Magic Kaitou: Point of View (2/2)

[what_we_dream]

Title: Point of View (2/2)
Series: Magic Kaitou
Pairing: Kaito/Aoko
Rating: PG
Notes: Hardness and brittleness are two separate factors. Google can tell you about it. XD

Summary: It's not so much that she hates him, as that he makes her furious. Which is probably why she doesn't see it coming, until it's already there.

 

Aoko doesn't know what to do. She has two main problems: what to do about Kid vis-à-vis the Being Killed Due To Associating With Him, and what to do about Kid vis-à-vis … well, romance.

The first is by far the easiest. She can either do what he's told her, or not. If she does, she'll be respecting the sincere wishes of someone who's saved her life and been much more considerate of her than he needed to be. On the other hand, she would be respecting the sincere wishes of someone who she's supposed to hate, and while she's coming to accept the fact that she doesn't hate him she still can't bring herself to make a complete 180 on that and just accept him. Pride is a terrible thing. Also, she's never been in the habit of taking orders from anyone other than her father, and even that's been iffy.

Aoko decides she'll do what she wants: if she wants to go to his heists, she damn well will.

The other issue is much harder. There are so many reasons to be against it: he's an international criminal, he's her father's enemy, his principles violate many of hers, he's much older than she is, he's an unprincipled lady's man, she already has someone she likes. On the other hand: she's attracted to him. Oh, she loves Kaito, but Kid is … Kid is a flashy, handsome, suave gentleman. And he makes her feel like she's beautiful, like she's desirable, like she's special. As opposed to Kaito, who makes her feel like she'll never be anything other than a five year-old with skinned knees and frizzled hair and no coordination.

Aoko doesn't want to care for him. There are so, so many reasons not to. She's always been logical, and loving Kid isn't logical, it's foolish and in several ways a betrayal.

She's terribly afraid she's started to anyway.

Aoko misses the next few heists legitimately, due to schoolwork, rather than because of Kid's request.

Finally one comes up on the November long weekend, and she's free to go. Kid's stealing something at Mitsukoshi. The Squad manages to confuse the public regarding which branch of Mitsukoshi, and while the majority of the crowds hare of to Ginza and a few even as far as Shinjuku, the Squad lays in wait at the main branch over Mitsukoshimae station. Aoko, in the know, gets herself a place on the same floor as the target jewel, and waits.

Kid shows up, as Kid, in a cloud of smoke from the ceiling somehow, dropping right in on the jewel. Yamamoto almost trips him up by throwing a mannequin at him, but Kid regains his balance and pelts around the corner.

Right into her.

They go flying together, Kid latching onto her arm and using her weight to spin himself around, resulting in both of them keeping their feet. And then there's smoke and some kind of gas, and she's already feeling lightheaded when something heavy and rubbery is jammed over her mouth. Aoko sways, trying to get her bearings and see through the thick pink smoke, but then Kid's hand on her arm is pulling her and she follows.

They run up a flight of stairs, down a hallway, and into some small dark room. Kid flicks on the light to reveal a store room full of boxes stacked in neat piles, and his own face protected by a gas mask. He pulls it off, then takes hers from her as well. She blinks heavily, and sways slightly before catching her balance.

"That – you used knock-out gas?"

He smiles slightly, shrugs. "Tools of the trade. Did you get a whiff of it?"

"I'm fine." She looks down at his gloved hands, which are now empty. "You have the jewel."

"Yes. Don't worry, it'll be returned soon enough, if it's genuine."

Aoko raises a sceptical eyebrow. "So what, you're looking for fakes? Trying to weed out copies? Secretly you're stealing to benefit the art world?"

Kid actually looks surprised, and laughs. "No, no, Na – Aoko-san. I'm not a secret philanthropist. I'm a kaitou, through and through. I'm just picky about my targets. In fact …" He trails off, apparently thinking better of whatever he was going to say.

"In fact?" she presses.

"In fact," he says, looking at her with hard eyes so that she feels the weight of his words, "I'm looking for something. Something in particular. That's what I want. All I want."

"And when you find it?"

He shrugs. "Then you'll have an end to your problems."

