And It Felt Like Forever

and it felt like forever

i kinda didnt like the plot of this but its the only piece i completed for esuka week in 2023

archiveofourown.org

and it felt like forever - Clover1412 - One Piece (Anime & Manga) [Archive of Our Own]

An Archive of Our Own, a project of the Organization for Transformative Works

Isuka grew up on the castle grounds. Being the ward of the captain of the royal guard meant she lived with him in the castle. Despite her proximity to royalty, she was never one of them. Her adoptive father's closeness to the king he served had meant she received some privileges - schooling, clothes, and training. But there was a line between her and the princess, the world reminded her of it constantly.

Her world was incomparable to the life of the boy she would eventually fall for.

Ace was a prince, despite it being through adoption, he was just as important as the ‘real’ prince. He was kind, beautiful and more importantly out of reach.

Each year, the kingdom threw a banquet for his birthday and Isuka would attend with the royal family of her country. Her adoptive father had to stay close to the king, so there was no reason to leave her alone.

She hid away most of the time, finding solace in the castle's library in the week-long period they stayed. Often because she was too scared about what the other royal kids would think of her. She stumbled across the prince a couple of times in a corner of the garden where she sometimes sat to read in peace, huddled beneath a giant coat and mittens. He was apparently escaping people who spoke badly of his father.

~ ♡ ~

She looked up, startled, a loud rustling noise making its way towards her, she hid behind the book hoping not to be told off by some grown-up. A kind old man had told her it was okay to use it.

‘Stupid people!’ A yell. The person sounded younger than she thought, so she looked up. It was a boy, he looked to be her age, his freckles had faded with the winter cold, but they were just visible. He regarded her with the same shock she did with him.

‘Who’re you?’

‘Isuka,’ she replied, hoping he would pry further.

‘Oh,’ he sniffed and she realised his eyes were red like he had been crying, ‘I’m Ace.’

‘Like the prince?’ She scrambled to stand up and bow to him.

‘You don’t have to do that, it’s not like I’m a real prince anyway.’

She looked up at him, ‘what?’

‘You know I’ve never seen you before, which royal family are you from?’

‘Oh no I’m not a royal, but I’m the ward of Knight Draw, the King of Oykot’s personal protection,’ she was proud of him.

‘Oh, is it your first time here?’

‘No, I’ve been coming here for the past five years,’ ever since she had been adopted five years ago.

‘Oh,’ it was the prince’s 12th birthday, and five years is a long time. ‘Are you not close with the princess?’

‘We get along fine, we are inseparable,’ she imitated the Queen’s tone. When they were home it was true, they loved each other like sisters would. Medora knew how Isuka hated royal events, and even defended her when Draw would scold her for hiding away. So when they had to travel to other nations Medora would cover for her as she spent the week hiding. Unlike her Medora adored social events, and most of all the attention of other people.

‘So you hate those royal brats too?’

‘Technically you’re a royal brat too,’ she replied without thinking, when she realised what she had done she slapped a finger over her mouth.

To her surprise he burst out laughing instead, ‘technically you would be correct, my country believes so, but the other kids seem to hate me.’

‘Why would they hate you?’ She sat back down, patting the seat next to her.

He took the invitation, sitting down next to her. ‘They think I don’t deserve to be a prince,’ he continued when he saw her confused look, ‘my father was a criminal, but the king took pity on my mum when he was executed.’

‘Well if your country accepts you that’s really all you need right?’

‘Ah, well, other countries need to like me to be king.’

‘Oh,’ Isuka’s face was red, she hadn’t learnt much about international politics yet, Medora had been learning for years.

‘Luffy and Sabo don’t want to be king. Luffy, the youngest, just wants to travel the world and have fun. Sabo, the middle one, wants to lead in a different way, he wants to focus on the common people.’

Isuka listened in amazement, he was the same age as her but already had a greater understanding of the world. He was considering her brothers’ feelings and taking on such a big burden. ‘But what do you want to be?’

‘I haven’t thought about it.’

‘Well,’ she smiled at him and the slight blush on his face deepened, ‘you have lots of time.’

‘Yeah I guess I do,’ he smiled back at her.

For the rest of the week, he spent as much time as he could with her, laughing like actual kids, without the weight of the world on them.

When it was time for her to leave, he hugged her goodbye, whispering about how he was excited to see her again.

~ ♡ ~

For the next two years, they saw each other at royal events. Medora made sure to tease her about it every single time she caught them together and if what Ace said was true his brothers were the same.

