Hey everyone! Okay, so to all those who are reading my story for the first time, Hello! And thank you for choosing to give your time to me, I hope you don't regret it!
Anyway, this is the first time I'm using the HeiZuha pairing, since I mostly concentrate on the KaiAo pair.
Now, we all know Heiji has a very short temper, don't we? So I just thought, why not use it to my benefit ? *evil smile*
So without further ado, let's begin this story!
Chapter 1 : Misunderstanding
"One,two, three..."
Inspector Toyama, who was just leaving for work heard as he passed by his daughter's room.
"Four,five, six.."
He stopped fidgeting with his tie, a piece of clothing he found extremely uncomfortable. The forty and something year old father, leaned against the door, trying to figure out what his almost adult daughter was doing.
He had learnt from his wife, mind you, that it was inappropriate to walk into a girl's room without her permission, so like the good man he was, all he was doing was eavesdropping.
Not bad manners at all, in his opinion.
He put his hand on the door, softly shifting his body weight from his legs to his hands resting there. He put his ear to it.
There was silence. For a moment, the old inspector thought that she was alerted of his presence. Slowly trying to re-adjust his centre of gravity, he pushed against the door, to stand on his feet.
Before he could manage that, however, the door opened inwards, leading the old man to fall on the floor of his only daughter's room.
Bottles of acetone fell on his new suit, discolouring it permanently and sending a wierd cold sensation up his body.
But that wasn't half of what annoyed him.
How could a police man of his ranking not be able to spy with caution? On his daughter to top it off!
"Dad? What are you doing?"
The inspector looked at his soon to be 18 year old daughter, who was watching him in silence, half surprised and half annoyed. It wasn't the first time he had been discovered , ofcourse, and by now, she had been accustomed to finding him dilly dallying around her room.
Inspector Toyama groaned, his hand on the bridge of his nose that had been graciously flattened on contact with the hard floor.
"Just checking on you before heading to office." He said. There's no way he would reach soon anymore!
He trembled thinking of what was to come if he reached late. His partner, Hattori Heizo would surely lead him to his deathbed, after all, that man wasn't referred to as the "Death God" of the Osaka police department for no reason.
He heard his daughter sigh. The old man stood up, looming over her 5'4 figure (roughly 173 cms). She was a beautiful girl, being blessed by her mother's sharp features.
Her brown hair, was always tied up in a single ponytail, with ribbons that he always brought for her. That was a tradition that they had lived up to since he gave it to her for the first time during the Bon festival when she was five. He was a doting father, he knew and he had no reason to deny it.
To him, she was his world.
Her marble green eyes narrowed at his excuse and she put her hands on her hips, a position that meant she had seen through his motives.
"You were eavesdropping, weren't you.." she said in a small voice.
"Anyway, what were you doing?" He said, looking around. Her room was neat, everything was perfectly in place,a habit her mother had inculcated in her from a young age.
At his question,her eyes immediately lit up.
"Looking at tickets for Tropical Land!" She said, forgetting about their current situation, much to his delight.
"You mean the amusement park in Tokyo?" She beamed with joy, nodding her head furiously.
"One of my friends bet me that if I won the quarter finals and came in the top 10 finalists of the summer Aikido tournament, he'd give me the tickets he had won in a lottery!"
That was undeniably something she had inherited from him; her brute strength. And there was no doubt about how proud he was.
"And...?" He said, smiling at her.
She ran to her bed, where her laptop lay open.
" Look!" She said, pointing at the screen. The older man squinted his eyes, looking at the rank list. There, at number 7, was clearly written:
Toyama Kazuha - Rank 7
"Isn't that great?! Congratulations!" He announced, hugging his excited child.
Kazuha wrapped her arms around her father, who always looked for excuses to hold her, not that she minded.
"So you're going to collect those tickets now?" He asked. She nodded and smiled, waving at him, yelling out a take care at work' and racing down the stairs and out the door.
She sure was an enthusiastic one.
Toyama Kazuha raced to the location that her friend had notified her of in a text message to collect her reward. She had waited months for this, to be able to go to Tropical Land, not just for the amazing rides, but to be able to spend quality time with him.
