Honestly she didn't know what to make of what her day out.
There was so much that had occurred recently in her life that she still wasn't completely sure whether her life was turning around for the better or for the worse.
It had been four days since Aoko and her father moved into their new home in Edoka.
For the first two days, both spent their day by unpacking and once that was mostly done, her father took her to a nearby elementary to enroll her for school.
Afterwards, they went out to buy her uniform and school supplies she might need.
She luckily had all weekend to mentally prepare for the monstrosity that is school, but she knew it would be a short lived escape.
She would be lying if she said she was looking forward to entering a new school, but that's exactly what she did when her father asked her how she felt.
To say the least, she never liked school for many reasons, but she refused to burden her father with her worries and instead wore a smile on her face and bounced around him in false excitement, causing him to let out a throaty chuckle and ruffle her hair.
And seeing her father laugh and smile like that had reinforced her decision was the right one. But that didn't erase the guilt she felt for lying to him.
But all this enjoyment she genuinely received from spending time with her father came to an end when he got a call that evening from his work informing him that they had just received a heist notice from that stupid attention seeking criminal.
Her father's face fell slack in guilt when he turned to her to explain how he was needed back in the station and saw the disappointment flashed in her eyes that she had desperately tried to hide but failed in succeeding.
They sat in silence for a while and just before she was able to open her mouth and tell him not to worry about her and go do his job, her father beat her to it and promised her to take her out to the town just before noon on Sunday, his day off, so they can see the town's clock tower. The clock tower that they had passed by earlier in the day when they went out shopping.
She knew he was just trying to consolidate her by making it up for the fact he was technically still on leave and had made it his mission to spend time with her, but his words made her happy nonetheless.
And with that promise, her father helped her clean up the dining table where they were eating before the call, kissed her head and left the house with a reminder thrown over his shoulder of "remember to brush your teeth before bed. Love you."
And he was gone.
And she was left alone.
Again.
Her Saturday consisted of staying at home and finishing unpacking the few boxes left, that for the most part consisted of decorations to place around the house.
Not once did her father called nor did he show up when it was time for bed, which could mean that the appointed time for the heist must be coming up very soon, probably in a day or two if she had to guess.
Giving out a short notice wasn't really Kaito Kid's style of doing things, mainly because she knew he is (acted like, in Aoko's opinion, rather than being) a gentleman. And it was rude to send an invitation so late, giving the invitee such little time to prepare.
No, it wasn't really his style but there has been times over the years in which it had happened before so it wasn't too odd to figure out this was another of those times.
And it was due to her experience in such occurrences that Aoko was certain that her father will break his promise.
Once it was Sunday nearing the appointed time in which her father said they would go to the clock tower, Aoko thought about calling her father reminding him before waving that thought away.
As she watched the time tick by in silent contemplation, she decided to throw caution to the wind and got up, straightening the pink dress she decided to wear for the day, before grabbing the house keys and some money before heading out the door.
Her father might become furious that she decided to go to the city to see the clock tower by herself but she wanted to take that chance.
And besides, she couldn't help but have the small hope inside of her that was sprouting how he might remember and try to meet her there. No matter how ridiculous she knew that sounded, she couldn't help but believe in it and motivate her to head to the tower anyways.
She had arrived there rather easily by hopping on a few buses and walking for most of the way.
Despite only being downtown once, on Friday, she knew her way around town fairly easily and this was due to her father's paranoia.
Right before they moved to Edoka, her father had forced her to study the cities' transportation system and making sure she was familiar with a numerous amount of routes that lead to key landmarks in the off chance that she had somehow gotten lost and needed to navigate her way around town. While she had complained at the time, she was glad at how useful it turned out to be.
She glanced at the clock tower which read half a quarter after eleven.
She looked around at the flow of people walking on the sidewalk. There were many in professional wear walking about. Understandable seeing as there was many businesses nearby, indicated by the high rising posh buildings. There was a park nearby as well as a few restaurants which possibly gave reasons as to why many people were out and about instead of slaving away in their offices. They were probably on their lunch break and while some were using that time for just that, eating lunch, their were others that instead were using their time to stretch out their legs.
It was due to this observation that the hope in Aoko swelled up a bit.
There might be a chance in which her father might show up during his lunch break for a brief moment and fulfill his promise.
It was this thought that drove her find a bench to sit on that had a good view of the street, making it easy to spot her father and vice versa once he arrived.
And it was this hope that had kept her seated and waiting for him for nearly four hours.
She could feel her smile fall bit by bit as she stared at the pedestrians bumbling about, laughing and smiling and having a splendid time while she wallowed in her self destructive thoughts.
It was then, when she was watching a father getting pulled by his son heading to the park with bright smiles on their faces, that a bluebird stooped down and landed in front of her, jumping around and cocking its head to look at her.
Normally, she would be fascinated at the proximity it stood near her instead of being scared off but she didn't have the heart for such romantisms today.
She numbly stared at it for the next few moments before watching it fluttering its wings and taking to the sunny sky.
It was only then that she recalled reading somewhere that the bird represents happiness.
Her impassive mask dropped to a bitter smile at the irony.
She continued to watch the bird until it flew out of her eyesight and turned back to stare at the ground, her thoughts turning to her father.
How many times has her father broke his promises to her?
How many times has she still waited and hoped that he would come and honor them?
How many times has she found herself disappointed and alone?
Too many times too count.
She hated how no matter how much her father had failed to be there for her, she still clung onto that miniscule hope that her father would keep his promises and spend more time with her like a fool who never learned their lesson.
But she knew her father wasn't really the one to blame, at least not entirely. He was just doing his job as the leader in his division.
No, if she had to blame anyone as to why her life was the way it is, it was all due to one man,
The international thief 1412,
Kaito Kid.
