The Shadow Hunters

by Fragments of Imagination

Hunting down the Crows was a difficult task, and if it wasn't for the Contact that Shinichi had within the Crows, the situation would seem hopeless. It's going to be a long hunt, but Shinichi and his Shadow Hunters wouldn't back down from the challenge. (Naito Shin AU, Sequel of 'Naito Shin' Story, after the Filler. Characters might be OOC. Don't like, don't read)

14. I Blame You For This

Chapter 14

Disclaimer: I don't own Detective Conan or Magic Kaito!

Thought / Dream / Event from the past

[Voice from the past]

"Dialogue"

On Screen

Option Button

=Phone Call or Through Earphone=

Written

Emphasis

※Notification / Unread Mail/Report※

Dangerous tone / Magic Incantation / Sound Effect

'I Blame You For This.'

By Touyama Kazuha

Touyama Kazuha had never considered herself to be anyone special, but that didn't mean that she was shy and not confident in herself.

It was true that she wasn't a genius like her best friend, Hattori Heiji, but she was still a smart girl - her high test scores proved that. She might have been wearing feminine clothes and acted just like how normal girl usually was, but that didn't mean she was useless in a fight, being an Aikido Master that she was. Also, while she did think of herself as no one special in the eyes of the public, but she knew that she was a cute and beautiful girl - she did get a love letter once, before she rejected the boy since she had a crush on Heiji.

Indeed, Kazuha didn't think she was special, just a normal girl … so how in the world she ended up in this situation? Testing her ability as an Aikido Master in the form of fighting a Karate Master named Mouri Ran, in the Shadow Hunter's Training Ground at the forest somewhere around Koizumi Akako's Mansion?

…

Forget it, she knew the answer, and it all happened because Heiji asked her to hold on his phone while he went to the toilet, when they ate Ramen at a cafe in Osaka together. Well, actually, it wouldn't necessary be the cause of this situation, but more like the trigger. The actual cause was her own curiosity, as well as her annoyance at Heiji, who had been keeping something from her - and the guy didn't even try to pretend that nothing was wrong. Seriously, Heiji was such a bad liar. So, Kazuha was curious about just what it was that Heiji had been keeping her out of, thus against her better judgment, she unlocked her Best Friend's phone.

After browsing for a bit, she found a strange application that she had never seen before. The Icon were two Alphabets, SH - with S being made from a Whip, while the H was made from a Bow and Arrow. Figuring that maybe Heiji's secret was connected to it, she tried opening it. Unfortunately, when she opened it, she was met with a screen with a grassy field at night time as the background. There was a shadowy area on the field in the shape of a bird in flight, with a single shining arrow piercing the heart of the shadowed area, causing the illusion of the bird that was being shot by the arrow. The only things that filled the screed were three white colored empty rows, and a white arrow pointing to the right, at the bottom right corner of the screen.

The empty rows were clearly meant to be filled with something, but the question was what? There wasn't any instruction on what it was that needed to be filled in which row, so Kazuha didn't know what to do anymore. Still, she wanted to know what Heiji was keeping from her, so with the help of another application, she shared the application from Heiji's phone to her own. Then to prevent her friend of knowing that she had been messing around with his phone, she closed the App, clear the history of the App being opened, and finally re-locking the phone before pretending that she was playing with her own phone while she was waiting. It was a good thing too, for Heiji returned soon after and took his phone back, before they left the Cafe.

Later on that night, Kazuha opened the App that was on her phone, and tried to think up the Passwords. That was when she remembered it. Aside from focusing on his phone, Heiji also had been focusing on a certain piece of paper, which he had never let her see what was on it. Although she had an idea of what was written on it, since she saw the reflection of it on the window behind Heiji once - when he freaked out and raised the paper up and away from her when she leaned over to see what was on the paper.

With the help of her note book and quite a hard time remembering, Kazuha wrote down what she had seen on the paper - trying her best copying it down perfectly and in its reflected state (which was very hard, and it was another proof that she was actually a smart girl). After that, she used the help of a mirror to read what was actually written in the correct order.

