Shinichi's view
Still keeping my eyes closed, I slowly woke up. I was lying on something really comfortable and something warm was enveloping me. I turned onto my side. All of a sudden, I heard soft footsteps stopping in front of me. The person was leaning against what I was lying on, as I felt the soft cushion next to me being pushed down. Curiosity took hold of me. I was dying to know who it was that had kidnapped me. I didn't even mind anymore that my kidnapper seemed to be right next to me.
I carefully opened my eyes and looked directly at the individual in front of me. Despite my still blurry vision, the curious blue sapphires did not escape me.
"Where am I?" I said in a typical morning voice.
I fell into self-mockery. Great. That was the most cliché sentence I could have uttered in such a situation. Instead of asking who had kidnapped me, I first asked where I was. Of course! Really gets me somewhere!
My improving, pixelated vision, became sharper and sharper with each blink until I could make out the face in front of me.
"Kaito?! Why... how... what?"
I sat up in startlement, forgetting my still slightly present pain, and hissed. The other person only gave an amused smile. Surely this was not possible. So it was really him?
"Take it easy. You seem to be in pain. Better not move around so much."
I rolled my eyes in annoyance. I stubbornly pulled the blanket off my legs and let them hang over the edge of the bed.
"Yeah yeah. And you better stop telling me what I should do-"
My memories came flooding back. The men in black, my new assignment, and most of all Ran. Oh God, Ran. The mere thought of what could happen to her made my body tremble. Now that I had no exact destination and only a vaguely expressed task before my eyes, despair overwhelmed me.
"Hey, Shinichi! What's wrong?"
Kaito's worried voice and the fact that he sat down next to me just now were mere by-products in my mind. I saw nothing but images of Ran lying on the ground, the men in black beside her. One shot after the other they fired. Always another bullet which hit Ran's already dead corpse. Blood splattered everywhere. On the white floor, on the white walls, on my hands. I, too, had to make my contribution. I was also haunted by guilt.
Two arms wrapped hesitantly around my shuddering body.
My dam broke and out poured an enormous river which contained all the feelings I had accumulated up to this point. First one, then the second, and each time there were more tears. The arms around me lost all their hesitation and enclosed me tightly in an embrace. They made me feel safe. His warm hand stroked my back soothingly. I returned his embrace after a short while, whereupon he let out a blissful sigh.
"Shhh... everything is alright, you hear me? You don't have to be scared. I'm right here."
To clarify his gestures, he rested his head on mine. I hated to admit it, but he was actually a very good comforter.
After a few minutes of me calming down, we now sat there quietly, each absorbed in our own thoughts. I had the feeling that Kaito was waiting until I was ready. And indeed I was. So my humble self was the first to break away from the embrace.
"Say, why did you bring me here?"
That would have been the question I should have brought up from the beginning. Kaito had to grin a little.
"You're a real mood killer you know?"
Confused, I looked at him.
"I cannot think of a mood I have 'killed', however, let's get back to my question. It would be great if you could answer it for me."
A small sigh escaped him.
"Allright, allright. I overheard the conversation between you and that guy in the alley. And as great and nice as I am, I picked you up since you can't live on the streets. It seemed to me that you could not return to your home. Explanation enough?"
I nodded. What he was saying made sense.
"Good, and now a question I want to ask you, Shinichi."
The mood immediately tensed. His expression became serious and he narrowed his eyes slightly. I wondered what was going on inside his head.
"Do you want to talk about what happened to you?"
Besides Kaito's seriousness, he radiated sincere kindness and concern. I was surprised to ever see the roguish person in front of me make such a face, but ultimately nodded in thought.
"Yes. I seem to have no other choice."
Puzzled, he raised one of his eyebrows.
"Why in the world would you have no other choice?"
Inwardly, I had to smile superiorly.
"Well, it's obvious. I'll get more information from you, since you are the Moonlight Mage himself, and you've been involved in this whole mess in a way I don't know yet."
It was only a short moment, but I had not missed his eyes, which he had opened a tad wider. And he was well aware that I had not overlooked this brief mistake on his part, a little sigh indicated it to me.
"Since... Since when do you know?"
Disbelief could be heard out, under which a long-standing acceptance for this moment was mixed. He still didn't seem to have fully realized it, and yet he was already set on the fact that it couldn't be a secret forever.