The criminal who had taken everything in her life.
Kaito Kid, the thief who had taken her father away from her, but as well as her mother.
Kaito Kid, the man who murdered her mother and left her father widowed and her motherless.
She hated him.
No, despised the man with every fiber of her body.
Kaito Kid...the only person she could never forgive in her entire life.
It was due to the clock tower's chime indicating that the time was three in the afternoon that shook her out of her spiralling hatred.
She let out an inaudible sigh realizing it was best to go home. He wasn't going to come as she expected.
She stood up, stretching out her muscles and grimincing at how stiff and numb she was from the disuse, before turning once more to glance at the clock tower before letting out another sigh. She couldn't hide her disappointment and frustration from her face anymore. Not that it really mattered anyway since she was heading back home and screw with keeping up appearances in public. At this point, she really didn't care what people thought of her unlike how she usually did.
She turned around back to the road she was going to take, only to quickly step back in surprise when she nearly bumped into a boy who was standing directly in front of her, only a few inches away from her.
She was about to offer an apology before making her way around the boy and go her merry way but something made her pause.
It was boy's bright blue eyes that shone in mirth at her reaction.
'His eyes are the same color as that bird…' Aoko realized.
There came a short silence as Aoko observed the boy in front of her. He stood still, unmoving, and stared back at her.
She didn't know exactly why she just stood there, but she got a feeling that something was going to happen, a sort of anticipation feeling. One she wasn't able to identify whether it was favorable or not due to the boy's blank face that gave nothing away; well except for his eyes. His eyes shone so bright and looked so playful, Aoko found herself being drawn in by them.
And when Aoko was distracted by the shades of blue the boy's eyes would change when the sunlight kissed them, the boy suddenly pushed out his hand in a fist towards her and stopped abruptly, a few inches away from her face.
Aoko couldn't help but flinch back, despite her late reaction.
'Was that boy going to hit her just now?!'
And just as Aoko felt her blood boil and opened her mouth to yell at the boy, throwing in some curses she overheard her father say when speaking on the phone about a certain white cladded thief for good measure to express how furious she felt, the boy's hand did a sort of flipping motion and suddenly there in his hand was now a blue rose.
The words died at her mouth before she was even able to audibly utter them and instead her jaw slackened.
The rose came out of nowhere.
One moment there was nothing in his hand and the next moment there was a beautiful blue rose, seemingly blooming to life right in front of her eyes.
It was almost like magic.
The boy grinned like he won the lotto as he saw the wonderment and confusion settling into her features.
"I'm Kuroba Kaito. Nice to meet you," the boy introduced.
She blinked a couple times in a daze before realizing her mouth was still gaping open and she still hadn't moved to accept the rose he was holding out towards her.
Flustered, she snapped her mouth shut, with an audible 'clang' when her teeth connected, and hastily took hold of the rose. She started to inwardly panic immediately afterwards since it looked like she all but snatched it from him, making heat rise to her cheeks as she bowed low and shakily stammer out her introduction in response to his own polite one.
"A-ah I'm Nakamori Aoko. N-nice to meet y-you too."
She rose from her bow to face the boy, opening her mouth once more to thank him for the gift when he interrupted her train of thought.
"Hey Aoko chan, are you busy? My mom isn't going to pick me up for another hour and I'm tired of wandering around town so I was thinking if you weren't busy that we could go the park near here and play to you know, relieve boredom."
Aoko blanched. She was taken aback not only because this was the last thing she expected to hear after only just introducing themselves but also as to how quick the boy had called her by her first name. She wasn't sure whether he was just very friendly or if he was teasing her and lacked manners.
As Aoko was silently contemplating this, the boy seemed to impatiently bounce on his feet waiting for her reply, only to grow tired a second later and deciding that if she had enough time to think about his offer then she had time to spare.
He took hold of her hand causing Aoko to jerk out of her thoughts as they began to jog to the park a few blocks away, him leading and pulling her along while she trailed on behind him.
"W-wait! I never said I was free to go play," Aoko yelled out startled by the quick change in events.
Well she was technically free seeing as she knew her father wouldn't be back until at earliest night time, but she didn't want this boy to know that. Who drags random strangers against their wills? People with ill intention that's who and she was not about to share that she was alone for the next few hours to this boy even if their appearances suggest that they are around the same age. Nope, her father taught her better and she shouldn't be so trusting to strangers.
"I don't see you trying to stop me so you must be free," the boy reasoned and laughed at hearing her spluttering out sounds as she tried to form a coherent sentence to contradict with his audacious conclusion.
That comment while true, had irked her. She was about to pull away from the boy's hold just to prove him wrong when she felt his hand loosen against hers as if ready to let her go if she decided to pull away.
It was then that she thought back to what he had previously had said. He had been walking around town alone to kill time for god knows how long, waiting for his mother to come pick him up.
Alone...huh?
Sounds like someone I know…
She glanced down at her free hand holding the rose he gave her.
She had her answer.
She tightly grasped her hand in his, forming a stronger hold before pushing ahead of Kaito, now leading him to the park.
It only took a second before she felt his hand hold her back just as tightly as she was holding his, his laughter bubbling out infecting her to let out one of her own.
She liked hearing his laugh, she decided then.
Caution be damned.
AN: Hello! Not the best part to stop at, but my motivation died and I couldn't force myself to continue.
This is my first anime fanfic I tried my hand in and would appreciate any feedback!
Also note that Aoko will be quite different here, or at least and hopefully written more in depth. If there are any discrepancies to canon, I'd like to apologize but please consider this AU of sorts seeing as some things will be different.
Please let me know if anyone is interested in this story because I do have some plans for it but I'm not sure if I should continue this.
Thank you all for reading!^^