Reluctant Hero

14. Kaito's call

Kaito had been busy.

Had been was the key word. He wasn't busy now, at least not until Snake ordered his next steal, or if his mother asked him to seek revenge on her behalf, or if he had to do some favour for other people—just all the things that weren't in his interest. It was only when the list for all of those boxes were unchecked then he finally had the time to do what he wanted to do.

Still, being busy was no excuse. It was hard to not let the guilt get into him, especially when Jii was the closest thing Kaito had to a grandfather.

It had been weeks since Kaito last visited Jii, and seeing no changes could be considered a good thing, in a way. Jii wasn't skinner, and the amount of grey hair (or hair, basically) remained the same. The relief made it easier for Kaito to put on his cheeky smile as he sat on the visitor's chair next to Jii's bed.

Barely ten minutes into his visit, after Kaito updated Jii's tablet with a couple of new games, a nurse came into the ward to deliver Jii's meal. Kaito didn't bother asking if the food tasted good since it obviously didn't look so, and Jii would lie and say it was anyway. So they talked about every other things beside the food, like the weather, his mother, his cars and so on.

Then it eventually came down to this question, one that Kaito saw it coming:

"Is everything going well lately?" Jii asked as he pushed away his finished lunch, his features relaxed in that patient and caring way.

Not really. Kaito wanted to say, but of course he didn't. He wouldn't be able to explain why, and he didn't need an extra person worrying about unchangeable things. It would do no good to either of them, so he shrugged, put on a grin and said:

"It's okay."

"I haven't seen much news about you." Jii said, his voice lowered even though they were in a private ward. "Is it found?"

Kaito shook his head. "The search is still on, but he hasn't given me anything to do yet."

"I see…" Jii said and leaned against his pillow as he fiddled with his spectacles. Usually, the conversation would end and Jii would move on, but today was different.

Today had been different.

"Then," Jii began again, his voice sounding hesitant rather than soft. "Will you stop after it's found?"

Kaito stared at Jii, wondering which route of the conversation he should go; one which he would reply with a silly comment or one that was serious, something that wouldn't fit the cheerful Kuroba Kaito Jii wished he would always be. But Kaito couldn't help but glanced down at his hand, and the thought of crashing the imaginary glowing jewel made him choose the latter.

"Of course not after it's found," he mumbled. "I'll stop only after I destroy it and them."

Jii's brows creased, like all the other times when he was worried about Kaito since he was… born, perhaps. "Kaito-botchama…" He blurted weakly.

Kaito sighed, the brief rush of adrenaline he felt gone like the wind. "You know I told you not to call me that anymore."

Jii smiled, one that Kaito wasn't sure was sad or pitiful. "It's a habit that's hard to change." He said.

Kaito knew that statement well. He had done that mistake a countless times; the habit of sleeping without his blankets, the habit of eating his food without chewing properly… and the habit of buying flowers for graves he dared not visit.

True, habits were hard to change, but he wished Jii could quit his for good. It always made Kaito feel like he was stuck in the past, in that body of the boy who was weak and useless—

Suddenly, filling the cold silence that lurked between them was the sound of a bright, melodic song coming from the piano outside.

Jii slowly sat up from the bed. "What's that?"

The tune sounded so familiar… Kaito closed his eyes, trying to figure it out, and he snapped his fingers when he did: "Twinkle Twinkle Little Star." He said aloud.

The song was short, but almost immediately, the next song was played as they listened quietly to the cheery music. It was another children song.

And then another.

From the small window pane on the door, Kaito could see a number of people passing by and heading towards the direction of the lounge.

"I want to take a look too." Jii said, noticing the passers-by.

In all honesty, Kaito was curious too, but he hid it well enough to not tempt Jii into the idea. He shook his head. "You're not supposed to get out of bed."

"Ten minutes is fine." Jii pointed at the wheelchair. "And I'm not going to walk. You can push me out."

Kaito sighed. "But the doctors said—"

"Let's make a bet too."

