In which Heiji slips, Kazuha has her dream come true, and they miss their train stop home.

Had It Been Real

They've been together so long that Heiji can't remember life without her chatters in the mornings, her presence by his side during their walks home from school, her voice after the quick-dial tone. Their bickering.

It doesn't bother him though; never thought about it either. She's always there anyways. Don't know where she is? One call can fix that. Won't pick up her phone? Her mom can readily tell him her location, or let him in her house. He knows her house almost as well as his own, having been there countless times.

Childhood friends, they've been. Bound to remain so.

Forever?

That's what they tell themselves, drowning deep in the river of denial. But here's the news, they're not very good at keeping their words (especially on this).

He for one, slipped many times.

They have said their goodbyes to Kudo and Ran-neechan before boarding their train back to Osaka around sundown. She fell asleep against his shoulder half way, hair pooling dark brown against his neck and the warm scent of her vanilla shampoo invading his senses. He was tired too, and without her chatter or insults, he had to pinch himself to stay awake. If he sleeps they'll miss their stop, and she'll have his head, regardless of whose fault it was. He shifted a little against her warm weight. Her soft breathing hitched before continuing its rhythm.

Heiji's best friend, this pony-tailed girl, drives him crazy, sometimes with incredulity, with fear, mostly with insults, and sometimes, at the smallest moments, with a strange feeling he just can't identify. This curiosity that he just can't understand. Heiji, with all his crime genius and logic intelligence, still cannot figure out his frustration and teeth gritting annoyance when she laughed with other men, when she looked at another with more than platonic in her eyes. (He never seemed to register the way she looks at him though.)

The wavering sunlight lost its luster with every blink of shadow between tunnels. It lingered on her cheek and pale jaw, on part of her smooth neck, on soft lips. For a moment, so did his gaze. And he leaned (one small bit of a fraction) in to her without knowing why.

Kazuha, he called to her with half a mind. He was caught in a moment, as the saying goes. But that's silly and Heiji never does silly things. So whoever said that he's protective over this girl here by his side must have a lose screw clanking somewhere in the head.

He saw her eyelids fluttered as her lips parted in a small exhale.

Heiji leans into her for a kiss.

She yielded easily under him and tasted of vanilla. It's the Chap Stick that she had been using, he would think back later. But now Heiji pressed closer because she's surprisingly sweet for someone that spew words like acid half the time. Just what is this and he can't get enough-

A train compartment door slid open with a ka-chunck that resonated like a cold wakeup call. He abruptly turned to the floor with an inhaled breath. Kazuha's head fell deeper into the crook of his neck.

"Kuso!" He swore to his shoes, eyebrows furrowed in frustration and cheeks flaming, startled at what he'd just done. Whathad he just done? Whatever this is, it cannot happen again. Another mystery for the Detective of the West.

"Hei…ji," Kazuha sighed his name, lips shifting against his neck in a smile. Heiji promptly jumped before suppressing the shiver coming. He was irritated and for goodness sake, nervous? His eyes looked everywhere except that sleeping face.

Then in the back of his mind, he registered with horror a monotonous voice announcing on the speaker "Next stop, Kitatama District. Please remain in your seats…" The train compartment door slid shut with snap and Heiji looked up in time to see their stop pass them by.

No. he thought with a grimace. Oh, no. There goes their stop in his moment of absolute shock and the aftermath of thinking, thinking, and thinking for a justification for his own actions. For that, he steamed for a few more minutes, cursing silently with his arm over his eyes. He attempted to release his frustration-

"A-Ahou!"

-and tried hard for nonchalance and regularity.

"We've just missed a stop because you slept like a pig and won't wake up!"

"Nng… missed stop?" Her eyes fluttered open at his voice in her ear. She flushed when she took note of the way she's tucked into his side. But realization dawned and her cheeks tinge further with the red of anger. Heiji moved away and flicked her forehead. Kazuha started, one hand instinctively moving to rub the offended spot "Ahou!"

"We'll take the 985 later to get back…"

"Heiji…!" Kazuha felt a familiar ticking in her left eyebrow. "You fell asleep didn't you?" Heiji avoided her irked stare and flushed cheeks with a look out the window. "It's your turn to stay awake this time! You always give me hell when I fell asleep on my watch…"

In the end, Heiji chalked it up (once again)to curiosity and stuck that moment to the back of his head. Mull over that later, Kazuha's awake.

"You have drool on your face, ahou."

Teasing her is more fun.

"You're the Ahou, Ahou!"

When Heiji thinks about them in terms of L-… Lo… The L word, his mind freezes and his blush matches Kazuha's red hair tie. He can't fathom the possibility of well, the L word between them even with the world screaming (Can't you see?), even if his own actions betray his mind each and every time.

They just need a little more time, as Shinichi aptly told his girlfriend when Ran sighed the umpteenth time faraway in Tokyo, exasperated at the absolute snail pace their best friends are going with their relationship. Ran had been doing that a lot throughout their day with the Osakan couple (and even after, when the couple comes up in conversations).

Surely, they just need a little more time.

"They better come around soon, ne?" Ran probed her boyfriend with a glint in her eyes.

Knowing Ran and her plans, Shinichi sighed first for himself, then for his best friends. They better come around, before everyone gets tired of watching those two bicker like an old married couple and force them to become an actual, albeit young one, with butcher knives and all.

...

...

...

"Kazuha," Here it is again, that tone of voice she only ever hears in dreams. In this one, Heiji was waiting for her by the see-saw of their childhood playground. He smiles at her, beckons her over. Kazuha takes a step and opens her mouth to reply, but her vision swirls and she calls out his name against a mirage of colors.

Suddenly, Kazuha finds herself in his arms in the pouring rain. His hold borders on painful and his breath is fast against her cheek. She blushes first and wonders next, then she realizes that she had been crying and Heiji is speaking to her in hushed tones, attempting to comfort her. "Heiji," Kazuha calls for his attention, and he responds, leaning into her to capture her lips in the rain.

Kazuha manages a smile before her world tilts.

She sees Ran and Shinichi next, talking to her over a table of gourmet food in the Tokyo restaurant they frequented this afternoon. Shinichi says something and Ran laughs. Kazuha turns her head to find the seat next to her empty. Her lips move for a question.

"A-Ahou!" it's his voice in her ear. Her dream snapped and blanked into the empty blackness before consciousness. "We've just missed a stop because you slept like a pig and won't wake up!"

Missed stop? Kazuha wondered, again. But she hears her own voice this time, and oh, Kazuha realized with a pang, so it was just a dream.

But how sweet, Kazuha wished, bit the inner corner of her lips, how sweet it would be had it all been real.

...

Fin.

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