Handcuffed

A Magic Kaito Fanfic

10.4.2012

Aoko shivered as the cold wind blew over the top of the building. The circumstances were too bizarre, but, hey, nothing seemed to be going her way lately.

Her current predicament had a lot of build up. But it wasn't anything really new. Kaitou KID had been picking up his game and her father was looking more than a little rough around the edges. In the past month, Nakamori Ginzo came home for a full night of sleep fewer than five times. Aoko was alone the whole month. There wasn't enough school work to occupy her mind and she spent time hanging around the house. Partly, because she wanted to be there anytime her father stopped by, but also because her best friend was always busy whenever she called him to do something.

She thought he was seeing someone. And those thoughts had made her upset, cultivating an inability to function like a civil human. Which meant, when she got home, she would put her phone into a kitchen cabinet so she wouldn't harass Kaito. He didn't seven seem to mind that she was upset with him. Twitterpated, as Aoko projected him to be, there would be no reason for him to pay attention to her.

To boring, plain, over-emotional, flat Nakamori Aoko.

Once she realized that she had deep cleaned her entire house twice and had done more gardening than the previous five months combined, all in the span of three and a half weeks, Aoko decided to go pay her dad a visit.

It was too bad that she was so frustrated with Kaitou KID that she forgot that it was the night of a heist.

She was swept up in the crowd of police, lead by her father, from the precinct to the site of the planned robbery and amidst the confusion, somehow ended up not seeing her father. Deeming that it just wasn't meant to happen, she started to work her way out of the building.

"Wait! Nakamori-san, you came to see the Inspector, right?" A policeman jogged up to her.

"Yes, but now's not a good time," Aoko said with a sad smile at the officer. "I'll just let myself out."

"That wouldn't be wise," the officer caught up with her and steered her further into the museum. "The heist is about to begin and if they catch you alone, they'll interrogate you."

"But, my father," Aoko started as she was rushed down the lush corridor.

"Doesn't want to be duped again."

"Again? Then KID has..?" she touched her face.

"He's used your father's weakness," the officer said before radioing in to announce themselves, "Inspector Nakamori, I have your daughter here."

"What? Aoko!" Ginzo's voice crackled through the radio. "What are you doing here?"

"I came to see you, Otousan."

"You're KID, aren't you? Officer, bring him in!"

"See?" the officer shrugged and opened the door.

"Wait, how—" Aoko started to ask before she was whirled around to face her father. "Otousan."

"KID!" Ginzo pinched Aoko's cheeks.

She kneed him in the stomach.

"I'm not KID!" She scolded her father as he coughed for breath.

"If she's not KID," a detective tugged harshly on her hair to make sure it wasn't a wig, "then…"

Ginzo looked down at his watch.

And everything went black.

"Capture him!" People jostled Aoko as they scrambled to get back to their posts in the dark.

Stumbling, Aoko wasn't sure how far she moved, or if she did at all. There was a dusty almost grainy, sensation to the air that wasn't there before and Aoko was becoming dizzy. She careened into somebody and the lights came on.

Smoke was starting to fill the room, obscuring visibility, but there was no mistaking who she had bumped.

White suit, cape, top hat and a monocle with a lucky clover. It was Kaitou KID. He had a slightly shocked expression in his eyes at the sudden light. She bumped him just right for the remote controlling the lights to get switched in his pocket. Through the hazy dizziness and his gas mask, 'slightly shocked' was Aoko's best guess. But it could have easily been indifference or rage. Her mind wasn't functioning properly at that moment.

"Arrest him!" Ginzo's voice cut through the smoke.

Aoko was leaning on KID's back, completely unable to move her body from the nerve gas. It was not meant to be resisted and she never had exposure to the chemical agent before. That and, if her leaning against him was any indication, she was much lighter than any of his normal adversaries.

He could have just dropped her. Giving her a concussion on top of gassing her was potentially life threatening. Quickly stashing his prize away, KID grabbed her to set her down carefully. What he hadn't expected was the cold metal of a handcuff to entwine around his wrist of one hand and for her to grab his other hand.

Click.

Three sets of eyes were looking down. KID's left wrist gleamed with a handcuff. His right wrist was tight in the grasp of Aoko's right hand. Above which, a silver shackle encircled her dainty arm, sliding down to her wrist. It mocked them. All of them.

Ginzo's eyes widened and some of the nerve gas wore off as adrenaline pumped. Aoko's hand fell limp as her body succumbed to the aerial chemical. KID did the only thing a thief could do.

He ran.

With a gigantic scoop, he picked Aoko off the floor and took off. Trying to cradle her as best he could, he managed to get to his escape route.

