Kimiko: I finally have time to write this up! This is a continuation of the Starlight in the Heavens fic that I wrote for my dear Eri-san (Pandakitty)! I hope this makes you happy! I love this AU. I don't have anything to do with Detective Conan, but please don't anyone take this down. It's written for a good cause.

Whirlwind

It was the hour before dawn. All was peaceful in Edo, the city of the gods. Then suddenly, in one particular house, a room started shaking.

Heiji groaned and rolled over in his bed. Really, why did his father think it was necessary to put a miniature fault under his bed that would cause a tiny earthquake every morning to make him wake up? No one else's dad does that, right?

But it wouldn't ever stop until he got out of the bed. So, just like every morning, he grudgingly fell out of his comfortable bed onto the hard floor. He lay there for a few moments, enjoying the lack of vibrations, but knew from experience that the fault covered more of his room than just under his bed. So, just like every morning, he managed to sit up, yawning and stretching.

"Stupid quake," he muttered to himself. "It's not like I have anything to do this early in the morning, Dad." No one with any sense was awake yet. That left the workaholic gods and goddesses and humans. And anything that was nocturnal.

Nocturnal meant sleeping through the day. That sounded like a great idea right now.

He was just considering if he could get extra sleep in some empty house when he abruptly came upon an idea that quickly woke him out of his half-asleep daze. Shinichi. Heiji bit his lip to keep from grinning. He could get sleep there, at his house. Shinichi's mother thought it was cute. And it'd be even better if Shinichi was still asleep, so he could sneak in. The other boy wouldn't mind all that much.

With this new plan in mind, Heiji quietly slipped out of his house and hurried through the dark streets towards the house of the Muses, Yukiko and Shinichi. As he approached it, he noticed, as always, how extravagant it was. It was almost amazing how beautiful Yukiko could make her house look without going over the top. The yard was full of graceful statues, exotic-looking plants and a small fountain. It would have looked like a jumbled maze at first, but it was arranged in a way that would make any human, or god, gape in shocked amazement. And the house always seemed to change slightly every time he saw it. Or maybe he was just noticing more things each time. The color scheme changed as the day went by, each a new aesthetically pleasing shade of the rainbow. Now, before dawn, it was a hazy grayish indigo. Heiji knew that watching the house while the sun was rising was just as impressive as watching the sun itself rise, though he'd never say that to Ran's face.

But as for the structure of the house, it was graceful, solid, sweeping, inviting, and just plain inspirational. Heiji once compared it to the best music ever written transformed into a building. Anyone who passed it and even glanced at it (if they could resist the temptation to stare for hours), would be moved to write something or do something even remotely as beautiful as the house.

But Heiji managed to pull his eyes away from the house and passed through the garden to enter it. He looked around for anyone, but there was nothing. It was just as he figured. Yukiko loved her sleep and Shinichi did too.

Heiji smiled to himself as he trudged the familiar path to Shinichi's room. It was no longer an effort to ignore all the innovations filling up the house. He had his plan on his mind. Once he came to the door, he paused and listened quietly for any sound that might indicate that Shinichi was already up. Again, nothing. He carefully opened the door, oddly shaped like a giant leaf, and stalked slowly inside.

Shinichi was lying peacefully on the center of his bed like a sleeping goddess, perfectly framed by the wrinkles of the sheets. Heiji resisted the urge to kiss him awake and carefully slipped onto the bed beside him, taking great efforts not to make the bed shake too much.

'Please don't let him wake up just yet,' he thought to Takagi, the god of fortune. Gradually, he managed to snake his arms around the sleeping muse. Shinichi didn't seem to notice, and instead shifted slightly in his sleep, adjusting to the new position.

Heiji sighed gratefully. He closed his eyes and breathed in the faint smell of flowers that still lingered on Shinichi from yesterday, when he and his mother were decorating the main throne hall with enormous bouquets. It had been attractive to watch Shinichi just as into the moment as his mother was.

Whoever said Shinichi wasn't good for anything but tragedy?