Turned out, they were riddles of some kind, and there were three of them. The first being, 'If you are a group of people who goes out hunting for shadows, what would you be called?'. The second was, 'If Seiryu had taken over the East and you have taken over the West, who are you?'. Then, the third riddle being, 'If A is Z and B is Y, how would your name written then?'.

She had thought that the riddles were very simple, so she was very confused about why Heiji was having a hard time solving them. While wondering about why Heiji was having it hard, she filled the answers into the empty rows.

'If you are a group of people who goes out hunting for shadows, what would you be called?'

People who hunt were called as Hunters, and if what they were hunting were shadows, then they would be called 'Shadow Hunters'. So 'Shadow Hunters' would be the Password for the first row.

'If Seiryu had taken over the East and you have taken over the West, who are you?'

It was common knowledge that Seiryu was a Divine Beast who ruled over the East, and the Azure Dragon was part of four Divine Beasts. The one who ruled over the West was the White Tiger, 'Byakko'. So, that was the Password for the second row.

'If A is Z and B is Y, how would your name written then?'

The answer was easy, but Kazuha had to write the whole alphabets backwards first, starting from Z, then Y, followed by X, and so on. Once that was done, she wrote down the way 'Byakko' was written in that backward alphabets and she got 'YBZPPL', which goes to the last row.

Once she filled the three rows, she clicked Enter. It made the white arrow at the bottom of the screen lit up, so she clicked Enter again. She was greeted by the same background screen again, but there were option buttons instead of empty rows.

SH Calendar

SH Chat

SH Mic

SH Report

Before she could go further, a message popped up, telling her that a new update had been made, and the only option she could chose was 'Update', so she did. The App then closed up, and a message box popped up, telling her the progress of the update. Kazuha waited patiently until the update was done, and then re-opened the App, followed by re-entering the Passwords.

This time, instead of just four option buttons, there were 6 option buttons now.

SH Calendar

SH Contacts

SH Report

SH Chat

SH Mics

SH Map

Needless to say, her curiosity was piqued, so she tried each one of them. With the exception of Contacts, Mics, and Map, Kazuha found that the others were mostly empty - there was a message of the content was empty, and an option button to add something on it, whether it was a New Event, a New Report, or a New Chat.

The 'SH Contacts' was filled with a list containing the names of the Youkai, while the Mics was filled with the same list with the word 'Mic' added after the name, and the Map was filled with a world map that was showing the different position of each 'Youkai'.

Kazuha was quite surprise to see that these Youkais were scattered in many places. There was 1 in America named Amanojaku, 1 in French named Nogitsune, 2 in German named Amaterasu and Tsukuyomi, and 14 in Japan alone - which couldn't be seen what the names were due to the fact that there were many names in close space. When she zoomed on Japan to see the names, she saw that there were 5 in Ekoda district of Tokyo named Bakeneko, Kitsune, Seiryu, Kirin, and Mezumaru. 7 more were at Beika district of Tokyo named Daitengu, Kotengu, Aosaginohi, Gozumaru, Genbu, Hakutaku, and Yuki Onna. Also, there were 2 in Osaka, one under the name of Byakko, while the other was Unregistered.

She had zoomed closer on the two in Osaka then, and was surprised when she saw that the one named Byakko was at Heiji's house, while the Unregistered was at her own.

As soon as she registered this fact, her whole body froze over when she felt something cold and sharp touched the back of her neck. Looking up from her phone, she was shocked to find a stranger in her room - a girl, who was carrying a freaking Scythe, with the blade of the Scythe touching Kazuha's neck. One wrong move, she was dead for sure.

The girl had a long Rose red hair, and she wore the strangest set of clothing that Kazuha had ever seen, completed with a visor that was hiding her eye's shape and color.

"W- Who are you?" Kazuha asked nervously.

Instead of answering her, the girl asked a question of her own… "You who have logged in through an Unregistered application, state your name if you value your life." … well, more like gave an order instead of asking a question.

Gulping, Kazuha didn't have any choice but to answer, if she didn't want to die. "Kazuha." She stated quietly, "Touyama Kazuha".