He sent a present on her birthday and they wrote letters for the rest of the year. She was starting to think royal events weren’t so bad when he was next to her, like Medora he didn’t care what the adults thought of her, even if the kids would say things.

~ ♡ ~

On his 15th he eagerly awaited her arrival and when the carriage from Oykot he watched the princess, her governess and ladies-in-waiting step out. Isuka was nowhere to be found.

When he caught the princess’s eyes she shook her head slightly and he smiled back in gratitude.

He found out the exact reason later. Draw had been a traitor, and Isuka had barely stopped a plot to poison the king. The king was in critical condition, and the queen did not want to leave his side as he recovered from the poisoning. Ace thought that Medora was strong for coming by herself, and her best friend was not there to support her.

Isuka had locked herself in her room and refused to come out. Medora had tried to talk her out of the room every day for two weeks since the incident. Even the mention of seeing Ace hasn’t convinced her to get out.

Ace tried to enjoy his birthday festivities but nothing seemed the same. Her presence made everything better. He found solace in the company of his brothers, they did their best to cheer him up. Even though their attempts often worked, not long after he went back to feeling empty.

When Medora was leaving, he pressed a note into her hand, ‘please give this to her.’

‘I’ll try,’ she reassured him with a smile.

~ ♡ ~

It would be another year before he saw her again. It was his 16th birthday and he was greeting guests as they stepped out of their carriages when he caught sight of that vermilion bob he hadn’t seen in nearly two years.

He must’ve looked absolutely silly, his mouth open wide as she stepped out. She looked different, older, more serious. There was a blade at her hip, her outfit more fitting for a knight than a young lady.

Their eyes met briefly and he smiled but she simply looked away. He was confused at her attitude but chalked it up to the awkwardness of being older. He hoped that they would get a chance to catch up later.

~ ♡ ~

Unlike before, Isuka stayed beside her princess. It was impossible to get her alone. She was always surrounded, by the princess, the princess’s ladies-in-waiting, by other security. He hoped to at least make eye contact, for her to smile at him so the world could go back to what it was, but by the end of the first night he was convinced that she was avoiding him.

He was honestly confused, had he done something to annoy her? Was she mad at him? If so he wanted to apologise, he just wanted his friend back.

It had been an awful week for him. Of course, the food was good and the company great, but her bright red hair simply wouldn’t leave his eyesight. Constantly reminding him that for some reason they weren’t the same anymore.

On the third day he had given in, walking up to her when she was alone with the princess.

‘Medora,’ he nodded and she nodded back, glancing over to Isuka to see her reaction, but the girl had an indecipherable expression on her face. He straightened his shoulders and mustered up the courage to ask, ‘may I speak with Lady Isuka alone?’ He didn’t know why he was being so formal - this was the girl who’d thrown a snowball at him for calling her beautiful.

‘Of course, I was planning on heading back to my room,’ she looked at Isuka who was going to protest at leaving her alone, ‘my ladies-in-waiting will be with me. There is no need to worry,’ she reassured Isuka with a smile before patting her on the back and leaving the pair alone.

Isuka didn’t meet his eyes and since she clearly didn’t plan on speaking first he did, ‘you never replied to my letter. You know I thought maybe you had died and they just weren’t telling me the truth.’

‘What do you want, your highness?’

‘You,’ she looked at him with shock, ‘I want to back to the way we were.’

‘That would be highly improper, your highness, you should focus our attention on girls who are right for you.’

‘And who would that be?’ He asked, annoyance building in his tone.

‘That’s not my place to say.’

‘Why are you doing this Isuka? Why are you pushing me away.’

‘I think it would be better for us to stick to our own worlds.’

He watched as Isuka walked away, helplessly staring at her retreating figure.

It wasn't until the fifth day that he found out why Isuka had changed. Medora had been alone in a corridor when Ace had stumbled across her. She grabbed him and pulled him into a corner.

‘Shush Isuka can't see us together. She would kill me if she knew what I was going to tell you .’

She spent the next hour explaining what had happened since he had seen her last. Apparently, when Medora had been here on his 15th birthday she’d talked to the king and queen and insisted on joining the royal knights. She trained hard enough to become her personal knight in the shortest time possible and was the youngest royal knight ever. She had thrown herself into work over the guilt she had felt. Apparently, she had felt betrayed that she trusted Draw for so long when he had been the one to kill her parents because they tried to expose him and only adopted her so that he could win the favour of the king. She felt like she had played a part in his cruel plan and wanted to work in order to make things better. The king and queen had initially refused, placing none of the blame on her, she was a victim too. She had been very convincing.

