Detective's Honor

A loud, shrill ring resounded throughout the open space surrounding Kaihou Academy, signaling the end of the school day. Students walked out of the building at a casual amble, chatting amicably with their friends. Their voices filled the air with a tranquil buzz.

One student walked out alone, and he yawned widely, stretching his arms high above his head as he stopped at the front entrance. He shoved one hand in the pocket of his black school uniform pants, and scratched idly at his dark brown hair.

Another one of the students walked out of the school and noticed him standing alone with a vacant and bored look on his darkly tanned face.

"Oi, Hattori!"

Heiji looked over at the other student with a disinterested expression.

"Waiting for your wife?" the student questioned with a couple of suggestive quirks to his eyebrow.

Heiji glared at the other boy, but otherwise didn't rise to the obvious goading. "Don't know what you're talkin' about," he said. He pulled his phone out of his pocket, the omamori key chain swinging from the action, and checked the time. Where was that annoying girl anyway? She said she wouldn't be late.

The other student laughed, waving dismissively at him as he passed. "Yeah, yeah, whatever you say." He then glanced back over his shoulder at Heiji. "You've got it written all over your face!"

As the student walked away with a laugh, Heiji glared at his back. He shoved his phone back in his pocket and hunched his shoulders.

No I don't... Tch.

He was getting tired of people poking around in his business. Who says just because he stopped at the front doors meant he was waiting on anyone in particular? Maybe he was waiting for... uh... mm... Sachiko-san... or something.

He thought of the girl in question, and just thinking of her and her near obsession with him had him suppressing a groan. Yeah, maybe not...

Or, or! Maybe he just felt like stopping at the front doors before he went home. Did they ever think of that?!

Heiji wiped at his cheek a bit absentmindedly. Because, ya know, one could never be too sure.

"Heiji?"

Heiji straightened immediately, adopting a shocked look. He looked over to see the one he had been waiting for running up to him.

When Kazuha reached him, she tilted her head in confusion.

"Why's your face all red?"

Heiji stared at her in surprise, then looked away quickly. He started to walk ahead of her with his hands shoved aggressively in his pockets.

"It's not red," he muttered defiantly. Though he definitely made sure to avoid all eye contact.

Kazuha still looked confused, but just rolled her eyes at him. She didn't bother to pester him about his random red face as she jogged to catch up to him. She slowed down to a walk when she got close.

"Sorry about making you wait, I was talking to our English teacher. I just wanted to ask her some questions about the writing assignment."

Heiji didn't bother to respond. He was content to pout instead.

Kazuha gave him a sidelong glare, but otherwise didn't comment about his silence.

"So, are you going to go to the theater to watch that movie with me? Ya know, the one that just came out?" Kazuha asked him cheerfully.

Heiji continued to avoid her gaze. He carefully directed it towards the cars that drove by them. "Well duh, ahou. Isn't that what you said you wanted to do?"

He could feel the glare that was directed at his head from his response. He didn't even have to look. It was practically burning the side of his skull.

"Don't call me ahou, ahou. I was just making sure."

Heiji finally looked over to her, but his expression was unimpressed. "Then don't ask pointless questions."

Kazuha looked far less than pleased, and looked about ready to slap him. She settled for shoving him lightly instead.

"Stop being a jerk, Heiji."

Heiji stumbled before catching his balance enough to walk again. He responded once he was sure he wasn't going to be pushed again.

"Maybe I'd stop being a jerk if you'd stop being an ahou. Ever think of that?" he snarked.

Kazuha glared at him dryly.

"What's up with you today?" she asked.

"I dunno, seeing your face everyday really takes it outta me sometimes."

She shoved him again, this time harder. He bounced on one foot a few times, waving his arms about wildly in an attempt not to fall. He succeeded, but just barely.

"All I wanted to know was if you were going to watch that movie with me," she said through gritted teeth.

Heiji glared ahead of himself. She really needed to keep her hands to herself.

"Blah, blah, blah."