When she woke half an hour later, the moon was out, filling the sky with full, bright light as she leaned against a humming transformer box.

KID was cursing lightly as he struggled with the cuff binding the two of them together.

"This is the new tamper proof handcuff," Aoko slurred, still fighting off the final tendrils of the nerve agent.

"Are you alright?" KID abandoned his endeavor to look carefully into her face.

"I'm fine," she said. It wasn't entirely true. What she could feel was the cold air on her two inches of bare skin between shorts and socks. Everything else was still numb.

"Let me see," KID squeezed her ankle and watched for a reaction; nothing. Then her wrists, shoulders and neck.

"Don't touch me, gross thief," Aoko mustered her energy to snap.

"I need to make sure that you are alright," he gently turned her face and told her, "Look at the moon."

"Why?" she asked, but looked at the orb in the sky.

"Good, you're doing just fine."

"If you are so worried about my health, why did you bring me into the room at all?" Aoko sniffed as the cold hit her now regained nose function.

"Excuse me?"

"You were disguised as the guard that brought me into the room. If you are so worried about the gas, why bring me in?"

"It was part of the plan. To create confusion, " KID shrugged.

"Misdirection, huh?" Aoko shifted, trying to get more comfortable. "Too bad bringing me caused this, too."

She jerked her right arm and tugged his left one through the linked metal.

"So, what's the plan? Chop my hand off?" Aoko asked sardonically. She had just finished replaying the images in her mind of the, more than curious, events of the evening.

"I am not going to cut off your hand," KID said firmly.

"Fine, what about the jewel?"

"Not what I'm looking for. It will be returned."

"You seem to be able to discern that it isn't what you want very quickly from the time of the heist to when you plan on returning it," Aoko flipped a stray piece of hair out of her eyes.

"Is that a bad thing?"

"No, I just don't see why you bother, is all. I mean, it can't be cheap, doing all this. Yet you have no increase of profit, or profit at all, when you steal. So, why bother?" Aoko was watching him carefully. No one had ever been this close to Kaitou KID nor been in his proximity for so long. He could have easily pulled two heists in the span of their conversation alone and who knew how many while she was passed out.

KID was obviously not answering her question, but Aoko didn't really notice or care. Her mind was on something else already.

"How did we get here?"

"A little bit of this, a little bit of that," KID's reply was both skeptical and cryptic.

"You touched my butt, didn't you?" her customary glare was in place. It was a look she used on Kaito often. It was usually accompanied with verbal and mop attacks.

"If the need arose, certain anatomy have had contact to ensure your safety," tactfully, in KID's mind, he brushed it off.

"You did touch it, you hentai!" she walloped his hat brim, casting darkness over his eyes as it squished his hair down. His hand was jerked as she moved to cross her arms with a 'hmph', but ended up yelling at him when his shackled hand brushed over certain other anatomy.

"I am not a pervert!" KID groaned, only barely catching his Poker Face before it slipped. "Our hands are handcuffed. Where yours goes, so does mine."

"No one touches Aoko's butt and gets away with it," Aoko glared hotly at KID. "There's only one person who might get out of it."

"Your boyfriend?"

"No!" Aoko turned her head sharply away. Her hair slapped him in the face, washing the scent of her jasmine shampoo over him.

He couldn't help but inhale.

"That was a fast refusal. Faster than my inspection of my prizes," KID fixed his monocle. "Perhaps you have spent some time thinking about it."

"No, I haven't," Aoko said slowly, a sigh underlying her words. "He's my best friend. Not my boyfriend. There's a difference. Not that I have a boyfriend or anything."

KID wasn't sure what her tone was saying. She was defensive, confused and, what seemed like, a dash of disappointment.

"You know, you kind of remind me of him. Reckless, obnoxious, egotistical," Aoko looked back at him, cocking her head as she studied him.

"That's how you describe your best friend?"

"No, I was describing you," Aoko smirked; wise-ass. "But he has similar traits. Spontaneous, attention seeking and prideful is more how I would describe him on one of my nicer days."

Aoko fell silent and stared at him. Wide blue eyes that shone in the moonlight like the richest sapphires were hard for him to tear his gaze away. It seemed like she was concentrating very hard and KID swallowed, trying to bury his unease. She was trying to figure out his true identity and she was getting close.

Every moment KID stared into her mesmerizing gaze, his identity slipped. It was like how chocolate melted in the summer sun. Slowly at first, but speeding up until it was nothing but a faint stain of what had originally been there. KID felt his identity getting stripped away. It was worse than if Aoko tore off the top hat and monocle.

He had to do something fast or she would find out. Fortunately, Lady Luck rolled a winning combo for him.

Aoko sneezed. On him. Maybe Lady Luck's roll wasn't that good after all.

