he pulled back, stopping her fast moving trek.

"Slow down babe", he mumbled as he wiped his forehead and grimaced, "I can't move that fast yet it seems."

Shinara lifted her hand to her mouth, not believing she had just been dragging him along without even thinking about his condition.

"I'm so sorry Kaito", she said quickly seeing he was a bit pale.

He just smiled and shook his head.

"I'm fine, I just need to sit and take a break for a moment."

Shinara nodded as they walked over to a nearby bus bench and sat down on it. Kaito was breathing rather hard, but it soon evened out the longer they sat there, his eyes closed. She sat beside him, his hand in hers as she rubbed it, feeling bad she had put stress on him without even realizing it. She had just been excited about the idea of meeting Kaito's father that she hadn't been thinking.

"What did my mom say?" Kaito asked.

She almost missed his question as it was so random.

"When?"

"Just a moment ago when she pulled you aside. What did she say?"

"She just told me to watch out for you and to greet Toichi-san for her as well."

"I see", he mumbled.

"Why do you ask?"

"Nothing", he stated, his eyes still closed.

Shinara was silent for a moment before gathering the courage to ask another question.

"She seemed surprised you were taking me with you. Do you often go alone?"

"…" Kaito was silent for a moment before he sighed and opened his eyes to peer at her.

"I don't ever go", he finally replied, "I wasn't planning on going until the day I caught his killer and destroy Pandora once and for all."

"Then why are you taking me now? We don't have to go if…"

"No", interrupted Kaito as he shook his head, "I am going now because I want to. I have something important he needs to see."

"Oh?" she asked curiously.

He chuckled as he took her hand and stood up, leaning down to face her before she also could stand. He kissed her nose and smiled.

"You", he said and started down the street leaving her to catch up.

KID POV

Kaito stopped in front of the marble rock that held his father's name. One of the reasons he never came was because he knew his father wasn't here, but it still felt like he might be there, watching him.

"Father", he replied as he kneeled in the grass and snapped a rose into existence before the marble stone, just like his father had taught him to do so many years ago. He placed the rose in the empty vase in front of his fathers' name and smiled a sad, bittersweet smile. "I have someone for you to meet."

He took Shinara's hand in his and pulled her down to kneel beside him.

"This is Shinara Kudo, my girlfriend", he said as he smiled at the stone, imagining his father watching him, "Please, give us your blessing."

Shinara watched Kaito with fascination. She was worried about him, but she had never seen him act so serious before, complete respect on his part to his deceased father, the man she knew he loved and idolized.

"Please", she replied as she touched the rose in the vase, "give me your blessing to stand by your sons' side, as I love him dearly and won't ever leave it."

Kaito turned to her in surprise, but she ignored his look as she bowed her head in respect and then stood up before smiling down at Kaito who smiled back.

"Forever is an awful long time", he whispered as he held her hand, swinging it back and forth as they walked out of the graveyard.

"Yes, but I think with you…" she said stopping to face him, "Forever is barely a lifetime."

He grinned as he drew her to him and passionately kissed her. They probably would have stayed like that, enjoying the feel good moment, but it seemed fate had other plans for the happy couple.

"Long time no see, Kudo-san", said a voice.

Kaito and Shinara both jumped to see a familiar face standing just outside the graveyard gate.

"Bourbon", whispered Shinara in surprise, "I heard you escaped, but I thought you would be with your police unit."

"Change of plans has forced me to reconsider my options", he replied, "The boss of BO is back and he has your name being spread far and wide to bounty hunters and assassins everywhere, along with the name Kaitou Kid and Shiho Miyano."

Shinara unconsciously tightened her hold on Kid's hand when his name was mentioned. Bourbon noticed it and smiled as he glanced at the boy with her whose face was unreadable, even for someone like him who was trained to see everything.

"You must be Kaitou Kid", he said with a smile, "The Shiho Miyano imposter no doubt. Vermouth mentioned you. I just never expected you to be the son of Toichi Kuroba."

"You knew my dad?" Kaito asked in surprise.

