When Pandora bleeds... (Shinkai)

A New Project and Found Trust

Haibara rolled up towards her own house, quieter than usual. She was lost in her own thoughts. She wouldn't tell KID and Shinichi, just yet. They had different things to worry about.
For example, leaving the country. The hakase knew just well, the longer they stayed here, the higher was the chance to get caught. Sighing, the woman locked the car behind herself and marched towards the front door.

As the door opened to a quiet living room, she was surprised to hear nothing from the usual lively magician.

That either means he is going ballistic somewhere else, is preparing for a prank or he is studying Pandora again.

She wasn't surprised to find her two acquaintances in the middle of the kitchen... Yet their pose was something curious to see. Kaito's head snapped around when he noticed Haibara and a tiny smile flashed across his face before he focused back onto the task at hand.
"Good evening, Ojou-san. Please do not disturb."
"I... see."
Haibara stared intently at the KID's back, frowning a little. Shinichi sat close to KID, very close, holding cautiously his hand, concentrated as ever. What exactly where they doing?

The woman inched closer for just the tiniest peak and stilled. Was Kuroba working on Pandora? But how?
Currently the magician was holding Kudo's hand, and with him Kudo's part of Pandora. Seeing as the detective hadn't been willing to let go of the gemstone, this had been the only option so far.
"What's it gonna be?"
"KID's crafting a belt..." Shinichi muttered, still focused. He was tense, too tense. Obviously, since a second pair of hands was working on his half of Pandora.
"A belt?"
Kaito sighed, leaning back, away from the gemstone. He couldn't work like this.

Haibara lit up when she caught a glympse of the actual project. The magician had been working on a small belt which collected Pandora's blood in a small exchangeable bag at the side, and Pandora was proudly sitting as the belt's decorative part in the middle of it all.
"Looks believable enough to be an accessory, and it'd make leaving the country easier for you. This is genius, Kuroba-kun."
Kaito couldn't help but put up a smirk at the praise, victorious eyes going over to Shinichi who only rolled his in response.
"I'm telling you, they'll tell us to take off the belt. It's wasted effort."
"Have some faith in me, detective."
Shinichi snorted and shook his head. A former thief demanded faith of a detective? Hilarious.
"Come on, hurry up. I want to do different things tonight as well instead of just sitting here with you all the time."
"What, I thought you'd enjoy my company for once."

Kaito smirked, Shinichi scoffed and Haibara rolled her eyes with a sigh of annoyance. Nevertheless, the magician leaned back over his project and continued without a noise, satisfied about his victory.
Haibara just quietly poured herself a cup of coffee, already looking forward to her bed. What a long and eventful day...

Her cheeks turned a bit pink as she recalled Koizumi-san's approach. She couldn't find anything about herself that could intrigue the witch and yet she hadn't been displeased about it in the slightest.
She would just keep quiet about it for now. Shinichi didn't have to know everything about her, anyway.

The next morning, the young hakase shambled with a yawn into the kitchen, in the process of waking up when she recognized a damping cup of tea on her usual seat, obviously poured fresh. She looked around, then paused. Who made it? It was obviously for her since none of the men were drinking anything as of now.
Shrugging to herself, she sat down and took a sip. Haibara wasn't going to question free tea.
"Where have you been, Ojou-san?"
Haibara flinched and looked up to meet all too familiar indigo eyes.
"What are you talking about?" Not even half awake. Damnit. Couldn't he leave her alone just that tiny bit?
"Yesterday. You took longer than your usual walk, you didn't bring anything, and you have acted different as well," Kaito mused, looking expecting.

"Don't you think it's rude to pry into a woman's life?"
"Oh, certainly. But not if the Ojou-san's trail leads to Koizumi Akako."
Haibara tensed. Well, shit. And she especially didn't like the look of victory in Kuroba's eyes.
"I was at Koizumi-san's, and we discussed possible ways to seal Pandora without draining your lives. Sadly, she is almost as clueless as we are..."
Haibara sighed into her cup of tea and Kaito seemed just satisfied with that. Silence followed, until Haibara was fidgety enough to break it.

"How will you live on? What will you do now?"
She took a quiet sip of her teacup before resuming. "While everyone has the choice of death at any given time, not everyone is as aware of it and especially not in this way. Will you be able to end it someday?"
Not the slightest bit surprised about the questions, Kaito absentmindly began to play with a deck of cards he usually kept in his pocket.
"I'm not going to lie to you, Ojou-san. The longer we stay here the greater the chance someone recognizes us. May it be my inner circle, Kudo's inner circle or the news. We need to leave as fast as possible but without a secure way to keep Pandora on our bodies this seems impossible."
He paused, and she nodded silently.
"If you can't even keep a hand off of Pandora for a small flight, this would prove to be difficult..."

Kaito let out an acknowledging hum and quietly looked out of the window, enjoying the view onto newly blooming flowers outside.
"And while I prefer to travel alone... I have given a promise, and am forced to take Kudo along. Hiding one person is easy, but two that share a similar face?"
He shook his head and frowned a little.
"And especially the future of Pandora. I do not see myself able to end it this... easy. Without someone to guard Pandora in the future, without someone who prevents exactly this from happening again. Everything used to be easier when it was just my life on the line... This time I would deliberately end Kudo's life as well if I so please. This... is also not easy."

Haibara eyed her companion with something akin to pity, yet she knew that was the last thing the man wanted to have. For now she wasn't going to tell him about Koizumi's suggestion, and let him settle down a bit.
She wouldn't quite know what to do if immortal either. Once again, silence followed within the small kitchen, yet this time Haibara didn't mind. She knew herself both Kuroba and her had a lot to thing about.

"Oh? Why so quiet in here? What are you scheming again?"
Haibara watched with amusement Kuroba's expression shifting into a heavy pout.
"I'm not scheming anything! You're so doing me wrong."
"Am I? Am I, really?" Shinichi smirked, slowly settling down at the table, visibly close to the magician which Haibara noticed almost immediately.
Kuroba had changed since the day she had run into him. Bit by bit. His expression had become more open, his body language as well, it almost seemed like he allowed himself to feel again. He seemed... comfortable. Especially around his forced companion until the rest of his life. Regarding his open words, Kuroba was trusting Haibara to some extent as well.
Haibara smiled inwardly at her observations.