Midnight meeting

Summary: Aoko has a bad quarrel with Kaito at school about Kaito Kid which upsets them both. That night she wanders onto a lonely rooftop after a hint from Kaito's mother and finds the Kaito Kid there...

Hakuba sighed and brushed his fringe out of his eyes wondering whether it was worth it to try and intervene in Kaito and Aoko's argument that was rapidly rising in volume and was giving him a headache as well as the rest of the class.

He had never seen them disagree like this before and he had seen a variety of quarrels that were always interesting to watch if you found Kaito annoying which he did. Normally they would have a light disagreement without anything getting out of hand, then Kaito would check the colour of Aoko's underwear and finally she would chase his around the classroom with a mop before giving up and leaving it for another day. Then it was done. Over with. Simple. No lasting consequences for anyone apart from the occasional broken mop. However this one was very different.

For example the rest of the class were watching them with their full attention which was unusual for teenagers of that age who normally ignored them, intent on their own conversations and gossip. Secondly, Kaito hadn't flipped Aoko's skirt which wasn't like him; normally he could never resist the temptation no matter how unsuitable the situation. Lastly both Kaito and Aoko's faces were red and his poker face wasn't in sight, but one thing was the same, they were arguing on the same subject; the Kaito Kid.

"Do you know how many times I have been let down by my father to chase some criminal that prances around in a white suit like he's the cleverest person in the world? Do you know what it feels like to be second best to a thief in terms of your father's attention? All he ever thinks about is the Kaito kid and he never spends any time with me anymore. Do you know what it feels like? Do you? Of course you don't." Aoko screamed in one impressively long breath jabbing Kaito in the chest for emphasis with her finger.

She sighed heavily and the penny drop and she realised the significance of what she had just said. Her arm dropped to her side. "Sorry," she muttered knowing that she would be hurt if things were the other way round and she had just been reminded that she didn't have a father.

She braved a look at Kaito's face. His poker face was back and he was looking anywhere, but her.

"I'm sorry," she repeated louder.

Still Kaito wouldn't look at her.

Hakuba opened his mouth to intervene and comfort Aoko, but Kaito saw him approaching out of the corner of his eye and glared at him daring him to make a move. Hakuba promptly closed his mouth and retreated.

"Kaito?" Aoko whispered fearfully, afraid that her friendship with him was now broken and wished he would at least look at her.

He replied a few seconds later, but it felt like years to her. "It's okay Aoko. I understand how you feel. Kid isn't worth it," he said in a serious tone that was completely unlike him which made Aoko even more worried that their friendship was broken beyond repair. "I'll be going now. Tell sensei I've caught a cold and probably won't be in for the rest of the week." He gave her a weak smile and turned and left the room.

"Kaito, wait," she called after him, but it was too late, he had already left.

The classroom was now deathly silent and had an atmosphere to rival a graveyard. Aoko could feel everyone's eyes on her as she straightened her desk and righted a chair that had been knocked over during the quarrel. She ignored the stares and sat down dejectedly at her desk wishing for school to end quickly so she could go to Kaito's house to apologise properly.

After a look from Hakuba the class hastened to take their seats. Within minutes normal conversation had started up again, but most people were glancing at Aoko who had her thick hair in front of her face to hide the tears that were slowly pooling and running like a stream down her face.

As she predicted school ran at a snail's pace and felt like it lasted for an eternity. Just as she felt that she couldn't hold on any longer the bell rang and she was free from all the staring and sympathetic glances at last. At lunchtime she had sat by herself staring out the window with a faraway look on her face. Keiko had sat next to her briefly to ask her if she was okay and Aoko had replied in a cold tone that she was fine and resumed her gazing out the window. The teachers hadn't been too concerned about Kaito's absence; he often missed school and always managed to catch up.

Aoko practised her apology on her way to his house and berated herself repeatedly for not thinking about the words that she had been saying in the argument. She wondered whether she should buy an apology present or promise never to wear fish underpants ever again. She was mulling this over as she reached his house which evoked lots of happy childhood memories of coming over to play and being entertained with magic tricks from Kaito and his father Toichi Kuroba. Aoko swallowed as she remembered that aftermath of his tragic death. She hadn't seen Kaito for weeks afterwards and ever since then he had used a poker face.

She raised her finger to ring the bell and hesitated. She wasn't sure how accepting Kaito would be of her. Would he even listen to her or would he slam the door in her face? Aoko knew that if she didn't make up her mind she would lose her nerve and run away.

She closed her eyes and rang the doorbell. She heard steady footsteps with no hesitation come to the door to answer it. Aoko brightened. Maybe Kaito was in a better mood and was willing to forgive her? She smiled and it faded as the front door was opened to reveal Kaito's mother.

"Hello Aoko. I haven't seen you in a while. Have you come to see Kaito?"

"Yes I did come to see him," Aoko replied already guessing her answer.

"I'm afraid he's out. He came home this morning with a stony expression on his face and seemed rather upset. Did you two have a quarrel?" she asked shrewdly.

