Declaimer: I don´t own Detective Conan
Words: 3 837
Time
The sky was bright, no clouds covering it as the sun shone strongly; rays of white light hit ting the windows, enveloping in mystery the teen with black hair that was quietly sleeping on a white bed. For a moment, he seemed out of that world, pale skin glittering with a translucent shine, eyes closed in a peaceful, serene expression. Dark hair, almost black, surrounded his sharp features, while long eyelashes contrasted against the skin. For a faint moment, everything was simple, silent, perfect…
"NO!"
The scream interrupted the stillness as the sleeping figure shot up, eyes wide with unexplainable horror only their owner had had witnessed, burning violet gems. Shacking violently, the teen´s long arms warped around his body, while he looked ruthlessly around, shattering the peaceful illusion from earlier like glass.
The teen was confused; his mind was strangely fuzzy, thoughts dragging out in a painfully slow way, as he tried to understand what had happened. Nothing made sense, at least not to him, the bright room only bringing more confusion. A part of him expected his body to hurt, who knows why, and he actually braced himself for the eminent pain that he was sure was about to hit, only to be left hanging.
Nothing hurt. His wound, wound?, which was supposed to burn like the cursed hell… well, he couldn´t feel it. All he felt was an unexplainable stiffness in his muscles, and a faint drowsiness only associated with a long period of continuous sleep. His head ached slightly, specially the spine, and he wondered for how long he had been sleeping.
Sleeping? Wound? Slowly, the thoughts connected with one another and eyes widened in disbelief, as memories flooded in. Right, he had been shot and had lost a lot of blood and apparently had been brought into a hospital, what explained why he wasn´t lying in his own bed, wearing his loved pajamas and being attacked by a group of hungry doves…
Sighing, the teen gave the room another long look, admitting that yes, it was a hospital room. No one could mistake it for anything else, the faint scent of anesthetics a dead give-away. It was empty, only him lying there surrounded by machines, not that he expected someone to be with him. He recognized some of the machines, having seen them before; they measured his heart rate and brain activity, and he could live with it. However, the IV had to go, and soon, already irritating him beyond belief. While he didn´t mind needles, the feeling they gave while being stuck in the arm wasn´t pleasant.
Reaching to take it off, his mind couldn´t help but wonder what happened after he passed out that day. Clearly someone had rescued them, however, it wasn´t enough for him to stop worrying. What happened? What day was it? How long had he been unconscious?
By now it was obvious that his wound had been worse than he had expected, but even that didn´t explain why he felt like he had sleep for a long period of time...
"I have no time for this!" The teen suddenly stated, jumping from the white bed he had been lying on, ignoring the faint blood that ran down his arm as he removed the IV. For a moment, he felt extremely week, his knees threatening to give in under him. Nevertheless, the violet-eyed teen was anything but stubborn, and persisted, steading himself on his shaky legs while a hand was making its way to the many monitoring cables surrounding him, swiftly plugging them out.
A loud siren filled the room, startling the poor boy as he stumbled backwards, falling on the bed as a door opened violently, and worried people in white rushed in, eyes moving to their patient. For a long moment, no one said a thing, just staring at the cursing teen whose legs were sticking out of the bed, surprised. Some would have laughed if not for the heart attack they had received just moment earlier.
"Kaito!" One of the newcomers, the only one dressed in normal clothes, called him with a smile as she saw that her child was awake and currently trying to steady himself once again on his legs, running forwards, her grin widening every second. "Kaito, you scared me just now! How many times do I have to tell you not to unplug cables?"
Blinking, the teen named Kaito looked up, grinning at her. "Mom. Just the person I was looking for! Hey, how long have I…?"
"Oh no you don´t, sit down, young man, before I force you." Surprised, Kaito didn´t even fight as he was pushed backwards, falling on the bed once again, instantly being surrounded by doctors. His mom seemed worried for a moment there, and once again he wondered how long he had been sleeping. His last memories were rather incoherent, but enough to know that he needed to check on a certain someone before a misunderstanding arose between them. Not to mention call Aoko… he honestly dreaded their future encounter.
However, for the next hour he hadn´t even a chance to ask what date it, as he had been looked over again and again by different specialists, given some pills and pushed back into the bed. To say he was surprised, and equally disturbed by the excessive care, was an understatement. His tongue was dying to talk, while hands itching to practice magic, any magic actually. One thing he was certain, unless he was dying, he wasn´t going to go to a hospital any time soon.
