Ohayou minna! Gomenasai! I know you all are trying to strangle me right now for delaying this chapter but before you do anything, please read the story before committing the crime...^^"
Heiji: Serves you right for delaying your story about the awesome me!
*glares at him. Smiles evilly.*
Me: Oh yeah? Well, FYI, Tantei-san, I'm the one writing this story so I can write almost anything about you, deshou?
*Heiji sweat-drops*
Heiji: A-ahou, that won't work on me.
Kazuha: Oh just apologize to her later! The readers are getting impatient!
Heiji: Fine.
DISCLAIMER: I don't own DC and this story goes to AyumuMatsuoXIII for finally convincing me to continue this!
Enjoy!
*crowd claps, leaves stage*
"Dammit! That woman is going to kill me someday soon!" A small dark-skinned boy complained as he flopped down on a certain Osakan girl's bed, taking in a deep breath at the sweet smelling mattress. It smelled really like her. Like vanilla.
As he flipped over to his back, he thought about what had happened over the past two days and a dark red blush covered his whole face. He could still see it in his mind. If she ever had a peek in his brain, he'd become Heiji sludge for sure!
As he closed his eyes, the image popped out. Unconsciously, a lopsided grin appeared around his mouth.
Soap bubbles floating in the air as the whole bathroom were filled with steam and sitting in the middle was an image of a young woman washing the back of a small boy whose face was as red as a tomato. Her perfect curves and fair skin burned at his eyes as she hummed a soft tune.
"Hugo-kun, are you alright?" A voice spoke up.
Heiji jolted in surprise as he stared up at his childhood friend and the person he's currently living with. "Kazuha-neechan."
"Are you okay? You don't have a fever, right?" She asked him in concern as she leaned her forehead onto his, checking his temperature. "You had such a massive nosebleed after we took a bath together."
Chibi Heiji backed away from her, his heart pounding loudly, as his face heated up. "I-I'm fine."
Kazuha looked a bit crestfallen. "Oh, okay." She stood up. He just noticed that she was in a pair of pajamas. And not just any pajamas, it was the one she proclaimed she hated when he gave it to her as a present; a pair of dark green clothes with yellow duck patterns. She noticed him staring at her night clothes and smiled fondly at it.
"Ugly, isn't it?" She laughed. Heiji frowned. It took him two hours just to find that pair and she called it ugly?! Well, she better wait when returned to normal 'because he was certainly not going to buy her any more clothes.
She sat at the edge of her bed beside him. She said, "Heiji got this for me. Seriously, that aho's fashion sense is even worse than a monkey!"
"Then why wear it?" Heiji asked in a sulking voice.
"Well, it's because it's from Heiji. It's special." She replied simply. The small child looked at her in surprise. "It doesn't matter if it's ugly or nice. It's the thought that counts."
Actually, when I gave it to her, I was thinking all the way that it was a pain, Heiji thought to himself.
"He probably thought that it was a pain picking it for me." She chuckled. Heiji sweat-dropped.
Yep, she was his bestfriend alright. Ever since a long time ago, she always seemed to know what he was thinking about. And yet, in his end, he couldn't read her expressions at all.
Suddenly, the phone downstairs rang. Kazuha went out to get it as Heiji lay back down. Since there were no other guest rooms and Kazuha wouldn't let him sleep on the couch, in the end they had to share the bed.
30 minutes passed and the detective finally realized that she wouldn't be coming up anytime soon. It was probably that Nee-chan on the phone. He decided to go downstairs to take a look.
As he was on the foot of the stairs, one sentence made him stop dead on his tracks.
"Kazuha-chan, what if Hugo-kun is actually Hattori-san?"
=.=
Kazuha froze as she tried to comprehend what Ran had just said. If Heiji was truly Hugo-kun, then…
Just thinking about what happened during the past days made her face all flushed. NO WAY!
"That's not possible, Ran-chan." The Osakan girl said quickly, as her voice began to hitch up, her whole body in panic. "If-if he really is Hugo-kun, then…Then…KYAAA! No, please don't say that it's true!"
Heiji stopped was frozen on the spot. If Kazuha knew the truth… CRAP!
He rushed off to the other house-phone and dialed Shinichi's number.
"Moshi-mos-"
"KUDDDDDDDDDDDDOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOO!"
The Eastern detective abruptly shoved the phone away from his ear. When he finally decided that Heiji had calmed down, he brought it close. "The hell Hattori! You almost killed me back then!"
"Kazuha! It's Kazuha!" the person said in a panicked voice. "She-she-GHA! Control your woman's running mouth, will ya?!"
"M-my woman?!" Kudo spluttered as his face turned into a nice tincture of red. "Who said she was my woman?"
"Who cares! She's apparently spilling the beans off to Kazuha!" If Shinichi could see Heiji's face right now, he'd feel pity for him.
"Fine, I'll help you." Shinichi sighed. "Just go to the living room for a bit and watch TV or something, okay?"
Heiji didn't know what he was planning, but he decided to trust him. "You better make this worth it."
"Hai."
=.=
Heiji could feel Kazuha's pointed stare as he watched Kamen Yaiba on TV.
"Hugo-kun."
