justonetruth | In one of the infirmaries...

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In one of the infirmaries...

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.

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Kaito smiled wryly at being told a corny line like that, but chose to not comment on the warm sentiment. It was corny, but it did make his inner pride swell a little.

Instead, he planted his hands by his side and slowly pushed himself to a half reclining position against the headboard. He winced when the movement caused his chest muscles to ripple painfully.

Conan found corny could be surprisingly true when it came to friendships and love. So, corny the line might be, it made it no less true.

Conan watched him carefully, waiting until he was settled before he held out the medicine. "Medicine in mouth first, then I'll hand you the water." So he didn't have to use his injured hand.

Let it not be said that the boy wasn't smart. He picked things up. Kaito obediently took the pills into his right hand and lifted them to his mouth. The water followed.

He settled into the pillows at his back with a sigh. He could move back to laying down when the pills took over.

Now that the blanket slipped down to his waist, his chest and its nicely bandaged state was there for the observant eye. Last time, he had only one scratch along his chest. "He's the one who bandaged me back up," Kaito said quietly. "After what happened, it was more than I could take. I crumbled." And now that he was recovering from the ordeal, he hated himself for showing his weakness to the psychopath that.

Conan looked over the bandaging. "...at least he does a thorough job for cleaning you up," he said. "And after that much, not many could not crumble. You'd have to almost be used to pain like that not too."

Kaito lapsed into silence. Conan was right, there wasn't much to add to that.

At last, he spoke again, although his eyes remained on the covers and the clothes placed on them. "Anything happened since I was last here?"

"Only if you count me vanishing from here for a day a couple of days ago. Apparently I missed a month of time in the Digital World data frozen. Kind of weird to think I missed that much time like that," Conan said with a shrug. "That and Aoko fuming about you vanishing in her worry, not much. This place is usually pretty quiet."

"I wouldn't mind staying longer this time," Kaito murmured, unsure if he wanted to face his own reality so quickly again. Since he was given this reprieve, he might as well make the most out of it.

Who knew, maybe Conan was right and he could pick up something here in his subconsciousness.

"We can hope your luck is better this time," Conan said. "Maybe healing here will transfer over?"

"The bandages didn't seem to have last time," Kaito said, his head shaking. "I hope my mentality will at least." He did not want to have to go through again the ordeal of waking up, who knew where next time, and with the possibility that Absinthe may still be around.

"Bandages are items. Items are weird in transfers, no matter what. It seems it requires for it to be deeply personal to have a chance in going back," Conan said. "Or having been on you when you arrived. But maybe this place will act as a dream, and let you recover a bit that way."

"I think the dream theory is the closest. Both of the times I come here are after drugged sleep. I wonder if this isn't a dream itself, except I've never been this lucid in a dream before."

Kaito shrugged his shoulders slightly.

"Conan... don't tell Aoko I'm back, okay?"

"Trust me, you don't want to go the dream route. Horrible things happen whenever people go that way," Conan said.

He was silent a moment. "Why?"

"It can't be much worse than reality, can it," Kaito pointed out wryly.

"For one, I don't want to be dodging mops. Another..." He glanced away briefly. "She's not my Aoko... but I don't want her to worry either way."

"You'd be surprised," Conan said dully. "Not likely, but it's happened and you're not mentally prepared to deal with it at all because you think it's not real."

"She doesn't swing if you're injured. She can be very patient about it," Conan commented. She's had to before. "...she'll worry anyway."

"It's enough to know that this 'dream' can hurt, so it doesn't matter if I think it's really a dream or not. A rose is still a rose even if you call it by another name."

"I know that," Kaito muttered, gripping his bedsheets tightly. "But her worry for a formless danger is better than her seeing the truth."

"I suppose. For yourself, it doesn't change much. Just might change how you view the people."

Conan was silent for several moments. "I'm not sure about that. The imagination can do horrifying things."

"It's been a week, right? She probably stopped all that already. I don't want her to start again." Kaito looked around the room, a little tired, a little raw still, and a whole lot uneasy.

"...I've seen her worry for a lot longer. And that was for Kid when she still 'hated' him," Conan said. "For you...especially with how being vague leaves plenty of room for her to interpret it how she wants..." He really doesn't think she did.

Kaito rarely wanted to curse, but an epithet was on the tip of his tongue now. "Stop her and.. discourage her. I don't know. Do what you have to. The stupid girl worries enough about other things without another 'Bakaito' with a nightmare in tow to add to the list."

"I don't think she'd ever stop worrying. I can try, but I can't guarantee anything," Conan said with a sigh. "Though honestly, honesty does seem to yield the best results."

Kaito spared Conan a look that was strong enough to stick furniture to ceilings.

"Honesty would involve telling her about things horrifying enough to fuel my nightmares for life."

Conan is silent for a few moments. "...it probably wouldn't change her nightmares, considering her memories. But if it affects your nightmares...then I can see why you wouldn't."

"That's not--" But honesty made Kaito cut off his instinctive denial. Maybe this was in part his own selfishness. "Is it wrong to want to protect her?" he asked softly instead.

"No, it's not, but sometimes silence doesn't do that," Conan said, looking distant. "...it doesn't matter what you tell her. She's seen Kaito go through horrible pain right before her eyes. I think she still blames herself for it since it was while he was protecting her."

Kaito can see himself taking great pains to protect Aoko. If he will do it for a stranger, then he can even die for her.

But since his current sense of protectiveness may be stemmed from his lack of knowledge on what she knew and been through, he asked. "What happened to me in your world?"

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Coming on AIM tonight?

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