‘But why would she ignore me?’

‘I think maybe she feels like she needs to keep her distance, she can’t be with you and doesn’t want to hurt you further.’

‘I don’t care about that, who told her that.’

‘I don’t know, she usually doesn’t care about what people say about her, but whoever it was really got under her skin.’

He buried his face in his hands, despite being one of the smartest people he knew she was so dumb sometimes.

So when it was time for them to leave, he waited and grabbed Isuka’s hand as she tried to get in. He handed her a note and waited for her to take it from him. She looked puzzled and in a sort of half daze accepted the letter. He helped her up into the carriage and watched as they left.

On her way home Isuka opened the letter, trying her best to conceal the contents from Medora who sat next to her.

Isuka,

It has come to my attention that you’ve been ignoring me for my sake. Well, I have to say that it’s a load of rubbish and will continue to bother you until you reply.

Waiting eagerly for your reply, Your fire fist

She smiled fondly at his use of the nickname she made for him, and then immediately stopped when she noticed Medora smirking at her.

‘He won’t be receiving a reply any time soon.’

‘That’s not going to stop him.’

‘He can try his best.’

~ ♡ ~

Isuka,

Hoping this is actually going to be read and not immediately burned. Will you be attending my brothers’ banquets?

Your wonderful and amazing Ace

P.s. please reply

~ ♡ ~

My dear Isuka,

I am going to take your silence as a yes every time I ask a question. If you don’t want me assuming weird things you should really reply.

Your dear Ace

~ ♡ ~

Oh wonderful and gorgeous lady Isuka,

Since the party is next week I shall be assuming your attendance and will be awaiting your arrival

The extremely hot Ace

~ ♡ ~

He did indeed see her at both his brothers’ banquets in which he spent the whole affair sending her notes. Paying little royal brats with sweets to give them to her. sometimes a small gift would be sent instead of a note, a flower or a piece of jewellery. The flowers she kept in her notebook, going to preserve them and the jewellery stored away safely.

~ ♡ ~

My beautiful and splendid Isuka, whose hair shines too bright sometimes,

Will you be my girlfriend?

Your stunning now boyfriend Ace

~ ♡ ~

To my breathtaking, charming, dazzling, extremely good sword-fighter girlfriend,

Happy birthday, I hope you like your present. Bet you were wishing for a kiss right?

Ace

~ ♡ ~

He would not stop sending more letters with longer and more ridiculous lines. She couldn’t reply of course having been ignoring him for close to a year now.

She definitely couldn’t let anyone know that she kept those letters in her box, tucked safely next to her other treasures. She loved his handwriting, the scrawling way he wrote her name. She read them again and again, hearing his voice talking to her softly.

She was falling for him and she found herself minding less and less as she received more and more letters.

The words Draw had said to her as they dragged him to his execution faded slowly in her memory.

~ ♡ ~

When she saw him next he was turning 17. This time she let him pull her into a hug, ‘I hope you plan on listening to me now.’

‘Yeah, I missed your stupid voice.’

‘Why do you always do this,’ he pulled back.

‘Do what?’ she stared up at him with innocent eyes. He was taller now, and definitely had way more muscles compared to the last time she had hugged him.

‘Insult me,’ he was pouting now and she resisted the urge to poke one of his freckled cheeks.

‘Get a room the both of you!’ Medora shouted from the stairs.

Isuka pulled away from him so fast, the blush on her cheeks spreading to her ears.

Ace chuckled, looking back at her ‘so technically I did just assume we were dating, your answer is yes right?’

She smiled sort of deviously and for a second he was worried. So when she kissed him on the cheek and whispered a yes into his ear, he froze and she used the opportunity to sprint up the stairs to join Medora.

~ ♡ ~

I don't like her!

my only kazuhei fic (a tragedy)

archiveofourown.org

I don't like her! - Clover1412 - 名探偵コナン | Detective Conan | Case Closed [Archive of Our Own]

An Archive of Our Own, a project of the Organization for Transformative Works

full fic here :)

Chapter 1: A letter?!

'Oi Kazuha! Where d'ya run off this morning!' It was clearly too early to be shouting, but this was basically every morning when it came to Heiji Hattori and his 'not' girlfriend Kazuha Toyama.

'Heiji! Didn't I say I was going to school early today,' she turned to face the boy who just entered the classroom.

'So, my mum still gave me an earful,' He walked over to his seat and put his bag down.

