It makes me really sad that although so MANY people are reading this story, not nearly as many bother to tell me how they like it (and I had such a hard time writing this-better don't ask unless you wanna hear the story of my life)...So...Please...I hope I am going to hear more of you...makes me keep up the writing..

Day 3

Ran was walking around the living room, carrying the last supplies she needed for the task at hand as suddenly the door rang. She went and opened it.

"Oh, Hattori- kun, hello!"

"Hello!" he entered and followed Ran to the living room.

"What can I do for you?" Ran asked politely. "And where is Kazuha- chan?"

"She is on a shopping tour with her aunt and I just wanted to see if I could do anything for you and the little one."

'Make sure the stupid child- head does nothing he will regret later.'

"Thank you, but everything is fine. You see, as a matter of fact…" she trailed off and gestured to the shampoo and towels in her hand. ".. I was about to give him a bath."

Heiji's face fell. His jaw dropped and he stared at Ran blankly.

"You.. you w-w-want.. what?"

'That is certainly one of the things Kudo would regret and kill me for if I allow it to happen.'

"To give Conan a bath. He asked me to and is even waiting in the tub as we speak. Are you all right, you look so pale? What is it with you lately? Maybe you should consult a doctor about that."

"He.. he ASKED you to?" he went on stuttering, trying desperately to close his mouth.

"Yes, it's funny. I always had to push him and now he asks me to… but are you listening to me? Look, you are even paler than before."

"N-No, I am fine, I am fine. But, haha, you know what? It is so funny and believe me or.. or not but I ALWAYS wanted to.. to b-bath a child. Never got the chance though. And I wanted to play some something with the kid later anyway, so.. why don't you let me handle it?"

"What? You.. oh no, thank you a lot but I think it will be better if I-"

"RIGHT, now that you mention Kazuha!" he sat up abruptly, something in his mind telling him: 'Idiot, who mentioned her now? That train is gone!' but he ignored it. "She told me to tell you to go and.. and meet her! Yeah, you know, girls! Haha, she said she wants to meet you at this big store with all the nice clothes."

'Great, you stupid! A store with clothes, just how stupid does that sound! Very creative!'

"I r- really don't think that would be a.. a good idea. I can not leave him just like this and…" but before she could go on he had already taken the things from her hands and was gently pushing her towards the door.

"You need some time for yourself, neechan, and I will have a lot of fun with my old pal! Don't worry about us! Go and have some fun!"

"But Conan- kun-"

"I'll take the best care of anything!"

"I.. I am not dressed and-"

"No, you look fine!"

"The dinner-"

"I'll cook-" at her horrified look he corrected himself. "I'll order something!"

"Kazuha-"

"Will be waiting for you in 'Cherries'. The new store in the center we passed by yesterday. Go, have fun, buy some shoes what do I know and bring her with you home for dinner, okay? Now, bye bye!"

He was nudging her out of the door, pressing her coat and handbag in her hands.

"B-but-!"

"Yeah, bye bye, have fun!" he screamed after her and closed the door.

Heiji sat on the couch and let out a long and deep sigh.

'Gods, the things I do.. have to do for this stupid! I swear Kudo, you will pay for that one!'

He sighed but knew he had done the right thing. Alone the picture of Kudo's face the moment he found out he had bathed together with her… Heiji felt suddenly like a hero and knew he was Kudo's live- saver.

'Another thing to hold over his head for the rest of our lives!' he smirked a little. Then he took his cellphone out and dialed a number.

"Kazuha? Yes, listen. I need you to do me a favor and not ask any questions. I will explain it to you later, I promise. Listen.." he told her her task and after about another minute of pure pleading hung up, his own task fulfilled.

"Ran- neechan? Aren't you coming?"

Ok, or almost fulfilled. He swore heavily under his breath and stood up, taking the bath supplies in his hands again. Still swearing and shaking his head, he approached the bath.

'Oh, you SO are going to pay for this one, Kudo!'

"My fingers are already getting wrinkly!" the little boy screamed on. "And what about Mr. Birdy?"

Heiji's face distorted and he backed a few steps away before he, with considerably effort, gathered himself again. He shivered and started walking towards the bath again slowly.

'And I won't go cheap on you, this you can count on, buddy!'