He could definitely feel the glare now. It was burning a hole right through his head. He wouldn't have been all that surprised if his hair started smoking.

"Well are you or not?!" she yelled at him.

He turned to her with a glare of his own.

"I'm walkin' there, aren't I?"

Kazuha seemed to recoil from his somewhat harsh question. Heiji just turned away from her, and started to pout at the cars again.

Freaking Yamamoto. That guy always teased him. Kind of reminded him of Kudo. A bit too much like Kudo.

"...asshole."

He had just barely caught that mumble. He glared over at his childhood friend, about ready to give her a piece of his mind for that comment, rebuttal at the ready, but then he noticed a sad look on her face. The remark died in his throat quicker than it'd spawned, and he was left with his mouth hanging open awkwardly. All that came out was a weird squeak, and he closed it before he made himself look anymore like the ahou he'd claimed her to be.

She had her head down cast, and he bent down to get a better look at her face. She definitely looked sad.

"Are you... crying?" he muttered, half in disbelief.

She glared at him swiftly, and he recoiled, straightening up and putting some distance between them. For safety purposes. He wasn't scared or anything.

"No, I'm not crying," she said irritably. She then went back to staring forlornly at the ground.

Heiji stared at her suspiciously. After a moment, he dared move back in, eyeing her profile with a critical gaze.

"Why are you crying?" He asked.

She turned on him again, and he braced himself, but she only glared at him fiercely. "I told you. I'm not crying."

Heiji wasn't buying it.

But he knew, if he pestered her too much more, he was liable to get a nasty lump on his head, or possibly a black eye. Or end up in a headlock on the ground with a broken arm. There were many possibilities.

He continued to observe her, albeit silently. What had brought on this sudden sad spell? She was fine just a moment ago.

Heiji wracked his brain through their short conversation in the hopes he could figure out what he'd said that had upset her. It must have been him, right? Nothing else had happened, unless she had thought of something randomly that had brought back a sad memory. No... no... it was definitely his fault. He knew her well enough to know that if she was upset about something that didn't involve him, he'd be the first person she'd blabber to. So it must have been something he'd said or done. Hmm...

Heiji ran a hand through his hair in mild irritation. Why couldn't she just tell him? It'd make things a whole lot easier. Why did it have to be a game all the time? Wait... game... That's it!

Heiji's face lit up into a grin, then he smirked.

This was a test! Now, to prove that he was a good friend, he had to figure it out. Simple. He lived for this stuff.

Okay... now, what had he done to make her upset?

He had waited for her at the end of the school day like he said he would do. So it couldn't have been anything to do with that time. Well, he had stormed off ahead of her, so maybe? But she hadn't been sad then, so that was probably not it.

When she had asked him about their plans, he'd kind of snapped at her. Maybe it was then? But it wasn't like him calling her an ahou was a new thing. She'd never been upset about it before. She'd even returned the insult like she always did.

When she had told him she had just been making sure, and to not call her that, his response probably wasn't the nicest thing he had ever responded with. Okay, so it was pretty rude, but it wasn't anything worthy of getting sad over, was it?

Well, then afterwards, he kind of kept being rude. So it was probably because of whatever prompted her to call him an asshole.

Heiji had crossed his arms half-way through his thought process. He lifted a hand to hold his chin in deep thought. Though as he kept thinking, he didn't feel as if he was any closer to passing this test. He sighed.

At this point in the investigation, when he felt as though he'd exhausted all measures of searching for clues, he'd interrogate the suspects and witnesses.

Heiji cast an inconspicuous sidelong glance at Kazuha. She still looked sad.

Damn it. He couldn't interrogate Kazuha. This was her test.

"I know love dramas aren't really your thing, but if you don't want to go, you could just tell me. You don't have to act like I'm forcing you."

Heiji's eyes snapped over to his childhood friend as she mumbled that. Had Kazuha willingly given one of the answers to her test?

Wait, what?

"Is that why you're crying and acting all mopey?" he questioned in mild irritation. "Because you think you're forcing me?" What a lame test.

