AN: Hello! My second DC fanfic. I do hope people liked the 'Silver Bullet'.

This one is based on Hattori Heiji and Kudo Shinichi's unique friendship. Their meeting was unconventional but almost as if it were fated. Meeting first on that case when they were thirteen and being called Hattori of the West and Kudo of the East...it was the start of a wonderful rivalry. Then the way they became friends and slowly best buds, it was beautiful!

We've all read and seen it from Shinichi's point of view. This story will be from Heiji's perspective. It might have a couple of scenes from someone else's pov, but that will be rare.

To my C.I.D. and Harry Potter readers, I'm very sorry about the lack of updates. I hope I'll be updating soon.

That said, please read and review. Enjoy!

.

"Dialogues"

'Thoughts'

Chapter 1: Detectives of East and West

The first time they had met – almost met – it was a mere premonition. A feeling that that person would one day become his greatest rival or most cherished friend.

Of course, then he had not really known what that premonition was, just that it was an odd feeling he should pay attention to. Kazuha must be rubbing off him if he has now started to believe in fate and destiny or some shit like that.

But at that moment, he did not know what else to call it. The case had just gotten over; he had presented his deduction to the officers, finally attaining that last piece of clue from his father – much to his ire – to complete his theory. The police had been impressed, as they should be, with his deduction and he had felt euphoria like never before. And then his elation was brought down to Earth with a sudden jerk –

"Inspector, what do I do about this middle-school student on the end of the phone? He made the same deduction as that kid…and almost simultaneously!"

'What!'

Heiji couldn't believe it! The other detective had come to the same conclusion as him? And without anyone's help either, he bet. He was slightly furious and envious, but accepted the defeat for what it was.

"Hey, Heiji!" Kazuha complained as he hoisted her onto his back in a piggy-back hold, "Put me down! This is so embarrassing!"

"Quiet down, will you?" Heiji snapped back without any real heat, "You're the one who practised crazily to join this ski trip that you twisted your ankle! Besides, it was due to this ankle of yours that I realised that the victim was actually inside the bag…"

A gust of wind, a faint murmur of voices and a single glance back – 'That had to be the other middle school student,' Heiji thought, 'it is difficult to clearly see each other in this snow storm, but we're detectives, so we will meet somewhere, when the stage filled with mystery coincides once more…'

At that moment, neither knew just how much their thoughts coincided.

It had been a year since that fateful day at the snow covered mountain top and at fourteen, Heiji was much more formidable as a fledgling detective than he had been before. But despite that, his father would not hear of him helping out in any cases.

"Too young to be poking about a crime scene! Cadavers should not be holding your interests at this age!"

His mother would agree. He knew his parents were slightly worried about his choice in becoming a detective. They approved certainly, and were quite proud of his intellect too, but they did not understand why he felt the need to begin his so called 'career' at such a young age.

He was in it for the thrill – for delivering justice, yes that too – but everyday things were so mundane and boring that they did not captivate him for long.

People – they fascinated him. People were unpredictable, their actions, their thoughts – they varied and changed and no matter how much he tried to predict them, they defied his expectations in some way. Cases, be it homicide or otherwise, meant interacting with different people. A new challenge, something that would excite him out of the general ordinary things of life…

His parents, unfortunately, never understood this. His father's face had pinched closed when he mentioned that he was in it for the 'thrill', and told him to rethink his thoughts.

Okay, what? Here he was getting bored out of his mind at school, the small cases his classmates asked him to solve were no challenge at all, and he longed for that heady rush of adrenaline that he had felt at that mountain-top solving a murder. What did his father exactly want from him?

Kazuha never really understood it either. She was all for justice, her father being a police officer, but she did not see herself becoming an officer of the law.

"Not a police-man, Kazuha!" Heiji had told her, "A detective! Detectives are private investigators! We take on cases people ask us to and solve it for them! The police are law enforcement. Detectives cannot make arrests or anything of the sort."

"Isn't that a disadvantage?"

"Nah, even though detectives do not have such rights, at least they don't have to report every action they make to a superior. You only work for yourself."

Because joining the police in the future and answering to his own father for every movement he made was not an appealing notion. Also, apart from a few high ranking officers, the others were a little dull…for lack of a better word. He could not see himself working with them, or with any one for that matter, who were below his intellectual level.

