DISCLAIMER: Magic Kaito is the respective creation and property of Gosho Aoyama.

AUTHOR: Melpomene-the-Tragic-Parody

MAIN CHARACTERS: Kaito Kuroba, Aoko Nakamori

CHAPTER: #13

TITLE: That Man

INSPIRED BY: ~ That Man, by Caro Emerald ~

~M.K~

Aoko quivered behind the doorway, blushing to the roots of her hair to the tips of her toes, and obvious compliment to the raging frenzy that was her heart. It wasn't as though this day wasn't awkward enough, all with the one bedroom mix-up wrought on when Chikage Kuroba booked them that getaway trip to Kyoto for Kaito's birthday. Even the hostess, a little old woman Aoko suspected was half-blind, thought they were married. She and Kaito had come to an understanding that, for their entire stay, the platform futon was for Aoko's use and he would sleep on the spare bedding from the cupboard. The idea of sharing a bed with him made it impossible to sleep at all.

If it hadn't been for the fact that he had gone out after dinner to only God knew where she would never have bothered to use the private open-air bath available to their room. She had assumed he was still gone when she arrived at the cozy onsen, prepared to relax in the heated water to her heart's content.

Instead, she had arrived in her very immodest towel to discover that he was already in the bath, gazing out at the night sky. She had stared for a full twenty seconds at that oblivious young man, entirely in shock to realize his return when it dawned on her that he was as nude as she and every contour of his back and arms gleamed beneath the water droplets flecking his fair skin.

He hadn't yet comprehended her presence, which was fortunate; she had taken the opportunity to dive behind the door before he could catch her staring.

'Jeez, that was a close one,' she thought desperately.

Now there was a haphazard war raging in her head. Counting on his ignorance, she could have her relaxing bath tomorrow. On the other, she had never realized how nicely toned Kaito actually was and a part of her was highly appreciative of it. Which, of course, did little to calm her poor heart.

'What are you thinking?!' she berated herself.

This was entirely inappropriate! She was going to have a serious discussion with Chikage when they got home. Aoko would never have dreamed of ending up in this situation. Well, not in the midst of reality, she realized with embarrassment; actual dreams were a different story when she had fallen for her ridiculous best friend and spent almost every day of her life with him. She peeked around the door's edge and discovered that he nettlesome dilemma had turned to face the open doorway, just enough for her to get a good look at his chest.

If possible, her blush darkened.

This was cruelty on behalf of Kaito's mother. What was that sneaky woman up to this time, arranging for her son and his female best friend to stay in one room and share practically everything like a married couple? Childhood friends, yes, but they had boundaries! They were underage; shouldn't adults frown on that sort of decorum? The thought only served to cause her more stress. In all honesty, it wasn't as bad as it seemed; Aoko could just walk away and Kaito would never have been the wiser to know that she had been nearby, wrapped in a towel so short that he had no room to flip anything.

That last thought almost made her squeak.

However, her little thoughts of what Kaito might actually do if he caught her melted when she realized that he had occupied himself with something one wouldn't generally take to an onsen: a sparkler. He spiraled it in ringlets, smiling at the streaks from the sparks. Did he buy those when he went out?

"What are you doing?" she asked without thinking.

She almost slapped herself in the face when Kaito's head whipped toward her and caught sight of her semi-hidden form by the doorway. His smiling lips fell open to gape at her. Between the two of them, she wondered, in a daze, who would achieve the creation of a new shade of red.

"A-Aoko?" he stuttered disbelievingly, a low, nervous chuckle escaping his lips. "I'm not sure if I should argue with this birthday present or not…"

Decidedly, it was Aoko who achieved the creation.

"YOU IDIOT!" she practically screamed at him. "Don't look, Bakaito!"

Instinctively, Kaito lurched backward, and a splash of water instantly doused his sparkler.

"Okay, easy, I was just kidding!" he said defensively, scratching the side of his face as his fluttering eyes darted to the nearest shrubbery. "Jeez, grow a funny bone, will you?"

Aoko huffed, tugging a stray lock of her dark hair.

"There's nothing funny about it!" she snapped. "What are you doing here? I thought you'd gone out!"

