Kaito was more than a little disturbed, to say the least. He had tried everything to get it off, from scratching to covering it with makeup, no matter what he had done the mark of his doom sparkled on his skin, and he wasn't even sure what the fuck was going on or what this timer was ticking down to.

At first, Kaito had taken it with humor. Counting down to his first time getting laid? Maybe. To him falling down the stairs? A possibility. For his mom to visit him? Also an idea.

And yet, there was this nagging feeling inside his mind. Alone looking at the ticking time rose a feeling of hopelessness within him, and he couldn't exactly fathom on what to do.

There was no telling on what would happen once the timer reached zero, and Kaito began to fear the worst.

His mortality became clearer than ever to him, and Kaito forced himself to go on. Further, harder, stronger. He had to be better. He had to push himself to finally end what his father had started all those years ago.

***

"KID stop right there!"
Kaito paused, hangglider already opened for his grand escape. One more heist. Just one more heist. Kudo Shinichi, red in the face, finally caught up to him and raised a hand as if to motion him to wait, clearly out of breath.
KID humored him.

It took the sleuth a good minute to catch his breath- that had been KID's third heist in four days. When was he going to sleep throughout this?!

"KID, I am so done with your games. SO done. What is going on with you recently?! You've never been this... this unfocused. This desperate."
Shinichi glared at the white clad thief, trying to find some sort of emotion in that stupid pokerface of his. And yet, all he did was smile, taking a step towards the detective.
"All I can say is... my time seems to be running out. I don't know what it means... I don't know what will happen. I guess..."
He paused, lingering for a moment to collect his words. Even the warmth of this beautiful summer night was not going to ease any of them.
"...I guess we'll just have to find out."

Shinichi silenced, staring into the weak smile of his partner. That was... not the answer he had been expecting.
"KID, are you sick? Is it terminal?"
Shinichi's voice had become softer. God beware KID had gotten a cancer diagnosis or something alike. The thief in front of him hesitated, trying to find a way to explain the emotions he had been feeling since the last couple of days.
He took a step back- swaying a little. Shinichi made a small jump, grabbing onto his arm to support him.
"KID you're lacking sleep, you're overworking yourself. You're telling me all I do is hunt cases while you're out here playing shoot-me target for the Black Organization. Come on... take a break. For me."

The sleuth smiled, hoping to encourage the thief. Yet the opposite happened- pokerface slapped on, he pulled away from the confused detective.
"It's not cancer or an illness, I'm fine. I-"
KID cut himself off, hesitated, then turned back to Shinichi. It was fair if he knew about this, right?

Slowly, KID rolled up his sleeve.

16 days 23 hours 14 minutes

Shinichi couldn't believe his eyes. Why did KID chose to reveal such an identifying tattoo to him?

16 days 23 hours 14 minutes

Something was off about it. Shinichi felt it.

16 days 23 hours 14 minutes

Shinichi frowned, eyes moving back up to KID's who kept his locked onto his arm, standing as close as possible.
"KID, what-"
"Shh! Look."

16 days 23 hours 13 minutes

It took him a second, an embarrassing second.
"Did that just... wasn't there a 14 just seconds ago?"
KID rolled down his sleeve, face grim.
"There was."
Shinichi didn't understand, couldn't understand. What was going on here?
"So you're telling me this tattoo of yours just moved."
KID stared at him with an expression that questioned his sanity.

"KAITOU KID!! STOP RIGHT THERE!!"
The pair flinched; that was Nakamori-keibu right behind the door. The Task Force was about to burst onto the roof, there was no time left for explanations. KID jumped onto the edge of the roof without the slightest bit of hesitation, only to have Shinichi call after him.
"Not so fast!! You owe me explanations!! You, me, tonight, at my house, or else!!"
KID shook his head with a halfhearted smile.

Shinichi did show his care in the weirdest ways possible.

The KID did follow up on this demand, much to the relief of said sleuth who was currently pacing about through his study, eagerly awaiting KID's arrival.
"Took you a while."
"Had to shake off a very eager and annoyed Task Force."
"Touché."
Shinichi sat down and motioned onto the couch in front of him, the thief followed suit and let himself down as well, still in his white clad phantom gear.

"So what's this about. You've been acting weird since... well, since you crashlanded on my balcony."
KID whinced- he did not want to be reminded of his embarrassing entrance to Kudo Shinichi's house.
"I don't quite understand it myself. But... it's because of this."
KID pulled out a gem, the same one he had stolen 5 days ago. Shinichi furrowed his eyebrows- true, KID hadn't returned this one if he remembered it correctly.

"What's about this gem? Is that-"
"Do not touch it."
KID had yanked his hand back, leaving a confused Shinichi with his own hand midair, about to take it from KID.
"No, it's not Pandora. But because of this I have this... this timer on my arm. I don't know what it counts down to. But if it's my own death, if I'm supposed to die, I need to get in as much work as possible."
Shinichi fell silent. Well that explained it just well.

"So... you're going to exhaust yourself. No matter what."
"What else option do I have left? If I die, Meitantei, who will continue this?"
Shinichi opened his mouth but KID shut him down right away again.
"No, I won't let you. This is not your battle."
"We have the same enemies."
"Do we? The codenames are entirely different."
"KID please."
"No."
The magician stood up, face grim. Inwardly cursing this stupid timer, the stupid pressure. And yet, as he looked down at Shinichi, his face softened.
"...my apologies. I... did not mean to snap at you."
"It's fine..." Shinichi dismissed it with a wave of his hand, slowly getting up as well. "This was your last heist today, right? Stay here, keep me company, I'll make some hot chocolate. We can... at least try to figure things out. And I can see how exhausted you are. Don't deny it."

KID hesitated. Hot chocolate did sound amazing to him right now, if he had to admit it. It was dark and cold outside, Shinichi's study was warm- he could kick back for a momemt and relax.
Slowly, he sat back down and gave Shinichi an approving nod.
"I... guess I can stay for a bit. But no ramblings about Sherlock Holmes."
Shinichi rolled his eyes, amused, as he strolled into the kitchen. That thief did deserve a break, even if he himself wasn't going to admit it.