"Will you cut it out?" The teen finally snapped when another doctor came, asking the same questions as those before him, making Kaito want to hide somewhere. "I am fine, there is nothing wrong with me!"
Blinking, the doctor stared at him for a moment, before smiling patronizingly and trying to resume with the pointless questioning. Honestly, exactly why did they need to know what was he thinking and feeling? It wasn´t their damn business, all he wanted was to leave that cursed white place, since it was starting to bore him to death.
Kaito was worried.
The teen usually kept his emotions under tight reign, but for some reason, a certain part of him was currently panicking, putting him on edge. He had expected a certain little detective to visit by now. Mom had seen him alive and kicking, certainly she would call the person he wanted to see the most, right? Right? Could it be something happened with Tantei? No… no, that couldn´t be it, he hadn´t been shot for her to end up hurt. Not to mention his mom would have said something by now… right?
"Kuroba-kun, is there something on your mind? I am here to listen, if you want to say something…" Giving the doctor, who probably was a psychologist or something, a glare, he clenched his jaw. Tantei was fine. Yes, she was probably just busy with another case or on home arrest… "Kuroba-kun?"
"Shut up, I am thinking!" Kaito lashed without thinking, moving towards the edge of the bed. No, he couldn´t continue doing this. All the speculation was making his brain hurt and mood worsen. "Where is my mom? I need to talk to her."
"Kuroba-kun, we know you are probably confused, and if you have any questions I am ready to answer. Your last memory was of being shot, it is obvious you are scared and…" The doctor didn´t continue, interrupted by the cold glare.
"Doctor, for the last time, I am completely fine. I am not in denial, I am not scared, and certainly I have no problems with the fact I was shot." Surprised, the doctor hadn´t had a chance to answer as the teen continued. "All I want is to talk to my mother and be released. That´s all I need, and if this stupid questioning continued, I swear I will be failing a complaint. There is nothing wrong with me physically, and if I ever feel any problems psychologically, I promise I´ll seek out help immediately. Now, can I see my mother?"
Kaito wasn´t sure how his speech would be accepted, but it wasn´t like he cared much. While any other day he would have thought twice about being so blunt, after all a flawless manipulation was more of his style, he was tired and confused, and probably scared that something happened to Tantei. There was only one person who could answer his questions, and it certainly was not the doctor.
Without a word, the white dressed old man left the room, giving the teen one last glance before closing the door softly. For a moment, he considered running away to go and look for Tantei. It would be so easy… the only person who had ever managed to keep him bedridden was his mother, and if she didn´t allow him to be released, escaping would be easy.
Nevertheless, he quickly perished the thought, frowning in displeasure. His body was weak, his legs barely managed to carry his weight enough to stand still, and surely once he tried to walk, it would be ten times worse. He could always crawl, but he doubted he would go far before someone caught him. Image of Hakuba crawling away from evil doctors almost made him smile. Now that would be fun to watch… but he knew the damn detective would never crawl, not even at the blink of death.
Sighing once again, Kaito propelled himself against the fluffy pillows, staring at the white celling without actually seeing it. He was tired and even though he probably spend a couple of days sleeping, he felt his eyes close on their own accord. It would be so easy to just forget his worries and sleep… but then again, it would do nothing to solve them.
As the door creaked open slowly, his violet eyes rested on the intruder, refusing to smile as his mother walked in, as always dressed tastefully. "Hello again, dear." She said as she moved quickly towards him, sitting down before the idiot tried to stand up. "I was told you wanted to talk to me?"
Giving her a slight glare, which was answered with the biggest smile Chikage could manage, he sighed. "Mom, how long have I´ve been unconscious? And can you tell those doctors that everything is completely fine with me? It´s not the first time I was shot and I never had any issues, I believe I will not have problems this time either."
"Oh, my little Kaito…" She mumbled as she suddenly hug him tightly, shutting her eyes tightly to stop the tears that threatened to fall. She had finally managed to recompose herself after seeing him so alive again, and she knew he didn´t need to know how badly she had been affected. "You were out of it for about three weeks. Your body went into a shut down. Doctors assured me you would wake up, so I patiently waited. You always liked to sleep in after all."
Three weeks? Wow, now that wasn´t something he had been expecting. Heck, he doubted anyone expected to sleep for so long… "Now… now that was long." His mind went blank for a moment, and he wasn´t sure what to say or even think.