She looked over at him, and placed a glare on him so fierce that he actually momentarily considered lying on the ground willingly to save them both some time.

"I'm. Not. Crying!"

Heiji quickly held up his hands in front of himself in surrender.

"All right, all right!"

By some miracle, he was spared, as Kazuha forcefully tore her eyes from him and crossed her arms. He stared at her curiously.

"Kazuha."

Kazuha adamantly refused to look at him. She just turned her head away stubbornly. Heiji sighed.

"Kazuha, you're not forcing me to go see that movie, if that's what you're thinking."

Heiji peeked at her from the corner of his eye, and smirked when he saw she was looking over at him discretely. Test passed and solved. Easy.

"Well... you just... you didn't seem like you wanted to go," she said with a pout. It made Heiji chuckle, and she glared at him for laughing at her.

"Ahou. If I didn't want to go, I wouldn't go."

His response seemed to make her go all sad again, but he wasn't about to let her recede back into herself, so he raised a hand to flick at the side of her head. It worked, and she was back to glaring at him again.

"Don't start crying again. What I mean to say is that I want to go see that movie with you."

Kazuha looked over to him in surprise, her face taking on a pretty, red hue. She was always pretty cute when she blushed.

"O-oh. You were just... acting all mad so I thought you didn't want to go with me."

Heiji shook his head. "Ahou. I wasn't mad because of you. It was just something that Yamamoto said that pissed me off."

Kazuha looked guilty. "Oh."

Heiji waved off her guilty look dismissively. "I'll go wherever you wanna go, all right? And it's not because I'm being forced to. So don't go thinking that in the future, all right?" Might as well snip that misunderstanding right in the bud.

Kazuha's face took on an even brighter red shine. She looked about ready to burst into flames.

If she gets anymore red, he thought with a widening grin, she could hop out there in the road and direct traffic with her face.

His chuckling seemed to bring her back to the waking world. Unfortunately for him, he was too caught up in his snickering to notice the heated glower directed his way.

Before he really knew what was happening, he was on the ground, sporting a forming lump on his head with Kazuha looming ominously overhead.

"Ahou! I wasn't crying!" she exclaimed. She then stormed off ahead of him, muttering all the way.

"Why would I cry over you? You're just a... a stupid... jerk! No one would cry over you! Acting all cocky... like people would just cry for you whenever."

Heiji was too busy counting the stars that were spinning around his head to rebuke.

By the time the world had stopped spinning, he had had to run to catch up to her. Once he had, a silent, unspoken agreement was passed between them. One that assured that no more shall either of them assume things, or anything of that nature. And lastly, and probably most importantly, no one shall accuse Kazuha of crying.

Like ever. Just don't do it.

"Oh yeah, Heiji."

Heiji glanced at Kazuha before looking ahead. "Hm?"

"Did you hear about what happened in Tokyo yesterday?"

Heiji gave it some thought. "You mean that Kaitou Kid heist?" he grinned at the thought. "Yeah, I watched the news this morning. That inspector looked pissed."

Kazuha gave him a dry look. "You shouldn't laugh at people's misfortune, Heiji."

His grin didn't abate. "Even if it's reallly funny?"

"Heiji!"

Heiji raised his arms up in surrender. "A joke. It was a joke," he said with a sour grimace. He then straightened. "What about it?"

"Oh, nothing. I was just wondering if you'd heard about it."

"Eh, yeah. It was pretty obvious where he was hiding the jewel when he gave that hint. Out of all the heists he's attended of Kaitou Kid's, the jewel is either being kept under heavy surveillance where it's being put on display, or it's hiding on his person. The moment he said it was being 'hidden' is when I knew where it was. Didn't even have to listen to his hint."

Kazuha looked over to him. "Oh, so you watched it when it was live last night?"

Heiji nodded. "Yeah, I watched it for a bit. You'd think the inspector would learn."

"Hasn't he been chasing Kaitou Kid for like, twenty years?"

"Something like that."

Kazuha went quiet. When Heiji looked over at her, she seemed to be pondering something.

