When Pandora bleeds... (Shinkai)

Fight the battle, Loose the Battle

Kaito stared down at the grave shadowed by the darkness around them. Barely any light was coming through the trees of lanterns all around them on the streets, thus it was nearly impossible for Kaito to read the letters on the grave, yet he knew just by heart that this was the last residence of Kudo Shinichi.
His throat began to swell shut, cutting off his air, and Kaito clenched his teeth to keep himself under control. His companion kept her silence, knowing he needed it, until Kaito pressed a small "Please lend me a hand, Ojou-san. Pandora is inside my pocket" out between his lips.

While doing his best to stand still for her and his own sake, Kaito squeezed his eyes shut as he felt Haibara's hand sliding elegantly into his pocket, quickly fishing out the gem and pulling away.
By god, it was awful.
Out of reflex, Kaito jumped after the gem, but Haibara evaded him with a soft gasp of surprise. She hadn't expected Kaito to be this attached to Pandora and yet, it did make sense to her.
"B-bury it... Please..." Kaito pressed out again and Haibara quickly dug a small hole directly above Kudo Shinichi's grave, let the half of Pandora fall into darkness, and closed it again before she made a point of sitting down on this spot.

Kaito stared at her, eyes wild, completely forgetting to pull his cap down to shield his face. Not that it helped Haibara much- it was too dark to make out any good features, yet the eyes of her fellow companion gave her quite the shiver.
Kaito didn't know what to do. His heart was threatening to jump out of his ribcage, the pain was outright unbearable, every muscle was shaking in absolute and utter adrenaline.

PandoraPandoraPandoraPandora-

Haibara managed to scoot away in the last second before Kaito launched at her, well, at the spot Pandora was buried. She opened her mouth to say something but it went as dry as a desert; what even was there she could have said or done?
Kaito clutched Pandora inside his hands, holding it close to his chest, covering on the ground, breath uneven. For a moment, an awkward silence lasted over them, and finally the young scientist let out a breath of exhaustion, breaking it.
"That about leaving it here... What will you do now, KID?"

Kaito needed some time to gather himself and Haibara didn't mind the wait. It was almost ridiculous how the retired Kaitou KID was clutching a stone for his dear life.
"...I-I..." he began, swallowing dry. Haibara pursed her lips and slowly rose from the ground, offering a hand to her companion. Another minute later, and KID took it to follow suit. Both stared at each other for what felt like eternity, at loss of words.

Yeah, what exactly was Kaito going to do now?

"Oh my god, this thing actually bleeds for real...!"
Haibara stared at the gem inside Kaito's hands, lively as ever, and his eyes followed hers.
"Oh god it's running all over your gloves-" she gasped, shuffling through her pockets for tissues to catch the suspicious fluid. Kaito's lips curled up into a faint smile.
"Please leave it be, Ojou-san. I-... I don't mind."
Haibara paused, eyes shooting back up at her companion. KID didn't mind more blood on him? This was fairly interesting. He looked much more calm as well than mere seconds ago.

Is the blood some kind of comfort for its victims?

Haibara breathed out a deep frustrated sigh and raked a hand through her teablonde hair, mussing it up a little.
"I propose we should go back... Returning the gem is impossible like this. I'm so sorry, KID... If I had known beforehand how much it affected you, too, I'd have kept it in Kudo's place. We can't exactly dig up an entire coffin..."
She trailed off, touching her chin deep in thought, but Kaito couldn't help than to agree. His shoulders slumped down in defeat... this entire trip had been a horrible idea. At least his ears weren't ringing anymore and he could actually calm himself.

The atmosphere relaxed almost instantly, yet both knew what this meant. Their plan had failed... and Kaito wasn't going to risk staying any longer.
"Is this going to be a goodbye forever?" Haibara asked with disappointment hinting inside her tone. She wasn't exactly fond to let KID go this easily after all those years. She had grown to like the former phantom thief quite a bit. Kaito on the other hand, gave a silent nod. He was not going to risk any contact to any person inside this country any longer. The Crows were still active, and even if not fixated onto him, it was his task to pay attention to Pandora and keep it safe from them. Such a decision required sacrifices, and Kaito had made his choice long ago the day he had grabbed the white tuxedo from the mannequin.

"Meitantei... Meitantei was a great person."

Haibara perked up, pupils widening at what Kaito was doing. Kneeling before the grave, he had produced a white rose inside his hands, a painful smile on his lips. Was he actually going to do this? Haibara couldn't help but take a step back. This was his moment. She knew KID had wanted to bid his farewell since so long... and at the same time, a wave of sadness overcame here. This meant KID wasn't going to return to Japan again.

"In good and bad times, you have always been there... chasing me under a moonlit night, making me feel less of the monster I had felt myself become. And while I had made my decision to rescue Pandora... I couldn't have continued this path without you, Meitantei."

Tears prinkled inside Kaito's eyes but he was sure to swallow them all.

"You understood me like nobody else... For you I have never been just a thief. No matter the case, no matter the evidence... you always believed in me... even though we stood on different sides, you have been a friend to me, Meitantei. A rival, a partner, a friend..."

Haibara heard Kaito add something very quietly, almost inaudibly for her.

"You have fascinated me the moment you appeared before my eyes. Thank you, Meitantei... for all you have done for me without even realizing it."