Chapter 1: An Unexpected Kiss and An Unexpected Visit

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

Warning and spoiler: there will be some smutty contents in later chapters. Stop reading if you don't feel comfortable.

Toyama Kazuha, holding a large envelope in her hand, was sweating.

She was looking for Hattori Heiji, aka, her best friend and also, the famous Detective of the West.

God knew how long she has been in love with this dark-skinned, well-built, tall, and handsome boy. For years, she couldn't help but wonder:

Does he feel the same about me?

She gathered her courage to confess her love to him once. But it did not go so well …

Practically speaking, he didn't even hear her confession part because he ran away, over-excited to gossip with his best buddy Kudo Shinichi.

She sort of sensed, or maybe it was just her vague hope, that he might want to confess to her in quite a few occasions. However, needless to say, none of these suspicions transpired.

So here they were, still at the status quo, aka, still childhood friends. Well, he did call her his "cute little sister" once. But beyond that, there was nothing more.

It was early April, and they have just started their last academic year in high school.

In the envelope she was holding, was the admission letter from Harvard University.

She had no intention to leave Japan, of course. But her child-less aunt living in Boston, who had adored her since her birth, hoped Kazuha could accompany her in America for a few years and hence applied to Harvard on her behalf. It was not like Kazuha was totally oblivious of this application. She had to take the SAT, write her statement, ask her teachers to write her recommendations, etc. But she did this under the pressure of her parents and her aunt. It was a just a try, she thought, because she would never be accepted by Harvard.

But yesterday she received the acceptance letter from Harvard. What a surprise. Her parents, who were currently visiting her aunt in America, were so excited that they kept congratulating their smart, accomplished daughter for hours over the phone. Apparently, the American universities have a different schedule than the Japanese system. School year starts in September, which means if she would go, she would leave Japan in merely 5 months, even before her last high school semester started.

But should she go?

The problem here was Hattori Heiji.

Deep in her heart, Kazuha did not want to leave Japan. She wanted to stay by the side of Heiji like they had always been in the past 17 years. Honestly, she still had trouble to envision a life without this dark-skinned boy.

However, if they were not in a real relationship, then what's the point of staying by his side? He would not need a childhood friend to tag him along all the time. Actually, he openly expressed his annoyance about her tagging along in quite a few occasions.

Maybe this was her last chance to find out if there is something deeper between them, deeper than the bond of sibling-like childhood friends.

Today she wanted tell him everything, about her love for him, about how long she had loved him more than a childhood friend. If, just if, that he had the mutual feelings for her as well, maybe he would ask her to stay. And if he did, she would say yes. No question about it.

Kazuha made up her mind and started searching for the dark-skinned boy on the campus of Kaihou High School.

For no obvious reason, she could always find him without much trouble, a fact that annoyed him sometimes as he claimed that he needed privacy. This time, like always, it did not take her long when she saw the boy standing under the big cherry tree near the gym.

This cherry tree was the most popular spot for love confessions in Kaihou High. Kazuha could feel her heart racing when she spotted Heiji's profile under the cherry tree.

It was a sign. She told herself. It was a sign that today's the day of her confession.

She paused a bit, tightened her fists as if to muster courage, and then walked up to the cherry tree.

"Hei …"

Before she could speak out his name, she realized that there was another figure under the cherry tree, right in front of Heiji.

A beautifully curved female figure. Face to Face with Heiji.

It was not hard for Kazuha to figure out that this curvy figure belonged to Ooka Momiji, aka, the rich, beautiful, voluptuous girl from Kyoto who claimed to be Heiji's "fiancé."

Of course, the "fiancé" thing turned out to be a pure misunderstanding. Momiji misheard Heiji when they were little and she took it as a proposal. Kazuha was quite relieved then when she heard Heiji's explanation.

But why was she here? Shouldn't she be in Kyoto? Shouldn't she have already given up on Heiji, after Heiji told her that what she had believed about the "fiancé" promise was merely a misunderstanding?

Kazuha's was confused and she paused her steps. A few seconds later, before she could even start to clear her mind of all the confusions, her heart stopped beating.

They were kissing.

Yes, Hattori Heiji and Ooka Momiji were kissing.

Because of the sun, Kazuha could not see them very clearly. Actually, she could only make out two dark figures against the bright background of sun. But the profiles were clearly discernable.

Yes, these two were kissing.

She felt blood pumping to her head, and in no time warm liquid filled her eyes.

"Ahou …." She crumbled the envelope in her hand and ran away.

Kazuha wanted to get away. Away from all these.

What a stupid ahou she had been all along? Why was she so stupid to even having the hope of Heiji might love her back and stop her from going to America?

Before she knew it, she already hopped on the Shinkansen train to Tokyo.

"Ran-chan …" She murmured the name of her best friend in Tokyo.