---

Ran and Kazuha returned hours later, each carrying at least three bags filled with clothes. Kazuha started giggling loudly as they entered the living room and Ran had to stretch her neck to look past the couch to see what was so funny. As soon as she did that she started laughing madly as well.

In TV there was running a Disney movie, Peter Pan as far as Ran could tell, and in the chair in front of it sat Heiji. It was not the fact that Heiji was watching a Disney movie that was so funny. It was rather the position Heiji was in. He was tied to the chair by strings all around his body. His hands were handcuffed on his back and a scarf was in his mouth. Conan was sitting on the ground to Heiji's feet, happily eating chocolate. His mouth was decorated by a delicious brown crown all over what looked absolutely adorable as he beamed at them after they entered the room.

The girls could not stop laughing and Ran caught the little boy as he flung himself at her to hug her.

"Ran- neeeeechan!" he sang loudly.

"Conan- kun!" Ran laughed and hugged him back, looking at Kazuha who stood proudly over Heiji and smiled down at him, tears of laugher already in her eyes. "What happened?" she asked him and started cleaning his mouth.

"Was Heiji a bad boy?" Kazuha laughed and gripped her sides because they had started hurting already from all the laughing she had done. But she could not stop.

"No, Heiji- niichan is so much fun! We bathed, played detective, then I got bored and we watched the lion king. The movie is soooo great! And then he ordered Pizza to be ready so we have to only pick it up when you two return, and then we started watching Peter Pan and we played Indianer and so we ended up here."

Conan told the girls happily from his spot on Ran's lap, who was looking with a raised eyebrow at him as if expecting something else to yet follow his story. Conan seemed to understand and squeaked cheerfully.

"And he did not let me eat chocolate because we would 'eat soon', so I…" he blushed and chuckled a little as they all turned to look at Heiji.

Kazuha still could not help her laughers as she now boxed her sides in an attempt to stop the aching and stinging there.

"This is so great!" was the only thing that she kept chanting over and over while having serious problems breathing properly. At least she had already freed Heiji from his scarf so that he could at least talk.

"When we have all stopped laughing could SOMEBODY please FREE ME so I can start torturing this BRAT?" he roared, struggling wildly and Conan jerked in Ran's lap, hiding in her arms.

"Oh Heiji, just look! You have scared him, he's trembling!" Ran told Heiji.

"Yeah, you idiot!" Kazuha hit him over the head with a stern expression but at the look that he shoot her she fell onto the couch and into her next fit of laugher.

"Ill free you, only if you won't hurt Conan- kun!"

Heiji looked so pissed off everybody who did not know him would probably be running for his life by now. But Ran stayed and looked at him with raised eyebrows. He knew better than fighting with Ran when she was determined so he nodded, looking darkly at the boy who hid behind her.

"Conan, you should free him yourself and tell him you are sorry!"

Conan nodded and hesitantly approached Heiji. With shaking hands he undid the knots on the detectives feet, then on his body and at least on his hands, then backed away.

"I a-am really so- sorry!" Conan stuttered.

Heiji rubbed his hands and glared hellishly at the little boy who, once again, hid behind Ran.

"Yeah, just hide behind your girlfriend, you coward!" Heiji murmured angrily.

Kazuha and Ran looked at him with raised eyebrows. Sweat formed on his forehead as he realized he had once again put his foot in his mouth. He closed his eyes and swore mentally, cursing himself. Then he smiled and turned to smile at the girls innocently.

"Well, just ignore us, it was just a part of a game we played before!" He tried to convince then and chuckled, rubbing the back of his head. 'It's true that we from Osaka are the best when it comes to invent emergency- lies!'

Then he shot Conan a side gaze that told him without any mistakes left, to dare say anything else and he would see how many things the Detective of the West knows about concealing crimes and especially hiding corpses.

Conan gulped and hid deeper behind Ran.

"Come on guys, stop fighting already. We are starving!" Ran stated and Kazuha joined her.

"Yeah, shopping is so exhausting!" Kazuha rumoured through her bags. "But we have brought you guys something, too!"

Both men turned to look at the girls, obviously curious. Ran was the first one who fished something out of a bag. She turned and presented to the guys a small shirt with blue and white stripes.

"Isn't that so cute?" Kazuha beamed at them.

