So back in June I wrote a bunch of story snippets in hope of breaking my writer's block. Didn't really stop the block (ongoing T_T) but I'm going to post a few short things this month with soulmate themes.

Hei-Shin – 43. The name of your soulmate appears on your skin after you meet them.

Shinichi was having a bad day. First he had a cold, then he got yelled at for checking in with Ran, third, he was still stuck as a kid, and now there was someone shouting in the Mouri detective office. A client?

He kind of hoped not because he had the edge of a sinus headache already.

He skipped up the stairs just in time to hear whoever the hell this was with the Osakan accent yell, "Bring out Kudo Shinichi!"

Shinichi froze in the doorway. Then, in terrible timing, he sneezed. His eyes met the stranger's. A feeling he'd only read described shot down his forearm. He winced at it felt like pins and needles across his skin. The stranger jerked, and Shinichi was vaguely aware of Ran saying…something…as the teenager's hand moved to his arm, mirroring the feeling Shinichi had.

Oh.

Fuck.

The stranger glanced down at his forearm, tugging back the sleeve on his coat. Did a double-take.

Shinichi barely registered Ran wiping his nose like she was his mother because he knew what was written there and it sure wouldn't be Edogawa Conan.

"Kudo has a cold, you say?" the stranger said with an edge to his voice, pinning Shinichi with his gaze. Shinichi's arm burned and he wanted to look, but Ran was right there. "I thought ya didn't know where he was."

"He called earlier all stuffed up," Ran said in her 'you're pissing me off and soon karate is going to be involved' voice that Shinichi knew to heed, but this guy didn't seem to notice at all.

"He called here."

"Yeah, he calls from wherever he is! Do you have a problem with that or something?" Ran said, a hair away from snapping—how much had this person been grilling her before Shinichi came home?!

"Did he ask about you?"

"Excuse me?"

"If he takes the time to call when no one else seems ta know where he is, he must care. So does he ask about you? Yer life?"

Ran blinked. "Oh. No, he usually just talks about his life or asks about people back home…"

Shinichi felt blood draining from his face as that stare dragged over him again. "Hm. Kinda weird, doncha think? Wouldn't he want to know how yer doing since he cares so much ta call? It's almost like… he's watching you."

Shit. He definitely knew. Well, of course he did, you didn't need to be a detective to figure out who was your soulmate when a bond-mark showed up. Shinichi was going to have to move to America after all wasn't he? The Black Org wouldn't even get a chance to get their hands on him because Ran was going to kill him.

"What?!" Ran and Mouri said at the same time.

"Or maybe he just has a set of eyes on ya," the stranger said. "Oh, I didn't introduce myself. I'm Hattori Heiji, high school detective." The mark that had to be on Shinichi's arm tingled. Shit shit shit. "And actually, I think I need ta have a talk with this kiddo."

"With Conan-kun? But—"

Shinichi sneezed because even the world ending in front of him apparently didn't mean anything to his infected, stunted body. Why was his luck so bad these days?

"Oh, I have something that'll help with that too." Hattori Heiji grabbed his bag and scooped Shinichi under the stomach with his other arm, ignoring Shinichi's yelp and flail. "Just a sec." He stepped out of the office and shut the door behind them, leaving behind a no-doubt baffled Mouri and Ran. "Don't try to run," he said, calmly going down the stairs and around back to the trash bins.

Shinichi hung like a limp sack of rags feeling his dignity evaporate by the second. With a resignation, he rolled up his sleeve. Yup. Hattori Heiji printed neatly on it. Fuck.

Hattori sat on a bin and plunked Shinichi next to him. "So. 'Conan.' Ya gonna tell me what the hell is going on or am I gonna have to pry it out've ya?" He tapped his arm where Kudo Shinichi was clear as day and gave a meaningful look at his own name on Shinichi's arm.

"I can explain," Shinichi said.

"Good. Talk fast." He pulled out a bottle from his bag. A bottle of alcohol. "And here, have a drink."

"Are you trying to get me drunk so I talk?"

"Nah, it's a folk remedy for colds." Hattori grinned and for the first time Shinichi started to wonder what he was like beyond the fact that he'd just barged into his life yelling. Because shit, this was actually his soulmate, huh? Never in a million years would he have imagined this being how he met them. "But being a bit drunk doesn't hurt."

You know what, Shinichi was going to need this drink wasn't he? "…just pass that bottle here, I don't know what this body's alcohol tolerance is yet."