Chapter 9

Shinichi woke up the next morning feeling well rested. He got a dreamless night like he wanted and for that he was glad. Hattori was still sleeping, so he went to the bathroom and brushed his teeth and got ready for the day. He was looking forward to camping. He always felt more relaxed. Ran, Sonoko, and Kazuha showed up at the house at 9 like planned. Shinichi wasn't looking forward to spending the next two days with Sonoko complaining, but he didn't really have a choice in it. Since the bruise had disappeared, he didn't have to wear the band aid on his cheek anymore. The group packed up Hattori-san's car and soon they were on their way to the campsite. Since there wasn't much room, Shinichi was forced to sit on Ran's lap again. When this was all over, Ran wasn't going to be happy about finding out that she put him on her lap. Shinichi thought ignoring the smirk on Hattori's face and looking out the window.

She might kick him into the afterlife. Shinichi was definitely not looking forward to that. But then again, she might be too upset to do anything and she probably wouldn't want to talk to Shinichi for a long time. Now that was a depressing thought. Shinichi mentally sighed and turned his attention back to what was going on in the car. It looked as if Kazuha and Hattori were bickering again and Sonoko and Ran were talking about clothes or something. Shinichi really wished he'd brought a book with him. Suddenly his phone went off. It was a message from Ayumi-chan. Conan-kun do you want to go see the Kamen Yaiba movie next weekend with me, Ai-chan, Genta-kun, and Mitsuhiko-kun? The professor said he didn't mind paying for an extra ticket. Shinichi smiled a little at this and sent a reply saying that he would go. Ayumi-chan seemed to always cheer him up even though she doesn't even realize that he needed it. Yay! I'll let the professor know! When you get back from Osaka, you have to tell us everything you did! Shinichi guessed the professor couldn't keep it from them for long. He wondered how much the professor told them, but from her message, it couldn't be much.

I look forward to it. He replied back and then he put his phone away. It wasn't long before the group made it to the campsite and they were setting up camp. By the time they had set up camp though, it was starting to get dark. So they quickly got the fire going and started to make dinner. "Aw, I was hoping to go and hike a little before it got too late." Ran said looking disappointed.

"Well, we can always start tomorrow. We won't be heading back until the morning after tomorrow." Kazuha said smiling at her.

"Oh no, I forgot to call the schools and let them know that Conan-kun and I won't be there Monday!" Ran said wide-eyed.

"You can use this to call the school, Ran-neechan." Shinichi said giving her the phone ear ring that Agasa Hakase made him.

"Oh, I forgot about that! Thanks Conan-kun!" She said smiling.

"You're welcome!" Shinichi said smiling at her.

"I dial the number first, right?" She asked.

"Yup!"

"Oi, Kudo, are ya sure it's okay for her to use that?" Hattori whispered to him.

"Yeah, she's used it before." Shinichi said shrugging.

"Oh,"

"Dinner is almost ready!" Kazuha announced as she put the lid back on the pan.

"It smells good!" Sonoko said smiling brightly. To Shinichi's and Hattori's surprise she hasn't complained yet. But Shinichi had a feeling that she would complain tomorrow during their hike. Later that night, Shinichi was nervous about having another nightmare again. He didn't say anything to Hattori about it though, because he felt like he unloaded a lot of stuff on the poor guy and probably overwhelmed him. But when Shinichi woke the next morning, he found Hattori's arm wrapped around him protectively. The only problem was Hattori had a tight hold on him, so he couldn't move much. Shinichi thought looking at the Osakan annoyed.

"Don't worry, Kudo, I got ya..." Hattori muttered in his sleep before letting go of Shinichi and turning over in his sleep. Shinichi was shocked to hear that. What was his friend dreaming about? Shinichi thought maybe he worried his friend more than he thought and grimaced. He didn't want to worry anyone. But that's what friends were for right? To talk to each other about their problems and worry about the other if something's wrong? At least that's what Shinichi had observed with other people. His observations couldn't have been wrong could they? "What are ya worrying about now?"

"Huh?" Shinichi blinked and saw Hattori looking at him with an eyebrow raised. He hadn't realized he had woken up. "Oh, uh, nothing important."

"Uh-huh," Shinichi knew Hattori wasn't convinced and right when he was about to tell him, he said, "Ya don't have to tell me, but ya know, if we weren't friends, I wouldn't have asked." With that, Hattori got up and left the tent. Shinichi stared after his friend, slightly ashamed. He knew he could tell him whatever was bothering him and he tried to cover it up. Shinichi sighed and got up, stretching slightly before following Hattori out of the tent.

"Ne, Hattori," Shinichi noticed the girls were still sleeping.

"What Kudo?" Shinichi looked away from the Osakan.

"Do you really want to hear the stupid things I'm worrying about?" Shinichi asked feeling doubtful.

"Of course! That's what friends are for, ya aho!" Hattori said scowling at him. Shinichi chuckled.

"I guess I am." Shinichi said smiling.

"I'm confused." Hattori said shaking his head.

"Don't worry about it, I'm not worried anymore." Shinichi said grinning. Hattori shrugged.

"Okay, you want to go fishing while the girls are still sleeping?" Hattori asked.

"Sure," Shinichi finally noticed that the sun was barely even up. After a few hours of fishing and just talking about random cases and pointless stuff, the two returned to the campsite with a pretty good haul.

"There you two are, we were worried." Ran said scowling at them.

"Sorry, Ran-neechan, we sort of woke up early and since we weren't very tired, we went fishing. We didn't want to wake you up." Shinichi said as he and Hattori put the buckets of fish down. She sighed.

"It's okay,"

"Oh, you two were busy I see," Sonoko said sitting down on one of the chairs.

"Yeah, I didn't know this guy was such a good fisher." Hattori said looking down at Shinichi.

"Well, I have been going camping and fishing a lot with Agasa Hakase and the others almost every other weekend." Shinichi said sitting down on a chair too. Plus his dad had taken him fishing quite a few times when he was younger.

"I know, but it's like you're a fish whisperer or something. They just kept coming to you." Hattori said shaking his head.

"I'm not surprised. Conan-kun has always been good with animals." Ran said smiling as she and Kazuha got the pans out to cook breakfast. Shinichi just shrugged when Hattori stared at him. "He even got my mom's cat, Goro-chan, to warm up to him. Goro-chan has never really liked anyone other than my mom."

"Well, it's not hard if you don't yell at him or make it look like you're going to strangle him." Shinichi said rolling his eyes.

"Well, you know how Dad is." Ran said shaking her head.

"Does he not like cats?" Kazuha asked wide-eyed.

"Yes, but he's usually very tolerable to them. But if it's Goro-chan he just goes off." Ran rolled her eyes. Everyone else chose not to comment on this. They knew the only reason he would do that is because of Ran's mom.