justonetruth | 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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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."

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?"

"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."

"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?"

"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."

"Kaito-!" He couldn't see her face, but her tone spoke volumes all on its own. It hurt, having Kaito treat her so coldly, and Aoko couldn't hide the way her voice thickened.

But she wasn't about to let that stop her. There was clearly something deeper going on here, and she was going to find out what.

That determination only doubled when she saw just how many bandages Kaito was sporting. Deciding to forgo preamble, Aoko grabbed the sheets and yanked them downwards so she could get a look at just how injured he was.

The unexpected tug-o-war lasted all of one second before Kaito found himself exposed under Aoko's heated glare. It was an interesting moment, to be flustered and red from both embarrassment and anger at the same time.

"Aoko!!" Grabbing frantically at the missing sheet, Kaito managed to catch the tail end of it and yank it back to cover his lower regions. Still, it was apparent to anyone with eyes that he was rather bandaged, although from the lack of casts, there was nothing broken. His unwrapped left arm with its scabbing nicks and thin cut lines along its length were the only uncovered wounds on his body. It was not a lot, but enough to show that the damage was done by something sharp and deliberate.

"Damnit, I don't have my clothes..." Kaito muttered, a desperate attempt to find something to say more than to state the obvious fact.

Aoko stared at him, pale, any chances of a flush wiped away by the way the blood drained from her face at the sight of his injuries.

She numbly let go of the sheet when he yanked it back, letting him cover himself back up. He eyes were more fixed on the unbandaged cuts, the ones that even she could tell were made deliberately. And surely there were too many of them to be from a surgery.

"Kaito... what happened to you?"

Damnit... he was hoping he didn't have to get into this with Aoko, any Aoko. The fact that this one knew who he is and was supportive didn't make things any easier.

"I stuck my nose where it shouldn't be and ran afoul of something dark and evil," he murmured, looking away. The covers were quickly wrapped back around him like an overly large safety blanket, putting an end to Aoko's staring and hopefully breaking her from her shock. He pulled securely up to his chin and kept a firm hold with his white knuckled grip.

"I'm sorry you had to see that. You... shouldn't get involved in this."

In one of the infirmaries...

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