Shinichi's eyes slowly fluttered open. The first thing he was aware of was the fact that he was incredibly comfortable. The second thing was that the sun already seemed to be up, so that meant he should be up. He thought about it for a moment, and then discarded it. For some reason, lying in his bed felt better than ever. Maybe his mother had done something to it when he didn't notice. He closed his eyes and moved a bit to relax one of his shoulders more.

And he felt something different. His eyes opened again. Was the bed…lumpy? He moved some more, and felt something behind him. A lump? It was probably just the sheets bunched up. He started to roll over to smoothen it out.

Shinichi found himself a few centimeters away from Heiji's sleeping face. He stared at in shock for a few seconds, then instantly his face began to feel hot. Oh, dear Muse Mother, Heiji was in HIS BED, with his arms around him!

He was about to panic and push the god away from him when a thought struck him. Why would Heiji come here? Maybe there was something wrong at his own house. Maybe Heiji was just tired and couldn't get any sleep when no one else was at home (his parents were often away). Or maybe—Shinichi blushed again at the thought—maybe Heiji wanted to be here with him.

Shinichi considered each thought for a moment. Each was probable, even…um, the last one. Well, since the god had gone to all the trouble of coming here and trying not to disturb him, he might as well pretend he hadn't woken up and just wait for Heiji to move.

Besides, he kind of liked this position. Shinichi closed his eyes again, sure he wouldn't sleep anymore, but somehow, Heiji's rhythmic breathing lulled him into slumber.

Yukiko wondered why her son hadn't woken her, like he usually did. It wasn't that she wasn't grateful for the extra sleep, but it was unusual. As she passed his room, she stopped. Something in her mothering sense told her something was off today. She looked at the door. Maybe Shinichi was sick?

She opened the door, about to call for her son, but abruptly stopped. The cutest scene in the world was before her. Shinichi and Heiji were curled up on the bed, the muse's head cradled alongside the god's neck. Heiji was softly embracing Shinichi, while the other's hands were gently grasping his loose shirt. They both looked like a dream out of a dream.

Yukiko stared at the two, her hands clenched in front of her mouth. It was SO CUTE! She couldn't help it and squealed in ecstasy.

Shinichi and Heiji awoke instantly. They stared at each other in astonishment and suddenly leapt apart.

"M-mom," Shinichi stuttered. "Uh, I—"

"It's not what you think," Heiji tried to explain.

"Oh, that's okay!" Yukiko sang as she practically danced out of the room. "I approve of this entirely! Don't mind me and continue whatever you wanted to do! I won't be too far! In fact, I feel like inspiring people to paint right now!" She waved to them enthusiastically, still beaming.

The two who were left in the room stared after her, and then glanced at each other. Shinichi quickly looked away. Heiji stared at him for a while longer. Gods, he was beautiful, especially as the light came through the window and illuminated his face and hair. He wanted to do as Yukiko had said and go right over to him, but he restrained himself, for Shinichi's sake. It was pretty awkward when your mother had just walked in on you and your boyfriend sleeping together.

"Um, would you wait outside for a while?" Shinichi mumbled, fumbling to straighten the sheets on his bed and pick up a piece of art that he had accidentally knocked over—anything to do instead of stand there. "I'll, um; I'll be down in a minute. J-just let me…"

Heiji understood and walked out of the room. Maybe he had unintentionally done something unnecessary.

Heiji waited in the garden, thinking over his actions. He probably had gone a bit too far by doing that. He should apologize to Shinichi, so the muse wouldn't hate him or anything.

When Shinichi finally came out of the house, his face was still a little red and he was avoiding looking at Heiji.

Heiji was about to begin his apology when Shinichi broke into his line of thought. "Uh, Heiji, I—I didn't really mind that. I'm sorry if you felt embarrassed because of my mother. Just, um, tell me before you—I mean—before next time, okay?" Heiji nodded wordlessly. He had completely forgotten what he was about to say.

Later that day…

Heiji and Shinichi, after spending the morning working in the temples, decided it was time for something else. Something fun.

So Heiji dragged Shinichi off towards the Aurora Falls, a long "waterfall" coming out of the side of a mountain. Instead of water, ribbons of colored light lazily flowed from the cracks in the mountain. It was always fun to run along a ledge along the falls, feeling the cool streams of light drape onto you, and then continue to glide down to the valley, where they collected in a lake of water. Sometimes, when the light would build up, it would spill down into the skies above Earth and humans could actually see the spiraling colored light from the heavens.

