(A/N) There wasn't a fixed length for these, as far as I know, but usually drabbles are 100 words. At least one of these is over three times that length, several are (more or less) twice that length, and one or two are under 100. :sweatdrops: Oops?

Disclaimer: See File 1

Dictionary Drabbles

#14 - Nuance

They had learned to read each others' minds.

This twitch meant that she was hiding something; that movement meant that he still had something to say. This tone of voice meant that he'd better scram before she decided to dissect him; that expression on his face meant that he was on to something. This look in her eyes meant that she was mocking him without words; that twist of his mouth meant he was in pain.

They finished each others' sentences without conscious thought; they came to assume that every sentence need only be started. They made the same facial expressions in response to questions and comments directed at both of them; it got the point where they didn't need to exchange glances to know what look would be on the other's face or in the other's eyes.

Eventually the two started wondering if even their unconscious bodily functions were linked; and both began to suspect that if one died, the other's heart would stop beating as well.

#15 – Overt

The two not-children were talking calmly in complete privacy, until a topic was mentioned that should not have been. The calm talking quickly turned into a shouting match, which dissolved into something resembling a fight, and then one of them was saying something the other never expected to hear. The latter replied in kind.

In the pause that followed their mutual confession, there was absolute silence. A half-smile was apparent on Haibara's face where she had forgotten to wipe it off, and an unusual gleam of happiness lurked in Conan's eyes.

They stared at each other for a while, enjoying the moment, and then the silence was broken by a voice laced with humor: "…This is the part where one of us says, 'Just kidding,' isn't it?"

#16 – Popular

She almost fidgeted. She never fidgeted.

But then, since the attention of an entire class her age was fixed upon her, the hastily suppressed motion was understandable.

Clearing his throat abruptly, and failing to draw anyone's attention, Shinichi nevertheless said into the completely silent room, "This is Miyano Shiho. She's a transfer student from America, and she'll be joining our class for a while."

Forgetting her position – and its accompanying awkwardness - for a minute, the aforementioned lifted an eyebrow at him.

"For a while?" she asked, somewhat surprised at the addition. After all, they had agreed that she'd be staying…

He smirked in reply. "Until you get thoroughly sick of this lot," he made a sweeping gesture with his right hand, encompassing the room, "and me."

"But I'm already sick of you."

A mock hurt expression on his face matched the mock disgusted one on hers, and they bantered back and forth as they started towards his seat – and the empty one beside it. Still trading insults as the class looked on and the teacher was conspicuously absent, they sat down.

There was a brief pause while they turned to attend to their books…and then the class swarmed them.

#17 – Quirk

He had this unconscious habit of posing whenever a camera was near that was both amusing and irritating in nearly equal parts. Most of the time. Right about now, it was just irritating.

"What do you think you're doing?" she whispered softly, careful to keep her expression neutral.

He gave her a classic cocky smirk, then leaned closer to speak softly by her ear: "Don't look now, but the murderer has a camera and is scoping the place out through the viewfinder. Since this particular path happens to be in a certain area of town, and since we happen to be a young man and a young woman, we'd look suspicious if we weren't doing anything."

She didn't answer, choosing instead to eye the arm propping him against the tree at her back as if it had violated a crime. At the next thing he said, though, she forgot all about it.

"Unless you'd rather we kissed?"

His voice was dead serious. It wasn't until her head snapped up and her eyes met his that she saw the tell-tale twinkle which meant he was joking.

Irritating. Yeah. All she had to do was keep repeating the word in her head, and-

#18 – Rest

"Shinichi?"

He blinked unfocused eyes and stared at the ceiling without seeing it. Since there was a distinct absence of pain, bindings, and a threatening weapon, he surmised that they had gotten out alive. That was good…

"Shinichi?"

But the person who was calling him couldn't be Sh-Miyano, because they never referred to each other by first name, even under life-threatening circumstances.

"Shinichi?"

Slowly he turned his head. His eyes, now clear, met the blurry ones of his watcher.

Oh.

#19 – Story

"…Kudo."

The monotone broke his concentration, and he looked up from his Sherlock Holmes novel. He wasn't really annoyed, because the book in his hands had merely been a distraction from the peaceful, utterly quiet house, but there was still slight irritation in his voice as he replied, "Hm?"

"You've heard the story about Theseus and the minotaur before, right?"

He lifted an eyebrow at the unusual question, and was even more surprised at the tone of her voice. Now curious, he put aside his book and answered, "Yes, though I haven't exactly memorized it. Why?"

"Theseus was given a ball of thread and a magical sword before he entered the labyrinth. The sword helped him slay the minotaur; the thread helped him find his way back. However, if he had been injured during the fight, he would have died. Thread and swords can't bind wounds."

She stopped. He stared. That was more than Haibara had said in the past month, easily.

Was she…?

#20 – Torture
"Sounds tortured, doesn't it?"

"Almost as tortured as my ears are from listening to it," she replied automatically. Then she took a good look at the speaker and did a credible job of masking surprise.

"Isn't that you?"

"Recording," he informed her with perfect equanimity. "I dug it up expressly for this case."