"Sorry," Aoko muttered as she wiped at where she sneezed on his lapel. "It's cold."

"Here," KID removed his cape from his shoulders and spread it out on the ground. Patting it, he invited her to sit on it with him.

"Won't it get dirty?"

"Really? You're going to worry about that? Come here," he tugged lightly at their linked limbs and coaxed her closer. As she settled down again, KID undid the buttons on his jacket.

"What are you doing?" Aoko was leaning away now.

"Offering you my jacket," KID said, emptying the jacket of his card gun. He had to pull his right sleeve inside out. "Grab the cuff of my left sleeve."

Tentatively, Aoko grasped it in a tight fist. The wind was too cold for her to refuse the use of his jacket. After a few tugs, the jacket was flipped inside out and Aoko slid her arms through the sleeve and sighed with the new found warmth.

"Better?"

"Yes, but aren't you cold now?" Aoko was trying to be polite, but didn't want to give up the warmth. Not only was it warm, but there was something that made her feel incredibly comfortable.

"I'll be fine."

"What are we going to do about this?" Aoko lifted their wrists.

"Aren't you going to try and persuade me to turn myself in?" KID turned away and Aoko leaned back against the transformer box again.

That was when she noticed. He had been careful to always show part of the monocle to her. At her new angle and proximity, she could see half his face without the eye piece. The curve of his jaw, the slope of his nose, the shape of his ear; how could she have missed it before?

"Aren't you going to persuade me into letting you get away?" Aoko countered. She looked at the silver gun on the ground by his leg. "What is that?"

"This? It's a card gun."

"Did you make it?" Aoko traced the curves with a single finger. Both of them watched her trace a path.

"Yes."

"My best friend has one exactly like this."

KID froze. His throat clenched up and he could hear his own heart beating in his ears.

"Is he a fan of mine? Lots of people are imitating me lately."

"He's had his long before you started showing up," Aoko looked up and focused on his unobscured eye.

"Just because he had it while I wasn't around doesn't mean that I didn't have it first," KID said nonchalantly. He thought he was safe, until Aoko scoffed.

"Fine, keep lying. It seems to be the only think KID can do," Aoko jabbed KID in the shoulder with a strong finger.

"You are quite persistent to injure and insult me even though you are convinced that I am your best friend."

"I never said anything about you being my best friend. You would have a lot of explaining to do if you were my best friend and you were purposely going around making me worry for my father's safety, sanity and reputation. Then you would have to take into account, that if you were my friend, that I would worry about him just as my father and I would be torn. Because, he wouldn't be doing this without a really, really, really good reason," Aoko hiccupped and sniffled. Confused, she furrowed her brow and lifted her hand to her face, but his was already there. His gloved thumb brushed over her cheek where a slow trickled of tears leaked from her pained eyes.

"I don't do any of this to hurt you or your father," KID stopped his hypnotic movements, but left his hand to cradle her face.

"That just means that you are doing it to hurt someone. You didn't say that you don't do it to hurt anyone. Is it the owners? For flaunting wealth or something?" Aoko sniffed again. Her nose was now getting attacked on two fronts: the cold and her tears.

"No, it has noth—"

"Don't tell me," Aoko said suddenly. "I don't want to know. I don't want to be involved."

She squeezed her eyes shut tight and KID sighed a breath of relief. Inside him, Kaito let out a thin wail of despair as he watched Aoko's dilemma wrench at her emotions.

"Ne, Kaitou KID," Aoko's blue eyes were open, baring her soul to him as she asked earnestly, "Is there an end? Will I get them back?"

'Them' being her father and Kuroba Kaito.

"I really hope so, Aoko."

A soft laugh, sad, like a song played in minor key, escaped from her lips. "You can hide everything, KID, except how he says my name."

KID slipped, his Poker Face shattered and astonishment ripped through him like a storm.

"I'm going to give you something. And it's going to be the most important treasure you will ever steal. This is for someone else. Someone you have inside you. I can't give it to him directly and I'm not going to give it to him as long as you're needed in his life," Aoko wore a strange expression of seriousness. "Be sure to pass it on to him properly when the time is right."

Then she leaned in. Her lips were cold on his. Her hand grabbed his and her nails bit through the cloth separating them.

Her kiss deepened as she leaned further towards him and he felt her tentatively slide her lips over his. KID refused to move. There was a line he drew between KID and Kaito and he was determined to keep it.

When her hand reached up and entangled her fingers in his hair, he almost lost it. He gasped slightly at her boldness, then was floored when she hesitantly slid her tongue into his mouth. How she learned to kiss was going to be a thought to plague both Kaito and KID whenever Aoko was concerned.

