In one of the infirmaries...

[damaged-dove.livejournal.com]

When Kaito woke up, he saw only sterile white. The room was that, as featureless and impersonal as any hospital setting he has ever seen. Medical equipment and supplies were around, unused but organized with readiness. Nothing marked him where he was, not even a small window to show him outside.

He was laying in a bed, naked as the day he was born except for the swath of bandages that kept his torso wrapped beneath the flimsy bedsheets. His chest was wrapped tightly, as was his left knee. Thin strips of gauze bandages encircled his neck and collar area, and a long strip went down his inner thigh. Rather, his left arm's old nicks were left untouched, although his left shoulder was nestled nicely within clean bandages too.

Although completely unharmed, his hands holding the top of his sheets trembled.

Unable to find the will to explore this new place, or even the will get out of bed in search of his missing clothes, Kaito just curled up onto his right side. He wept quietly in the empty room.

Comments

[only-1-truth.livejournal.com]

The door opened. "...." No words were said, but there was definitely someone there.

Namely a Conan who took in the sight of a Kaito, hearing the sounds and looking at Leormon.

"...that one," Leormon said after a few moments.

"...Kaito?" Conan said, slowly approaching, letting Leormon nudge the door behind him.

[damaged-dove.livejournal.com]

Someone was... Kaito's sobs froze quickly while startled eyes shot open. It pained him, but he rapidly twisted his body to see who entered.

The boy looked... familiar. So did the lion like creature beside him.

Slowly, Kaito blinked. Tear drops that clung heavily to his lashes fell free. He glanced briefly at the room around him and recognition finally to dawned in his glazed eyes.

He looked back to the boy. "Conan-kun...?" He asked hesitantly.

[only-1-truth.livejournal.com]

Conan looked over him, focusing on the injuries he treated himself. So not too much time had passed. Or he got the exact same injury. It was within a few weeks, at least.

"Yeah, it's me," he said. He didn't like the looks of this. Kaito didn't CRY. He poker face'd and he would until he finally cracked, but he didn't just cry like that.

Which meant something horrible happened. "...I'm sorry," he said, looking at him sadly as he stopped by his bed.

[damaged-dove.livejournal.com]

Kaito released a shaky breath and wiped his tears away with a similar shaky hand. Another breath followed, slightly smoother. Then a third, and Kaito was nearly breathing normally again.

He was pulling himself together, but his eyes held a haunted shadow.

"I didn't know I was back here," he said weakly, trying to sound casual. Except it was a failure, he knew it was a failure. His voice was just too raw.

[only-1-truth.livejournal.com]

Conan was silent a few moments before pulling out a device. "I could tell. Were you in a hospital before you came?" He asked, scanning through a list on the device.

Kind of looked like a DS.

[damaged-dove.livejournal.com]

Kaito mutely shook his head. "I just woke up... and thought..." He trailed off, his mind still too confused to put his thoughts to words. He didn't know what he was thinking when everything in his mind remained fragmented and refused to come together. But did he really believe Absinthe would put him in a sterile room?

Then he thought of the soft towels, the almost gentle cleaning of his wounds. Why not?

"I didn't know what I should be expecting," he admitted quietly.

[only-1-truth.livejournal.com]

Conan was silent for a moment, eyes focused on the DS, pondering if he should ask. Coming to a decision, he pressed a button, holding a hand in front of a wireless scanning and caught the pair of clothes that materialized before setting them beside Kaito. "Those are for whenever I might end up my normal size. They should fit you."

"...can you tell me what happened?"

[damaged-dove.livejournal.com]

A small spark of curiosity flashed briefly in Kaito's eyes when the clothes appeared, but as quickly as a blink, the flash was swallowed by the rest of the shadow.

"Thanks..." But he didn't move forward to get them. Rather, he stared sullenly at them in such a way that it was dubious if he was even looking at them.

"Just a bad few hours." He chuckled, but it was a panic ridden sound of someone forcing themselves too hard.

[only-1-truth.livejournal.com]

"If you're doing that only for my sake, don't. I can see through all of that. Have been for a while now," Conan said. "Aoko freaked out. We never knew someone could vanish so fast. How long were you gone?"

He'd get the general information, see how much time had passed before trying again for what happened.

[damaged-dove.livejournal.com]

Kaito seemed to deflate a little with those words, or relax a little, like his overstrung elastic was finally given some slack.

"I don't know... an hour? Two? ... I lost track." A corner of his mind thought Conan's wording as weird, but he didn't have the energy to commit to it. "Tell her... I'm sorry for disappearing this morning."

[only-1-truth.livejournal.com]

"....that was a week ago. She'll probably attack you with a mop as soon as she sees you for doing that," Conan said, giving Kaito a bit of a smile. Of course, mop chases='don't make me worry, you bastard' for Aoko at times.

"Usually the time is longer away, but it's not impossible for it to be shorter."

[damaged-dove.livejournal.com]

"A week ago?" Kaito fell silent again. His memory was from a few hours ago at the most.

"Time here and in the real world are not proportional," the thief concluded softly. Thinking on something else seemed to help him. At least his hands weren't shaking anymore.

[only-1-truth.livejournal.com]

"That's right. Once you're able to break the barrier of dimensions, time travel is pretty simple," Conan said. "It's hard to keep track."

"So you were gone a few hours. What happened when you got back?"

[moptothehead]

"...Kaito?"

The sudden voice was familiar, soft and uncertain, and was followed by the quiet sound of the door closing. It was late at night, yes, but Aoko hadn't been able to sleep, and when this particular version of the girl had that problem, her solution was to stay up drawing until her eyes couldn't stay open any longer. Her venture down to the infirmary had been prompted by a slip of the knife she usually used for trimming pencils -- just a small nick on her finger, but enough of one to need a bandage.

