That night, after the Kaitou Kid ordeal, Dino and I walked back to our hotel in silence. I told him what happened to the Blush Mermaid and how Conan managed to stun me and used my voice to explain the happening, but Dino only nodded without saying anything. He even kept a small distance from me and refused to hold hands with me.
I understood why he was acting like that. After all I did not help him out when he was abducted by Kaitou Kid and I assumed he felt betrayed by my actions. The fault was mine entirely. I knew that, but it still stung my heart at the fact that Dino refused to talk to me. Because of that, I could not bring myself to explain why I chose Kid over him. Not that I could, since I was not even sure myself of why I chose Kid over Dino, aside that I felt compassionate towards both the phantom thief and the Suzuki Group's adviser.
Letting out a silent sigh I glanced over to the taller man. The Don was looking straight down the path with narrowed brows as his eyes flashed with conflicted emotions of confusion, anger and sadness. His hands were in his pockets as he continued to stride forwards and I halted in my steps. Despite the fact that no words were exchanged, I felt that this was our very first fight as a couple and honestly, I wanted him to show his anger towards me instead of being silent. Yes, I dislike verbal fights, but I wanted him to show his discomfort, his disproval towards my actions and ask me why I did not help him. Why I helped a complete stranger, instead of him.
"Sharon?"
Looking up I saw Dino looking at me with worry several metres in front of me. His eyes held only concern and I swallowed, trying to remove the heavy lump in my throat that had formed in merely seconds. It was not fair. Despite my actions he was still worried for me. He was too kind.
Concern. As the word repeated through my mind I looked in his dark ember eyes. They did not hold any anger, just concern. He was not angry with me.
As I realised this I could only look back in his worried eyes as I asked myself why I wanted him to be angry with me. Was I angry at myself? Was I angry because I helped a complete stranger instead of Dino? Did I betray my own feelings?
At the thought, I clenched my hands into tight fists as a bitter chuckle left my lips. Looking down at my feet, I narrowed my eyes. Thinking about it, I felt it became more and more plausible that I betrayed my own feelings and perhaps I wanted to be punished for it. I wanted him to get mad at me, so I would feel less guilty about it; to mask my own guilt on my chosen decisions.
Screwed up. I was definitely screwed up.
"Sha–"
"I'm sorry. I'm sorry for not coming for you immediately." I whispered, just loud enough for him to hear. My eyes started to sting as my breathing got more difficult. "You might not feel the same way, but right now I can only loath myself for the decisions I made. What friend leaves a friend behind after an abduction? Just to feed my own curiosity I left you there… I'm the worst…"
Looking up I saw that my vision had blurred and I felt a lone tear trickle down my cheek. There was my answer. I did it to feed my own curiosity; to see how a phantom thief, a magician, operated I offered my long-life friendship. Just how selfish could I be? I was definitely the worst.
"No. Please don't say that, Sharon." I heard Dino whisper in heartache as he came closer. "This is my own fault. I let my guard down and he got me. None of this is your fault. Please don't call yourself the worst because you are not."
Standing only a foot away he caressed my cheeks slowly as he took off my pair of faux glasses. Gently he wiped off the wet tracks on one of my cheeks with his thumb and I covered his warm hand with my own as I looked in his sad eyes. "I trust you, Sharon. Even if it was to feed your curiosity, I don't bare any bad feelings towards you. I know you checked on me when I was out and I know you deemed that I was in a safe place, even if you deny it yourself. I –"
He was kind, he was too kind. Throwing my arms around his neck I pulled myself up as I locked his lips with my own as more wet beads travelled down my cheeks, cutting him off. His trust in me was overwhelming and I could only thank the universe for meeting him. It was silly how three little words could make such an impact, even more than 'I love you'.
Breaking off the kiss I buried my face in his neck as I felt his strong arms around me. The scent of his clothes was still a mix of him and Kid and it made me grimace. It was not right to smell another scent on him; nonetheless I tightened the embrace as I took in his warmth.
"I love you, Valentino."
It was a soft and hoarse whisper and I was not aware I said it until my brain registered it a second later. When I realised what I had just said I stiffened a little, and so did he. It was not like I had never said those words before, but this was actually the first time that it came from my deepest feelings and I was flustered about it. It was most likely that Dino noticed the deeper meaning behind these words, because I felt him holding me even closer and gentler than ever; like I was the most delicate object in the world.
"I love you too, Sharon." He whispered as I felt his soft breath on my neck, making me even more flustered as my heart hammered in my rib case. In reaction I buried my face even deeper in his shirt to hide the burning face I had. If I did not know better I would have thought that I was on fire.
