Sanctuary Night (Kaitou Kid X OC) P3

Nothing special happened for the morning subjects. On to lunch.

"Ne, Rie-chan?" Aoko chirped, rotating her chair to face Rie. Unsurprisingly, Rie was staring off somewhere far again, twirling a pen between her fingers. Aoko huffed and clapped in front of her face, effectively catching her attention.

"Hmm, what?" Rie was dazed, to say the least. She'd been thinking of her training later at night.

"Aren't you going to eat lunch yet?" Aoko asked, putting up her bento box and showing it to her. Rie simply shook her head no.

"Aw, why not? You didn't bring one? We can share if you want." She offered, placing the box on top of Rie's desk. Rie stared at the food, not really focusing on it. Aoko took this into concern.

"You're really quiet, huh?" She asked again, starting to eat her food.

"Well of course she's quiet. You're scaring her, Ahoko." The pervert seated on the desk to the left of Aoko commented.

The boy matched Aoko in terms of hairstyle - dark brown and very messy bangs, sticking out everywhere. He, of course, didn't have it as long as Aoko's but he did have it long enough to be spiky behind his head. His eyes were a little darker compared to Aoko's, and his smile was playful.

'BaKaito, was it...? I thought that was his actual name but now I see it's more of an insult thing between couples.' She stared at the boy with a frown forming on her lips.

"Shut up, BaKai-" Suddenly, the boy disappeared from Rie's sight and reappeared beside her.

"I don't think I properly introduced myself. The name's Kaito Kuroba." He stuck out a blue rose and handed it to Rie, who took it without so much as a smile.

"Rie. Rie Kuro. But you already know that. Thanks for the plant." She replied, putting the rose on his ear. Kaito reeled back at the sudden action while Aoko laughed.

"Oh my goodness, Kaito, it's looks perfect on you!" She said, clutching her stomach from laughing too much. Even Rie offered a small grin. The embarrassed boy quickly removed the flower from his ear and waved his hand in a circle, making it disappear. Rie couldn't help but be intrigued with Kaito's tricks.

"A magician, are you now?" She asked, staring at Kaito's hands. Aoko was still giggling in front of her so Rie handed her a water bottle from her bag, hoping it'll calm her down. Kaito stood up straight and struck a pose.

"You got that right, one of the best magicians around!" He proclaimed.

'Arrogant... Boastful...' Judgments rolled in Rie's mind.

"I hate you..." She muttered absentmindedly. The two didn't hear her over their bickering which was fortunate. Lunch continued on like that, Kaito and Aoko arguing, with Rie looking somewhere else. As soon as the day started, the school bell that signaled the end of class rung.

'Well, there it goes.' Rie thought as she packed up her things. 'So first, I do the 20 km run around the city. That'll take around half an hour... Perfect. After that, I go straight home and eat dinner. Then, I go out and practice my parkour over houses while also practicing my stealth. Good thing roofs here are not made of metal. It won't make much noise...' She stood up and headed for the door. She was about to leave when Kaito appeared before her, blocking the way.

"Excuse me..." She said. To her dismay, Kaito shook his head no, smirking down at Rie. "I need to go, please get out of my way." She continued.

"For a kiss." He finally replied. Before Rie can pull out a knife, she heard Aoko's voice.

"Rie-chan, duck!" Without turning to look at Aoko, she did as she was told and quickly moved to her left. A mop sailed through where she stood a few seconds before and hit Kaito right on the face, launching him past the doorway and onto the hallway wall. Rie stood back up and grinned at Aoko, who was walking towards her.

"Awesome shot, you saved me there, Nakamori-san." Aoko smiled and waved her hand dismissively.

"Rie-chan, call me Aoko! We're friends now! No need to be so formal." She patted Rie on the shoulder and gave her a thumbs up.

'Friends... It's been a long time since someone called me that.'

"Okay then, Aoko-chan." Rie gave Aoko a peek of her rare closed-eye smiles.

"Much better!" She looked very happy, to Rie's relief. "Say, can I join you in your walk home? I'm sure it won't be that far from mine." She asked while hooking arms with Rie. The sudden contact sent a jolt throughout Rie's system but as soon as Aoko's face was registered into her thoughts, she relaxed.

"Sure, why not. It's an apartment building though." Rie mentioned, pulling Aoko with her as she stepped through the doorway.

