Kazuha woke up the next morning with a slight crick in her neck and sun in her eyes. Next to her, having scooted so close in the night that he was all but underneath her, Conan snored obliviously, his glasses laying on the floor across the two futons that had been spread out for them the night before. Heiji had brought them down from the upper level of the house along with a couple of pillows before retreating up there to sleep.

Moving slowly, Kazuha rose to her feet, using her pillow as a replacement for her body and Conan snuggled up to it, mumbling drowsily before slipping back off to sleep again. Kazuha smiled and made her way towards the kitchen. She found the fridge empty and sighed as she began to look around for something to eat. But the cabinets were bare and she growled, frustrated before pulling out a chair from the table and flopping into it unceremoniously.

As she pouted, a dark chuckle sounded from behind her and she whipped around to find Heiji standing there, a plastic bag in his hand.

"You can't honestly be that hungry." He said, his tone amused and she glared at him before using her eyes to bore holes in the bag, picking out the shape of an egg carton at the bottom.

"If you give them, I'll make enough for you and Conan-kun too." She offered and he held it out with a barely disguised grin.

She grabbed the bag and found it filled with eggs, a quart of milk, some bread, and two travel-sized boxes of cereal. "Yes! Eggs, it is. You want yours scrambled?"

"Whatever, as long as they're cooked. Conan likes his sunny-side up." Heiji said and she nodded absentmindedly, already pulling out a pan.

"What are you and Conan-kun planning on today?" Heiji asked, sitting in her now abandoned chair.

"I don't know, probably eating takoyaki and looking at toy stores. I let Conan-kun win the cleaning races yesterday, so he gets first pick." Kazuha said, cracking an egg.

"That sounds about right, I'll give you guys some money then." He said and pulled out his wallet. Carefully, he took a large number of bills out and set them on the table. "Did you have anything you wanted to do then, Kazuha-chan?"

"I wanted to visit my parents since we're in the area-." She started.

"No." Heiji said, cutting her off.

"But-." She tried again.

"I said no you stupid girl! You'll just tell them you've been kidnapped and then I'll have the cops breathing down my neck again!" he said heatedly and she glared.

"Ahou! My parents are dead! I was trying to tell you that before you opened your big mouth!" she yelled and turned away. Heiji watched her in silence stunned by the outburst and the news. As he watched, she swiped at her eyes with her free hand and he felt guilty, for a short moment.

"Oi, don't cry. I didn't know they were dead, now did I? I-...My parents are dead too, okay? So you aren't the only person in the world without your folks. If you just were talking about visiting their graves, I don't have a problem with that." He said, fighting to sound nonchalant.

She sniffled quietly. "Thanks. Your eggs are done."

Heiji took the plate she gestured to and watched her as she cracked more eggs over the hot pan.

She sniffled again. "You know, that excuse about monsters doesn't quite float with me. Got anything better?"

Heiji went rigid before forcing himself back into a relaxed position. "But it's the truth. Just that my idea of monsters and the runt's idea of monsters aren't exactly the same. So, no going upstairs."

He took a bite of the eggs and watched her. She, in return, cooked the eggs and watched him back.

"Monsters of memory?" she asked at length.

He swallowed and gave her a look. "Something like that. I'm tired with this conversation. I'm leaving in a couple of minutes. Tell Conan to have fun. You can hold on to the money, Kazuha, but whatever he wants, he can have, same goes for you. No escape attempts, I'll catch you before you reach the city limits." He stood up then and made to leave.

She looked down quickly at his plate and was shocked to find it empty. When she looked up again, he was gone and she heard the distant noise of the back door shutting behind him as he left. She sighed heavily and finished making her eggs, putting the rest of the carton and the milk in the fridge before sitting down in the seat he'd stolen from her. She ate silently, the only sound being that of the fork scraping against the smooth china of the plate. Curiously, she examined the bills next to the empty plate and nearly dropped them in shock.

In her hands was approximately 100000 yen.

Well, he did say to have fun.

(It was only later that Kazuha realized that, just before he left, he hadn't used any sort of honorific on her name.)


After a full day of running around and buying out 4 shopping bags worth of toys, Kazuha and Conan finally returned back to house, tired but cheerful as they kicked of their shoes at the entrance.

"I'm gonna go play with these now, okay?" Conan said, bouncing in place as he waited for her dismissal

"That's fine, Conan-kun, try not to make a mess. I'll come in there and get the packages in a little bit, alright?" she said with a smile and he darted from the room, the bags dragging on the floor behind him.

Kazuha made her way to the small bookcase by the stairwell, which, in her mind, she had begun referring to as 'The Forbidden Staircase of No Return', not that she would ever say that aloud. Idly, she looked on the shelves for something to read, finding only old mystery novels and easy looking chapter books that she might've read in primary school. Sighing, Kazuha resigned herself to spending the night playing Karmen Yaiba before spotting the corner of a book on the very top of the bookcase. She looked at it curiously before deciding that she had to know what is was and standing on her tiptoes to snag the corner and pull it down.

It was dusty and old looking and when she finally had it wiped off enough to see it properly, she found that it was an old leather album filled with photos and labeled 'Baby's Book'. Even more curious now, she opened the cover.

On the first page was an old picture of a squalling baby, its eyes scrunched together and it's mouth open in a toothless scream. Underneath the faded picture, delicate cursive writing read 'Hattori Heiji March 14, 1977'. Suddenly, Kazuha had the feeling she should stop looking through the book. But, her fingers didn't listen to this thought and continued on, flipping the pages. The baby grew up at the number of pages on the left side grew. First steps, ice cream smeared across his face at his first birthday party. The baby's skin darken as he changed from infant to toddler and his eyes grew green. She had no doubt in her mind that she was treading on thin ice, but still, she flipped on. In the pictures alongside the child was sometimes a stern looking man or woman who smiled down upon the boy. She thought they must be his parents and wondered about what she had heard him say that morning about them.

The boy in the book continued growing from frame to frame. In one picture, all three of the family were present. The Heiji of the past looked about ten years old and was holding a kendo trophy in his arms and smiling wide. His mother looked down on him with affection in her eyes and his father had a hand on his son's shoulder, looking like the proudest man in the world. It was here where this story without words took a different twist though. The next set of photographs looked as though they might've come from one of the folders her father used to bring home from work. Bloody, crimson nightmares on hardwood floors. Handprints and fingernails no longer attached. Ragged cuts and pale faces that she recognized from just only the page before. The man and woman lay on the cold ground. The boy was no where in sight.

The final picture was of the boy once again, older looking and hard faced. He stood tall in the doorway to the kitchen and the lights were dim around him. He had on the blue coat she had come to associate with him and his SAX hat, turned backwards on his head as he glared at the camera. Next to the picture were five words that told everything. 'I'm not a baby anymore.'

As she sat, staring at this final picture, the door opened and closed loudly and footsteps could be heard walking towards her. "Oi, Conan-kun, Kazuha-chan where are..you....?" he trailed off as he saw her sitting there in the floor, the book in her lap and dust on her face from the pages. She looked at him with wide, caught, eyes and they both knew she knew she was doing something wrong.

"What. The. Hell. Are. You. Doing?"


Sorry for the late update everyone! I've been having some real life problems that have interfered a little bit. It's really no excuse, as I had plenty of time and all, but I didn't want to write, so I'm sorry. Either way, I got a nice review on this today that reminded me I had a chapter to finish, so I got my butt in gear and got it done! (and for that, everyone, please give a big shout out to MyMelo!) Also, the date for Heiji's birth was completely fictional and the year was calculated from the year the manga was first published, 1994. So that's where that came from. So, now that we're done with that, please review!