"Ne, Heiji."

Heiji yawned. "What?"

"Why don't you ever try to catch Kaitou Kid? You're a really great detective. He wouldn't stand a chance against you."

Heiji felt his cheeks flush a bit from the praise. He scratched idly at his cheek as he coughed a little. Mostly from embarrassment.

"Just never really cared to, I guess," he admitted. The thought of catching the renowned thief just wasn't all too appealing to him. Not to say that he wouldn't try if the situation arose and he happened to be around, just that he had no intention of going out of his way for it.

And he wouldn't really go all that far. He was a great detective, that much was for certain, but even Kudo always got a run for his money whenever the infamous thief popped up.

"Why not?"

Heiji looked back over to Kazuha's innocently confused face. He felt himself flush even more. Though this time he wasn't sure why.

"Because... because I'm not gonna go outta my way to catch that guy. Maybe if he decided to steal something in Osaka, then sure. But he typically operates outta Tokyo."

Kazuha looked contemplative as she put a finger to her chin and absentmindedly gazed up at the sky.

"I wonder why that is. Wasn't he an international thief before? Five... or was it six, years ago?" she thought aloud.

As Heiji stared at her, he still couldn't understand why he couldn't control his runaway blush. He decided to ignore it and answer her question instead of trying to figure it out.

"It was eight years ago, actually. And yeah, he was an internationally known thief."

"Oh. So why is he only stealing things in Tokyo? Why doesn't he go to other countries?"

Heiji sighed, and gave it some thought.

"Well, the most likely reason is because he can't."

Kazuha sent him a surprised look, and tilted her head. "He can't?"

Heiji took one look at her face, then quickly looked away. Freaking hormones. That has to be it. That one thought back to the news this morning with that broadcaster lady with the big tits, and now his body was betraying him. Yeah, that's gotta be it.

"Maybe the thief from before and the thief that's here now are different people. Maybe the former thief had more liberties and more freedom than this one."

"You think they're two different people?"

Heiji shoved his hands in his pockets. "Why else would a world renowned thief take off on an eight year hiatus during his prime unless he was... training his kid or something?"

Of course, he was just speculating. Who knew why the thief couldn't steal outside of Tokyo anymore. But it would make sense if he was training his child how to be a thief to take over the title of the Phantom Thief Kid. Because eight years was a long time to decide to randomly go back to stealing. Unless, of course, he stopped stealing to actually have a kid. In which case, there was a little phantom thief junior walking around.

Heiji shook his head.

No, no, no. That couldn't be it. Eight years was an awfully random amount of time to stop thieving. If he really did have a child in the time he stopped being a thief, he wouldn't have needed to stop being Kaitou Kid. Unless he wanted to be there for the squirt's childhood. But if that was the case, wouldn't the squirt still be a squirt? What prompted the continuation of thievery? Seemed like a hazardous profession to have with a child if he had already deemed it too dangerous to the point he would stop for eight years. Something about that didn't make sense.

So, if it wasn't to have a child, then maybe it was to train his kid to be the next phantom thief. And if he had to train his kid to be the next phantom thief, then there must have been a reason he couldn't go on as the Kaitou Kid. Maybe he got injured? Magic tricks would be hard to perform if he had some kind of injury. The Kaitou Kid of today certainly didn't have any such ailments.

"Heiji?"

Heiji looked up in surprise, and turned his head to see Kazuha staring at him.

"You were talking about Kaitou Kid, and you just suddenly stopped."

Heiji scratched idly at the back of his head and laughed awkwardly. "Oh, yeah, just thinking," he said.

Kazuha seemed to accept his explanation and smiled at him. She then quickly looped her arm around his.

"Well, we're almost at the movie theater. C'mon, let's hurry! I wanna get some popcorn during the credits!"

Heiji almost tripped as he was pulled roughly along behind the overly excited girl. Honestly, who would be this excited to watch a lovey-dovey chick flick?