Aoko stares. "You mean when you find it, you'll stop stealing? Kaitou Kid will disappear? Stop existing?"

"Yes. Exactly. And since I seem to be getting closer, it will likely be soon." He says it lightly, offhandedly. As if it weren't like a punch to the gut. As if he hadn't just turned her world upside-down. As if she should be glad.

Six months ago, she would have been. Would have been happier than she'd been in years.

"It must be a talent," she says thickly, in such an odd tone that he looks at her in surprise.

"What?"

"Your ability to infuriate me." She takes a step closer. "You worked so hard to worm your way into my life – " her heart, not that she can say that, "nudged and twisted and pulled me until I finally changed my mind, and now that you've done it you're just going to disappear?"

He tilts his head slightly. "Would you rather I stayed?" It's a genuine question, not a joke, and that throws her. Her anger comes to her aid.

"What could I possibly say to that? You know I should say no, I have to say no. And you've been working steadily to try to make me say yes until I don't know anymore. Is that what you set out to do? See if you could separate me from all my principles and then, once you had, laugh in my face? See just how far you could twist my family? Are you happy now? You didn't only steal my father from me, you made me betray him! You made me lo – made me care about you!" She couldn't have put more venom into I hate you.

Kid actually takes a step backwards, eyes wide and horrified under the brim of his hat. "Aoko-san –"

"What? That wasn't your plan? You really care? Why would you – you don't even know me! I'm just the Inspector's little dirty-kneed daughter. How could you care about me?"

Kid opens his mouth to answer, and outside something crashes. There's a clatter of feet running up the stairs. Kid looks to the door – there's no other exit.

"Going to run?" she asks coldly. Kid steps sharply over to the door and, in one firm movement, pushes it all the way closed and slams a chair down in front of it. Walks back to her with a fire in his eyes that she recognizes would have made her nervous, if she weren't buoyed by smouldering rage.

He stops right in front of her, reaches out to her and then thinks better, drops his arms stiffly to his sides. "I do care," he growls. "More – a lot."

"Why?"

He stares down at her, face sharp with conflict.

"Aoko…"

"Why?" she repeats, her voice so guttural she almost doesn't recognise it.

"If I tell you," he says softly, with no trace of his usual suaveness or confidence, just a kind of worried certainty, "you'll hate me."

"You think anything you could tell me would give me more reason to hate you than I already have? Do you want to know all the reasons I shouldn't care for you? There isn't one single reason I should. Except that I do," she says, bitterly.

"And you can't stand that."

"Caring for you means hurting other people. Means going against so many things I believe in."

Kid shakes his head, turns partially away. "I should never have done this. I should never have gotten close to you. I should have seen this coming," he says, half to himself.

"Then why did you?"

He looks at her at an angle, nearly sideways, and smiles gently. Sadly. "I couldn't help myself."

"Kid…"

"I don't want you to hate me, Aoko. I don't think I… I don't want that."

Outside, the footsteps stop beside the door, and someone bangs on it.

"It's just me," shouts Aoko, turning to face it. "Nakamori Aoko. Inspector Nakamori's daughter," she adds, in case it's one of the extra uniforms. "I'm alone."

"Alright, Nakamori-san. Just stay there for now." The footsteps retreat, and she looks back to Kid. "There, happy? That's the first time I've ever deliberately lied for you." She says it lightly, but there's a part of her that means it, and Kid picks up on it.

"Seeing you betray your principles doesn't make me happy," says the thief.

"Well, it's a bit late for that now. Are you going to tell me why I should believe you would care about me?"

"Do you believe it?"

And that's the problem. She does, now. After talking to him here, she does. "…Yes. But I don't understand why."

"I always thought you had such confidence in yourself," says Kid, gently.

"Kid," she hisses. There are more footsteps in the corridor, and Kid looks to the door again, form tensing slightly.

She reaches out and lays a hand on his arm and he turns back abruptly, staring. Then, slowly, places a gloved hand on her shoulder to pull her closer. She lets him, but leans away when he lowers his head.

"…I can't," she says, staring past him to a wall of boxes. "I… there's somebody."

"Someone else you care for."

She nods mutely.

