Kaitou KID One Shots 2

Sea Love

Sun, sand and the sea.

Five years old Kaito was exited.
"Don't forget the sunmilk, Kaito!" Chikage chirped and Toichi scooped his bouncy son up with a chuckle to spray him in gross stuff Kaito had never liked. Why sunmilk? He hated sunmilk. It was gooey, sticky and ugh, the feeling was terrible.
"Tou-san let me go!! I wanna swim!!" Kaito whined over his shoulder but his father was merciless.

Five minutes later Kaito was half sprinting half jumping into the large sea just a few meters further, a worried Chikage observing him to make sure he was alright. Toichi laughed as he saw his wife's distressed expression and pressed a cool bottle of water against her nape, earning a squeak and a slap across his face.
"You asshole!!"
He snorted again while Chikage took the bottle from his hands and allowed herself a sip.

Not interested in his parent's antics, Kaito threw himself into the floods. He was a pretty good swimmer and loved to stay in water, it was almost like a third home to him (second was his father's performances on stage).
The sun was at the highest point by now and burned mercilessly onto the ground and people below. Chikage exhaled and started fanning herself with her hands.
"Oh god it's so hot..."
"How about some ice cream? I've seen a stand down there," Toichi suggested and nodded over towards the parking lot. After a gauging glance at the distance they had to walk under the sun, Chikage agreed and turned to call for her son but her voice died in her throat.
There was no one inside the water.

"Who are you?"
Kaito stared down at the fishy thing in his arms he had just caught and received a deadpan expression.
"Why are you not freaking out? Let go of me!"
The fishy thing Kaito hugged close to his body was a long and slippery tail in sapphire blue, covered in scales and fins. It was rather weird to the touch, kind of soft and still hard enough to give him the slap of his life (which had happened). The most interesting part, however, was the boy who was connected to the tail. Frightened eyes in the most beautiful blue he had ever seen, brown hair with a cowlick standing up and pale skin, here and there covered in a few scales.
"No! Else you'll run away!"
"I can't run you dumbass, I'm a merman!"
"Wow! You're a fish!"
"I'm not a fish!! I said I'm a merman!"
Kaito bursted out giggling and the boy stared at him with the most confused expression he had ever seen.
"You're weird."
"No! I'm Kaito! And you?!"
The boy sighed and closed his eyes for a moment. Kaito kind of guessed he had just realized he wasn't getting out of this anymore.
"Shinichi. And now let go of me."
He was trying to hold himself up on his ellbows, flailing tail still caught in Kaito's arms. That changed when the latter dropped him on command and Shinichi fell with a squeak back into the water.
"Thanks," he stated, obvious sarcasm dripping from his voice. Shinichi didn't quite know what to make of this human but he did find him interesting.
"So... what do you want to do, Shin-chan?" Kaito grinned. This was about to be interesting.

In opposite to Shinichi's first impression, he and Kaito became best friends this day. Whenever Kaito came to visit the beach, Shinichi would be waiting for him and they would play all day long inside the water.
But as Kaito turned eight, things changed. Kaito's smiles weren't genuine any longer and Shinichi noticed that at the first time. The boy didn't say a word but Shinichi knew anyway. Only Chikage came with him to the beach. Toichi was gone.

And suddenly Kaito stopped coming.

Day by day Shinichi swam circles close to the beach, trying to find Kaito somewhere inbetween the summer crowd. But Kaito didn't visit anymore. Shinichi didn't even know why he waited day by day for this idiot. He had all his underwater friends, Ran and Heiji for example. But instead of staying with his family, Shinichi chose to spend his days close to the beach in near of humans.

***

"Do I have to?" Kaito moaned, a large coolbox in his arms. They had just gotten out of the car and were faced by the brilliant view of the sparkling sea.
"Kuroba-kun, we had this discussion eleven times. It's Aoko-san's birthday. Please behave."
Kaito made a mournful sound and followed the halfbrit towards the beach, saving a spot in the shadow of a large bush. Something was about this beach which he couldn't quite grasp but he didn't like it. Especially because the sea usually contained fish. Kaito didn't know why but he hated fish, he was downright afraid of it.
Indigo eyes scanned the area close by, lingered on Hakuba in red swimming trunks who carried a bag with towels and sunmilk for a moment before moving over to the exited Aoko who sprawled out on the sand in a blue bikini.
"I love the sea so much!"
She flashed a glance at the blond and smiled, "Thanks for joining us, Hakuba-kun!"

Kaito wasn't interested in their chatter- he could see Hakuba and Aoko were quite interested in each other and he certainly wasn't going to play third wheel in their daily meetups.
Instead, he walked towards the sea, staying where the water could lick his toes and observed the scenerie. What was it that differenced the beach from others? He remembered he had visited the beach so often in his childhood but... something was missing. But what?
Kaito flashed a small glance back at the pair relaxing on the towels. He was here with his friends, had his favorite drinks, bento in case they got hungry... even some cake because this was Aoko's birthday wish, to go to the beach with both of them. Just... what was missing?
That was until something caught his eye. Kaito narrowed his eyebrows and tried to make out anything on the reflecting surface of the sea. Slowly, he stepped deeper into the sea until the water reached his hibs.

Aoko paused in her talk as she came to see something she never thought to see and stared at the spot Kaito just stood seconds ago. Hakuba sat up with a gasp, eyes wide in horror.
"Kuroba-kun?!"
Something had pulled the brunet into the depths of the sea. Without hesitation, Hakuba sprinted towards the ocean and dived into the water.
Please, let Kuroba-kun be okay.

Indigo met sapphire.
Kaito stared, lungs yearning for oxygen, into those oh so familiar eyes of a merman. A cowlick, brown hair, intelligent sapphire eyes and a wonderful blue tail. Kaito stared.
"Kaito?" the merman asked with wide eyes and Kaito couldn't get himself to move. He was frozen in fear. This... fish... was holding onto his legs, hugging them close, preventing him from returning to back to the surface. No wait, it was a boy. A fish. A boyfish? Fishboy? Merman. Right.
MERMAN?!
Kaito grimaced and began to struggle, hands gripping his throat. He needed air. Air. Air. But the merman had his attention on something else because all of a sudden, he grabbed Kaito's arm and pulled him further, deeper, away from whatever frightened the strange male and the calming sunlight.

Kaito gasped in reflex and swallowed water but the merman didn't notice, wouldn't notice-

Until his world turned black.