#Kaito is probably missing a finger and has lots of scars on his arms from his work

[wool-string]

[blackjacketmuses]

hc; kokichi 7

(from this meme) @multiimuse said to blackjacketmuses: 1-22 for Kokichi, 23-42 for Komaeda 

Kokichi:

1. Love

Kokichi is...not a person who would ever willingly say ‘I love you’ to anyone, not even his ‘family’ at the institution let alone anyone he’d be romantically interested in. It’s a terrifying phrase, one that implies that he trusts and believes in that person implicitly, and he cannot bring himself to do that, not all the way. Not to anyone.

He’d maybe be able to show it in actions, lying less to people he cares about and being more open, but those words are something he may never be able to say aloud.

2. Hate

He hates killers. Hates them. Hates the concept, hates the idea, hates everything about it. Hates blood and death so, so very much. He hates himself for signing up for a reality show where people die or become killers and hates himself for thinking he’d get out with his hands clean.

Most of all, though, he hates the man who traumatized him in the first place. He hopes he’s dead.

3. Hopes

Kokichi...doesn’t really hope for a lot? The word hope kind of lost a lot of meaning after the Game. Hope and despair both, really. They’re words that have a lot of loaded meaning, and he’s not sure he likes either of them.

He prefers hope over despair, at any rate. At least hoping lets you move forward instead of feeling sorry for yourself.

4. Fears

Aside from Game-induced severe claustrophobia (thanks hydraulic press) and bugs, Kokichi isn’t really scared of much at all. It’s not that he’s fearless, he has a healthy level of caution, he just isn’t afraid of much. He’s the kid who’d happily stick his hand in a snake tank or pick up a rat or run happily into a haunted house and critique how scary it is.

(Though...he is scared of death, blood, and dead bodies, even more so now than before.)

5. Crying

Kokichi has mastered the art of fake-crying, to be honest. He’s so good at it isn’t actually hard for people who don’t know him to tell when he’s actually crying for real, and this means he comes off as a lot less sincere when he’s actually being genuine.

His tell, however, is the face he makes when crying. When he’s fake crying, he cranks up the kicked puppy pout and sticks to it, and doesn’t change or vary expression much. If he’s crying for real, he tends towards being a lot more expressive, even if those expressions tend towards frustration or anger; he’s a very angry crier when it’s for real, as opposed to his kicked-puppy fake tears.

6. Laughter

Kokichi’s signature laugh is...well, he’s not doing it on purpose, that’s just how his evil snicker comes out. It was one of the other DICE kids who pointed out it sounded like a horse, and Kokichi thought that was the funniest thing in the world given he has the kanji for horse in his name. He ran with that, to be honest, and it’s 100% where his jokey horse thing came from.

7. Travel

If there’s anywhere in the world Kokichi would like to travel to, it’s America. Specifically either New York or Las Vegas, because of all the pictures and things he’s seen about all the shows and live performances and stuff. It sounds cool as shit. 

8. Dreams

He doesn’t...have any? None that he feels are really overarching Big Dreams. He likes just where he is right now, with the other DICE kids and Miss Abe and his new friends, Shuichi and Kaede and the others. He’d love to make sure the Institution is safe and comfortable money-wise, but other than that he doesn’t have any big dreams in mind. Just running DICE for the rest of ever seems pretty great.

9. Music

He likes really loud dance music, like energetic and catchy and with a good beat, and he likes Vocaloid stuff completely unironically, especially the stuff with really creepy or weird PVs that go with it. 

10. Art

He can draw very childish cartoonish chibis, but other than that art is not his forte. That’s fine with him, though, his plans are still legible even if his art still looks like a five year-old drew it!

11. Best Friend

He would never, ever, ever say it out loud on pain of death, but he considers Shuichi, Kaito, and Gonta to be his best friends.

12. Worst Enemy

He’d joke about being his own worst enemy and actually halfway mean it, but other than that, he’d probably consider that role to belong solely to Team DR.

13. Hair

He....he brushes his hair! Occasionally! It just kind of naturally flips up like that on the sides no matter how hard people have tried to get it to sit down, so he and everyone else mostly gave up. He thinks it looks cute, but it’s no real big deal to him otherwise.

