A New Beginning

Chapter 8

Hakuba and Kaito stood up simultaneously.

"Nakamori-san, remember what I said to you about trusting me," Hakuba said calmly, walking slowly towards her.

As he moved closer Aoko stepped back.

"Shut up!" she screamed, "You've lied to me, everyone lies to me. I can't trust anyone. Get away from me." She backed out the room and they all heard her run out the front door.

Kaito turned to Hakuba. "Please don't tell me you were predicting this," he said sarcastically.

Hakuba ran an agitated hand through his hair, something which he never usually did. "No. Everything, all my plans have been messed up because of her."

Conan spoke up from his place at the table as Hakuba glared at Haibara who stared back. "Kuroba-kun, I think you should go after her- she trusts you and you haven't lied to her yet, have you?"

Kaito frowned remembering that he had lied to her half an hour ago, then ran out the house to find her. It had become darker and the streetlights were on making it harder for Kaito to spot prospective Aoko hiding places as they threw everything into shadow. He ran down the street frantically racking his brains for somewhere that Aoko would run to when she was upset. Somewhere peaceful and secluded… It came to him when he spotted the entrance out of the corner of his eye.

The park. They had visited it together on their second day in the village after walking around the streets and shops. Kaito and Aoko had settled on the swings to eat ice cream.

Flashback

Kaito licked his double chocolate ice cream cone slowly and closed his eyes, savouring the taste. The ice cream shop had had lots of interesting flavours, he had been stuck between double chocolate or chocolate fudge whilst Aoko had chosen plain vanilla and stuck with it no matter what Kaito had said to persuade her to choose something more exciting.

"Ah…" he sighed contentedly as he swung back and forth a little on the swing. "This is the life… Right Aoko?"

He turned his head to the side check Aoko's progress o her ice cream. She hadn't taken a bite or lick yet and was staring at it dubiously as if she was afraid that one touch would give her an ice cream headache. Kaito rolled his eyes, deciding he would have to do something to dispel that.

He leaned in and took a bite of her ice cream before she could even jump.

"Live a little Aoko," he urged swallowing his mouthful. "You can't go through life without enjoying delicious things. Even plain vanilla is delicious. You should try it."

Aoko shot a sceptical glance at him and then took a tiny bite then another.

"I'd forgotten how nice ice cream was," she said half to herself. "My favourite was always mint choc chip and I loved putting sprinkles on ice cream no matter the flavour."

Kaito smiled. He had forced down one of her barriers and he still had a lot to go, but it showed that progress could be made even if it was slow and only a little.

"Would you like a bite of mine?" he held out his almost melting cone to her.

Hesitantly she nodded and took a tiny bite.

"That's nice. Thank you Kaito," she said and her mouth twitched like she wanted to smile.

"Uh, you've got ice cream on your cheek."

"I don't have anything to wipe it off with. I'll just wait for it to melt," she shrugged, licking her ice cream.

Kaito sighed. Back to square 1 which the blasé attitude, but at least she was enjoying her snack. He clicked his fingers and produced a white hand kerchief.

"Here, let me wipe is off for you." He finished his cone off and carefully wiped the ice cream off her cheek, wondering when she was going to scream or shrink away.

She didn't. She sat there calmly whilst he wiped her cheek and said "Thank you" when he had finished.

Kaito grinned to himself and pushed himself on the swing so he could start swinging properly. Aoko Nakamori wasn't as boring as she initially appeared. She liked chocolate.

Kaito's heart leapt when he spotted and dim figure sitting desolately on the swings, illuminated by the orange glow of the streetlights. He took a deep breath and walked slowly towards her making his footsteps loud to make sure that she knew he was there so he didn't frighten her. She looked up at him, but didn't run away as he sat down on the swing next to her. The night was silent apart from the blowing of the wind and the creaking of the swings.

"Kaito," Aoko said quietly, breaking the awkward silence after a few minutes. "Why does everyone lie?"

"They just do. It's life unfortunately. Everyone is always out for themselves."

"I see."

Slowly Aoko turned her face away from Kaito and he noticed her body was shaking slightly. He reached out a hand, then drew it back on having second thoughts about touching her when she was obviously upset.

"Aoko, is there anything I can do?" he enquired, feeling useless.

In reply she turned to him and he saw the tears that had silently run down her face. "Even though throughout my life I have been kind and honest, people always take advantage of me and lie. After coming here I hoped I would be free of it, but-" she broke off suddenly before bursting into tears again.

Hastily Kaito stood up and put his arms around her, unable to leave her alone like that.

"Hakuba is a scumbag like your ex-boyfriend," he said to cheer her up. "Kudo-kun doesn't seem so bad. It's not really his fault that he's trapped in the body of a child. As for Sherry or whatever she's calling herself now…"

Aoko started sobbing again leaving Kaito to pat her head and rummage around with his free hand in his pocket for a tissue. He pulled out a crumpled one and wiped her eyes for her.

"I knew they were lying to me, the Police and Hakuba, but I went along with it as I hoped it would bring down the Organisation. Turns out their plans have been "upset"," she continued bitterly. "I really have no idea what to do now. Go along with it and get killed for nothing or break off now before it is too late…"

Kaito felt a pang in his heart, he understood her confusion completely. He had agreed to go along with it for the very same reasons and was feeling similarly lost now. He resumed his patting of her head.

"You know what we should do now?" Kaito brightened as he thought of an idea.

Aoko looked up at him with tears still flowing down her cheeks. "What?"

"We should tell them that we aren't going to go along with it anymore, disguise ourselves, get hold of some fake IDs and run away to a distant country where no one can find us. I should have done that from the start, but I was promised that with my help the Organisation would be brought down."

"That would be running away, but I don't want to be manipulated again so I agree that backing out now is our only option, but the trouble is that we need help from Hakuba to move otherwise They would get to us in a matter of seconds and he knows the most," Aoko pondered thoughtfully, nearly back to normal.

Kaito's eyes shifted. "I could blackmail him, but that is too low for me. Don't worry, I'll work it out."

In his mind he knew what he would do and was settled on it completely. He would talk to Hakuba and enter whatever crazy scheme he had now even if it got him killed as long as he got Aoko away from all of this. He would give up his life for Aoko's.

Finally he had realised that he liked her as more than a friend. It had taken him a whilst, but after her seeing her actually crying and showing real emotion it had dawned on him and provided a reason for all his blushes and flushes.

Also he welcomed that chance to get even with Gin after what he had done to Aoko.

But he knew that he would never tell Aoko his feelings as it would tie her to him and he would not be able to let her go.

He stood up awkwardly and pulled her up with him. "Let's go back now."

Hope everyone is having a nice summer wherever they are; I haven't seen the sun properly for a month and I probably won't see it for a while and all the rain is making me feel depressed which probably explains why the characters are getting emotional.