He jumped in his seat and slowly turned to look at his childhood friend. She had a suspicious look on her face. "Hai, Kazuha-neechan?"
"Ellery Queen sucks."
A small vein popped on Heiji's forehead. "What did you say, Kazuha-neechan?"
"Holmes is much better than that low-life woman."
The Osakan boy was gripping the remote so hard he was quite surprised it didn't break yet. "Why do you say that?"
"Weeeell, for starters, why does she even have to wear that puffed up dress? Isn't she hot in that?"
"But that's what they wear at that time."
"But she's an independent woman, right? So she can wear any type of clothing she wants."
Heiji didn't have anything to say to that.
"Also," Kazuha continued. "She's a woman and so she's much weaker than men; which would be unfortunate if she had to chase after the criminals. On the other hand, Holmes learned swordplay and he even knows how to use a gun."
Heiji was really at his limit now. He knew she was drawing him in, making him reveal his secret, but right now he was losing his patience. With big effort, he pulled out a forced grin and said, "Why are you telling me this, Kazuha-neechan? I don't really understand what you're saying."
She drew in close to him, her brows furrowed. "The day you appeared was the day Heiji was missing. Also, you were wearing his hat. What's odder was the fact that you didn't bring any clothes and your parents didn't even call me to see if you were okay or not.
"You're actually Heiji, aren't you?"
"E-eto…" Where was the help that he needed?!
"Answer me!"
"Eep!" Heiji squeaked as he looked up at her towering figure. Before it was always him looking down at her, but now, he finally realized how scary Kazuha was.
Ring, ring.
Both of them looked at the phone. "Erm, someone's calling." He pointed out cautiously. The girl glared at him before marching off to receive it.
"Moshi-moshi?"
"Kazuha."
Just that one word sent her blushing. "He-Heiji?"
"Who else do you think?"
"AHOU! BAKA! BAKA! BAKAERO! YOU INSENSITIVE JERK! WHERE IN THE WORLD ARE YOU?! DO YOU THINK I WILL TOLERATE THIS?! HOW DARE YOU NOT CALL ME! YOU COULD BE HURT OR EVEN WORSE, DEAD! HATTORI HEIJI YOU…" Tears welled up on her eyes. "Don't DO that to me! Seriously, what will your mother say?"
"Ahou, I forgot okay?"
So this was what was happening in on the other side of the line, Heiji thought to himself as he gazed softly at her.
"By the way, Heiji, you sound funny. How come your accent is different?"
"Erm…I'm currently in an undercover case right now so I have to cover my accent." The other side said, flustered.
Kazuha frowned. Hugo-kun was Heiji. But she was also talking with Heiji on the phone. It was all so confusing.
"Alright. But you better come home unscathed, okay?! You didn't lose the charm, did you!?"
"Of course not! See you!"
"Good bye." As she put down the receiver, she whipped her head back at him. She smiled brightly. "I'm sorry for accusing you of something you didn't do, Hugo-kun."
"It's okay!" He replied brightly. Ahou, I can see right through that bluff.
Suddenly, a huge thunder clapped up on top of their heads and the house was suddenly covered in darkness. The next instant, rain was pouring heavily outside.
"KYAAA!"
Something fell over and a crashing sound followed. Heiji was up and running across the room in an instant. He knew the layout like the back of his hand so it didn't take long for him to reach Kazuha.
"Kazuha-neechan? KAZUHA-NEECHAN! Pull yourself together! Are you hurt?! What happened?"
Kazuha wrapped her arms around the young boy's neck as she took deep breaths. "I'm okay." She said shakily.
"No you're not!" She was surprised at Hugo's protective tone. "Hugo-kun?"
Suddenly, the lights came back on and both Hugo and Kazuha's face were barely an inch apart from each other. Both of them jumped away from each other and an awkward silence ensued between them.
"I-I think I will go to sleep now." Heiji stammered as he robotically stood up and went upstairs.
As he closed the door of Kazuha's bedroom, he sank down on the floor and put his hands on his forehead as he tried to calm his fast-paced beating heart.
What in the world was that?!
=.=
The next day…
Ding Dong
"Kazuha-neechan, someone's at the door!" Heiji called out to her. "Yeah, yeah, I'm coming!" A muffled voice came out from upstairs.
He sighed as he jumped down from the chair and swallowing his last bite of toast, opened the screen door. Only to be greeted by a person who seemed to be shining.
"Kazuha-chan, a lovely bouquet for your beautiful image." A low and sexy voice came out and handed a bunch of roses at empty air. The stranger blinked as he scratched his blonde hair. An irritated cough came out from below. "Ara, who might you be, little boy?"
Heiji glared at him. "Kazuha-neechan doesn't need you so you can just go and scram."
"My my, that's not something a grade one kid should say." But then he paused and peered closer at the detective with his blue eyes. "Now that I look closer, you really look like Hattori-san. Don't tell me you both did-"
"WE DIDN'T DO IT!" A high-pitched shrill came out from Kazuha as she stood panting behind Heiji. "He's just a relative of Heiji's. By the way, why are you here James-san?"
"I've heard that Hattori-san ditched you for some case so I came here to walk you to school."