Once they made it to the theater, Kazuha rushed to get them in line, practically using Heiji as a weapon to secure a spot. At least, that's what it felt like to him with how she was tossing him around like a rag doll while getting in line.

The line was actually pretty long. Longer than he'd have expected for a chick flick.

"What's this movie called again?" Heiji asked absently.

"This is the sequel to The Red Handkerchief. The first one was really good!" Kazuha responded excitedly back.

"Oh?" Heiji looked around at the other people in line. Most of them, to be expected, were teenaged girls. A lot he recognized from Kaihou. There were a few guys in line too. Almost all of them looked to be dreading the upcoming experience.

His thoughts were interrupted when he felt an elbow prod him in the stomach.

"You aren't regretting coming here with me, are you?" Kazuha asked. She looked slightly doubtful. She must have also noticed all of the zoned out faces of the other guys'.

Heiji shoved her back. "What? No. Shut up, ahou. Now pay attention, the line is moving."

Kazuha smiled, and happily moved up in line with Heiji following along behind her.

"By the way... Kazuha?"

His childhood friend turned around with a cheery smile. "Hm?" she chirped.

Heiji didn't share in her merriment, instead looking down, then looking back up at her face.

"You gonna let me go anytime soon? I can walk myself, ya know?"

Kazuha looked down to their interlocked arms, and immediately let him go as if she had just realized she had touched something really hot. Could have fooled him, honestly, with the way her whole body went red as if she'd just gotten burned. From her arms to her face.

"S-sorry..."

"S'all right."

Heiji put his newly freed hand in his pocket.

They were just about a third of the way up in line when Heiji felt his phone start to vibrate.

"Hm?" he wondered aloud as he pulled his phone out of his pocket to check the caller ID. It was some unknown number.

"Oh, Heiji, who's that?" Kazuha asked when she noticed his phone in his hand.

He shrugged. "Dunno. Unknown caller."

Kazuha suddenly whirled around on him, and it nearly surprised him enough to fall backwards. He managed to keep hold of his balance.

"No cases!"

"...Huh?"

Kazuha glared vehemently at him.

"You heard me. No cases! You promised you'd watch this with me when it came out in theaters!"

Heiji gave her a bored, unimpressed look. That was quite the change in tune compared to the, 'if I'm forcing you, you don't have to watch it,' she had been blabbering about all of ten minutes ago.

"Heiji!"

"Okay, okay. I heard you. Sheesh. Just hold my place, all right?" he said as he stepped out of line.

He could feel her stare bouncing off the back of his head as he hit the call button and placed the phone next to his ear.

"Hello?"

"Mm... oh! Hello! Is this uh... is this Hattori Heiji I'm speaking to?"

Sounded like a young girl. Probably about his age.

"Yes. What can I do for you?"

The girl didn't respond immediately. She made a sound, as if she were taking a breath, probably to calm herself. Judging by the introduction to her call, whatever she was calling him for wasn't terribly urgent. If it was, she wouldn't be so horribly slow to respond. It seemed as though she wasn't used to calling random people.

"You're the great detective of the West, right?"

She was hesitant. Perhaps calling him would get her in trouble? Perhaps by her parents?

"I am. And you are?"

Another long pause. He supposed she wasn't completely sold on calling him. It was probably something she had worked up the courage to do just before.

"...My name is Nakamori Aoko. And I... I..." she took another breath, this time to steel her resolve, "I have a job for you, Hattori Heiji-san."

His interest was mildly piqued. Mostly because he could swear he recognized that name from somewhere.

"Oh?" He smirked. "Okay, Nakamori-san, I'm listening."

She didn't hesitate as long this time around.

"There's someone I want you to help me catch."

Someone she wanted him to catch?

"A thief? Did someone break into your house? I don't mean to sound rude, but shouldn't you be calling the police?"

"No, no! Nothing like that happened..."

Now he was confused. She wanted him to catch someone. The word 'someone' implied the thing to be caught was human. So he doubted it was one of those, 'can you help me find my cat, Princess Fluffy? She's been gone for four days,' scenarios.

...Unless she was really into cats.

