Chapter 32

Chapter 32
The Promise
Kaito's POV
*A very Happy New Years to everybody! Unfortunately that means it's one of the last days of break! *sniffles* Now I have to wake up early again. And it means I won't be able to write every day. Crap, it's one of my favorite past times. Oh well, onto the chapter!*
From a couple buildings away, I surveyed my strangely subdued target from my night binoculars. One of the items I had thankfully had on my person when I was forced to escape. None of the hubbub that usually followed a Kid heist, of course, I'd never robbed a place like my own home before. There were no blaring helicopters or horde of police cars awaiting my arrival; only a small team of police on the front door and the roof. Even they seemed like they had no will to catch me. As I zoomed in, I noticed that they didn't even have the usual red pinch marks on their faces to prove that they weren't me. So much for my show.
Sighing, I threw myself off of the roof of the house from which I had observed the security, and changed into my flamboyant white suit, complete with hat and cape. Unfortunately, I had hardly any magic tricks left, and it would be a little dangerous to ask Jii for a refill. Didn't want to make him my partner in crime even though he technically was. Two smoke bombs and some anesthetic gas, it should be sufficient enough, I thought, as I rechecked my sleeves and hat for tools. I'd used most of them up during the chase where I had played the mouse.
As I slowly approached the front door, I took a quick peep into my room with the binoculars. There was nobody in there, was Inspector Nakamori even trying to catch me today? It would be a snap. With a quick flick of my wrist, the anesthetic gas bomb flew out of my grasp and rolled toward the feet of the police 'guarding' the front door. Covering their faces and coughing, they fell down one by one, incapacitated by sleep.
"Sorry 'bout that," I whispered, half-apologetically to the sleeping men. There were a couple of groans in response from the ones who were still trying to resist, but nobody from the inside would even notice. I almost doubted that anybody inside was being attentive. Man, knowing my identity must have hit the police force hard, I thought. Well, it makes the job a lot easier. I don't even have to be showy today; nobody's even going to bother to watch. Hopping on the tiny ledge at the top of the door, I gracefully made my way to my bedroom window. The window was unlocked as I had last left it, and with a small push it opened without a noise.
Stepping gently onto the ground, I immediately headed towards the painting of my father, Toichi Kuroba. How it brought back memories. There had been that one day, after a successful magic show…
"Poker face, what's that?" asked a small boy with unruly hair. His bright childish blue eyes shown with curiosity as he watched his father play cards.
"It means whether you get a good card, or a bad card, you can't show it no matter what," instructed the older man, who looked nearly exactly like the boy. His face was a mask, impossible to read. "Royal flush." He flashed his winning hand to the men around him. "It's the same with magic, Kaito. Even if your tricks fail, you can't show it no matter what!"
He had been so much better at that, hiding his emotions and failures. Unlike me, who had lost his poker face under just a little bit of pressure. Damn that Hakuba for being so darn difficult. Not only did I lose my poker face, I changed into Kaitou Kid right there and then. Perhaps I could have stayed free if I hadn't been so stupid and acted on impulse. Maybe Jii could have proved my 'innocence'. But since I had acted so stupid, I had lost everything that made me Kaito Kuroba. On the bright side, I now knew where Pandora was hidden. Dad had kept it with him all along.
There was no place safer. Who would have thought the jewel would already have been owned by the thief himself? By trying again and again to find Pandora, even though he knew it was in his grasp, it had thrown off the syndicate for over eight years. Now I was going to break the jewel out of its safe, and destroy it.
A hand grabbed my foot, and I looked down in response. "Aoko?" I gasped, as I recognized her face, lit up from the bright moonlit streaming from the open window. Why was she here?
"Kaito," she whispered, standing up and facing me. Her eyes were filled with sorrow and longing. Drat, I thought. Come on Kaito! Poker face, poker face! I was absolutely no good with all the gooey emotions. Ha, a Phantom Thief who can keep a straight face under the constant pressure of a heist couldn't even stand something close to sad puppy dog eyes. "Kaito, I've missed you so much!"