14. Eyes

His puppy dog eyes are lethal. Do not test him, he will turn them on you and pout and you will melt into a puddle of goop. They don’t really work on his friends from the Game (most of the time), but otherwise they are a terrible weapon of mass manipulation.

15. Hands

He has very small hands and very deft ones, and he’s very good at sleight of hand and other tricks that require a lot of coordination and quick fingers, like lockpicking and tying knots. He also bites his nails a lot, so his nails are always short and chewed on, especially his thumbnails.

16. Smile

He’s as good at faking a smile as he is at faking tears, and honestly it’s a 90%  chance that if he smiles at you it’s not real. But if it is, you can tell, and consider yourself a very lucky person.

He’s also really, really, really good at sinister smiles, and even if they don’t literally look like the nightmare-face sprites, he aura he gives off when he grins like that is enough to make up the difference.

17. Scars

Like all of those who died in the game, Kokichi has two small scars on his temples, just past his hairline, from where he was connected to the VR Pod. They all know how lucky they are that they just got away with some scars and trauma, given what happened to Miu in-Game, and Kokichi for one is glad they’re not really visible. They’re a little upsetting.

Other than that, he has a scar on the inside of his left arm near his elbow from when he cut his arm open climbing over a fence when he was nine.

18. Winter

Kokichi loves the winter for snowball fights and snowmen (no one ever introduce him to Calvin and Hobbes, he would do the Calvin snowmen in a heartbeat), but other than that he hates the cold. It’s not fun and he doesn’t like it, and he much prefers burying himself in blankets and playing video games.

He does like Christmas gifts though, and though he really only gets obligation chocolate for Valentine’s Day that’s great anyway, because he still goes and buys the leftover chocolate the day after when it’s mega cheap.

19. Summer

Summer is his favorite time of year, because beaches and warm weather to run around outside and pull pranks, and and vacation days without school, and it’s just awesome and the best, and all the festivals like Tanabata and Children’s Day and Obon are fun.

20. Spring

Spring is almost as good as summer, honestly. It’s less hot out, but there’s still school, so less time for pranks, but it’s cool out, so.... 

Really, Kokichi tends to tell the seasons by how many days off he gets and how many holidays there are.

21. Autumn

Autumn is in between summer and winter as far as he’s concerned, like spring, but to be honest autumn wins just by virtue of the fact that Halloween is in autumn, and predictably enough that’s Kokichi’s favorite holiday, and he and DICE go all out on Halloween. You don’t want to be his neighborhood for the entire week before Halloween. He’s intense about it.

22. Family

Despite that Kokichi has no biological family, only the other kids at the institution and the woman who runs it, Miss Abe, he considers them his family and even if he can’t say he loves them, he cares about them as if they were family. It took a long time for him to warm to them to that level, but he’s ride or die for DICE and Miss Abe, and he’s very protective despite being 5′1 and tiny.

[daisiesanddanganronpaimagines]

Three Treasures

Title: Three Treasures

Word Count: 2650

Fandom: Danganronpa, Danganronpa V3: Killing Harmony.

Pairing: Kaede/Saihara

Rating: T to a low M. 

Major character death and spoilers for chapter 1! You have been warned!

Summary: Shuichi has a dream about Kaede. Kaede leaves him a present that he hadn’t thought to find. Written for Saede Week ( @saiedeweek), Day 1: Death.

A/N:  so this was written for saede week

and we get a week of fanfics for these two nerds!! 

yay!!

this scene had been floating around in my head for a while and i finished it yesterday 

wooo

 i'm not very confident in this fanfic honestly but, i like it and the idea.

 it gives the boy some closure. 

Anyway, maybe leave a like if you enjoyed? And please please, please reblog! Even a comment on the post or in the tags with a reblog would be amazing! <3

Thank you for reading!!

(pssst: reblogging and tagging it helps me a whole lot!!)

Ao3 Link

Fanfiction.net Link

The golden sunlight touched the grass and filtered through the trees, bathing the forest path in front of them in a soft golden hue. He looked around at the trees, and then his eyes flickered down to the hand grasping his, fingers interlaced.

His eyes flickered back up to the person, next to him, only to meet the familiar dark lavender irises he’d become accustomed to seeing over time. Even with being accustomed, his breath hitched.

