Title: What are Kings When Their Regiment is Gone?
Author: Fyliwion
Fandom: Magic Kaitou
Pairing: Aoko/Kaito
Theme: Feb 25- "What are kings when the regiment is gone?"
Rating: PG-13
Disclaimer: Gosho's characters…. I just abuse them- the title and theme is also taken from Marlow-- the other Elizabethan/Renaissance playwright

Life was ordinary.

Not dull per-say, but definitely as mundane as a persons life could be.

Nakamori Aoko woke up every day at seven to head to her job. She would then work from nine to five, stop by some place to pick up dinner and usually go home Sometimes on the weekends she might break up the monotony with a visit to her father, and make sure he wasn't starving or living on a diet that consisted solely of the ramen stands outside the police building and sake.

On some evenings her daily ritual might be interspersed with dates, karaoke with co-workers, maybe a visit from Keiko or Hakuba or a dozen other little events that might intercept her life. Nothing too exciting though. No high speed chases, or mind blowing circumstances that left her on the edge. She knew she should be thankful, but still there were times she would even crave some of the crazier antics that seemed to follow her when she was still in school.

On the worse days she'd find herself thinking about Kaito, and that was when she knew it was time for a change. If she'd start dwelling on how his life was probably bursting with excitement something was severely wrong, and she'd usually let Keiko hook her up with a date.

But then it was hard sometimes not to think about how he was off seeing the world (if in a somewhat not so legal way) while she sat at home and watched variety shows on the television. Not that it was very different in what their plans had always been, but it was one thing to be talking about it when your sixteen and still in high school, and quite another when you're a young woman in your twenties being told "Maybe it's time you got married don't you think?"

If nothing else those heists of his had to make life interesting, even if she did still hate them. But then it had been a long time since a KID heist had been anywhere near Ekoda, that she'd probably be ecstatic to have one of them to break up the monotony.

But instead life went on, as steady and as boring as ever, and that was why Aoko found herself coming home to her empty apartment one Friday night as she ordered pizza, plopped down in front of the TV to watch some ridiculous drama or another, and grow mold.

When the phone rang.

She tried to figure out who in the world would be calling. Her father was suppose to be at work until later, and Keiko had a date. A serious date at that. It was far too late for the office to call her back in, and well the last boyfriend she'd had broke up with her the month before. She suspected it was either a telemarketer or bad news and she didn't really want to deal with either, but against her better judgment picked up the phone.

"Moshi moshi?"

"Ah… Hello? Is this Nakamori Aoko speaking?"

Telemarketer or bill collector than.

Or at least that's what she thought, except that that the voice sounded vaguely familiar, though for the life of her she couldn't place from where. On top of that it put her nerves on end for some reason, like she knew instinctively that the conversation was going to jar her nice settled life and put it back in the mixing bowl. Not that she minded that too much exactly but-

But maybe it was just a telemarketer and she could go back to her drama.

"…Umm yes? May I-"

"Nakamori-san!" She found herself cut off as the voice of the older man went on far more eagerly suddenly, "You won't remember me I imagine. But I was an old family friend of the Kurobas-"

Her heart doubled its time, and a flash of irrational fear ran through her. Every worse possible anecdote that she'd ever imagined suddenly passed before her eyes. Kaito was dead, dying, hurt, paralysed, finally been caught, his mother was on her death bed, Kaito was broke and starving in some foreign city. She hadn't talked to her childhood friend in years, but all at once she found herself worrying about him as though she'd had lunch with him the day before.

"Is Kaito alright? He's not hurt or-"

"What?" There was a hint of surprise and she felt a rush of relief, "Oh. No Miss he's not… That is he's not hurt. Young Master's-" there was a long pause and finally, "Young Master's doing… well…although like you have suspected I'm certain, he is the reason I have called you." She could hear the hesitation on the other line, and she realized the old man may not have been as eager to call as she originally suspected.

She suddenly found herself irritated by the whole thing. No doubt the idiot had simply made the older man call her to try to what? Talk to her? Get information? How dare that impudent boy try that on her after everything else he'd done! "Kaito told you to call me didn't he!? If he did well you can just tell him if he has something to discuss he can call me himself that… that arrogant idiot! What did he do to find this number anyway? Hack into the police files or-"

Again the man cut her off with hasty protests, "No, no, no! Little Master had no idea I called at all, or he'd be quite angry if he thought I had. No Miss, he had no idea what so ever and, and ah… well I confess I may have had to do some research to find your number but the Young Master had nothing to do with that. Truly I was the one hoping to speak with you."

