More Than A Gemstone (Kaishin)

When All That Parts Us Is A Wooden Door

Kaito took a long, long minute. Sitting, staring, clenching this godforsaken gemstone within his palms.
"WhatdoIdoWhatdoIdo..."
Onto his knees, onto his feet. Pacing. Thinking. Trying to come up with something, anything.
Kaito was at a loss.

***

The doorbell rang. Aoko sat up from her bed, frowning. Some more wellwishes for her father, probably. He was alright though. Still complaining of a major bruise on his head but else, the good old man he was.
She slinked out of bed, slowly shuffling towards the door- her father couldn't be bothered opening up himself, that lazy idiot.

"...Kaito..."
For a moment, time froze. Kaito stared onto his feet, silent. Aoko couldn't find the words. She wanted to yell at him again, send him scrambling for his life, and yet she felt so... empty. So void of all the anger, but oh the hurt. It ran deep, leaving fissures and cracks, threatening to burst out of her eyes as silent tears.
"What do you want" she finally choked out, the lump in her throat making it oh so difficult.
"What do you want...?!" she barked again, hand now clenched on the doorknob. No, she wouldn't give him the satisfaction to see her cry. To see how much he hurt her.

"Pandora, he..." Kaito began, then fell silent once again. His hand fiddled with the gemstone within his pocket, before slowly pulling it out, holding it towards Aoko.
She stared at it, unmoving. Kaito should have guessed, she hadn't ever seen Pandora's stone within his chest.
"...this... is his... this is Pandora..."
There was no answer. Aoko sighed, then took a step back, closing the door in front of Kaito's face.
"Aoko this- this is not a joke! Aoko I'm being serious, I- I don't know what to do, I don't know how to deal with this! Please, Aoko!"

Kaito tried to hold back the tears so much, so hard, but he knew he was failing. He slammed his fist against the door. Over, and over, and over.
"Aoko! Aoko please, I-!"
Kaito slammed his forehead into the door, sliding down onto his knees.
"I can't... I can't lose you too, Aoko... You're all I have..."
Kaito could feel his forehead burning. He stared down onto Pandora within his hand, tears sparkling on the clean cut surface.

The door opened. Yelping, Kaito fell forward- face first into the carpet. He scrambled to get onto his knees again, looking up, meeting Aoko's gaze.

I... have never seen him cry...

When... when has Kaito ever cried...?

She stared down at him, her own tears betraying her stoic expression.
"Aoko... Aoko I'm sorry... I'm sorry for hurting you, I'm sorry for not telling you, I'm sorry for your birthdays, I'm sorry for- f-for everything I've fucked up and-"
Kaito raked a hand through his own hair, trying to quell his heart hammering within his chest, to slap that pokerface back into place, but it just wouldn't happen, couldn't happen.
"-I know you hate me, I know I'm the shittiest friend I could have ever been to you and- I-I need you Aoko, I need you, please-"
His voice fell into a whisper as he clutched that gem so hard his knuckles grew wide.
"-I-I can't lose you too..."

Sobbing herself, Aoko closed the door. This time, behind Kaito. She knelt down in front of him, clasping his hands within her own.
"I-I can't forgive you, Kaito. Not so easy- not so fast. I still don't want to see you, if I'm being honest. But..."
She lifted her right hand from their interlocked grasp, resting it on Kaito's cheek.
"Kaito, you've... you've never cried. I-... I don't want to see you cry either."
Aoko sniffled a little, trying to cock somewhat of a smile.
"You look so fucking ugly when you cry."
Kaito couldn't bring himself to laugh at that jab. He knew she was trying to cheer him up. When has she ever seen Kaito cry. Never, he made sure of that. But this time was different.

Kaito leaned forward, wrapping his arms around Aoko and pulling her close into his chest, face nestled into her hair. He couldn't let her go. Not now. Not ever. He was going to earn her trust again, one day, someday, if ever, but he wasn't letting go of his best friend. And by god, he was so blind, so close to losing her.

"Listen..." the deep voice of Nakamori-keibu disturbed the silence, coming from the other end of the hallway.
"I... don't know what's going on. I don't really care, either. But you both... look like you could use a hot chocolate and a movie to take your mind off things. How about it?"
Aoko pulled away from Kaito, feeling a little awkward. She did not exactly want her father seeing her like this, either. Kaito took the liberty to answer for her, wiping his tears.
"...sure... that sounds... good."
The man nodded and shot a toothy smile at the two teens, then ducked into the kitchen to prepare some hot chocolate.

Slowly, these two dragged themselves off the ground and shambled into the kitchen, sitting down on the couch near the television. Kaito had given up on that pokerface by now, and Pandora was secured within his pocket again. Both of them had seen him cry now anyway... it was too late for modesty.
"Here you go..."
Nakamori handed each of them a mug, then spread a soft blanket over the both of them before turning on the tv.
"Now, stay here as long as you want and take some time to unwind."
He barked out a laugh, shouting "I'll make breakfast today!!"

Oh dear...

Aoko couldn't remember when her father had last make breakfast for her. She had been... so little. But right now, awkwardly nestled against Kaito, a mug of hot cocoa in hand, she realized how much she had missed it.
She glanced at the boy next to her. Eyes fixated onto the television, tears dry, his usual stoic expression slapped back on. Aoko nuzzled a little deeper into the blanket, breathing out a sigh. Kaito's voice startled her a little.
"...thanks for letting me in."
Hesitating for a second, Aoko's eyes lowered onto the brown liquid swirling around in her mug.
"...I'm... not gonna leave you crying at my front door, Bakaito..."
She heard a chuckle next to her, which made her smile just a little.

Maybe things could one day be better again

When she didn't wake up screaming at night, crying her father's name.

When he didn't see those bodies every time he closed his eyes.

"So... uh... about Pandora..."
"Shh." Kaito gently nudged her with his elbow, earning a small squeak. "Let's... let's not talk right now. I'll tell you everything later. It's... nothing we can do anything about, anyway..."
She heard a sadness in his voice she couldn't quite place, but Kaito shot her a somewhat reassuring smile.
"I promise... I'll tell you everything about it."
"You... you promise..."
"I do."
And for the first time since all this chaos had come down on them, Aoko found that she believed his words again.