Indigo
By Icka! M. Chif

Kaito is not a boy.

Well, okay, he is a boy, he's just never been one to me. Does that make sense?

Let me start over.

Kaito and I first met in front of the Clock Tower Kid the Phantom Thief tried to steal a few months back. I think we were just entering first grade at the time. Dad had said to wait for him there, he was busy but he was going to try to pick me up from there.

Dad eventually did show up, but by that time I had forgotten all about him. Kaito, bold as day, had walked up to me and introduced himself, giving me the first flower I'd ever received. I think I still have it somewhere, not that I'd tell him that. It's dried out by now, and the colour has faded, but the memory of it still makes me smile.

We lost track of time, running around in front of Clock Tower, talking and laughing. By the end of an hour, we had already decided with all the wisdom in our young hearts that we had just found our new best friend, with whom we were going to be with forever.

And we have too.

Kaito was the first person I ever met who was like me, a little bit touched. Not touched like most people mean, mentally insane, even if that is occasionally debateable. But touched as in touched by the Wild, something untameable. Both of us are, he to a far greater extent than I. Neither of us can quite blend in, no matter how much we try. Which, I have to admit, isn't very often.

It was to my surprise a few days later when school started that Kaito appeared in my classroom. I grinned, waved and invited him to sit next to me.

We've sat next to each other ever since then. Even when the teacher has assigned seats, or put us in alphabetical order, we've always ended up side by side. It's become a bit of a running joke, a bit of a habit. The few times that we haven't ended up next to each other it's felt odd not having him by my side until he's joined me again.

Then there was the one time in third or fourth grade, just about the time that kids develop the irrational fear of 'cooties' from the opposite gender, that I had a slumber party over at my house. Dad was insistent on the fact that it be 'girls only', even though I whined and begged and pleaded to let him have Kaito come. Because Kaito wasn't some icky boy, Kaito was Kaito, right?

But Dad was insistent that it be only girls. So just as everyone was arriving, Kaito shows up, climbing up the wall to appear in my bedroom in the confusion. Only it's not quite Kaito. He had a fake braid and was wearing the cutest little pink pyjama top and bottoms I've ever seen, with little hearts and clouds all over them. He demanded to be called 'Yume', refusing to respond to anything else.

So 'Yume' joined the party and we all had a good time, Kaito blending in as if he'd always been one of the girls. I don't think Dad ever figured out that there was an extra person at the party either...

It's worked both ways. I can't tell you how many baseball and soccer games I've gotten into because of Kaito's insistence to the other players that I wasn't a girl, I just happened to wear a skirt.

Actually, I think that's where the skirt flipping thing came from, sliding into the bases during baseball games. It wasn't that he was interested in a being a pervert or anything, it was that he was surprised that my underwear came in different colours. At least originally, even though he still occasionally acts depressed if I'm just wearing plain white. But now I think it's an excuse to try new tricks and get me to chase him around.

I like chasing him around. No one else can move as quickly or as gracefully as Kaito can, and I'm the only one who can keep up with him long enough to really see it.

Not that I've ever told Dad about that.

Kaito is one of the few people Dad actually approves of to a certain extent. He's come home late a few times to find Kaito and I fast asleep on the couch, watching a movie or studying, something like that. If it was anyone else, he probably would throw a fit. But because it's Kaito, it's okay. Kaito's not a boy. He's just... Kaito.

I've caught Dad a few times, in that haze between wakefulness and not, carefully covering us up with a blanket. If I ever said anything about it, he'd probably deny it, so I smile instead and say nothing.

In return, Dad is one of the people Kaito actually respects. He'll ask how Dad's doing, or if Dad's working late on a case, Kaito'll suggest we bring him something to eat. Just small things, but enough to know that he cares.

Other people might find it strange that I was raised by my Dad and Kaito, but to me it's not. I wouldn't imagine it any other way. It's been that way for almost as long as I can remember, and I thought it would never change.

Well, I was wrong.

The other day I glanced over at Kaito and realised something that shook me to the core. He was staring past me, to look outside the window as he often does. Maybe it was the set of his jaw, or something in his eyes, but for the first time I realised that sometime while the rest of us were busy with schoolwork and friends, Kaito had grown up. He'd become a man. A young man, but a man none the less.

I felt awkward then, like a drab sparrow next to a radiant phoenix. We'd always been side by side before, and yet somehow Kaito had moved far ahead of me without me realising it.

He noticed my stare and tossed me a wink, giving me that crooked grin that he saves for special occasions, the one that he only seems to give me. I hesitantly smiled back, then turned to face the teacher again.

But I haven't forgotten. Something has happened, something that has made him mature, made him change from the carefree egomaniac I've always known. Something that he won't tell me about, something that started when the Kid re-appeared again. I don't know what it is, but it really doesn't matter either.

Because I'm maturing too. And some day, I'll run beside him again.

-fin-

'Yume' means 'Dream', by the way.