'I don't think that has anything to do with me.'

'It does when she was shouting at me for not walking to school with you.'

'Well I can't help that can I? One of my friends said something weird was sticking out of my locker, so I came early to check it out.'

'So?'

'So what?' She looked away from him, waving at one of friends in a different class as they walked by.

'Did you find the weird thing?'

'Oh yeah, it was a letter,' she quickly turned back to him, taking the letter out. 'Someone must've slipped it in after school,' the small envelope she took out of her bag seemed nice, it was that pastel orange colour Kazuha thought was cute.

'A letter? About what?'

'I haven't checked yet, I promised I'd open it with my friends,' Heiji seemed slightly confused at how the two things were related. 'They think it's a love letter, so they want to see too.'

'A love letter? For you?'

'And what's the problem with that?' Kazuha was definitely glaring at him now, but somehow he couldn't help it, teasing her was fun.

'Just saying there are nicer girls than you, you know one's with quieter voices.' Oh, he was so going to die.

'Well there's clearly someone who thinks otherwise!' She had somehow opened the letter in the few seconds he looked away to greet a classmate. 'See!' She was holding the letter and a movie ticket, a movie date?

'Maybe they're blind,' he shrugged before taking the letter from her. It was clear whoever had written the letter did care about her, in some way, their handwriting was very neat and they had clearly thought it through. However the obvious part was the movie ticket, a clear invitation to a date, maybe he was wrong. He wasn't going to admit it though. However, before he could say anything, he was pushed out of the way.

'Kazuha-chan! Is that a ticket for that new movie?' Kazuha's friends were crowding round her one by one.

'I heard that they're so hard to get!' Another one.

'Woah, who do you think it's from?' And another.

'Someone obviously hot!' How many friends does she have anyway?

'Well if he's going to settle for you,' he chuckled, 'you might as well marry him.'

'Heiji!' She looked like she might throw a chair at him but was saved by their teacher telling them to get to their own seats.

~ ♡ ~

When it got to their morning break, Kazuha had left the classroom as fast as humanly possible, with her friends rushing out behind her. He thought that was a good thing, after all that meant she wasn't going to murder him. Yet. The one thing he had forgotten about, was the rest of his class. His friends were practically attacking him with questions.

'Does that mean you don't like Toyama?' As a sister.

'She's definitely single?' Probably.

'Do you know who it is? You're a detective right?' That's a waste of my time.

'Do you think it's one of our seniors?' A waste of my time.

'It might be, after all Toyama is pretty popular with the boys.' She is?

'Yeah I heard one of the third years was interested in her.' Really?

'Well she's pretty and has a great body, who wouldn't like her?' It would seem he underestimated her popularity.

Well he couldn't keep quiet while they discussed *his* childhood friend, 'yeah right, that's an immature reason to like someone.'

'Oh Hattori do you think she'll accept?'

'If she does, good for them,' this was really starting to annoy him.

'So you are jealous,' one of his friends chuckled, and the others seemed to agree.

'I am not.'

'You so are, you like Toyama.' He felt like he was back in elementary school when everyone thought they liked each other. Honestly so annoying.

'I do not like her!' And as per his luck, Kazuha just happened to walk in. She glanced towards him, catching his eyes momentarily, before resuming her conversation with her friend. Ah the silent treatment, guess he made a mistake.

~ ♡ ~

The rest of the day seemed to move as slowly possible, with lunch seeming like an eternity away. Except when it came, it wasn't peaceful at all, somehow everyone seems to have gotten wind of the situation. 'Second year hottie Toyama got asked out' (not his words). It would seem everyone had something to gain out of this situation but him, apparently he was now very single and lonely. (Kazuha was not his only friend, he had others), and he wasn't sad at all and definitely did not need one of the third year girls comforting him. Though he was sure that's not what she really meant.

~ ♡ ~

So when the day was finally over, he was relieved that he was finally alone, but now he had to deal with Kazuha. Plus he had something to confirm with her. Obviously having avoided him, she was halfway home before he found her.

'Kazuha!' He started to jog to catch up to her, she was still ignoring her. He grabbed her arm forcing her to look at him, 'look Kazuha, I'm sorry okay?'

'It doesn't matter Heiji.'

'Okay but that's not what I wanted to say,' she shot him an annoyed look, 'isn't the day of the movie one of the days that kid and nee-chan are coming to visit?'

He let go of her arm so she could check, waiting for her to confirm she couldn't go.

'Yup, it is. Wait,' Heiji celebrated secretly to himself, now she can't go, 'that's perfect!'