Kaede grinned at him, pulling him forward. She had on a white dress that seemed to be patterned with some song. It fell to her knees, and slightly puffed out at the waist, where a black belt separated the top half and the bottom half.

The blonde must have noticed him staring, because she dropped his hand and stepped out in front of him and twirled.

He watched as the dress caught the air and puffed out around her, making her laugh freely. She looked her age - not how he’d last remembered seeing her.

He was glad. This was what she deserved.

“C’mon, Shuichi! We’re almost to the end of the forest!” She cheered, holding out her hand to him.

Shuichi smiled softly, reaching out to take her hand in his once again.

But this time - he’d never get to take it.

A collar came from somewhere, cuffing her neck. Her eyes went wide as the clothes and scenery flickered.

Her dress - to a skirt and vest.

A beautiful forest - to a deadly killing game.

Again and again it flickered as Kaede was drug up and up, to a place that he couldn’t reach no matter how hard he tried.

Memories are trickling back now.

Kaede on the giant piano.

She’d been skipped from key to key, drug back and forth while suffocated by the rope she was dangling from.

Just enough to kill her mercilessly.

Just enough to allow her glimpses of eye contact with him, sadness, and longing, and need there, haunting him like ghosts. Although, he probably looked the same, beside the tears.

The light caught in her hair as Kaede hung there, her face clouded in shadows. A sick feeling welled up within him.

And as he watched in those final few moments, the light caught something else, too. Her face seemed to turn up to the light, and it caught her wet lashes, the gleam of tears on her cheek - and that ever present, ever peaceful smile.

He remembered what she had said to him.

“You are my wish.”

Yes, he remembered it now.

Just before the collar had taken her, she'd stepped forward, kissed both of his cheeks, and wiped the remaining tears on his face away with her thumb and hands. He’d leaned into her touch ever so slightly at that moment, watching her smile up at him with warmth, even though she knew this was the end for her.

And then - the collar came. Desperately, he reached out for her, and she reached back, fingertips brushing his before she was ripped away from him. But he had seen it.

That smile.

That trust.

That blush.

That hope.

“Shuichi! Take care of them! Survive, even if that’s the only thing you can do!”

And then, the piano came down.

Her blood had gone everywhere, mixed in with pieces of the robotic bear.

The tears seemed to be swallowing him now - taking him over like a tsunami washing away items on a beach.

His eyes slid shut - and he began to shake. His knees almost buckled.

Shuichi tried with everything he had to breathe, but it felt like his throat had swollen shut.

He couldn’t breathe.

He couldn’t breathe.

Oh god, he couldn’t breathe.

He couldn’t-

A searing pain welled up in his cheek, and he fell to the ground. A salty taste invaded his mouth.

Finally, he took a deep breath in.

He was grounded now.

He looked up at Kaito, listening closely. His eyebrows furrowed.

He was grounded, wasn’t he?

So why -

*Ding-dong!*

“Huh?”

*Ding-dong!*

“What the…?”

He stood, only to find everyone suddenly frozen. The Kaede from earlier was back, but she had an ugly scarring from the rope around her neck.

She smiled at him sadly. “I’m sorry things didn’t go the way I wanted...but...I have control for a couple more minutes before I have to really let you go.”

“Let me go…? What?”

Kaede shushed him, laying her hands on his shoulders and then wrapping him tightly in a hug. She was shaking. “I’m sorry,” She cried, “I’m so, so sorry for leaving you alone like this.”

He hugged her back. She felt...real. Warm. And yet...somehow ethereal.

The blue haired boy rested his head on hers.

“Behind the chalkboard in my lab….there are three items. Just for you. Don’t let anyone else see, okay?”

Shuichi’s shaking now, too. “Are...you real? Or...is my mind trying to cope?”

Kaede smiled softly. “Well, that’s for you to decide, now isn’t it?”

Shuichi laughed. “Yeah, I think you’re real enough.”

Kaede grew quiet suddenly. “Hey, I know this seems random - but did you ever want to...be with me?”

Shuichi nodded.

In response, Kaede let out a sigh in relief, slumping against him. “Oh, good. You know, when we were here, I had a dream that we had a kid together.”

