Disclaimer: Of course, I don't own the picture or the characters.

'Kay. Time to be honest with myself.

I like lots of stuff. Like solving mysteries. I really like solving mysteries. They're to me what water is to a fish. Get how important that is? Can't live without 'em.

Other things I like are the colour green. That's my favourite colour. And girls that wear their hair up in a ponytail - I find that really attractive. And girls that are brave, and kind, and skilled in Aikido-

...Well.

That sounds a whole lot like Kazuha. But that doesn't mean I like - okay, so maybe I do like her. Just a little bit.

...Or a lot. Maybe.

Oh, who am I kidding. I'm supposed to be honest with myself here, so here ya go - I really like Kazuha.

I'm not real sure when I first realised. Sure, I'd always known that she was important to me and all, and I didn't really like the idea of her going off with other guys, but I thought that was just the protective-brother side of me speaking. I'd always thought that we had this sibling relationship goin' on, and that was about it. But recently, I noticed that I was, well, kinda attracted to her. At first I was all 'ew, Heiji, that's Kazuha-neechan you're talking about here', but then I found out that if I thought of her as a girl and not my sister, I wouldn't mind dating her at all.

Once I got over that entire sister-brother thing, it really wasn't hard to fall for her. Maybe I'd liked her all along, but had always just brushed it off as a sibling kind of feeling. And I'm not stupid, ya know - I'm the Great Detective of the West! - I know that Kazuha probably likes me that way as well. She wasn't exactly hiding it either, what with all the 'blush every time Heiji does something nice for her' and 'get super jealous of my 'girlfriends' (remember that whole misunderstanding about Kudo?)' - the point is, it's really obvious. And, okay, so maybe I didn't exactly get it at first, but now that I know I like her, I can see she likes me too, which is good.

But what's not as good is how to tell her - if I should even tell her at all.

I'm sure you know I hate losing, and, well, I don't know what I'll do if I get rejected. And since we're pretty close and all, if I confess and it doesn't exactly work out, our relationship will become really awkward. I'd hate for that to happen - I treasure our relationship. So maybe I shouldn't tell her.

But if I don't tell her, I'm pretty sure she'll get taken by some other guy soon. Unfortunately, I can't keep her to myself all the time, and I'm not the only one who likes her either. Her list of suitors is ridiculous. So, yeah, it's safe to say she won't stay single for much longer. And I'm fine with that, as long as the one she dates is me. But that won't happen unless I tell her.

So I guess I should tell her - I don't wanna regret anything in the future, when I see her together with some random idiot.

However, just how was I supposed tell her? I heard girls like flowers and stuff. But Kazuha isn't really girly, so that might not work. What else does she like?

You, my head went. She likes you. It's obvious, isn't it?

That might be true, but shouldn't confessions be done with gifts or something? I can't exactly put a ribbon in my hair and go all 'Hey Kazuha, guess what your present is? Oh, that's right - it's me!', can I? She'll probably sucker-punch me out of existence or something.

But that actually gave me quite a good idea - if she likes me, then she'll probably like anything that reminds her of me, right? Therefore, I bought this cap that looked a lot like mine, except that the peak was green where mine was blue. The idea was that since the cap's more or less a part of me, by giving a similar one to her, it would symbolise that she's a part of me too. And it's true - she completes me, in a way. Ever since we were kids, I would always feel hollow without her around. Plus, the caps can be a couple thing; while others have couple rings and t-shirts, we'll have couple caps. Ain't that cool?

So, the following day, I went over to her house after school. I was really nervous, which was unusual for me since I'm usually confident and all, but this was a big deal for me. When I saw her coming to door through the window, I had half a mind to run away, but then it swung open and hit me in the face.

"Who's ther- oh my god I'm sorry I'm sorry! Are you okay, Heiji?"

"Mmmph." was all I could say, because damn, doors can seriously hurt.

She ushered me into the house, and made me lie down on the couch while she searched for an icepack. While I was lying down complaining about how much it stung, I suddenly remembered why I was in Kazuha's house in the first place, and that made me bolt straight up.

"Heiji, lie down - we're out of icepacks, but I've got a bag of frozen peas, and that'll work as well."

"N-no, I've got something important to tell you!"

"I said lie down."

So I did as she said - an angry Kazuha would only make confessing harder. After she was done fussing over me, she asked me what it was I had wanted to say. At that point, I was tempted to make up some lame-ass excuse like what I did the other time ("I-I'd just wanted to tell you that every time you trembled, your ponytail kept tickling me and it was really annoying" - now just why'd I say that again?), but decided against it because I wanted to be honest this time. So, I took a deep breath and told her.

"Here - it's a cap. It's like mine, but green, because green's nice on you. Get what I'm trying to say yet? No? Okay, the thing is, I kinda like you. Or maybe I like you a lot. Perhaps I love you? Yeah, I think I love you. Wait, scratch the 'think' part - I do love you. So, uh... Anyway, the point is you're sorta more than just a friend or sister to me, and I'll be really happy if you'll be my girlfriend or something like that..?"

That jumbled mess of words wasn't exactly what I was aiming for, and I was worried about how uncool the entire confession had sounded, but before I had time to start freaking out over it, Kazuha started laughing and donned her cap.

"Oh, Heiji, you're about as smooth as sandpaper. But yes, I'll be your girlfriend. About time you asked, ahou!"

Let me tell ya, there ain't no feeling as good as having a confession accepted - I was ecstatic. And then I started wondering why I hadn't confessed sooner. But then I realised that it didn't matter - what did matter was that I had done it, Kazuha was mine, and if I had my way, she would be mine forever.

Being honest is real sweet.

A/N: I just absolutely adore the Heiji/Kazuha pairing - they're so adorable! And it's so obvious they like each other - hurry up and get on with it already. And can you believe Heiji actually used that ponytail excuse in the manga/anime - like, seriously? That was so not what you had wanted to say. Also, reviews are dearly loved, so be awesome and leave me one?