Perfect?

'Now Ran-chan can help me,' before Heiji could ask any further she had pulled out her phone to talk to Ran about their visit. She really was excited about this date. The question was why did that bother him so much?

Since it was a Tuesday, he had until Sunday to convince her otherwise about this date. That should be easy.

Chapter 2: Saturday? Already?!

(This bit happened on Tuesday (break))

Kazuha knew practically sprinting out of the classroom wasn't her best idea, but she really didn't want to face Heiji, after all she didn't really care if no one else liked her. She just wanted him to. She could barely hear her friends calling her name until one of them had physically stopped her.

'Kazuha-chan are you okay?'

'Kazuha you shouldn't have run away,' she bent over trying to catch her breath, 'man I forgot you did Aikido.'

'Yeah, really Kazuha-chan you should have let us catch up.'

She smiled, she might be sad, but it felt better to have someone around her. She let them catch their breath, before walking with them.

'Say are you going to go, I mean don't you like Hattori-kun.'

'Yeah, you've always liked him right?'

She looked down, it was true, she had liked Heiji for a long time. However it was getting more obvious that he didn't share the same sentiment, so she was going to forget about him and date someone else. 'Well that idiot clearly doesn't like me back so I am moving on,' she declared. 'I mean whoever sent this letter might be way better than Heiji, right?'

'Kazuha-chan,' her friend put her hand on her shoulder, momentarily she regretted everything she just said, 'we're rooting for you!' She blinked in confusion before hugging her friends, okay she was going to do it, she was going to forget Heiji!

Well maybe not forget, they have been friends forever and their parents were close and she knows his house inside out. BUT! That wasn't going to stop her from moving on either. So when he heard Heiji shout as she walked in, she ignored him, after all she was meant to be forgetting him.

~ ♡ ~

(After School)

She nearly gave up when he grabbed her arm to apologise, he practically never apologised, but gave that up when he immediately changed his tone. However, he did bring up a good point that Ran and Conan were visiting that weekend.

She really needed to talk to Ran, she really needed her help now.

~ ♡ ~

(Saturday Morning)

Heiji's unsure how it was already a Saturday, he had no time at all to convince Kazuha otherwise about that date of hers. After all he barely saw her all week, at breaks she was surrounded by her friends, at lunch she left the classroom before he could stop her and she did something after school to avoid walking home with him. So here he was standing near the entrance of the train station, waiting for both Kazuha, Kudo and nee-chan to arrive.

'Hattori-kun!'

'Heiji nii-chan!'

'Oh the both of you are here,' he sighed before turning to look around the station quickly. 'What is that girl even doing, the both of you are already here.'

'Kazuha-chan didn't come with you Hattori-kun?'

'We, uh, had a disagreement of sorts,' he scratched the back of his head awkwardly, 'I think she's avoiding me.'

'Heiji nii-chan did you say something mean to Kazuha nee-chan?' He could hear the teasing tone of the brat's voice.

'That's not it!' However, he couldn't finish defending himself because Kazuha had practically materialised out of nowhere next to him.

'Sorry, I'm late I was trying to pick out an outfit,' she smiled at Conan and Ran, but even to them it was obvious she was avoiding looking at Heiji. 'Ran-chan, come on lets go!'

'Ran nee-chan, where are you going?' Conan hadn't heard anything about being left with Heiji, not that it bothered him. He was just curious.

'Oh Conan-kun, we're just going shopping, I thought it might bore you, plus if we took you, Hattori-kun would have to come too. I didn't think either of you wanted to spend all day shopping with us. That's all,' she smiled kindly at him and he had to agree, he didn't want to spend all day shopping.

'Then we're off, Heiji we're having dinner at your place tonight. Don't forget 'kay?' Kazuha gave them a small smile and with that the both of them walked away.

'You want to follow them, right Hattori?'

'You think they're hiding something too?'

'Ran doesn't usually give such long excuses unless she really wants someone to leave her alone. I'm guessing it's for Toyama's sake though.'

'Kazuha, why?'

'You said you fought, right?'

'I told you it wasn't a fight, just a small disagreement.'

'Uhuh. I heard them talking on Tuesday, I mostly heard them talking about shops to visit, but I did hear the words 'going on a date',' Heiji slightly flinching gave it away that Conan had heard those words correctly. 'If it was Ran who had the date, Sonoko wouldn't have let me hear the end of it and I'm pretty sure she would have told me. So that means it's Toyama who has a date, at first I thought it might have been with you, but that couldn't be possible.' He saw Heiji slightly glare at him, 'firstly, you knew we were coming, as stupid as you may be you wouldn't schedule a date then and I heard Ran ask Kazuha why she wasn't talking to you, so I guessed you were fighting again and she had a date with someone else.'