The grey eyed male went red in the cheeks. “Mhm…”

*ding-dong!*

“And….it was a little blonde girl.”

*ding-dong!*

“What did we name her?”

*ding-dong!*

“Maya.”

*ding-dong!*

Kaede stepped back from him suddenly, and looked up.

“Oh, no.”

“What?”

*ding-dong!*

Kaede stepped closer and pressed their foreheads together.

“Listen, we don’t have much time. But, I want you to know that I love you. And I always loved you. Even though we were together two, three days? Doesn’t matter. I love you. And I want you to be happy. Live. Live for me, okay? Just...get out of here.”

“Kaede-? What-?”

She steps back, just out of reach.

“Goodbye, Shuichi.”

He reaches out to her, but the chain has come again, and drags her upward. Shuichi gets one last glance before she’s gone. A white, floor length silk gown replaced her other dress, and she seemed to have wings and a halo.

He looks around again - but only sees white.

Shuichi supposes that was when he woke up.

The next day - when he has time, he stops into her lab. He knows that someone probably sees him when he’s doing this - but decides that they’re most likely brushing it off as him coping.

The door slides shut with a soft ‘click’ behind him, and he sighs, taking a deep breath. He steeled his nerves. Was….that really Kaede?

Some desperate hope inside of him wanted it to be her - craved that connection. The majority, though, reasoned that it was his mind coming up with desperate images to get that connection he craved.

His steps as he approached the chalkboard were slow, methodical and even, even though his arms were beginning to shake violently.

Shaking still, he peeked behind the chalkboard, his heart thumping as violently as his hands were shaking still.

At first, he saw nothing. It was so elaborately hidden - he thought - that he began to wonder just how much time Kaede had spent in this room. But, when he adjusted himself to see if he was missing something, he noted a glint of silver. Reeling back, his mind began to go wild. Was there actually something there? If so, did that mean that Kaede had really contacted him in his dreams? But why him? And that declaration of love….it was real?

She’d loved him?

And he’d never known?

Before his mind could fall further into the abyss of his thoughts, he reached up to the silver glint he’d seen and pulled.

A bag came away in his hand, the handle covered in silver wires. He reached back again after setting the bag on the ground, only to find a small portion of the wall that cut away - almost like a cubby hole.

He smiled to himself. He should have known that she’d do something like this - something that would be passed off as a trick of the mind.

It’s what she’d done for the murder, after all.

He paused after that thought, darker thoughts threatening to consume him. He shook them off however, and investigated the bag as he sat down on the floor. There were items inside, which he took out.

Three items, just as the dream Kaede had specified.

A CD case, a little pink pouch, and a large envelope.

The CD case was clear and simple enough, and if he looked, he could see two discs. The pouch was a drawstring pouch, and it was a light, pastel pink. He remembered seeing something like that in the warehouse, so he supposed that she could have gotten it from there. He opened it by pulling on the drawstrings, and found hundreds of Monocoins in there.

He sat it back in the bag carefully. The next item he investigated were the discs.

One read “Songs Saihara Would Like,” and the other read, “Playing.”

The first he could figure out pretty easily, as well - there was an extensive music collection in the warehouse. The second was a little harder.

Playing? That could refer to a number of things. Playing a video, children playing in a park, playing an instrument.

An electric charge lanced through him.

Playing an instrument….

Playing the piano.

He’d never mentioned that he’d wanted to see her play, but somehow she knew. He was itching to go down to the A/V room to watch them, but he decided that he had to look in the envelope, first. It was large and a bright shade of orange, and Kaede had wrote something on it. It also bulged slightly, like it was holding something.

“Unless you are Shuichi Saihara or my future self and have found this envelope - do not open it! - Kaede Akamatsu”

He smiled, and then turned it around and opened it. Inside was a piece of paper, Kaede’s monopad, and her room key.

He took out the paper first. It was a letter.

                                               Dear Shuichi,                              xx-yy-zz

If you’re reading this, then I’ve died. I died trying to defeat the mastermind. Maybe you’ll never read this at all. Maybe I’ll be too much of a pansy to let you know where it is. Hehe, maybe I’ll come back after death if that happens.

