Chapter 1: The Return of Toyama Kazuha

Disclaimer: I don't own any Detective Conan/Case Closed characters.

I have always been wondering: what would Heiji do, if from early on he already realized that he couldn't take Kazuha for granted?

So here comes this AU story. Lemon juices might come later depending on reviews. Until then, I will keep the T rating.

Please Read and Review!

It is the first day of spring. Also the first day of a new school year.[1]Finally, cherry blossoms come to the campus of Kaihou High School.

Heiji woke up late this morning because he was reading Ellery Queen until 2am. Racing on his motorbike even faster than usual, finally he made it to Kaihou at 7:29am, just 1 minute before school started. He must be the latest person on the first day of the new semester.

"Look, that's Hattori-san!"

"Is it my imagination or is he really even more manly after the break?"

"I love his tanned skin!"

"And his lean body!"

"Do you want to go watch his kendo training after school?"

"I heard he solved more than one hundred cases during the break!"

"I saw him on TV several times receiving interviews after cases. He is so handsome!"

"Did you see that interview by a BBC journalist. Hattori Senpai's English is just perfect! Even the journalist says he has a perfect British accent."

A bunch of girls gossiped and admiringly pointed at Heiji from classroom windows while their eyes followed the tall, handsome, and dark-skinned boy running into the school building after he parked his new motorbike. His well-built body was a result of years of rigorous kendo training. The captain of the kendo club of Kaihou, he just led the Kaihou team winning the national champion a month ago.

But mostly, he was widely known as the Great Detective of the West. Even though he was just a high school student, he had already helped the police solving hundreds of cases. People all over Japan knew him and his had fan clubs all over the country.

Heiji rushed into classroom 2-A, panting really hard. As soon as he was seated, the bell rang and class started punctually at 7:30am.

That was close. Heiji let out a sigh of relief. Good that he was not late on the first day as a junior in high school. 3 times of lateness counted as 1 absence. As he could foresee him missing many school days in the upcoming year running to different crime scenes, better now to over squander his allowance on day one.

Finally relieved, Heiji did not pay too much attention to the teacher. Classes were usually boring to him since he was already way ahead of his peers. He would rather spend the class time reflecting on the tough case he just solved. Fortunately, he had a window seat, which made it convenient for him to just look at outside and totally zone out.

Hattori Heiji was the most popular guy on in Kaihou, a fact that Heiji himself was aware of and a fact that his guy friends half-jokingly whined about. As a normal 17-year old boy, Heiji liked pretty girls. And he was quite satisfied with his own manly attractiveness when he received confessions from his fangirls, some of whom were actually quite cute and some were quite hot. However, for some unknown reason, none of the pretty girls struck him as "the one."

In this respect, he quite envied his best buddy Kudo Shinichi, aka, the Great Detective of the East, who confessed to his childhood friend Mouri Ran a while ago and just got the girl's reciprocal confession of love. Hattori Heiji, as proud as he was, didn't want to lose to Kudo Shinichi in any way, be it detective work or love life. But now, his love life was trailing behind significantly.

"So now you two are officially dating? It's not fair, Kudo!" Heiji mumbled when a few days ago Shinichi told him about he and Ran's new progress. "You have a childhood friend who happen to be a pretty girl while I don't. That makes things a thousand time easier for you than for me!"

"Don't be so frustrated, Hattori," Shinichi mocked his best buddy. "You also have a childhood friend who happen to be a pretty girl, right? Toyama Kazuha, that's her name right? You have mentioned to me several times before."

"Idiot! How could that be the same as you, lucky guy? My girl left three years ago and we haven't been in touch since! That counts as no!" Heiji grinded his teeth, sincerely hatting Shinichi's bragging."

"You girl?" The shrewd Detective of the East caught the keyword that the Detective of the West just blurted out.

"Kudo! That's not what I meant!"

"Ok, ok, calm down my friend." Shinichi laughed at his hot-tempered friend, "Your luck will come, Hattori. Just be patient. Ok, talk to you later."

