Author's note: My muse went wild on that one. She decided she wanted to write AUs, and thoroughly proceeded to kick me in the shin all day until I complied. So. Blame her first. -Muse Insertion: We BOTH wanted to write AUs, girl!-
Warning: Other worlds. A lot of them. And probably OOCs, logically.
-
Among AUs And Other Niceties
-
Tangles of threads. A streak of red, somehow.
-
In a world with one sun and far too many moons, a young girl of eight or thereabouts smoothed nervously down the skirt of her new school's uniform, waiting behind her teacher as she slid the classroom door open and introduced her to the other pupils. "Minna, this is Nakamori Aoko. Please be kind to her."
The girl gave one short, shy little bow.
"Now, where is there an empty seat… ah. Oh. Kaito-kun, would you please raise your hand? Go and sit next to Kaito-kun, Aoko-chan."
'Kaito-kun' was a boy with bright blue eyes and wild black hair, and a smile that would never die. "Aoko, uh? Nice to meet you!" A red rose erupted from in between his fingers. "I'm Kuroba Kaito. Let's be good friends, okay?"
Marvelling at the magic trick, Aoko accepted both the rose and the smile.
-
Dimensions away, in a world of infinite rain, one infamous, white-dressed phantom thief and the daughter of the police officer determined to catch him both sat in a narrow cabinet with no light and a door very much stuck.
The latter was sitting against the wall and sulked, glaring at the thief (who'd seated himself comfortably opposite her) as though this was all his fault. (Most likely it was.) "This is all your fault, you realize that?" she said, in an undertone that clearly meant she'd rather be anywhere but here.
"Ye-es," he replied, sounding thoroughly unconcerned. "Possibly. Well, we'll just have to wait until your father comes and gets us out of here, ne?"
"Yes, and then you can expect to be caught shortly," she said with a voice of most satisfaction.
The thief just smiled. He seated himself more comfortably, arms behind his head, thinking he'd already been caught, though she didn't know it yet. The rain pattered and rattled against the tiny window in his back, drowning the sky outside in a dark blue-grey, closing them in a world of their own.
-
Worlds apart, in a city where light reigned from nightfall and people danced, talked, laughed, walked till dawn, a soon-to-be bride was preparing to meet her soon-to-be husband, lacing her long dress grudgingly and very much determining not to love him.
In the next room, only separated by a thin door, a young man with blue eyes, and dark hair so wild even his silk black hat couldn't flatten it, was arranging his tie rather sulkily in a mirror and wondered why in the world his mother had forced him into an arranged marriage with a perfect stranger.
Both were ready, then.
The door swung open.
-
Meanwhile, in a world where cities spread over continents and forests were being massively destroyed, a young scholar working on a history thesis was settling in her new university flat, and was currently trying to fit her bed in a repulsive corner. Finally achieving it and satisfied with the result, she went out on the iron landing to get some more boxes.
Her immediate neighbour, a young man with black hair messed by the wind, who'd abandoned his studies in favour of working for a reputed magician, was just coming back from getting nikumans at a street sale and was currently running up the stairs two at a time, scarf flying, whistling to himself.
They collided at the corner.
Shouting – and flying nikumans – ensued.
-
In a world in greys and blacks with dark, narrow streets and hurried people wearing worried looks, a young man whom no one had ever seen in this part of town sat at the counter of a café; the place glowed dimly in the dark streets and about half the district's population had gathered there to gossip.
They were all sitting or standing around tables where candles had left wax stains, all of them with grim faces and dusty miners' clothes. They all talked together in low, fast voices, and eyed the stranger with wary suspicion.
"What's going on here?" he asked the café's owner, who'd just placed a cup of coffee on the counter in front of him.
She turned back to him, her eyes unexpectedly blue in the gloomy atmosphere. "War."
-
In a world with excruciating heat during the day and cool sweeping winds at night, a girl wearing a long cloak walked up to the top of the highest dune and watched the muted stars and the quivering curves of the desert. She sat there, and remembered a young man from another tribe, who had once, when they were only children who ignored the very leaning of love, given her a gypsum flower; and she counted the days until they could meet again.
Half a desert away, a young man with wild black hair did the same, watching the same star patterns and remembering a girl with angry blue eyes, a pouting face, and a laugh too clear and bright to forget. He lay in the sand with his arms under his head, hood falling down a little on his shoulders. These nights were the longest ones.