As they ran along, they encountered a god and goddess they most definitely did not want to meet. Calvados, the god of war, and Chianti, the goddess of magic, were coming in the opposite direction. When they saw Heiji and Shinichi, they sneered at them and stood in the way.

"Oh, if it isn't the two weirdo lovebirds out for a stroll," Chianti jeered. "Or maybe they're going to do something more intimate!" Calvados chuckled.

Shinichi glared at them and took a threatening step forward. "Shut up. Can't you find something better to do other than making people hate you?"

Chianti scoffed. "Oh, so the little muse thinks I'm being mean to him and his boyfriend? Sorry your mommy isn't here to make you feel better, but I'm not sure even she could stand up to us." She emphasized the god of war behind her. "I wonder why the protection god can't stand up for his boyfriend, Calvados. Maybe the tragedy boy makes his powers ineffective."

Calvados agreed. "I'm not sure if that muse should be around that young god so much. Even though he is the god of safety, the muse's misfortune might overwhelm him. And we do expect a lot from him, being Heizou's son."

Heiji was just about at his limit. "Quit talking about us like we're not even here! And it's not misfortune! It's called tragedy, and it can be an art!"

"Oh yeah?" Chianti sneered. "How, little god?"

Heiji was ready to defend Shinichi until the end of time, but suddenly he was at a loss. What could tragedy do? He had seen Shinichi use his other talents many times, but he had never really seen tragedy used as a form of art.

What was he supposed to do? He couldn't say anything. He could feel his heart panicking, screaming to do something for his love, but what?

Shinichi noticed that Heiji didn't know what to say. He felt awful. This was probably his fault. He quickly took Heiji's arm and dragged him away, ignoring the shouts and taunts of the two nuisances.

"Just ignore them, Heiji. It doesn't matter what other people say."

Heiji looked closely at Shinichi's face. Although he was trying to hide it, the muse was crying softly. Heiji felt his heart break. Shinichi was hurting and he didn't do anything to help. He didn't have the right to say anything. He was a failure of a friend and a lover. If the person you love is crying you should do something, right?

Heiji thought hard. He stopped and Shinichi turned to face him, his eyes getting puffy from the moisture. Heiji tried to choose his words carefully. "Shinichi, I love you. It doesn't matter what other people say because they can't change how I feel. If it bothers you, we can always move somewhere else to be together."

Shinichi looked skeptical. "But there's always someone somewhere! I don't know where no one will compare us or make fun or us."

Heiji smiled and held his hand tightly. "Then how about we disguise ourselves and go to Earth?"

A few hours later…

Shinichi walked along the dirt road of a town on Earth in silence. Heiji followed behind, wondering what to say again for the nth time that day.

"I'm sorry. I feel like this is my fault."

"No, it's not." Heiji protested, trying to catch up to the muse-incognito. "It was that human who decided to kill someone. You had nothing to do with it."

"Still, I feel like my being here made that guy want to kill him." Shinichi felt glum. Was this all his power was good for? For inspiring human criminals to do awful things? He sighed, shaking his head, and then gazed up at the sky. It looked so different from below. But it was still the same sky that separated the heavens and the Earth. Like him. Even though he tried to change his perspective, he was still the same unfortunate Shinichi, muse of tragedy.

He felt bad for Heiji. He had only been trying to help Shinichi feel better, and he had messed it up by sensing a tragedy and stupidly running up to it. The two had witnessed the final moments of an ingenious murder. When the criminal saw them, he tried to attack them to get rid of them, but Heiji was able to quickly drive him back. But of course, when the law enforcement came up, they had to ask a bunch of useless questions, like "Do you know either the victim or the culprit?" They had even suspected Heiji and Shinichi as being the culprit's helpers, but Heiji had gotten angry and almost blew their cover. Shinichi clearly explained the situation and the culprit, scared of Heiji, admitted everything.

But the day seemed to be ruined. Shinichi fought the temptation to look back and see the expression on Heiji's face. He desperately wanted to do something to make this day better.