"Someone you love." There's a curious uncertainty in his tone, but she ignores it.

"I – yes." She straightens and looks up at him, pulling strength from the remaining ashes of her anger, and her knowledge that for some reason right now she's the one in control. "I've known him since we were kids. I love him for who he is." She swallows, throat one big knot. "But you… I like you for what you make me."

"Aoko – I –"

Outside the door the footsteps come to a stop.

"Go," she says, stepping back and slipping out of his grip. He stands frozen for an instant, staring at her with disbelieving eyes. "Go," she repeats, fiercely, and he does. Bounds to the door and leaps to somehow catch the corner of the ceiling and the wall and cram himself there as the door opens and Yamamoto hurries in, panting. Kid drops down silently behind him and disappears into the hall. She turns around, back to the door.

"Nakamori-san, are you alright? The Inspector…"

She doesn't move. Just answers in a calm, cold tone. "I'm fine. I'll wait here until things calm down."

"Are you sure? It may be a while, there's been a lot of confusion."

"I'll wait here."

"Alright. I'll tell the Inspector."

"Thanks."

There's a click as Yamamoto retreats, closing the door after him.

Aoko drops to her knees, tiles cold under her thin stockings, arms wrapped tight around herself, and cries.

When she gets home, there's a note on her desk folded neatly in half. She unfolds it, and a dried four-leaf clover falls out onto the desk. The note says simply, The only thing you want from me is the only thing I can't give you. I'm sorry. There's no signature.

Aoko stares at it for a long time before ripping it to shreds and dropping them in the garbage. He's wrong: she doesn't need to know who he is, she already knows enough. She wants to know, but she doesn't need it. Realising it hurts much less than realising she cares for him; after all it's just a weaker form of the same betrayal.

She keeps the clover.

Aoko doesn't usually watch Kid's heists on TV. For one thing, unless he's been unusually candid about his plans, the cameramen very rarely manage to get him on tape for more than a few seconds – it's stupidly mystic to note that he can't be captured even by film, although there's always some idiot around waiting to say it on the news broadcasts. For another, it's frustrating to see her father's failures documented for all the world.

And watching it on TV makes her wish she was there.

Tonight's heist was simple by his standards, swoop in, grab treasure, swoop out. It's almost certainly just posturing and a sense of advertising that makes him stop atop the head of a horrible fake-Classical statue of some sort of water nymph in perfect sight of the cameras. Lit by thousands of kilowatts, brighter than any of the stars in the sky, he stares straight into the cameras. Gives a polite tug at the brim of his hat and lets the corners of his mouth crook in a secretive grin which sends even the reporter into a fit of speechlessness.

Aoko, flushing bright red, fumbles with the remote and hurriedly changes channels. Then, heart overruling embarrassment, switches back just as hastily.

The head of the stone statue is completely bare.

It ends on Christmas Eve.

Aoko's been practically drowning in school work, what with the end of term exams, the crushing winter vacation homework load, and the knowledge that final exams and the end of school are only two months away. Kid has been working steadily, but she's had a legitimate reason for not going. It's not the biting, tearing conflict in her heart that's kept her away, it's a desire not to flunk out of school. Truly.

But school finishes on the 24th, and she's well into her break homework, and she simply has no excuse for not going. Sure, there's the party she's hosting tomorrow, but she has all Christmas morning to prepare for that. And besides, her father says things have been happening. People showing up on the scenes of heists who have no reason to be there. People, other than the Squad, who seem to be after the thief. People dressed in black, who are worrying Dad no matter what he says – or doesn't say.

It takes her more than an hour to dress – with nothing to wear to a reception like this, she had to rent something with a good part of the semester's allowance, and on top of that she has to wrap up well. The wind is biting, and there may even be a few flakes of snow.

Kid's stealing an old jewel tonight, one with a heavy past. According to the news reports which have been flooding the airwaves for the past few days, it belonged to the Emperor back during early Edo, but was sold to the Dutch under what the crown family now alleges were suspicious circumstances and taken back to Europe. A month ago it was bought by a billionaire from up near Sendai, and has returned to the country to be displayed in Japan tonight for the first time in centuries. A huge, flawless diamond, Tsukiyomi no me, the Eye of the Moon God. It's no coincidence that tonight is a full moon: the publicity for the showing has made full use of the fact. The viewing is being held on the Special Observation Deck of Tokyo Tower, the highest point in Tokyo and, as the promotional material points out, closest to the moon.