"I had the suspicion, or rather the hunch, for a long time. I was only sure when I opened my eyes and saw you."
Waiting, he looked at me.
"Yes, and further?"
"What do you mean, 'and further'?"
Impatiently, he waved his hands in front of my nose.
"Well, how did you figure it out!"
I grabbed his wrists and rested his hands on his lap.
"You just asked me since when I knew, so I gave you an answer to that. You never put a 'how' in the question."
He seemed to want to kill me with his looks, which I found amusing. It's funny to tease him.
"Very well. Now, just so all the idiots, extravagant people and detectives understand:HOW did you figure it out?"
Okay. That hurt. He had actually just put me on the same level as idiots. After all, I know for myself that I'm extravagant.
"When I jumped down from the roof, I saw Kid for a brief moment. And I had already suspected then that you would follow me. The fact that I'm sitting here with you right now can only mean that you're the world-renowned Kaito Kid. Believe me. Even I was having a hard time believing it when I recognized your face."
His surprised look didn't last very long. Instead, he sighed once again.
"Well. It's not even that tragic that you know. Because of the situation we're in, I would have had to tell you sooner or later anyway, or you would have realized it before then. The fact that you found out actually makes it a lot easier for me."
He gave me a mischievous grin and scratched the back of his head with one hand, but became serious not long after."Back to the subject at hand. Do you want to tell me? Sure, you don't have to, of course. I just wanted to ask again."
I shook my head with narrowed eyes and a slight smile on my face.
"It's okay."
His eyes literally pierced me and I could feel my hands start to shake slightly again. Kaito noticed. He moved a little closer to me and hesitantly took my left hand in one of his.
I looked down at our hands a little surprised at this sudden friendly gesture. With slightly red cheeks and a smile on my lips, I then looked up at him and intertwined our fingers. At least my trembling body calmed down a bit. He didn't say many words to cheer me up, however his body language made me understand that he knew exactly what I was going through. And I needed someone who understood me, after all the years of lies and secrecy, even more at this moment.
"I was attempted to be killed a long time ago by an organization I call "the men in black". I caught them in one of their evil schemes. They wanted to give me a pill that would kill me. However, instead of silencing me, they made me shrink.
Recently, they seemed to have somehow figured out who I was and kidnapped me. The next time I woke up, I was wearing a double of your costume and my body was back to the old one and it seems to remain so as you can see.
After passing out again later, I woke up without restraints or other handicaps. Next to the door was a small note that told me to become Kaito Kid and steal the diamonds from you beforehand. If I got caught, they threatened to hurt Ran and generally all the people I cared about."
I paused for a moment, letting the words that just came from my lips sink in. It occurred to me that I had never been able to open up to anyone so honestly and without hesitation before.
"That was the reason I got so scared when I woke up."
Kaito took his chin in his hand and seemed to ponder. His eyes widened and a satisfied smile seized his mouth.
"How about I fly back to that alley in my Kid costume and say that I took you hostage and they better not do anything wrong. After all, they need you since you look so much like me in appearance."
This plan could actually work. But as ingenious as it sounded, it had a catch.
"And what about you? They could do who knows what to you!"
"Don't worry about me. I always fight my way through loads of armed cops. That's nothing compared to one, maybe two men. Besides, I have all my tools."
Defeated, I sighed.
"All right. Promise me you'll come back, though. You still have to tell me what the organization has to do with you," I expressed seriously. It was my reassurance that he would come back no matter what.
"Okay, I promise."
He held his pinky in front of my nose.
"What... exactly is this going to be?"
I knew what he was trying to accomplish, but it was still weird. We're not grade schoolers anymore, after all. Although, less than a day ago, I was.
"Well, what do you think. A pledge sign."
I rolled my eyes.
"That's really corny..."
"The cheesier, the better."
A wide grin graced his face. I hooked my pinky with his and quickly looked to the side so he couldn't see me blush. In the corner of my eye, I saw him looking at our fingers with a slight smile.
"Well then, I'm off."
He quickly retracted his hand and stood up. In seconds he had already changed his clothes. I hadn't even been able to see how he did it. He opened his patio door and stepped out, closely followed by me.
The cool night air enveloped us. Our exhaled air made itself visible in the form of small clouds of haze. His glider was already open and he was about to jump off. Before he did, I stopped him by his white cape, whereupon he turned to me questioningly.
