More Than A Gemstone (Kaishin)

Stubbornness and Another Victim

Kaito watched forest green eyes stare down at the soft carpet in middle of Kudo's library. Pandora obviously knew he was trying to make eye contact but actively avoided him, god knew why. Shinichi was growing impatient with all this silence in this room.
"KID, I won't accept a no. I deserve to know what happened. Else I won't let you experiment on me."

KID froze a little, body language tensing before it shifted back into comfortable once again. Pokerface!
"Pity you already gave your blessing, Shin-chan."
"I can take it back as well. And don't call me Shin-chan."
"Geez, you're no fun. Can't a thief have a few secrets?"
"Not if those secrets involve harming me. Do I have to call Nakamori-keibu?"
Truth to be told, the sleuth wasn't fond of an angry keibu storming his house in a fit of rage with half of the Task Force while KID was going to be long gone, so this was an obvious empty threat. He was going to be yelled at for being in the way inside his own house, and he would get his cheeks pinched- not what he would prefer on a Tuesday night.

"...it's getting late. I'll have to take my leave now... It's a pity you're so stubborn at times, Meitantei, but what I usually favor is now quite in my way. Don't you remember how important certain secrets were to keep?"
"I do. However, I also accept the revelation of some information in exchange for a required favor."
KID let out a sigh and turned on his heel around. He didn't refrain from grabbing Pandora's hand to move him along- not that the male was going to stay behind with the guy who had tried to harm him a few days prior.

"...farewell, KID," Shinichi faintly whispered at the closed off library door, slowly settling back into his armchair. It did fill him with something akin to sadness the thief wasn't trusting him this far... What harm did it do to reveal the things at work that had rendered him like this? Shinichi was almost wounded by this, hadn't they worked together for a long time by now?

***

Inside the bus back to Ekoda, Kaito stared out of the window, quiet and melancholic. Pandora was fiddling nervously with his hands next to him, not daring to look up.
"Why not?" Kaito spoke in soft accented Latin, eyes flashing back to Pandora for a split of a second before focusing back out of the window. The boy's breath hitched- he hadn't awaited being addressed.
"Why not?" Kaito repeated himself, voice the slightest bit colder. It pained him to see Shinichi like this, why wasn't Pandora helping him? Why? Why wasn't he lifting his curse?

When indigos turned once more, he was shocked to see fragile Pandora trembling next to him, with silent tears rolling down his cheeks, clutching his pants in his hands. In an instant all frustration evaporated within Kaito; eyes grew wide. Did he make Pandora cry?!
Without a word, Kaito wrapped his arm around Pandora to pull him close, resting his chin on his head.
"Shhh... Sorry. I'm sorry."

"Shhh..."

At that moment, the bus came to a screeching halt, the driver hurling curses. Someone had run a red light, nearly t-boning the bus! Kaito had flinched madly at the unexpected stop, just when a crash was audible behind them, in the same second a huge shockwave ran through the bus that caused Kaito to nearly fall off his seat if he hadn't clung onto the railing-

...unlike Pandora, who toppled with a yelp of surprise and fear from his seat. For a second, the voice rang within Kaito's ears like a clear and melodic bell, yet it was a bell chiming for apocalypse and death.

The second his voice had left his mouth, the wail of a woman at the back was audible. Kaito was on his legs in a moment's notice, helping Pandora up and hurriedly escorting the other passengers out together with the bus driver. What was that?!
He looked behind the bus, only to see a truck which had perfectly slammed into the back of the bus, destroying it entirely.

Once all made it out safe and sound, the police was called and Kaito tended to Pandora, checking him for injuries. For some reason, the boy was crying... crying nonstop, yet without a voice.
As soon as indigos wandered from the sniffling and sobbing boy, it became clear to him that something was incredibly, incredibly wrong.

The same woman who had cried out upon the shockwave rolling through the bus was now sitting on the ground, staring in horror at her right arm- red and swollen, almost pulsing, with the skin stretched out to the absolute maximum.

What on earth... happened to her...?

It wasn't hard to count one and one together- she had been completely fine when she got onto the bus, Kaito was sure of that. And she sat too far from the back to have been caught as a victim in this horrible car crash.

And while the police closed off the intersection, Kaito stared down at Pandora, shock in his veins as realization sunk in. Forest green ones avoided the woman on purpose, staring only at the ground, and those thin arms didn't let go of Kaito in the slightest.

Pandora wasn't afraid of the car crash.

Pandora was afraid of himself.

And Kaito understood, understood why he didn't spoke, never spoke. The moment his voice had left his lips for the second time since they had met, this woman had been hit by the bacterial curse Pandora carried along. Kaito knew what this was... He had had one, too, in his arm after a misguided stripe shot hadn't been properly treated.

This woman's arm was entirely infected by bacteria.

Kaito began to feel nauseous, he finally realized it. And he felt pity for Pandora, truly. A life without his voice wouldn't be imaginable for the magician. And somehow, Pandora had managed it for god knew how many years.

And yet...

Why wasn't Pandora healing her?
What kept him from just lifting his curse on her?