It's probably the most formal event Aoko's ever attended. The men and women here are some of the richest and most famous in the country, and they wear clothes costing more than most people in the country make in a year with thoughtless extravagance. The jewels sparkling at throats and on wrists and fingers would finance a small country. By comparison, although the dress she rented must have cost more than a hundred thousand yen when new and is by far the nicest thing she's ever worn, she feels cheap and inconsequential. She knew that would be the case before coming, though, and purposely chose something that, although stylish, is simple and quiet enough to avoid drawing eyes. It's a floor-length velvet dress, alternately dark green and purple as the light hits it, with a subdued peacock-pattern picked out in small false diamonds along the slightly flared skirt. The neckline, a simple v, is lower than her usual without being at all revealing, and the black gloves which cover her arms nearly to the shoulder give a greater sense of formality. With her hair done up carefully and elaborately and highlighted by a few false-diamond tipped pins picked up from the rental store, heels and a touch of makeup, she feels at least she won't embarrass herself. She didn't bother with jewellery – in this crowd that would have embarrassed her.

Even her father and the Squad are dressed formally in tuxedos, most of them looking extremely uncomfortable. She smiles at Dad as she steps off the elevator, and to her surprise he actually comes over to greet her – he almost always ignores her on heists.

"You look very nice," he says gruffly, tugging at his tie. She smiles, and resists the urge to straighten it for him.

"Thank you. So do you."

He coughs and looks around. "Well, keep on your toes. You know, I'm not sure that you –"

"Of course I had to come. Besides, you went to all that trouble to get me an invitation."

Her father looks awkward. "Yeah, well… just… be careful."

"I will." She smiles brightly. He nods, unconvinced, and drifts away leaving her alone with the social elite of the country. She takes a deep breath and walks towards the hors d'oeuvres.

The diamond is scheduled to be revealed at 11:00 when the moon will be at its zenith over both city and tower, and Kid is scheduled to come shortly afterwards – maybe he has somewhere to be for Christmas. She mingles determinedly until then, chatting with the younger generation and scrupulously avoiding the tall glasses of champagne waiters and some of the men keep trying to pass off on her, hyper-aware of her father's watchful eye. She doesn't remember a single thing she talked about, afterwards.

At 10:30 the elevators are shut down. At 10:45 the Squad begins to phase from awkward and uncomfortable to ready and determined. At 10:55 Hirotani, the billionaire, makes his way past the ropes and security guards to the velvet-covered box placed near the north side of the Observation Deck, under the moon. Aoko and the rest of the crowd drift nearer as the soft background music fades out. Younger and thinner than many, she slips through them to stand near the front where she has a good view of the covered display case, and wonders where behind her Kid is standing. Wonders with a slight blush if she's already been talking to him tonight.

"Ladies and gentlemen," begins Hirotani in a rather nasal voice, "in 1656, a Dutch trader in Dejima purchased, from alleged representatives of the Emperor, a stone then known as Tsukiyomi no me, one of the very few diamonds in Japan. It was taken back to Europe, and over the next three hundred and forty years passed through many families, and many nations. It has been bought, stolen, and bartered. It has been stained with treachery and deceit and not least of all blood. And today, for the first time since it left our shores in 1656, Tsukiyomi no me has returned to Japan." He raises a hand to a corner of the velvet cloth. "Behold, the Eye of the Moon God."

With a theatrical sweep of his hand, he whips the dark cover from the case, revealing a stone supported in the grip of careful strips of plastic almost a foot above the bottom of the case, so that all sides and angles are clearly visible. It's a large stone, one of the largest she's ever seen, about half the size of her palm. And, with the moonlight shining down from above, it glows a bloody red.

It seems that, for a moment, the world holds its breath. The entire room stares at the stone, which should according to the photos be a pristine white, casting a crimson light down on the bottom of the case. And then everything begins.