"If it gets too far, I'll just call my dad to pick me up. Although... Now that I think about it, he might be busy..." Aoko looked away, eyes full of sadness.

"Busy? With his job?" Rie asked. Aoko nodded and took in a deep breath.

"He's a police officer. He's in charge of capturing Kaito Kid so he's always away from home." Aoko said in a hushed tone. A question mark popped up in Rie's head.

"Kaito Kid? I'm not sure I've heard that name before... Is he a criminal?" To both of their surprise, Kaito, who appeared behind them, was the one who replied.

"Kaito Kid is the best magicians in the world! I'm his number one fan! How can you not know who he is, Kuro-chan!?" Rie stopped on her tracks. She turned on her heels and leered at Kaito.

"I'm sorry, what?" She asked through gritted teeth. Kaito just smirked, knowing he struck a nerve.

"You heard me... Ku-ro-chan." He leered, his face leaning in closer to Rie's with every syllable. Now their faces were inches away from each other - Rie fuming with anger and Kaito brimming with sarcasm. Aoko just backed away and watched the two battle it out. It took a while for Rie to come up with a comeback. When she did, she clicked her tongue and looked away.

"Is Kuro-chan all you can think of? I thought a magician like you can be more creative. You disappoint me with your antics, Kuroba-kun." Then she paused, sending a glance in his direction. "Ku...ro...ba...kun... What a mouthful, Kuro-kun would fit nicely, wouldn't it?" In a split second, the positions changed.

Kaito was now the pissed one while Rie stood high on her pedestal. It stayed that way as they made it into Rie's apartment.

"I'm home, Mom! Brought some friends! Well... More like a friend, the other... Not so much." Rie called out. Fusae hummed an uninterested tune from their kitchen and continued making dinner. Kaito didn't take the insult from Rie too well, though.

"Oh please, don't think you're my friend, either, Kuro-chan." He scoffed. Rie ignored him and gave her attention to Aoko.

"Aoko-chan, please stay for dinner. It's lonely with only my mom and me all the time." She offered, leading them to the guest area.

"Of course! We'd love to stay, if you insist!" Aoko agreed, taking a seat on the couch.

"I'd rather not, Kuro-chan might lace my food with poisoni-" Aoko elbowed Kaito while still smiling at me, like she didn't do anything. "I.. I mean, sure... Dinner it will be..." Kaito groaned, grabbing the sofa edge and sitting down on the opposite end. Then, they started bickering again.

"I'll call you when the food's ready." Rie went into the kitchen and hugged her mom from behind.

"We're having stew tonight, dear. Will that be okay for your friends?" She asked, stirring the pot.

"Mm-hmm! I'm sure it'll be fine. Make only three servings, by the way." Rie said, leaning her chin and Fusae's shoulder. The woman tilted her head in question.

"You're not going to eat?"

"Oh, I will."

"It's the boy, isn't it."

"Yup." Rie popped the 'p'.

"You're not going to give him dinner."

"Uh-huh." Rie was staring into the pot of deliciousness.

"Rie." Fusae's tone was deep.

"But-" Rie's rose a little higher, like a child's.

"You're giving him dinner."

"But Mom, he doesn't even want to-"

"It's that, or you're not getting food."

"No, no I take it back!" She pulled away from her mom, laughing. Fusae laughed with her.

"Go and chat with them. It'll be ready in a few minutes."

"Okay, love you, Mom." Rie said as her mother hummed in reply.

While this was going on in the kitchen, another scene unfolded in the guest area.

"Look at all the swords, Kaito. It's like a ninja museum." Aoko gawked, looking left and right to see the weapons that were displayed on the cabinets, shelves and walls. "Do you think Rie-chan's father is a collector or something?" She bounced in her seat, facing her best friend.

"Ahoko. Of course he is. Why else would these be here? What, do you think Kuro-chan uses these weapons? Bet she can't even swing it properly!" Kaito rolled his eyes, but he was amazed at the merchandise himself. At the back of his mind, something was telling him there's a bigger story behind it all.

"Can you stop insulting her and me all the time!? It's not nice, Kaito." Aoko snapped, knowing the boy was more than what he's showing right now.

"Tell that to her first. She's always so dull, like her cat died or something." He said with a frown.

