Seeing Green
Drabble 9: Ready

Notes: Not a very original idea, but oh well!

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It was a regular Saturday afternoon – they had just gotten out of club activities, and both were equally excited for the weekend. At least, Heiji was. Kazuha was acting very strange, in his opinion. He was in the middle of asking her what she wanted to do tomorrow (because he just wanted to hang out with his friend and no it was not a date thank you very much) when he noticed that she was being unusually quiet.

"Kazuha?" Heiji asked.

No reaction. She just stared down at the ground in front of her.

"Oi, 'zuha."

Kazuha kept her gaze down. Was the gravel that interesting?

Regardless, Heiji was growing agitated at her lack of attention. Without a second thought, he grabbed the end of her ponytail and yanked it. "K-a-z-u-h-a!"

By pure instinct, her hand flew to the base of her ponytail and whirled around to face him wide-eyed. Surprisingly she didn't yell. "Oh… Heiji, it's you."

He raised an eyebrow. "You were spacing out, idiot. What's wrong with you?"

She looked away, resembling a woman with amnesia, confused about her identity. "Oh… It's just that… today at club…" She trailed off.

What the hell? She really was acting strange. Heiji frowned. "Don't trail off right in the middle. Finish your sentence. 'Today at club…?'"

His best friend stayed silent as her hand sought out an ornament dangling from her neck. Her fingers toyed with the omamori, something she often did when she was thinking about something.

Heiji's frown deepened. He was the best detective in town (so claimed many of the Kansai newspapers) but he just could not figure out the mystery behind his best friend – which made no sense, considering he'd known her since they were in diapers –

"Have you given a girl your first kiss yet?"

The Western detective nearly face-faulted. "I-Idiot! What kind of question is that! What were you saying before, anyway!"

The look on Kazuha's face told him she was serious. As flushed as her cheeks were (which was when he found her the cutest – oh crap), her eyes were determined. "I'm serious. Have you given a girl your first kiss?"

He stared at her. "What would you say if I said yes?"

It was slight, very very slight – but something strange appeared in her eyes, and as soon as she blinked it was gone. She looked away. "Tch… Why? Should I care if you've kissed some random girl or not? I'm just curious, that's all."

Kazuha walked a little faster, as if to avoid meeting his eyes.

"I haven't," Heiji replied. "Just so ya know."

She stopped in her tracks. "What?"

"I haven't given my first kiss away," he added, slinging his bookbag over his shoulder. "And I'm guessing you haven't either?"

"Of course not!" she denied rather quickly. Then, "Hey, Heiji? I was thinking… Maybe one day…We can…"

"Yeah," he responded. "One day. But that'll make me come to terms with things that I'm not ready for yet. I'm still young, ya know? So… do you think you can wait?"

Do you think you can wait?

Kazuha turned to face him with a soft smile. "Yeah. I'll wait."

Forever, if I have to. Because even though you're an idiot, I lo –

No. I won't say it just yet.

But I will. When we're both ready.

End.