"I did, but now is not the time for a discussion of this caliber. Do you have somewhere safe we can talk?"

"We can go to Professor Agasa's place. Sherry will want a word with you as well."

"So she is alive", he stated, not in the form of a question, "Please then, Ms. Kudo, lead the way."

Shinara did as requested, but Kaito kept an eye on the stranger called Bourbon the entire trip there and even after arrival, he refused to look away. There was something about this guy… something strange.

AI POV

To say Ai was surprised when Shinara walked in with both Kaito and Bourbon in tow, would be a horrible understatement. Ai was downright shocked. She stared at Bourbon who just stared back, both equally surprised by the others appearance.

"Long time no see, Sherry-san", he said with a smile.

She did not smile back, but she did turn to Shinara with a raised eyebrow, clearly waiting for answers.

"He said he has information about the boss of BO to share with us and he needed somewhere safe."

Ai sighed. She really didn't want to deal with this right now, but she would rather know about possible danger now than later when it happens.

"So start talking", she demanded.

He smiled and leaned forward, his chin resting on his hands.

"The BO boss is targeting you three. He has a headquarters not far from here in an underground facility where he, Korn, and Chianti are together trying to get others on their side. If you go after them now, you might just survive, but if you wait, they will surely grow exponentially in size. If that happens, you can almost bet most of you won't be coming back, because they won't let a trap like what happened before happen again once they're prepared."

"So what do we do?" asked Kaito.

"I have my own police force on hold, waiting to move in when I give the word. If I were you, get any allies you have together. You will need everyone if you want to stomp them into the ground without a single rat getting away again, unlike last time. I will watch for a while and when the timing is right, I will contact you. Sound good?"

"How do we know we can trust you?" asked Sherry with a glare.

"Like I know I can trust you, Sherry-san", he replied with a smile.

She deepened her glare, practically burning a hole through the man as he stood and walked towards the door. He stopped however and turned back to face her.

"You obviously don't like me Sherry-san. Why not?"

"Isn't that obvious. You were there when they killed my sister Akemi and you didn't stop them!"

Bourbon frowned, a pained look flittered across his face but it was so brief everyone thought they had imagined it. Everyone but Kaito who was the master of masks. He could see the pain behind the man's eyes and he finally understood why the man seemed to be feeling so nervous. He was nervous because he felt responsible for Ai's sisters' death. He had loved her and now he was afraid to face the only one who reminded him so much of her.

"You loved her, didn't you?" Kaito asked.

The man flicked his gaze at Kaito in surprise before lowering his head with a grim smile, "Yeah…I suppose I did."

"Then why!" yelled Sherry.

"I didn't know!" he yelled back, "I didn't know they were going to kill her. I wanted to protect her and protect you, but I couldn't … I didn't know. When they shot her, I couldn't move. I couldn't even register what had occurred until the others had left the room. I didn't want her to die…"

He sighed as he shook his head and rubbed his hands through his hair.

"I'm sorry, Shiho", he said looking at Ai, true grief blurring his vision as he begged her to hear him out, "I loved Akemi so much, but I couldn't…I couldn't protect her. I couldn't even protect you who they went after next. When I found out that they had killed you too…"

He stopped, his eyes squeezed shut. Ai watched him, her own heart softening at the pain she saw buried deep inside. She and her sister had spoken often and she knew her sisters feelings. Akemi too had been in love with the young man called Bourbon…no, she thought shaking her head mentally, she had been in love with the young man called Rei Furuya.

"Rei", Ai called and he looked up in surprise at the name, "Akemi loved you as well. I just think you should know that."

Rei didn't say anything as he lowered his head, frozen for a moment before giving a bow towards Ai and walking out, closing the door behind him, no doubt deep in grief.

Ai just smiled as she watched him walk down the sidewalk, his shoulders shaking ever so slightly. She had forgiven the one her sister loved…but she still had her own revenge to take before Ai would ever be satisfied for her sister's sake.

"Be prepared Chianti", Ai whispered as her gaze darkened, "I am coming for you."