Kaito shrugged, the droplets on his skin glimmering. "I did, and now I'm back. That's not a crime, is it? You're not the only one staying in this room, remember?"

It wasn't as though she could easily forget, now could she?

"You know what? Never mind," she stated stonily. "I'm going now."

But she had taken only a few short steps (stomps would be more accurate) when Kaito cleared his throat.

"Uh, while you're here, could you pass me that bag?" he asked, still pointedly staring at the shrubbery. "Please? It's out of my reach."

There was a little black bag on the stool beside it, a short way out of reach that would require him to get out of the bath if he wanted it. Why he even put it so far away was beyond her. Aoko felt like dying at the thought of him even standing up and not… well… being properly covered.

Groaning with frustration, she stomped over to the stool and snatched the bag up, not caring about the danger that happened when she carelessly approached the bath edge and dropped it on the outlining stone rim. Before either of them could fathom the idea, Aoko slipped on the watery wooden planks as she turned to leave and promptly fell into the onsen with a squeal and a loud splash!

The sudden heat was numbing after shivering in the cool night air in a skimpy towel. Her mind and body flailed with panic, her senses overwhelmingly befuddled in their effort to regain control but all she could manage was a feeling of vertigo. Heated water pressed in around her, muffling all sound to her ears and air to her lungs. She faintly registered a pair of strong arms encircling her waist and tugging her upward, breaking her head past the water's surface; she yelped, gasping for air.

"Aoko!" Kaito exclaimed, panicked. "You okay? Aoko!"

Aoko gripped on his forearms as tightly as she could, spluttering out hot bath water and choking as she struggled to breathe. Kaito's hold was firm, preventing her from keeling over into the water again or blacking out from the sudden rush of heat. Some part of her registered that he had pulled her back against his chest; his heartbeat was as hard as hers.

"Aoko!" he repeated urgently.

"I-I'm fine," she choked out, leaning her head back on his shoulder as her lungs finally began operations as usual. The chilly night had melted into a fuzzy warmth as her skin adjusted to the changing temperature. Her heart slowed as she realized she was in no immediate danger of hurting herself. It could have been worse. She could have hit her head on the onsen's edge.

"Jeez, don't go scaring me like that, Ahoko!" Kaito complained, his warm breath tickling her ear.

Aoko turned to glare at him and froze in alarm. She found herself nose-to-nose with him, so close that she could smell his mint toothpaste and a bit of his pine soap. A new wave of heat flushed through her body at the horrifying realization that she had lost her towel somewhere in the fall, and that his arms were fully encased around her; she and Kaito were definitely NOT in the most platonic position.

She automatically crossed her arms over her chest, right beneath his left arm gripping across her collarbone.

She watched as his irritation slowly melted into confusion, and then to astonishment. Her eyes caught sight of his tightening jaw and his widening blue eyes, glimmering like sapphires in the moonlight. She would have been awed had she not been so mortified at being in this situation.

"Uh…" Kaito managed, his breath uneven and his Adam's apple bobbing nervously. His eyes flickered across her face, probably watching the rosy blush that had retaken her cheeks, mirroring that embarrassed blush he currently wore. Aoko could have screamed, but her treacherous mouth seemed to have lost its voice.

All they could do was stand there like idiot statues.

Their hearts were racing each other, both caught in a frenzy too difficult to differentiate from one another. His hold was strong and his skin was soft over lithely defined muscle. Had he grown taller? When did he become so well toned? Why wasn't she pushing him off her like a sane human being?

"K-Kaito, I… I c-can stand n-now," she stuttered breathlessly, her entire being starting to reach a combination of 'fight' and 'flight' now that 'freeze' was wearing off. Best friend or not, Kaito was a male and there were limits in their friendship. He was too close and she couldn't trust that she wouldn't do something stupid.

Aoko was sure they would never be able to look one another in the eyes ever again. She half expected him to smirk at her, make some cheeky innuendo to piss her off and reset the moment like it never happened; maybe she'd try to drown him for it. What she didn't expect was for his eyes to darken with a gaze both unfamiliar and highly intense.