'Kudo, you're completely correct,' the detective looked slightly defeated, 'she got some letter from someone at school and I've never seen her so excited for something before. But the problem is I don't know why it's bothering me so much.'

'That's because you're immature,' he moved out-of-the-way before Heiji could attack him, he continued 'but you want to follow them right? Ran probably wanted to spend time with Toyama alone to cheer her up though.'

'Cheer her up?'

'She sounded kind of upset over the phone, plus Sonoko and Ran always go shopping to cheer either one of them up.' He watched Heiji furrow his brows in confusion, 'but I think they're most likely shopping for her date tomorrow, she was kinda dressed up today.'

'You noticed that, she doesn't usually dress like that,' it looked like he was thinking really hard, but failing to understand.

'You know we're going to lose them if we continue to stand here.'

'Oh right.'

~ ♡ ~

'Kazuha-chan you look really pretty today!' She beamed at her friend.

'Really? I tried putting on make-up today, I haven't really dressed up like this, not since my birthday anyway.'

'Kazuha-chan did you really mean what you said about giving up on Hattori-kun?'

Kazuha was slightly taken aback by her straightforward question, but she had expected it. Unlike her, Ran was much stronger, despite not seeing Kudo Shinichi for months, she wasn't going to ever give up on him. 'I'm not like you Ran-chan, Heiji doesn't like me in that way. It's not like you and Kudo-kun, he clearly loves you,' she chuckled, her smile sort of sad, slightly at the girl blushing. 'Don't worry about me Ran-chan, this is my choice, I'll be okay.' The other girl nodded, not entirely convinced, but instead she smiled and let her lead them to another shop.

Kazuha-chan I'm not strong at all, I do miss him and I'm sure Hattori-kun cares for you in his own way. One day he'll realise it, so I hope you hold on a little longer.

~ ♡ ~

Heiji and Conan were sitting on bench, completely exhausted.

'We've been absolutely everywhere they would've gone! How could we not have found them, Kudo where could they have disappeared too?'

'Lunch probably, I'll ask Ran if we can join them, hopefully she'll tell us. That is of course if Toyama doesn't mind.' He cast an accusatory glance at Heiji, she was technically avoiding him and him only.

Ran had picked up on the third ring 'Conan-kun?'

'Ran nee-chan, we were wondering if you lunch yet? We could have lunch together.'

'Ah Conan-kun, I'm sorry we just got lunch,' she sighed before continuing, 'don't tell Hattori-kun, but Kazuha-chan doesn't really want to see him, okay Conan-kun? Could you keep him busy for me? Please? Kazuha-chan looks happier now.'

'I'll try Ran nee-chan,' with that she cut the phone, leaving Conan to deal with boy standing next to him.

'What did she say?'

'Are you sure it was just a small disagreement?'

'Um,' the Osakan looked away.

'She told us to stay away for now, maybe you should work out how to apologise to her.'

'She said she didn't care when I did that, man, women are confusing.'

'I've got to agree with you there.'

He sighed before getting up 'come on let's at least get lunch, you can tell me about your cases this month.'

~ ♡ ~

Fortunately they didn't come across any cases that day and made it back to the Hattori residence on time. Ran and Kazuha had already come back and were helping Heiji's mum with dinner.

'Heiji-kun! Come across any cases today?' Kazuha's parents were also here, hopefully they hadn't heard about their fight, he didn't particularly want her dad to press him about it. He could definitely be very scary.

'Not today, any interesting cases pop up recently?'

'Not that we need your help with and Conan-kun, we haven't seen each other since that once case right?'

'Yes, have you seen Ran nee-chan?'

'Ah Kazuha and her friend were helping out in the kitchen, but I think they went to get changed.'

'Changed?'

'Kazuha wanted to show Shizuka-san and her mum the dress she bought for tomorrow.'

Heiji's dad interrupted, 'is tomorrow important?'

'I think she said something about a date? You wouldn't know anything about that would you Heiji-kun?' The question was polite enough, but Heiji still felt slightly threatened.

'Ah yes, she'd going on a date with someone from school tomorrow.'

'Not you?' Heiji felt his face heat up at the question, but before he could answer he could hear Kazuha and Ran's voices from down the corridor.

