A/N: Ohmygod I am so so sorry that after the last thing that I wrote, and after years of waiting, I threw out this...omg seriously, I am so so so so sorry. This is probably the cheesiest, clichéd and crappiest thing that I have ever written. Omg I'm so sorry. I promise that I'll write more Kaito/Aoko things because I really have one or two half-written things about them...somewhere...in the making. It's just my MOCK exams where in the way for three weeks in November, so I was unable to function writing that month-totally sorry about that.

Hopefully I'll come out with some better things than this half-assed shit throughout the year.

Disclaimer: don't own and that's why imma shoot myself

"Man Up"

by: PhantomPotterGirl

Sonoko's relation to Shinichi was...complicated.

They weren't childhood friends.

They weren't related by blood.

They didn't have the same interests.

He was calm and she was excited.

He was logical and she believed in fairytales and happy endings.

Their personalities were as distinct as the sun and moon.

And they had nothing which distantly related them to one another.

The only common factor that seemed to exist between the two was Ran. Ran's best girl friend was Sonoko, and Shinichi was her childhood friend who she, not-so-secretly, was in love with. Shinichi had in his entire life, never particularly liked Sonoko that much (and vice-versa)—he could never understand the appeal that Ran saw in Sonoko as a best friend (oh sure, he could why, there were some admirable qualities in her…deep, deep, deep down in her…somewhere; he just couldn't understand how).

They never particularly hated one another, but they didn't enjoy each others' presence either.

Shinichi hated her constant flirty, naïve attitude (and how she constantly teased and pinched about Ran and his interests). Sonoko hated his boring, detective-geekiness (and how he constantly left Ran in the dust to chase bothersome cases wherever they were).

So when Shinichi finally did return and, with great difficulty, divulged Ran about his messy Conan-and-Black-Organisation business—no one expected Sonoko to be the one comforting Shinichi's sorrow.

"...she hates me."

"How could she not?"

Silence.

"...Kudo-kun."

No answer.

"Kudo-kun."

...

"Kudo-kun."

Frustrated: "For goodness' sake!" she grabbed his shoulders, and forced him to look in her eyes; "You idiot! What do you think that you're doing just sitting there? No! No! Don't look away—look at me! Look at me you stupid detective!" his startled eyes looked back at hers; her eyes were reddened and slightly moist. She had slapped him.

"Three years!" she yelled at him, "three years we've all—no, she's—waited for you! For three years I've watched her miss you, cry over you...and you've—you've been there...the entire time! Just—just—what, did you think? That I'd just let you get away with it? That I'll just let you sit there like an idiot and give up?" she wiped a tear from her eye, "I don't think so—you, Kudo Shinichi, are not getting away with making my best friend—the best and most sweetest person in the world—cry and pine for you for three years...and just...give up. Do you know how...how hard I've worked to get you two here? If I'd left you two alone—you guys would've been heading nowhere! And what—did you think that I'll let you destroy that? All that hard work...for—for nothing?"

She had let out a choked sob, and for the first time, Sonoko didn't succumb to sadness; the idiot needed to hear this. So she turned towards his shocked face once again—and the anger boiled even hotter in her blood.

"Even when you were the shrimp she's taken consideration of your feelings! Even when she didn't even know it. It was always you, you, you! Frankly, Shinichi-kun, you don't deserve her. You've broken her heart too many times. You've left her and made her worry over you, wait for you—you've done so many things like cancelling plans at the last minute—running off to solve your stupid cases and not told her the truth! You've made so many mistakes and you've made her cry so much. I hate you for what you've done. I hate you. God knows that we've never liked one another that much—but you've hurt my best friend; and the regulatory rules of a best friend proves that I should be here to kick you where is hurts and forbid you from ever going near Ran ever again."

...

"...but no matter how much I want to—I can't."

Hoarsely: "...why?"

"She loves you." Sonoko said, disbelievingly. His eyes widened.

She shook her head, smiling sadly, "I don't know how, how she could still love you and forgive you after everything that you've done to her...I just know that—even when she slams the door in your face, she wants you to come back. And right now...she's still waiting for you. She's crying her eyes out not because she hates you, because she thinks you don't trust her."

"But..." Shinichi started.

Sonoko shook his shoulders, "—listen to me. You've lied to her about who you were. Lived under her roof for three years, never told her the truth, made her worry and cry over you because she believed that you were out there solving some big, dangerous life-threatening case...and when she suddenly finds out that you've been there, under her nose, all along, all this time; comforting her about yourself—just imagine, how would that make you feel?"

His eyes shadowed.

Sonoko blew out a long sigh and let go of his shoulders; letting herself plop against the sofa next to him, her bittersweet smile growing—the anger had left her.

"Listen to me Kudo-kun." She said softly. He turned towards her, "she's been waiting. Rejecting every single handsome guy that asked her out in the past three years. And I'm tired. I'm tired of watching her wait. Tired of waiting for you to get detective rear in gear and admit your feelings. Just because I tease you, doesn't mean that I don't understand how much you love her—I tease you, so that you'll realize how...how short your time together is. You're a detective aren't you? You've got enemies—you're the last person I should be bothering about how short life is...because, no matter how much I hate it—you're always going to be solving cases. And there's always going to be Ran waiting for you at the end of the day..."

Softly: "So please Shinichi-kun. Don't tell me that you, the detective brat, after all the crap you've gone through—are finally giving up?"

She didn't even have the chance to finish her sentence properly, when he suddenly leapt from the sofa and ran out the door with the speed of a lion, running as if the fate of the world depended on it.

Sonoko grinned wearily, "Deduction Queen strikes again."

Half a year later, Sonoko received a small package in the mail. It contained one airplane ticket, and front row seats of Karate Championship event in Florida. Staring up at her on the Karate Championship leaflet; was Makoto's, (her boyfriend of whom she hadn't seen for three months, due to his tournament) face; smirking confidently and circled by a black sharpie. Tucked in the envelope was a postcard from Hawaii.

The familiar handwriting that greeted her was: Wish you were here Sonoko. We love you!

Flipping the card over, was a picture of Ran and Shinichi at the beach: his arms around her, kissing her cheek as she laughed with the most delight on her face—the sun yellowed their skin a light tan—bringing out the blue of Ran's eyes.

In tiny writing, that Sonoko almost missed it, on the white borderline of the postcard, was Shinichi's scrawled writing:

I still don't forgive the teasing.

She smirked—that was good enough an apology for her.

A/N: ...please don't shoot me. Review?

PhantomPotterGirl