"We got it for you, Conan- kun!" Ran handled it to Conan who beamed at her. In a flash he was glomping Ran tightly, thanking her over and over.

'Like an excited little boy…' Heiji thought and a sweat- drop formed on his forehead at the irony of the whole situation. He wondered if he'll ever can get used to Conan being… Conan.

"For you.." a voice murmured and tore him out of his thoughts. He had suddenly a sleeveless, white shirt pressed in his stomach.

Totally taken aback, he instinctively held on to it and looked confused down, then at the person who had given it to him but Kazuha had already turned her back to him. She was glad that he could not see her red cheeks this way and occupied herself with the suddenly very interesting bags. She just could not help her red cheeks even though she tried over and over to convince herself that she had done it only because he had been so nice to Ran, helping her out with the little boy and all. And in the most distant corner in the back of her mind, a small picture had suddenly appeared, showing Heiji towering over a little being and acting like a real daddy, playing with it, holding his finger out so it could wound its little fingers around it. Her blush deepened as she realized just what she had been thinking about and quickly brushed the image away. But as she would later find out, it was not an image she will ever get rid of.

Ran watched the whole scene with a knowing and warm expression but quickly looked down to Conan, hugging him and keeping him busy so that Heiji and Kazuha would have one moment for them alone. She knew how they felt for each other, it was more than obvious and she was not only talking about the way Heiji would at rare occasions when he thought he was unwatched look at her so tenderly. Nor the way Kazuha had spend hours finding something nice for Heiji and using a bad excuse like his mother had asked her to do so… It was more a feeling. The feeling she knew too well.

It was the way they were teasing each other, the way they would unconscious of their actions sit next to each other on a table or the couch, the way they would constantly pick on each other so they would fight and still occupy themselves with the other… it were only little things one normally never noticed or even took for granted and had she not experienced the same with her childhood friend Ran was not sure she would have noticed them.

But since she had gone through that all, it was more than obvious to her and she was glad and willing to help them in any way she could so that they maybe realized it too someday.

"Come, Conan- kun. We'll bring the things to my room and you can put that shirt on, what do you think?" She stood up, took her bags and smiled at Conan. He stood up too, smiled brightly and took her hand.

"Yaaayyy!" could only be heard as the two temporary disappeared in Ran's room.

Meanwhile Heiji did hardly notice anything of all that because he was having a kind of disturbing turmoil going on in his head. Just now he would have liked to hit Kazuha into the heavens because she had laughed this badly about him and here he was with a present from her in his arms. Wasn't that so… contradictory?

Kazuha had just finished going through her bags the second time and found she could not spend more time on it without it looking suspicious.

"Ran- chan, tell me, do you know where… Ran- chan?" she turned and looked around the room confused.

"She went to get that kid dressed…" Heiji said absentmindedly, looking at the ground.

"Oh.." Kazuha answered and sat down on the couch slowly, folding her hands on her lap. Silence enclosed both young adults who were fighting with their red cheeks after realizing that they have been left totally alone in the room.

At some point, Heiji raised his eyes carefully to look at her. Her gaze had been fixed on her hands but as he looked at her she seemed to feel his look and lifted her head as well. Their gazes met and both quickly looked away again.

'She's blushing! Why is she blushing?' Heiji asked himself confused. A very small and always locked away part in his brain told him just how cute she looked when she was blushing and before he knew it he secretly agreed.

Shocked about this realization, he quickly shook his head to get that thought away but to no avail. Then he remembered the sweet present she had gotten him and had to smile at himself.

'Oh Kazuha…'

Looking for a split second at the door of Ran's room, he knew he still had to thank her. Without a further word he stood up, walked across the room and sat down on the couch next to Kazuha. Her body stiffened immediately as her hands balled to fists.

"Kazuha?" he asked carefully after another moment of silence.

"Y-yes?" she gulped and did not move her gaze up.

"Thank you!" he murmured and leaned forward to kiss her cheek despite his own burning ones.

Then he sat back and went on staring at the shirt in his hands, wishing for some cold water to cool his head with. Had he just really done that? He could not help but wonder.

'Has he just really done that?' Kazuha wondered herself as she touched the cheek that was burning just a tad more than the other. Through her shock she still remembered to answer him.

"W-welcome…" she said very quietly. Yet he heard every syllable.