He only caught a glimpse of Kazuha's outfit as they passed by the door. He now knew one thing: he was very much screwed for tomorrow.

Chapter 3: Best Friends

'Heiji-kun? Are you okay?' Heiji's brain had stopped being able to function properly. What was he even supposed to say? He could only hope his face wasn't as red as it felt.

'I think Heiji nii-chan is tired, we walked a lot today. I'll take him to his room.'

'Ah okay, don't push yourself too hard.'

After finally getting to his room, Heiji fell into his bed. He sighed and turned towards the boy sitting on the chair, 'Kudo what on earth is wrong with me?'

'Hattori, how many times are you going to ask that? You kinda need to figure that out for yourself.'

'Say Kudo, how long have you liked that nee-chan of yours?'

The other boy blushed, looking at something outside the window, 'how is that important? That doesn't really matter now.'

'Oh so it was practically love at first sight, huh?'

'Oi Hattori, don't you have other issues to deal with right now?'

Heiji started to say something, only for Kazuha to burst into his room, 'ah, the both of you are here. Dinner's ready, we're going to eat.'

'We'll be there Kazuha nee-chan,' he smiled at the girl as she closed the door, 'come on Hattori, we can deal with your problem tomorrow, let's eat.'

'Fine.'

After dinner Ran had decided to stay the night at Kazuha's house, leaving Conan with Heiji. His mum made them go to sleep as soon as possible, on the count of Heiji looked drained. Which was true in some part, he looked exhausted despite not having done much that day but going to bed early didn't help whatsoever. Instead he spent most of the night tossing and turning, for some reason he didn't want tomorrow to come.

He was woken up by Conan, who had been struggling to wake him up for a while. It was about 10 in the morning, Kazuha's movie date was at 4, giving him very little time to stop her.

After they'd got changed and had some breakfast, the girls had come over to pick them up. The both of them were quite dressed up, well more so than usual.

'Ran nee-chan? Are you going somewhere special?' He looked up at her, trying and failing not to blush.

'Oh Conan-kun, not really, Kazuha-chan was embarrassed to dress up by herself so I offered to do so as well.' Ran had chosen a pink summer dress, it was off the shoulder and a mix of baggy and fitting that definitely flattered her.

Kazuha on the other hand had chosen a light orange halter neck dress, it was backless, and had a belt that gave it some shape. The dress itself fell mid-thigh, paired with a cute pair of deep green block heels. Luckily for him, Heiji had chosen that precise moment to go look for his hat. She had hair up in its usual ponytail, with a matching green ribbon. She was wearing little makeup, scared she'd overdo it, either way she looked beautiful, which was precisely what Heiji was scared of.

'What's taking Hattori-kun so long? Conan-kun could you check on him?'

'Sure Ran nee-chan.' However, he couldn't find the Osakan detective anywhere, that was until he walked into one of the back rooms. Heiji was sitting there talking or arguing with his mum, it took him a while to realise that Conan was standing in the doorway.

'Ah Kudo, I can explain. But could you tell the girls to go on without me, just make something up.'

He didn't bother questioning it, when he made it back to the girls he told them that he couldn't find Heiji nii-chan and that they should go ahead. He then had to promise Ran that they would join them for lunch at least.

Heiji on the other hand was facing some sort of crisis, he couldn't possibly face Kazuha now, when he caught a glimpse of her this morning his heart definitely did a flip, which was not good. His mum hadn't helped either, he fished out a bunch of pictures of the both of them when they were younger and it didn't help that they looked very close. Whatever feeling he was feeling, it was making him very uncomfortable, he couldn't possibly be in love with her, they were best friends. That's it, anyone would be annoyed to see their best friend be close to someone else. That's all, he didn't want to lose a good friend like Kazuha.

'Hey Kudo!'

'You owe me one Hattori.'

'Ah thanks Kudo, what did they say?'

'They want us to at least join them for lunch, some cafe, 12:30.'

'We have an hour and a half Kudo, what d'ya want to do til then?'

'I still haven't seen the Osaka Police HQ'

He grinned at the request, 'you've come to the right person.'

~ ♡ ~

After a tour that could only interest police officers and keen detectives, they had made it just in time for lunch with the girls. When they got there, Kazuha and Ran were deep in conversation, but had stopped by the time the boys had gotten to the table.

'Glad you were able to make it Hattori-kun.'

'Ah yeah, no problem.' Kazuha shot him a small glare, suggesting that, that was not the best possible reply. However, in a way it showed that things were becoming normal between them.