All of that had been completely forgotten when she'd caught sight of the familiar figure curled up under the blankets. In all of the nearly two years that she'd known Kaito, Aoko had never seen the phantom thief shed a tear, much less cry, and seeing him looking so vulnerable and broken made her chest tighten in a way she'd never experienced before. She didn't like it at all.

Of course, she knew he might not be her Kaito. In this place, it was actually pretty likely. But that didn't matter at all to the young artist -- all she knew was that someone who looked like the boy she loved was in pain, and she wanted to help him.

Even though she had no idea what she could do.

Leaving the door, she ventured further into the room, not sure if he would be accepting of her presence but willing to risk it anyway. 'Are you okay?' was a stupid question. He obviously wasn't. 'What happened?' probably wasn't much better -- there was a foreboding feeling in the air that said it was better left unspoken. So instead of saying anything, she went up to his bedside, and gently rested a hand on his shoulder.

[damaged-dove.livejournal.com]

It may be an indication to the state of him that Kaito hadn't heard the approach of footsteps to the doorway, but when the gentle voice, soft, like silk, called out his name, the thief locked up in mid sob. And panic coursed through his blood like ice water in his veins. It was a blind instinct that made him twist around, concern and distress written all over his features, not for himself, but for the young girl approaching his bed.

"Aoko!" He gasped, in one motion sweeping the thin bed coverlets up to his neck and wiping his tear tracks as if the actions would hide his state from her. This hid his whole bandaged, not to mention naked, body and it was his hope that she hadn't seen.

Though there were other things to be concerned about.

"Why are you here?! Did... he bring you here?" Kaito's eyes glanced around frantically again, as if searching the room for a silent third occupant, or cameras, or any indication that they may not be as alone as he thought.

[moptothehead]

"H-hey, don't move!" Luckily for him she didn't seem to have noticed his nakedness, but the stiff and pained way he moved hadn't escaped her attention. "Who's 'he'? I--" Aoko stopped, revising her view of the situation.

"Kaito, you're in the Mansion. Do you know what that is?"

[damaged-dove.livejournal.com]

The Mansion? The...

Recognition dawned in the thief's eyes as he took a second glance around the familiar looking infirmary. Yes, he was here a few hours ago, he remembered that now. Which meant this Aoko...

"You're not Aoko from home." Obvious relief flooded Kaito's expression, and he nodded, a little hesitantly. "I've been here before."

[moptothehead]

Aoko sighed quietly in relief when he stilled, and without waiting for an invitation, sat down next to him on the bed. Her eyes roved over his face with worry; he'd been quick with the covers, but she'd seen the flash of bandages.

"No, I'm not. Or at least I don't think so." She frowned thoughtfully, trying to think of a way to test that. "You don't come and visit me at my window while my dad's at your heists, do you?"

[damaged-dove.livejournal.com]

Kaito's smile was a little bittersweet, but he shook his head. "Aoko back home..." he started hesitantly, "...doesn't know I'm Kid," he finished by way of answering. The concept of multiple worlds and discovered secrets still sat strangely with him.

"And she may never know... Although each time I'm here, it makes me wish I can tell her." He smiled sadly at the one who sat by his side.

[moptothehead]

"I've always known," Aoko said, a bit surprised to hear it was otherwise. Her Kaito hadn't seemed to have any problems with informing her of who he was. Granted, he lived on another world, so he'd probably figured it wouldn't be a problem if she told her father... "I met Kaito back home at one of his heists. He tried to hit on me by showing he was Kid. I smacked him." And he'd deserved it, too, the showoff.

Kaito's hands were still hidden under the sheets, but at the sight of his sad smile, Aoko lightly followed the outline of his arm until she could find his fingers and take them in hers, ignoring the hampering fabric. "Why can't you tell her?"

[damaged-dove.livejournal.com]

This wasn't his Aoko, but Kaito's face heated up when he felt her hand, so intimate, folded over his anyway. He quickly looked away, reminding himself repeatedly that this was not the same person. Well, technically not the same.

"It's complicated," he murmured, trying to figure out how to tell this to a girl who looked exactly like the one he spent the last year avoiding telling. "Aoko doesn't like Kaitou Kid, and now--" He cut himself short, then turning back to -not his- Aoko, he said softly, "She should stay away."

[moptothehead]

That last sentence sounded entirely too ominous. Aoko gave Kaito's hand a gentle squeeze, wordlessly saying that no matter what he thought, she wasn't going anywhere without good reason.

"Why?"

[damaged-dove.livejournal.com]

"She wouldn't want to know anyway." Kaito should never get used to lying to Aoko, but he did, even to this one who was so willing to listen and wouldn't judge him. It came out so naturally that he adopted his casual expression as he stared, not quite relaxed, up at the ceiling. "And it would just hurt her if she knew I was lying to her all this time."

[moptothehead]

"Baka!" The grip tightened, and he got a hard glare in return from Aoko. "Of course she'd want to know, even if it hurt her! You're important to her!" Not to mention there was something about what he'd said...

The artist stared at the thief. "You said she should 'stay away'," she repeated suddenly, picking up on the strange phrasing. Not that she 'shouldn't know', or 'not get involved', but that she should 'stay away'. "What do you mean by that?"

[damaged-dove.livejournal.com]

"Exactly what I meant. Maybe I just don't want to see her around." He yanked his hand out of the girl's strong grip, accidentally causing the sheet to start slipping off him. His tightly bandaged collarbones and left shoulder slipped into view.

He quickly pulled the covers back up and turned onto his side. Since Aoko sat on his right, he had no choice but to put his pressure onto his injured left in order to avoid her stare. "Ahoko, mind your own business."