A shudder passed through her being that had nothing to do with the night air. Was he…?

Aoko stumbled forward as Kaito quickly withdrew his arms from around her and took a step back, his eyes peering off at anything else but her. His entire expression had gone blank, unreadable as stone. He ran his hand through his dark, wet hair. It sprayed upward in an impossibly messier disarray. Aoko sank lower into the bath until the water had come up to her collarbone. It didn't help that her skin was imprinted with the feeling of his touch in that exact place.

"I'll, uh, leave you to it," he said awkwardly, wading to the bath's edge and grabbing his towel. Aoko averted her eyes as he stepped out of the onsen, wrapped it securely around his waist, grabbed the black bag he had asked for, and waddled toward the bedroom. "I'll get you another towel."

Aoko was tempted to just plunge herself back beneath the water and stay there.

The embarrassment was going to kill her! What the hell was she thinking? There was no way Kaito was remotely interested in her! For all she knew, their friendship could have just been ruined! Kaito liked curvier girls and Aoko was a pale stick. It wasn't as though he really made a move on her. In fact, he seemed eager to run away.

She ignored the hurt that came with it.

"Here." She flinched as Kaito returned, garbed in a long, fluffy white robe, rest a folded towel on one of the larger stones. "I put a robe as well, in case you wanted it."

"Thanks," Aoko said quietly. She couldn't look at him.

Maybe it was her imagination, but he lingered there for a few seconds, as if unsure to leave. But with a light sigh, he turned around and disappeared back into their room, leaving her alone again. With her desire to take a bath long diminishing and an instant impulse to just go home arising, Aoko dipped herself beneath the water's surface to retrieve her first towel and wrung it out at the onsen's edge. Then she climbed out and put on the robe, using the fresh towel to dry her hair.

Could she even go back in there? Aoko had never really been shy around Kaito since childhood, but this was a completely different situation. Flipping her skirt didn't count; all he ever glimpsed was her underwear before she commenced her skull-cracking mop technique.

It was difficult to choose between running away and killing him.

'Oh, just stuff it!' Aoko snapped at herself. 'You're a Nakamori! We don't run away! We face our troubles head on and beat them if we have to!'

Aoko took a deep breath and marched into the bedroom. It was absent of Kaito. Knees shaking, she approached the closed sliding door and opened it by a few inches, peering into the dining area, where the remaining half of his boxed birthday cake sat innocently on the table. He wasn't there either. He must have gotten dressed and left again.

It was probably for the best that she didn't have to face him yet.

~M.K~

Kaito's absence persisted for the remainder of the evening and well after Aoko had prepared for bed. It was a little past eleven when she finally snuggled under the warm sheets and prayed for dreamless sleep. It never came. Instead, Aoko found herself haunted by the feeling of Kaito's touch all over again. After all these years of being prodded, hugged, wrestled, and held by Kaito, this time had an effect she feared would never be forgotten. Little inescapable thoughts puzzled over the possibility of wandering hands and stealing kisses, just enough that Aoko threw the sheets over her head to hide her crimson face from the world.

If her father ever found out about this, they were both dead.

Rustling trees and crashing waves on the distant beach interrupted the silence clouding around her, occasionally accompanied with the frequent fall of a bamboo water pipe outside. It was nearing midnight when Aoko's anxious thoughts about the Incident coincided with her worry that something might have happened to Kaito. He had left no messages for her about where he had disappeared to and he should have been back by now. Kaito wouldn't have taken out the spare bedding if he planned on sleeping somewhere else.

A combination of curiosity and apprehension trenched the young Nakamori from her comforting covers to inspect the room outside.

Fingers trembling from the cold, Aoko knelt beside the door and pushed it open with a delicate touch, barely even making a single sound. In the shadows, her keen eyes recognized his lithe, lean figure curled up on the ground atop what must have been the spare bedding.

How long had he been there, she wondered.

Like earlier, he was twirling around a lit sparkler, drawing all sorts of nonsense in midair. Some shapes resembled the four suits of a card deck, a rabbit popping out of a hat, flying birds, Aoko's name, a rose…

The hiding girl blinked.