Behind her, in the centre of the circular Observatory Deck where the elevators and emergency stairs are, something bangs. Even as she's turning to look with the rest of the crowd, someone grabs her wrist from behind and pulls her to the side.

"Get out of here, now," says a sharp voice, jerking her away from the stone and then pushing her further. She takes several stumbling steps, nearly tripping on her high heels while trying to turn to see behind her. By the time she manages to stop, several men in black have broken in through the emergency stairwell and are fighting with the Squad and Hirotani's private security guards. And, behind her, Kaitou Kid is standing in shining white under the moon, next to an unconscious Hirotani and a pair of security guards while a thin shin-deep mist licks at the edges of his cape. He has his back to her, and she can see there's already a hole in the diamond's glass case.

Oogawa and Washio are trying to herd the crowd to the side of the deck, away from both the staircase and the display case. The crowd, comprised of people used to doing the herding, aren't cooperating. She watches as Takarai and Ishimura dive at Kid while he stares over their shoulders in shock. Behind them near the staircase, officers in black tuxedoes are lying slumped on the floor, unmoving. The two men, a tall one in a hat with long hair and a squat one with a scrunched toad-like face, are standing with guns pointed at Takarai and Ishimura, and Kid beyond them.

"No!" she shouts, frozen to the spot in crushing fear and beyond that uncertainty of who to go to. Kid, never frozen – except around her – dives forwards towards the officers, and dropping into a roll trips them both up so that the shots go over their heads and crack the glass of the Observatory Deck windows. At the sound of gunfire, the crowd stops protesting and abruptly becomes a frantic mob shoving to the left, away from both staircase and empty display case, and dragging her along. She fights her way past an overweight man in a slimming suit which isn't doing much for him and a tall skeletal woman with emeralds the size of five hundred yen coins sparkling at her neck, pushes between a pair of young men in suits with diamond tie-pins and terrified eyes, and suddenly stumbles out the other side of the crowd into the open.

Behind the two men, her father is sneaking up with his pistol in hand. She bites her lip to keep from crying out. Kid is still moving, falling into another tumbling roll as more shots ring out, and coming up with the diamond in one hand and what looks like a hammer in the other. Behind the two men, her father straightens, levels his pistol at them and growls "Hands up!" even as Kid shouts "No!"

The one with long hair doesn't bother to move. The short one spins around, gun in hand, and knocks her father's pistol away. Aoko can't move, can't breath, can't scream, because oh gods they're going to shoot Dad, they're going to shoot Dad, they're going to shoot Dad – no!

Kid, hands full, throws the diamond overhand with perfect accuracy and the strength of a baseball pitcher. It hits the squat man's gun, and both gun and stone go flying. Her father makes to tackle the man and gets a punch to the jaw that sends him toppling over. The tall one ignores this all in favour of levelling his own weapon at the thief.

Kid, running vaguely in her direction while trying to avoid the gunfire, has lost his initial edge and can't outpace the shots anymore – she can see the one in the hat lining up the shot. But she's already moving.

Aoko slams shoulder-first into Kid at the same time as the shot goes off, feels it scratch over her bare back even as she falls towards the ground with Kid under her. She's saved him for an instant, but now they're both trapped, neither of them can run and –

Under her, Kid twists, and she sees a flash of white and then hears a guttural curse. She hits the ground hard on her side, the impact partially stunning her, and it's a moment before she realises she's alone. Then she's scrambling up to watch Kid sprint full-tilt across the room, dress-shoes clacking on the polished tile floor, card-gun in hand, even as the men pull back-up weapons from their pockets and who on Earth are they?

Kid hits the ground in a slide before they've finished drawing their guns, and she doesn't understand why until he swivels around on his knees, with the diamond in one hand and a hammer in the other.

"Drop them," he says, holding the jewel flat on the ground, hammer above it in his right hand. Aoko stares – is he insane? "Drop them," Kid repeats. "If you know anything about diamonds, you know they're brittle as bone. I hit them with this," he waves the hammer, "and you loose everything."

In the background, the Squad is pulling itself together. Oogawa and Washio are creeping around from behind the men, Takarai and Ishimura getting to their feet by the case, her father and Sawara drifting in from the other side. And Kid is squatting straight in front of them, threatening to smash a diamond with a hammer.

