MK fic: The Longest Night [WIP]

[motsdejeva]

Title: The Longest Night
Scene Title: Bonding Time
Progress: WIP



"For someone who smiles all the time, you sure say a lot of negative things," Aoko said with a bit of a frown.

Kid shifted restlessly, only going still again when Jii-san glanced over at him. It was something she'd noticed about the thief. He couldn't stand just lying there like any other injured or sick person would. In fact, if she didn't keep reminding herself, she would have thought he wasn't injured at all.

The fact that he smiled up at her drove that point home. "Well, Nakamori-chan," he said quite amiable and conversational, "I find smiling easier than frowning. Also, most people only ever see me when I'm performing, so it's difficult for them to think of how I'm like behind the scenes. As you can see, I'm not exactly as friendly as most would have you believe."

The frown on Aoko's face became heavier with that. "You're not that horrible of a person," she told him with more ease than she had thought possible. "You're just... secretive, smug, manipulative, controlling--"

"Forgotten any other negative aspect of my personality?" Kid asked, lips twisting into more of a wry smirk.

Aoko continued, irked by his tone, "Sarcastic, jeering, and egotistical."

Kid shift again, pulling out his two hands and clapping them together slowly.

The teenaged girl was ready to scold him for mocking her again when she saw the temor running up his arms and into his hands. The slow claps weren't purely for sarcastic mockery.

It must have been an effort for him to even hold his arm up like that, she thought to herself.

And yet, nothing showed on his face. Still only that smile on his lips.

"Young master," Jii-san's voice said, startling Aoko from her study of the thief, "please remain still and do not over-exert yourself needlessly."

Kid let his arms fall to his side, obeying his care-taker's command. Sullenly but in a softer voice than the one he'd used earlier, the young man argued, "It's not an over-exertion, Jii-chan..."

The old man turned to look to his charge before replying, "You are still in recovery from a fever and you are healing. Please save your energy and rest, young master."

Aoko watched Kid as he stared up at the ceiling of the shelter. It was still too dim in that place to be able to see the fine details of his features, but somehow, she was still able to read the exhaustion he felt. "Okay, Jii-chan," he finally said quietly. "I'll try."

This seemed to be the closest thing to Jii-san's wish that he was going to get. Still, it seemed to passify the old man who then said, "Nakamori-san, I'll ask you to please not disturb the young master so much--"

"Ah, leave her alone, Jii-chan," Kid broke in before Aoko could apologize. "If I'm not allowed to move, I should at least be able to talk. Otherwise, I will go stir-crazy and you know it."

Jii-san gave a sigh, the closest thing Kid would get to a surrender.

Not knowing what to think about all of this, Aoko just ildly commented, "I forgot to mention spoiled."

Kid grinned at that. "Yeah. Jii-chan spoils me rotten," he said fondly.

Aoko, not really knowing how to respond, asked with some amount of curiosity, "Why does he call you ' young master,' anyway?"

An exasperated sigh escaped the thief. "I've tried to get him to stop, but he's a fairly stubborn person to deal with."

"Pot," Jii-san said calmly and randomly from his work-station.

"Kettle," Kid retorted, gaining a low chuckle from the old man.

Aoko pretended that the conversation hadn't been interrupted and pressed the issue, "That doesn't explain why he calls you that."

Seeming amused by her curiosity, Kid responded, "Well, why else does someone call someone else 'you master'?"

That had Aoko pausing to actually think about it. Mostly, that sort of thing was an inherited title, something a servant called the son of the man he served--

A feeling of disbelief and dark understanding suddenly began to creep up her spine. Without really meaning to, the question escaped her, "You aren't the same Kaiout Kid from eight years ago, are you?"

Silence came from both the thief and his assistant.

Finally, Kid quietly asked, "And what makes you believe this is the case, Nakamori-chan?"

