Since returning to Japan, Shinichi felt like he's been playing a constant game of avoid or be avoided with the girl next door, albeit to her defense, she was a player against her will. After admitting his attraction to his neighbor two weeks ago, he hasn't spoken a word nor seen the pseudo-teenager. He expected their game of avoidance to continue for at least a month, if not longer, so he was mildly surprised to see Ai at his doorstep on a Saturday morning. Just by the sight of her through the intercom, he felt the blood rushing within him, although if it was in irritation, attraction, or guilt, he didn't know.

He opened the door and immediately noticed her attire, consisting of a white t-shirt tucked into jean shorts that were secured with a leather belt, which she wore underneath a burgundy oversized windbreaker. To complete her look and confirming Shinichi's deduction that the Detective Club was going on their bi-monthly camping trip, she wore her hair in a high ponytail and covered her feet with hiking boots that accentuated her long shapely legs. Shinichi momentarily noted that the latter part of that observation was unnecessary.

When his eyes finally met hers, he saw her looking back at him with her infamous blank expression and briefly wondered if she decided to pretend that his verbal spillage in the high school infirmary didn't happen. "Good morning, Kudo," she greeted, and he felt a quick, sharp jab to his chest at hearing her return to calling him by his last name, and basing off her detached tone and rigid body language, he knew that being on his doorstep was not of her choosing.

"Good morning, Ai," he returned just as impersonal. "Need something from me?"

She nodded once, "A ride."

He briefly glanced at his neighbor's house to see the driveway empty. "Got left behind?" he questioned, his eyes returning to her.

"You declined Ayumi-chan's invitation without a reason," she supplied, and it oddly explained why she was left behind as Shinichi was able to infer that, with Ai left behind and requesting a ride from him, he would be forced to join their camping trip.

"I remember telling her I was preoccupied," he responded, turning his head away from her scrutiny.

She deadpanned at his response and arched a brow as if he should've known better. "'Saturday chores' does not cut the validity of reasons to a teenager."

Not knowing how to reply to Ai without referencing two weeks ago, Shinichi instead looked back at her and asked, "Can't you get your boyfriend to pick you up?"

"A motorbike isn't an ideal vehicle for overnight outdoor activities," she replied looking away from his eyesight before continuing, "and he left with the others."

Shinichi had half the mind to tell her to take a cab, but after a couple of seconds of a silent internal debate, weighing the pros and cons of joining his neighbor and friends, Shinichi opened the door wider for Ai to wait inside. "Give me a sec." After all, Ayumi and the boys went as far as to leave Ai of all people behind to get him to go. But even more than that, Ai, herself, continued with the plan by ringing his doorbell.

The car ride started off quiet and continued to hold its quiet tension well throughout the ride, their destination hours away outside of Tokyo. Shinichi kept his attention on the road, occasionally glancing to his passenger to see Ai not once break her sight from the passing scenery. It wasn't until they exited the city when Shinichi spoke, interrupting the quiet humming noise of the ride, "We're going to have to stop by for gas soon." His statement was met with the simple sound of her breathing. He turned on the radio, letting the music and radio host drown out the silence between them.

About thirty minutes later, Shinichi pulled up to a rest stop. "Want anything?" he asked his passenger as he shifted the gear to park and turned off the vehicle.

"Just the restroom," she answered and alighted from the vehicle, leaving him behind.

Sighing, Shinichi alighted after her and proceeded towards the store. Never had he felt so much tension being around Ai than now. He noticed they couldn't even look each other in the eye for more than a second, and Shinichi was at a loss of how to rectify it.

Grabbing a couple of drinks and snacks, Shinichi paid for the items and gas before exiting the store to see Ai waiting next to his vehicle. Thinking she was waiting for him to unlock the car, he pressed the button on his key, and the vehicle sounded, signaling it was unlocked. To his surprise, though, Ai didn't move. She remained silent with her hands in her jacket pockets and eyes casted downward, even as he opened his door to place the item of bought goods in the car before filling the gas tank. Shinichi couldn't help but think she perfectly played her role of a rebelling teenager. Only when he was about to return the pump did she say something.

"I know this is pretty late in asking, but did you not want to come?"

Shinichi turned to look at her over the car and was surprised to see her looking straight at him. She bit her lower lip in half anticipation and slight guilt at the possibility of forcing him. "If I didn't want to, you know I wouldn't." A couple of seconds passed, and he saw her nod her head in understanding.

"And just to correct you…," she spoke with his attention on returning the pump, "Hiro isn't—and was never—my boyfriend."

