Christmas at the Beach- Chapter 3
Disclaimer: No ownership to characters, only to plot ideas!
Apologies for any OOC'ness.
"It's Kid!" A muffled yell rang out.
"Don't move!" Inspector Nakamori was coughing through his yells.
"Inspector, you seem rather eager about this heist. Any particular reason why?" Kaitou Kid walked between the coughing officers, knowing that they would not touch him. The inspector flared up, near spluttering on his words, but that could have been due to the gas in the air.
The bamboo skew the dango Aoko bought for him earlier appeared in his hand and he wove it through the glowing green lines of security. The prize bent the stick with its weight, but it did not break.
"Perhaps the Inspector's enthusiasm has some childish, stubborn basis? Like a bet with that daughter of yours? A fight about winter break, a bet cast, and you, Inspector Nakamori, seem so intent on running your precious girl's family time by taking her someplace where she would be miserable." Kid put the bracelet into his jacket and turned to face the officers. "How far off am I?"
A muscle twitched in Inspector Nakamori's face. Upset at Kid's words or his own selfishness was not clear, it possibly was a mix of the two, bringing out the truth of Ginzo's actions.
"Spot on. I won't ask, this time, how you know of all of this, but do you know what the last step is required to give Aoko the decisive win?"
"You should be sure to open your mail tomorrow. I feel there will be something important there."
"I can't let anyone know that I just let you go."
"I understand. That's why you're going to have everyone think I'm going to the roof. I'll take care of the rest." A puff of smoke clouded Kid again and he ran off, disguised as a regular officer, running with the others when Inspector Nakamori flung the doors open, yelling, 'he's going up!'
And with that, Kaitou Kid made his grand escape through the same doors he entered all those hours ago.
A message sat in Aoko's mailbox when she checked her phone at the lunch hour.
"Decision is yours. Pick where you want to go, I'll arrange the trip. See you at home for dinner."
Aoko closed her phone and hugged the nearest person. That just happened to be Kaito. His heart warmed as he saw the tension slip away from Aoko's body and he congratulated her.
"So, where exactly are you going? My mom's been bugging me too. I can't decide if I want to drag her far away from civilization or to lose her there." Kaito felt his lungs squeeze as Aoko's hands drifted across his torso back to the desk in front of her.
"There are nice towns on the nearby islands. We could get there easily by boat. And it'll be less snowy there than up in the mountains. Ask your mom if you're interested in going too. It'll be like before." Aoko bit her bottom lip. She didn't mean to mention the last bit. It was years ago, back when there were two complete households, that the Kuraba's and Nakamori's went on holiday together. Since the death of Aoko's mothere, nine years ago, and Kaito's father eight years ago, neither family brought it up.
"Sounds like fun. Maybe we can make a sandman." Kaito's easy smile loosened the knot of sadness in the back of Aoko's throat. "I'll ask Mom to look into it."
He stood up and went closer to the window to call his mother. When he came back, he had an apologetic smile on his face.
"I think my mom is about to get carried away. She'll be bothering your father until we go. There's no way he's getting out of this now. If he ever wanted to try, that is." Kaito ruffled his hair like it had become too tame while Aoko flipped open her phone.
The text message was brief, but it was too late to be any help for Nakamori Ginzo. Chikage called him the moment she hung up from her talk with Kaito, immediately planning the trip for the four of them.
A week later, after a storm of exams, Aoko and Kaito, Ginzo and Chikage were on a boat sailing to slightly warmer temperatures.
"Nakamori-san, thank you for inviting Kaito and me to come with you. I know family time is precious, so don't worry, I'll make sure Kaito doesn't bother you two too much." Chikage was all smiles in her fleece-lined jacket, having no notion that her lighthearted deviations from the truths were making the Inspector's lip twitch beneath his mustache.
"Kaasan! Don't act like you didn't bully your way into this trip!" Kaito yelled over his shoulder from where he was lounging at the rail beside Aoko.
"You're the one who called me, Kaito-chan." The hard, sugar coated, words were flung viciously, but were masked with tinkling laughter.
"I'm glad you came, Chikage-san." Aoko turned to face Kaito's mother. She had been banned from calling her Kuraba-san, Kuraba-bachan, Chikage-bachan, and every possible mixture. "It's been a long time since we've done anything together."
"Aoko-chan!" Chikage danced across the deck to the girl, embracing her. "I knew it, we girls need to stick together. You're wasted on the Inspector."
"She's not wasted!"
"Maa, maa, let's not get out of hand." Aoko tried to placate the adults before yelping in surprise. Ginzo had grabbed her free arm and was trying to tug her out of Chikage's grasp. "Kaito! Do something!"
Her yells were ignored by Ginzo and Chikage, making Kaito's task all the easier. In a flash, Aoko was replaced with a dummy and the two teens fled to a different part of the ship.
"They won't hurt each other, will they?" Aoko panted out after sprinting up the stairs to the observation deck.
