justonetruth | [for pansbox and police

"Don't. Need. Your. Help."

1412's words are steady, but he puts one hand on the table as he glares at them both. He's paler than he should be - his cuts are trying to clot, but everytime he moves, they break open again, making him lose more blood.

"Doesn't need it, and most certainly doesn't want it."

At this rate, 1412 was going to pass out from blood loss before they could help him with his injuries. They couldn't play this avoidance game forever. Something had to give, and Kaito really didn't want to have to leave 1412 to himself in this condition (even if he didn't like him).

Unwillingly, Kaito released his grip on Aoko's shirt sleeve, allowing her to move freely so she could get the assassin to comply with her requests. Once she did, the next thing they would need was bandages. With half his attention still focused on 1412 and Aoko (just in case) he moved quickly to the cabinets to fish for bandages of his own.

He would have picked up the ones 1412 had been using, but he wasn't sure he could without moving toward the other and startling him even more.

Aoko shot Kaito a grateful look, then took another measured step towards 1412.

"You're getting it anyway, even if you don't need it," she said firmly, crouching to the floor to pick up the trailing end of the gauze still wrapped around the assassin's chest. He'd been trampling on it as he pulled away from them, and Aoko could see half-clotted cuts breaking open again as the gauze was torn away.

She started rolling up the dirty end, drawing closer to him as she did so. It was going to have to be cut away and then continued with a clean roll.

"Did you disinfect any of those?"

1412 gives the Kaito a wary look, then edges towards Aoko. He tugs on the bandage with a sharp movement, taking it out of her hands. His.

"...No..." he mutters, acting like a child with his hand caught in the cookie jar.

"Don't need your help," he repeats, then sticks his wrist in his mouth, watching her suspiciously over his arm as he sucks at the cut across the outside of his arm. Disinfected was clean. He was cleaning. He could cope fine by himself, thank you.

Thankfully, the search for clean, non-trampled on bandages and antiseptic didn't take long. He pulled them out of the cabinets and shut the doors with his elbow, turning back to 1412 and Aoko and taking a step forward.

"... look," he started as he watched the assassin move, "We can do this the easy way, where you sit still and let us help you before we leave. Or we could do this the hard way."

He didn't elaborate on what the hard way was.

"Kaito," Aoko said warningly, shooting him a look as she took a pair of medical scissors from him to trim the dirty bandage. They didn't need threats right now! 1412 was being difficult enough as it was.

Rather than trying to snatch back the gauze, Aoko tentatively reached in to where it was trailing from the assassin's chest, intending on cutting away the unusable part and anchoring it to the rest of the wraps before she tried to add more.

1412 made a noise of protest in the back of his throat, shifting from foot to foot slightly as Aoko cut away the bandages. He drew back a step, then shifted forwards again, like he couldnt' decide whether standing still was a good idea or not.

"Nasty Kaito," he muttered, finally taking his arm away from his mouth, a smudge of blood at one corner. "Hard way isn't being friendly." He grinned sharply at him for lack of anything better to do, the grin one of the more disturbing he had in his repertoire.

This time, Kaito managed to bite back a sarcastic retort, though it was mostly due to Aoko's insistence that the situation didn't call for threats, and his silent agreement with her statements. He tried to ignore that grin, which was entirely too manic and entirely too malicious for him to be comfortable with (especially since it was on his features), and focus on the situation at hand.

He took a few more steps toward Aoko, bandages clutched tightly in his hands as he watched 1412 shift. "If you keep moving, you're just going to make it worse," he pointed out.

"You aren't being friendly either," Aoko muttered under her breath, but quietly enough that the assassin probably wouldn't hear her. She quickly anchored the bandage and turned slightly to reach out and take the antiseptic and some cotton from Kaito, never fully turning away from 1412.

Then she hesitated.

"This is going to hurt," she warned.

"...going to hurt? Hn."

His gaze flicked from Aoko to the Kaito, pausing there for a moment. Then he poked his tongue out at him, and looked back at Aoko, smiling cheerfully. "Okay!"

Stupid Kaito thing had got told off by his miss Aoko. Even thought she loved him. He must be being naughty. Or bad~

"I lo-" he murmured under his breath as he watched Aoko work, voice shifted to match hers.

That gesture almost caught Kaito off guard, if only for its childishness. He regained his composure quickly, however, as he helped Aoko as much as he could by handing her bandages and gauze as she worked (thought he didn't reach out to help patch 1412 himself).

At least he was cooperating now.

His gaze flickered from Aoko's steady hands to 1412 once the assassin slipped into the girl's voice, though it didn't linger.

The mimicry caused Aoko to twitch, and she glared up at 1412 through her lashes. What was he trying to do?

...Probably trying to get to her, she decided, soaking the cotton and carefully applying it to the worst of the scrapes, doing her best to keep the cleaning quick and light so as to cause him the least amount of pain. He'd tried to scare her last time; this time he seemed to be trying to piss her off.

She wasn't going to give him the satisfaction.

"Of course I love him," she said matter-of-factly, carefully leaning in to clean a particularly nasty wound on his shoulder. She bandaged as she went, applying gauze padding after each cleaned wound, and then bandaging to hold it in place. "We've been together a long time."

1412 was curious.

"How long? Since roses and towers and little children waiting for daddies?"