Mouri Ran had always been optimistic about Kazuha's relationship with Heiji. She had done numerous things to help them to be a couple and Kazuha couldn't be more grateful.

Now she was shattered, she wanted to share everything with Ran like she always did.

But, wait …

Like always, when she ran to Tokyo to confide in Ran, in no time either Heiji would call Ran to ask where she was, or Ran would call Heiji to tell him Kazuha was with there, and her whereabout would be totally exposed. After all, there were not too many places she could go to and he knew all of them. And without fail, Ran would force her to talk to Heiji on the phone and she would hear dozens of "ahou" from her childhood friend. In the next few hours she would be back in Osaka again.

But this time, Kazuha really did not want Heiji to find her.

Her heart was broken. She needed time and distance away from Heiji to heal. It would not help if she saw him in a few hours and they started another fight about the kiss she just witnessed.

Where could she go, now that she was already on the train to Tokyo?

Sonoko?

No, she would tell Ran in 5 seconds and Ran would tell Heiji in another 5 seconds.

Who else did she know in Tokyo?

"Bye Ran. Thank you for the delicious dinner. So, have a good night …" Kudo Shinichi gave his beautiful girlfriend a clumsy hug before he walked out of her home. It is almost dark now, and just started to rain really heavily.

After he regained his adult body, he was still quite clumsy with his girlfriend. He was still very embarrassed with all the intimate, accidental touches he had with Ran when he was stuck in the 7-year old Conan's body. Now that he is a fully grown 17-year old boy, he felt quite shy to hug her. They shared a few butterfly kisses on the cheeks occasionally, but not much more than that. Ran was a shy girl as well, and she was perfectly fine to take their relationship slowly.

"Good night Shinichi." Said Ran with her signature gentle smile, "Don't get too wet." She handed an umbrella to her boyfriend.

Shinichi smiled back at her, and waved her goodbye.

It was really raining hard. But fortunately, it was only a few minutes' walk from Ran's home to his.

When he arrived the gate of the Kudo mansion, he was surprised to see a figure standing in the rain, standing right in front his house.

A slender figure with a ponytail.

"… Kazuha-chan?" Shinichi was truly surprised to see Kazuha, especially when he noticed that his best friend, the dark-skinned Detective of the West, was not there with her.

"Why are you here, Kazuha-chan? Where is Hattori?" Shinichi quickly walked over to Kazuha and put the umbrella over her. But apparently this girl had been standing here for a while, since she was completely drenched.

"Heiji is not here. It's just me …" Kazuha replied, lowering her head.

Shinichi thought she was crying. But he was not completely sure since raindrops were also running wildly down her porcelain like face.

"Kazuha-chan, so you are looking for Ran right?" Shinichi asked gently, "Come with me, I will walk you to her home."

Kazuha shook her head, finally raising her head to look at Shinichi, "I am looking for you, Kudo-kun."

"Me?" Shinichi was perplexed. And now he could see clearly that Kazuha was crying, with tears forming in her beautiful emerald eyes and rolling down her face, mixed with the raindrops.

"Yes …" Kazuha's voice sounded heart-breaking, "and please … don't tell Heiji or Ran-chan I am here …"

Shinichi was speechless for a few seconds. He had no idea why Kazuha was looking for him instead of Ran. Kazuha had always been close to Ran. Well, when he was still Conan, he and Kazuha was on good terms, but it never occurred to neither of them that they actually didn't know each other that well.

"… Whatever, let's go inside then. You are soaked and need to change." Shinichi sighed, deciding to ask Kazuha later before the girl caught a cold. He grabbed her wrist and together they walked into the Kudo mansion.

To be continued ...

So what do you think so far? It is very hard to write a story about an unlikely couple. Although I am a BIG fan of Heiji x Kazuha, I am also not against trying something new occasionally.

I started thinking about this story when I thought about the relationships of the parents' generation in DC. Kogoro and Eri are the only childhood-friends-turned-married-couple in DC. They undoubtedly love each other and care about each other deeply, but they cannot get along. Isn't it in some way similar to Heiji and Kazuha's relationship? Although we find HeiKazu's bickering hilarious, in real life, if those kinds of bickering continue into the real married life, it could be consuming and even devastating. Heiji's possessiveness of Kazuha is incredibly cute in the story, but again, it would be a kill in an actual marriage.

The two happily married couples in DC are Heizo X Shizuka and Yusaku X Yukiko. It is not hard to imagine that Shinichi growing up to be a person like his father, romantic and gentlemanlike. And Kazuha, more than Ran, resembles Yukiko. In real life, man and woman like Shinichi and Kazuha could actually make a lasting married couple. So here comes this crazy story.

And of course, this is just an imaginary AU that will fortunately never take place in DC :) We know the bonds between Shin-Ran and Hei-Kazu are unbreakable :)

Please review!