Reminder people, I don't own nothing.
A/N: I had a hard time writing this chapter because I went sour with the idea of guys for a while because of RL. Argh! Men! Can't live with them…hmp, you know the rest. Hoo, boy.
Spoiler alert! Oh, yeah, recent developments relayed to me thru yahoogroups informed me that Jodie Saintemillion and Vermouth are not one and the same person sweatdrops Well, this is fanfiction, right? And this is the joy of alternate universes. End of spoiler.
This story happened between chapter 16 and 17. ;)
Kazuha and Heiji(dedicated to YunCyn)
"Toyama-san, catch!" A merry voice called out from outside her window.
"What the—" Kazuha gasped as something wrapped in a white handkerchief was dropped into her hands. She was in her room, catching up with her schoolwork, when a noise outside prompted her to investigate through her window. She glanced outside and saw a figure in white moving away from her house at an incredible speed. She grinned. She should've known. She unwrapped the parcel, already knowing what was inside. An emerald the size of a child's fists, the object of the Kid's latest heist, the thing that her dad, Heiji, and Hattori-san were supposed to be guarding in the house of a prominent family.
Careful not to touch the emerald, she rewrapped the thing. Now what does she do with it?
She can't exactly leave it somewhere and hope someone finds it.
Giving it to her dad and Hattori-san was out of the question, since it would bring up inquiries she would not want to answer such as, how did the emerald get to her? Did she know the Kid? Why did the Kid give to her?
So that leaves Heiji. Kazuha grimaced. But that idiot was mad at her. They were fine and OK back in Tokyo, but the moment they stepped in back in Osaka, he conveniently remembered that he was mad at her for hiding something as big as her part-time job from him. Great. Just great. I'll get you for this, Kid!
Kazuha yawned. She glanced at the clock guiltily. It was way past her bedtime, yet she barely made a dent in her homework.
The stone would just have to wait until tomorrow.
An hour or so later, Kazuha heard her father come in their house.
She grinned. Her dad was trying to be as quiet as possible. Months ago, she wouldn't have heard a thing, but thanks to Miyagi's training, she was now able to tell who was going in their house and even infer the mood that person is in, simply by the noise the person makes.
And right now, her father is not in a very good mood, that was for certain. But she didn't even use her special training to figure that one out. All it took was one glance on the offending parcel on her study table.
Kazuha decided it was time for a cookie break.
"Dad?" Feigning sleepiness, she slowly made her way outside her room. "You there?"
"In the kitchen, honey," came the tired reply.
She walked blindly to the kitchen without turning on any of the lights, as was her habit since she was small. She saw her father in the lighted kitchen, slumped on a dining room chair, looking very defeated.
Kazuha felt her heart break. "What happened, daddy?"
Her father looked up and smiled at her. "It didn't go very well," he admitted. "But I'm just glad to be home,"
Kazuha returned her father's smile. "I'm glad you're home, too,"
"Come here," her father held his arms open for her.
Kazuha obliged him by sitting on the chair beside her father's and wrapping her arms around him. It reminded her of her childhood, when she would sit at her father's lap whenever the monsters under her bed would come out and scare her. She sighed contently as she felt her father return the loose hug. She resisted the urge to run into her room and simply hand her dad the emerald.
"Burning the midnight oil, honey?" Her father's deep voice asked.
"There was a conspiracy in school between the teachers to give out book reports at the same time." Kazuha replied, her voice muffled by her father's chest. She felt it rumble when he chuckled.
"It's probably your fault for taking a week off," he reprimanded her.
"It was official school business!" Kazuha retorted defensively. At least, that was the story fed to her dad and the school authorities. Well, in her defense, her little trip to Tokyo was for anything but pleasure.
"Speaking of your little trip, did Heiji find you there?" He asked. "He took off as soon as he learned that you went away,"
Kazuha nodded.
"Did something happen in Tokyo?"
Kazuha frowned. Her father wasn't dense. She had to be careful.
"Ever since the two of you came back, I haven't seen him at all. Usually, he's either here, eating us out of house and home, or he's walking you home from his house,"
"You just saw him in the house you were guarding," she corrected him.
"Ah, but he wasn't there, honey."
"What?" Kazuha pulled back a little to see her father's face. "What do you mean, he's not there?"
"He wasn't there," her dad repeated. "Even Hattori-san was surprised that his son wasn't there to catch the Phantom Thief. No one knows where he is. His mother called after the assignment, a little frantic about her baby boy,"
Kazuha frowned. "He's probably doing his own personal investigation." She said slowly.
Her father didn't look convinced.
"Heiji,"
Heiji neary jumped out of his skin when he heard his name being spoken. He whipped around. "Kazuha? How did you find me here?"
Kazuha held out a small device. "Ken-kun bugged you and Kudo-kun so that we'll know where you are. It'll take a few more days before the bug gets out of your body."
Heiji grimaced and turned his attention back to the scenery before him. He had taken his motorcycle out for a ride that day, trying to clear his mind and he lost track of time. He wanted to get away from everything. The Phantom Thief's appearance made him remember about Kazuha's own night job, and that in turn, reminded him of that fateful day when he thought Kazuha was dead and he was tricked into confessing his…
"Wow, you could see the city from here." Kazuha attempted to bait him into a conversation.
Heiji didn't bite.