As such, the first case he was involved in and actually solved it by himself, was one he stumbled into by pure coincidence.

"Hey, Otaki-han. You my baby-sitter today?" Heiji drawled.

Because, really, that was exactly what he was. Every free day he spent in the police station would be supervised by some or the other officer. By now, everyone knew who he was – Son of Chief Superintendent Hattori Heizo, Hattori Heiji.

"Hei-chan! You know that's not true!" The man grimaced at the word 'baby-sitter'.

"Sorry," Heiji muttered.

In a way, they were both right. While Hattori senior did assign an officer to watch over his son at the precinct, Otaki Goro was the only inspector who actually liked accompanying him and looked forward to it. The others mostly had the impression that he was a bit too full of himself as he was the Chief's son.

"So, Hei-chan, how was school?" Otaki-han asked him amicably and took a seat beside him at the police cafeteria.

And that was another thing, he was the only one apart from his mother who used that horrible nick name – 'Hei-chan'. The man had known him since he was a kid though, so that was alright…a bit.

"Same old, same old. You off duty?"

"Yes, why? Do you want me to drive you to some place?"

This was another reason he liked Otaki-han; the man may not be one of the greatest detectives, but he could read Heiji well enough at least.

"Yup," Heiji grinned and showed him a bit of paper, "My classmate's place. His nee-chan's got a request for me."

"Oh?"

"Background check, nothing serious."

"Hei-chan…you know your father doesn't much like this. Even a back-ground check is an invasion of privacy. You're not a legal detective you know."

Heiji scowled as he got up, Otaki-han reluctantly following, "I'm not going to hack into anything or review a person's phone record or something, you know. That nee-chan wants me to check out her boyfriend and see if he is clean or not – he was caught at that bar raid three months ago. He was found clean then, but she has her suspicions. She just wants to be sure before inviting him home to meet the parents…"

"Oh, okay then…"

"A little more faith would be appreciated."

"You know I trust you, Hei-chan!"

"Yeah, yeah…"

The boyfriend was found murdered in his house.

Otaki-han and Heiji had barely knocked at the door before it fell open. It had taken Heiji all of five minutes of careful observation before ruling out suicide and another two before declaring it a murder. Ten minutes later, when the dispatch team and coroners examined the body and reached the same conclusion, Heiji had told Otaki-han that if he truly trusted him then he would bring forth the following suspects Heiji had compiled a list of.

The inspector in charge of the case had not been happy with a teenager's interference, but not even he could refute the logic behind the accusation.

Four hours later, the case had been wrapped up, culprit arrested with all necessary evidence, and the police had returned after taking their statements.

"That was brilliant Hei-chan!" Otaki-han praised him.

He knew he was brilliant, but hearing it from Otaki-han, the only officer that day to compliment him… his face glowed.

"Thanks, Otaki-han." Heiji would have to revise his statement, out of all his baby-sitters, Otaki-han was not just tolerable – he was the best!

The subsequent 'Well done, son' from his father had been the icing on the cake.

It was two months later that he first heard the rumors.

Kudo Shinichi from Tokyo had been making a name for himself as a pretty competent junior-high student detective. Heiji frowned, why were they so concerned about Tokyo's student detective when there was one in Kansai too – him!

But apparently Inspector Hiroki from Arson had an old friend in Tokyo's Division One (Homicide) who wouldn't stop talking about what a brilliant young man this 'Kudo' was.

The cafeteria had become Heiji's favourite haunt in the police station; not only was it a nice, quiet place to read, but it also provided him with the opportunity to eavesdrop into the recent precinct gossip. Policemen gossiped like old housewives, seriously!

"He works mostly with Megure's team" Inspector Hiroki was telling his associates, "Apparently, the boy's father was his old friend."

"Oh? Is he any good? Or is he just playing about at being detective?"

Heiji grit his teeth at that! One did not play about at being detective! These officers did not really know how much effort and pain he had put into to gather all the necessary knowledge and instincts to be a good detective.

"Oh no! Megure insists he is quite good. Kudo's father was a consultant before and now Megure actually calls upon the boy when they are stuck with a case!"

