Disclaimer: Detective Conan and Magic Kaito are owned by Aoyama Gosho. I don't make money from writing this fanfiction. The story contains spoiler for Detective Conan and Magic Kaito. Also there are quotes from manga, anime, wiki and other sources. Edited by Shadewolf7. Thanks for her help for making this chapter so much better.
I'm Looking Over a Four Leaf Clover
Chapter I
Ran was worried for her best friend since childhood, Kudo Shinichi. Shinichi had been moping for weeks since a person he liked was ambivalent on a response to his confession. Of course, Shinichi denied that he was moping and most people wouldn't be able to tell the difference between mopey Shinichi and regular Shinichi, but Mouri Ran had known him for longer than anyone but his parents. She could see through all his masks.
It had started a few months before. Shinichi began looking happier than he had in a while and started disappearing on weekends. At first, Shinichi refused to explain and as he had been happier, she didn't press too hard. Eventually, though, her curiosity got the better of her and she started asking again. After his mood had started dipping again, she got him to admit he was meeting with someone he liked.
"Really?" Ran asked, genuinely surprised. "Who's the girl?"
Shinichi blushed, "... It's a guy."
Ran blinked. That was unexpected; Shinichi hadn't shown that kind of interest before. But it was Shinichi, so she'd braved on. "Who is he? Do I know him?"
"No," Shinichi shook his head.
"Are you guys dating now?" she demanded, a bit hurt. She was his best friend! How could Shinichi keep something like this from her?
"No. But I hope that he'll start to like me back," Shinichi's ears were turning as red as his cheeks. He looked so adorable... and that normally wasn't a word she would use to describe him.
Ran softened. "What's he like?" she asked curiously.
"He's brilliant!" Shinichi admitted, "So very brilliant."
Ran almost rolled her eyes. Shinichi being attracted to someone's mind? Typical. That was all she managed to get out of him, though. For some reason, he refused to talk more about his crush. She barely managed to extract a promise for Shinichi to introduce her later.
Ran was burningly curious about the mystery guy, though. Despite, or possibly because of, Shinichi's popularity and fame he had very few close friends. He was close to Ran and Agasa, both of whom he'd known since he was very young, and later he'd befriended Haibara Ai, Professor Agasa's relative who had come to Beika to live with the inventor after her parents had died. Aside from the three of them, his only other close friend was Hattori Heiji, a fellow high-school detective.
Shinichi was well known for his brilliance as a detective, called The Savior of the Police Force for solving many difficult cases that other proffessionals had been stumped by. His intellect ranked as 'genius' and due to his bluntness and matter-of-fact manner, Shinichi often came off as rude or arrogant. Very few people bothered to try and understand him. Ran truly hoped that this mystery guy would be one of them and that he and Shinichi would work out.
Unfortunately, that hope was dashed.
"I thought you were going to the movies today," she prompted when Shinichi turned up at her door.
"He said something else came up," Shinichi replied.
"You should come with us, then," Ran decided.
"Eh?"
"Come on, Shinichi." She ordered. "Hurry up. Sonoko's waiting."
It was the first time the mystery guy dodged out, but it wasn't the last. Shinichi's mysterious boyfriend slowly but surely distanced himself.
"I told you he's not my boyfriend!" Shinichi had huffed in exasperation, but Ran ignored him.
One day it was 'He has a test tomorrow.' The next it was 'He has cold.'
And one day Shinichi stopped talking about plans with his crush.
"How can you be so calm about this?" she demanded, angry on Shinichi's behalf.
Shinichi shrugged, "I knew what I was getting into."
"But-" she protested.
"It's alright, Ran." Shinichi told her, almost gently.
How could it be alright when two months before Shinichi had practiced baking chocolate lava cakes until he got it right for his crush? Shinichi, who couldn't even cook to feed himself and survived on takeout and Ran's pity-meals. She wanted to scream at him... but one look at Shinichi's face stopped her. She had to support her best friend, now, but aggravated assault probably wouldn't help matters. Logically she knew that not every crush was reciprocated. As Shinichi's best friend, though, she wanted to beat the jerk to pulp for stringing him along and then backing out without even having the decency to be upfront about it.
After that, Shinichi proceeded occupy himself with the soccer and classical music clubs. While he wasn't a member of either, both clubs welcomed him with open arms since Shinichi was a terrifying talented soccer player and a brilliant violinist. When he wasn't in class or at an after-school club, he holed up at police office; working on homicide cases and something else that took his full time and effort.
"It's a really big case," Shinichi told her, "and closure."
The second part was a murmur that Ran didn't think he'd meant to say aloud. "What do you mean?" she asked.
"Nothing," he deflected the question.
That was why she was letting herself into Shinichi's house. He needed to stop sulking and she was going to take him to Tropical Land, by force if necessary.
"Shinichi!" she called.
No response.
"Shinichi!" she raised her voice and tried again.
"I'm coming!" Shinichi's return shout was a bit muffled.
A door slam and the thud of jogging feet followed and Shinichi made his way to the front hall.
"Finally!" Ran huffed.
"You're so impatient," Shinichi griped back.
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On their way to Tropical Land, Ran's phone pinged, indicating new message. She opened it and turned to Shinichi, "I forgot to tell you; a friend of mine will meet us there."
"Who's your friend?" Shinichi asked.
"Nakamori Aoko," she answered.
"Nakamori Aoko?" Shinichi asked, frowning. The name was familiar.
"She's the daughter of Inspector Nakamori," Ran explained. "We met at Kid heist. You missed the last few heists, by the way."
Something flashed across Shinichi's face, too quickly for her to read. "I've been busy."