"Do it and we'll kill you," says the tall one simply, one visible eye narrowed.

"Like you killed everyone else who got too close to your secret? They deserve to have died for something."

Aoko watches, eyes wide and heart in her throat, with no idea what's going on. All she knows is that Kid thinks he's going die. She doesn't know how she knows, but she does. She can see it written in the lines of his face, in the hard brittleness of his gaze.

"And you want to die for something too?" The tall man is grinning. Sharp, fang-like teeth prick out between pale lips.

"No. But I will if I have to."

"No," whispers Aoko, a low broken whine, without meaning to.

"Your girlfriend doesn't want you to. You gonna make her watch it?" The man glances at Aoko, cruel eye shining. Kid doesn't look. Instead, he brings the hammer down straight onto the diamond.

It shatters with a bang like gunfire.

Aoko's running, but she knows it's too late.

The Squad pounces, five men all diving forwards at the same time.

The men raise their guns to fire.

Kid sits without moving, and then turns to look at her. Tilts his head slightly, and smiles.

"Goodbye," he says, quietly.

Something right in front of him explodes with a crash, and the world turns white.

It's later. Much later. There were ambulances to be called, statements to be taken, promises to be made, and apologies to be given. Aoko sat in a corner with a blanket over her shoulders, a strip of gauze taped carefully over the shallow cut across her back just above her shoulder blades, and watched the Squad clean up. Watched Hirotani weep over the pile of shards and dust that were all that was left of his diamond. Watched the forensics team take samples to try to identify the men who had fled down the stairs leaving fear and pain and several injured men behind them. Watched the Tower attendants come in to tape over the shattered window through which the cold winter breeze was blowing in snowflakes.

Merry Christmas, thinks Aoko, as she finally agrees to leave and is escorted out by Yamamoto. Dad will be here all night, she knows, and probably most of tomorrow. There's no point; he'll never catch Kid now. The found the one thing he was after, and destroyed it, and they'll never see him again.

She'll never see him again.

Aoko pays no attention to the drive home, or Yamamoto taking her inside and making sure she's alright. She makes herself some tea, and sits in her fancy dress on the worn tatami of the front room, staring at nothing. After a while she realises the tea she's been holding has gotten cold, and she hasn't even taken one sip. She gets up, pours it down the sink and makes herself some more.

She's sure she'll feel something later – probably anger at being deserted just when she had finally committed herself, and sadness, and disappointment. Right now, she just feels empty. Empty as a ruined castle in the rain, burnt-out, hollow, full of muddy ashes.

She should have listened to herself, should have done the logical thing like always rather than straying. Should have known it would end like this, with him gone when she finally knows she wants him.

The doorbell rings.

Aoko sighs, puts down the tea, and walks through to the doorway, velvet and silk lining swishing quietly against her legs. Probably one of the Squad picking something up for Dad, or maybe here to ask something they forgot. She opens the door without bothering to check who it is.

And finds Kaito standing on her doorstep, snow on his dark jacket and in his hair, at three in the morning. She stares, and then gives up.

"What are you doing here?" she asks, in a voice with a touch of hoarseness. Leans pointedly on the door: This isn't a good time.

"I wanted to tell you," says Kaito in a strange low tone, "you looked great tonight."

"What?" Aoko shakes off some of her exhaustion – both physical and mental – and tries to understand. Did he see her on the way to the Tower?

"I said," Kaito pulls something from his pocket raises his hand to his face, "you looked great tonight." Kaitou Kid stares back at her from under the monocle; as she stares she realises she can see Kid's blue shirt and red tie under Kaito's black coat.

"You –"

"And that maybe I should have just said goodnight," says Kid. Kaito. Both of them.

She can feel her tears welling up, hot and thick, and raises a still-gloved hand to cover her trembling mouth.

"Aoko?"

"You," she hisses through the lump in her throat, "are infuriating!"

Kid – Kaito – smiles bright and wide. "I guess I am," he says.

She smacks his shoulder.

And then fists gloved hands in his jacket, pulls him close, and kisses him.