Chapter 33

Chapter 33
Outburst
*Happy start of 2011! Hope everybody had fun last night!* ^-^
The Phantom Thief treaded silently down the empty street, hardly visible except in when the clouds unveiled the moon, or the passing of an occasional car. He had changed out of his flashy white clothing as soon as he had been out of sight from the target site. Nobody could possibly suspect him of being more than a teenager that had just finished hanging with his friends. He appeared disheveled, like he had been roughhousing, a unavoidable consequence of a heist, no matter how dull it had been.
His momentary pleasure at finding Pandora had long disappeared, fading into thoughts about the other things that had happened. He had hurt Aoko by leaving her alone. He'd made it worse by telling her that he liked him; the only thing that he took happiness in was that he had managed to restrain from kissing her. It would have made it at least ten times worse for both of them
That Hakuba, how could he have possibly let his words destroy him, unnerve him? Of course, it was his own fault for becoming Kaitou Kid in the first place, but he had a good reason. To lure out that Black Organization and annihilate them, take revenge for his late father. It was their fault that this was happening, that all of their lives had been crippled in some manner. And what punishment did they get for it? Nothing that could possibly pay for all the death and heartbreak.
He took out the gem Pandora, and squeezed it tightly in his fist as if it would shatter like glass or be crushed like a delicate flower. However, it stayed as cold and hard as ever, protected by its blood-red outer shell. The boy turned, easily unlocking and opening the gate in front of him, revealing a long paved walkway leading to a large mansion. This was his home now, but even a castle couldn't replace his old home, the one which he had grown up in, the one where all his memories still lived. One day was enough to ruin everything, he thought bitterly.
When he reached the door, he put his hand on the lion-head knocker a little hesitantly. He didn't feel much like company, but the gentlemanly side of him required him to face it. Slowly he pulled it up, and then let it go, making a pitiful sound that was barely audible. However, it didn't seem to affect Heiji much at all.
"Congratulations!" cheered Heiji as Kaito walked through the doorway with the red stone in hand. However, the teenager didn't return his congrats and walked away without even bothering to acknowledge him. His face was as hard as stone, set in an expression of anger and sorrow. The smile on Heiji's face died down as he realized exactly how down the boy looked. "Oy, Kuroba." Heiji caught him by the arm as he passed, causing Kaito to swerve around and glare at the Osakan as coldly as Haibara. He looked like some wild animal, challenging its rival to make the next move with dangerous flickering eyes. Heiji flinched in a moment of fear, however, he did not let go. "Kuroba, did something bad happen?" he asked, trying to cut through the layer of ice that had chilled the atmosphere the moment he stepped into the house. Despite his good intentions, it only managed to tick Kaito off.
"It's none of your business," he replied coldly, pushing Heiji's hand off of him. Or at least, that was what he meant to do. Instead, he went flying into the nearby wall, and fell over. He heard a groan of pain as the teenager tried to pull himself up, only to fall back over.
Sighing, he walked over to pick him up, even feeling a little guilt for throwing him across the room having taken out some of his anger. He answered the teenager's question inside his head. Did something bad happen? What an understatement. My entire life was ruined, annihilated, destroyed in one day. One. The girl I love might be in terrible danger, as well as everybody I've ever know. I found Pandora, but I don't have a way of destroying it. People know my identity, even if I stop being Kid, I'm still a criminal. I'll never be able to live a real life again. But his poker face showed no sign of these feelings that were torturing him, burning him from the inside out, only a mask of apology for hurting the fellow teenager. "Sorry, I just lost control for a second there." A sympathetic smile from the Osakan let him know he was forgiven.
"Happens to me too sometimes, but ow." Heiji grabbed Kaito's outstretched hand and stood. He didn't look that angry, but looks didn't show everything. "You've got a lot of anger locked up in there, and I can feel it. Look Kuroba, if you're having a hard time, just say it. We're all together now, I promise I won't judge you or anything, I won't even interrupt, I'll just listen." It was a good offer, especially given the fact that Kaito had just thrown him into a wall. The Phantom Thief wanted nothing more than to be able to spill his guts out to someone, have someone hear his pain, but he had just met this kid today, they weren't even friends yet. Even if he had trusted him enough to not turn him into the police, he didn't trust him with his emotions. That would take time.
"Thanks, but no. I can handle it myself." Kaito was sick of talk about him, so he veered off into a different topic. "Where's that Kazuha girl?" Hopefully Hattori would take the bait.
"It's already eleven, you know," pointed out Heiji. "Tomorrow's a school day, she turned in about an hour ago. I decided to stay up and wait for you." The Phantom Thief nodded. It would have been a school day for him tomorrow too, if only that damn Hakuba hadn't turned him in. If he hadn't, everything would be just great; it would be normal.
"That reminds me," said Kaito. "Since I'm staying with you, which one's my room?" He looked kind of awkward and embarrassed for asking. Heiji kindly ignored this and informed him of the ones that were already taken.
"Well, Kazuha and I are sleeping in those adjacent bedrooms there." He leaned back so he could point them out. "And the only room Kudo said was off-bounds was his, which is next to mine."
"Do you really believe that girl?" asked Kaito, careful not to put any malice in his tone. He knew that Heiji respected Ran, and he didn't want to insult either of them. The idea of a ghost just sounded so absurd to him, he knew that magic wasn't real. Okay, Akako was an exception, but she had never claimed something as weird as that. A devil to a witch was much more believable than a spirit to a human.
"I don't think she's making it up. She did know everything. I was doubtful at first, kind of like you, but, yeah. I believe her." He shrugged as if it didn't matter to him anymore, which it didn't. "It's okay if you don't though, some things are just impossible to accept." He knew. He was a detective; supernatural things went against his nature. Only listening to his gut instinct had driven him to believe in this impossible and improbable truth. "You'll probably want to just go with it for now, if you're with us, then you have to listen to everybody." He nodded in understanding.
Kaito yawned, and started up the stairs. "I'll just pick a random room. 'Night, Hattori."
"You too, Kuroba." Heiji was happy that he had managed to cheer him up just a little bit, but there was nothing he could do to erase the pain. He and Kazuha were the lucky ones, they hadn't actually lost anything. They were just helping to fight the battle. Hopefully everything would come out okay.
Saguru was still awake, restlessly turning over and over, unable to fall asleep. Worries clouded his mind, making it impossible to relax in the slightest. How would he act in school tomorrow? How would he face his classmates? And how would he face Aoko?
He remembered her crying face as she rejected him. Rejected him because of Kaito. Kaito who he had betrayed. Damn, how could he have been so stupid? He had always meant to bring Kid down with clever tricks during a heist, and then unmask him to reveal Kuroba. But when everything finally pieced together, his original intent didn't matter anymore, and that's why they were all ruined.
He would go to the next Kid heist, but not to catch Kaito. He would corner him and make him spill why, so he could help him. A person like Kaito couldn't have done it just for fun, he had to have a deeper reason. And maybe, if the reason was good enough, he would help him. All of a sudden, his worries came too much to handle and his mind seemed to turn itself off, letting him drift into dreamless sleep.
*Author's Note: Now that Hakuba regrets everything he's done, exactly what will happen when he runs in Kaito again? Hmm… Not planned yet but I'll get to that part sooner or later. I only plan out choice parts of my story, like the ending. I hope it'll turn out well. But I don't think it's coming any time soon… Well anyways, did you like my chapter? If you have any little complaints or compliments, please put them in a review! I treasure each and every one of them. Next update hopefully tomorrow or Monday.*