Hanging up the phone, the jealous and frustrated Heiji grumbled, "Maybe it is time that I should date some of the fangirls …"

Whenever Heiji pondered over his pathetic love life, two images always emerged in his mind.

In one of them, there was a little girl wearing a red kimono under a cherry tree, bouncing a colorful ball while singing an ancient ballad.

That was his first love whom he met in Kyoto when he was 10. He didn't know who she was for a long time.

In the other one, there was a ponytailed teenage girl with green eyes and curly eyelashes, wearing an Aikido uniform, either bickering or laughing with him.

That was his childhood best friend who left him when they were 14. He had known her forever.

Recently, some revelations that he accidentally discovered when investigating a big case in Kyoto made these two images overlap.

Yes, Hattori Heiji recently found out that his first love and his childhood friend were the same person.

Toyama Kazuha …

The name Shinichi mentioned crossed Heiji's mind again. Well, to be honest with himself, that name had kept crossing his mind in the past three years.

He let out a long sigh.

If Kazuha didn't leave, he was probably in the same stage as Shinichi now, happily dating his pretty childhood friend.

But now, the new revelation meant that he not only had no chance to turn his childhood friend into his girlfriend, but also had no chance to find his first love and make her his girlfriend.

Hattori Heiji, as popular as you are among girls, your love life is truly pathetic.

Toyama Kazuha was Hattori Heiji's childhood friend. They had known each other since they were in diapers. Their parents were friends, their dads were colleagues, and their houses were just a few blocks apart. They went to the same elementary school and then the same middle school.

He really missed those days, which were filled with bickering, fighting, and … laughing. Kazuha, an energetic girl who always tied her hair in a high ponytail with a ribbon, was the most high-spirited girl he had ever known. When they walked to and back from school every day, they would spend half of the time fighting over whatever petty things that none of them actually cared about. They would call each other "ahou," which since who remembered when became their common nickname, and then burst into laughter and followed by a spree to either an ice cream truck or an okonomiyaki street stand.

Oh, those good old days …

- Start of FLASHBACK -

Kazuha was several months older than Heiji and according to her, he was like her little brother whom she needed to protect. For a long time, she was several inches taller than him and that fact made her quite proud of herself. She started to take Aikido lessons since she was four and could beat up most boys of their age. Once when they were playing at a playground when they were five, three bigger and taller boys bullied Heiji, trying to snatch his toy. Kazuha, who seriously took protecting her little brother Heiji as an honorable duty, threw all three boys on the ground using her Aikido skills. While proudly watching the three big boys running away and crying for their parents, Kazuha patted on Heiji's head with a smirk:

"Heiji, if anyone dares to bully you again, just tell Kazuha Nee-chan and Nee-chan will beat them up."

But Heiji didn't like to be protected by a girl. He wanted to protect her. He wanted to beat up any boys who dared to put their hands on her. So he started to practice Kendo with his parents, both of whom were masters of Kendo.

And the height difference between them finally reversed a few year later, when the eleven-year old Heiji became taller than the eleven-year old Kazuha. Now it was his turn, he patted Kazuha's head while holding his katana in the other hand:

"Kazuha, now you are officially my follower. So tell me if anyone dares to bully you. Just come to Heiji Nii-san and Nii-san will protect you."

When this first happened, Kazuha was quite furious, "I will never call you Nii-san! And you call me Kazuha Nee-chan, ahou! Show your big sister some respect!"

Heiji found her angry face incredibly cute. He laughed, and patted her head again. He really enjoyed being taller than her.

Kazuha sighed, quite frustrated about losing her height advantage.

Being taller than Kazuha gave Heiji an entirely different perspective, now that he could look at her from a taller vantage point.

He noticed her eye lashes were unusually long and curly, too long and too curly sometimes that he couldn't see her eyes from above when they stood too close together. That was sometimes a little bit annoying, since he really liked her emerald eyes.