Aoko felt his defenses going up. Just his saying her name in that wa was enough to let her know that this was a guarded secret Kid would never willingly let go of. Still, even knowing that much, she answered, "You're too young. Even if you're in your 20s... that's about how old tahat Kid appeared to be 8 years ago."

Kid gave no response, merely stared up at the ceiling, face devoid of any emotion.

Unsettled by his silence and utter blankness of his features, she quickly added, "You don't have to talk about it if you don't want to. Especially since--"

"I wonder," Kid said idly, interrupting her clumsy attempt to mend the situation, "if I were to answer, just how quick would you figure everything out?"

While this did nothing but confuse the teenaged girl, it made Jii-san move quickly to his feet. "Young master, you mustn't--" he objected, seeming frightened by the thief's words.

Kid gave a short laugh. "Joking, Jii-chan," he said in a cheerful manner. "Just joking."

The old man hesitated, uncertain for a moment before settling himself back down in front of his work.

Aoko continued to watch Kid, who continued to look up at the ceiling. For some reason, she was able to see the tightness of his eyes--an almost pained look that stopped her from saying anything else. Kid, however, continued with a fairly cheerful voice that didn't match when she could make out of his features, "Hey, ojousan? Let me put a question to you. I've had Hakuba-tantei ask me this once and turned it back on him and he's still trying to find the answer."

He laughed a bit at that, voice still quiet, and before she could object, telling him that she wasn't any sort of detective, he then asked, "Why do I steal, Aoko?"

For some reason, this question, simple as it was, made Aoko freeze. Made her stop and actually wonder why the infamous Kaitou Kid was a thief.

She was the daughter of the inspector in charge of capturing Kid. It was impossible for her to have never heard about Kid's miraculous escapes, his cunning plans, and his brilliant tricks and schemes. But never once had she actually considered that these talents used for thievry could be used for so many other things. Kaitou kid could be considered a jack-of-all trades, a genius in his own right. He probably could have been anything he set his mind to.

So... why had he become a thief?

Aoko looked back to the thief, ready to ask if it had anything to do with her earlier question but stopped when she realized why he hadn't said anything more.

Kid had fallen asleep.

A sound of movement made her look away from the sleeping thief and to the man-servant who stood on his feet for a moment before moving over to his young master and kneeling beside him. A small sigh escaped the old man before he reached out and attempted to straighten out the blankets that enveloped the young man. "Such a stubborn young man he is, wouldn't you agree, Nakamori-san?"

Aoko looked up to see the content smile on his face--a kind of contentment that was tarnished with another, sadder emotion. "Jii-san..."

"Neither the young master nor I expect anything from you, Nakamori-san," the old man began, carefully tucking his charge's arms back under the blankets which he then lifted, showing a glimpse of the network of bandages on the young man's body, and pulled up to his chin. "In fact, you've surpassed all expectations. Truth be told, we both had expected you to leave us that very night."

Somehow wounded from this admission, Aoko objected, "Why would I? He was really hurt and could have died--"

"And you could have used this to your advantage and called for help," Jii said kindly as he sat back on his heels. A genuine smile appeared on his old face then. "Or am I mistaken in thinking that, despite borrowing my own, you carry a cellphone on your person?"

The teenaged girl looked away, feeling her face heat up. "I-it's not like it's that big of a deal," she said automatically before looking down to Kid's sleeping features. "It wouldn't have been fair..."

"Nakamori-san," Jii said in a more serious manner, "fairness is purely something that only children believe in."

Aoko looked up to him, objecting, "But Kid--!"

A hand raised stopped her words. "The young master created such rules because he wishes no harm to befall anyone, Nakamori-san." Old, dark eyes became pained as Jii continued, "But as you can see, such rules do not matter to some people. Life is not fair, Nakamori-san. Just as you have been cheated in life, so has the young master. That he is the Kaitou Kid matters only to those who wish it to matter."

Now considerably uncomfortable, Aoko looked to her hands in her lap. She felt perfectly chastised and rebuked.