If there’s one thing that I have to say to you - it’s that I’m sorry. I’m sorry, I’m sorry, I’m so sorry. I don’t know what will happen at this ‘class trial,’ if we have one, but I’m willing to bet that you’ll figure me out. And then you won’t say anything because of all the time we’ve spent together, so I’ll make you convict me.

And I know that we’ll both probably be emotional messes the entire time, and everyone will say that I didn’t do it - because really, who would expect me to be the culprit? God...I’m just so terrible. At the time I’m writing this - Monokuma has told us about the time limit on the killing.

We came up with a plan to trap the mastermind, and I’ve come up with my plan to try and kill them. And then, I slipped away from you and went to write this. Honestly, this is stupid, and I’m sure everything will turn out for the best...but something just doesn’t feel right. I mean, the mastermind brings us here and keeps us trapped - even going as far as to build that huge dome - and we’ll be able to end it all?

Just like that?

I do trust you, and your plan - but I don’t trust myself to do this right. So, that’s that.

There’s also something else that’s been going on lately. I...I’ve been getting these flashbacks of a girl who’s just like me - but isn’t me. She says stuff I would never say, and yet, some little part of me resonates with her. I feel like...at a time, she was me - but she somehow isn’t me now. Do you know what I mean? I feel like...she was putting up a front with all the things she said, but I was at her core. And then I was exposed somehow, and now she’s a part of me, but I’m who she really is.

It’s weird, I know - but maybe it’ll help you in some way.

Anyway, this is getting pretty long, so I’ll wrap it up. When we were together, it was awesome. I felt like I could do anything with me - and while I don’t know if you felt the same, I feel like...you would agree. I think what I’m feeling now that I’m thinking about you is something like love, but not quite love just yet. Maybe when we get out of here, it will be more. I hope so.

In the envelope with the letter will be my Monopad and the key to my room. I don’t really know what use you’d have for this stuff, but I thought you’d like it. Plus, there’s no one else I’d really trust with my Monopad and stuff with other than you. The discs and Monocoins are my way of atoning, too. For making you convict me...and all of that.

Shuichi, stay safe and survive, okay? Even if I don’t - I want you to survive for me. Keep your head up, and lead everyone. I know you can do it!

Goodbye, Shuichi.

I love you.

                                                            With love,

                                                      Kaede Akamatsu

Tears were falling freely from his eyes as he read the letter over and over again, hand covering his mouth as he tried in desperation not to cry.

He did.

The letter fluttered to the floor.

Oh, Kaede.

The tears that were flowing down his face were ones of a heartbroken and mourning boy - one who’d like anything more than to have her back.

But - that wasn’t happening, anytime, now was it Shuichi?

No, no it wasn’t.

After a few minutes, he pulled himself together. Quietly, he slid everything back into their respective places within the bag, pulled himself up off of the floor, and walked out of the room with the bag hung off of his shoulder. In retrospect, he’s glad that no one saw him, and especially Miu, who would probably ask him if he was carrying around that bag to carry around his “lady products” in. He would have snapped at her.

That didn’t happen, however, and he got down to the A/V room with no hassle. Quickly, he locked himself in and sat the bag on the couch, and then took the discs out. First, he inserted the one of Kaede playing. Then, he started everything and sat himself on the couch, staring at the screen.

At first, there was black, and then there was a small beep, and a view of Kaede and her piano. She smiled at the camera and said; “I assume you’re watching this after the letter, so I can’t say much except that I’m sorry. But, even still, I hope you enjoy!”

With that, she placed her fingers to the keys and began to play. The soothing melody of “Clair de Lune,” by Debussy flowed throughout the room.

He supposed she meant it to be calming, but it overwhelmed him with a tidal wave of emotion, and he began to cry.

He wasn’t sure when the first song ended and the other started. He wasn’t sure when the sound of the piano left his ears altogether.

He wasn’t sure when he passed out from crying.

He woke several hours later, extremely tired even after sleeping, the bag clutched against him tightly.

If anyone had found him - they didn’t mention it.

Neither did he.

[mintchocolateleaves]

Cost of Freedom (2/??)

Chapter Summary: In which Kudo Shinichi is amused, and Kaito has a visitor. Prison ! AU

[Previous Part]     [Next Part]

"I've got to admit," Kudo says, "I wasn't quite expecting this."