"Touyama Kazuha?" The strange girl pulled away her Scythe, "As in Hattori Heiji's Childhood Friend? That Touyama Kazuha?".

"Ah, yes." Kazuha replied as she stood up from her bed, getting ready to run as soon as an opportunity was available, "That's me".

"Proof it." The girl demanded firmly, "Show me that Omamori (Protective Charm) that you have in pair with him".

"How- how do you know about that?" Kazuha asked in bewilderment as she pulled out the Omamori that was previously under her clothes.

"I am Seiryu, and I know various things about this world." The girl - Seiryu - replied with a sigh, "You have logged into the App that isn't registered as exist in our database, so you didn't obtain the App from our Leader or Vice Leader. Explain, now".

"You mean, about this application?" Kazuha asked for confirmation as she showed the opened App in her phone, earning a nod from Seiryu, "Um, I found it in Heiji's phone when I was messing with it, and I was curious, so I shared the App into my own phone to try it".

"Do you know what kind of purpose this App has?" Seiryu asked seriously, and Kazuha shook her head in answer, "Then why did you install it in your phone?".

"I was curious." Kazuha repeated herself, "Heiji had been keeping something from me again, and the guy doesn't even pretend that he doesn't hide anything from me. So when I found that strange App, I got really curious, thinking that maybe it has something to do with why Heiji had been pulling his hair out in confusion when he looked at his phone lately".

"..." The girl was silent for a moment, before pointing her Scythe at Kazuha again, "How did you get logged in, in the first place?".

"Uhh…" Kazuha eyed the sharp point of the Scythe in fear, "Heiji has this paper that he had been looking, often ignoring the lesson in class just to read it. One day, I leaned over to see what's on it. He pulled the paper away from me, but I caught what was on it through the reflection of the window behind him." She cautiously pointed at her copy of the riddles, "I wrote it down, then read it using the help of a mirror, and then typing the answers into the three white rows".

"You solved them?" Seiryu asked for confirmation.

"Yeah." Kazuha answered reluctantly, "I mean, the riddles are very simple".

"I have to admit, that is very impressive of you." Seiryu stated a second later as she pulled back her Scythe once again, "I thought that you're just a normal girl, but I see that you're intelligent and quite the hacker".

"KAZUHA!"

Their conversation - as tense of a conversation as it was - was interrupted when Hattori Heiji entered the room, carrying a Katana - a Katana (a type of real Sword), not a Bokken (Wooden Sword) - with him, before trying to disarm Seiryu. Trying, because Seiryu ended up the one to disarm Heiji and pointed her Scythe at the boy in warning.

"Damn it." Heiji growled as he glared at Seiryu, "Who the hell are you?! And what do you want with Kazuha?!".

"I am Seiryu, the Adviser and the Secret Keeper of the Shadow Hunters." Seiryu answered him as she pulled back her Scythe again, "And the reason of my presence here is due to your own stupidity, Nishi no Meitantei (Great Detective of the West)".

"Wait, what?!" Heiji looked at her in bewilderment, before a shine of recognition entered his eyes, "Wait, you're Seiryu? And part of the Shadow Hunters?" He then stared at Seiryu, "If you're who you said you are, then why are you attacking Kazuha?".

"Because you have created quite a mess, Hattori Heiji-kun." Seiryu scowled at him, "Your friend here-" She pointed at the silently watching Kazuha, "-have hacked into your phone and installed the Spy App into her own phone, and logged in with the set of Passwords that are supposed to be yours".

"Wait, you did what?" Heiji asked Kazuha in surprise.

"I can't help it." Kazuha frowned at him, "You have been acting strange and is clearly keeping me out of something, so when I found that strange and unnamed App in your phone, I installed it into my own".

"You now have two options." Seiryu pointed at Heiji this time, "Either you tell her everything and consequently dragged her into danger with you, or erase her memory about the App so she returned to her oblivious state".

"Erasing my memory?!" Kazuha gaped at her, "Can you really do that kind of thing?!".