He doesn't realise that he normally would have said 'daddy', that he would have avoided even alluding to his own father.

All through this, he has been twitching under Aoko's ministrations, eyes firmly locked onto what her hands are doing, even if he has to crane his neck uncomfortably to see properly.

"Something like that."

He bit back yet another sarcastic remark (not that it's any of your business anyway) and handed Aoko more bandages. He subconsciously filed away another similarity in his mind (how else would 1412 know about the clock tower if it hadn't happened to him too?), and as he did so, he found himself wondering how different, exactly, things had gone from there.

What had triggered 1412's transformation into... this?

Where was his Aoko?

Was his father dead too?

... would I have been able to keep my head if what happened to him, happened to me...?

Aoko took another step around 1412 so that she could reach the wounds on his back. It was hard to miss the way he was jittery and constantly watching her, so rather than move completely behind him where he wouldn't be able to see without twisting, she stayed at his side and reached over to dress the wounds.

"You gave your Aoko a rose too, didn't you?" she asked quietly, remembering their last conversation.

1412 defeated Aoko's attempts at stop him from twisting by leaning to try and see his back anyway. Flexible as he was, it wasn't working, and he was probably making it very difficult for Aoko to do anything.

He got a curious little smile on his face as she said that, shaking his head.

"Didn't. Little boy did that, when 1412 was just watching." Just. watching. Waiting, maybe? Wanting until everything broke down into fire and blood.

"Oi," Kaito said as he took a step toward 1412. Aoko was behind, tending to the scratches there, and he could tell with the way the assassin was leaning, she wouldn't be able to bandage his wounds with him twisted like that.

"Stop moving so much." He hesitated briefly, before he placed a hand on 1412's shoulder and pulled him forward so Aoko could work. He knew it was a bold move, and he was ready to retract his hand if needed.

"But--" Any further questioning Aoko might have pursued was cut off by Kaito, and she let it drop in favour of getting to the rest of the wounds on 1412's back.

1412 had been watching? But... he had to have been the one who gave her the rose. Who else would it be, if not Kaito?

Was he talking about Toichi...?

1412 hissed at the contact, turning back towards Kaito sharply and grabbing his hand. He glared at him, then made a dissatisfied noise and threw his hand away.

"Tche. Stupid Kaito. Don't want your help. Don't need you, the stupid Kaito who miss Aoko loves."

He paused, coking his head slightly to one side, something dangerous in his voice as he next spoke.

"The stupid Kaito who hasn't even said he loves his miss Aoko."

Love in return for no love was wrong. If someone said it, he should have said it back and he hadn't.

Kaito's expression turned more annoyed than angry at 1412's display of defiance, and he held his hand in the air, palm forward (the other one was still holding the bandages). "You're not exactly in the position to be refusing help from anyone," he said, "Besides, you were making it difficult for her to hep you."

He lowered his hand and turned to face Aoko again, reaching out to hand her more bandages. He hadn't missed the dangerous lilt 1412's voice had taken the last time he had spoken, but he wasn't going to let it get to him. "How I feel about Aoko isn't any of your business," he continued, "She knows."

"Both of you stop it," Aoko scolded, taking advantage of the distraction to finish padding the last of the larger wounds. Bandaging it was trickier, since the gauze had to go all the way around 1412's torso, but he while he wasn't really cooperating, he wasn't actively resisting, either, and she managed.

She wasn't sure if 1412 had noticed the small sapphire ring on the ring finger of her right hand (did he even know what an engagement ring was? He seemed so childish, sometimes, for being so dangerous), but she wasn't about to let him doubt Kaito's feelings for her. "Kaito loves me too, even if he doesn't always say it," she stated firmly.

"You should say it back," said 1412, but his eyes flicked towards Aoko warily as he did, his tone not as sharp as before. Didn't want to upset his little miss Aoko.

"Should," he insisted again, watching Kaito, voice quieter. "It's easy for the Kaito to say he loves her, isn't it?"

Kaito quirked an eyebrow at 1412. Where was he going with this?

"'Course it's easy for me to say I love her," he pointed out, "Why?"

Aoko was trying to figure out where either of them were going with this. Honestly, men.

Though... it was almost as if 1412 was being protective of her, in his own way. Which was strange to think about.

She shook her head slightly, dispelling the thought. She recognized that stubborn set to Kaito's tone, and knew that she needed to change the subject before the argument got any worse.

The wounds on 1412's torso were all treated, but she could see ones on his legs that were still bleeding through his pants -- the fabric was almost more red than white now. Aoko finished anchoring the last bandage and took a deep breath.

It's okay. He needs the help. Besides, it isn't anything I haven't seen before!

...Technically.

"You have to take off your pants so I can bandage your legs," she instructed, glad that her voice didn't waver at all.

...Even if it was a little louder than it needed to be.

1412 looked at Kaito intently, measuringly, but was interrupted by Aoko before he could form his errant thoughts into words.

He blinked at her pronouncement, spreading his arms and twisting to look over his bandages, letting out a litle pleased chuckle.

"Clever miss Aoko!" he beamed, patting her cheek fondly. His gaze shifted to Kaito, beaming cheerfully, any trace of his sombre mood gone. "She is clever, isn't she, stupid-Kaito?"

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