And now that he was taller, he could easily fix the ribbon on her ponytail when he saw it getting loose. The first time he fixed her ribbon was by her request. She just finished her Aikido training and her ponytail and ribbon got messed up. Since her hands were still dirty and sweaty, she asked Heiji to fix it for me. Heiji was quite reluctant at that time, but nonetheless still did it. He was quite clumsy, as expected, and she complained a lot. But after that time, he found it quite enjoyable since it highlighted the fact that he was taller and now she needed his help more than he needed hers.

Unlike now, Heiji was an early riser at that time. Every morning, he would wait outside of Kazuha's house and then they would go to school together on his bicycle, with Kazuha sitting on the back seat. That was his favorite time of the day since Kazuha would hold on to his waist. Sometimes he would intentionally bike really fast or ride on bumpy roads so she would scream and held on to him tighter. That was quite enjoyable, especially when they grew bigger and her body curve started to show. When he felt something soft pushed against his back when she held on him tighter, that soft feeling always made him blush like a tomato. But fortunately, she could not see his face on the back seat.

They had different club activities after school. When Kazuha's Aikido training finished early, she would come to the gym to watch Heiji practicing Kendo. And vice versa. Their classmates always joked that they were a couple. Of course, both of them always denied it vehemently. But their denials were usually too much in sync and made their classmates tease them even more.

It was the first day of their second year in middle school. Like always, Heiji waited for Kazuha outside of her house.

Kazuha came out at the usual time. But to Heiji's surprise, she was not wearing the school uniform.

"Ahou! You still haven't change into the uniform?" Heiji impatiently looked at his watch, "Don't make us late on the first day of school, ahou!"

"Heiji, I am not going to school." Kazuha walked up to Heiji and his bike. Her emerald eyes looking into Heiji's eyes with something strange that made him suddenly nervous.

"… Are you … sick?" Heiji tried to figure out the reason. The good student Kazuha was not a girl to miss school without a reason.

"Heiji, I am not going to Kaihou anymore." Kazuha's emerald eyes showed a light shade of gray.

"What? You are transferring to another school?" Heiji was in complete shock, "Why? I thought you really liked Kaihou …"

"Not that I don't like Kaihou … But I am going to America with my parents … My dad told me that the FBI is working on a serial case that needed long-term cooperation with the Osakan police force. So you dad sends my dad to America to work with the FBI … Your parents didn't tell you?"

Well, Heiji's Dad was the Superintendent of the Osaka Prefectural Police, the immediate boss of Kazuha's Dad Toyama Ginshiro, the Chief Criminal Investigator.

Heiji stared at Kazuha for almost two minutes without a word. He was overwhelmed by a medley of emotions: disbelief, shock, desperation, and … sadness.

He really hated his dad. How could he send Kazuha's family away? And how could he do that without even discussing with him!

The long period of silence made Kazuha uncomfortable so she decided to break it:

"Hey, don't look at me like that, ahou! You know people always move. And when the cases are closed we will come back!"

"Kazuha …" Heiji was unable to put together a good sentence to summarize all he wanted to say to her.

"You are my best friend. I will always miss you." Kazuha's put a hand gently on his cheek, and gave her childhood friend her brightest smile.

And with that, they said goodbye.

- End of FLASHBACK -

Heiji let out a long sigh.

In the first month after Kazuha left, he didn't even talk to his dad. After his anger gradually subsided, in countless occasions he indirectly or directly asked his dad when the Toyama family would come back. However, his dad never gave him a definite answer. He didn't even know what cases Toyama Ji-chan was working on with the FBI in America.

Life without Kazuha was so boring. To keep himself occupied, Heiji started to apply the detective skills that he learned from Ellery Queen books to real cases. Thanks to his father, he had access to insider information on many tough cases. Initially, his dad dismissed him from the crime scenes, but Heiji soon proved himself to be a better detective that any of the adult police detectives officially employed in the Osaka Police Department. He started to be known as the Great Detective of the West, who appeared constantly on newspaper and TV interviews and soon gained a large crowd of fangirls.

