justonetruth | [for pansbox and police

"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?"

Must. Not. Deck. The. Assassin.

"Careful. If you patronize her too much, she'll hit you with the nearest cleaning object." This he knew from experience. Making Aoko angry (on purpose, most of the time) was his area of expertise, and at this point he knew exactly which buttons that, when pressed, would elicit the most violent reactions.

His gaze shifted down to the injuries on 1412's legs, and he sighed. Aoko was right-- they couldn't treat the cuts there while he was still wearing pants. He shoved his own uncomfortableness aside (and decided not to address Aoko's because he could tell it was there, just from the way her voice increased in volume so quickly) and handed her more bandages. "We're almost done. Just do what she says."

If the way Aoko was darkly glowering at the assassin, Kaito's assessment of the situation was right on the mark. She took the bandages from her fiancé and simply folded her arms, waiting for 1412 to comply.

1412 blinked, expression completely innocent.

"Patronise? My miss Aoko?"

A wide grin.

"I'd never do that!"

That said, he hopped off of the counter to remove his trousers - or tried to. His legs were stiff, and he really had lost too much blood as he stumbled and fell forwards and why was the world spinning?

Stagger back, and fall against the counter, eyes wide and panicked, hands white-knuckled against the countertop.

As soon as 1412 stumbled, Kaito reached out to grab his arms to steady him (careful of his treated injuries, of course). It was enough to make him ignore the possessive 'my' tacked onto Aoko's name and focus more on the assassin's well-being.

For now, anyway.

"Idiot..." he said with a shake of his head, and the insult carried a patronizing and scolding tone of his own, "You've lost too much blood to be jumping around like that." The magician glanced up at Aoko and jerked his head at the couch in the corner of the room.

"Help me get him over there so he can sit down."

Aoko had also started towards 1412 when he stumbled, but Kaito beat her to catching him. She waited for him to get a proper grip, then nodded at his instruction, expression drawn and worried as she slipped underneath 1412's other arm to support him.

He was so thin, lighter than she remembered Kaito being when she'd had to support his weight during his injury, and she wondered just how much he ate. He felt... fragile.

"Will he be okay?" she asked Kaito, worriedly. He had more medical knowledge than she did. Granted, even if the assassin wouldn't be okay, she wasn't sure how much she could do about it. She doubted there was blood transfusion equipment in the infirmary. And even if there was, did any of them know how to use it? Did 1412 even have the same blood type as Kaito?

1412 almost - almost - let out a keening whimper at the pain, and the dizziness and at being touched by these two unfamiliar people.

He grit his teeth instead and straightened, attempting to keep as much of his own weight to himself as he could. Didn't need nobody but himself.

"Don't... need..."

1412 subsided without having to be told to stop being silly, not able to bring up the effort it took to protest, half stumbling as he leant on them. He hurt.

As soon as Aoko helped support 1412's weight, Kaito began to lead him toward t he couch. "He should be okay," he said to Aoko, ignoring the assassin's delirious mumblings, "If he rests and eats enough, he should recover fine."

That's barring any major infections... he silently added to himself. The body could reproduce any blood lost, and though Kaito knew a good bit about first aid, he wasn't a doctor. He couldn't treat serious infections, particularly ones that would require medication.

"That all requires his cooperation, though," he added pointedly.

"And we still don't know what happened..." Aoko murmured, carefully helping 1412 sit down on the couch. She kept expecting Hakuba-kun or one of the others to walk through the door. She doubted any of them would try to do anything to 1412 while he was so injured (but if Kaito could be an assassin, couldn't there be a cold-hearted Hakuba? her mind whispered), but the assassin was already twitchy enough with just her and Kaito helping him, and she doubted the appearance of any of the detectives would be a good thing at the moment.

On top of that, she doubted that 1412 was the only one who was hurt. He'd already broken her wrist, and drawn a knife when they entered; she couldn't see him taking these kinds of injuries without fighting back. Had he been attacked because he'd been hurting someone else?

And who was the other Kaito who'd hurt him in the first place?

One thing at a time, Aoko told herself. 1412 looked too weak to even get out of his own trousers at this point, so she hesitantly reached for his belt to do it herself.

Edited 2010-02-08 04:15 (UTC)

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