[July 13] [Detective Conan/Magic Kaito] Sunshower

[fyliwionvilyaer.livejournal.com]

Title: Sunshower
Author: Fyliwion
Fandom: Detective Conan/Magic Kaito
Theme: July 13•the ones that are never said and never explained
Rating: T
Disclaimer: I don’t own them… and if I did they might turn out more like a Takahashi Story than Gosho’s
Author’s Note: This is to make up for the somewhat-lacking story yesterday ^_^



He’d have to call everything off. Make a clean break. He couldn’t and wouldn’t put her through that.

He’d put her through enough, but he hadn’t expected this. Three drops was all it had taken, and he knew that it was enough. Bullets just didn’t go through a person like that.

Honestly he was terrified he still might have one bouncing around inside of him.

He’d also realized there would be no destroying Pandora. The gem was harder and more resilient than any diamond. Wherever the stone had emerged from, it wasn’t earth, just like he’d realized that whatever he’d been fighting at the end of things couldn’t have been human.

Immortality in the palm of his hand. No fountain of life needed, when all it took was a couple drops from a crying gem.

Oh well, who better than an immortal thief to do the honor’s on making sure no one else got a hold of it… not that it mattered since it would undoubtedly be another ten thousand years before it cried again.

So he went home with all the intentions of breaking it off with Aoko.

Which never happened.

Rather it seemed impossible. He’d never seen the girl as happy as she was when she came over the next day and started a cleaning spree in his house. She showed up to shove him out of bed, baked his favorite cookies, and only chased him out of his kitchen once with a mop.

She hadn’t been in that good of a mood since… well it was entirely possible that she hadn’t been that happy since KID first made his reappearance.

And for some reason the opportunity just wouldn’t arise.

Day after day she just got closer, and finally he managed to get out that he’d found Pandora, and a few more heists and then he’d really quit KID for good… but he still just couldn’t tell her the rest.

She’d want to stay, and she’d never realize exactly what it meant.

Perhaps the most shocking bit was when he finally pulled out the gem, and she reached out with wide blue eyes to hold the sparkling gem she simply stroked perhaps the most priceless artifact in the world before handing it back and saying softly, “You’ll keep it safe Kaito… I may not like you putting your neck out like that—but if anyone will, you will.” Before giving him what he almost thought was a serious smile and then running off to take a burning batch of cookies out of the oven.

Sometimes he really didn’t understand his best friend.

As the days passed into weeks, and then months nothing really changed except that they grew closer even as he told himself to push her away. Whereas he had previously been the one sneaking in her window, her house, picking her locks, hanging on her like some sort of annoying shadow—now she seemed to have taken up perpetual residence with him.

When they finally kissed he knew something had to change.

Their second kiss he told himself he really couldn’t lead her on like that.

The next time he began coming up with ways that he might be able to at least stay with her awhile.

Faking his own death came to mind. Disguises. His father had looked young for a very long time, and Kaito had noticed that his hair, nails, and facial hair still grew. On a whole very little changed at all, except that he didn’t appear to die (he just hoped he didn’t continue to age and just not die… that would be too excruciating).

He supposed there would be someway to keep up the façade, and when it wasn’t possible any longer have a preplanned death…

It wasn’t the best laid plan, but after waking up beside her, and watching the sunlight glide off her pale skin and beaming face… he couldn’t and wouldn’t leave her until he absolutely had to.

He almost told her the truth again just before he proposed, but chickened out as she was babbling on about some movie she had seen about a kami who loved a mortal…

It would almost be a normal life he hoped. As much of one as he could promise… and he’d deal when the time came…

And of course she said yes. And threw her arms around him, and then hit him soundly for taking so long.

Then the wedding came…

And that’s when Kaito first began to notice.

Kaito for all of his worries and problems concerning mystical stones and magical beings had never been particularly superstitious. Perhaps it came from his magic tricks, or being able to figure out much of the play behind them.

But as they stood in the early light of morning at a shrine (satisfying his mother’s and her father’s wish for a traditional wedding), and as were just ending the ceremony it began to rain.

Gently, almost more of a misty shimmer that glowed like gems as they fell from a nearly clear sky and causing them to shine even more.

Aoko looked out her eyes bright, and some how reflected in the background of the sunlit rainstorm she looked breathtaking. Not just pretty, or even beautiful—but something else entirely.

And for the first real time Kaito was uncertain.

Most called it a blessing. Hakuba called it nonsense, while Akako had smiled and asked the magician teasingly if there was something he wasn’t telling them concerning where he’d gotten so good at those magic tricks of his.

Aoko almost looked a blushing bride the way her cheeks went red and she told them all quite vehemently that neither she nor Kaito was a kitsune thank you very much, and how dare they even put her in a category with a trickster creature like that.

