Cracks in the Ship

Characters: Heiji and Sonoko
Theme: Scandal

For LadyShadow26, hope you like it :)


"So what do you do other than solving murders and crimes?"

Heiji scratched the dead skin on his thumb and shrugged. "This and that ya. Practice a bit of Kendo and hanging out in Tokyo."

"Tokyo?" Sonoko looked up from her notebook and wrinkled her nose. "Finding your mistress?"

"Are you here ta' interview or insult me?" He gave a dry laugh. "If it isn't for Nee-chan, I wouldn't be here ya."

Sonoko inwardly rolled her eyes and twiddled with her pen before looking down at the content of her almost blank page. Detectives are sooooo boring. She shrilled helplessly in her head, but what could she do when this was one of the first few tasks her intern boss asked her to do? If she screw up, her dream of being part of the special Kaitou Kid journalism-department could be a flush down the toilet, though she could always use the cheating method by flaunting her surname. The thought made her slightly hopeful, but nonetheless still focus on her current assignment.

"Just a slip of tongue." She answered half-heartedly in the end. "Well then, how is Tokyo for you?"

"Osaka's food are always the best of the best." Heiji leaned forward and placed an arm on the table, smirking. "In fact, everything about Osaka is always the best out of the best. Just like how you can compare between Detective of the West and the East."

"I see." Sonoko drawled and unenthusiastically scribbled Osaka-obsessed in her book. "Then what is so fancy about Tokyo to have attract you here?"

Heiji pondered for a moment. "There isn't much interesting cases in Osaka for me ta' solve." He looked almost in pain when he had to say the next sentence. "It's boring sometimes."

What a stupid waste of travelling time just for that reason, unlike my Makoto-san. She stifled a snicker behind her hand at the thought of her boyfriend before clearing her throat to focus back on Heiji. But in the end, her professionalism still lost to her love-gossips instinct, which led her to unintentionally blurt out her next question. "Then why don't you hang out with Kazuha-chan?"

"Kazuha?" Heiji slowly parted his lips before looking away while muttering incoherently under his breath.

When seconds passed and he still hadn't gave a full reply, Sonoko decided to move on with the interview. She once had to aid in Ran and Shinichi's case and it would be another great pleasure for her to play cupid for Kazuha, but having to break Heiji's one hell of a thick skull seemed too much of an effort. Besides, her main priority now was to get her job done. "Anyway, how often do you come down to Tokyo?"

He mindlessly shrugged. "Maybe once every three months or something. Actually it isn't dat' often anymore."

"Why not?"

"I guess it's hard ya." Heiji stared over Sonoko's shoulder and into the distance. "There's commitment issues."

Unbelievably, a part of her disdain towards Heiji crumbled and fell away. She placed a hand over her chest and frowned sadly at Heiji's faint disheartened look. Sonoko truly understood what Heiji meant by commitment issues. Makoto was always dedicated to his training and there were times when they argued over it, but their love and compromises were what kept them going.

Still, it must be hard on Heiji to partially give up his time on travelling to his favourite murder-hotspot just because he wanted to stay committed to Kazuha and spend more time with her in Osaka. What bold and courageous love! Sonoko squealed in her mind and mentally chided Kazuha from keeping her out from the latest updates. Maybe all along, she had always been wrong about Heiji.

"It's always a give and take." Sonoko dramatically shut her notebook and decided to make this interview personal. "It may be hard at the start but you have to understand."

"I do understand ya." Heiji ran his fingers across his hair and lowered his gaze wistfully. "It's just different now, compared to da' past."

Sonoko sighed and shook her head. "Change is constant. It's just a phase, things will return back to normal."

"It would never be da' same." Heiji squeezed one hand into a fist and nodded slowly in repetitive manner, almost like a way to comfort himself. "And for the sake of his happiness, it's better this way."

She blinked in surprise. "His happiness?"

"Yeah," Heiji said sulkily. "Ever since Kudo reunited with Nee-chan, he never has the time for me anymore. But who can I blame? They were separated for so long ya. It just sucks whenever I think of how little time we're hanging out now."

"Finding your mistress."

"Wait," Sonoko's mouth creaked wide open, her eyes almost protruding as she stared at Heiji with a twitch in her cheek. "So all along... you're not talking about Kazuha-chan?"

.o.

"Hello Ran, Sonoko here."

"Hey Sonoko! How was the interview? Did it go well?"

"It's boring as hell, but that's not the reason why I'm calling you."

"Eh?"

"I think that, perhaps, you might want to keep a careful eye on Hattori-kun whenever Shinichi is around."

"...What?"