Shaking his head, Kaito peered over the railing at their parents who were laughing as they tossed the air filled dummy in the air. He turned his back against the railing and made himself comfortable. With her breaths coming out in hot puffs of steam, Aoko finally calmed her breathing enough to sit next to him.
"I hope Dad doesn't get called in to work. But if Kaitou Kid sends a note, then I know he's going to be gone in a flash." Aoko wrapped her arms around her stomach and pulled her knees up to fight against the cold.
"I'm sure that nothing less than Kaitou Kid stealing the metals from the Emperor's jacket will take Inspector Nakamori from his daughter this vacation. He did fight with his daughter for vacation time, you know." Aoko punched his shoulder lightly, trying to hide her smile.
When she heard that Chikage had contacted her father, Aoko tried to undo what she had thought was a mistake. Little did she know was that there was an arrangement between her father and Kaito. A message in Kaito's phone appeared the morning after the Cuff was stolen. 'If Kid holds his end of the deal, Aoko wants to go somewhere without snow. I think she'll enjoy herself more if her best friend came too. Try to restrain your mother for me. I handle criminals, not females.'
Ginzo had some explaining to do to calm Aoko down. She felt embarrassed at her outbreak, so, naturally, Kaito brought it up to tease her with it. A breeze cut over the boat and Aoko shivered. Instinctively, Kaito lifted his arm and Aoko tucked herself firmly into his side, managing, somehow, to get as much surface area to touch Kaito; effectively stealing all of his body heat.
Years ago, Kaito used to blush. Now having done it so many times, he no longer turned bright red at their contact. He did, however, feel the tingle as he felt her curves meld to fit into his own, more angular, shape. There was nothing intimate about it, but after one episode, he realized that there was something possessive about it.
Hakuba Suguru was an arrogant individual. Personally, Kaito would use stronger language, pointedly starting with "bast" and ending with "ard," but those were his own thoughts. One time, when he was visiting Japan and temporarily enrolled in their class for a trip to the mountains, Aoko got cold. As a "proper gentleman," as he continually pointed out to Kaito, he moved to take off his outer jacket to put around Aoko's shoulders. Much to Kaito's delight, that he had no idea he was hoping for, Aoko stopped the blonde and tucked herself into Kaito's arm, saying, "Kaito'll keep me warm. It's his job after all."
Who knew that the promise a 10 year old boy made would be so useful in crushing love rivals?
Since then, whevever Aoko shivered or sneezed because of the cold, Kaito would subtly open his side to her, even if it meant juggling several bags of groceries. She did not always take the offer, nor did she even notice half the time, but when she did, she always did it with a happy twinkle in her eyes. Possessive was the emotion Kaito felt, but it wasn't like he owned her, rather it was like she gave him the sole right of keeping her warm; over other people and inanimate objects. There was something in the way that Aoko knew he would always be there to keep her warm that gave him the feeling that he possessed that right.
A sigh echoed in Aoko's mind as she shifted to fit against Kaito's hip. She loved the constant warmth that ebbed off of him. When Kaito stopped blushing at their contact, so, too, did she. If he wasn't going to be embarrassed, then neither was she. Besides, touching him was nothing to blush over. As she got older, however, some of the things that popped into her mind were.
Fantasies of his hand moving from her shoulder to her waist, or perhaps somewhere else, often made her shake her head to clear her mind, mentally scolding herself for her wayward thoughts. Othere times she thought of other ways he could hold her to keep her warm: pulling her into both arms or onto his lap, or even surprising her and hugging her from behind.
Mentally slapping herself, Aoko swallowed stiffly and looked down at her fingers. They were losing what little color they had. Pulling her hands even further into her sleeves, she started exhaling large puffs of hot air on them and flexing her fingers to restart the blood flow.
"Don't you have gloves by now?" Kaito grabbed one wrist and started to rub her hand in between his own.
"They're too big."
"What about the children sizes?"
"Wrong proportion."
Kaito sighed. There really wasn't a pair of gloves on the planet that would fit her tiny hands. It was amazing that they could do anything at all. Tucking the edges of her sleeves onto themselves to encase her hands, Kaito told her to cross her arms over her chest and put her hands under her arms.
"We could go down into the cabin. It's warm there." Aoko shook her head decisively at Kaito's words.
"Aoko doesn't want to go down there. It's stuffy and it smells."
Shrugging, Kaito shifted, pulling himself to stay comfortable and bringing Aoko with him, putting Aoko in a position where he could comfortably wrap both arms around her petite frame.
Aoko snuggled her cheek into the warm fleece of his jacket. Kaito told himself that she was squirming around. Her hair was getting buffeted around by the wind, so he unwound part of his scarf and wrapped it over Aoko's neck, trapping her hair down to keep the chill from seeping in. She sighed. He told himself that she was taking a deep breath before falling asleep.