OK, so here's my first new story in...two years. Yeah, I've been gone that long. So all my old readers are probably all gone now and you all have never heard of me, huh? Well, I spent the time working on a novel, so I've been getting a lot of practice with writing. Just compare this story to some of my older stuff on this site, why don't you? ;)

This is normally where I put story explanations, but since it's a block of text this time, I put it at the bottom. Check it out if you have the time!

Disclaimer: Do you really think I'd be putting this on a fanfiction website if I owned it? Good grief. :P


Chapter One

Masumi Sera was a secretive person, and for good reason. After all, she was investigating her brother's murder and she didn't need the people who'd gotten to him getting to her friends through her. She valued Ran Mouri and Sonoko Suzuki as close friends and didn't really want any ill will to fall on them. Of course both Sera and Ran were both fully able to take care of themselves through their respective martial arts, but that didn't stop her from worrying.

And then, of course, there was the boy that always tagged along with them. Conan Edogawa was, of course, not actually a little boy, but she couldn't exactly tell him she knew that. That would make her friendship with Ran very awkward. Besides, Ran was kind of cute in a tomboyish way.

"Sera-chan! Sera-chan!" someone said loudly, breaking her out of her thoughts. It was Ran, trying to get her attention. Sera's thoughts had drifted off when Ran and Sonoko had started chatting among themselves. She'd been thinking about some personal problems she'd been having, which she didn't really want to discuss.

"Oh, sorry Ran-chan. I guess I just got distracted. What did you need?"

"We wanted to know if you wanted to go to a cake buffet!" Sonoko said loudly. "I was just telling Ran about one at the department store over there. Do you want to go, Sera-chan?"

That was a question that Sera didn't really know the answer to. She wasn't really feeling particularly hungry, but then again, if Ran and Sonoko wanted to go, who was she to say no? "Sure, I'll go!" she replied happily.

When they got inside, they saw that the line for the buffet was absurdly long. "Oh come on!" Sonoko wailed. "Cake makes you fat you know! Why are there so many fat people in the line?"

"Now, now," Ran said gently. "It's not that many people."

Sera glanced down and noticed that Conan, who had been quiet the entire time, was looking at Ran and Sonoko with a deadpan wtf expression. "What's wrong, Conan-kun?" she asked sweetly, making him start in surprise. "You know, this reminds me of the first time I met you guys. You were going to a cake buffet then, too!"

"Uh, yeah, I guess so," said Conan.

"But you know," Sera continued, "I wonder what Shinichi-kun would think of all this. Seeing Ran-chan in line for a cake buffet like this when she never responded to his confession might make him think 'What if she didn't take it the right way? What if she's pouting?' Do you think he'd think that?"

"Definitely not!" Ran exclaimed loudly. "Shinichi would know better than that…"

"Right, right!" Sonoko agreed. "Your beloved husband would never think badly of you, Ran!"

"It's not like that, Sonoko!" Ran said, blushing. Sonoko just giggled.

"And that's how you take someone's mind off of complaining," Sera whispered to Conan cheekily, who looked rather embarrassed. Well, that wasn't exactly surprising considering what she'd just talked about.

XXX

Later that day, Conan was still following the girls, bored out of his mind. He would've gone with his friends if he'd known what Sonoko had planned for the afternoon. First had been the cake buffet. Sera had turned that into a test of patience when she'd starting teasing Ran. Now they were on their way to an arcade.

"Japanese arcades are so much better than the ones in the States!" Sera said happily. "They've got all sorts of exclusives and you don't have to hunt for them here!"

'Just like Jodie-sensei,' Conan thought sarcastically.

"Are they really that different?" Sonoko asked curiously.

"Yeah," Ran responded. "When I went to America with Shinichi, we went to an arcade at a mall, and it was nothing compared to any arcade in Tokyo."

"Oh, he invited his wife on a date?" Sonoko teased.

Ran suddenly got defensive. "It wasn't a date!" she insisted, her face flushing. At this point, they had reached the arcade. Almost instantly, Conan spotted four kids near the Kamen Yaiba pinball machine.

"Come on, come on!" Genta yelled, letting go of the stick and sending the ball up into the machine. As the ball bounced around, he got ready with the flippers to send it back up.

"Oh, it's Conan-kun!" Ayumi announced, spotting them. She and Mitsuhiko waved at them while Genta, distracted, lost his ball.

Conan then had to pick the lesser of two evils. He could go with the kids, where he'd have fun but still have to listen to them chatter. Or he could go with Ran, and have to deal with Sera's teasing.

