NOTE* I have been wanting to update this story for a while, as To Hold A Dove, is and always will be one of my personal favorite stories that I have written. Here is the newest addition to the continuation. More to come in time.

Chapter Nine:

My little Rose Bud

KID POV

Kaito sat on the examination table, his knee bouncing with nerves. Shinara and the others were off having their own examination, but he was more concerned about the child he had been separated from. Where was Asami now?

"Well Mr. Kuroba", the doctor stated as he stepped into the room, "you seem to have nothing more than exactly what you first believed; a slight concussion and what we have found to merely be a bruised rib."

"Better than the fracture they were originally thinking I had", Kaito stated, slowly getting down from the table. He felt sore all over.

"Much", agreed the doctor, "just remember to take it easy."

"I will Doc, thanks", he stated as he stepped out of the room. He made his way down the hall to the front desk where an older woman was manning it.

"Excuse me ma'am, but could you tell me what room Asami Arata is in?"

The woman looked Kaito up and down.

"Who wants to know?" she asked.

"I'm her cousin", he said calmly with a smile. Luckily Asami looked a lot like him.

The nurse paused for a moment before searching her database.

"Room 313, Children's department upstairs."

"Thank you", he replied with a smile that seemed to melt her coldness just a smidge. Kaito headed towards the elevator and stepped inside. The door was just about to shut when Naoki Osumi slipped in. Kaito was not happy, to say the least.

"You are looking much better than you had been Mr. Kuroba", Naoki stated with a professional smile.

Kaito didn't even attempt to smile back as he turned back towards the floor chart and pressed the number three, lighting the button up while the others remained dim.

"Children's department?" Naoki asked, confused.

Kaito sighed. He didn't want to talk to this guy.

"Checking in on Asami", he replied, "Can I help you with something, Mr. Osumi?"

"No, no," he replied quickly, "I was just doing a little of my own checking up. You know I had a very pleasant conversation with your wife earlier."

Kaito froze a bit on the word wife before realizing the man was talking about Shinara.

"She is my fiancé", Kaito corrected, before turning to face the man completely, "I take it she asked you concerning the Polices charge that I had something to do with the plane crashing?"

"Didn't you?" Naoki asked innocently, as though the question wasn't accusing at all.

Kaito kept his poker face neutral as he shook his head.

"Not I", he stated before turning back to the elevator doors as they opened, having reached the third floor.

"I will see you later, Kuroba-san", the man Osumi shouted out as the doors closed behind him.

Kaito was a professional criminal and being accused of something didn't bother him, but this guy was up to no good and it did bother Kaito that he could be accused of murder. He was not a murderer, or at least… he hadn't meant to be.

Kaito couldn't help but get a flash in his head of the scene that still haunted his every nightmare. Snake falling as the bullet Kaito himself had shot went into his body. The life fading from the man's eyes…the eyes of the man who killed his father. Still, Kaito had never intentionally meant to kill him, it had just sort of happened.

"Kuroba-Senpai?" a voice called to him, breaking him out of the thoughts he had found himself stuck in.

Kaito turned, only to be barreled into by the surprising sight of Ami-chan.

"Ami", he stated with relief, "I am glad to see you made it out okay."

Ami's shaky smile turned into a quivering frown as tears cascaded down her cheeks, pooling around her eyes. She buried her head in Kaito's shirt and chest, crying in such heavy sobs that it shook Kaito to the core. He couldn't help the urge to hold her close to him.

"Easy Ami", he whispered as he ran a comforting hand over her back, "Are you okay? What happened?"

"M-My…My Parents… they haven't arrived. They…they are probably dead. I… I could only find two of my siblings… as well", she cried through gasps of breath, "What if…what if they are gone and won't ever return?!"

Kaito felt his heartbreak for her as he pulled her deeper into his embrace. He couldn't imagine the pain of losing his mother, not when he had already suffered through the piercing pain of losing his dad. Then to also lose siblings on top of it all…

"I am so sorry, Ami-chan", he whispered.

Ami continued to cry until a nurse came over, her face radiating sympathy and compassion. Kaito immediately liked the woman as she began to sweet talk and coo to the girl in his arms. Slowly she released her hold on Kaito and instead fell into the motherly embrace of the older nurse who held her close as she slowly led Ami out of the room. Kaito watched them with his eyes until both had vanished around the corner.

Sighing and feeling less that happy, he set out to find the room that Asami Arata had been placed in. When he finally found 313, he was surprised to see a woman in the room with her. The woman noticed him at the door and smiled, pointing to him so that the little girl could see who was coming to visit her. The girl who looked so small in the large bed, her short brown hair a mess of tangles, smiled widely at the sight of Kaito; her chocolate brown eyes lighting up with joy. It made Kaito's heart flip at the sight and he found himself falling more in love with the little girl every minute he was with her.

"Are you Kaito Kuroba?" the woman asked him as she met him at the doorway.

"I am" he replied, "and you are..?"

"My name is Nana, I am with the Puerto Rican Children's Orphanage. I am a social worker."