There were random things. Images and words of friends and places they would go together growing up. There was really nothing fancy other than the number of times he had written her name in kanji, hiragana, and even English.

"If you wanted one, all you had to do was ask."

Aoko almost fell flat on her back. Kaito hadn't even turned around, but she could hear that smirk in his voice. He must have known she was there all along. Surprisingly, the feverish embarrassment from earlier didn't send her reeling in the hopes that he would just ignore her. She just felt a bit guilty.

"Jeez," she sighed to herself. She got caught again. At least this time, they were both wearing clothes. Steeling her courage and accepting the warning of every alarm bell ringing in her head, she pushed the door open and crawled into the dining room, shivering at the significant drop in temperature.

"Should have figured you weren't sleeping," Kaito commented as she sat a fair distance from him.

Aoko folded her arms resentfully. "You expect me to sleep after what happened?"

Kaito leaned closer to the side opposite her, his current sparkler dying in his hand.

"It was better than you busting your head open," he said defensively. "I almost thought I had to take you to the hospital!"

Aoko deflated slightly. Truth be told, Kaito had only been concerned; it was what friends did. In her anxiousness, she did set herself up to fall, walking like a maniac. Had she not done it, their present conversation would have centered around a different topic.

"I'm sorry," she said ruefully. "It won't happen again. Let's just forget it, okay?"

Kaito was still and quiet beside her, his shadowy form pointed toward the bag in his hands. Why did her chest ache at this request? It wasn't as though she wanted him to remember that little encounter! It would be a decent improvement for their future if they disregard its existence entirely.

"No," said Kaito. "I'm sorry… but I can't do that."

Aoko's lungs restricted in her chest. "What?"

"You silly girl," he continued, abandoning the bag on the floor. "You really don't see it, do you? How hard it was to let you go…"

Aoko felt her world tilt to the side, wanting to throw itself in full one-eighty. What was Kaito saying? Her thoughts returned to the image of those darkening eyes before he pushed her away and threw on his best masks. Heat pooled along her neck and back, trickling down her spine.

"I don't know what you mean," she said hoarsely.

The strike of the lighter caught her eyes on his efforts to light another sparkler, dimly illuminating both their figures in the darkness. He lifted the thin firework between them and drew a rose in front of her face. It faded in seconds, but the imprint lingered in her vision. Kaito had always given her roses, ever since the first day they had met as children.

"No, I think you do," Kaito said plainly.

Icy fingers ran up and down Aoko's arms in her efforts to subside the rising goose bumps that had broken out under the intensity of his gaze, half-hidden in shadows but clearly pronounced toward her. Torn between the hopeful idea of what Kaito was suggesting versus outright denial of the whole matter, Aoko's hands tightened over her knees, shivering from both the cold and nerves.

"You have no idea what you're talking about," she said quietly.

"Aoko—"

"No, Kaito!" Aoko forced herself to stare into his eyes, faintly illuminated by the sparkler. "Please, don't. What happened was an accident. You don't have to try and make me feel better by humoring me."

The silence that was born between them lasted until the next clink of the bamboo water pipe.

"Humoring her, she says," she heard Kaito mutter. "Aoko, I'm not joking around."

Aoko's fingernails clamped painfully to her upper legs. Her lungs began to restrict. Numbly, she wondered if it was panic, excitement, horror, or a combination of all three. It dawned on her that she might have already fallen asleep and this was part of an impossible dream.

The painful pinch on her arm told her otherwise.

"Of all the ways I wanted this conversation to go, this wasn't one of them," he muttered, running his hand through his hair. She watched as he stood up and went to turn on the light, almost laughing at the sight of him in teddy-bear-printed pajama pants. He returned to her side and sighed when she averted her eyes from him.

"Aoko, look at me."

"What do you want me to say?" she blurted out. "The only bombs you ever drop on me are the ones with confetti!"

"I'm all out. That's why I had the sparklers, but if they won't work…" He took a deep breath. "Then it's better to show you than tell you."

Aoko's gasp of surprise when Kaito leaned forward was cut off by the sensation of his smooth lips pressed against hers, overwhelming her with the taste of chocolate cake. His hand gently pinched her chin upward and pry her lips apart for him to…

Aoko effectively forgot how to think for only God knew how long.