"Are you… nervous?" I heard him chuckle, only a small moment later as he released the tender hug. While he was doing that I felt that he was trying to have a peek at the look I had on my face.
Not even knowing that it was possible I felt my face grow even hotter and I looked down as I distanced myself just a little bit. This time my face flushed of embarrassment; he must have felt my furious heartbeat. Why else would he ask that question in a teasing tone?
"I suppose you are…?" I heard him hum teasingly as I felt his gaze on me.
I tried to say something in return, but for some reason my lips were glued to each other. The only movements I made probably looked like a pout and I turned around to hide the embarrassment and awkwardness even more.
However, I was gently turned around again and I felt him cupping my chin gently. With the same gentleness my face was lifted till his eyes met with mine and he only looked at me with a loving amusement that soon turned into affection. In the dim moonlight his gaze held a magical feel and I felt myself being pulled by his sensual and passionate eyes. As the distance closed between our lips I slowly closed my eyes and let myself being led by the man of my dreams.
"Yo, Sharon! Dino! Glad you're still in the neighbourhood! I wanted to ask you something."
In an instant my jaw clamped together as my brow twitched in annoyance at the sudden interruption. Even Dino grimaced as he looked up who had interrupted us.
"Geez… You guys sure act like newlyweds. Get a room already."
Looking over my shoulder I saw the tomboyish detective standing ten metres behind us while grinning slyly as she had her hands on her hips. It occurred to me that she wore slightly different clothes than before and I narrowed my eyes when I realised why.
"What's the matter, Sera?" Dino asked as I felt his touch leaving me.
"Oh, yeah. I wanted to ask you when we're going to meet at P–" Sera began cheerfully until her eyes landed on me. Immediately she cut herself off as her eyes widened. "Sharon? What happened to you? Did you… Did you cry?"
The voice held genuinely concern and I looked back at the disguised magician sceptically. How could he even tell that I cried? It was dark and I doubted the lights of the street lamps and the moonlight gave enough light to make out the slight puffiness of my eyes.
However, that was not the main question I had. Why would Kaitou Kid make contact with us? Disguising himself as Sera, nonetheless. Checking the area I spotted Sera a good eight hundred metres southwest. At least he did not knock the girl out.
When I felt Dino's look on me one more time I looked at him and gave him a reassuring smile. From what I could tell, Dino was not aware that the girl was a fake. Before I turned around, I wiped off the remaining wet tracks of my face and smiled at the young man in disguise. Once more I felt a spark of respect at his work; aside of the different life force, the girl standing in front of us looked in fact like Sera herself.
"It's not something you have to worry about." I said, still smiling politely at the thief. "If I were you I should be more worried on your own condition, Kaitou Kid-san."
As I heard Dino's surprised exclamation, I watched the man in disguise carefully. He was clearly shocked at the accusation, but it took him only a second to recover.
"What are you talking about, Sharon?" He laughed, using Sera's voice. "Kaitou Kid? Me? You must be joking, right?"
The polite smile slowly disappeared and my look hardened as I looked directly in his contacted eyes. "I told you, didn't I?" I said coldly. "The fact that you won't escape me, since I've memorised you. You can't fool me with your perfect disguises so tell me, Kid-san, why did you decide to approach us after I allowed you to escape? I doubt you're here to return a favour."
His eyes widened only slightly as he held a perfect poker face. Aside of the small eye movement I was not able to read his state of mind at all. It was only half a minute later that he closed his eyes and chuckled as he looked at me with a rather cocky expression.
"I didn't think you would see through me for the second time, ojou-san. I suppose you weren't joking at all when you declared that, even though I have absolutely no clue what you mean by 'memorised'." Kid said, in his own voice. At the same time Dino moved and stood in front of me, shielding me from the man of disguises. Seeing the gesture Kid smiled as he held up his hands in the air, showing that he didn't mean any harm. "Please do not worry, Dino Cavallone-san. After feeling ojou-san's fist of love I have learnt my lesson. I am here to gather some information only."
My eyebrows shot up in surprise after hearing him say fist of love. In reaction I let out an amused laugh. "Fist of love?" I repeated, stepping away from the Cavallone Don. Looking up I made eye contact with him as I touched his arm as a sign that it was fine. Looking back I smiled again in amusement, "Well, I suppose you can say that. My fist is, after all, reserved for those who harm my dearest. At least you've decided to leave the real Sera alone."
"Meeting your fist only once is more than enough, ojou-san."