She had worn a cute flowy dress, that was emerald green, to match the colour of her eyes. She intended to receive the tickets and then run to him, in hopes to surprise him.
He always grumbled a bit and then accepted;it had been the same routine since they had been children.
She reached the location, running to the park. This park had always been Heiji and Kazuha's rendezvous point since he had first got his bike, so meeting someone else there felt a little odd.
"Ah, Kazuha-chan!" Came a voice from in front of her. Kazuha broke out of her train of thoughts, looking at the boy in front of her. "Ryou-kun!" She said, coming to a halt when she was at a certain distance.
"Congratulations on winning!" He said, holding out his arms and engulfing her in a small hug. She awkwardly put her arms around him, squeezing a bit and then letting go.
"So here you go! This is your reward!" He took out two pieces of paper out from his pocket, holding it out to the excited girl.
"Thank you so much!" Kazuha exclaimed, overjoyed. She finally had what she had worked so hard for! All of the time they'd spend there, would make up for the time they missed while she was practicing.
Kazuha wanted to run to Heiji's house, but the boy in front of her wouldn't stop talking. She went along with the conversation,silently hoping it wouldn't delay her plans. From behind her, Kazuha heard something stir. She thought she had felt a presence behind her.
Someone was watching her.
She turned around, looking behind cautiously, but there was nobody.
"Kazuha-chan?" Ryou said, surprised at her sudden change of expression.
"Ryou-kun, I'm sorry, but I have to leave now. I have to be somewhere." Kazuha said, turning around and walking out of the park.
She had a very bad feeling about this.
After six hours of kendo training, Heiji was exhausted.
Mom's a brute, he thought to himself.
How she could transform from a devil into an innocent angel was a mystery to him. But then again, the only person who could survive with his insanely stern father was her. They were a match made in heaven, he thought. Heiji had seen many women in his life, but he never thought anyone suited him as well as they did each other.
His best friend however, was totally another story. They'd been together since they were children, never separating, even locked by chains of iron. Heiji smiled thinking of the bubbly girl, who always came running back to him. Even though he wouldn't admit it, even to himself, to the 18 year old boy, his childhood best friend solely belonged to him.
And imagine his horror when he stood in front of the park that he treasured as their memorable place, watching her hold another man.
He wasn't supposed to feel so anxious, he was supposed to be so angry, but all he felt was insane rage.
He stood there, gaping at her returning the hug, her hands reaching out to his back. Every cell in his body was telling him to pull her away from him, but he fought his instincts. She was free to do what she wanted, he couldn't stop her.
Heiji turned away, walking back to the direction of the Osaka prefecture police station, where he spotted a rather short and plump man getting into a car.
"Otaki-han!" He yelled out. The man turned around to look at the younger boy, who simply opened the door of the passenger's seat and sat down.
"Hei-chan? " He said, surprised. The boy looked incredibly angry.
"You're heading out to solve a case aren't you?" Heiji said, looking in front, no expression on his face.
The older man nodded.
"I'm coming with you." He said, quietly. Inspector Otaki blinked two or three times, before silently getting into the driver's seat.
If there was one thing he had learnt in his 20 or so years of working with the Osaka police, it was to stay out of arguments with the Hattoris.
Kazuha ran to Heiji's house and stood by the door, ringing the bell. There was no answer.
That was rather strange, someone was always home at the Hattori's house.
"What are you doing here, Kazuha-chan?" Came a voice from behind her, just as she was about to ring the bell again.
"Shizuka oba-san!" Kazuha exclaimed, turning around to face the eternally beautiful woman. She was in her usual clothes, a perfect fitting yukata with a fan in hand.
"I was looking for Heiji. Isn't he home?"
"That is weird, isn't it? I was so sure he'd come straight home after practice! " The older woman said, her fingers on her chin, holding it in deep thought.
Kazuha sweat dropped. Ah, poor Heiji had had to go through with his mother's barbaric training. Kazuha had experienced it first hand, so she knew exactly how terrifying it could get.
"If you're looking for the idiotic son of mine," came a stern voice from behind them. They turned to look.