Shinichi immediately turned his head to look at her, surprised at the statement, but she entered the vehicle before he could catch her face. Just what expression did she hold while revealing that to him? Why did she? And why was his blood pumping? He wanted to immediately enter the car and start interrogating her, but the air between them was too sensitive that predicting her actions was almost impossible. Not wanting to upset her, he took a second to gather himself before opening the door and entering the driver's seat. Like before, she had her gaze trained outside her window.

Once they were on the road again and roughly twenty minutes into the ride, he lowered the stereo. "Yet you kiss him?"

"Yes," she easily answered, eyes still watching the trees coming and going.

"Why?"

"Why not?"

He gritted his teeth and her response. He had to remind himself that her relationships or whatever relations she has with people are none of his business. Releasing the tension in his jaw, he took in a breath. He did not want to propel their conversation into an argument. It took a lot of effort to keep the emotion from his voice. "Then why tell me that?"

There was a delay in her reply. "I don't know," she shrugged lightly. Shinichi lightly scoffed and decided that talking to the young scientist was too stress-inducing. He was about to raise the volume of the radio again, but she continued, "I just know that, despite revealing your physical attraction to me, you will not lay a hand on me… even if I told you I'm attracted to you as well." She whispered the last part, but he clearly heard it and it echoed in his head.

Shinichi was thankful that traffic outside the city, or any other vehicle for that matter, was currently nonexistent as he stepped on the brake in a surge of surprise and anger. His right arm extended outward to keep Ai from lurching forward. Immediately, he rounded on her. "What the hell are you doing to me, Ai?" No longer was he able to keep the anger from his voice.

"The same thing you did to me two weeks ago," she said, looking at him directly in the eyes. "Revealing the truth to you."

Seeing an approaching car through the rearview mirror, Shinichi pulled the vehicle over and turned the ignition off. "Why are you doing this?" he questioned. Did she not understand what he said two weeks ago? Did she forget everything that was said in the infirmary?

"To prove a point," she answered. Shinichi searched her eyes, as if he was trying to figure out the said point she was trying to make, but she helped his search by telling him instead. "You aren't attracted to me, Kudo."

The young detective furrowed his brows, not expecting that answer at all. "And what makes you say that?" If by a miracle what he's feeling inside by merely looking at the young woman beside him was nothing that he thought it was, then he could ask for nothing more.

"You said it yourself." As much as Shinichi loved mysteries and puzzles, he really disliked Ai's habit of speaking in riddles, especially when his emotions were too riled for his brain to think. "You said you couldn't stop thinking of me since the day you first saw me. Why?"

"Because you…" Shinichi recalled the memory of Ai kissing Hiro outside of the professor's house. The memory still bothering him as it did then.

"Because I what, Kudo?" Not wanting to even utter a word about that hateful image, he remained silent, so she prompted him. "You've seen me before as a teenager. What's different now?"

Shinichi looked at her seated in the passenger seat of his Bentley. The woman who was one year older than him but physically six years younger than him. He recalled the few times he met Miyano Shiho and compared her to the young woman before him. "Nothing is different," he whispered his answer. They were physically the same person. The only difference was the light in their eyes. Haibara Ai's were brighter than Miyano Shiho's.

Then why? He thought to himself. Why did knowing Ai and Hiro have a physical relationship bother him so? Why did he have the urge to reach across and touch her? Why did he have thoughts of what it would be like to feel her lips upon his?

Lost in thought, he didn't see Ai reach out her hand to cup his cheek. Only when he unconsciously leaned into her warmth did he register what he just did and instantly pulled away from her. He immediately saw the pained expression on her face at his reaction but was unable to say anything as he was still shocked at what he did.

"Hiro was persistent in joining the Detective Club," she started since he kept quiet. "He told me he came to Japan looking for you."

Me? Shinichi creased his brows.

She was quiet for a second or two before saying, "He was a former officer in a small city in England." Shinichi wasn't surprised at the statement, but he was half pleased and half pissed to know he was right about his notions of the bastard. He felt something swell in his chest at the underlying thought that he was the reason they met.

"He wanted a cure," he finished for her. Through his unfocused vision as his mind pieced together Ai's new facts, he saw her nod. "Did you give it to him?" He saw her nod again, which meant he didn't take it, and he could guess the reason why. Shinichi focused his vision on Ai and found himself disliking the bastard even more. "Why are you telling me this?"

Turning her head to look out the windshield and away from him, she said, "You saw him drop me home the first night you came back, didn't you?" His silence was her answer. "If he wasn't here, I doubt we'd be having this conversation right now."

He was utterly confused. "What are you getting at? That the only reason I'm attracted to you is because of him? That I'm jealous of him?"

"Not in the way that you think, Kudo," she immediately countered. She hesitated for a minute before saying, "I think that what you saw that night caused you to project your feelings for Mouri-san towards me."