"…Huh?"

"If it's a kid playing, we'll leave at the next song. If it's a man playing, we'll leave immediately." Jii paused, his eyes glinting behind his spectacles frame—and Kaito could tell what Jii was about to say next wasn't going to be anything good…

"If it's a woman playing," Jii continued. "You'll have to go up and say hi to her."

"What? No." Kaito spat. "None of the outcomes are in my favour. And I'm not going to let you go anyway."

Jii chuckled. "You're acting like an old geezer."

"It's for your sake."

"This is for your sake too."

Kaito crossed his arms defiantly and scrutinised Jii from the corner of his eyes. "Did you and mom talk recently?"

"…Not exactly." Jii looked away, in a way that Kaito knew it was exactly that.

"Fine." Kaito stood up to get the wheelchair, much to Jii's delight. "But before we go, I want to amend the bet."

"What is it?"

"If the one playing the piano is a kid," (which Kaito was 99% sure of), "I want you to tell mom to stop pestering me about this whole getting-a-girlfriend thing."

Jii gave a pained smile. "You want me to convince Madam? If you can't, what makes you think I can?"

"She rather listens to you than her own son."

"That's not true—"

"I'll prepare a script for you. Don't worry." Kaito chirped, suddenly finding this impromptu idea the best thing he had ever thought of in his life. No more random midnight calls to ask if he'd gotten a girlfriend. No more long, spam text messages of links to different dating websites. No more degrading, web-cams moments of his mother sighing two hundred times as she wondered aloud about whose lack-of-romance genes did he inherit from.

No more of those nonsense.

"Alright," Jii said. "But if it's a woman, you have to remember that bet."

"Yes, yes." Kaito nonchalantly waved a hand, because come on? He already knew the outcome of the bet. His gut sense was always right.

Helping Jii up and onto the wheelchair, Kaito pushed him out of his ward.

Kaito knew the piano was at the lounge area since he always passed it by every time, but he wasn't wheeling Jii towards the lounge based on his direction sense. He was following the song, the sound of the bright, confident and happy piano keys being played like some kind of guiding light. And when they got even closer, he could hear a girl singing too.

The small lounge was almost filled when they reached.

Through the gap of the crowd, indeed, Kaito spotted a child singing by the piano, but she wasn't part of the bet they set. His eyes continued trailing pass the audiences' heads, until he spotted the person on the piano seat…

A woman; brown hair sweeping slightly across her back—

(or red hair?)

Kaito widened his eyes.

"Hah!" Jii cheered. "It's a woman playing!"

Tightening the grip of the wheelchair, Kaito pushed Jii closer to get a better view of the woman. And when he did, relief washed over him to know it was indeed brown hair that he saw, but the moment didn't last long; because it was also the same time he realized brown was the only hair colour that would match her blue eyes, sharp nose, and her pink, slightly-pouty lips.

Nakamori Aoko.

What. The. Heck.

In his cardiac-arrest state, Aoko glanced up to the crowd, her blue eyes briefly scanning over.

(or red eyes?)

He didn't bother hiding, or rather because he knew it was pointless to. She spotted him almost immediately and her lips parted when they made eye contact, but she hastily turned away and focused on playing the children song.

(or was it Mozart?)

Suddenly the world was too overwhelming for Kaito to think. Somebody was making a comment about the girl's voice, a nurse was humming to the tune of the song, the buzz of the air conditioning was whirring in his ears—

Then Aoko finished playing, stood up, and everyone began clapping.

Jii clapped along before looking up at Kaito, his mouth splitting into a big grin. "Let's go and talk to her."

Kaito should rebuke, should back out on the deal, but all he could do was to give in and nodded, because he was too tired to think or do anything else when he'd spent the last minute trying to control the dam in him to not break.

.o.

It was barely seven in the morning when Kaito's phone vibrated under his pillow, almost like a constant drill. Groaning, he reached out for the phone and scrolled through the long strings of spam text notifications on his screen wearily. It was all from his mother and her demands for him to get up and accept her video call (for some strange reason, she preferred video calls than phone calls).