"Why do you think I'm the Secret Keeper?" Seiryu replied with a question of her own.

"No! I don't want my memory to get erased!" Kazuha said immediately, before glaring at Heiji, "Whatever mess you get yourself into this time, Heiji, you better tell me everything about it! You know I will help you!".

"I know! That's precisely why I don't want you to know!" Heiji yelled back at her, "This is dangerous, Kazuha! You could get killed!".

"I can take care of myself! I'm not helpless!" Kazuha retorted angrily, "Besides, I clearly have something in me if this Seiryu girl is impressed with me!" She continued as she pointed at Seiryu, without looking away from her glaring match with Heiji.

"You do." Seiryu interrupted their screaming match, "For you to both writing down the riddles that you have seen through reflection and solving them, you have it in you to be an Agent".

"But I don't want her to get dragged into this mess!" Heiji yelled at Seiryu.

"Then you should have known better than to let her become suspicious of you in the first place." Seiryu replied calmly, "You also have to take on acting lesson from now on, so you can keep this secret a secret, idiot".

Heiji flinched and looked as if he had been stabbed - his face was quite comical, actually.

"Also, why in the world a smart person like you couldn't solve Daitengu's riddles?" Seiryu demanded at him, "As Touyama-san had said, those riddles are very simple".

"What?" Heiji asked in surprise, "The riddles are very simple?".

"Here." Kazuha handed him the paper that contained her answers to the riddles, "Very simple, right?".

Heiji read the answers, and couldn't help but gaped in disbelief.

"So?" Seiryu raised an eyebrow at him, "Your excuse?".

"Kudou is a very intelligent guy, alright?!" Heiji exploded suddenly, most likely due to embarrassment, "How would I know that he would make the answers to those riddles so simple that even a Grade Schooler could crack them?! I thought that the answers would surely be very difficult and complicated! To test my ability as a Detective, you know?!" Then, he looked away and crossed his arms, but a red hue could clearly be seen on his cheeks, despite his tan skin. Also, they might be unable to hear it, but he clearly had continued with his rant in his mind.

Seiryu then asked them what were they going to do again, whether to let Kazuha knew of everything since she was clearly quite skilled, or to erase her memory about everything that was concerning the Shadow Hunters. Another screaming match between Kazuha and Heiji happened because of it, before Seiryu interrupted and said that if Kazuha joined the group, then she would be trained and provided with the necessary equipment. Of course, Heiji would undergo training too, since the training was required to be done by everyone.

In the end, Kazuha won the argument and she was told everything, and a trip to Tokyo for the weekend was scheduled - which was actually the next day.

So the next day had arrived and the trip happened, and that was how Kazuha got into this situation now. Since she didn't receive the App from either Daitengu the Leader or Bakeneko the Vice Leader, she had to prove herself suitable to be an Agent by fighting Aosaginohi the Second in Command - also known as Mouri Ran.

Aside from her though, turned out that one Suzuki Sonoko also ended up having to fight Kitsune the Second in Command in Training - aka Nakamori Aoko.

Similar to Kazuha, Sonoko also got dragged into the mess because she found the App in Ran's phone. The difference was, instead of getting access to Ran's phone due to being asked to keep it for the Karate Master because said Karate Master needed to go to the toilet, Sonoko gained access by hacking into Ran's phone.

The young Suzuki Heiress had been interested into hacking lately, after watching a Spy Movie with Ran, so she bought a book and tried it - with Ran's phone being the target. She thought that if it was Ran's phone that she hacked, she wouldn't get in trouble because Ran would surely understand her reasoning, and because Ran was Sonoko's Best Friend.

After a full month of trying to master how to hack, Sonoko finally succeed and gained access into Ran's phone, and found the strange and unnamed App that was the Spy App. Just like Kazuha, Sonoko was curious about it and ended up installing it into her own phone, before logging in using Ran's Passwords that Sonoko knew via hacking too. This action had alerted Kaito, so he traced the Unregistered App into Sonoko's phone, thus she was confronted about it by Ran - who had been told by Kaito, after he blocked the Unregistered App of course.