"She doesn't need you. She has Heiji-ojisan already. You small fry should just rot in hell." Chibi Heiji said defiantly. Kazuha and James looked at the boy in shock.
"Hugo-kun, you shouldn't say stuff like that!"
"So what if I did?" He shot back. "It's true that they're just insignificant bugs. If they can't protect you, then they don't have the right to walk you home or go to school."
"Hugo-kun, I think it's best if you just go inside the house, okay?" Kazuha said gently as she pulled him inside and stepped out.
"So you're replacing Heiji-ojisan with that guy?" He protested. James glared at the boy.
"Oi, if she wants to walk with me, then she can. It's her decision, not yours!"
"Bakazuha-neechan!" Heiji shouted at her before slamming the screen door closed.
"Oh dear…"
=.=
Inside the house, Heiji clenched his fist as he paced around the living room, fuming. That freaking ungrateful woman! She thinks she can just replace me with any other guy?! What does she see in that twerp anyway? He can't protect her like I can! He has no right to even go near her! Fine, she can do whatever she wants! I don't care anymore!
He breathes a huge sigh. That boy wouldn't be able to tolerate her temper so she'll be back with the good ol' Hattori so it's fine.
Suddenly, an image of tiny kids with blonde hair and green eyes popped up in his head and he was back to his pacing again, his head filled with what ifs. His eyes landed on the phone and a plan formulated in his mind. Wasn't there a gang that roamed around the neighborhood, causing trouble to everyone? And in one of the members was an acquaintance whose phone number he still remembered. A plan formed in his head.
He grinned.
He quickly dialed the number.
"Moshi moshi, Kikkaru-san, do you still remember what you owe me?"
=.=
"Give us your money!"
Kazuha looked at her surroundings. They were trapped by five bikers with black leather jackets holding baseball bats and stuff. James had run away from them, leaving the aikido champion to fend for her own self.
Two guys came near her and attacked, but they reached the ground faster than they had anticipated. However, what Kazuha didn't know was that a guy was carrying a gun. She stared in fright at the barrel of the gun and closed her eyes as the man pulled the trigger.
BANG!
Drips of blood.
Kazuha stared in surprise at the person in front of her wielding a katana. She didn't know why, but for a brief second, she saw Heiji standing in front of her instead of Hugo.
Hugo was glaring evilly at the bikers, his sword stopping the bullet's path.
"Let's get out of here!" The men said as they drove away.
"H-Hugo-kun? What are you doing here?" The kid turned around and grinned at her as the heftily leaned on the sword.
"Well, Heiji-ojisan called me, saying that you might be in danger and so I grabbed this katana and-urgh!" The child doubled over, his whole body burning. It had started.
"Hugo-kun?! What's wrong?! Are you alright?"
One look at her, and something clicked in place. He had to say it.
"Kazuha-neechan, before I go please listen to what I have to say." He panted, clutching his chest tightly. Kazuha was frightened but she nodded.
"Ore wa Kazuha ga koishiteru da."
And he ran away, never to be seen again.
"Hugo-kun!"
=.=
Kazuha lay dumbfounded on the street, blushing and yet stunned. Did a seven-year old kid just confess to her?! She had to go after him!
Getting up, she ran towards where Hugo left, not caring if she was late for school. As she turned at a corner, she bumped into someone.
"Ahou, look where you're going! Are you blind?"
The girl's eyes widened in disbelief. She knew that voice anywhere. Kazuha looked up and met the green eyes of her childhood friend.
"Heiji?!"
Heiji raised an eyebrow. "Who else could it be? Besides, you're going the wrong way. The school is that way, isn't it?"
"Have you seen Hugo-kun anywhere?!" She asked in panic.
"You're more worried about that kid than greeting me hello?"
"Hello. Now tell me where he is!"
"Fine, calm down woman. His parents just came by and picked him up, saying something about going to Canada or something."
Heiji looked at her in amusement as her face fell. "Oh ok. I didn't even say goodbye."
"You don't have to say goodbye to him. You'll meet again. Probably." The western detective said easily as he walked to school. He looked at her. "Well, are you coming?"
"I'm coming."
As they ran up the cherry-filled hill towards their school, Heiji blushed at what he had said a while ago. He looked at the ribbon tied around Kazuha's pony-tail and deep inside, he knew that someday, he'd ask that question. He'd make his dream come true…
=.=
Eighteen years later…
"What should we call him?"
"How 'bout Hugo?"
"Hugo? But wouldn't that confuse him and your nephew's names?"
"My nephew? Oh that! Nah, its fine. I don't have a nephew named Hugo."
"…"
"…"
A puzzle clicked in place.
"Shimata."
"HEIJI!"
How did you like it? I know I know! My updates are getting slower! But this will be my 'last' side story, then I'll focus on my multi-chaptered one, I promise!
Hontou Gomenasai!
I hoped you enjoyed it! I know it might be quite confusing, so you are free to ask me any questions about this since I wrote it in a rush!
btw, koishteru is another form of I love you in Japanese. It means that you want to spend the rest of your life with that person.
Once again, Thanks for reading!
*crowd claps, leaves stage*