"Well maybe she's just misunderstood. We just met her after all. I'm sure she'll be more open to us the more we know about her." Aoko replied, her tone calming down. Kaito didn't say anything anymore about Rie.

'I'm not mean,' he thought, 'it's her who has a problem. Calling me Kuro-kun... It's not even clever. Now our names just match. ... Okay maybe it's a little clever. No one's thought of that before, not even Ahoko.' He pulled out the rose he gave her. 'Not to mention she tripped me! Who even wears cyclings? Rie-chan's weird...' He finished.

'I think Rie-chan's nice. BaKaito is just angry that someone stood up to his tricks. That pervert always picked on me, but with Rie-chan around, he'll finally stop. How can he not think of her as a friend! She's nice, and pretty, and from the answered questions the teachers asked her in class, she's really intelligent too!' Aoko was thinking about Rie as well, but in a different light.

Not hearing these thoughts, Rie arrived at a scene with a severe case of the silent treatment. Aoko and Kaito were looking away from each other, occupying opposite ends of the couch.

'Nowhere to sit but between them I guess... Are they having a love quarrel?' Rie wondered while taking her seat. She looked back and forth between them, not knowing what to say.

"So, who cheated on who?" She snickered, catching them both off guard.

"What!? I'm not dating that ugly girl!" Kaito pointed at Aoko, who was pointing at Kaito yelling, "That's gross, Rie-chan! Yuck!" Rie just rolled her eyes at them and leaned back, propping up her feet onto the coffee table and took off her glasses. Aoko immediately asked a question.

"Ne, Rie-chan. How bad is your eyesight?" Rie raised an eyebrow and handed her glasses over to Aoko, who hurriedly put them on while Kaito watched, equally curious. Not a second later, she removed it and gave it back. "W-woah, that was nauseating. How'd your eyesight turn that bad?" She followed up, rubbing her eyes.

"Hey, hey, I wanna try." Kaito said, staring at the Rie's eyeglasses. She shrugged and gave it to him, who did the same as Aoko. "Wow, that's really bad. Were you born with such bad vision, Kuro-chan?" He returned the eyewear as he shook his head to rid of the dizziness. Rie slightly growled at the insult but breathed in to answer anyway.

"Exposure to flash bombs." She answered, leaving the two in a more confused state that before. "It's part of my- Uhhh," She caught herself before mentioning her training and recovered by saying, "My bonding with dad. He liked fireworks. Yeah. We would stand real close to where to set the fireworks off, so my eyes got used to the blinding lights." She nervously chuckled. Aoko hummed and nodded while Kaito stayed quiet.

'Fireworks, huh? I'm not buying it. Flash bombs are different. They're way brighter than fireworks. Trust me, I know. I use them a lot.' He thought. Not convinced, Kaito questioned further.

"Your dad liked fireworks?" He asked, fidgeting closer to Rie. She nodded at his question. "Speaking of your dad, where is he?" Rie visibly stiffened at the question.

'Gotcha. I knew she was hiding something-'

"Dinner's ready, children!" Fusae interrupted. Rie and Aoko immediately stood up and went to the dining area, leaving Kaito to curse such bad timing. They each took their seats - Kaito and Aoko at one side and Rie and Fusae at another.

"Thank you for the meal!" They said in unison and began eating.

Topics over dinner were nothing of note. Ekoda High in general, Aoko and Kaito's background as students, Rie's embarrassing moments from her previous schools. Mostly Fusae was the one asking questions, you know how moms are.

It was time for them to head home.

"Your mom is cool, Rie-chan. To think she's an accomplished doctor! She looks so young too!" Aoko said, hauling up a cab. Rie lopsidedly smiled and huffed.

'Well, someone needs to tend to mine and dad's wounds whenever we come home injured. Can't really trust doctors these days.' Rie thought, almost laughing to herself.

"Her cooking is awesome too. I'm full! Ahoko, remind me to come to Kuro-chan's house whenever I'm looking for some free food." Kaito exclaimed with a satisfied sigh. The girls punched him over the head at the same time for the nicknames.

"Night, you two. See you in school tomorrow." Rie waved them goodbye as the cab sped away.

Rie just stared into the distance, watching the cab take a turn and out of sight. She just stood there in silence, before thoughts started forming on their own in her mind.

'... I was really looking forward to my 20 km run today... Dammit.' She hung her head and trudged back to her apartment, sulking slightly.