"Then he just ran of with Otaki to a murder location."
Clad in a grey, striped suit stood the master of the house, his very presence screaming authority. "Oh, Dear! You're home rather soon.." His wife said, hiding half her face with her fan out of habit.
"I'm heading out right now. I came home to collect a file." He said, walking into the house with a small excuse me'.
"Well, there you have it, Kazuha-chan! Off you go now!" She said, shooing the girl away in a comical manner. Kazuha yelled out a goodbye' and raced away once more.
"What proof do you have that any one of us did it?!" Yelled out one of the suspects, that were being questioned.
They had been shouting for quite a while and it was starting to get on the teenage boy's nerves.
BANG!
Everyone stopped talking, turning to look at the boy who had nearly shattered the glass of the reception table. "The proof,Mr. Yano" he said, looking from one person to the other in the room, his anger evident in his features.
"Is that the four of you were the only ones with the characters of Land, Earth, Water and Fire in your names."
"So what?! What has that got to do with anything?" Said the man.
"If I have to explain, the victim, an author of a famous murder mystery novel, knew he was going to be murdered, and even wrote the name of the murderer in the book in crypt, somewhere in the story. All I have to do is interpret the hidden secret and the murderer will be exposed." Heiji said, getting up, walking to the man.
"Don't mess with me, brat!" The man said, throwing a punch at the boy.
Heiji avoided it with ease, gripping the man by his elbow and throwing him down. Heiji sat down near him and holding him by his collar, whispered in his ear, "I'm already annoyed right now. It wouldn't be advisable to piss me off anymore."
The man didn't open his mouth again. He was much too scared.
"Now, then. Let's continue with the questioning.
Suddenly, the door burst open and in came a young girl. Everybody turned to look at her. "Heiji, come with me. I need a minute!" She announced. Heiji ignored her, glaring at Otaki-han, whom he had given strict instructions to not let anyone in.
Including a brunette teenager with green eyes.
"Kazuha. I'm busy." He said, pressing his forehead, shutting his eyes and trying to put a lid on his anger.
She pouted.
He never did this to her, he'd always at least listen. She pulled him out with his hand, not noticing his terrible mood.
She stopped walking when they were out, letting go of his hand and turning around.
"Ta da!" She said, taking the tickets out of her pocket and waving them in his face.
Heiji's expression did not change.
"Let's go together Heiji! You know I really-"
Heiji swung his hand, wacking the tickets out of hers. They flew in the air and drifted slowly, falling on the floor.
Kazuha looked from her hand to the floor, then to the boy in front of her.
"Heiji..?" Kazuha asked, surprised. She reached her hand to touch him and he simply moved his face away.
"I don't have time to waste with you. Find another playmate." He said to her, coldly.
"What's wrong? " She asked.
He scoffed. "Go on your own if you want to. Don't expect me to take you wherever you want to go."
He was just a substitute to her anyway, he thought to himself. Her original plan had been something else.
He walked away from her, leaving a flabbergasted Kazuha alone. This wasn't their usual argument.
Something had really ticked him off.
But this was too much, even for her, who was so used to him. Kazuha ran away, picking up the passes that she had worked so hard to get, tears gushing out of her eyes. The heels she had worn snapped and broke, causing the girl to trip and fall. Kazuha threw them away, upset beyond belief.
She passed by the few thousand people on the road, looking like an absolute mess, not that she cared at that particular moment. Something had just her more than the few fallen glass pieces piercing her bare feet.
Heiji, you idiot.
Heiji shut the door behind him , his hand covering his face. How could he have done that to her? Why couldn't he control his anger? What had her meeting another man got to do with him?
He decided in that moment that he wouldn't meet her until he had calmed down, fearing even more rebellion and a terrible outcome he didn't want. When she came back to him like she always did, they'd talk and sort it all out.
Thinking so, Heiji walked back into the room, he still had a case to solve.
Little did he know, that this was the last time he'd see his childhood best friend in a long , very long while.
And little did he know just how much he was going to regret it.
Thank you so much for reading! Looking forward to your comments on this chapter! I hope you have a great day. I love y'all ❤