Yay! Chapter 2 is up! Thanks so much to YouthfulLily, who is my only reviewer so far...Glares at all the non-reviewers

So, yeah, I don't own Detective Conan or else it would have ended about 500 chapters ago.

Toyama Kazuha(A/N: Is that how you spell her last name?) was worried about Ran. She was such a sweet girl, and was also drop-dead gorgeous. But she was still stuck on Kudo Shinichi. That jerk Kudo, as Kazuha thought of him. All he had ever done was hurt Ran, yet she remained smitten with him. Not that Kazuha didn't like the guy, quite the opposite, she and Sonoko both thought he was an ideal hubby for Ran. But Ran's happiness came first and she could see no happy future with Kudo in it.

"Kazuha?" She snapped out of her daydream. "You okay? Ya look kind of out of it."

Hattori Heiji's face was inches from her own as he tried to catch her attention. A furiously red blush crept up her cheeks, which earned her more concern from her boyfriend.

"Yer face's all red, too. Ya sure yer not sick or something?"

"I'm fine!" she squeaked, quickly looking away. And that was when she saw them.

A boy who was definitely Kudo Shinichi walking arm in arm with a girl who was most certainly not Mouri Ran. Kazuha's heart crashed to the bottom of her shoes, along with any slight hopes of healing Ran's broken heart. Even though she wanted so badly to look away, she stared on, intently memorizing the evil woman's face.

She was older than Kudo, probably around 27 or 28. Cougar, Kazuha thought with disdain. She was also incredibly pretty. Her black curls bounced cheerfully on her shoulders, only a shade darker than her eyes, which had just closed as she laughed at something Kudo said. That jerk Kudo. Kazuha couldn't stand anymore. She averted her eyes, glaring at the concrete beneath her feet as if it had offended her.

Once she and Heiji arrived at the reception, Kazuha sought out Sonoko.

"Hey, Zuha? Can this wait, 'cause I was just talking to Ms. Kihoshita, I mean, Mrs. Agasa. She really famous you know, and… Hey, what's wrong?" Tears had began to form in the corner of Kazuha's eyes as she explained what she saw to Sonoko. When she had finished, her friend was furious.

"That jackass! How could he do that to Ran! I'll kill him!"

"Wait! Do what you want to Kudo, but don't tell Ran."

"Why not?"

"Well, how would you feel if I told you I saw Makoto with someone else?"

"Awful, but…"

"Ran's been through enough as it is. I don't want to be the one to tell her this. It would kill her."

"True...but we can't just keep this quiet."

The question: What do we do? rattled in the minds of both young women so loudly that they didn't hear their friend approach.

"Hi!" They jumped guiltily at the sound of Ran's voice. "Is...something wrong?"

"NO!" They said together. Now Ran, being the daughter of a detective, though admittedly he was not a very talented one, knew right off the bat that they were lying. And after what was going on with Shinichi, she hated lying. But she also trusted her friends, like she trusted Shinichi, and didn't press the point. The fact that they were keeping secrets from her still hurt. Just like it had with Shinichi.

So she just played dumb and turned away.

"That was close." Sonoko whispered to Kazuha once their beloved friend walked away.

"Yeah. I don't know what Ran would think if she saw them…Oh, no!"

"What? What is it?"

"They must be coming to the reception. Oh, god, I can't imagine what Ran will think."

"We should ask Professor to be sure, though."

"Be sure of what?" Heiji really did have miserable timing, Kazuha thought as he stuck his head between theirs.

"Well…"

"It wouldn't happen to have anything to do with that girl he's with, would it?"

"How..?"

"I ain't stupid, Kazuha. Besides, I just saw them in the lobby when I went to the bathroom ten minutes ago. They were laughing their heads off. Knocked my socks off."

"You're his friend. Do you know who she is?"

"Nope. I haven't heard from Kudo in almost a month. As far I know, he's smitten with Ran, but…"

The trio turned nervously to check the door to the lobby, then to see that Ran was preoccupied.

"Look, I know Kudo better than you two do, and I'm pretty sure he must have a reason for this."

"Heiji! We caught him with another woman, and you're thinking about his excuse?"

"Never mind. We'll conduct our own investigation, brownie boy."

"You do that." Heiji muttered as he walked away. Deep down, though, as much as he trusted Kudo, he had to wonder just who that woman with the curly black hair was.

Yes, I know a cougar is not a woman that young, but Kazuha though it, not me, so blame her! Oh, and the review button's right there…go on, click it, you know you want to…