"Your mother's quite worried about you," she tried another tactic.
Heiji still ignored her.
Kazuha suppressed a groan. She would rather have him scream and shout insults at her than suffer through his cold shoulder. "Oi, Heiji, are you listening to me? The Kid got away tonight. Why weren't you there?"
Heiji ignored her.
"Are you mad at me?" Kazuha asked.
Nothing.
"Ken-kun is about to leave in a few days, can you believe that?"
Still nothing.
"Sonoko now has a steady boyfriend, believe it or not,"
Still nothing.
Kazuha decided to annoy him into a comment.
"They're transferring Yoshke-kun to another hospital soon, you know?"
The wind ruffled Heiji's hair, but he still refused to comment.
"I just finished reading To Kill a Mockingbird. I'll be doing a report on it next week."
Nope.
"I have the emerald the Kid stole tonight,"
No response.
"Do you know that I'm in love with you?"
Revelation ignored.
"I just had a pop quiz in math this morning."
Not even a sigh.
"I'll be training in handling a sword next month."
Still no comment. Kazuha stifled a frustrated scream. "Ahou!" She shouted, her temper getting the best out of her. "You told Sonoko-chan that you love me. You're not supposed to ignore the one you love, you know!" She was about to turn around and ride her Firm-issued motorcycle, when a movement from Heiji stopped her.
"Ahou!" Finally, an angry response from Heiji, but a response nonetheless. "You ask me if I'm mad at you, what do you think?"
The two of them where about a meter or two apart, facing each other, bodies and minds tensed for a confrontation that was sure to follow.
"Ahou!" Kazuha snapped back. Finally, they were back on familiar grounds.
"You are such an idiot." Heiji's eyes blazed with fire. "I thought you were dead back there, Kazuha, how did you think that made me feel?" He took a step closer towards her.
Kazuha's heart softened. But she would rather continue their verbal assault than tread unfamiliar grounds. "You're the idiot, Heiji. If I didn't do that, we wouldn't be able to set into action all our plans!" She, too, stepped closer to him.
"It's not you I'm mad at, Kazuha, it's the whole situation we are in!" This was punctuated with his hands combing through his hair and a forward step. He then sighed. "You know what, forget about it."
"Well, I don't want to forget about it!" Kazuha snapped, stamping her foot in frustration before stepping forward.
"What?" Heiji grubled. "Ahou! What do you want from me?" Another step closer.
"You said you love me, Hattori!" Kazuha shouted at him, they were now face-to-face. "I don't want to forget about that."
Heiji's eyes opened wide in surprise.
"Did you mean it when you said that, when you said you love me?"
It took all of Heiji's courage to look her in the eye. "A while ago, you also said that you love me," he shot back challengingly, sidestepping the question.
"Well, love forgives, Hattori." Kazuha said softly, unable to look away from his gaze. "Would you forgive me, then?"
And suddenly, they were kissing.
"I really am sorry, Heiji," Kazuha whispered softly as she laid her head on his shoulder. The two of them were now seated at the ground beside each other, pretending to be admiring the view, when in reality, they were both adjusting to the new development in their relationship that they had just unwittingly took.
"Ahou," but this time, the word was spoken affectionately. Heiji slowly, tentatively, placed an arm around Kazuha's shoulder. He was half-afraid that she would deck him and call him a perv, but to his pleasant surprise, she snuggled closer to him instead.
"You really should be getting home. Your mom's worried about you, you know,"
"Do you really want to leave now?"
Kazuha sighed in content. "Not really,"
"I think that worrying her for ten more minutes wouldn't kill her."
"Heiji!" Kazuha gasped in shock.
Heiji chuckled. "I already called her before you found me," he admitted.
"So I went all the way here for nothing,"
He grinned conspiratorially at her. "I wouldn't exactly call this nothing," he said before kissing her quickly on the cheek.
Kazuha grinned back briefly before turning her face towards the skyline. "So what are we now, Heiji?" She asked him softly. "I used to introduce myself as your friend who looks after you like a big sister. You're my best friend, my partner-in-crime. But this," she gestured helplessly at the two of them and the position they're in. "I like to know where exactly I stand,"
Heiji took a minute before answering. "You are my best friend, Kazuha. And you do look after me like a big sister sometimes."
Kazuha rolled her eyes.
"Alright, most of the times," he amended. "But as for partner-in-crime, I think that I have just been replaced." He grimaced. "But you're also the love of my life, the sunshine in my day, the icing on my cake, the syrup on my pancakes, the apple of my eyes, the air in my lungs, the wind beneath my wings, the—"
"I got it, I got it," Kazuha interrupted him before he got any cornier.
Heiji grinned. "What I'm trying to say before I was rudely interrupted is this," he paused for dramatic effect. "Toyama Kazuha, would you be my girlfriend?" He held his breath as he waited for her answer.
She threw her arms around him. "Hattori Heiji, there is nothing I want more in the world!" Kazuha then frowned as she pulled back. "Wait a minute, don't I get flowers and chocolates and stuff first?"
End chapter rant:
I really needed the father-daughter interaction before the waffy scenes to remind myself that, yes, there still are good men in the world (oh, advance happy father's day and happy birthday to my dad).
Ooh, I used a lot of clichés here…
Next chapter, Sonoko and Makoto.