Shinichi took in what she said, analyzing every nuance of every word in his head. "…What?"

"I overheard one of your conversations. I didn't mean to eavesdrop," she quickly added before tentatively continuing, "She's scared, isn't she—"

Shinichi quickly exited the vehicle, not wanting to hear more, and walked away, his mind overwhelmed with everything Ai was saying. He ran a hand through his hair, going over the notion she was insinuating. She basically said he was jealous of their physical relationship because he had none with Ran. He laughed at the absurdity, but the same laughter soon died out because somewhere in his mind, he knew Ai had a convincing argument.

If he did not witness Ai kissing Hiro that night, would he have been so hung up on her? He just agreed a few minutes ago that she was no different than seeing her years ago as a teenager. Did seeing her engaged in a physical intimacy with someone trigger him to want the same thing? And because it was her he had witnessed, he subconsciously decided he wanted it with her?

Shinichi shook his head, his brain hurting from going back and forth with his thoughts. Some part of him wanted to argue that Ai was wrong, that he wasn't jealous of her and Hiro because he didn't have what they had, but he couldn't bring forth the words to counter it. He then heard the car door open and close behind him.

"You don't want me, Kudo. You can't even touch me," she said as she walked towards him.

He turned around to see her stop a foot before him. "That's because…," he trailed off, his hands unconsciously fisting at their proximity.

"Because the only person inside your heart is Mouri-san," she finished, and his heart clenched at how effortlessly and woefully she said those string of words that held so much truth. And then to drive her point forward, she leaned into him and wrapped her arms around his shoulders, pushing herself on her toes.

He could smell the strawberry scent of her shampoo. He could feel the small puffs of her breath on his chin. He could feel the quick beating of her heart against his chest, his own heart beating just as rapidly. And once more, he could see the speck of turquois in her eyes. Through it all, Shinichi was surprised at how he automatically grabbed her upper arms, stilling her.

She laughed softly. "See? You can't go through it," she spoke, releasing her hold around him. She gave him a small smile before she turned away, walking back to the car.

Shinichi was completely bothered from head to toe. He knew Ai was helping him rationalize his feelings towards her, getting him to understand that he held no desire for her and therefore releasing him from the guilt he felt from being attracted to someone other than Ran. She was basically ridding the mental and emotional torment he felt for the last couple of months. He should be elated for what she was doing. But why wasn't he?

Unable to answer that question himself, Shinichi followed suit and entered the vehicle. He stewed on his thoughts while Ai kept silent for the remainder of the ride to the designated camping grounds.

When they arrived, Shinichi ignored Hiro and how Ai was at his side almost every time he was around. According to Ai, he was just envious of their relationship, hence the hostile feelings towards the apparently older bastard. But despite Ai's rationale, he still didn't like seeing them, so he busied himself with Hakase and the others. He continued to do that throughout the entire camping trip and didn't speak to Ai unless he had to. Even when they went home the following day or throughout the following year for that matter.

Shinichi felt their conversation was incomplete, but he had no words to continue it. He just knew something was amiss. Every now and then, for the next year, Shinichi would go back to that conversation he had with Ai on the side of the road. He agonized over the lost words he needed to complete that conversation.

Eventually Ran finished her degree, and he briefly went back to America for her graduation and returned to Japan together. With Ran finally with him again, Shinichi was too busy to think about his neighbor, and the conversation he agonized over countless of times slowly receded to the back of his mind.

After being apart for a year, Shinichi and Ran were constantly together, and through more coaxing, reassurance, and long conversations, they finally concreted the physical part of their relationship. It was awkward, painful, yet loving, and he couldn't be happier with anyone other than Ran. The only thing that bothered him about his first time with Ran was that Ai had popped in his mind for a split second, recalling the last conversation they had.

Two months later, he finally conceded that Ai was right. Whatever feelings he felt for her a year and a half earlier was just a projection of his frustration about his relationship with Ran at the time. He always knew Ai had an uncanny power of reading him more than he could read himself. Whatever he thought was missing from their conversation was all in his head.

He decided he should thank her for helping him sort through his feelings. Because of her, the feeling of guilt he would have every time he saw Ran ceased to exist. So, when he was finally free from cases and Ran was busy with Sonoko, Shinichi thought to pay his neighbor a visit. The last time he stepped into his neighbor's house was the kids' high school graduation party four months ago. It was about time he said hi to his longtime friend as well.

As he strode to his neighbor's house, he noticed the car was missing from the driveway. Maybe someone was still home, he thought and was about to knock when he recalled Ai's words about the action and how he shouldn't feel the need to knock just because she resided there. Following her words, he lowered his hand and twisted the knob, finding the door unlocked.