"You're exaggerating!"

"Not really, you only have to check out the Tokyo Times to see it! There's an article about a case he's solved almost every week. The number of cases the kid stumbles upon is not even funny!"

Heiji had gone home that day with only one name in his mind – Kudo Shinichi.

Heiji had scoured the whole school before he found out that 2-B's Amane Shiori subscribed to Tokyo Times. She was agreeable enough to let him read it every day at break time to see if he could spot any mention of Kudo Shinichi.

He had no luck for two whole weeks. When he finally did spot the name of his rival from the East, he nearly missed it. There was a small article regarding the murder of a wealthy landlord, the police's work on the case and how middle school student-detective, Kudo Shinichi, had been the one to finally solve the case. That's it. One name and no other mention.

Heiji was slightly disappointed at the lack of information, but he was finally glad to have heard of him.

The days passed, and every other week, his search in the Tokyo Times resulted in a small mention of the other detective.

By the end of his third year of middle school, Heiji had actively taken to following his cases after an officer – they had finally begun to respect him for his own skills! – teasingly mentioned, "We have our own student-detective here. Almost as if they are maintaining the balance - Kudo of the East and Hattori of the West!"

There was one incident – an arson case – that had not ended quite smoothly. He had been uninjured of course, but his mother had kicked up quite the fuss. Kazuha had been extremely worried too, so he had given in to their demands and dutifully stayed at home for the entire weekend.

Bored out of his mind, he idly wondered if his eastern counterpart ever had to deal with his parent's overprotectiveness.

Since Kudo had actually given a couple interviews by now – all case related though – he had finally gotten an idea of his rival's thinking. He had been impressed, without a doubt. Many of the cases had been complicated, excruciatingly so. However, his personal life remained quite the mystery.

Suddenly curious, he switched on his desktop to see if the search engine could provide anything on Kudo Shinichi. It did. Kudo Shinichi was quite famous in his own right. Apart from being one of the top students in Tokyo, there were also a few articles about his school soccer team. They had played in the regionals, though had not qualified for nationals. A missed penalty kick by yours truly, it seemed.

What was surprising was that the search for 'Kudo' had popped out various articles and mentions of a novel series by Kudo Yusaku. A mystery writer who is especially famous for his Night Baron series and married to the legendary Japanese actress Fujimine Yukiko (now Kudo Yukiko). It only took him a moment to compare their black and white pictures from the newspaper and see the resemblance.

Well, that answered his questions about Kudo's family life. His parents were overseas and been so since the past two years, a little before Kudo had begun solving cases.

A part of him was envious at Kudo's relative freedom while another part wondered what kind of family would leave their thirteen year old son alone in Tokyo while they settled abroad.

"Congratulations Hattori-san! Would you care for a small interview?"

Heiji had finally done it! He had won the national championship in kendo in his third and final year of middle school. His kendo master and other club-mates were more ecstatic than him though, with the way they pounced over him, thumping his back and letting out loud cheers and whoops.

The small interview for the monthly sports magazine done with, he was approached by another reporter,

"Hattori-san, I work for 'Young Youth', a monthly periodical. Your amateur detective work has gained quite a bit of recognition in the social media. If you would answer a few questions …?"

It was the first time he had given an interview of such a nature. It was different from the ones he gave after solving a case, more general and quite a few questions about his personal life had also been thrown in.

There was one question though that had made him pause, uncertain as to how he should respond,

"The article in 'Naniwa News', last month, had spoken of something quite interesting. I quote, 'They are both quite splendid young detectives! Hattori of the West and Kudo of the East!' unquote. What are your thoughts on this?"

Heiji had seen it too. That was the first time the both of them had been mentioned in such a way. Tokyo Times had published no such article or even mentioned him anywhere, but Naniwa News had apparently decided to make a story about the two detectives.

Which brought forth the question – what did he think about it?

"Well, I have never met the guy really," Heiji began, "so I can't really say what kind of a detective he is. But you might say we're like rivals. To hear the both of us compared so often, I think I want to know why…so when we do meet, I'm sure we would be rivals as detectives of the East and West."