"I know, I know…" Chikage smiled slightly, ruffling his hair with fondness. "A lot happened while you were sleeping. Do you want to hear everything now, or do you need a moment to let everything sink in?"
"Now. I don´t think I can wait for long… wait, what happened to Shinichi? Where is she? Is she alright?" Why hadn´t she appeared yet?
"Shinichi is… recovering." The widow wasn´t sure it was the best time to tell him, but something told her he wouldn´t rest until he knew. "The cure was found and she took it. The result, however, was bad… From what I heard, it will take a while for her to recover, but she will recover."
Shinichi had her cure? Then… then Tantei-kun was finally Meitantei? Now those were great news… kind of. Frowning, Kaito considered the situation, sighing loudly. He had feared what would happened once she took a permanent cure after how thin she looked the last time, but at least she is alright.
"When will I be able to visit her?" Suddenly glancing at her warily, his eyes swept the room, frowning. "I´m not saying here for long, right? Please, I´ve been here awake for two hours and I already hate it."
Laughing freely for the first time in weeks, Chikage shook her head. "No, Kaito, you won´t have to stay here. I already started the process to release you. As you noticed, your body is slightly unaccustomed to walking, having done no exercise for long, but I believe it´s something we can quickly rectify with proper exercise."
"What about Shinichi?"
Kaito didn´t miss how his mother´s eyes shine diminished slightly, and his stomach started twirling uncomfortably. "Shinichi is not here, Kaito. She is out of the country actually… she needs time to recover from everything. The organization left a bigger mark on her than anyone noticed, and her parents thought some time away from Japan will be good for her. I do not know where she is or when she will come back… I´m sorry Kaito."
Shin-chan was out of the country? Really? Hadn´t he warned her once about disappearing? Sure, Kaito might have been unconscious, but at least she could have left a message. That little… once he was well enough, he was going to look for her.
"No, Kaito." Snapping out of it, his eyes met with his mother´s, gem against gem. "She needs space. Allow her to think alone and decide what she wants. It´s time she reflected on her life and decided what future holds for her. You did what you could, there is nothing you can do now."
The world, Kaito reflected as he stared out of the window in his class, was actually an extremely unpleasant place. Or maybe, it was him that was out of it, glaring at the pink flower petals that were silently falling from the blooming trees, eyes narrowed. Perhaps it was him after all… everyone else seemed happy enough, he reflected, as the friends reunited with each other.
"Earth to Kaito."
A voice called him firmly, but the teen only sighed sadly, refusing to move from his spot near the window, wishing it was raining or something. Then maybe others would stop asking him what was wrong and pretend it was because of the rain. After all, who could be so sad on such a good April day? Flowers were blooming, birds were singing, school was starting, and Kaito was digging a hole for himself as he stared at the reunion of two stupid lovebirds…
"I said KAITO!" Aoko yelled right into the teen´s ear, and the poor boy jumped up startled by the sound, falling on his butt as he lost his balance. "God, this is the third time I have called you, you idiot! How dare you ignore me like this!"
"A-Aoko…" Kaito stated while trying to stand up, failing miserably as the girl took one-step forward, glaring at him with her unforgiving dark blue eyes. "I´m sorry, I´m sorry, I just didn´t hear you and…"
"Enough, Kaito, it´s time for you to stop!" Crossing her arms, Aoko sighed loudly, giving a cold glare at anyone who dared to approach them. In less than a minute, everyone left the room in hurry, not in the mood to witness a fight of such proportions on their second week of school.
It was already April, and they were back for their last year of high school. Aoko still remembered like it was yesterday the day when Kaito came back from hospital, having been in a slight coma for almost three weeks. She had expected him to be happy, since Christie had been found and saved, but her friend had not even smiled, quickly hiding in his room. And from that day on, it only got worse.
Kaito´s smiles started lacking happiness. He still joked and behaved as usual, but something was seriously wrong with him, and he was no longer as easy going as before. There were moments, when he thought that no one was looking at him, that his eyes grew dark. It had worried her to such a point she had forced him to tell her… only to be mildly surprised. Of course it was related to Kudo Shinichi, the poor girl had been doomed ever since her stupid friend fell in love with her. However, to think she was sick to the point of being hospitalized…
"Enough is enough, Kaito!" Aoko said as he stood up, frowning. "You cannot allow a broken heart to command all your life. Not to mention, are you even sure she doesn´t like you? She was sick, she had to be taken away in order to recover. I bet she isn´t even allowed to call, not to mention visit you. Who knows how long it will take her to recover? Stop being such a pessimist, I thought you were the optimist of us two."
