Just another Dance

Burn the stage

Toichi frowned at the commotion going on in front of his backstage room. He'd thought he'd made it clear that no one was to disturb him in his personal retreat before the start of a show. Especially if he'd already send Kaito out to be able to get a few moments of peace and quiet, as much as he loved his son, he needed to prepare and concentrate. Not that he wasn't able to deal with stress, he was kaitou KID for god's sake, but people should learn the rules of show business already! And one of the most important rules was to not disturb the artist when he was preparing his act. A little unnerved he opened the door to chide his wife and son and whoever they were laughing with, he could always discern their voices immediately. That other voice though seemed familiar too...

A spark of surprise, well hidden, flashed up in Sharon's eyes when the door behind the little boy opened and her former teacher, the great magician and young Kaito's father, Toichi Kuroba, stepped out into the hallway with an unreadable Pokerface in place that didn't allow her to know if he was surprised by her sudden appearance. She hadn't really expected to be able to see him off stage. She eyed their surroundings from the corners of her eyes, but it seemed like either no one of the others was around because they were busy doing last minute check-ups or they'd simply decided not to intervene and trust her enough to allow the interaction between her and Toichi. "Sharon, what a lovely surprise.", the man greeted her in Japanese with his pleasant even voice. "Greetings sensei. I just thought I'd drop by and surprise you and your lovely family with a visit.", she switched to the same language and smiled teasingly, straightening her dress that had been wrinkled a little by her crouching and laughing. "Are you certain that it wasn't just the desire to see your old teacher's show and figure out if you'd surpassed him yet by being able to see through all of his tricks, that brought you here?", the magician teased back with a twinkle in his eyes, allowing for his Pokerface to drop the tiniest bit. Sharon suppressed the nervous urge for the corner of her mouth to twitch upwards masterfully without any outward sign, just like he'd told her. "Maybe my dear. But I would've been a bad student if I'd ever admit that.", she replied instead, an easy smile pasted onto her face. "Well done, that's the talented actress I taught.", Toichi praised and put his hand on her shoulder for a second. Sharon didn't dare tense beneath his touch. If his hand stayed where it was, she'd be fine. She was here for a reason, because she was in the most perfect position and because the man across from her had taught her how to ignore the rollercoaster ride that her stress levels were on to perfection. She'd pull this off without the tiniest mistake, she knew she had the skill to do so. So instead of doing something that hinted at her treacherous nervous feelings she smiled calmly at the handsome magician and put her own hand atop of his. "Indeed, in fact I just finished shooting a movie in this area and that's why I thought I'd take the chance to show up when I discovered that you were here on stage at the moment."

The man chuckled and allowed his hand to drop away from beneath her's as he pulled out his watch and gave it a quick glance. "Sometimes coincidences present us with the most pleasant surprises.", he hummed. "It's getting late though, I'm afraid I have to excuse myself and return to my room to prepare for the show." The man glanced down at his son who was watching and listening to the adults with wide eyes and a scrunched-up nose, trying to make sense of their teasing and the underlying messages they'd been communicating. "Why don't you bring Sharon to the row in the back of the theatre hall that's reserved for family and special guests? Your mother and I need to get ready.", he addressed the eight-year-old, tapping him on the nose, making him scrunch it up even more. He turned to Sharon. "I'll see you on stage and await your judgement afterwards.", he winked and started turning and walking back to his room when she'd acknowledged his words with a nod. From the corner of his eye he saw Chikage step forward, who'd stood by their conversation smiling silently in respect for their relationship of a former master and his successful student. "I'm part of a couple tricks in the first half of the show, I'll come find you after the break.", he heard her explain to Sharon as he stepped through the door and left it open for his wife to follow. "Behave, young man and don't try to mess with Sharon. We're trying to uphold the image of a well-mannered family.", he looked over his shoulder to see Chikage tousling their son's hair which had the boy shake his head in spite once she removed her hand. "I know, mom!", he pouted. "Alright then.", Chikage waved at them and stepped into the room with him, closing the door behind herself. Outside they heard their son's enthusiastic voice and Sharon's responsive chuckle. "Come, Miss Vineyard! I'll show you to our seats." Kaito's parents smiled, but Chikage's face fell pretty fast when she noticed that her husband's joy was only half-hearted. "Is everything alright, love?" "No.", Toichi shook his head, glancing around in the room that had no other occupants but the two of them. "Something is off. Almost as if there's an unspoken plan in the air. It feels like we're being watched. I have a bad feeling about this." Chikage followed his example and scanned the room with her own eyes. "I think you might be right. I'll trust your instincts on this, mine have gotten a bit rusty these past eight plus years." A moment of tense silence hung in the air. "Do you think it's them?", the barest hint of fear shone through his wife's rock-solid composure. So small that nobody but him and maybe his most talented students like Sharon could've noticed it. Toichi shook his head in thought. "I'm not sure." Another minute of silence passed in which the kaitous carefully strained their senses to catch anything off about their surroundings. Chikage eventually recovered and took control of the situation, walking up to him and putting a calming hand on his lower arm. "There's nothing we can do here and now. We're on a schedule, I say we run with it and keep our eyes open for any possible danger while praying that Sharon keeps Kaito safe." The two thieves gazed into each other eyes with serious expressions, communicating without words for a few more seconds, before Toichi nodded and they went back to work.