His first year of high school passed without much fanfare. The cases Kudo solved started to appear more frequently in the paper and the complexity of the cases Heiji encountered had also increased. The only thing that irked him was the kendo championship – some guy named Okita had managed land a blow on him, giving him a cut below his ear and that had been the final point, giving Okita the championship title. His loss stung quite a bit and he promised to get his revenge next year.

Another notable point was Kudo's rise in fame. The Tokyo Times had not only dubbed him as the 'Heisei Holmes' but also 'The saviour of Tokyo Police'. Bit of a high praise, it seemed to Heiji, but looking at the picture of Megure with his arm slung around Kudo's shoulder, posing at the camera like a proud Uncle, he supposed it might be true.

Heisei Holmes though…

Naniwa News had dubbed him 'The Great Detective of the West'; clearly alluding to the fact that there was a 'Great Detective of the East', but that had been it. It took him reading a couple of Kudo's interviews to figure out where that nickname had originated from. Apparently Sherlock Holmes had been Kudo's inspiration and role model and the media had taken a look at his prowess in deductive abilities and promptly named him the 'Modern Holmes'.

It was a couple of weeks after the start of his second year that he realised it – there had not been a single mention of Kudo's cases in the paper the past week. Not. One. Case.

That in itself shouldn't be so surprising, or alarming; it was the appearance of a new detective – Mouri Kogoro.

And it didn't end there. For the next few weeks, Mouri-tantei's sudden uprising of fame and talent continued to make its appearance in the newspaper while Kudo seemed to have disappeared into thin air.

"Why do you look ready to pull out your hair, Heiji?"

"Huh?" Heiji looked up from his perusal of the Tokyo Times, "Oh, Kazuha, it's you. Nothing much, I just can't understand why Kudo's cases are no longer featured…"

Kazuha narrowed her eyes, "Kudo? That detective from Tokyo?"

"Aa. Mouri Kogoro seems to be the new genius detective in Tokyo now – " 'almost…almost as if he's taken Kudo's place.'

It went on for two months before he had had enough of it. From what he had read about Mouri's cases, he had solved all of them very similarly to a certain teenage detective of the East and the only thing he could garner from it was that it was not Mouri but Kudo solving them. But, why? Why would he use that old man as a front to solve his cases? As far as the news reporters knew, it was Mouri solving the case, so did that mean Kudo was not actively solving them but only advising Mouri?

Taking a glance at his schedule, he noted that Friday seemed to be a holiday for them. A long weekend. Perfect for a visit to Tokyo.

"Okan, I'm going to Tokyo for the weekend." Heiji told his mother over dinner.

"Tokyo?" Hattori Shizuka was confused, "Why Tokyo? It's not for a case, is it? I have no problem with you solving cases here, but going to Tokyo seems a bit much for it, don't you think? Have you told your father about this?"

Hattori Heizo had been staying back late this past week, involved in a rather troubling case.

"Nah, no cases. I'm going to meet a detective."

"Detective?" Heizo asked as he stepped into the room.

"Oyaji!" Heiji looked up to see his father, "You're back early."

"Ah, finally closed the case. Besides, I hope you're not going to interfere in someone's work. Tokyo is not under my jurisdiction, it's not guaranteed you will be listened to."

Heiji scowled, "Are you telling me the only reason the police here listens to me is because I'm your son? And no, I'm not going to interfere anywhere. I'm going to meet the so called 'Detective of the East'. Kudo Shinichi."

Heizo hummed thoughtfully, accepting the bowl of rice from his wife, "I see. And no, you are a good enough detective to be respected for your own achievements. But ordering around the police is not something you could do in Tokyo. The officers here agree to follow your words because they know my son will not lead them astray. Tokyo's police doesn't know that."

'Kudo's father isn't a police officer, yet he was respected enough to be called on as a consultant by that Inspector Megure. It's our skills that gain us respect, Oyaji. But, I guess, it's nice to hear you say that I'm a good enough detective…'

"You're going this Friday then?" Heizo asked.

"Yeah,"

Heiji narrowed his eyes in thought, 'I'm going to find you Kudo, find where you've been hiding this past two months. And when I do, I'm going to see if you are actually worthy of being called my equal – my rival.'

AN: So...How did you like it? Did do a good job at the background story?

Please let me know your opinions and if I could make any improvements!

REVIEW!