"So, what information could we possibly have that has interested you, Kaitou Kid?" Dino asked, distrust audible in his voice.
As Kid's eyes met Dino's he only smiled as his line of view returned to me, and then to my right hand.
"The gems on ojou-san's bracelet."
Narrowing my eyes I glanced at the piece of jewellery on my wrist before exchanging glances with Dino. I did not have any clue of why he was interested in the small crystals, but one thing I was sure of. Whatever information he wanted from us, there was no way we could tell him about the existence of the Tri-ni-sette.
"What about the gems on my bracelet?" I asked as I focussed on the area. While he said that he only wanted information, it was possible that he lied about it. My Hyper Intuition did not pick up any irregularities from the man, but that might be because he is a master phantom thief. Lying might be his second nature and there was not a chance that I was going to let the bracelet be snatched right under my nose.
"Like I said, I'm here to gather information. There is no need for you to be defensive." Kid said as he casually put his hands in the pockets of his pants. It was honestly disturbing to see Sera talk as Kid, but I pushed that nit-picking feeling aside. "Besides, if it's the item I'm looking for, I'm sure we can come to an arrangement. Both of you look like people who can negotiate."
Glancing over to Dino, our eyes met once more. His eyes showed definitely doubt and he shook his head slightly. I nodded in agreement, the risks were too high to endanger the existence of the Tri-ni-sette. If word came out that something existed to manipulate the world and its parallels to their doom, another Byakuran fiasco might occur.
Hearing the magician sigh, we looked over as we saw him frown slightly, "I had hoped you would tell me a little about your bracelet, but it seems I was wrong. I guess I have to find out myself why it glowed yellow."
To maintain a neutral face after hearing that was by no means easy. While I did manipulate the Navel Chakra to get Conan's drug out of my system faster, I did not expect him, or anyone for that matter, to see the Sun Crystal light up. So far only a small group of people could see the small amount of Flames emitted from the bracelet when I manipulated my chakra portals, and they are people who encountered Dying Will Flames before.
Already knowing that my mind would not let go of this matter easily, I let out a sigh as I pinched the bridge of my nose while glancing at the observing magician. "You saw it glow yellow?" I inquired, or rather stated.
Kid shrugged his shoulders as he tilted his head a little, "You tell me, ojou-san. I know what I saw."
"Are you looking for a particular gem with a yellow glow?" Dino asked directly, gaining Kid's look.
"Not particular yellow." Kid answered with a small grin. "Rather… a red one, but only under the moonlight."
Not understanding what he meant by that I raised an eyebrow. I can imagine the Storm Crystal glow red by manipulating the Root Chakra, but a red glow under the moonlight…? Did a stone like that exist? Even if it did, why was the phantom thief looking for it?
Looking up to the dark sky I saw the dim moonlight through the thin clouds. I was not sure whether this was Kid's plan to use my curiosity to check whether the gems on my bracelet were the ones he was looking for, but if it was, then it was working. Raising my right wrist, I held the bracelet against the moonlight and I peered at the crystals. Aside of the usual glimmering there was nothing out of the ordinary. It was expected though, I never saw any of the stones glow red in the moonlight before.
"None of these have a red glow, Kaitou Kid-san." I stated after examining the last stone. Looking over my shoulder, I returned my look to the phantom thief. "I'm pretty sure you're looking for a different 'glow' than the one you saw at the museum."
However, after I said that, a warning signal went off in the back of my mind. Something told me that the gem Kid was looking must not be found. Why? No idea. Could it have to do with the Tri-ni-sette?
"I see. Can I trust your word on that, ojou-san?" Kid said, somehow feeling relieved at my words.
"I put my family's name on it." I replied firmly, trying to push away the question why he acted as if a load was taken off his chest. "These are not the ones you're looking for."
"Very well. I will take my leave then." Kid said as he bowed. "Thank you for borrowing your precious time." While he was still in his bowing position, a smoke screen appeared, making the phantom thief disappear from our sights.
Sensing the master of disguises retreat, I turned around and looked once more at my wrist. There was definitely a knot in my stomach and I really had the strong urge to go after the thief to get more information of that particular stone from him. My gut was pushing me on the fact that the stone must not be found.
"I'll ask my men to investigate it, so don't crack your head over it." Dino said as I felt his arm around my waist. Feeling a soft kiss on my temple, I felt my cheeks grow warmer as the knot disappeared in thin air. It was replaced by a funny warm feeling. "Let's go back. Tomorrow is a new day."
Nodding at the idea I looked up and smiled at his attentiveness. Wrapping my own arm behind his back we went back to the hotel.