It happened the day day after Kazuha was confronted by Akako - in other words, earlier that day.

Sonoko confessed that she had hacked into Ran's phone, and instead of getting Akako to erase Sonoko's memory, Ran decided that Sonoko could become a good Agent - a Supporter - since she managed to get pass through the security that Kaito had added into her phone with her hacking skill, especially because Sonoko did it when she was only a beginner.

That was why - instead of getting Akako to erase Sonoko's memory - Ran dragged Sonoko to the Training Ground with her, told Sonoko everything about the Crows and the Shadow Hunters, before asking whether Sonoko was willing to help or not. Sonoko being Ran's friend, of course she would wanted to help if she could. Thus, she had to fight Aoko to see if she really had what it took to be an Agent.

After Kazuha was done fighting Ran and proved herself though.

"Are you ready, Kazuha-chan?" Ran asked as she got into a fighting stance - the one for Raiken, instead of Karate.

"As ready as I will ever be." Kazuha replied in determination.

"If you can't prove yourself, then Akako will erase your memory about all of this." Ran warned her again.

"I know." Kazuha replied seriously, though what she didn't know was how it could be done, "That's why I won't hold back".

"Good." Ran said in approval, before suddenly lunged at the Osakan girl.

A fight between Karate and Aikido was normally hard and dangerous to do, especially on a hard floor instead of on a practice mat, since one wrong move could lead to broken bones or head injury. But Ran was using Raiken moves - which was a combination of Karate, Taekwondo, and Aikido - so she knew how to not get her bones broken and protected her head even if Kazuha managed to execute her Aikido moves.

Aikido was mostly defensive though, so Kazuha had a hard time executing her moves due to Ran was being offensive most of the time - and Ran was going at her full strength, meaning that a hit from Ran could lead to bruising at the least, and broken bones at most - especially because she hardly managed to grab Ran's limbs due to Ran moving too fast.

Finally, Kazuha managed to throw Ran to the ground, after 15 minutes of struggling. What irked her more than it took her 15 minutes to do it, was the fact that Ran hardly breaking a sweat, while Kazuha had began to sweat for awhile now.

"Congrats, you passed." Ran congratulated her with a warm smile as she stood back up, "The Codename Byakko is yours now, Shinichi will give a different one to Hattori-kun".

"So, Byakko was supposed to be Heiji's?" Kazuha asked for confirmation, earning a nod from the other girl, "Is it because Heiji is from the West?".

"Yes, and because he has the temperamental of a Tiger." Ran answered with a chuckle, "Still, I guess Byakko suits you as well, since you're also from the West and often got into an argument with Hattori-kun".

"I guess." Kazuha replied with a sheepish grin.

"Come on, it's Sonoko's turn now. We need to get your measurement for the Long Coat and AT, as well as choosing an outfit to be part of your Uniform from now on." Ran said as she gestured for them to move out from the Training Arena - a space in the middle of the Training Ground that had been marked with a circle, "Also, you need to give your phone to Kaito, so he could re-install the Spy App. That way, you wouldn't be marked as Unregistered anymore".

"An outfit?" Kazuha asked in confusion, "I thought that the Long Coat is the main Uniform, and we can wear any clothing that we like underneath it?".

"Yes and No." Ran told her lightly, "The type of clothes is the one that you like - that was true, but the Uniform itself have to be a permanent set." She then dropped a smoke bomb, and suddenly she was wearing her Violet Angel Uniform - the one she wore at Tsukikage Island, but she wore her Long Coat now instead of just a leather jacket. "Since Shadow Hunters isn't supposed to exist in the public's eyes, as well as to keep our identities a secret to prevent the Crows from targeting our civilian identities, all of us have a certain Uniform added to the Codename." She explained further, before changing herself back into being Mouri Ran, "Aside from that, you need to prepare an Alias for yourself, in case you need to make a public appearance - since it wouldn't do to use your Codename in public. Our Codenames are to be used when we're doing mission out of the public's eyes after all, although when we works with the FBI, CIA, and so on later, we're going to use our Codenames as well, as long as only those people who are around at the time".