"Sure," she replied, voice absolutely coated with sarcasm, "That's why it sounds like a tape from karaoke night. Heiji blackmailed you, didn't he?"

He winced, and she was fairly certain it wasn't just at the awful squawking. But though she seemed to have hit the nail on the head, he carefully dodged all inquiries as to what the blackmail had been about.

21 – Universal

"This stupid thing refuses to work," Conan just barely refrained from whining.

In a house with two genius scientists, was it too much to ask for the television's remote control to actually turn on the TV? Apparently it was.

Then again, since said control was a prototype invention of Agasa's, and had yet to be perfected, perhaps that was understandable. Still, since Agasa had claimed that it was good enough for now and could be finished later (he'd gotten sidetracked by a cool new toy he was tinkering with, in other words), they'd thrown out the old remote. There was no power button on the set itself.

Since he really wanted to watch the news (not to see himself on TV, of course not), he'd taken it to the inventor to see if it could be finished now, instead of in a few months or when Agasa tired of the latest novelty, whichever was farther.

Unfortunately for him, the inventor's lab was empty.

Then from behind him, a voice said, "Kudo."

He turned.

She pointed at a nearby fan, which was spinning lazily. There was a smirk on her face.

"It's a universal remote."

#22 – Viewpoint

A good detective learned how to look at things from multiple points of view during a case. A great detective always looked at things from multiple points of view. Accordingly, one day Shinichi decided to live up to his title, calm down about the things that gave him the most stress, and run a viewpoint exercise. The result of this experiment was as follows:

First, said detective holed himself up in his room for a good twelve hours.

Following this, he approached a certain small scientist and informed her with absolutely no warning or preface, "If you hadn't made the drug, Gin probably would've shot me that day. Instead, thanks to you, I'm alive."

"…If vertically challenged," the scientist added coolly after a pause while his words sunk in. There was the barest hint of a smile upon her face, which was unacceptable because it was a crack in the mask which cannot, under any circumstances, be cracked. Or else.

About half an hour and a conversation later, Kudo left the area, presumably to stumble over another body on his way back to his current living quarters.

After he was out of sight, I wrote this nonsense.

#23 – Water

H20. HOH. Dihydrogen monoxide. Hydrogen oxide. A very simple molecule.

And yet this simple molecule was necessary to humans' survival. After all, most of the human body was made of water, and without it they had an unfortunate tendency to shrivel up and blow away at the whim of a passing breeze.

It was yet another weakness. Humans were full of weaknesses, it seemed. Dehydration, starvation, temperature-related problems, pressure-related problems, hereditary conditions, diseases, drugs, hallucinations, lapses of attention…

"Haibara?"

I looked up.

"I know it's late, but glasses of water really aren't that interesting, surely?"

I blinked.

When had it gotten that close? More importantly, when had he?

#24 – X

"Twenty paces from the old shed, and…It should be here," someone muttered.

It was a familiar voice, but one she was more accustomed to hearing at the crime scene, instead of in the crime scene's backyard – literally. She stepped around some dense foliage just in time to see a strange sight: Conan was attempting to use a shovel meant for someone much his senior in size and strength.

Haibara snickered. At the sound, he turned around almost guiltily.

"What are you doing?" she asked. Not that she was curious, mind, it was just something to do while three kids and a grown-up kid in a suit ran around finding 'evidence' and making false accusations much too soon, while an exasperated teenager tried to control them. And failed.

But the two of them had slipped out of the client's house unnoticed, one for some fresh air, and the other…

He started in on a long explanation that had to do with a letter, a bottle, and fifty years of unnecessary pain for two different people and their families. Ten minutes later, he had outlined the entire case, solved it, and told her the story behind it. Now, one of the families had recently uncovered a scrap of aged paper in their attic that looked rather like a treasure map. The only problem was that it was in code. Conan had cracked that code.

"…And so," he concluded, "the evidence should be buried here."

"Why don't you just get an adult to help you?"

"They won't believe me. But you know I'm Kudo Shinichi, so…" He trailed off, looking at her hopefully.

"Just because I know you're Kudo doesn't mean I'll believe you..."

The shrunken detective sighed.

"…especially since I never knew Kudo. But I know Conan, and I'll believe him."

He blinked at her. She blinked back.

What?

#25 – Yes

It was a tough decision.

On the one hand, if he went, he'd be leaving behind important things, things he would miss when they were gone. On the other hand, if he didn't, countless people could be killed or injured…or worse.

"Well?"

He struggled to make up his mind.

"It's not that difficult, Kudo."

He was still weighing the options.

"You can always tape the TV show, and if you don't go, who knows what the "Sleeping Detective" will do?"

He contemplated that.

"Now, are you coming to the party or not?"

"Yes."

"..."

#26 – Zymurgy
"That's not a word and you can't convince me it is."

"It is a word."

"No, it's not."

"Yes, it is."

"Prove it."

He blinked as an open dictionary was unceremoniously shoved in his face, blinked again as he read the definition, then said brilliantly, "Oh."

She smirked and went back to totaling points, making sure to take into account the fact that she'd neatly covered one of those "Triple Word Score" spaces.