"Hakase?" he called, closing the door behind him. He received no answer. "Ai?" he tried. Still no answer. He made his way deeper into the threshold and into the empty living room. Thinking that the professor might be downstairs, he made his way towards the basement door when he heard a faint sound of heavy breathing. He whipped his head towards the sound and noticed it coming from Ai's bedroom. Worried that she might be suffering a fever, he quickly made his way to her bedroom.

He knocked lightly. "Ai? You okay?" he called through the door. He received no answer. "Ai, I'm coming in," he said and twisted the doorknob. He saw her laying on her bed with her sheets tangled in her long, slender legs. As he got closer, Shinichi thought twice on his decision in coming into her room as he noticed her sleeping attire.

She wore a matching set of champagne colored silk top and shorts for pajamas. What caught his attention, though, was her top that was pushed upwards, revealing her taut stomach and the underside of her breasts. Shinichi couldn't help but blush at the exposure. He reached for the hem of her top to pull it down, but his blush only deepened when he noticed her nipples poking through the fabric, the silk material emphasizing its hardness. He unconsciously swallowed.

Her sudden intake of breath pulled his attention, and his eyes travelled upwards, wondering if she was feverish since her breathing was quite irregular. Looking closely, he noticed beads of sweat gathering at her temples. He used the back of his hand to check her temperature, and like he assumed, her forehead was quite hot.

"You're burning up, Ai," he whispered and removed his hand from her forehead only for her to catch it within hers, and he was surprised at how cold her hand was when her forehead was of the opposite temperature. "Ai?" he questioned, worried he woke her up, but her uneven breathing continued. Although asleep, she didn't let go of his hand. He tried tugging on it lightly, not wanting to jostle her awake, but she held firm. Sighing, he sat down on the edge of her bed and used his other hand to wipe the sweat she was accumulating on her forehead.

In the middle of his task, he almost didn't notice her eyes hazily open. "Hey," he whispered. "How are you feeling?" he asked, concerned.

She didn't respond. Through her half-hooded eyes, he could tell she was searching her surroundings, quite delirious. After a short while, she tried to push herself up, and he immediately helped her to sit upright. "You okay?"

She shook her head. "I'm hot," she whimpered annoyed. She tried to gather her hair but dropped her arms, too weak to lift them. She let out another whimper, frustrated at her lack of strength. She could barely keep her eyes open.

"Shh," Shinichi cooed. "I got you," he said, grabbing for a hair tie on her nightstand. He then reached behind her head, gathering her strawberry blonde locks and tying it into a messy bun.

She suddenly fell forward towards him, unable to keep herself upright. He caught her in his arms and was instantly reminded of their conversation that irritated him for a year.

"You can't even touch me."

"I'm so cold," she mumbled weakly against him, slightly shivering in his hold, and he automatically began to rub her arms up and down. Her breath felt hot as she breathed unevenly against his neck, sending unwarranted chills down his spine. Trying to ignore how her breathing affected him, he moved one hand to gently rub at her back, causing Ai to moan, finding his ministrations quite soothing. He slowed his actions at the unexpected sound she produced.

"You aren't attracted to me."

She whined, feeling him no longer rubbing her back. In response, she nuzzled herself into his warmth, trying to get close to his body heat, and he fought the automatic low rumbling in his chest as she pressed her body against his, feeling her breasts pushing against his chest. She's delirious, he justified. She doesn't know what she's doing.

"You don't want me."

When she nestled her face into the nook of his neck, he grabbed hold of her arms to push her away but stopped when he heard the small whimper of her voice say something that shook his nerves to the core.

"Shinichi."

How could the simple utterance of his name from her lips cause his blood to boil? If his heart was beating rapidly due to the situation he was in, it was now pounding against his ribcage. He clenched his jaw at the rush of emotions he felt and the recollection of memories that came forth from hearing her say his name.

Then, it dawned on him. He was finally aware of why Ai's rationality didn't sit well with him. He finally knew what was amiss in the conversation that nagged at him for over a year. He finally figured out what he was trying to find to counter Ai's argument.

Only Ai could produce the emotions he was currently feeling. Only Ai could evoke the feeling of lust and desire within him at the mere mention of his name.

She whimpered at the lack of heat and tried to lean towards him, to feel his body heat again. "Shinichi," she begged, and his heart raged at the sound. He wrapped his arms around her, indulging her plea and pulling her close. She hummed at the heat she felt.

There's no doubt about it. He wanted her. Even after a year, he wanted her. Even with Ran flashing though his mind, he wanted her.

A/N: Thank you for all the reviews. Hope you are still enjoying the story.