"But, what should I use as my Alias?" Kazuha asked in thought, "Osakan Polices were the ones who came up with the name Naito Shin…" She looked curiously at Ran, "How did you come up with yours?".

"Shinichi named me Angel when I first made my appearance as Violet Angel, and I added the Violet part because my eyes are Violet." Ran told her with a smile, "Kaitou KID was named by Yusaku-san, which then the KID was changed into Kid by Kaito, because Kid is KID's kid. Naito Shin Nisei just added the word Nisei into his name, because he's Naito Shin the Second".

"What about the others?" Sonoko - who had been listening to their conversation - asked curiously.

"Well, Agasa-hakase is just called the Hakase, while Jii is the Masked KID." Ran answered while counting with his hand, "Akako-chan is the Red Sorceress. Chikage-san is the Phantom Lady, and Aoko-chan is going to be the Phantom Lady II. Ai-chan is planning to use Fuyuki - she said it's because she doesn't want to be called as the Ice Princess or the Ice Queen, for those two had been used too many times for her taste. Yusaku-san is the Night Baron, while Yukiko-san is the Night Baroness. Chris Vineyard uses Victoria as her Alias, the reason is unknown - but maybe it's because the information that she gives us will be the key to our Victory.

"Okaa-san doesn't plan to make a public appearance, but if she has to, she will just use the name Maiden as her Alias. Nakamori-keibu doesn't have an Alias, because if he has to appear in public, then he can just be himself considering everyone knows that he's an Inspector. If he has to, then Nakamori-keibu will just use the Knight as his Alias." She then looked at Sonoko, offering a BB Gun to her, "Well, it's your turn, Sonoko. Do your best, alright?".

"Alright." Sonoko said determinedly, accepting the BB Gun.

Since Sonoko had never fight before, but she had trained in firing a gun before, her Test was to shoot at Aoko and hit her once. It wouldn't be easy, since - just like the other Hunters and Huntresses - Aoko had been trained to dodge bullets. The true purpose of this Test wasn't to see if Sonoko could fire a gun and hit her target - since she would be trained in that department too, but to see if the Suzuki Heiress capable to read Aoko's movement or not. After all, to be able to read Aoko's movement played a great part in whether Sonoko would be able to successfully shot Aoko or not.

Sonoko almost failed the Test when Aoko decided to return fire, since Sonoko thought that Aoko would be going on full defense throughout the duration of the Test. Aside from having to successfully hit Aoko, Sonoko required to never lose her BB Gun in order to pass the Test, so she almost failed when Aoko shot Sonoko's Gun out of her hands. Thankfully, Sonoko was fast enough to recapture her Gun and shot at Aoko, hitting her on her left shoulder. Thus, Sonoko passed the Test.

"Congratulation, Sonoko!" Ran cheered while clapping her hands in celebration, "I was afraid that you're going to fail earlier".

"I thought I was gonna fail too." Sonoko said with a relieved breath.

"Congrats." Aoko patted her shoulder with a grin, "You have quite a fast reaction time there, managing to catch your Gun like that".

"Thanks." Sonoko grinned back at her.

"Congratulation for passing the Test." Shinichi said as he approached them, carrying Sonoko's phone, "Here is your phone. Kaito had re-installed the App, so you won't be listed as Unregistered anymore".

"Aosaginohi is Ran, right?" Sonoko asked as she accepted the offered phone, "Since I can't use Ran's Passwords anymore, what's mine going to be?".

In answer, Shinichi handed her a piece of paper containing her new Passwords.

Shadow Hunters

Suzaku

HFAZPF

"Suzaku?" Sonoko questioned out loud.

"Since even though you don't look it, you're actually a very passionate girl." Shinichi explained with a shrug, "Also, we already have the other three Divine Beasts, and all of them are women, so why not?".

"Nice." Sonoko grinned as she opened the Spy App in her phone.

"Makes sure you type them correctly, since what you're entering now will be your permanent Passwords." Ran reminded her with a smile.

