I've had an urge to write young Shinichi for a minute now, as well as Heiji, so why not write them both in one? This story will probably only be 2 or 3 chapters long. HeiShinHeiShinHeiShinHeiShin
"The culprit..." His smirk grew as his hand lifted to point at one of the guests in the room, "was you, Mr. Jones!"
"Eh?" Shinichi blinked, eagerly turning to the next page. He wasn't used to guessing culprits wrong, he thought for sure it was the maid! He wasn't about to just immediately agree with the main character in the mystery novel though, he'd have to read his deduction first. There was an inconsistency that made it seem impossible for Mr. Jones to have done it, but maybe he had figured something out about it. Still, the way he said that was so cool! Mr. and Ms. Kudo had left him here while they went on a short errand. They paid for the book at the counter but he had wanted to stay and read it while they went to buy some lunch.
He read for a little bit longer before he had to use the restroom. He put his special Holmes bookmark at his place in the book before looking around. He sighed, realizing that he would have to go somewhere else since the only restroom in the bookstore was employee-only. It wasn't that big of a deal since there was a convenience store right down the street, still he didn't want his parents to get back while he was gone.
"Excuse me, Mister?" Shinichi asked politely at the counter.
The clerk looked down at him, "Yes, how can I help you?"
"If my parents come back while I'm gone, can you tell them I'll be right back?" Shinichi asked, on his tiptoes, hands pulling at the countertop in the hopes of being able to see the clerk better.
"Of course, do you want me to hold onto your book while you're gone as well?" He indicated at the book next to the boy's hand.
Shinichi smiled, "That'd be great, thanks!"
He walked out of the book store to go to the convenience store on the other side of the street. After he finished using the restroom and washing his hands, he started heading back to the book store only to almost trip over a running cat.
"W-what the?" Shinichi side stepped the cat. He looked curiously at the cat as it ran away, not having paid any attention to him.
"Hey, don'cha just stand there starin'!" He turned around surprised at the new voice, a boy was running in his direction. "He's gonna get away!"
Shinichi only stood there for a second longer before breaking into a sprint. The cat had gotten a little ways ahead of him, but he could still make it out. It ran into an alley and he turned into it. The cat was cornered between him and the wall. He figured there must be some reason the other boy was chasing it so furiously. Was it not allowed outside? It had a collar so it seemed owned, but if it was his cat then it wouldn't be running from him, unless he was mistreating it. He didn't really think that was the case. The cat's eyes moved from him to the boy catching up beside him. The cat crouched back, hissing.
"Why's he so scared?" Shinichi asked, taking this time to observe the boy in front of him. He was wearing baggy clothes, had brown hair styled to the side, and a baseball cap facing sideways.
He waited for the boy to catch his breath, "Ah that? Probably doesn't want ta' go home s'all. Keep blocking off the exit 'kay?" Shinichi nodded as the boy crept forward.
Shinichi noticed the cat tense more, "Maybe we should switch places? He doesn't seem as scared of me."
"Hm?" The boy blinked, "Ya think? Well, it doesn't really matter which one of us is where, I guess." He backed up slowly as Shinichi crept forward. Shinichi waited in front of the stressed cat. He very slowly reached out his hand. The cat hissed loudly before clawing at his arm.
"O-ow!" Shinichi bit his lip, trying to ignore the pain. The cat didn't really harm him badly, it was more of a surface wound than anything. Small red lines appeared on his wrist as he kept his hand out, extended for the cat.
"H-hey, are ya' okay?" The boy behind him asked, "He's a scratcher, sorry, I shoul'da warned ya'."
Shinichi shook his head, "I'm okay, he's just scared." The cat looked from him to his outstretched hand, before cautiously taking a step forward. He stopped, Shinichi held still. The cat took another step forward and sniffed at his hand. Shinichi waited for it's approval before patting it on the head and scratching lightly at his cheek. The cat started purring. "See?"
"What the?" The other boy looked on in wonder as Shinichi picked up the purring cat up. "How'dya do tha'?"
"Well, he seems well fed, he has a collar and fluffy fur. When he was running from you, he almost crashed into me. He wasn't worried about me in the slightest, just you. From that I can say that he doesn't hate people. He obviously has a good home, so why wouldn't he want to go back?" Shinichi scratched underneath the cat's chin, happy that it trusted him enough to touch it there. "That can only mean that the cause of his fear…" Shinichi smiled in the back of his head, proud of being able to show off his deduction like a detective in one of his books. "…is you!"
"Ha?" The boy blinked, "But why would he be afraida' me?"
Shinichi rubbed the cat's back to calm it as the other boy approached. "Who wouldn't be afraid if a stranger started chasing them? You're not his owner, right? You don't really seem like you want to play with him or anything either, were you looking for him for someone else?"
"Woah…" The boy's eyes widened, "…you figured tha' all out just now?"
Shinichi grinned, "The name's Kudo Shinichi, future detective."
The other boy twisted his hat, a bright smile on his face. "My name's Hattori Heiji. It's nica ta' meet'cha, Kudo!"
"Likewise." Shinichi shifted the cat in his arms, and the cat meowed in response, he was starting to get heavy. "So where are we taking him? I don't think I can hold him very long…And I have to get back to my parents soon."
"Is tha' so?" Heiji questioned, "It's kinda far, I can take it from here."
Shinichi blinked, "Ah, are you sure? He doesn't like you right?"
"I'm also a future detective, I can at least take 'im from here." Heiji reached out to take the cat from his hands as if to prove a point. The cat squirmed in Shinichi's hands. He tried to calm the cat as he took it. "Shhh, shhh, it's okay, I got'cha."
Shinichi soothed the cat along with Heiji as best he could as he handed him over, the cat looked uncomfortable in the other boy's hands. Well, at least he wasn't scratching him or running away this time. They walked out of the alleyway and Shinichi could see his parents talking to the clerk a little ways down the road.
"I guess I should get going." Shinichi said, "Good luck on getting him back home."
"Ya'!" Heiji grinned at him, "Thanks fer helping me, you were really cool!"Shinichi blushed at the compliment, "Y-yeah, no problem. Bye-bye."
"Bye bye!" He knew the boy would have waved if he didn't have a cat in his hands. He watched for a moment as Heiji headed in the other direction, before he turned around to meet back up with his parents.
HeiShinHeiShinHeiShinHeiShin I'm not super confident with how this turned out, hopefully I'll write the rest better. I named the story as a kind of play on words of the saying 'love at first sight'. On a side note, you know what's cute? Cats are cute. You know what else is cute? Kids are cute.. You know who's cute? Heiji's cute. That is all.