Without warning, she embraced me, and I could feel her warm tears soak through my shirt. I put my arms around her, not sure of what else to do. "Can you really miss me this much? It hasn't even been a day," I commented, trying to ease the situation that I was quickly losing control of. I mean, sure we were best friends, but was there something a little deeper...?
"It's because, it's because," she stuttered, her face turning red as I stared at her embarrassed face, the tears seeming to disappear for just a couple of seconds. She looked so cute and innocent, pretty too. I felt my poker face break as blood raced to my cheeks and making my ears fire up. "It's because I like you, Kaito." Yay. Mushy moments. But somehow, I could feel real joy under my cold, biting sarcasm.
"Me too, Aoko." I was reminded of the crappy TV dramas I made fun of. The real thing was so much harder than I thought it would be. I hoped I didn't sound too cheesy. "I like you too." Lost in the moment, I had nearly forgotten about the heist, and why I was here. But there was no need to worry; I doubted that Nakamori's men would wake up very soon.
Silence filled the room for a couple of minutes, as we both stood there, completely unsure of what to do next. I still held her in my arms, and I could feel from the constant fidgeting of her body that she needed to ask me something. Something important. "Aoko, if you have a question, please say it."
"Kaito," she started, and now she looked half nervous and half angry. "Why did you have to be Kaitou Kid?" There it was. The 'why?' question. How should I answer her? The truth to warn her of the imminent danger, or a lie to comfort her and give a sense of false security? No Kaito! You have to tell her the truth! She deserves to know that she's in danger! screamed my inner voice. Sheesh, I know that. It's just that, if she doesn't like the truth, I don't want to hear what she'll say back to me.
"It started, eight years ago. When Toichi Kuroba was killed onstage." I nervously waited for her reaction. She had been watching his magic show with me when the stage burst into flames, killing my father in the heat and smoke. Her memories of that were bad enough already without telling her it was a murder.
"But, it was a stage accident!" she protested, trying to find to see any trace of a lie in my eyes. When she didn't find it, she murmured quietly, and nearly incoherently, "That's what everybody said."
"Sometimes the general word isn't the truth, Aoko. The truth is that there was-is an Organzation…" I told her about how the Organization killed my father because he knew about them, and refused to help them. I told her about how Jii had taken his place, and then I his to try to lure them out. I told her about how I had followed those men and found out about the properties of Pandora. How it glowed red in the light of the full moon, and how it could cry tears of immortality. She didn't interrupt me once. When I finished, she stood speechless, tears running from her eyes. Were they tears of anger, tears of sadness, or tears of understanding? "So, Aoko, that's why I'm Kaitou Kid. I don't particularly enjoy stealing, just the magic behind it. Being a Phantom Thief was hard, and I wanted to give up it entirely more than once. But my father's important to me, I want to lure those people out and get revenge on them for killing my dad and countless others." I didn't mention Kudo Shinichi.
"Kaito, that's dangerous," she said, concern filling her voice entirely. "You shouldn't involve yourself in this. Your father was already killed, they'll kill you too!" She shook me as if to knock sense into me. "You don't have to be Kaitou Kid anymore." It would probably be best if I listened to her right now, and told everybody that I wasn't being Kid anymore, but that would be as good as betrayal. We were so far.
"It's too late for that, Aoko," I whispered, gently pushing her arms off of my shoulders and feeling no resistance. "They now know my name, and with a teensy bit of effort, they can find everybody with even the smallest connection to me. Don't worry about me, I've got people who can hold my back on this and help me. My only concern is your father, Hakuba, Akako, and you. If you can't give them the information they want, you'll be made hostages." She looked scared, but she nodded. I wondered if she truly understood the real depth of the danger. "You didn't know anything until I told you, so do your best to act as if you still don't know. Pretend you never heard it, that way; you won't be made a threat." But she could still be made a hostage. I wanted to take her away with me, to the safe house. I'm so selfish, I thought.