However, his mind was made up for him. "Oh, go on, tantei-san," Sera said cheekily, nudging him forward. "If you stay with us, you're going to make your girlfriend jealous!" She said this while winking again, which meant she was deliberately trying to get a rise out of him.

'What's been up with her lately?' Conan thought to himself. Sure, Sera was bright and cheerful, but she'd been a little too much of prankster than afternoon. Ran and Sonoko didn't seem to have noticed.

What those two did notice, however, was Sera's use of the word 'girlfriend'. "Oh, the brat's got a girlfriend?" Sonoko teased.

"Who is it? Who is it?" Ran asked, bending down close to Conan. "You can tell me, you know."

"Oh, I think Sera-no-neechan misunderstood," said Conan quickly. He shot a death glare at Sera, who was smirking evilly at him. 'That girl will get hers one of these days,' Conan thought, annoyed.

"Oh, really?" Ran replied, looking lost in thought for a moment. Then she stood back up. "Well, I guess we'll leave you alone, Conan-kun."

Conan kept an eye on them as went towards his friends. "Conan-kun, check this out!" his friends called from where they were playing. Haibara was busy playing at the moment, and from how the other three were looking at her, she was doing a pretty good job.

"You're amazing, Haibara-san!" Mitsuhiko shouted.

"Go, Ai-chan!" Ayumi followed.

"You like pinball, Haibara?" Conan asked.

"Oh, didn't you know, Edogawa-kun? It's good for practicing hand-eye coordination and timing."

'You're an adult, so why do you need to practice?' Conan thought, confused. Suddenly the ball ricocheted off a bumper and flew straight down to the bottom between the flippers, and Haibara was unable to stop it.

"Look, you set the high score, Haibara-san!" Mitsuhiko said happily.

"My turn! My turn!" Ayumi said, running up and taking Haibara's place.

"So? What are you doing here?" Conan asked as Haibara left the other three and joined him.

"Is it a crime to have fun, Kudo-kun?" she asked with a sweet tone, but a deadpan look.

'No, but it's still out of character for you,' Conan thought. Haibara smirked at him.

"So, what's on your mind?" Haibara asked suddenly.

"Oh, it's just Sera," Conan muttered. "She's been acting weird lately. And the way she talks to me, it's like she knows who I am."

"You already investigated her once and got nowhere, so how is this any different?" Haibara asked. "You said she's an ally, so what more do you want to know?"

"Well, she gets distant sometimes, and then she constantly teases everybody, especially Ran and me. She gets worse than Sonoko. You saw her when we came in, didn't you?"

"As you might have forgotten, meitantei-san, I was busy playing that game. What did the tomboy do?"

"She told me to go play with you guys because 'my girlfriend's there', which set Ran and Sonoko off. She went after Ran earlier, too."

"Well then, I guess the problem isn't as easily solved as you think," Haibara said, smirking again.

"Oi, Haibara; do you know something I don't?"

"Maybe," she said, walking away and going back to the kids. But Conan stopped her.

"Just give me a hint, then," he begged.

Haibara sighed. "Fine then, Kudo-kun. Here's your hint: go up and ask her, away from anybody else."

"And how am I supposed to do that? Ran and Sonoko are going to start teasing me if I get anywhere near them for at least another hour."

"Kudo-kun, quit being a coward and go!" she replied, glaring at him. "Be a man and ask her if she'd like to meet up with you tomorrow. Then be nice and childish so she'll lower her guard and tell you, thereby satisfying your curiosity. Is that good enough, tantei-san?"

Conan didn't like being teased, but he had to admit her plan was sound. The problem was, being alone with Sera might not be such a smart move. But if there was something wrong, he figured he'd better try to find out. "Fine, then; I'll go and ask," he said eventually.


Anyways, a little background on this. I'm intending for this to eventually morph into a ConanXSera love story, but looking at it now, it may not actually reach that point. The reason for this is that I'm keeping the story true to the manga and all of the characters in character. The only exceptions to this are when there's an in-story reason for it. This has always been my policy and it hasn't changed.

As anyone keeping up with the manga can testify to, Conan and Sera currently don't fully trust each other. As of this writing, the identities of the middle brother and the mysterious child have not been revealed yet. Conan has also not told Sera who he is. If I'm going to write a romance between these two characters, it's going to take a while to get anywhere. Therefore, while I haven't planned past the fifth chapter yet, I can easily see this running over fifteen chapters simply because of this mistrust. Plus I'll have to get Ran out of the way, as well as overcoming the obvious age difference. So if you enjoyed this chapter, I hope you're in for the long haul.

Drop a favorite and a review if you like the story, BTW. :)