As they heard Ran's door open, they panicked and slid even further away from the other, to the most distant places of the couch. A few seconds later, Conan was prancing up and down in front of the couch, showing the two his new shirt, extremely proud of himself.

Kazuha giggled, ignoring her racing heart beat and Heiji had once again to think about Kudo and how he would look like in his original body doing the same. He smirked mentally.

"It's great, Conan- kun!" Kazuha assured the little boy for the third time and laughed softly. Suddenly he stopped dancing and looked from her to Heiji and back.

"What's wrong with you? Why are you so red? Are you getting sick?"

"What?" both their heads shoot up and they immediately flushed even more. Their heart- beats were throbbing like crazy and Conan's eyebrows only raised as he observed them, very confused. He was about to open his mouth and interrogate them further as a soft voice called.

"Conan- kun? Can you just come and help me for a moment, please?"

"Suuuuuuureee!" he sang and jumped away to help his neechan.

One could argue if Ran had done it on purpose. If she had seen what was going on, felt it or simply had known it. Or if it had been just coincidence. Or argue why Ran had not entered the room. One thing, however, was certain. She had just rescued the childhood friends.

Kazuha stood up, smiled shyly at Heiji and went to the bathroom, coming out a few minutes later gathered and refreshed. He had seized the time too and was not calmed down as well.

"Hattori- kun? Could you now just go and get the pizza? We'll have the table set until you return."

"Of course!" and off he was, very glad for the cool nights breeze.

---

It was early evening, they had eaten already and were watching a movie as the door opened and a tired looking Mori Kogoro entered the room. All heads in the living room turned to him. It soon was told that Inspector Megure had reached him in the end and that he had hurried back as soon as he could in order to support his daughter. Since it was still raining, he was rather frozen and Ran brought him a big cup of tea to warm him up and a towel.

He had to be reintroduced to the little Conan who had at first been very hesitant, hiding behind Ran obviously finding Kogoros appearance rather scary. Heiji had to grin and made a mental note to remember to tell Kudo that sometime. However, the older man seemed to find the sweet Conan sweet and funny and he even joked a little with him and told some jokes.

Two beers later Conan was happily bouncing on Kogoros knees who sang loudly and very wrong childrens songs. Kazuha and Heiji took exactly this moment as their clue to go home. While the girls reluctantly said their goodbyes, Heiji was too busy thinking the situation over.

'Just imagine Kudo gains his memory back, and then his body, destroys the organization and finds the guts to ask and marry neechan… that would mean he is at this moment happily bouncing on the knees of his future father in law who would rather kill Kudo when they break the news and announce the wedding for taking his little girl away. My god, that's driving one nuts. Just how much irony can one stand?' he seriously wondered and prayed to the gods for the little boy to finally gain his memory back and be himself again.

Conan said bye to his new friend, in the same time asking him to come back soon so they could play again because it had been soooo much fun. Sweatdrops formed on Heiji's forehead at that but he simply nodded and patted clumsily the little boy's head as he glomped his waist, unsure how to handle that kid especially when he was showing so much emotions and was so close.

"Oji- san, play some more with me?" Conan begged Kogoro.

"My, you are so energetic. But okay!" he went down on all fours and let Conan hop on his back. Ran watched from the table and smiled at the scene, not remembering those two having ever been like this. Kogoro was here and there saying just how funny this new Conan was and cute and Ran started thinking about his words, trying to solve this mystery with the two Conans out for herself.

She cleaned the table and the dishes while listening to Kogoros loud horse- noises as he ran through the house with the little boy squeaking out of happiness on his back. An hour later, Conan was laying in her bed, eyes half closed already, waiting for Ran to come and lay with him so they could sleep.

Wishing her father goodnight she was positive that she had seen him hold his jacket behind his back.

"You don't plan to go out tonight and drink some more, do you?"

"M-me?" he answered in a voice that was just a tad too high. "No, what are you thinking. Now, go to bed with the little one or he won't be able to sleep!" he smiled innocently at her.

If Ran had not been so tired right now, she would even have thought about fighting with her father. But tonight, the old man was lucky.

And as she was about to fall asleep with the little boy cuddled to her chest and soundly asleep already, she could have sworn she had heard the front- door close very softly.

Sooooooooooooo? looks with big, expecting eyes