She quit before she allowed herself to spiral completely out of control. She had already gone further than she wanted. Blood flushed her cheeks red and her lips shone with their mixed saliva as she licked them to regain some semblance of moisture. Now Kaito would never be able to focus. What once was an innocent habit for her to do, was now going to elicit a very vivid memory, complete with all of his senses kicking into overdrive.

"Remember, it's treasure. But it's up to you to decide which one is more important. That or your mission," Aoko pulled her fingers from his hair and released his hand.

"Aoko, I—"

"I don't want you to tell me. Either he does or no one does. I'll figure it out," she reached for her neck. From beneath her collar, she pulled out a chain with what looked like metal toothpick pendants. "I trust you know how to use these?"

"Why do you have lock picks?" KID took the pseudo-necklace from Aoko and noticed that they were superior to the ones he owned.

"Some fathers give their daughters pepper spray. Mind gave me a baton and lock picks."

The handcuff sprang open around KID's wrist. He went to undo hers, but she stood and plucked her picks from his hand. Tossing the chain back around her neck, Aoko peeled off the jacket and turned it right side out again.

"It's late," Aoko looked over the town. Busses weren't running and cars were thin on the road.

"I'll drop you off closer to home," KID had reattached his cape over his jacked and joined Aoko at the edge of the roof.

"No," Aoko tugged absent mindedly at the cuff still around her wrist. "I'll go tell the guards of this building that I just woke up. You got out of the handcuffs and left me here. They'll call the police and I'll go home with Dad."

"Stop tugging, you'll hurt your wrist," KID laid a hand over hers and stilled her jerking movements.

"It'll be suspicious if you take so much care of something that hindered your escape," Aoko looked pointedly away. "But then again, maybe you would have been kind to anyone."

"That's not true. It was because it was you," KID climbed onto the wall edge, crouching in front of Aoko. "Get home safely."

He slid his fingers over her arm and waited for her nod. Then he jumped.

00000000

The next day at school, Aoko dozed before class started. She only got a few hours of sleep after giving her statement to her father's officers. The jewel was also returned when she discovered it and a parting note in her pocket. Ginzo was caught between being furious and worried, switching between cursing KID and pampering his daughter.

"Ohayou, Aoko," Kaito's customary greeting and easy smile roused her. "Sensei is on her way in."

"Ohayou, Kaito," she rubbed her eyes with her right hand. The sleeve pulled up and Kaito caught her hand.

The bruise on her wrist looked angry, a mottling between purple, red and yellow. A shadow cast over his blue eyes as he tilted his head down, his hair shielding his expression from Aoko.

"It looks like it hurts," he said in a flat, controlled tone.

"Not too badly," Aoko pulled her hand from his touch, a blush on her face. Tugging her sleeve back down, she shifted her gaze away.

"Aoko, is it true you were kidnapped by Kaitou KID?" Keiko and a few other students were huddled by a newspaper.

"KID-napped, eh?" Kaito grinned; Aoko kicked his shin. "Ow!"

"Yes, it's true," Aoko started pulling her books out.

"And you were left on a roof?"

"Yes."

"So, is he, like, totally hot up close?"

"No, he's flamboyant, arrogant and I didn't actually see him up close that much. I passed out from the sleeping gas he used. And I woke up on a roof," Aoko reiterated the exact same story she fed the police the night before.

"They say he's a Lady's man. What if he kissed you when you were passed out? Or something worse?"

There were mixed squeals of shock and desire from the girls.

"None of that. Though, he might," Aoko paused and raised an eyebrow at Kaito," have touched my butt. But that's not anything I haven't already experienced."

"Why're you lookin' at me? I've never touched your butt. I don't even think it exists," Kaito mocked.

They were running around the room yelling at each other when the teacher finally walked in. Getting class started took more than a little effort.

For the rest of the day, everyone behaved. There were no more questions directed at Aoko since she would flat out ignore anything anyone said about KID.

After school, Aoko sat on the riverbank, watching the sun slowly crawl for the horizon.

"Aoko," Kaito came up beside her. "Whatcha doing?"

"Waiting."

"For what?" Kaito tossed himself beside his best friend.

"Nothing," Aoko shook her head with a small laugh. "Even though I said I wouldn't wait. I guess it isn't as easy as saying the words."

"Ne, Aoko," Kaito reached out to hold her hand. His sleeve pulled up and Aoko saw a bruise that matched her own. "Can I wait with you?"

Linked together by something stronger than an iron chain, the two teens started their journey toward a future without Kaitou KID.

0000000000

The End.

Author's Notes: Completely random? Yes. Let me know what you think? Good, bad, needs to be taken down? Review to cheer up the author!