He looked from side to side, hoping to spot something interesting that humans did. They actually were quite intriguing. The things they did were slightly similar to the gods and goddesses, but they worked a lot more.

"Hey," said a faint voice from behind them. Shinichi turned around and saw that young man who had been hanging around the scene of the crime while the law enforcement did their job. Shinichi had wondered why he was there. The man had finally caught up to them and smiled at them, breathing a little hard. He looked a little like an older Shinichi, now that they saw him close up. "You two are the ones who stopped the criminal, right?"

Heiji and Shinichi looked to each other and shrugged. "Yeah, that's us," Heiji said. "Why? Did they want us back?"

"Oh, no," the young man said. "I wanted to talk to you guys. By the way, I'm Eisuke Hondou! And I want to stop criminals like that someday! Can you tell me how you managed to stop him from escaping? I can do all the deductions that those guys do, but I'm not really good at reading the criminal's actions, especially if he's trying to escape. Can you tell me what you did?"

Heiji didn't know what to say, so Shinichi stepped in. "I guess we had the protection of the gods."

Eisuke's face fell a little. "Oh, the gods," he muttered. "Was there anything else you did? I mean, it's nice to praise them when you're being religious, but what about practical stuff, like this?"

"What do you mean?" Heiji asked, a little annoyed, "Gods do help with practical things! All you gotta do is pray to them and thank them when they do stuff for you."

"Maybe," the man said, looking aside. There was a moment of silence, and Shinichi suddenly came upon an idea.

"Hey, Eisuke Hondou, could you show us around the town? We're travelers and we want to see whatever is cool here!" Heiji and Eisuke both looked at him in confusion.

"Sure, I guess," Eisuke said, still confused at the sudden change in topic. "Then you can show me what you did, right?" Shinichi nodded.

"All right!" Eisuke exclaimed, enthusiastic again. "Well, if you want to see the cool places in town, then I guess the best place to start would be the coffeehouse!"

"Coffee?" Shinichi repeated blankly. The human looked back in astonishment.

"You've never had coffee before?" The two gods-in-disguise shook their heads slowly. "Then I guess that is the best place to start! Oh, and I didn't get your names."

"I'm Shinichi,"

"I'm Heiji,"

Eisuke waited for a family name, but none was given. He internally shrugged and continued on his tour of the town. If they wanted to remain anonymous, then that was fine. They would only stay for a while anyway. But still, there was something about them that was just so cool. When he first saw them, he knew there was something different about them. It might just be the fact that they were from out of town, but inside, Eisuke hoped it was more.

He wanted to impress them, so they would explain and even demonstrate how they stopped the criminal. He had weapons! He could have killed them, but somehow they beat him, without any weapons to fight back with.

But as long as he made Shinichi and Heiji feel like they had been goven the best tour ever, he would definitely get what he was hoping for. So he brought them to the coffeehouse, and amused himself at watching them drink the beverages (Shinichi drank his hot and black, while Heiji added just about everything there was to add, plus salt for some reason). Then they listened to some of the gossip and watched people gamble. Heiji himself gambled too, though he whispered something about someone called Takagi first. But somehow, he won every time he played. Eisuke had to drag the two out before anything got nasty.

Then he led the foreigners to the bridge over the river where they watched birds snatch at fish on the water. They were fascinated by all of the traffic going from one side to the other, and demanded that he take them to the docks next. There, they asked the fishermen and craftsmen all sorts of strange questions. Some were kind of obvious and others were just obscure. But each person they asked somehow gave them an honest answer.

Everywhere they went, they wanted to do everything. They were like two children, seeing everything for the first time. Eisuke wondered if they didn't get out much or had run away from a noble home.

But it didn't really matter. So Eisuke went on: a street festival, craftsman shops, an artist's salon, dozens of children's games in the street (for some reason, they wanted to stop for every one of them, and they were actually very good) and finally, they peeked over the wall of a dojo. That is, Eisuke peeked over while Heiji and Shinichi climbed right up onto the wall, looking in at the apprentices.

Eisuke sighed longingly at the display. Heiji and Shinichi noticed.

