Title: Light on Her Feet
Fandom: Detective Conan
Theme: #1, You are never mine to begin with
Pairing/Characters: Heiji Hattori/Kazuha Toyama
Rating: PG
Disclaimer: They are sadly not mine.
Summary: It had been getting easier to stand


It was really easy to watch him walk impassively down the hallway, hand in hand with the new girl of the week. He'd started that, after all, years ago. Dating girls, breaking up with girls. It had all become a sort of a blur. Even Kazuha had trouble remembering their names.

He'd string them along, tell them stories about his daring adventures as the heroic teenage detective. They'd buy every word and cling to him. Maybe not him. The idea of him. The idea of a dashing young man, slightly dangerous and exotic, that had come to sweep them off their feet.

A week later, they'd be dumped and a new girl would start her adventure as the girlfriend of Heiji Hattori.

Kazuha had come to terms with this long ago. It had begun to scare her how easily she brushed them off. They weren't girls anymore; they were flavors. Spicy, vanilla, tangy, sweet. He was just trying his fill.

She had no doubt that, eventually, he'd come back to her.

Four years after they had graduated, he came to tell her the news. He was engaged. A beautiful girl he brought in. Hikari. She smiled, shone, sparkled. Kazuha felt sick.

They went on a bunch of outings, Heiji desperate for approval from his best friend. Kazuha smiled and danced her way through. She had always been light on her feet.

One night she took Hikari aside, gave her a talking to. Told her about the way he liked his miso soup and what to do when he got too into a case. How he would wear his favorite shirt only on Sundays or vacations and why the color purple really irked him. After her tirade, Hikari smiled at her.

"You're a good person, Kazuha-san."

Kazhua smiled wearily and thanked the girl. She couldn't handle that geniune kindness that seemed to radiate off her like the gentle glow she was named after. She couldn't handle her replacement.

She was a bridesmaid. She smiled her way through the ceremony and danced at the reception. Wished the newlyweds well. Bought them a toasteroven.

And when they had troubles, she talked them through it and when they were happy, she smiled with them. And she took the good with the bad, dating man after boy, in a constant struggle to regain what was. The boy she was meant to be with. The boy that never was hers.

Author's Note: I blame the weird style of this on the fact that I've been doing too much English 19 homework lately. So yes, a new Nights fic. Written while watching Win a Date with Tad Hamilton with my roommate. Can you spot the influence:) And did I mention this is my first time doing something angsty (however slight) in two years ? I hope I'm not rusty.