She only stopped spamming when he replied her an OK, but that didn't mean he could pretend that and go back to sleep (because she'd definitely spam again in a minute or so if she still saw him offline). So he dragged himself up, booted up his computer, and went to the kitchen to make a cup of coffee (because he needed it if he had to talk to his mother at this timing). Before Kaito even returned to his seat, he received the video-call request, and he quickly clicked it before the loud notification sounded.

"Oh my gosh! I can't believe this!" Was the first thing his mother said the moment she appeared on his screen.

Kaito sat down, taking a sip of his coffee. "Hi—"

"Jii told me everything that happened yesterday when you visited him! But why didn't you tell me anything?"

Of course this was about that hospital visit. He was hoping it wasn't, but why bother lying to himself? Kaito sighed. "Because I know Jii-chan will tell you anyway. Save my effort."

"So what's her name again? Is it Anko?"

Kaito pricked the skin under his nail. "Aoko."

"Aoko-chan! What a sweet name."

"Uh—"

"Jii said she is pretty."

"Um…"

"Did you call her back?"

Never in the sense that his mother wished. And Aoko didn't contact him either, so there's that. "No."

"Why not? You had the best opportunity—"

"Just no."

"—and you ruined it."

"Mom."

"Yes?"

Finally; the silence that she finally spared him to speak and let his ears take a break. But he didn't know what to say despite the chance. He stared at the screen, watching his mother looking back at him in slight concern she would never express verbally.

"I'm fine." He said, answering her silent question.

"Are you?" She asked back in doubt.

"Yes."

The furrow of her brows was still in place. "I don't believe you."

Kaito scoffed. "You never believe me."

"Because you never tell me the truth."

Truth? What truth could he say, and one that he would allow himself to let her know?

Nothing.

"Just stop asking Jii-chan to do these weird things." Kaito muttered. "Let me visit him in peace."

"What are you talking about?" His mother scoffed, acting nonchalant (and if Kaito didn't know her well enough, he would have bought the act).

"I know what you're trying to do. And it's not just about cradling grandchildren." He pushed a hand through his messy bed hair. "But I… can't."

His mother bit her lips, letting the silence drowned away his words until they were forgotten, at least temporarily. And only then did she dare to continue what she had to say.

"It's been years, Kaito." She began slowly.

He looked away.

"Shouldn't you—"

"Hypocrite." Kaito muttered, but it was loud enough for his mother to hear on the other side of the world.

She shook her head. "I'm different"

"How different?"

"I didn't allow the guilt to haunt me for life." His mother placed a hand over her chest. "I'm happier. And free. And I know that's what he wants for me."

"..."

"And I'm sure that's what they—"

"You know what? I'm tired." Kaito stood up from his seat with his coffee mug. "You woke me up from my sleep. I'm going back to bed."

"Wait—"

Since their first ever video-call years ago, this was the first time Kaito ended it before his mother did. It was heartless, and maybe a little bit cruel, but he really couldn't continue anymore. Indeed, maybe he hadn't been hundred percent honest with his mother all along, but this time he did speak the truth: He was really tired.

Kaito trudged back to the kitchen and put his mug into the sink before heading to bed. He didn't need the coffee anymore. He just needed sleep.

It was the only thing he knew to do now.

A/n: some of you may think, not just for this but in the previous chapters, like "okay isn't this supposed to be dual-POV fic then where's the WHOLE SCENE OF KAITO/AOKO's POV? WHY IS IT CUT OFF?"
83.5% is because i'm lazy, and the other 16.5% is because I don't wanna reveal the entire thing, you know, killing the suspense and revealing the plot-stuff too early etc. So please bear with me, and that I hope you all liking it so far?

On the other note, happy valentines day everyone! (no date so that's why I'm here with an update. cries) Reviews are always appreciated! I'll treat them as the flowers and chocolates that I DID NOT RECEIVE TODAY. THANKS