"You always came to Kid's heists before. Even Uncle Jirokichi asked about you," Ran prompted, hoping for more of an explanation.
"I've found that homicide is more my forte," Shinichi murmured, a tinge of wistfulness in his tone.
XXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXX
Ran had promised to meet Aoko at the gate, so when they arrived at Tropical Land they didn't actually enter the park. Ran glanced around, looking for hair that looked like a slightly messy version of her own. Aoko's text had said she'd already arrived, so where was she?
"Do you see your friend?" Shinichi didn't sound all that interested, but at least he was being polite.
"Over there," Ran pointed when she spotted two people. "That's Aoko-chan, and it looks like she brought her best friend, Kuroba-kun."
Ran missed the horrified expression crossing Shinichi's face as she was looking in the other direction.
Aoko waved, clearly spotting them in return, and Ran dragged a suddenly reluctant Shinichi with her.
"Aoko-chan!"
"Ran-chan!" Aoko greeted back brightly, then she tilted her head at Ran's companion. "Oh, you must be Ran-chan's friend!"
"Shinichi," Ran prompted, nudging his side.
"I'm Kudo Shinichi. It's nice to meet you," Shinichi bowed slightly, falling back on formal politeness as he usually did when he was uncomfortable with either a situation or a person. Ran was hoping it was the situation and not the people, because if it was the people, Shinichi was going to be stiffly formal all day. She was pretty sure Aoko would take his 'I'm comfortable with you' snark and sarcasm in stride and Kuroba's usual antics as described by her friend meant a little snark would only amuse him.
Kuroba was staring at Shinichi, having completely failed to return the introduction. He shook himself and regained his composure. Ran couldn't blame him; she'd had the same initial reaction to meeting Aoko. Kuroba and Shinichi could pass as twins, even their voices were similar with only their hairstyles being truly different.
"I'm Nakamori Aoko," Aoko smiled at Shinichi and covered her friend's introduction as well. "He's Kuroba Kaito."
"Nice to meet you," Kuroba waved cheerily, grinning.
"Now," Aoko clapped her hands once, bouncing lightly. "What ride do we go on first?"
"Aorllercoaster!" Kuroba voted, pointing in the direction of the nearest one.
"Come on, Shinichi," Ran grabbed her best friend's hand and pulled him after her when he hesitated for a moment as the other two started out.
The first ride had Kuroba sitting next to Shinichi and somehow breaking the detective's tension. They had fun after that, and Shinichi and Kuroba seemed to get along, which was relieving after the initial stiff meeting. Aside of Hattori Heiji, Shinichi didn't have any male friends and Hattori lived in Osaka. It would do Shinichi good to become friends with Kuroba.
They spent the morning on rides and general running around before they took a break for lunch.
Shinichi excused himself to go to toilet and Ran took the opportunity presented. "Thanks for coming, Aoko-chan," she began.
"It's not a problem! This is fun," Aoko replied easily.
"Anyway, I wanted to know what you think about Hakuba-kun," Ran got to the actual point of inviting Aoko. She knew they were classmates, Hakuba had been at the heist they'd met at.
"Well, he's smart and usually polite. He's a nice person, I guess," Aoko said thoughtfully.
"Does he have a girlfriend?" Ran paused briefly, "Or a boyfriend?"
Aoko's eyes widened and she leaned forward, "Do you like him?" Aoko demanded excitedly.
"Of course not," Ran shook her head, "... but I think he might suit Shinichi." She admitted.
Kuroba spat out his drink.
"Kaito!" Aoko scowled, swatting the boy's head. "That's gross!"
"You want to match Kudo and Hakuba?" Kuroba demanded, wide-eyed and visibly offended.
Ran blinked at Kuroba in bewilderment. What was wrong with him?
"Ignore him," Aoko instructed, rolling her eyes. "He and Hakuba bicker all the time."
"That's... that's..." Kuroba stuttered, voice strangled. He seemed to be completely beyond coherence.
Ran never found out what Kuroba was attempting to say because Shinichi made his way back to the table, eying the group sardonically. She supposed that made sense, as Aoko looked somewhere between intrigued and annoyed and Kuroba looked like he was about to choke on his own tongue.
Shinichi raised his eyebrow as they went silent at his approach, "Did I miss something?" he asked suspiciously.
"It's nothing," Ran denied.
Aoko smiled and nodded, backing up Ran in true matchmaker fashion while Kaito scowled at his food, silently irate.
Shinichi clearly didn't believe them but didn't press the matter and focused on his food after he sat back down.
Well, Ran had been thinking about it. She'd come to conclusion that she should introduce Shinichi to another guy and out of the people she was acquainted with; Hakuba Saguru seemed like the best candidate. They had a lot in common, both of them being both detectives and Sherlock Holmes fans, so Hakuba would probably be able to understand Shinichi pretty easily. She gave a mental nod, deciding to ask Aoko for Hakuba's number before they left the amusement park. She could give it to Shinichi later.
Author's Note:
Hi, everyone!
This is my third DC fanfic. The first and the second are Clair de Lune and Under the Deep Sea.
This is AU so no shrunken Shinichi and no Black Organization. Shinichi here is actually Shinichi with Conan behaviour because let's face it, as readers we are not familiar with Kudo Shinichi. We know him as Edogawa Conan. And in the first chapter and back flash chapter, Shinichi actually was rather annoying.
Hakuba Saguru here is Hakuba from Detective Conan not from Magic Kaito because I like him in DC. The one in Detective Koushien.
This fic and A Walk Down Wisteria Lane is based on the same idea which is Kaito asking Shinichi's help to get Pandora with Shinichi as descendants of Japanese noble family. But in the other fic, they like each other first.
Thank you for reading and please give review.