Her whole body molded into his embrace. She was beyond registering the cascading rush of emotion that had been born in her chest. It was only when her lungs wailed fretfully for air that she found the will to unwind herself from him, to feel the flush of the cold air on her heated skin and realize that he had fully enveloped her in his arms as he had before, only this time she had curled up on his lap.

Foreheads pressed together and warmed by each others nearness, Aoko half-expected something terrible to charge in and drag her back to reality, far away from the warmth of his touch and the longing in those deep sapphire pools.

Did it matter if Aoko was dreaming or not as one of his hands loved to caress her cheek with a silky touch? It hadn't turned into a nightmare yet but the need for clarity was just too strong to deny.

"Kaito," she whispered against his mouth. "Stop."

He did more than stop. Instead, his entire form froze. Her lips fell into an involuntary pout as he leaned away from her, his expression as guarded as it was at the onsen, but she glimpsed a trace of hurt in those eyes before they sealed over any secrets he could bear to her.

Her heart slowly sank but it was too late to turn back.

"I need an explanation," she said, failing to steady her uneven breathing. "I just… I don't even know… what to think…"

Kaito's chest heaved what Aoko guessed was a soundless suspire. It reassured her that he didn't seem angry with her confusion or hesitation.

"Thought I was being obvious," he said, a blush to envy a rose erupting along his fine cheekbones. "Or does kissing mean something different to you?"

It was harder to identify where the fire burned more: Aoko's cheeks or Aoko's eyes.

"I meant—" Aoko rolled on to the soft bedding beside Kaito, freeing them both from a growing awkwardness. Tucking her knees to her chest, she curled her arms protectively around them and held them close. "Why? Was it because of… you know…?" Her eyes narrowed on a tiny hole in her pajama pants. "Because if so, I've got a mop with your name on it if you're going to be that shallow!"

Kaito snorted unceremoniously and chose to take the moment and sprawl out on the soft fabric beneath them, tucking an arm beneath his head as a substitute pillow.

"Good to know," he said. "But if I was going to be that shallow, it wouldn't be with my Aoko, would it?"

Her breathing hitched. "Since when have I been your Aoko?"

"Since I found her under a clock tower," he replied teasingly. "And you know what they say: finders keepers..."

"Lose their presumptuous teeth?" Aoko finished innocently, a renewed warmth sparking around her chest at the mere glimmer in his eyes. Her chances of escaped narrowed to zeros with two arm arms lashed out, grabbed her around her middle, and began tickling her mercilessly wherever her slapping hands couldn't reach.

"Kaito!" Aoko complained, her sight blurred with tears of mirth. "Can't—breathe!"

It was with great reluctance that the young Kuroba released his companion from his tickle mania and allowed her the chance to gulp down clean air before she choked. However, his arms refused to relinquish her from his newfound embrace, and instead opted to lay close beside her so that they faced one another, sharing his pillow and all. Aoko supposed that should have upset her.

"You think I'm lying?" he guessed, catching onto her expression.

"Face it, Kaito," she said defensively. "You could be with any girl you want. Even Akako-chan. And she wants to be with you! I can't compete with her. All this time and you don't say anything until we're naked in the bath!"

The two remained silent, listening to the crashing waves and whispering trees until the sudden fall of the bamboo pipe.

"It's not because of that," he murmured, his breath tickling her lips. He caught the look on her face. "Not entirely because of that. You can say it gave me incentive. I guess I got tired of keeping it a secret. Wanting to be with you. Not Akako. You."

His words tempted Aoko to seriously consider if she had fallen asleep in that onsen and died because this was more than she expected from him. While the imprint of his touch activated wondrous shivers beneath her skin, his close proximity wasn't discomforting; surprisingly, it was no different than when they were younger and fell asleep on the couch during movie marathons: warm and safe. The rhythmic rise and fall of their chests slowly synchronized, their foreheads pressed together once more in the prolonged solace.

"Do I even want to know what you're thinking?" Aoko asked, her tone soft yet skeptical.