"However," the old man continued with a lighter tone, "as I've said, by not doing that which would have surely enabled his capture, you have gone beyond all expectations. That you continue to stay even when you could easily return home and alert your father is more than surprising."

Even more uncomfortable at the reminder that she was taking the thief's side in all of this, Aoko quietly asked, "Is this so unusual, Jii-san?"

A low chuckle escaped the man. "Only if you consider Kaitou Kid being willing to trust the daughter of the man assigned to catch him to be unusual, Nakamori-san."

"Eh?" Aoko demanded, face burning fiercely. "T-trusting? Him?"

Seemingly not to notice the embarrassed flush in her cheeks that was surely visible in the dark, Jii continued to smile. "The young master certainly has ways of showing these things. That he asks for you to remain if you're willing, talk with you when he's passed his limits, invites you to discover his motives--"

"'Invites?'" Aoko asked incredulously. "He said he asked Hakuba-kun the same question before."

Amusement colored his words as Jii replied, "Surprisingly, the young master has some level of trust directed toward a couple of detectives. Not only that, but the Taskforce as well."

Now feeling that she was being led on, Aoko asked, "He trusts people who want to catch him?"

"To a certain extent, yes," the thief's caretaker confirmed.

"To what extent?" Aoko asked, both curious and doubtful of the answer.

Jii patiently answered, "He would never willingly trust them with his most intimate secrets, but he trusts them to do what is right, to chase after him while following those idealistic rules, to believe in him enough to not think ill of him when he's accused of horrid deeds such as murder." A fond smile crossed his wisened features again as he looked down at his young charge. "For a criminal--any criminal--that is an enormous amount of trust to put in others, especially in times like these when it is hard to tell who is friend and who is foe."

Aoko frowned a bit, trying to understand this kind of thought process. It was difficult to wrap her mind around but...

"Jii-san," she asked with a bit of hesitation, "could it be that you're actually happy I'm still here?"

The old man merely smiled.

She stared at him. "But you're always objecting against me actually seeing his face or his answering my questions--"

"It is better this way, Nakamori-san," Jii told her softly. "If you were to learn his identity, it could serve to only hurt you both. You already must feel some amount of guilt for not telling your father about the injured Kaitou Kid's hide-away. To put you in the situation where you would actually see his face...

"And the young master," he continued sadly, "He's spent all of his time and effort to keep people from discovering such things. Even if he may appear willing now, the reveal of his true face would do more damage to him than anything else."

"More... damage?" Aoko asked, feeling a slight chill.

"My master is still relatively young, Nakamori-san," Jii explained, seeming torned. "You've seen him--or at the very least, was able to hear and be next to him at a moment when he was vulnerable. Even still, he kept to what was expected of him as Kaitou Kid. Or he tried. If you were to ever see his face, you would understand just how vulnerable he really is. Despite being Kaitou Kid, despite being the person everyone believes to not be human sometimes, he is just that. And that sort of realization for the two of you right now..."

"I understand," Aoko said quietly before quickly correcting herself, "I mean, I don't understand everything you've said but... I guess I understand... that you're just protecting him--"

"And you as well, Nakamori-san," he finished for her before smiling and adding, "The young master would never forgive me if I didn't take care of you as well."

Aoko gave a bit of a smile at that, looking to Kid again. "He's one of those idiots that like to put others before himself, I guess."

"Suspect you know his type well," Jii responded with a chuckle.

"I know a few of those kinds of idiots," she said with a small sigh. "It must be because my father's a police officer, I swear."

The old man chuckled again but didn't say anything in response.

The smell of food was what woke him up. His already pained abdomen now demanded that he get up and feed it, which was easier said than done. His body still felt quite heavy and incapable of movement.

He was surprised he was even able to open his eyes and turn his head toward the aroma of good food.

A pair of backs were toward him. The older one seemed to be instructing the younger one on the proper way to measure a certain ingredient while the younger one seemed tense and nervous--as if the task was more tedious than it should be--

"Ow!"