Still in pain from the taser, Kaito doesn't respond with anything other than a wince. He's pretty sure that he's going to be fine, but he still feels like he might throw up. And his ears are ringing, which, all things considered, probably isn't a good thing.

He lets out a groan, runs a hand through his hair.

"You're not very good at keeping out of trouble, are you?" Kudo continues. His tone, while seemingly exasperated, is coupled with a small smirk. He's amused by this - by the fact that Kaito's struggling with the aftermath of being tased. "You'll feel better if you take deep breathes."

Kaito tries to breathe. It's not too difficult, really, to regulate his breathing and calm himself down, but it does take time until he starts to feel moderately human again. He wonders how Kudo knows how to deal with being tased? Has he himself felt it, or has he seen the result after a particular case?

"Thanks..." Kaito says after a while, leaning backwards to stare up at the ex-detective. If he looks closely, he can see scarring beneath Kudo's lip, one white scar reaching down the side of his jaw. It's faint - he'd not seen it before when they'd met, but now it's prominent and Kaito has to consciously tell himself not to stare.

He wonders how he got it.

"For a phantom thief, you're not very good at planning your escape though, are you?" Kudo says after a while. He's sat on the bottom bunk, leaning back against the wall. His arms are crossed, his legs spread out in front of him.

"I was almost out," Kaito protests.

"Almost isn't quite free though, is it?" Kudo says, raising an eyebrow. He rolls his eyes, turning to stare at the wall, rather than at the thief himself. "I mean, you can pretend all you want, but in the end you've just made things harder on yourself."

Kaito doesn't have a plausible explanation for that. He's known from the moment the handcuffs were placed around his wrists that he was going to be treated as a flight risk - now that he's actually tried to flee though, he's going to be flagged as an even higher threat to security.

Admittedly, it wasn't his best idea.

"I'm surprised they didn't throw me in solitary confinement or something." Kaito breathes, standing on shaky legs to glance outside the cell bars. Even on his toes, it's difficult to see over the railings. "At least I got off fairly lightly."

Kudo purses his lips. He says, "I imagine they think assigning you to a new cell is punishment enough."

Looking over his shoulder, Kaito tries for a smile. It's not quite KID-good, but he's pretty sure he could fool people into believing he's unaffected by his conversation with the ex-detective. He says, "I get the top bunk, right? So it doesn't seem like much of a punishment."

Kudo doesn't respond. Instead, he lays back against his bunk, scoops one arm beneath his pillow and curls into a ball, ending the conversation without some much as a second thought. As Kaito climbs his way up to his own bunk, he can hear faint mutterings from the bottom bunk.

He's not sure what to feel about that.

"I don't get it," Kudo says after a moment, "the guards all change over at this time. Why would you try to escape during the busiest twenty minutes of the day?"

Kaito isn't completely sure.