"What's wrong, Eisuke?" Heiji asked.

"I wanted to be like that, but I'm not good enough," he explained.

"Was it so you could stop crimes from occurring?" Shinichi asked. Eisuke nodded, still gazing at the children and young men practicing. Shinichi looked over at Heiji. They smiled in understanding. They hopped down from the wall and began to lead Eisuke to a less-crowded part of the town. "You can still be that kind of person, Eisuke." Shinichi said kindly. "You just have to believe in what you can do and trust to gods to do the rest."

"Is that what you did?"

Heiji nodded. "Yeah, but we're a little different than you." Eisuke was about to ask another question, but suddenly Shinichi held up his hand and almost stumbled. The other two looked at him, wondering if he was okay. Shinichi smiled to let them know he was fine, but he had an annoyed look on his face.

"Excuse me for a moment," he muttered quickly. He sprinted a few meters away, where there was a large tree that should block what he was about to do. He reached into his pocket and pulled out a glowing crystal in a twisted teardrop shape. Shinichi glared at it for a moment, then snapped, "Yes, Mom?"

The crystal, a trick-device that could connect the two muses wherever they were (and used at random times by his mother), answered him in his mother's voice: "Shin-chan! PLEASE come home! Your mama misses you! And I've got this great idea for a new type of play for someone, but I need your help to make it perfect!"

Shinichi narrowed his eyes, wishing she could tell how he felt about having his date with Heiji interrupted by a parent. But still, what she said was interesting. "Who would want to go to a play to see something tragic?"

"Oh, tragedy touches the heart! It can make or break love and it tests whether love can last forever! And when it'd not used with romance, then it's wonderful in friendships, families and so much more!" Shinichi let this sink in for a moment. Could this work? His mother let him have a few moments, then continued. "You see, Shinichi? You have a lot more talent than you realize. You can do a lot more than inspire the perfect crime."

Shinichi looked suspiciously at the crystal. "Have you been spying on me?" He didn't give it the chance to answer and shoved it back in his pocket.

But he was feeling elated. He could actually use his power! He desperately hoped it could be true. Still, as long as he and his mom worked together, they could probably make anything happen.

Though there was still something he wanted to do before he went back. As he neared Heiji and Eisuke, he noted that they were talking about why they came to the town. Shinichi smiled to himself. They could let the act go soon.

"Actually," he interjected, "We came here to get away from some annoying people and spend some time together, freely. Thanks to you, the day was perfect. Thank you so much Eisuke, we're indebted to you."

Eisuke tried to deny this, but Heiji took Shinichi's side. "He's right. You made everything amazing."

Shinichi whispered to him, "Are you ready to go back?"

Heiji thought about everything that had happened that day. Was he ready to end it? There was that tender moment in the morning, and all the cool stuff down on Earth. Even when they ran into that criminal, he felt proud of how he protected Shinichi, as the god of protection should. But was the day ready to end? He considered it as he looked off into the distance, into the slowly setting sun.

…And was struck once again with inspiration. Maybe such an occurrence was typical when you spent time with a muse.

"No, not yet." Heiji said. Shinichi looked at him with a question in his eyes, probably wondering what else they could do. Heiji didn't say anything. Now ignoring Eisuke, he pulled Shinichi closer to him. Shinichi blushed as he realized what was about to happen. That reaction seemed to drug Heiji's mind. Instinctively he took Shinichi's face in his hands and brought it close to his own. Their lips touched and both felt electrified by it. They deepened it almost instantly, Shinichi wrapping his arms around Heiji's neck while Heiji moved one of his hands to pull Shinichi's body closer to him. The moment lasted for an eternity, and they began to shed their human forms. Eisuke had to turn away from the blinding light and swirling wind that was created as the god and the muse returned to the heavens.

Even an hour later, the young man just stared at the now empty spot on the street. Passersby had been surprised before, when a whirlwind had started out of nowhere, but now they were only trying to avoid stepping on the person sitting in the street.

And if they listened, now the young man, who wanted to be a detective, finally spoke.

"Those two…were gods?"

Kimiko: Please review! I know that I loved this, but I would love to hear what you say! And I hoped you liked it, Eri-san!