The New Motive

Settling In

"Shuichi! Wake up!"

"Huh?" Suddenly the bluette sat straight up in bed and looked around breathing heavily. "W- what happened?"

"Bad dream probably," Kokichi replied, sitting next to him on the bed. "It's alright."

The detective let out a relieved sigh, nodded, and after a few moments stood up to head downstairs for breakfast, Kokichi following close behind.

Kaede's parents said that they'd gladly make them all food whenever they were hungry as long as they helped clean up afterwards and they'd agreed. Walking downstairs it smelled amazing. It was almost as good as Kirumi's cooking. Almost.

"Good morning, boys," the pianist's mom greeted them as they entered the kitchen. "How'd you sleep? Well, I hope. Oh! Dear are you alright?" she asked, noticing Shuichi.

"Yeah, I'm good."

"No, you look like you might have a fever. Are you homesick?" It was kinda hard to be homesick when you didn't remember what home was, he was thinking.

"Nah, just a bad dream, I guess. Thanks though."

"Alright, if you insist. If you do feel like you need any medication, let me know."

"I will," he smiled.

"You're Saihara by the way, right?" she asked, turning away to continue cooking.

"Yeah."

"And that would make you Ouma?"

"Mm-hmm."

"Great. I might mess up a few times, forgive me, but I think I got it," she seemed super excited about the while situation.

"You didn't try anything funny last night did you Mr. Saihara?" Kaede's dad asked, looking up from the dining table.

"What do you mean?"

"You know what I mean," he said, but it didn't sound sinister. "I understand you and my daughter are in a relationship, but I want you to know, I've got my eyes on you. And if you break her heart, I'll break your-"

"Oh, no. You must be mistaken," Shuichi reassured him. "Akamatsu and I aren't in a relationship. Not like that anyways. We're just friends, really."

"Hmm," he seemed to be thinking it over, but not entirely sure. "She said other wise, so I'll still keep watch on you, but I believe you."

Then Kaede walked happily into the kitchen, smiling at everyone, except for Kokichi that is, but no one else noticed the quick glare she cast at him.

"Smells great, mom."

"Thank you, dear. Why don't you go set the table for us real quick."

"Kay," she responded, doing so, but not before shooting Kokichi another menacing look. She wanted him to know that he may be welcome to her parents, but to her, he'd never be anything more than worthless.

. . .

After breakfast Kaede's mom took them all shopping for new clothes because she'd noticed that they hadn't brought any others. It wasn't as bad as they thought it would be, though. It was actually pretty enjoyable.

They all tried on a bunch of different stuff and left with about four or five different outfits worth of clothes a piece. Kaede's mom kept trying to take pictures of all of them together. It was almost like she now thought of them as her kids as well now. It was actually kinda sweet.

. . .

After a few days they'd all been registered into a new school and had gotten what supplies they needed. It was going to be difficult to readjust to life like this, but they figured it was for the best. Kokichi and Shuichi also started looking for part time jobs so they could eventually move out so Kaede's family could be like it used to be. Without them in the way.

Everything seemed to be going smoothly so far. School would start back up in a few weeks. They had a place to stay. They were all happy. It was almost like everything was going too perfect.

Then a few days later Shuichi woke up in the middle of the night with another one of his nightmares. He could never seem to remember they were about once he was awake and that only bothered him more.

This had happened for the past few nights and he got up to walk around for a bit, to clear his head. But then he heard something from down the hall. It was quiet, but still audible, so he followed it.

The sound lead the detective to a room that Kaede hadn't told them about, which made him nervous, but his instincts made him open the door anyways.

Inside was a large, open room. It was pretty plain and empty. There was one thing in it, however, that caught his eye. There was a large piano in the center of the room and someone sat there next to it in the dark.

He couldn't quite make out who it was, but he didn't need to because when he opened the door she stopped playing and turned around to face him excitedly. It was Kaede.

"Akamatsu?" Shuichi wondered aloud. "What are you doing here this late?"

"Oh, sorry about that, dear. Did I wake you?" she asked innocently.

"No, it's jus- wait, dear?"

"Of course."

"Akamatsu," he sighed, "you and I both know that this," he said gesturing to both of them, "will never work."

"Oh, come on," she said, getting up from the piano and walking over to him calmly. "We could make it work if you just tried a little harder."

"That's the thing though," she kept getting closer and he began backing away slowly until he felt himself hit one of the walls and stopped, "I don't want this to work. You know that. I'm happy the way things are. With Kokic-"

"Shuichi, stop acting like that."

"Like what?" He immediately wished he hadn't asked though because she grabbed his wrists and pinned them to the wall above his head with one hand and began running the other down his chest. "Akamatsu, stop."

"Why do you keep holding back from me?"

"Just let me go, please. I don't want to hurt you."

"Just be with me," she said, ignoring his words. "Forget about Ouma. You know you want to."

"Akamatsu, get off," he tried pulling away, but it was late and he was still tired.

"Stop trying to get away from me. Come on, he can't mean that much to you. Stop moving!"

"No, I won't. Let me go."

"Tell me you love me," she said, changing the subject.

"No."

"Say it!"

"No!" Then she looked up at him angrily and smirked.

"Then I'll make you." And she leaned in and kissed him forcefully.

It took everything in him, but he managed to push her off. She stumbled back, almost tripping over the piano, and he ran. He hated feeling like a coward, but he ran.

He ran down the hall to his and Kokichi's room, slamming and locking the door behind him. She caught up quickly and hit the door with her fist a few times, but she gave up shortly after and went back to her room, leaving Shuichi in his room.

He stood back up after falling locking the door and went to the bathroom in the room, closing and locking that door, too. And with his back up against the door, he wiped his mouth with his sleeve, sat down and sobbed, because that's all he felt he was strong enough to do.