Often you can't decipher people's feelings. At the moment, I could just as little comprehend mine. It had been a reflex.
"Yes?"
"Um, I... please. Just take care of yourself."
He looked at me in surprise. Compassion wasn't something you got to see from me every day.
"Thank you, my little detective."
He grinned broadly at me. I let go of his cape and he jumped off, getting smaller and smaller the farther he flew.
For a long time I continued to watch him, until he disappeared behind the next skyscraper. I realized how cold it was. I wrapped my arms around my half freezing body and ran back to his room, teeth chattering, and locked the door behind me.
The warmth of the room surrounded me and thawed all my limbs again. I settled down on his soft bed with my stomach pointing toward the ceiling and let my head fall onto his silky soft pillow. Thinking whenever I was alone has long become one of my habits. I found that I couldn't help it. That's why I felt the need to think about Kaito now.
It was strange. The situation with him, I mean. I felt incredibly secure, the brief moments when I was with him. And now that he was gone, something was missing. I couldn't talk about missing yet, I don't think we knew each other well enough for that. It was so quiet without him. I liked the silence, but now it disturbed me.
The silence showed that he was not here and was putting his life on the line for me at the moment.
What kind of normal person would do that?I was worried about him even though it was Ran I should be primarily worried about. Why was I thinking about Kaito instead? That tingling sensation. It should be Ran who I should feel this tingling whenever I touched her or she touched me. Why was it Kaito instead?
I placed my hands on his blanket to the right and left of me, clasping it tightly so that my hands became fists.
I might as well take someone else for a fool. I knew what that feeling was. The only question was since when I had it. Certainly not before I didn't realize that Kaito Kid and Kaito Kuroba were the same person. Maybe when I woke up and looked into his eyes? Yes. That must have been when it happened. Because then I realized that those two individuals were one and the same.
I consciously sucked in the smell around me. It was pleasant. It had a calming effect. I turned onto my side, my arms encircled the large pillow, and I closed my eyes. A small smirk overtook me. It was as if I could literally feel him lying next to me.
All of a sudden, I heard a doorbell ring. I sat up in a flash and let go of the pillow. My whole body stiffened. It couldn't possibly be Kaito. I don't think he would just walk in through the front door.
On silent soles, I crept toward the front door and cautiously peeked through a peephole to see who was at the entrance. A shock of brown hair stood there looking around annoyed. For a brief moment I thought it was Ran, but her hairstyle was quite different. A bit more fuzzy. I guess it had to be Aoko then.
"Alright Kaito. If you don't want to open up, I'll just go. Your light is on up in your room. I'll count to three."
"One"-I tousled my hair.
"Two"-I stepped behind the door.
"Three"-I put on a poker face.
"I'm opening up now!"
The door was unlocked and Aoko stepped through. I tapped her on the shoulder and she flinched hard.
"Kaito! Don't scare me like that!"
I started to grin. Acting like Kaito, acting like Kaito.
"I was just about to open up, but you got ahead of me. Don't be so impatient."
Aoko looked at me, aghast.
"Honestly you never seem to change. By the way, is there something wrong with your voice? And why are your eyes so red. Have you been crying?"
I kept up my cool facade.
"Seems like I have a dust allergy."
"Since when?"
I thought about what to answer for a moment.
"I don't know. I can't determine what my body wants from me either."
Aoko looked at me appraisingly until she shrugged and stepped into the house. This is not good at all.
"W-what are you doing?"
"Well, what do you think? Since I'm sure you don't want to join us today, I'm going to cook here with you."
Uh-oh.
"Listen, I'm not hungry!"
"You should be! Otherwise you'll starve to death someday."
I sighed.
"Call me when you're done."
I said boredly and went upstairs to Kaito's room. I sat back on the bed.
Some time passed, during which I thought hard about what I could do to talk my way out of this situation, until a loud
"Kaito! Come down! Dinner's ready!" sounded.
I was about to go downstairs to meet my fate when suddenly there was a soft knock on the patio door. The real Kaito was back. I exhaled in relief when I saw that he was perfectly fine, but the relief quickly gave way to panic. Now action had to be taken quickly!
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
Hey, I wonder what Shinichi and Kaito will do now? And I wonder if Aoko will find out about their shenanigans? I have no idea xD
How did you guys like the chapter?
Your _Tachi_banana_ <3