Aoko listened to his voice and felt a grudging belief starting to push her doubt away. Perhaps the man was telling the truth, or at least he was obviously quite a good actor. She might as well hear him out, at worse she'd just refuse whatever he was asking, or if Kaito did show up on her doorstep flatten him with a mop.. "Alright… I think I believe you. What about Kaito than if he's doing alright as you say?"

There was another pause as the man let out a long sigh, "You see Miss, I've ah… talked the Young Master into coming to stay in Ekoda for awhile. I'm afraid he's been overworking himself a bit and so he's taking a vacation of sorts before going back on the road. I know he hasn't spoken to you in a long while, but I hoped that you might be willing to visit him. I could possibly arrange it, and well… I believe he would truly like to see you…"

A well of emotions she hadn't felt in years flew up. All the frustration, confusion, and a little hint of something else, hit her at once, and she wasn't at all prepared for it. Shame seemed to cover all of them though the more she let her thoughts wander back towards reality, rather than the naïve world of black and white a teen once lived in.

"…I don't think so…" She knew better now than to let her hopes get raised.

"Mistress… He has missed you-"

This time she was the one to cut him off. There was far too much pain, history between the two of them that was still unresolved. She didn't thinks he could listen much more to this older man telling her things that she had doubts were true any longer, "I… That is to say- we had some difficulties before we lost touch. I would like to think that we ended on civil terms, but I'm not as naive as I was then. I'll be honest, I'm not sure Kaito would want to see me."

She could hear a snort of disbelief from the other line, "I must disagree. I think he would very much like to hear from you again Nakamori-san." She heart another pause and she didn't try to cut in. When the man's voice went on it had a far more strained tone, "Kaito has been alright health wise, but I will admit he has had some troubles recently. I am afraid the years as KID have not been good for him. They strained on his father the same, and his father was far more experienced, and had someone to share the burden with as well. He tries to be as good as he can, but the men who were after his father-" she could tell the man was debating on how much information was too much.

Apparently the man thought it was worth the risk, "Nakamori-san, they have not made it easy for him. He travels too much, and Young Master has never been good at making friends."

Except that was probably the worst joke of all. She felt a bitter laugh well up in her throat, "What are you talking about? He was always popular in school. I can't remember a time when he wasn't surrounded by an audience."

"Ah yes Little Miss but an audience is there for the performer. As Kaito he only spoke of you."

She had no response for that.

She really did want to see Kaito again, even if it was against her better judgment. She'd fought so hard to have a quiet life of sorts, a normal life, but then sometimes she wondered if she was living at all. One meeting with Kaito and she knew she might never have that "quiet" life again.

Of course if he turned away from her, well she supposed the choice would be made for her. If he showed that he didn't want anything to do with her, it would be a sign that maybe she was suppose to live her life like an ordinary person. Go to work, go home, and maybe sometime in the near future find a nice man and get married.

They were both older now, and she was a full adult. Surely it would be easier than when they'd both left, young and too emotional for their own good. Not that she still might not throw something at his head if he said the wrong thing, but in a public setting they should be able to talk like civilized adults at least.

And well, she had to admit that her curiosity was starting to get to her. The old man wouldn't call her just because Kaito was lonely. People didn't look up old contacts for friends unless something was wrong. Minor maybe, but never the less something was up that he wasn't telling her.

And given that it was Kaito?

Chances were it was probably not minor.

"Alright. Tell me when and where and I'll meet him."

A/N: This says prompt for 2/25 because yes, this was the prompt for last February on the community 31_days, so basically if you follow my stuff on live journal (and even then this may have only been posted on the community), well you might recognize it. I'm rewriting it… sort of… so it's going from almost epic length to probably epic length, and if it looks like I have people interested in it-- I might even update more than every blue moon. You are informed now as well that if you have read it, it will probably change… possibly even major plot points (given the original fic was written in under a day--) But here's a first chapter for you… tell me what you think and I'll see what I can do about giving you more ^_^