"You can't be both reckless and free in here," Kudo mumbles as Kaito closes his eyes. "You need to choose one and stick with it."

~~~

Kaito has never needed much sleep - it's a side effect of stealing under the moonlight while still being a high school student - so he's kind of surprised when he jumps down from his bunk to stretch his legs and finds Kudo reading a book.

"Oh," Kaito says when the other man looks up. "You're already awake?"

Kudo yawns, placing his book down onto his bunk. He looks different today, it's less easy to read him - yesterday he'd been a book written purely in Hiragana, today he's kanji.

"I wanted to finish my book before the library cart comes around," Kudo says, shrugging. "so I've been reading since the shouting woke me up."

"Shouting?" Kaito asks. He's a fairly light sleeper, so he's kind of surprised he slept through it, especially if it's loud enough to wake other up. stretching out his arms, he spares a glance outside his cell. Sunshine is starting to peek through the windows, but overall, the grey walls make the place seem lifeless.

"It's Saturday today," Kudo says, re-opening his book. It's a dog-eared copy of a Edogawa Rampo book, pages yellowed and curling in on themselves. "It's visiting day. Naturally, people are excited."

Kaito has obviously missed that memo.

But that makes him stop - will he get any visitors? Or will he go into the visiting room, sit down and wait for people who don't want to see him. He wonders if his mother will come, or if it's too much of a risk for the Phantom Lady to set foot near any prisons. It would have been nice to have known in advance.

Kaito runs a hand through his hair - Will Aoko visit him? Will Inspector Nakamori? It's stressing him out because he didn't even know, and now he's nervous.

"...You didn't know about the visits." It's not a question.

Pivoting on his foot, Kaito jumps back up to his bunk, burying his head into his pillow. He says, "I did not."

Kudo clicks his tongue. He says, "then you're not going to even go to the meeting rooms. People don't just show up to visit, you have to send them a visiting order first."

Lifting his head from his pillow, and leaning over the edge to face the ex-detective, Kaito sends him a smile. Worry dissolves into his stomach, leaving a faint relief behind. There's also lingering disappointment bleeding out of him. It's been over a month since his trial, and he really misses... he feels like he's trapped in a bird cage, and if there's anything KID wasn't ever meant to be, it is trapped.

"How about you Kudo-san," Kaito asks, the name sounding wrong from his lips. Maybe if they'd met in the past, he'd have called him detective, but he doesn't now. The label won't fit. "Are you expecting any visitors?"

"I try not to." Kudo sighs, turning his page, "there's someone who shows no matter how much I tell her not to though, so... who knows?"

~~~

It turns out that Kudo does have a visitor. The guards open the cell, give Kaito a glare, before dragging the ex-detective out of the cell with fingers digging into his shoulder. Whether it's painful or not is a question Kaito can't answer - the moment the guards opened the lock, Kudo's face switches from faintly amused to a cold glare.

Kaito isn't sure which expression is the real face of Kudo Shinichi, even with his experience of masks and poker faces.

"You as well," the guard says, beckoning him outside. Kaito hesitates, but jumps down from his bunk when he receives another barked order, "you've got a visitor."

"I didn't send out any visiting orders-" Kaito says, when one of the guard puts a cuff over his wrist, warning him that they'll shoot him with the taser if he so much as blinks without permission.

"Idiot," Kudo says, flippant now. "It means you've got a legal guest. Maybe a lawyer, maybe a police officer or something. Do you seriously not know anything about how this place works?"

For a moment, Kaito bites down on a sarcastic response. He swallows it instead, wary at the sudden stony-like glare and gritted teeth that are sent his way. What exactly has he done wrong?

"I've not exactly been here long," Kaito says instead, "I'm just getting the hang of it, Kudo."

The other prisoner hums, the sound low in his throat. It sounds almost like a growl, animalistic in a way that shakes Kaito to the core.

