It's the small things

She barely makes it in time.

She runs, runs so fast her lungs burn and her legs nearly give out on her any time now, but she can't stop so she keeps running, forcing her body to overcome its boundaries, forcing it by sheer will alone.

It's when she crosses the long hall and bursts into the room that she jumps and screams and wrenches Hakuba to the floor.

"I won't let you!" she yells and jumps forward, successfully blocking his way. "Just turn around and leave. I won't let you go any further."

He looks up at her, bewildered with both anger and disappointment shining through his stoic eyes and stands up again, dusting his clothes from the dirt of the floor.

"He needs medical treatment, Nakamori-san. I'd kindly advise you to step aside and let me take care of him."

His eyes turn cold, a calculating gaze falling on her and she stiffens, readies her body to attack him if push comes to shove because whatever happens she won't let the detective past her.

"Also, Kaitou Kid's time is over. Step aside so I can arrest him."

Aoko doesn't budge a single millimeter, carefully observing Hakuba's movements. She hears the raspy breath behind her even through her own heavy heaves and knows she doesn't have much time, she feels the piercing gaze on her back but she can't take her eyes off of her opponent because that is what he has become.

She's not quite on speaking terms with Kaito ever since she found out that he is Kaitou Kid and though she isn't that angry that he is Kid, she's angry that he lied and tricked her, time and time again. Maybe she's more hurt than angry but either way, she can't quite stay away from him no matter what he does.

So, of course she goes to his heist when one is announced. She watches out for him, every time, and tries to find him in the masses, tries to anticipate his mask, his plan, his escape route. She doesn't know if she will help him should he require it, not until she hears through the radio how her father screams that Kid is shot and catch him, don't let him escape, call an ambulance and chaos, voices. She blends out the rest and runs.

Kid escapes her father's clutches of course, but with Hakuba it's harder and when there is a bullet embedded in his body, escape may become impossible.

In that moment Aoko knows where her loyalty lies and she knows her father will understand should he ever find out. She knows that there is that boy she loves so much, not just like a friend, because he is so much more.

So Aoko runs until she finds pathetic, cowardly Hakuba, too close to her injured friend and she just reacts.

She knows she needs to pull something to trick the detective, distract him, and she needs to do it fast but the fastest thing, which is sedating him, requires Kaito's help – which she doubts she'll get.

But she doesn't have much choice and her time is running out, she knows that, so since Hakuba will hardly shoot her, she starts moving backwards to Kaito, her eyes never leaving the detective. She'll use some of Kaito's sleeping gas and she'll take him and hightail out of there.

"Nakamori-san. What you are doing is criminal behavior. If you don't step aside now I will have to arrest you, too. What do you think your father will say when he finds out?"

When – not if but Aoko doesn't care. Aoko thinks she can live with being imprisoned, but she sure knows that she can't live with the knowledge that she could have saved Kaito and did nothing.

"I'd rather break the law than not be able to look myself in the eyes anymore."

With that she turns around, now only a few steps away from Kaito, and sprints towards him. Their gazes meet when she squats in front of him, desperately rummaging through all his pockets to find what she's looking for and she hears Hakuba's steps and she knows she's running out of time. And Kaito keeps looking at her, pained and hurt, his eyes dark and confused and Aoko would try to comfort him but Hakuba gets too close for comfort, so when she grabs the small bag, she throws it on the floor behind her and it explodes in pink, choking smokes.

She wants to grab Kaito and run before the smoke envelops them, too, before they fall prey to their own trap but it never happens. And in that instant that she finds a perfectly fitting gas mask on her nose, Kaito having his own, she realizes she's doing the right thing.

And when she looks down to him, she finds him grinning, even if she only sees his eyes, they are shining and trusting and she knows, everything will be alright.

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