"Well, yes," Aoko admitted meekly. "Is he in?"

"I'm afraid he left after dumping his school bag here. Said he needed to think about something. Sorry Aoko. Was it the usual argument again?"

"Yes it was about Kid and it got out of hand," Aoko sighed. "Do you know where I could find him?"

"I'm afraid I don't know," she replied. Then she saw the expression on Aoko's face and took pity on her. "Listen if you wander onto a rooftop tonight, say the rooftop of your house you might find your answer," Kaito's mother smiled knowingly.

"W-what's that supposed to mean?" Aoko stuttered completely bamboozled as to what Kaito's mother was trying to tell her.

"Do it and you'll see," she smiled again and started to close the door. "It was nice seeing you. Good bye Aoko."

"Wait-" Aoko was cut off when the door firmly shut in her face.

After shutting the door Kaito's mother turned to the teenage boy that was sitting hunched at the foot of the stairs with his head in his hands. The boy felt her gaze and looked up to meet her stare scowling with his fringe falling into his eyes.

"Thanks for basically telling her that I'm Kaito Kid," he said sarcastically. "But she will never work it out though. She's too trusting. It's one of her good traits as well as being one of her bad ones."

"Exactly. That's why tonight you must stop the lying and tell her the truth."

"If I do she will hate me for the rest of my life and will never want to see or speak to me again. I don't want that to happen."

"If you don't Kaito, you will be lying to her for the rest of your life. She loves you, she won't be able to hate you forever. Just try it," she suggested with a serious expression knowing that it is impossible for a person to keep lying forever. "How do you think I felt when I found out that your father was Kaito Kid? I was mad mainly because I discovered it myself rather than him telling me, but I forgave him. If she really loves you the hate can't last for long."

"Maybe. But she will feel betrayed and I don't even know if she likes me," he argued.

"Kaito. Just have the guts to tell her. If you can't at least tell your childhood friend the truth you'll be too afraid to destroy Pandora."

"You're right," Kaito agreed sitting up and checking the time. "I'll go tonight. Geez, you could have at least specified a time frame. I could be hanging around for ages waiting."

That night Aoko had the house to herself as her father had called to say that he had found a lead on his current case and was on a stakeout and would be coming home after work the next day and wouldn't be going out for dinner with her like they had planned. Aoko didn't find it strange as she was completely used to having her plans with her father fall through at the last minute. When this happened she normally called Kaito over and they watched scary movies whilst eating Ben and Jerry's ice cream, but eating ice cream didn't feel the same without Kaito there to flip her skirt and make derogatory comments about her body. She missed him.

Aoko looked up and the clock on the wall of the kitchen where she was debating whether to make rocky road cookies to give to Kaito as a peace offering the next day. It was 10 o'clock and it was dark outside and there was a new moon shining in the sky. All evening she had been trying not to think about her conversation with Kaito's mother but it kept creeping into her mind like a persistent virus, Why was going on to the roof so important? Why did it have to be at night?

These questions kept on repeating themselves in her head, until she was sick of them and knew the only thing to do was follow the vague instructions that she had been given. She put the chocolate away and stood up, ready. Then she paused. How was she supposed to get up onto the roof anyway? The roof of her house may have been flat, but there wasn't anything like a convenient trapdoor or anything. It was going to have to be an outside job.

Aoko ran up to her bedroom tripping herself up in her haste to get there and threw open her window to the widest. She leaned out and looked to the left. She found that she had remembered correctly; there was a drainpipe that went all the way up to the roof that was firmly attached to the wall of the house with brackets and should be strong enough to take her weight without breaking. The only question left was whether she was strong and fearless enough to climb up?

She balled her fists and thought of Kaito to psych herself up. If he were here he would just dance up it in that annoying way of his, she thought to herself. Then why couldn't she do it too? There wasn't that much of a distance between her bedroom window and the roof and after all she did have very strong arm muscles from all of her mop wielding. She could do this. She was strong enough.

Aoko stuck her legs out the window first and manoeuvred the rest of her body out so she was perching precariously on the thin outside windowsill. She balanced one foot on the pipe bracket that attached it to the wall, wiggled it around a bit to ensure that it was strong enough, took a deep breath and moved her body to the left so she had left the delicate safety of the windowsill and was now hanging onto a drainpipe for dear life. If she slipped now it would like she had committed suicide from throwing herself off the roof.

Aoko craned her neck to see how close to the drainpipe that circled the roof and she was planning on using it to pull herself onto the roof. She increased her grip with her right hand which was her strongest and stretched with her left hand to find out if she could reach the pipe. She discovered her hand could only just grip it if she stood on her tiptoes and stretched as far as she could. Aoko dropped her arm back and took another deep breath. She was going to need it.

I haven't written any romance fanfiction so excuse me if it is really bad. I have always wanted to write a Kaito and Aoko one, but have always been too scared for some reason. This idea came to me randomly in the middle of the night and I just had to write something for it even though I should be revising for exams. I have no idea what Kaito's mother's name is so I apologise for her just being called "Kaito's mother". I'll update as soon as I can.