But then again, if that was the case, she'd sound more urgent.

Wait... Nakamori... Thieves? Oh no, no. Hell no.

"I want you to catch... Kaitou Kid."

"No."

There was a series of splutters on the other end of the line.

"N-no? But! I can find a way to pay you! ...I don't have a lot of money though."

"I'm sorry Nakamori-san, but I can't be bribed. I don't work for money."

She sounded genuinely let down by the immediate refusal. It kind of made him feel a little bit guilty. There was no way he was going to run around Japan chasing a phantom thief, though. No way. No matter how guilty it made him feel.

No wonder her name sounded so familiar to him before. He remembered now. She was the dang daughter of that crazy inspector.

"...Is there anyway I can change your mind, Hattori-san?"

He sighed.

"I'm sorry, but chasing after Kaitou Kid would be too large of an endeavor. It could take me days, maybe even weeks. Probably longer, depending on how often he sets up his heists. And I couldn't even guarantee you that I'd catch him. The amount of resources and time I'd need far exceeds the amount I have to give. Between going to school and my limited access to resources that the police already have, I just can't do it-"

"But everyone says you're the best!" she interrupted. "I don't know who else to ask..."

Heiji idly scratched at his cheek.

"You're pretty serious about this, aren't you?"

There was a brief pause.

"Yes."

He sighed again. This wasn't a conversation he had ever expected to have.

"I'm sorry, Nakamori-san, but I don't think I'll be anymore capable than the Tokyo police," he said, and made a move to run his free hand through his hair. She didn't immediately answer him, and after another long pause, he continued. "But if it'll make you feel any better, you can consult me whenever a heist pops up. You can use this same number."

The girl on the other end sounded like she was sniffling. Heiji slumped forward.

Why did she have to make it seem as if he had just crushed all of her hopes and dreams. Why did girls always have to do that?

"Okay... I understand."

But did she really?

"I'm sorry." Jeez, how many times had he said that already?

"Heiji!"

Heiji turned around at the sound of his name. He saw Kazuha almost near the ticket booths. She pointed to the line, then at him, then she shrugged. He held up his finger in an attempt to tell her to give him a second. Then he turned back around.

Sheesh. Impatient much? Why were women so crazy?

"It's okay. I know that what I'm asking for is a bit much."

Just a bit? He thought sarcastically.

"I think I'll go ask the Sleeping Sleuth, Kogoro Mouri then."

Heiji felt an uncontrollable twitch start up in his brow at the mere mention of the, 'Sleeping Sleuth.' Why would she ask that guy? He couldn't deduce his way out of a wet paper bag without Kudo.

"I hear he's the best in possibly all of Japan."

...The best? In all of Japan? Wasn't that a bit of an exaggeration? Kudo wasn't that good.

"I just don't think I'll have enough money to pay him, though, you know? I just feel like I'd be wasting his time."

Oh, so his time was just collateral damage. Makes sense.

"I was going to ask him first, actually,"

...he was the second choice?

"but I didn't think he'd accept my request. Being a high school student doesn't offer much in the way of... 'resources,' ne, Hattori-san?"

Heiji started to cough, or choke, or gag, he wasn't sure.

"But I guess... the worst he could say is no. I suppose it's worth a try. Thank you for at least listening to me, Hattori-san. I'm sorry I bothered you."

Before she could hang up, he spoke, and his voice came out raspy, forced, and deep.

"I'll do it."

"Huh?"

Heiji felt his irritation bubbling over. He was practically simmering in it.

"I said, I'll do it. I'll take your case."

He'll show her who the best detective in all of Japan is. And him.

"Y-you will? What changed your mind?"

He could practically see Kudo's smirking face in front of him.

"Not important."

"Oh, thank you, Hattori-san! You have no idea how much I appreciate this!"

"Don't mention it."

"I'll give you my address so we can discuss anymore necessary details in person. Oh! And I'll text you my personal cell number so we can keep in touch in the meantime!"

"Ahuh."

