Chapter Forty-Six

OH MY GOD YES ZEROXYAMI IT WAS ABSOLUTELY AN OSOMATSU-SAN REFERENCE I LOVE YOU FOR GETTING IT.

I am unburnable trash.

(As I type this, my dad is watching Alien and it's really distracting lots of yelling and screaming and gross noises)

"I'll free you from your mortal body," the person whispered, pulling the knife back.

Ruri braced herself for the stab.

Kaito watched as the knife plunged into Ruri. Despair overriding everything in his brain.

Firing his card gun at the person, Kaito raced forward to catch Ruri.

Ruri supposed there wasn't a WHOLE lot of pain. It certainly was there but not... overwhelming? Yeah.

There was a flash of white in the corner of her eye, but she didn't bother to even turn her head.

My brain must be playing tricks on me. There's no way KID would be here, let alone know I was dying.

"Ruri!" a panicked voice yelled.

The girl opened her eyes to see a monocled face. The charm on the monocle dangled on the side of KID's face.

Ruri reached up to grasp at the charm but was caught by KID.

"Ruri, Ruri," he repeated, voice shaking.

She tried to speak but nothing came out.

"Please stay with me," KID mumbled, gripping onto her hand. "Don't die. Don't you dare die on me."

Nakamori-keibu had answered the phone on a whim. It wasn't like he HAD to, but there was a nagging in his gut that made him do it.

Now he was on his way to an abandoned house because KID told him to do so.

He wasn't anyone's errand boy, dammit!

So why did he go?

KID had seemed stressed. KID never got stressed.

So here he was, riding in a police car, going to an abandoned house because an internationally wanted thief told him to.

KID watched as Ruri's face got paler and paler. She was struggling to keep her eyes open.

"Please hang on Ruri, please," he begged. "They're almost here, just hang on."

"KI…D…" the girl breathed.

"I'm here," the thief assured, squeezing the girl's hand.

"Why… are you…here…?"

"Wha- why wouldn't I be?"

"Be…cause you…didn't…wan-… didn't… want to… see me…"

The thief bit his lip. That's right. He HAD said something like that, hadn't he?

"I just- I thought we were friends, Ruri. I was angry because you didn't want to tell me anything," KID confessed.

"I didn't… want to… burden… you even… more," the girl turned away.

"Why would you burden me even more?"

"You… already have… 'them' on your… back… why give you… even more?"

"Ruri… are you involved with them?"

"They…" Ruri didn't finish.

"Ruri? Ruri?!"

KID felt his heart speed up.

No, no, this can't be happening. Ruri can't die.

"KID!"

Ruri awoke to the sound of a very familiar beeping.

She looked around. The ceiling was white. The walls were white.

"A… hospital?" she croaked out.

Upon hearing her voice, Ruri scrunched up her nose. She sounded like a 90 year old smoker.

The door slid open, a doctor walking in and being followed by two people Ruri hadn't seen in a while.

"…and this is where she's being kept," the doctor said, gesturing to the hospital bed.

"Ruri!" Aki cried, rushing forward and hugging her daughter.

She was closely followed by Tomoharu.

"Are you ok?" she demanded after releasing the girl.

Ruri looked over at the doctor.

"She's currently stable, but we'll need to keep her in the hospital for a few days as a precaution," he explained.

"She has to stay here?" Aki asked, looking more than a little angry.

Tomoharu put a hand on his wife's shoulder. "We understand."

"But- Tomo!" Aki protested.

"Please let us know if there is anything we can do," Tomoharu bowed to the doctor.

"Of course," the doctor smiled.

Ruri lie awake on the slightly uncomfortable hospital bed. Her parents had practically sent her back into surgery with the amount of hugging they had done. Of course, after visiting hours were done, the doctor reluctantly had to usher them out, assuring Aki that Ruri was in safe hands.

Her mind began to go back to that basement she had been held in.

The mask.

The knife.

The blood.

Those worried indigo eyes.

She felt her side twinge as she tensed.

Indigo eyes.

His eyes.

"I'm surprised to see you still up, ojou-san."

Ruri looked over at the now open window.

"Hello KID," she smiled. "I suppose I owe you thanks for saving my life."

The thief hummed.

"Thank you," Ruri said, sitting up straight.

"You almost died, Ruri."

The girl's gaze dropped.

"I felt your heart stop."

"I'm sorry," she mumbled.

"But that's not why I'm here," the magician stepped inside the room soundlessly.

He crossed the area between them with a few long strides.

"I want to know why you thought you would burden me."

Ruri felt gentle gloved hands take hers. She looked up at the phantom thief.

"I-"

"And please tell me the truth."

The brunette paused, looking up into the magician's worried face. His monocle glinted in the moonlight.

"I can't do that yet," she finally told him.

Kaito felt his heart drop at those words. He thought that they had finally gotten past that weird little misunderstanding at the Ryoma gallery (even if it was mainly his fault). Even if it was (kind of) resolved as Ruri literally bled out in his arms.

He thought she would tell him. I mean, it couldn't have had anything to do with Snake's organization, right?

"Why not?" he finally asked.

"Because I'm not ready," came Ruri's reply.

"But why?" Kaito was fully aware of how whiny he sounded but... it didn't matter.

"Please don't force me," she begged. "Not right now."

And then Kaito saw her.

He saw how broken she looked.

He watched as her silent tears fell onto the thin hospital blanket, the damp spots growing bigger.

How could he have been so insensitive? She was recovering from a kidnapping and a stabbing.

Ruri wasn't like him.

She was a normal girl.

A normal girl that he had selfishly kept close to him and hurt.

Her willingness to stay by him and help him had made him selfish. He had forgotten who she really was.

She was Yukihisa Ruri. A sensitive, normal, 17 year old girl who liked rabbits and cats.

She wasn't a fatherless phantom thief fighting an elusive criminal organization who had an obsession with immortality.

She wasn't like him and she never would be.

"I'm sorry," KID mumbled. "I won't bother you again."

Ruri looked up at the thief. "What?"

"I'll never bother you again," he repeated, a little louder this time. "I'll leave you alone and you won't ever have to deal with me again."

"Wai-"

"I think you should stay at Teitan, too."

"KID?"

"I'm so sorry," the phantom thief mumbled, pressing his lips to her cheek and then disappearing out the window, leaving a single white rose and that familiar little doodle on an Ace of hearts.

"KID!"

Hi. HOW YOU LIKE DAT?! FAIRLY LONG CHAPTER AND SOME ANGST. PLUS A CLIFFHANGER.

I am SO proud of how that last minute angst came out. Like, SHIET THAT'S SOME GOOD ANGST. Wow. This is probably my favorite chapter yet. Just because of that ending. WOW.

Anyway, this is the last chapter of the serial killer arc so we'll be getting back to the DC cast VERY soon. So stay tuned!

NEXT TIME: THE ROAD TO RECOVERY

DFTBA!