Disclaimer: If I owned Detective Conan, I wouldn't have thought twice about having Shiho and Shinichi getting together. Since I'm writing it as a fanfiction instead, you can tell I don't own it, can't you?

Note: Italics, asides from the 'quoted' ones are thoughts.

Chapter 3

"Kuroba, what 'exactly' did you 'do?'" Shinichi interrogated again. His eyes narrowing into an 'I'm going to 'kill' you' glare. At this point Shinichi was 'so' frustrated that he was about to forget about his next class and stomp off to his room to personally assess the damage. But Shinichi knew that he wouldn't have to take a step out of the classroom to get answers.

Why…?

Because Kaito was 'slightly' conceited when it came to pranks – he enjoyed showing off his accomplishments. This was the reason he always left hints along the way. Being quite the sadist he was, he 'loved' to outsmart people by giving them just enough clues to figure things out, allowing them make complete fools out of themselves in the end. If it was frustration that Kaito loved to see, he always got it regardless of whether it was him, Saguru, or some random person he just met.

This time around, however, things didn't go as planned. In fact, the change of expressions meant to threaten him into confessions had a counter effect. Instead of getting him to talk, it triggered what little restraint Kaito had on his laughter to break loose. He burst into hysterics while trying to answer Shinichi's question.

What can he say? It's been a while since he had put Shinichi into 'such' a situation. It was even longer since he saw that look on his face that practically screamed, 'I don't 'care' if it's a crime. I'm going to murder you!' That says a lot when it comes from someone as righteous as Shinichi.

By the time Kaito finally calmed down, Shinichi was in his seat and was finished with most of the homework assigned to him so far. Somewhere along the way, he decided that he wasn't getting an answer anytime soon and sat down while Kaito was in the back laughing his ass off.

"Ready to confess yet…?" Shinichi asked, looking back at Kaito.

Kaito smiled sheepishly before replying, "About what? You mean the redecorating?"

Shinichi just gave Kaito a look that implied, 'What do you 'mean' redecorating?'

"If you have time before practice, you really should go and see it. It genuinely is a piece of art," Kaito continued. But before Shinichi could get the specifics out of him, the bell rang for the next class and Kaito ran out as Shiina walked into the class quite hastily, looking disheveled.

"What happened to you?"

Shiina didn't even 'try' to acknowledge him. Thinking that he was ignoring him out of resentment, Shinichi went back to thinking of ways to torture Kaito to death. He wasn't sure what exactly he did yet, but he was sure that it was 'really' bad. I guess explaining isn't an option, he thought ruefully. What he didn't know, however, was that Shiina didn't even hear him because he was so lost in thought, not that he wouldn't have ignored him anyways.

God, could things get any worse? Shiina thought, shuddering as he thought back on his lunch break. He glanced at the clock to see how much more he had to endure and caught a girl winking at him. Why even bother asking?

Like Akemi had mentioned before, Shiho briefly recalled saying something about how guys were idiots, and how she wished they would stop hitting on her. She had never had the reason to deal with girls, and during the short interval of time called lunch, Shiho found out how much worse being chased by 'girls' could be.

It wasn't even that long since he left the classroom when Shiina heard a few squeals, and something akin to "Look that must be Shinichi-sama's roommate", "He's so dreamy", and "I wonder if he has a girlfriend." It was more than enough of a reason to set him doing something short of a desperate run for his life – in the opposite direction. Unfortunately for Shiina, however, they didn't catch the hint and continued to pursue him. You'd figure they'd notice by now that I'm 'not' interested, he mused, irritated at their lack of functional brain cells.

To make the whole story short, he had wasted his whole lunch break getting acquainted with the good and bad hiding spots on campus. It was 'really' annoying to be chased in 'that' manner by a bunch of girls.

By the time that she finally got over the initial shock of being chased by those of her 'own' kind, the final bell had rung and in front of her desk were the majority of the female classmates he had. So making me sprint across the school 'wasn't' enough?, she thought with a glare.

That's when his supposed knight-in-shining-armor decided to lend a hand, unintentionally for the most part. "Hey, move it. I have a score to settle with this guy."

What the…? Shiina thought as he was suddenly pulled out of his seat and dragged out of the classroom by none other than Shinichi. "Let me 'go.'"

Shinichi smirked. "It's either you come with me and settle this room thing now, which by the way you need to do sooner or later anyways, or I give you back to 'them.' You choose."

Shiina narrowed his eyes into a glare, and scowled. "That's 'really' low."