-
In a world with no sun and the sky only roaming, dark-violet clouds, the air filled with smell of blood and rust, the battlefield was silent. A hiss of pain, a clash of metal, and one of the abandoned warriors crawled over to the side of another, though she bore different colours.
"Hey," he whispered, with a smile – it was raw and broken, and slowly faltering, but for some reason it comforted her to know that even up to their deaths he would always wear that smile she hated. It would be lies to the end.
"I hate you-"
"I know-"
Then they were silent and still under the dark clouds. There was no dawn here to wait for.
-
In a world with the sky a blinding white and endless snow spreading as far as the eye could see, so far that no one quite knew where the ground began and the sky ended, a fire rose and crackled in a shed of dark wood.
In their dance, the flames cast reddish glimmers on the two bodies entangled on the hearth-rug, tracing the quivering skin with orange-gold reflects; the sudden fizzling of sparks and cracking of logs hid whatever small noises they made by accident.
In the shivering devotion and passion and lust of love-making, each moan and whimper was a promise; and in the golden glow of the fireplace, their intertwined fingers appeared as though linked by a tangle of thin red threads.
Outside, a storm rose and raged around the cabin, but inside, everything was right, and warm, and as it ought to be.
-
She had never thought that one day his smile would die. It just wasn't right, not now, not here. But it was, and as she looked at her best friend's expressionless profile as he sat by the window alone, it was more painful than anything she had experienced.
She took him by surprise but he showed nothing of it. Her arms encircled his chest from behind and her head bent on his shoulder, hair almost tickling his neck. The phantom of a caress, maybe. "Kaito…"
"Go away, Aoko."
Not tired, not muffled as though he just wanted to keep away, but blunt. Harsh. Sincere, for once. He was like water in her hands.
"I'm not letting go," she whispered, pressing herself against his back, but words – his or hers – meant but little now.
-
In a train, in a world at night with only mountains and forests to journey by, the headlights hurling on their dark shapes, two strangers alone in a compartment met, talked, and grew to know more of each other. He made her frown, she yelled at him, he laughed (a lot), and finally managed to make her smile.
"… What?"
"Nothing. You're pretty when you smile like that."
And as the weeks-long night darkened and deepened around the train, and the glow from the gas lamp by their window was the only light they could see in the darkness, they huddled on their sleepers, and eventually she allowed him to take her in his arms – only because it was a bit cold, of course.
-
In a world made of silk with only dreams to tread on, a young woman was standing in front of a tombstone.
Here lies Kuroba Kaito
He will be loved and regretted
May he rest in peace
Aoko whimpered, hid her face in her hands, and cried. It had been two years since the news had come to her, just as she was driving home – but she had no idea what had happened during that lapse of time. All that mattered was here, and now, and Kaito… oh god, Kaito…
"Aoko?"
A hand laid on her shoulder. A young laugh filled the air. "It's time to go home now, Aoko…"
She opened her eyes. She was sitting in her car again.
"Kaito?"
WAKE UP.
-
And in a world with darkening blue skies and a clock tower that chimed past the time, a boy of seven or eight met a girl with a somewhat rueful face and asked her why she was looking so sad, all alone like that.
"It's my dad," she replied, cautiously. "He said he'd be playing with me, but he's working…"
She looked down, her blue eyes darkening as quickly and beautifully as the sky overhead. The boy hesitated, then extended a hand to produce a flower – one of the only magic tricks his father had taught him so far.
"Here, I'm Kuroba Kaito," he said, the girl looking up in wonder. "Nice to meet you."
And that was it – the beginning.
-
It was just a thread among the tangle, but it was there, and that was enough.
-
Now let me ask you a question. Which of all eleven scenarios above would you like to see as a proper oneshot?
1. the 'new pupil' scenario,
2. the 'stuck in a closet' scenario,
3. the 'arranged marriage' scenario,
4. the 'new neighbour' scenario,
5. the 'café' scenario,
6. the 'desert' scenario,
7. the 'enemies' scenario,
8. the 'lovers in a shed' scenario,
9. the 'dying smile' scenario,
10. the 'in a train' scenario,
or 11. the 'dreamworld' scenario?
-holds out reward: plates of beautiful, yummy white-chocolate-chip cookies-