"Oh, I'm so excited! Oh, oh, right! I don't have any money to pay for your basic amenities or housing while you're in Tokyo..."

Heiji smirked, but it didn't reach his eyes. They stayed irritated. The thought of Kudo's giant, empty house came to mind.

"I'll take care of it."

"Oh, all right. I'm sorry I have to do that to you, Hattori-san."

"S'all right."

"Oh, oh, I can't think of anything else. Is there anything else? Ah... Oh! How soon will we be able to meet? The sooner the better."

"I can come now."

"Oh, now? That's perfect! My dad will be home, he can tell you more about the details of Kaitou Kid. All right then! I'll see you soon, Hattori-san. I'll text you my address and phone number now!"

"'kay."

"Bye bye!"

Heiji didn't even get another word in before the connection ended.

He let out an irritated sigh. Since he was definitely going to take on this case now, he'd have to tell his parents. They probably wouldn't be too thrilled when he told them he was going to be skipping school. Probably best to fly over to Tokyo, then break the news to them.

No, nope, no, not a good idea. They'd fly over and haul his ass back for sure. Maybe he could convince them if he could get Kazuha to collect all of his homework for him while he was away.

His phone buzzed in his hand, and he checked to see the text from Nakamori-san. The text was littered with cute emojies and smiley faces.

What if... what if he went to whatever school Nakamori went to while he was there? If he remembered right, they were in the same grade. But what school did she go to again? Tch, he should have asked. He ended up hitting reply on the text message he just received.

What school do you go to, Nakamori-san? He typed in and sent.

Ekoda high school. Why?

Damn, so it wasn't Kudo's. That meant he couldn't bum a uniform off him. Would have been perfect. He wasn't using them anyway.

Do you have any spare uniforms for guys?

Worth a shot.

He got a quick reply.

No, but I can get some! Are you planning to attend a school around Tokyo under cover?!

Something like that.

Well, he'd think on it. He could always go to Kudo's high school in the meantime. For now he could head over there and check out the situation. See what he could do immediately, worry about living situations and schooling later.

"Heiji!"

Heiji felt his eyes nearly pop out of his head when he widened them. That scream had been right next to his ear, and now it was ringing.

Kazuha walked in front of him, waving two tickets in front of his face.

"What the heck are you doing? I got two tickets like five minutes ago!"

Oh shit. He forgot about Kazuha. The Kazuha of the right now.

"Uh..." he mumbled, then started to chuckle sheepishly.

"C'mon, let's go! The credits are probably almost over by now. I didn't even get popcorn yet." She started to walk off, but when he didn't follow her, she turned back around.

"Kazuha..."

Kazuha finally looked at him. Like really looked at him. Her eyes were quick to narrow.

"Heiji, what was that phone call about?"

Heiji desperately tried to find something to look at. Anything that wasn't Kazuha.

"Okay, listen, I have a really good-"

"You accepted a case, didn't you?"

Damn it.

"...No...?"

"Heiji!"

"Now hold on, just let me explain!"

Kazuha, however, didn't appear to be having any of his well crafted excuses. She walked back over to him, grabbed him by the sleeve of his shirt, and started to pull.

"You'll have to call them back and tell them that you'll do it later. My movie is about to start, dang it."

He, of course, resisted.

"Wait, Kazuha."

Kazuha turned to look at him. He tried to put on the most innocent, puppy-dogish looking face he could muster. He could only hope that it would be enough to get him spared.

"What?" she barked.

"I, uh, I told them I'd be there now."

There was a long, pregnant pause. Kazuha stared at him with an unreadable expression. It honestly made him more worried than her usual angry ones. Not knowing what she was thinking was more scary than her rage.

"Heiji." She sounded so calm. But if he knew anything about Kazuha, and he did, a lot in fact, this was the mere calm before a very terrible, awful storm.

She took a deep breath, then exhaled slowly. Then she looked at him again. Heiji waited with bated breath. This was the moment of truth. This moment would tell how he would walk away from this situation. In one piece, or multiple ones.