"Alright." Sonoko nodded in understanding, carefully typing her new Passwords, before blinking as she remembered what she was planning to ask ever since she saw Ran's Passwords. "Nee, Ran." She looked at her Best Friend, "What is the one at the third row? Just a random Alphabets put together?".

"No, it's your Codename in Atbash Cipher." Ran explained to her.

"Atbash Cipher is the normal Alphabets in reverse order." Shinichi explained further to her, "If the Alphabets are A, B, C, D, E, then the Alphabet's arrangement in Atbash Cipher is Z, Y, X, W, V and so on".

"So if you happened to forget the your Codename in Atbash, you can write the Alphabets down in Atbash and enter the Password that way." Aoko suggested cheerfully to her, "Of course, after a few times you entered your Passwords, you won't even need to write them down anymore since you will have remembered them outside of your head already".

"As I told everyone else…" Shinichi added seriously, very contrasted with Aoko's cheerfulness, "You need to remember your Passwords, then burn that paper down right away, and never let anyone else see them".

Sonoko blinked, before nodding her head in understanding. "Don't worry, I will be careful." She promised seriously, knowing that it was very important.

"Good." Shinichi nodded back at her, before walking over to where Heiji was inspecting the Collapsible Sword that the Osakan Detective had just received. "Have Kaito re-installed your App, Hattori?" He asked his friend.

"Yeah." Heiji answered as he pulled out his phone.

"Good, then these are your Passwords." Shinichi handed a paper to him, "Burn the previous one, and burn this one as well, after you remembered them".

Heiji looked at his new Passwords, and raised his eyebrows curiously.

Shadow Hunters

Ibaraki-doji

RYZIZPRWLQR

"Ibaraki-doji?" Heiji asked as he looked questioningly at his shrunken Male Best Friend.

"The tale said that Ibaraki-doji is a skilled Swordsman, so I think I suits you." Shinichi explained with a smirk, "Also, I think Black Swordsman will be a good Alias for you".

"Why not Black Samurai instead?" Heiji asked with a frown, "I think I'm more a Samurai than a Swordsman".

"Precisely because you're more of a Samurai than a Swordsman." Shinichi replied right away, "The people can easily guess that it's you if you use Samurai, but if you use Black Swordsman, it would make it harder for the people to guess that it's you behind the mask".

"What about me, Kudou-kun?" Kazuha asked him expectantly, "What do you think would be a suitable Alias for me?".

"Kazuha-chan is going to be the Kunoichi!" Ran answered instead, a wide mischievous grin on her face, making Kazuha felt a bit nervous.

"Why Kunoichi?" Kazuha asked hesitantly.

"Because I will turn you into one." Ran stated with a wicked grin, "Be prepared, Kazuha-chan, for I won't go easy on you".

"Why me~?" Kazuha moaned while crying twin rivers.

"Then, I will be the Masked Princess!" Sonoko exclaimed suddenly, pumping up her right hand dramatically.

"The Masked Princess?" Everyone who heard her asked perplexedly.

"Yes, the Masked Princess, since I'm like a Princess." Sonoko said confidently, before looking at Agasa-hakase. "You can make my Visor to be like a mask that people wear at a Masquerade Party, right, Hakase?" She asked the Professor with a big grin on her face.

"I guess I can." Agasa answered after a moment of thought.

"Great!" Sonoko cheered.

"Then, I will design a Ninja Costume for Touyama-san." Ai stated with a smirk, enjoying the flinch that Kazuha made hearing that, "Don't worry, I will make sure that the costume suits you, Touyama-san".

"Mou, Heiji!" Kazuha cried twin river of tears again, "I blame you for this!".

"Why are you blaming me, you Boke (idiot)?!" Heiji yelled back at her.

And another screaming match between Kazuha and Heiji happened again, with the other just watching with a sweat drop, or while hiding a snicker.

Line~Line~Line

Haha, Hattori finally joined the Shadow Hunters officially, along with Sonoko and Kazuha.

So… What do you think? Review Please ^ ^

Your Review will always makes me happy! (Unless it's a Flaming Review)

Fragments of Imagination