The cry of pain made him sit up--or at least, made him make a valiant attempt at sitting up.

His noise of pain--not a very loud one, either--was enough to have the two other people spin around and then rush toward him in alarm.

Before he could say anything, a hand on his chest had him lying flat again while two more hands lifted his blankets and checked the bandages he was wrapped in. Somewhat bewildered, he tried to object, "W-wait--"

It came out weaker and more winded than he'd hoped.

Aoko glared down at him. "Idiot! What're you doing? You're not supposed to sit up like that yet! Think about the damage that could be done--!"

Jii lowered the blankets, announcing with some relief, "The stitches are holding."

Feeling like a child who'd just been scolded, he looked to the old man and awkwardly began, "Jii-chan..."

The old man just shook his head, stopping his charge's words as he then straightened the blankets. "Please do not give us such a fright, young master. Nakamori-san is right in the fact that you're still healing--"

The thief asked before anything else could be said, "Who got hurt?"

For a moment, both Aoko and Jii looked at him as if he were demented. Then Aoko started. "Oh," she said with some realization as she held up a hand. "I just burned my hand a bit--scorched it, really--"

Her words stopped for a moment before she started again, loudly telling him, "Idiot! Even if I was hurt, Jii-san was right there to help!"

Something told him he deserved being called an idiot this time. He gave a smile, strained though it was, and replied, "Reflex."

That answer didn't sit well with Aoko, so he asked both to distract her and to reassure himself, "Can I see it?"

Aoko paused, hesitated, and then held out her hand again.

Knowing he'd get scolded for moving so much again but not really caring, he pulled one of his hands out of the blankets and took hold of her hand. Gently, he pulled the hand closer, the dimness of the room impeding on his vision more than he would like. Quietly, he studied the hand, seeing the darker, more inflamed portion of skin on the back of it.

After a moment longer of studying it, he said, "Need to run water over it. Jii-chan, do we have any oiontment?"

The old man barely managed to get out an affirmative before Aoko said heatedly, "I can treat a burn--"

Her words stopped when he placed a kiss on the injured area of her hand. "Think of it as repayment," he said with a bit of cheek, a smile on his face.

She wouldn't have been able to make out the wink if he'd given her one, he figured.

She was quick to snatch back her hand at that, however. "Y-you're such a womanizer!" she exclaimed, flustered.

He couldn't help but to laugh, even though it still hurt to do so.

"Now, Nakamori-chan," he said cheekily with more energy than he actually had, "I would hope you wouldn't know of such things yet."

He could practically feel the blush in her cheeks. He quietly laughed at the reaction.

She surprised him by demanding, "Oh, so it's back to 'Nakamori-chan,' is it?"

He wewnt quiet, feeling alarm creeping up his spine. "Have I called you anything different?"

Aoko watched him with some amount of confusion. "You don't remember?" He stared back at her without really answering. "You asked me a question and called me 'Aoko.'"

He looked to Jii for confirmation and received a nod in answer.

... he suddenly wasn't so hungry anymore.

"Forgive my rudeness, then," he said cautiously. "I must have been--"

"It's fine," Aoko interrupted easily.

Caught off-guard, he didn't say anything for a moment. "You're sure?" he asked carefully.

"Positive," she assured him before adding, "Besides, having you call me Nakamori all the time makes me think you're talking about my father."

He gave a bit of a laugh. "I would never call the inspector '-chan,'" he said quite honestly. "He doesn't look at all that great in a skirt."

Aoko gave him an odd look at that. "Never explain that comment and I won't have to hurt you when you're healed."

"Deal," the injured thief agreed, knowing that it wouldn't exactly work out that way, being who he was--other than Kaitou Kid. "So... Nakamori-chan--"

"Aoko," she corrected.

He decided to play that game. "Nakamori?"

"Aoko," came the firm response.

"Aoko-san?"

She sighed, putting a hand to her head.