'Say Ran-chan, what time are you guys leaving today?'

'Our train is at 7:30, you don't have to worry about seeing us off, just enjoy your date.'

'Say Kazuha, how are you getting back home?'

'I haven't really thought about that, he'll probably walk me back, right?'

'He?' Heiji blinked at her, slightly confused, before realising who she was on about. 'Oh, you're boyfriend~' he chuckled, just a little teasingly.

'Heiji!'

'Kidding, kidding,' but he was still laughing, ignoring the slight twist in his stomach.

~ ♡ ~

Heiji, Ran, and Conan hid behind a random pillar as they watched Kazuha meet up with her date. It turned out to be one of the third years, he was good-looking and probably popular. Ran slightly gasped as they linked arms and walked into the cinema.

'Hattori-kun, let's go.'

'Go where?'

'Don't you want to spy on them too?'

'Uh, I don't think that's a good idea Ran nee-chan,' he tried tugging on the hem of her dress gently, but she wouldn't be swayed.

'The both of you can go somewhere else if you want, but I'm staying.'

'Do you even know what movie they're watching? Or what seat they're in?'

'Well, I wouldn't be suggesting this if I didn't, they're watching the new Okino Yoko movie and their seats are in the middle. If we get seats at the back, they won't know.'

'You know that sounds like a very risky plan Ran nee-chan, I think it would be better if we didn't.'

'Yeah, we have time 'til your train, how about we do something else.'

She glanced between the both of them, realising there would be no way to convince them she sighed, 'fine, got anything in mind?'

~ ♡ ~

Heiji was talking to Conan and Ran as they waited for their train, they'd sent the last couple of hours walking around many different shops. Conan had managed to stay away from buying more versions of Sherlock Holmes from a book shop they had found. Ran had bought herself a cute purse. Heiji on the other hand was slightly preoccupied, as much as he did not want to admit it, he cared about Kazuha and her date.

He couldn't tell whether it was a good or bad thing he had turned down Ran's offer to follow them, after all was it so bad to be curious about his best friend?

Just as the train was arriving, they heard a shout, 'Ran-chan!' 'Kazuha-chan? What are you doing here?'

'To see you off,' seeing her friend's slight confusion, she added, 'I'll tell you about it later, kay?'

'Oh okay,' she turned to face them both, 'thanks for having us, come visit us soon.'

'No problem, we'll see each other soon.'

'Make sure to check your phone later on, 'kay Ran-chan?'

'Sure, we'll see you guys next time.'

The teenagers watched as their friends got on the train, waving at them as they walked to their seats. They waited for a little bit before heading back.

'Say Kazuha, I thought your boyfriend was taking you home today.'

'As if, he was so annoying,' she glanced at Heiji before continuing, 'he would not shut up at all, worse all he did was talk about himself.'

Heiji chuckled earning a small glare from her, 'sorry, carry on.'

'After the movie, he wanted to take a walk somewhere, and guess what. He tried to give me a necklace with our initials on it.'

'A necklace?'

'Yeah, it was a leaf, or something, but we aren't even dating, isn't initials going a bit too far?' She watched as Heiji nodded albeit a bit confused, 'so I told him I'd think about it.'

'But you're going to say no?'

'Obviously, I don't know how though. He's just not my type.'

'Wow, so what's your type, guys who fall asleep during movies?'

She smiled at his attempt at a joke, 'of course not, ones who talk about the movie at the right points, oh wait a second Heiji.' She stopped and using him for balance took off her heels, 'that feels so much better, I don't know people walk in these all day.'

'Want me to carry you?'

She laughed at his offer, 'as if you could carry me all the way back home, no offence Heiji but I doubt you're that strong.'

'Yeah right, get on I'll prove it to you,' he bent down slightly to let her get on his back.

'Sure, what should we bet on this.'

'Loser pays for okonomiyaki next week.'

'Oh it's on.'

~ ♡ ~

Needless to say Heiji had lost, not because he was weak, more like Kazuha had leaned in front to say something and Heiji who had turned to ask her something was surprised at how close their faces had gotten, and dropped her.

Kazuha chuckled as she brushed her clothes lightly, 'guess you owe me lunch.'

'That doesn't count, you scared me.'

'Your excuses won't work now Heiji,' she shot him an innocent smile before continuing to walk back.

'It's not an excuse!' He jogged to catch up with her, for now their relationship had gone back to what it normally was. How long that would last was unclear, but for now, walking back together felt perfect.

Just as best friends. For now.

~ ♡ ~