Kaito averted his eyes from her. "I prefer not to get my skull cracked tonight."

He settled for her 'playful' punch on the shoulder but maintained his hold around her waist, his lips reclaiming hers in what was a very chocolaty and chaste embrace.

"No tricks," he promised before she could protest. "No fanfare. No hidden cameras. Plain and simple. Really, who can resist a girl like you?"

Aoko blinked. "I thought I was a flat-chested boy to you?"

Kaito smirked. "Well, I have intel that that isn't the case…"

The second punch to his shoulder was less playful and serenaded by an ominous growl. But it wasn't enough to frighten him away.

"You're not making it easy to say a confession, you know," he complained, looking exasperated. "Going on about having any girl… If I wanted any girl, I'd already be with her. If I wanted to suffer, I'd be with Akako. But instead, the one girl who matters to me thinks I'm telling jokes."

"You've never given me a reason to think otherwise!" Aoko protested, all the while drifting in shock at his words. "Everything's a joke to you!"

"Because the truth was trickier than juggling cards," he countered. "You were more likely to do me in than date me. Yeah, I'm an idiot, I know. But I'm your idiot... if you'll have me."

Hope was a dangerous word when coincided with temptation. Aoko had always believed she had known Kaito better than anyone (well, besides his mother) to recognize if he had romantic interests in anyone. It had seemed that he never did. But something in his eyes trenched up tiny snippets around her noggin, demanding attention to solve the little mystery.

'There's the Aoko I know. I like her better,' Kaito had said that day in Tropical Land when she had tried to be girlish and sweet on their date but had been acting a little too hard to prove he wasn't Kid. He enjoyed her rowdy-self more and it showed in the gleam of his eyes.

'Really, you're so cold. Just like ice cream,' she had said to him.

'But ice cream… is sweet, too.'

The look on Kaito's face, configured beneath the dazzling glow of brightly color fireworks, Aoko had recognized a fondness in his eyes only present when something truly made him happy. She had assumed it was the ice cream, though his blush-worthy words had struck a chord with her.

She thought she had been teased again by his oddly flirtatious statement, but now she wondered if there was an element of truth there she had overlooked. Especially when its image was currently mirrored on his face. Poker face, be damned.

His hand reached to out and traced along her cheek. Her body betrayed her confusion and embraced his touch, her lips parting with a contented sigh.

It felt as though ages had passed since that evening when she was sure that Kaito's feelings for her would never graduate from being platonic. That her own growing feelings for him would remain her secret lest she lose him out of fear. Now here they were, in a position she had never predicted, waiting for an answer to part her lips. And she knew the answer she wanted to give, even though her doubts were screaming at her from all angles.

But hope won out; it had a strange habit of doing so when she least expected it.

Her voice refused to cooperate. Words were impossible to enunciate without it. So Aoko used the only option she had.

She grabbed Kaito's shirt collar and tugged him forward until his lips and once again molded to hers; and there was no denying his enthusiasm, either!

~M.K~

It was well past midnight and the room temperature had dropped too low for Aoko's liking; her toes were frigid beneath her covers. Or should she say Kaito's covers? Neither had removed themselves from the makeshift bed, enraptured in kisses and chatter sworn never to leave the room. In turn, tucking under the covers with him to escape possible hypothermia was less risking than the journey back to her room, especially since his warmth was too inviting to leave.

She bothered to confess this to him and frowned at his sudden chuckle.

"You mean to tell me that your birthday gift is a death warrant from your father?" Kaito wheezed, doubling over with laughter.

"Oh, just shut up and go to sleep!" Aoko snapped, wondering if the rosiness would ever leave her face for the night. But she pillowed her head on his chest and smirked at his elevated heart rate against her ear.

That man was going to drive her mad, but she loved him for it anyway.

~M.K~

FURTHER NOTES:

The quotes are references to 'Kaito Kuroba's Busy Holiday' when Inspector Nakamori suspect's that Kaito s Kid and Aoko takes him on a date to prove him wrong.

Reviews and criticisms are welcome.

—MELPOMENE-THE-TRAGIC-PARODY, signing out.