"How about Aoko-hime? Aoko-ojousama? Aoko-sama--"

A hand was placed over his mouth. "All right! Aoko-san is fine!" she said before giving him a dark look as she then took the hand away. "But I'm not calling you Kid-san."

He grinned at that. "Wouldn't expect you to, Aoko-san."

It was a bit of a relief, really. If she'd have kept insisting he call her Aoko, more problems would have arisen. It was bad enough that he'd slipped up before but to have both Kuroba Kaito and Kaitou Kid call her the same thing...

It was already uncomfortable enough that Aoko was getting to know Kid more.

Without any warning, a yawn escaped him, making Aoko look to him in what could have been amusement. "Still tired? Well, at least you'll be quiet then," she said with more cheek than should have been allowed.

A disgruntled sound came from the injured party. "I just woke up," he argued.

'You need to rest, idiot," she insisted before looking to the old man, who'd thought to save the food they'd been preparing as well as retrieve the burn medication. "Right, Jii-san?"

Kid made to argue more but was stopped by his hunger. "What'd you two cook?" he couldn't help but to ask.

Jii smiled at that, setting the food down. "Some stew to help you on your way of healing, young master."

The young thief eyed the pot of food suspiciously. "It smells good," he began slowly, "but that description leaves much to be desired, Jii-chan."

The old man ignored the slight from his charge and removed the lid.

The smell alone had his mouth watering.

Aoko noticed his transfixed stare and had to remind him, "You haven't really eaten anything since that night. Jii-san said you probably won't be able to stomach much of this without making yourself sick."

He sighed morosely. "More's the pity," he said before asking thoughtfully, "I am allowed to sit up to eat, right?"

"Only if Nakamori-san assists, young master," Jii answered with a smile.

He was starting to become more and more suspicious of that old man.

He looked to Aoko instead of calling the man's hand. "Sorry to impose, Aoko-san," he said politely with some embarrassment and gratefulness.

Aoko made a noise in the back of her throat before taking position behind him and putting her hands on his shoulders. "Please. I would have left ages ago if I cared that much," she said shortly.

He snerked a bit before she asked, "Ready?"

He sighed and said with some amount of distaste as he felt her hands slip to his shoulder blades, "I feel like I'm child all over again."

"Aw, poor baby," Aoko responded idly, somehow getting a snort of laughter from him before continuing, "All right, go slow this time."

"Yes, yes," he said and obediently did as he was told. It bothered him some that he had to rely on her push on his shoulders to help him sit up, but it was necessary.

Just that small endeavor had him shaking and feeling more sick than anything else.

Loathed to ask but knowing it was necessary, he quietly said, "Aoko-san, I don't think I can stay up for long like this."

A bit of alarm came from the girl behind him before she carefully took a hand from behind him and wrapped it around his chest, slowly leaning him back. He was able to breathe easier when he was more or less lying on top of something solid yet soft.

He opened his eyes and looked up to see Aoko squinting down at him in the dark. "Ah..." he said distantly, "I think I've seen this movie once."

He heard Jii chuckle quietly to himself while Aoko's face darkened as she flushed. "Oh, be quiet," she snapped back. "You're the one who couldn't sit up on his own."

"But I took a bullet in the name of justice, nurse," he repsonded with utmost seriousness.

"What justice, you idiotic thief?" she demanded.

He paused. "Oh, wait..." he said to himself, acting as if he'd just realized his blunder. "Well, I would suggest acting out Lupin and Raymonde, but that's too tragic a tale for you, ojousama."

Aoko rolled her eyes. "Jii-san, put some stew in his mouth. he's delirious again."

He considered that. "I may actually be, really," he said thoughtfully, putting a pale and shaking hand to his forehead.

He didn't exactly feel all that well, if he were to be honest, but it was a marked improvement from when he'd gotten that fever. At least he could still think clearly. Even when it seemed the stopper between his thoughts and his voice was broken.