As they start making their way down the corridor however, Kudo turns his head so that he can see Kaito faintly, sends him a quick smirk and winks. He mouths, "it'll be a detective."

~~~

After all of the movies he's seen depicting various different prison visits, Kaito can calmly say that he feels extremely underwhelmed. There is no room with one way mirrors leading into a room that's secretly filming him. Instead, he is led into a room large enough to hold twenty small tables, chairs on either side of them.

He's not handcuffed to the table he's assigned either, which frankly, is a little offensive because Kaito is certain there's an easy way out. There's a vent at the end of the room, in the corner, and if he could just unscrew the grate Kaito would be out within seconds.

The difficult part would be unscrewing the vent - it'd be impossible without any tools, and even then he'd need to factor in the guards and what lies on the other side of the vents.

"Okay..." Kaito mumbles to himself. For a brief moment, he wonders whether he'd be able to steal any of the cutlery from the prison's kitchen, if he volunteers to help make meals. He's not sure though... if it turns out that each item is counted daily then he'd rather not add extra work to his schedule.

Plus he'd also have to find a way around the checks each guard conducts before entering the room.

He's so focused on a potential escape route, that he doesn't notice his visitor sit opposite him, sitting straight in his chair. He doesn't pay attention until the polite clearing of the other's throat, at which he turns his head, tongue clicking in irritation.

"What're you doing here, Hakuba?"

Hakuba is a lot of things. He's antisocial in an accidental way - the type who, in his attempt to fit in, only manages to ostracise himself further. He's dilligent, smart enough to see through Kaito's various heists, and his own identity. He's the one who eventually shackled him with handcuffs, the one who eventually handed him over to Inspector Nakamori to arrest.

Yes, Hakuba Saguru is a lot of things, but Kaito is pretty sure that he's not the type to gloat.

Meaning there must be a reason for the detective's visit.

"Kuroba," Hakuba says, posture alert as his eyes flicker around the room, "looking for ways to escape, I presume?"

Kaito shrugs, "nervous that I'd manage it?"

"I caught you once," Hakuba places his hands on the table. He doesn't steeple his fingers, but Kaito thinks that he's the kind of person who could without looking like a complete idiot, "I'm certain I could catch you again."

His poker face can do a lot, Kaito thinks, but it cannot hide the twitch of his eye. He says, "that's rather presumptuous."

Hakuba's smile is tight-lipped, and there is something behind his eyes that lurks, unspoken. Instead, he says, "you're just out of practise. Apparently you tried to stage an escape yesterday."

Leaning back in his chair, Kaito returns to looking around the room. He shrugs again, a self deprecating smile making it's way onto his face. "I wasn't quite expecting the tasers."

A small smile. For Hakuba, it's practically like he's beaming, the sadist.

"I am here for a reason though," the detective leans forward, "it's regarding your later heists."

"I'd assumed it was related to KID."

"Yes, well, we're still working through all the paper work even now," Hakuba sighs. It's hard to feel bad for him when Kaito's the one in prison, even if he knows how tiring police paper work can be. "It's about the heist where you attempted to steal the red admiral opal."

Kaito remembers it well - it had been the only heist where he'd been seriously injured. Following a confrontation with Snake, he'd managed to leave the gemstone at the cost of a bullet wound. He'd been lucky Jii had been waiting outside the heist location.

And here he'd thought Hakuba hadn't caught on to that. Someone must have heard the gunfire.

"Oh? That old butterfly stone?" Kaito waves the comment away, "why'd you want to bring that up? I'm pretty sure you were asleep for most of that one."

"I heard the shooting that night," Hakuba says, "and when you came  into school later that week, you weren't exactly the epitome of health."

Hand lingering around the scar from that particular heist, Kaito wonders how much Hakuba had actually known all along. Had he had the proof outside of each heist? Had he waited until he could actually corner him during one of KID's shows?

"I... want to know more about the people shooting at you." Hakuba sighs. His shoulders are tensed. "I've got some questions if you'll answer them."

Kaito stills. Ever since he first found out the truth of his father's - the original KID - death, he'd decided to take down the organisation that did it. Not overtly, no, Kaito doesn't think he could ever take down a criminal syndicate by himself, but he had planned on stealing pandora for himself.

A gem that cries tears of immortality - The premise is both intriguing and terrifying.

He'd promised himself he would destroy it, and Kaito... even if he's been imprisoned, he know's he'll find a way to keep that promise.

"I'm not sure what I can tell you," Kaito says, relaxing his shoulders. He taps his fingers against the table, repeating the same word in Morse code: pandora.

"There was no shooting at all."

Hakuba purses his lips, frowning. "We can catch whoever did this-"

"I don't know what you're talking about," Kaito waves the comment away, discarding it like shredded paper. Pandora is his to find, not Hakuba's, not the police. It will never fall into the hands of Snake and his men.

Pandora is the only thing driving him.

Kaito will shatter it if it's the last thing he ever does.

"I see," Hakuba says, although it's pretty sure from the slight tilt of his head, gold hair splayed over his forehead, that he doesn't. "If that's all, then I'll make my leave."

"I have a question," Kaito says, as Hakuba moves to stand up, "before you go."

The Brit's eyebrow quirks.

"Aoko... how is she?"

Hakuba stands. Sighing, he tugs on the corner of his jacket, gaze shifting towards the doors. "I haven't spoken to her much, she's not exactly keen to talk to the person responsible for taking her best friend from her."

Like a flower in bloom, Kaito tries not to wilt. He says, "she's always been stubborn."

"She has, however, expressed outrage at the fact she hasn't had a single phone call from you." Hakuba turns, pushes away from the table, "so maybe you could ask her yourself."

Maybe he should.

As Hakuba leaves, and Kaito's escorted back into the main prison though, he realises that he probably won't.