Title: Try, Try Again
Author: Amm (SoulSeeker)
Fandom: Detective Conan
Characters: Haibara Ai (Miyano Shiho) and Hattori Heiji
Prompt: "Actually, that was not the worst thing."
Words: 1,255
Rating: PG
Disclaimer: I don't own the sexy-smart chemist or the awesome kendoist-detective. They both belong to Mr. Gosho Aoyama over there. disappointed sigh ;(
Summary: It was planned as a celebration. But we all know what happens to the best laid plans…

It was a time for celebration.

Of course it was; what friends of Kudo's wouldn't want to celebrate, after not having seen him in a year? Maybe more?

It was just interesting, how he wanted me there…even though he knew how I, first of all, knew he was there the whole time; I wasn't the one missing him. That luxury was for his friends, because I was in on secret. (It was mine too.) And second, I was never even the "party" type. I thought he knew that about me—like he seems to know everything else—but I guess I was wrong.

Of course, I guess you couldn't really call it a party. More like…a "gathering." Just Hattori—he was in on his secret too—and his friend Kazuha…Sonoko, the one who refused to stop making fun of 'Conan' and I…and, oh…Ran, too.

Truthfully it wasn't all that bad. Just him gabbing on about himself (normal) …making up lies left and right to account for his disappearance. It was funny to watch him on the spot, but eventually he excused himself to the kitchen for a drink, offering everyone else one was well. I declined, and it seemed like the room died after that.

We were all dead silent—you could always tell that the life of the party was gone when that happened—until finally the girls decided it was awkward enough to follow him in there. What had been taking him so long?

"Heiji, you want a drink?" Kazuha offered lightly, standing up. I studied her face for a while, listening to the Osakan accent in reply.

"Didn't you hear him? He's got it covered," Hattori murmured, laid-back as ever. "Just relax."

But the word didn't seem to be in their vocabularies.

"Well, he's taking too long," an impatient Kazuha insisted in rebuttal.

Ran glanced at her watch, then at her, and nodded in reply. "It's almost been ten minutes."

"Yeah!" Sonoko agreed. She was probably thirsty as well, judging by the slightly coarse voice. Of course, that didn't keep her from talking. "Got to make sure the pup hasn't broken free from his leash, you know?"

She winked, and I couldn't help but giggle at the implications. And the ever-blushing Ran.

I was actually inclined to agree with them this time; it had been a while. But knowing Kudo, he probably got wrapped up in looking at something random he found, on his way there or back from getting the drinks. His house was pretty big.

Regardless though, it had seemed that the girls had finally convinced the poor teen to go with them. Hattori was up, muttering something about how if he wasn't thirsty too, he wouldn't care, but he seemed to hesitate. I was waiting for him to leave; not so much because I didn't want him there, but because…well, I was expecting him to. But he didn't. And the girls were long gone, thinking he was behind them.

"Aren't you gonna go follow him, too?" he suddenly asked me.

It took me a moment to process that he was talking to me. I'd been so accustomed to being in the background that it was relatively unexpected. After all, people tend to forget you exist when you don't talk.

"Aren't you?" I averted the question.

He seemed to smirk; much like Kudo did, but their features were so different that it had a completely different feel to it all together. He didn't answer the question; which was okay, since part of me meant for it to be rhetorical anyway. Instead we just sat there in silence, until finally he spoke up again. Naturally, he changed the subject.

"It's funny…" Hattori raised an eyebrow at me, almost suspiciously. His smile still resonated slightly on his face. "After the crap Kudo told me he's been through with all that drug nonsense, I would've thought you would want to get back to your normal life too. But here you are."

His words were somewhat surprising. He and I hadn't talked all that much before, and I guess I never really thought that would change.

And sure enough I was there; standing three-foot-something tall, short wavy hair, with big blue eyes and big head filled with thoughts of an almost-nineteen-year-old. It was true; I never took the cure.

I didn't say anything to him, though. Not because I didn't know how to answer him really; it just seemed like he wasn't quite done.

"'Course, what that cure did to him was kinda scary," he added with a shrug. "Don't think I've ever heard him in so much pain."

I just snickered, shrugging slightly as well. Why had he even decided to stay behind? I wanted to ask him; surely it wasn't just to talk to me. I noticed he was hesitant before, almost troubled, when the girls had ran off. Maybe he had a bad feeling about something.

"I doubt the pain was the worst thing about it," I replied to him.

Not that I really would've known.

He gave me a look that seemed to say just that; there was a suspicion in his eyes that glazed over me like a flashlight. It was almost intimidating. And just when there was some spark between us, some chemistry—some conversation at least—there came the interruption.

"Heiji!" a voice suddenly screeched in terror.

I jumped in surprise, quickly recognizing the scream as Kazuha's. My head turned to meet hers as she burst into the room, and Hattori opened his arms to greet her.

"What, what's wrong?" he demanded. She panted heavily, as he put his hands on her shoulder.

"It's—it's Conan," she breathed. "We found him passed out on the kitchen floor, red hot and Shinichi's nowhere to be found! Did you either of you see him?"

She turned to both of us alternately—the most attention she'd given me all afternoon. My slightly widened eyes turned to meet Hattori's inflated green ones, as I exhaled slowly. It was a mix of concern, anxiety and eagerness—though I had no idea what mine showed. Probably nothing that I actually felt.

"No, I haven't," he sighed calmly. "Haibara and I will look for him, okay? You three make sure the kid's okay."

"…all right…"

Kazuha seemed to calm down a bit too. Or at least she tried to, as she nodded and ran back to the others, leaving us again. There was silence between the two of us for a while, as we both tried to comprehend what could possibly have happened—did the tantei drink something wrong maybe? Eat something wrong that set off some malicious reaction with what was supposed rid him of Conan, forever?

Or maybe it just wore off…

Hattori sighed and shook his head, his gaze shifting towards me.

"Back to the drawing board, I guess," he said jokingly, in a chuckle that was barely audible. "If at first you don't succeed, right?"

I nodded promptly and stood up, brushing myself off. Somehow I wasn't surprised. Even from the beginning it all seemed too good to be true; and maybe he had that feeling too. Maybe he knew what he'd find in the kitchen—and that's why he didn't want to follow like the girls did. There seemed to be an understanding between us now; perhaps one that marked the beginnings of an eventual friendship.

"I'll go tell Dr. Agasa," I told him, "and get to work."

And I knew I had a long night ahead of me.

A/N: Wheee. :D Yeah, this idea was kind of random. Kind of weird, too, but I hope I pulled it off. Pretty fun to write, too. I must say, I never believed Ai was the hardest character to write until I actually tried one from her PoV.

This ending up having kind of a…Meursault-ish type of connotation to it. (From The Stranger, by Albert Camus.) o.o

Anyway hope you enjoyed…see ya!