"As far as I remember, that's the best opinion you've had of me so far," he retorted smugly, as they speed-walked their way to 'their' dorm room. They were almost there and he didn't want to run into anymore obstacles – or girls, more specifically 'fangirls.'

Shiina looked reluctantly at the dorm door. "You aren't exactly the best at giving decent first impressions, you know." He retorted as Shinichi opened the door and stepped in.

"I don't know what you're talki…" Shinichi started, but closed his mouth back shut as soon as he caught glimpse of his newly 'decorated' room.

His jaw practically dropped open as he looked around to see two posters of girls posing nude, or pretty damned close to it, on his wall in addition to all his mystery novels being replaced with adult videos. There were also magazines, notably Playboy and Maxim, scattered carelessly on the desk and another stack on the floor nearby. It even went as far as there being lingerie 'accidentally' sticking out of the drawer. What the 'hell!' He made it look like this really 'is' how my room is! And where on earth are my mystery novels! He started ranting mentally.

It was a flash from a camera that brought him back from his musing. "KAITO," Shinichi said as he lunged towards him.

"What's up?" Kaito asked nonchalantly, as Shinichi pulled him up by the shirt.

Shinichi practically trembled in anger, "WHAT THE HELL DID YOU DO TO MY ROOM AND MORE IMPORTANTLY MY SHERLOCK HOLMES COLLECTION!"

Is that what you're worried about? Shiina thought sarcastically in her mind. He noted that Shinichi seemed to have completely missed the presence of the camera, not that it was too important compared to his precious Sherlock Holmes.

Kaito laughed sheepishly, "I didn't think you'd take it well if I told you I trashed it, so I put it in my room. I think Hakuba might've gone through it though."

They're idiots, Shiina reflected as she watched the scene before her with an eyebrow raised. "If you're going to beat him up, could you do it quickly? I came here to discuss the room arrangements, not watch a cat fight."

Kaito winced at his indifferent words, "Have some sympathy, will you? I'm about to get brutally beat to death by best friend here."

Shiina just gave Kaito a look, but he got the message. Basically, it was a speechless way of saying, 'That would be a problem 'because?''

Saguru had a tendency of giving him the same look, when Shinichi stormed into their dorm room to 'file a complaint' – not that it happened very often, of course. He wouldn't have lived to see 17 if he had agitated Shinichi any more than he already did. After all, unlike Saguru who would just sigh, point out how immature of him that was, and get him to clean everything back up, Shinichi was more impulsive.

Being reminded that Shiina was still there watching Shinichi immediately drops Kaito, making him land on the floor in a thud. "I'll get this joker to re-re-decorate my room to how it's supposed to be, all right. I seriously didn't think it'd be this bad, but…"

Shiina raised his brow slightly. "I'd rather not have anything to do with you guys, so why don't I just trade rooms with this clown, and…" Shiina cut off callously, arms crossed.

Shinichi glowered. "No way, I just had him kicked 'out' of my room. If you seriously think I have anything to do with this mess, why don't you just switch 'to' his room?"

"Because quite frankly, I don't trust 'either' one of you."

"Well, that's unfortunate because I don't trust 'this' guy either – not as a roommate anyways." Shinichi said, pointing to Kaito.

"Don't I get any say in this?" Kaito starts to ask, but stops as soon as Shinichi and Shiina stared angrily at him. 'Never mind.'

Shinichi sighed. "Fine, how can I gain your trust? I don't want to room with this guy, and I don't want to live with a guy that's at my throat 24/7 either."

Shiina looked contemplatively before replying, "You can start with twenty character letters by tomorrow morning."

Shinichi looked at him skeptically, "You want a teacher's letter of recommendation while you're at it?"

"Why don't you get five of those too? Oh and good luck finding people this time of the day," he said as he walked off. I better get home before Akemi decides to leave and celebrate my absence. She's not going to be happy when I get back.

Shinichi smacked his forehead, "Great. Now I have to go find people after school at who-knows-where. There's no practice today, so I bet everyone's out at the arcade or something by now."

"Why don't you worry about the teachers first?" Kaito asked, finally getting up from his spot on the floor.

Shinichi just sighed, "Just fix my room up – how it's 'supposed' to be, and don't you dare put any new 'additions' in."

"I'll be sure to remember that," Kaito replied mockingly as he took the posters down, and Shinichi slammed the door behind him. Jeez, somebody's in a testy mood today.

T.B.C

Just to let you know, I tried to make it longer, but since I couldn't keep it as a whole I split it up in two – this and the next chapter. So it is an improvement –although slight. Read the next chapter for author's notes and replies to reviews!