Kaito just grinned wickedly and teased his bride that if she wasn’t careful he might end up sprouting a tail.

Really though a chill went down his spine, since the last had hit a little too close to home.

In the end though married life worked well. Children weren’t mentioned, at least not immediately. Kaito worked on building his career as a magician and Aoko still did her projects on the side.

They were happy, and more often then not Kaito forgot about the slowly approaching deadline.

It took years though. In the end he and Aoko traveled, and neither mentioned the continuing lack of children. Kaito had begun to worry that perhaps it would be impossible… after all who knew what effects Pandora had left… maybe he was more frozen in time then he knew.

But it wasn’t until they returned after a particularly long tour through Europe, and he saw Hakuba again that he realized just how much the detective had aged.

They’d had dinner that was almost civil, and discussed new rises in crime, any new ingénue thieves, and how he was expecting his son to follow in his steps for all the boy was only four.

As he excused himself to the restroom he stared at his reflection. Thus far he hadn’t bothered to hide anything, to add wrinkles, to even bother trying to grow out a mustache (well he almost had, but Aoko said the thing was ridiculous and if he didn’t cut it they’d be getting double beds for a while.)

Smooth.

He was shocked Hakuba hadn’t mentioned anything, although he did remember the way the detective’s eyes had narrowed when he saw him. Perhaps he’d just brushed it off as make up, or vanity or something else.

But needless to say… he began dreading the trip home.

He slid into bed with his wife that night and watched her as she turned up to look at him. Worried blue eyes stared back at his troubled expression…

“Kaito?”

He ran a hand down her cheek… through her hair and shook his head blinking again.

“Kaito? Is something wrong?”

“No…” he said his voice coming out with far more ease than he thought. “No… I—I was just thinking that’s all.”

“Good-“she said with a smile before moving closer against him. “You had me worried for a moment…”

“Mmm…” he pressed his lips against her head, but his mind was still racing.

Aoko didn’t look a day older than when they first got married.

He began to notice. Began to look for the little things. A wrinkle. A grey hair. Anything that might give away that she was getting older, but instead there wasn’t a sign of anything.

He noticed that she began suggesting they might go back to Europe. Expanding their tours… seeing their friends from home a bit less…

Kaito was well aware that he needed to do something about himself when he did run into Hakuba, but he didn’t know what to say… what to even imply about his wife.

Together they didn’t look much older than perhaps twenty four or twenty five. They were now well into their thirties, and it was becoming noticeable that something was up. Aoko didn’t say a word though… she continued on like she had during the time he’d known her.

Once or twice he’d tried to tease it out of her…

Both times he’d nearly been beheaded with the mop…

He’d eventually given up.

He tried to wrack his brains about Pandora. Had there been an opportunity for her to take the tears? During the main battle was there a chance some tears had been saved? Could the gem have cried another time?

But no… that wasn’t possible… the entire time surrounding the myth had at the end lasted less than an hour and Aoko had been nowhere near. Even Kaito had only gotten the drops by accident… grabbing the stone and cutting himself on a sharp edge… he’d stuck his finger to his lips before he even thought about it, and by then the syrupy sweet taste of the gem had already made its way down his throat.

No… she couldn’t have tasted Pandora…

So then what?

For a while he’d begun to research mystical creatures… immortal creatures. He brought up anything and everything when he’d first searched out Pandora. Angels, demons, spirits, kitsune….

The memory of their wedding came to his mind, but no… he’d seen Aoko drunk and if anything he’d fit that identity more than she would. Aoko was an open book on every account.

He’d even delved into mermaid folklore, for all he’d barely been able to get through the pictures and myths of the scaly scary creatures.

Well it might explain his aversion to fish… maybe he had some sort of psychic aura… but no that didn’t quite make sense either.

She inquired a few weeks later if he’d help her learn some of his make up techniques, he pulled the kit he reserved for aging and never asked the question that plagued his lips.

After all it was Aoko… it was still Aoko. He would know if it wasn’t Aoko—and his family had enough of a gift for him to know there was nothing possessing his beloved wife.

So unless she told him, he’d stay silent…

Because no matter what manner of being the man’s wife was: fox, demon, angel, cat,
Badger or mermaid… one thing still remained constant.

Once the man unveiled what his wife was, she always left. By force or by choice she was gone.

So as he finished the last myth he closed the book, piled it with the others, and left his research for good.

Demon or Angel… it was still Aoko and she was still by his side.

And in the end… that was all that really mattered.


Author’s Note: I actually do know what she is, and I might do a couple alternate chapters with the possibilities (I’m leaning towards one, but there’s another that I promised for a friend). However… I also like the not knowing, so I’m interested in seeing what your thoughts on the matter are ^_^ It’s been a while since I did something a bit AUish… and this one had its roots in a couple fics I’d worked on and never finished enough to post.