Hattori Heiji had a busy and exciting life. Every day, he enjoyed the excitement of solving cases, the publicity that ensued, and the vanity from having crowds of girls admiring him.

But none of these could fill in the hollowness left by Kazuha's disappearance.

The three years of her absence made him realize that he missed her, he needed her, and he couldn't take her for granted since she could disappear from his life anytime.

Thinking about that, Heiji wondered that if Kazuha didn't leave, maybe he wouldn't even realize that how much he had grown attached to her.

He, Hattori Heiji, liked to solve cases. But among the hundreds of tough cases he had solved in the past three years, the most important one was that he figured out, in the three years without Kazuha, that he really, really liked that girl.

Yes. Hattori Heiji likes Toyama Kazuha.

Kazuha … How are you doing in America?

You said you would always miss me.

Do you?

Gentle breezes carried petals of cherry blossoms into the air, a few of them landed on Heiji's desk through the window.

Heiji was still staring outside of the window, completely uninterested in the math class.

He casually picked up one cherry blossom petal on his desk and absentmindedly blew it out of the window.

While studying the trajectory of the petal, he noticed there was a girl running into the school with full speed.

He looked at his watch. It was already 8:25 am. Late for school for almost an hour on the first day? How audacious … Heiji murmured.

However, somehow he felt there was some strange feeling suddenly emerging in his chest.

His eye widened.

Never had him observed a girl so intently in the past three years. But now, right at this moment, Hattori Heiji was staring at that girl who dared be one hour late to school on the first day.

Her hair was tied up in ponytail with a ribbon.

While she ran closer to the school building, he could see more clearly her sweaty face and her anxious expression. He could almost hear her loud panting. Somehow, he could even tell that her eyes were emerald.

Before he knew it, Heiji stood up from his chair, in the middle of the class.

At that time, a gust of wind blew up even more cherry blossom petals into the air, too much that they blocked Heiji's view for a few seconds.

When the pink petals finally settled, Heiji looked intently outside again.

The girl disappeared …

Was it … a fantasy?

"Hattori-san! What are you doing!" The math teacher was at first surprised then got really upset by the absentmindedly standing Heiji, "I know you can't wait for the break. But the class is not over yet!"

That brought Heiji back to reality.

He snorted and sat down, ignoring the upset teacher and the chuckling classmates.

Ok, it was a fantasy. Heiji came to terms with reality. Kazuha is in America now. There is no way she could appear on the campus of Kaihou.

"I am sorry Sensei!"

A loud, high-pitched voiced almost made Heiji jumping up from his seat again.

A girl, racing into the classroom, was panting hard while apologizing to the teacher.

His eyes widened again.

It is her.

He stared at the girl standing in front of the class. A girl who wore ponytail and ribbon. A girl who had emerald eyes and long eye lashes that he could easily tell even from the back of the classroom.

"I am so sorry Sensei! … My school in America starts at … 8:30 … I totally forgot … in Japan school … starts at … 7:30 …" She was panting really hard.

The teacher shook her head. She had been expecting a new transfer student from America today, but this student hadn't shown up until now, almost one hour after school started. To make it worse, even though she was apologizing, unlike other Japanese school girls, she was not even bowing to the teacher.

"Ok …It's ok …" The teacher still tried to keep her temper down, thinking that this Japanese girl must have forgotten all about the appropriate Japanese manners while being in America for too long. However, despite the new girl's lack of manner, her innocent face made people don't want to get too angry at her.

Well, that was before the teacher noticed another annoying fact.

"Toyama-san, why are your shirt and skirt so short!"

The entire class had already been staring at the new girl's uniform intently before the teacher had noticed. Yes, it was the standard Kaihou uniform. But her skirt was several inches too short, revealing too much of her long legs. Her sailor shirt, also several inches too short, was almost like a midriff, occasionally revealing her bellybutton.

Students already started gossip about the girl's appearance.

"Cute girl … and she also looks hot …!"