"Pleasure", Kaito stated as he shook her hand. The woman had a nice smile.

"She has been talking about you since I walked in, asking me about if I knew anything about K-san, who she later explained was a boy named Kaito Kuroba."

Kaito smiled at once again hearing the nickname the girl had made up for him.

"That is I", he nodded, "Tell me, do you know about her family?"

"We have already begun looking for her family, however we do have confirmation from the rescue crew that many bodies have been identified that were found floating in the water. Her parents were among them."

"I understand", he stated with a nod, "would…would it be okay if she stayed with me until you have word on her family?"

The woman stared at him a moment, her eyes analyzing his face before a smile crossed her lips.

"I think that would be fine. Just let me have you sign a few things that make you her temporary guardian."

Kaito followed her into the hall and signed the appropriate paperwork before bidding Nana farewell and heading back into the room where Asami waited patiently for his arrival.

"K-san!" she yelled upon seeing him, her face lighting up.

Kaito smiled as he sat down on the edge of her bed, taking in the flush of her cheeks and the sunburn adorning her skin. The monitor behind her quietly read off her temperature and blood pressure, all of which were a little higher than he knew was normal. Then again, he also knew that the conditions the poor girl had been exposed to as of late would definitely not have helped.

"You feeling alright sweetie?" he asked the girl who leaned further into his side.

"I miss my mama", she whispered, "and G-san."

"I know you know baby", he whispered back as he encircled his arms around her, "I know you do."

"K-san?"

"Yes?"

"Will you stay with me?"

Kaito looked down at the sweet girl in his arms and her hopeful expression.

"Of course Asami, now sleep. You need to get well before they will release you from this room."

The girl nodded as she yawned and snuggled deeper into his stomach. He watched her, a hand running through her silky, knotty hair.

"Can you tell me a story, K-san?" Asami whispered.

Kaito paused. What sort of story would suit a child?

"Uh sure", he said, his mind still racing to think of a story. "There once was a little girl who lived on the hillside with her family, far from the kingdom she loved and dreamt to one day be a part of. One late afternoon, the little girl was riding to the kingdom when a storm hit and separated the little girl from her path."

"Mai," Asami whispered.

Kaito blinked. "Mai?"

"That's the girls name", Asami stated as she closed her eyes again.

Kaito smiled and nodded. "Alright, the storm hit and separated Mai from her path. Mai looked for shelter, knowing that during the storm she wouldn't find help. She finally came across a tree that seemed to have a door in it."

Asami smiled as she listened to Kaitos calming voice.

"Mai opened the door and called out for someone to hear her. 'Hello', she called, 'Anyone here?' However no one answered Mai, so she moved further into the house inside of a tree."

"What kind of tree?"

"Hmm…oak tree", he answered and Asami nodded her approval.

"So Mai moved further through the great Oak until she stumbled upon a single Rose shinning in the light of the full moon, as the dark clouds seemed clear away for its very presence."

"What color…rose", Asami whispered, her eyes straining to stay awake. Kaito smiled.

"A beautiful white one", he whispered, "the best kind."

"I like pink", she stated with a pout. Kaito laughed and ruffled her hair affectionately.

"Alright then, it was a pretty pink rose. The rose seemed to glow as Mai stepped closer and a voice called out to her from the rose saying 'come and take me into your hand and I will give you your heart's desire…"

Kaito paused, realizing he was mixing the story of Pandora into his own story. Still, it made Asami happy, so he decided to just continue it.

"What did she…wish for, K-san?" Asami whispered and Kaito knew she would soon fall asleep.

"She wished to be where her heart was", he stated as he ran another hand through her hair, "the rose grew in size and its color seemed to brighten. Mai closed her eyes until finally, she felt all was at peace. She opened her eyes and found herself standing in the heart of ..."

"Mommy", Asami mumbled out and Kaito smiled when he saw she was fast asleep.

"Right Asami, Mai opened her eyes and found herself standing in the heart of her hill side home, surrounded by her parents and her sister and she was happy, because while the kingdom was everything she dreamt of having…her true love was where her family was."

Soft snores sounded through the room and Kaito smiled as he leaned over, gently sliding Asami off his lap and under the covers of the bed before leaning down to kiss her cheek.

"Sleep my little pink rose bud and dream lovely dreams."

Kaito slipped out of the room, a smile on his face. He knew deep in his heart that if like Mai he was faced with having everything he wanted versus having his family, he would pick his family each and every time.

"Kaito", a voice called from the down the hall and he turned with a gentle smile as he took in the lovely and enchanting vision that was Shinara Kudo, his fiancé and soon to be wife.

"Shin-chan", he whispered as he swept her into his arms and buried his face in her neck. Shinara didn't know what had affected Kaito so much, but she held him close, rubbing his back comfortingly.

"I love you Shinara", he stated, drawing away so that he could stare into her beautiful eyes.

Noting the deep desperation that almost seemed to be in his gaze, she made sure to state it plainly to him that she loved him too.

"More than you will ever know", she whispered in following and Kaito could only grin as their lips met in a passionate yet gentle show of love.