"I'm glad you told me, Kaito." She let a sniffle, but then she smiled, and it was real. "You have a heist to carry out, right? You better get right on it, or else somebody might catch you." Suddenly, the moon was shadowed by a cloud and everything went dark. I could hardly see her face, but I could still see the beautiful sparkle in her now midnight blue eyes. I could feel the strength of the emotion inside of me, mingling with the depth of the love in her eyes. It was a moment so right, so perfect, that the urge to lean forward, and kiss her was almost overwhelming. I stopped myself, knowing the moment of separation would be made even harder if I did. I satisfied myself by hugging her even tighter, and feeling her warm body safe in my arms, even if it was just for a moment.
"I'll try to see you as often as I can," I whispered into her dark brown hair. "Even if it's just at heists." I was glad we were shrouded in the darkness, so she couldn't see the tears that were starting to form. "Promise me you'll be there."
"I will." I could hardly hear her muffled answer. I let go of her slowly, trying to make the moment last as long as it could.
"See you next time, Aoko." My words sounded much more lighthearted than I really felt. I leaned back onto the painting and disappeared. I wonder if she saw me fall, swiftly dropping into the secret room that only Jii and I knew about. My dad's hideout. I knew every nook and cranny since I had taken over the role of Kaitou Kid, so it barely took me seconds before I pulled out the box holding Devil's Crown.
There might have been a key to the chest before, but it wasn't anywhere I searched. How did I know that the Devil's Crown was in here? My dad had showed me, once when I was just a little kid.
"Do you see this jewel?" My dad opened up the small chest to reveal a beautiful blood red diamond. It sparkled in the light of burning brightly at our dining room table.
"Wah!" I exclaimed, admiring it. At the time I only felt it was extraordinary because it was 'pretty'. "Can I touch it?" He plopped the gem in my hands, and I turned it over a couple of times. "It's really cold!"
"Real diamonds like these don't get warm very easily. It's a simple method to check if it's real or not." He chuckled as he took the gem back. "This is a very special jewel, Kaito. I'll tell you more about it once you get older."
He had never gotten a chance to tell me. A month later, he had been killed on stage. I had grieved at the time, crying for my dad, and not even practicing any magic for nearly half a year. I never suspected that he had been killed, not once. Of course, a child's innocence protects it from thoughts like those.
Pulling out a lock picking gadget, I carefully inserted it into the lock. If it was one of dad's tricks, I'd have to be extremely careful. Taking a deep breath, I inserted the long thin wire into the whole, feeling for the edges. Only my careful sensitive hands could feel the walls by simply bushing them, and I pulled out the wire, shaping it to the lock. Here it goes. I turned the wire just once to the right, and I heard it unlock. Just a tiny click, then it opened. I was not disappointed, it was Devil's Crown.
I held it excitedly, feeling the same cold touch that I noticed eight years ago. It was real, it was Pandora, or most likely it was. I hid in my inner pocket along with its container. What Jii and I searched several months for had always been in our grasp. I laughed, feeling my good humor come back to me. Now for job two.
Searching among the shelves, I managed to locate many more of my trademark gadgets. Replacement outfits and hang gliders, pink smoke bombs, nearly invisible strings, and my sharpened cards. There were more than I remembered, perhaps Jii had been kind enough to restock my house. I'd have to thank him the next time I saw him.
As I left the house, I looked back one last time. Was Aoko still in my room, or had she headed back for home? Were the police still unaware that I took the prize, or did they just not care? Taking out the jewel, I checked it to the full moon. Something small glowed a beautiful sunset red from the center, Pandora. I would feel bad about destroying something so perfect, but it had to be done.
Pandora was a devil in disguise, even if it looked like an angel.
*Now that Pandora's been found, what in the world are they going to do with it? Well, yeah they're going to try to destroy it, but diamonds are pretty hard to break as far as I've heard. Did you like the chapter? How could I improve it? Is anybody willing to be my beta-reader as mentioned in the last chapter? If you're interested, just say so in a review and I'll try to connect with you. Thank for reading, and have a Happy End of 2010!* ~Aeyra