And then it came. Very quickly.

"What the hell is wrong with you? I told you NO CASES, and what do you do?! You take a case!" Kazuha exclaimed, grabbing him by the collar of his uniform to shake the sense right out of him. "You PROMISED me, Heiji Hattori!"

He tried to get a word in, really, he did, but it was hard to talk when he was being shaken like a bobble head toy.

"I've been waiting all year for this movie, and I JUST got the tickets, and now you tell me you took on a case right before it STARTS?!"

"Ka-zu-ha!"

"I can't BELIEVE you!"

People were staring at them now. Most out of curiosity (the girls), the rest out of understanding (the guys).

Just as soon as the storm had hit, it subsided. Kazuha released him, leaving him to flop down on the ground in a disheveled pile of limbs.

When he recovered well enough to sit up, he saw she had turned away from him, giving him only the sight of her back.

"Tell me," she started, a lot more quietly now. It certainly got his attention. A lot more than even when she had yelled right in his ear. "Is it... is it really important? That case."

Heiji stood up carefully. He eyed her posture critically. She had her arms behind her back, one she held by the elbow with the other. It was a defensive sort of posture.

He started up that idle scratching of his cheek again. Force of habit, he supposed.

"Well, yeah. I wouldn't have taken it otherwise."

He saw her slouch. She looked a little defeated.

"More important than... me?"

Heiji was quite taken aback by that. His brain had trouble registering it. Eventually it just crashed, leaving his mouth high and dry. It tried it's best to save face, but ended up floundering like a beached fish, no sound coming out.

When his brain finally turned back online, probably to see if it was safe to come out now, it was too late.

"Never mind. That was a stupid question. Forget I said anything."

"Kazuha..."

She waved dismissively.

"Forget it, forget it. That was embarrassing. Go... go do your case." But as she said this, she still had yet to turn around. "I can get this on DVD when it comes out. We can watch it then."

"Kazuha."

She didn't respond to him. Instead, she attempted to walk away. Emphasis on attempted.

He grabbed her by the arm, and pulled her to him, because there was no way she was walking away from him all sad like that. They'd just talked about this. Or... sort of. The silent agreement heavily implied that they had.

He spun her around to face him.

"Kazuha!"

She stared at him, and he noticed her glassy eyes and red face. So he opened his mouth to speak.

Unfortunately, this was as far as his brain had gotten before it conveniently shut off again.

"Uh."

Kazuha pulled herself out of his grasp, and he let her go without much hassle.

"Just go solve your case," she said quietly, looking away from him to some spot on the ground.

He inhaled sharply, resolutely, and placed his hand on her shoulder.

"I'll make it up to you, okay?" he told her.

She shrugged his hand off her shoulder.

"Yeah, whatever."

Heiji glowered, but not at her.

Thanks for nothing, brain.

He stood where he was, a bit unsure. She just waved him off.

"Go on," she said eventually, once she seemed to realize he couldn't take a hint.

Heiji slowly started to jog off in the direction of his house, but once more he turned around. Kazuha had turned away from him again. He chewed on his lower lip.

"I'll make it up to you!" He called out to her. "Detective's honor!" When she cast a sidelong look over her shoulder, he gave her a confident smile. "Tomorrow! We'll watch that movie! The Red Notebook! Here! So don't worry!"

With that, he ran off.

He didn't notice that she had turned around to watch him go, or how the more and more disappointed she started to look the farther and farther he moved away.

"It's handkerchief." she mumbled. "The Red Handkerchief."

But he was much too far away at this point to hear.

AN:

I love Heiji. So much. This was really fun to write. And I already threw some minor drama in there, so yay. It'll come back to bite our favorite Osaka couple in the arse later. Should be fun.

In response to a review I received, for anyone else who might be curious, this story is going to be centered around their canon relationships. HeijiKazuha, ShinichiRan, and KaitoAoko. But also their friendships, of course.

Should be no surprise which POV of which couple will be up next. :D If anyone has anymore questions concerning this story, feel free to ask. I will answer.