Giving her a slight glare, Kaito refused to answer, knowing she was right. However, that marked the end of the third month since Shinichi disappeared, and he felt like he had the right to sulk a little. It´s not as if he was acting all depressed every single day, right? They could make an exception and allow him just one day of self-doubt and dark thought…
"I know that you are worried." Aoko continued, squeezing his shoulder slightly. "However, there is nothing you can do for now but wait…"
"Well, maybe I am sick of waiting!" Kaito snapped, giving her a cold glare. Someone could at least let him know she was alive, for god sake, but no, it was too much trouble! Who knew, maybe she died after all and was never coming back again, and he was just stupidly waiting… "It´s been three months, and I don´t even know what is going on! I am worried and I don´t like now knowing!"
Blinking, Aoko stared at him for a moment, saying nothing. The silence was almost too much to take, but she reminded silent, just absorbing everything he said. For someone as controlling as him, it was obvious the unknown was killing him. Wasn´t he the person who had stalked her for a whole week when she refused to tell him who her new friend was? Wasn´t Kaito the idiot who had broken in her house when she refused to tell him what she had decided to give Keiko as a present when they were six? Kaito sometimes was a little too curious for his own good.
"I know it is hard for you." She finally mumbled after a sigh, helping him get up. "But what can we do? I know what you need. Ice cream! Today, after class, we are going to the new ice cream shop that opened just a week ago, and we are going to eat as much as we want. My dad owns me, so we can take his card."
"I don´t know, Aoko… I´m just… I want to sulk today."
"Oh, no you won´t. We are going to hang out all day and eat ice cream until you collapse from too much sugar. After that, I´ll drag you home and once you come around, we´ll eat chocolate cakes until it's too much. If we were older, we could go out drinking, but I believe sweets work for you." Giving her a small grin, Kaito thanked god for having such a good friend, before moving to his new seat as the teacher walked in, other classmates quickly returning when they realized the coast was clear.
Taking in his new classroom and classmates, he realized there were no new faces, though Hakuba wasn´t there that day and Akako was moved to another class. Thank god for that at least… he wasn´t sure he could handle another year with the witch. That said, it made him wonder why she changed classes and who would be transferring to their class. He doubted they would just allow a space to remain open.
A part of Kaito admitted Aoko was right… He might be slightly overreacting, but it was just so long… Three months of no news slowly were killing him, and the teen worried he would be able to handle it if it continued this way for longer. He already had ten possible heists finished and ready to be used, thirty new projects to start of magic tricks, and one day he had been so bored and worried that he actually read all their literature works for that year. The need to find something to take his mind away from Shinichi was so strong sometimes he actually dedicated some of his brains to school work. At least Aoko would be proud of him, all homework was finished in time.
Sighing, Kaito pretended to listen as their homeroom teacher rambled about rules once again and something about exams, staring at a piece of paper. Three months… his patience was running thin. Mom had left who knows where two week ago, he finally had the house just for him; perhaps it was time to start looking. And once again, he had to admit Aoko was right, who knew if she was allowed to call? The creepy scientist looked evil enough to prohibit her from calling or writing. Then again, he wondered how the detective managed to survive without a case all this time…
Talking about cases, maybe it was time to start doing heists again, his self imposed time-out already lasted for too long, and his planed heists were begging to be used. Snake had been caught, but Pandora was still out there, as well as few people who knew about it. He promised to himself he would find the stupid gem and destroy it, therefore Kid couldn´t resign just yet. Not to mention that he actually enjoyed being Kid, it gave a rush to his life he couldn´t find in his day a day life anymore.
Making up his mind, Kaito snuck his phone, starting to search for promising dates to send the notices. His return had to be big, it couldn´t be just any day… if only Tantei returned and came to his next heist, it would be awesome.
"Kuroba Kaito, start paying attention!"
Head snapping forward, Kaito was about to apologize, when his eyes met with bright blue gems that sparkled with amusement. Startled, the teen said nothing, taking in the image before him, as the person of his thoughts smirked at him irritatingly. What was… he was not hallucinating now, was he? He hadn´t ingested enough sugar for it to happen yet!
"Good afternoon. My name is Kudo Shinichi, I look forward to studying with you from now on."
A/N: Exams suck.
