12 - Ran POV

Disclaimer: CrystalBookworm does NOT own Detective Conan/Case Closed.

I tapped my foot; more in annoyance than anything, really. My arms were crossed over my chest and my eyes glared down. "You're late."

He whimpered. "Yes but –"

"I spent a full hour preparing a lovely meal for you" – I thrust my hand at the full plates on the table – "and you come home late. If you had told me that you were going to be late, I might've made less food. That way, you could've come home as late as you wished and partied all night."

"I got back in time for dessert," he tried feebly.

"Dessert?" I couldn't believe him: I had been waiting for half an hour without a word from him and all he cared about was dessert? "Is that the only thing you care about? Then maybe I shouldn't give you any so you'll remember next time!"

"Ran –"

"You have a phone! Why didn't you call?" I practically shrieked. I knew I was getting too worked up over such a small issue, but maybe because that insolent, self centered (and maybe incredibly hot) detective hasn't called for a while….

"CONAN'S HERE!" Dad exclaimed suddenly, pointing at the first grader [A/N: I think he's in first grade…right? Somewhere around there, anyways] who sat on the other side of the table. He looked up at me innocently, his eyes unblinking. He didn't look bored exactly, but he did seem pretty hungry to me.

"And?"

"Wasn't he late?" Dad asked, confused.

"And why would he be?"

"Because…didn't he go out?"

"Well…yes," I admitted, "but it was to buy me some baking supplies: I hadn't even realized we'd run low. If it wasn't for him, your beloved cake wouldn't have been here." I arched an eyebrow, curious. "And how did you even know that he'd left? He left after you and came back before."

"Um….because…I just do? Because the famous Mouri Kogoro knows everything!" He puffed out his chest.

I sighed and indicated to his chair. "If you sit down and don't talk, maybe I'll feed you something."

Dad obediently took his seat at the head of the table. "Now if you could get me some win, Ran –" I placed a bowl and chopsticks in front of him. "Hey! This is half of what I usually get!"

"Genta-kun came over. And you're not getting any wine today (I think we need some more, anyways). Now eat up and don't complain anymore."

I looked over at Conan, who had already finished his food. "Would you like some dessert, Conan-kun?"

Conan shook his head. He looked distracted for some reason. "No thanks, Ran-neechan. I think I'll go up to my room now." Before waiting for an assent, he pushed back his chair, jumped down, and disappeared up the stairs.

"So can I have his piece and mine? Since he's not going to eat any, it'll be a waste so –"

"No," I interrupted. "I'm wrapping this up and bring it over to Haibara and Dr. Agasa; it doesn't seem like they get dessert a lot, what with the Doc cooking and everything."

"I'll come with you, Ran-neechan," Conan said, suddenly appearing behind me. "I wanted to go over anyways."

"Um…okay. Do you mind holding the plate for a while, Conan? I need to get my jacket on and, well…"

"No problem, Ran-neechan." He took the plate from me.

Such a sweet kid, I thought as I closed the door behind me.

Conan walked a little bit ahead of me; his eyes focused only on the destination and his short legs pumping themselves very fast.

"You can slow down, Conan," I called. "We're not in any hurry and the cake might fall."

"Gomen, Ran-neechan," Conan apologized. "But if we slow down more, the cake will probably be half-melted by the time we get to Dr. Agasa's house."

"Now how can you be so sure?"

"Because all of the metal poles we've passed so far have been evaporating steam. The melting point for phosphorous is 44°C…and it's the lowest of all metals. Therefore, our chocolate wouldn't stand a chance against the sun. Besides, I checked the weather predictions this morning and it said the highest would be 40°C." [A/N: I know that's not very real, but please bare with me here. After all, animes/cartoons aren't always 100% true.]

"And how would you know all this?"

"I saw it on the Discovery Channel (or the Japanese version of that)," Conan answered promptly.

"But aren't you always reading at home?"

"I watch it with Professor Agasa and Haibara," he said quickly.

"Speaking of which, here we are: the den of the scientists." It was true: Haibara did seem to have a knack for science…and Professor Agasa had a knack for making things explode.

Professor Agasa opened the door. "Oh hi, Ran-kun, Conan-kun. Come in, please."

"We brought you some cake, Doc," Conan said, putting the plate on the kitchen table. "Where's Haibara?"

"Down here," the solitude girl answered, appearing beside a door that seemed to lead down towards the basement.

"I didn't know you had a basement, Professor," I said.

"Storage space," Professor Agasa replied simply. 'Haibara was just helping me move some of my….experiments."

"Ah," I said understandingly. "I see. Conan, we should go now. We don't want to interrupt the Professor at his work."

"Can Haibara come over tomorrow, Ran-neechan?" Conan asked suddenly. "After school, of course," he added quickly.

I shrugged. "I don't see why not."

"Thanks, Ran-neechan!"

We said a quick goodbye to the two and hurried home under the orange and red of the setting sun that enveloped us in a giant heating blanket. [A/N: Pretend that they had dinner early, okay?]

Sky: RnR? Please? C'mon. I updated earlier….I think. :D