"Look at those legs …"

"And her abs …"

"And her breasts …"

"I am sorry Sensei!" The new girl, still panting, scratched her head in embarrassment. "I just came back last night and didn't have time to buy the high school uniform. I could only find my elementary school uniform and they sort of still fit …"

"Hahahaha …"

The classroom burst out into a big laughter. Even the teacher couldn't help laughing when she heard the girl's explanation. What was she thinking to wear the Kaihou elementary school uniform to Kaihou high school!

"Ok, … let's talk about your uniform later …" The teacher took out a handkerchief to wipe off her sweat and tried to hush the still laughing audience. "Ok, everyone, this is Toyama Kazuha-san. She just moved back to Japan from America. Please be kind to your new classmate." She then pointed Toyama to an empty desk two rows in front of Heiji.

While she just sit down, the bell rang announcing the end of the first class of their junior year of high school.

'Toyama-san …" In no time a bunch of students already surrounded Kazuha. They were interested in the new girl coming back from America.

"Toyama-san, your English must be really good right?"

"Wait, is your Japanese still good enough?"

Before Kazuha could answer any questions from her curious classmates, she felt something thrown over her shoulder.

And she also heard a familiar voice and a familiar word.

"Ahou!"

Heiji, while staring at Kazuha angrily, wrapped his jacket around her to cover her body.

Kazuha looked up, and saw a handsome, tanned face that she had missed so dearly.

"Hei …"

Before Kazuha could say anything, Heiji already grabbed her arm and dragged her out of the classroom.

"… Did they know each other before?" Seeing the scene, the other people all looked perplexed.

"Heiji!" Kazuha's mind was still processing what's going on with her estranged childhood friend. She also got a bit annoyed, "So 'ahou' is what you have to say to me after three years?"

"Of course! Ahou!" Heiji stopped and looked at her, still angry, "What are you thinking! Flaunting your body in front a bunch of hungry wolves by wearing your elementary school uniform?" While seeing her abs and bellybutton were still visible, he started to quickly button the buttons of his jacket on her to completely covered her front.

"I am not flaunting my body and you are the ahou!" Kazuha now got really irritated, "What could I do! I haven't got the time to buy the high school uniform and this is at least a Kaihou uniform!"

Instead of fighting back with another round of "ahou" calling, Heiji looked at her with a smirk, and soon burst out into laughter. "Kazuha, ahou, you haven't changed a bit!"

With that, he hugged her, so happy that their good old days of bickering and laughing finally came back.

"Heiji …" Kazuha was a bit unprepared for the quick turn from bickering to hugging. True, they hugged each other many times when they were kids. She certainly missed her childhood friend in the past three years and was happy to meet him again now, just to find him looking more handsome and more manly. Now as a 17-year old girl, hugging a tall, handsome 17-year-old boy and feeling the warmth of his brace, Kazuha's face soon flushed terribly.

Heiji, finally releasing Kazuha from his arms after the long hug, looked down at his estranged childhood friend carefully.

She looked the same. The ponytail and the ribbon, the emerald eyes and long eyelashes.

And the small, pink lips, which he didn't pay too much attention before. But now he couldn't help but wonder how soft and delicious these lips would taste …

The thought of her lips made him blush. It didn't help when at this moment, he realized that his jacket, now loosely on Kazuha, reached just a little bit below her super short elementary school skirt. Although it covered a little more skin of her long legs, it also made her look like … like she was wearing nothing underneath his jacket …

The thought triggered a thousand imaginations and almost made his brain blank out.

"Heiji! Your nose!" Kazuha gasped when she saw blood suddenly dripping from Heiji's nose. She panicked and searched all over Heiji's pockets for something to wipe the blood. But eventually with nothing handy, she could only use her hands.

"Where is the school nurse? I will take you there!"

With her fingers unavoidably brushing Heiji's lips while trying to wipe off the blood, it really did not help controlling the bleeding.

"No need no need …" Heiji shook his head, feeling truly embarrassed as well as desperate. He knew exactly the reason for his nose bleeding …

To be continued ...

So what do you think? Please Review!

[1]Japanese academic year starts in April.