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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"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?"

"In my world, Aoko doesn't know. Yet. She's been getting dangerously close for years and Kaito doesn't listen when I say it'd be better not to tell her. I...never pressed it much. I was just glad he was around," Conan said, looking away. He needed someone he trusted and could support him and very few people could do that. Kaito was one of them.

"In the Digital World, though, Aoko found out. It took a while though. First what happened...was LOT," Conan said, looking up. "A version of Loki of Norse myth who acts as a parasite. LOT has a hatred for any of the Norse pantheon and since Yggdrasil is the god of the Digital World, they wanted to destroy it or take it over. But they make things interesting and made it a game. They were a threat. Kaito volunteered to get close as Kaitou Kid. Since Ran, Aoko, and I were the only ones from his world, we're the only ones who can say how evil he was. But LOT...LOT wasn't fooled that easily. They took Aoko and said for Kid to prove what he said. The daughter of his enemy. If he wasn't lying, he would more than likely kill her or something or the like."

Conan closed his eyes as he kept talking. "LOT has empathy. An actual psychic ability. They know what people feel and they knew Kaito was lying. They don't like that, so...they tried to kill them both. And taunted Kid and it got out that 'Kid' loved Aoko. Which seems to have saved him. When he was willing to die for Aoko, LOT...hesitated. They were able to get away, with Kaito half skewered by tree branches. From there, LOT got mad and went for Kid directly, using Aoko to get to him. Twice, he almost died right before Aoko's eyes before she even knew the truth. The second time is what...more or less paved the road for her finding out the truth."

Kaito felt his own wounds ache in sympathy for his other self. "You're from a very violent world," he muttered, suddenly feeling that he got the better deal having to handle only Absinthe. It strangely put things into perspective for him. And a new perspective for this other Aoko. "No wonder she's like that."

"We're there to save it from evil and we do it by giving power to our Digimon partners. It only makes sense it's violent," Conan said. "When she found out the truth, that Kaito was Kid, her anger got over ridden by worry."

"Considering everything, she still manages to be...pretty level headed when it's not a mop chase anger. She's even taken to learning how to fight properly."

At mention of the creatures, Kaito glanced around to see if Leormon returned yet. "She can be," Kaito said at last, smiling a bit in remembrance of her mops, "She has potential for fighting with a bo if she learns. Although I don't ever want to see Aoko have to do that."

Not yet. There were a lot of DVDs to look through, after all.

"I don't think Kaito does either, but it's better than being a sitting duck. And I think it helps her feel better."

Kaito nodded, agreeing with the assessment. "She's a fighter," he said with a fond but sad note in his voice. Probably one which Aoko will never hear from him.

"You think I should tell her I'm back, don't you?"

"It'll help keep her from killing you when she does figure it out. She's been getting sharper over her stay in the Digital World," Conan said. "And stop her mind from going wild."

"You're making her sound scarier than Absinthe," Kaito joked lightly. "I guess I can. Later, when I'm not so obvious..." He waved his right hand down the length of his blanket covered body and trailed off.

"The women we know are scarier than any Black Organization member," Conan said. Well, for pure intimidation factor, anyway.

"...all right," he said. "Really too bad we don't have healers in this place."

Kaito considered. There were two that counted in his life, and both were definitely scary in their own ways. "I wonder if the Black Organization can stand up to black magic."

He blinked. "Healers?" Then remembering the kind of place he was at, Kaito rolled his eyes. "I don't need to deal with magic too, thanks."

"They did in my world. I still have to rescue Koizumi when I get back home," Conan said. He had such a flat look. Getting pulled in the middle of a rescue attempt was NOT FUN. "They search for magic items in almost all worlds. Maybe Koizumi can do something, but I wouldn't bet on it."

Conan shrugged. "Some healers are pretty good. I'm only alive due to Yuuko's magic and she doesn't even specialize in that type of thing."

Kaito mentally crossed seeking the witch's help. Another person to distance himself from, not that he wasn't going to do it for the whole school anyway.

"You're lucky to be alive," he agreed, recalling the scars on that small body.

"Koizumi might still be an ally worth keeping around. Just don't bank on it. She can probably give you some protection though, if worse comes to worse," Conan said. "It's not likely Absinthe has any magic."

He nodded in agreement. "Almost got cut in half. If it wasn't for Leomon's sword, I would have been."

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