After the break, when she wasn't needed on stage anymore, Chikage sat with them in the audience, but Sharon had a sneaking suspicion that that problem would solve itself soon enough and she was proven right. The American actress saw the exact moment the woman noticed that something wasn't right. A worried frown grazed her beautiful face, wrinkles appeared on her forehead and she scrunched up her nose for less than a second before her Pokerface smoothed out her features. "I'll be right back.", she muttered, pressing a kiss to Kaito's head without taking her eyes off the stage. The boy only nodded, not sparing her a glance either, transfixed as he was by his father's show, as his mother already hurried off. One corner of Sharon's lips nearly twitched, but Toichi's training had successfully steeled her against giving in to such urges. The two better should've used that moment to get another good look at each other. They'd reached the final countdown.

A feeling of dread coursed through Toichi's veins the second he realised that his trick had been sabotaged. His Pokerface didn't let anything on, his stage smile stayed in place flawlessly. He was just about to defuse the situation and get himself as well as everyone else close by to safety when his gaze flew over the audience and caught onto his son. Chikage was no longer by his side. His blood ran cold as his breath caught in his throat. There sat his son, innocent face filled with excitement since he, just like the rest of the audience, was oblivious to what was about to happen if he didn't do something against it. But he couldn't. For behind his little Kaito stood Sharon, his faithful former student, holding a gun to his son's head unseen by anyone else in the darkness of the theatre and with everyone focused on the stage. She looked serene, the black silk of her dress almost glowing in the dark as it reflected the light of the stage lights, an angel of death, her face the perfect impassive Pokerface except for the hint of sadness in her eyes that no one but him would've been able to notice, which she was probably aware of. He knew that she was better than this, knew that she was allowing him to see this much and he was thankful for it. In what Toichi knew to be his last moment he saw Sharon allow a wistful smile to adorn her lips. It was the expression his wife saw as she appeared between the curtains behind him in that very second, taking in the scene that had arisen admits the clueless audience, he felt her presence behind him and it hurt him a little to know that they'd go together, leaving Kaito orphaned and at the same time it was a selfish comfort to him that he didn't have to go alone. Never losing eye contact with his former student, Toichi answered her expression with a wistful smile of his own. The way that nature went, the student had surpassed the teacher, she'd deceived them all. "Take good care of him.", he whispered, too low as that anyone could've heard him, but the sudden glint in her eyes and the tightening of her smile told him that she'd read his lips and understood. Then the stage exploded and went up in flames. The whole exchange had happened in only a few seconds and nobody in the audience had noticed a thing before it was already too late.

The flames roared up to the ceiling as the people screamed in fear and fled the room as fast as they could, climbing over the rows of plush seats and trampling each other to the ground as they tried to get through the doors all at once. Sharon stayed calm and seated, she didn't move a muscle except for her left arm that shot out and allowed her hand to grab a hold of the shoulder of the newly orphaned boy beside her and hold it in a vice grip as the boy struggled against her, crying violently and screaming his little heart out so loud and high pitched she would've almost been worried for her own hearing and his sanity, as he tried to get closer to the fire that had swallowed his parents by climbing over the seat in front of him as if there was anything of them left that he could salvage.