Starting Over

A/N: Hi guys! After I uploaded the third and previous chapter, I had the sudden urge to continue writing immediately! I wish I'd have that kind of motivation more often...

Anyways, as you may have already deduced from previous chapters, it's time for SCHOOL for Shiho and Shinichi! Haha, kind of ironic, considering school just ended for me... (Thank GOD!)

Okay, so in the last chapter, I gave you guys some Shinichi/Ran AND Shinichi/Shiho. Unfortunately, I'm a horribly cruel person, and I don't like Shinichi/Shiho's relationship to move at such a fast pace... so this chapter will have less Shinichi/Shiho moments. SORRY!

Hope you enjoy!

Disclaimer: I don't own Detective Conan/Case Closed. (:

(3rd Person's POV)

The first thing Shinichi noted the minute he woke up the following morning was that he was neither in the Detective Agency, or even his own bed – and that it unusually bright. He also noticed a certain overweight scientist standing directly over him.

"AH!" Shinichi screamed, causing the old man to yelp and jump in surprise.

"No need to scare me like that, Shinichi...," Hakase rubbed the back of his head warily.

"Sorry, Professor. You startled me!" The young detective sat up, stretching. He was laying on a rather lumpy couch in Agasa's living room. "Where's Shiho?" he asked. Agasa raised an eyebrow – probably at the use of Shiho's first name by Shinichi.

"Getting ready," he replied. "You may want to as well, Shinichi. School starts in forty-five minutes."

"Really? Shoot," Shinichi grimaced at the thought of starting school again. He kicked off the borrowed blanket and ran out of the house, slamming the door in his haste.

In a little less than thirty minutes, Shinichi had managed to shower, get dressed, pack all his materials, and eat breakfast when a heard a knock on his door. Who on earth –?he thought as he rushed to answer it.

"Ran!" He had completely forgotten they always walked to school together. The young woman stood outside, smiling sweetly at him.

"Hurry, Shinichi! Or we're going to be late!" she said.

"Alright, alright!" Shinichi quickly grabbed his coat and ran outside, closing the door behind him. Ran began to walk towards the school. "Wait!" Shinichi stopped her, "I'll be right back!"

He ran to Agasa's house and rang the door hurriedly. He was greeted by a frowning Shiho, already dressed in her new Teiten High School uniform.

"Yes, Kudo-kun?"

"Come walk to school with me and Ran," Shinichi said, grabbing her shoulder and steering her out before she had much time to oject.

"I –"

"Hey Ran! Shiho's gonna walk with us!" Shinichi exclaimed, still pushing her along.

"Oh." Ran's grin faded slightly, but she recovered quickly, and sent Shiho a warm smile. "Good morning, Shiho! You're going to be in our class?"

"Good morning," Shiho nodded in response, "And yes, I suppose I am."

"I see."

The rest of the walk was fairly uneventful. Shinichi and Ran made small talk while he and Shiho bickered somewhat. At last, they reached Teitan High School. Just as they were about to enter the building, Ran pulled Shinichi back.

"Shinichi..," she began, looking down awkwardly. "I... Aren't you going to ask me out anytime soon?" Her companion looked rather surprised.

"Of course, Ran," her boyfriend smiled at her. "How about dinner tonight? We could try out that new Italian restaurant."

"Alright!" she agreed, satisfied. "See you tonight!"

"See you," Shinichi replied. "Oh, and Ran, I'm probably going to need to see the teacher so I'll catch up with you later!"

"Alright, Shinichi," she hesitated for a minute longer, as if wanting to say or do something. At last, Ran gave him one last smile before heading to class.

Shinichi grinned back, and entered his old school to find Shiho waiting patiently inside for him. He looked at her questioningly. She rolled her eyes.

"I'm new, remember?"

"Oh." He smiled, grabbing her hand and towing her to the school's headmaster's office, knocking on the door softly.

"Come in."

They entered. Sitting behind a large, oak desk was a portly, kind looking man. He reminded Shiho very much of Hakase, with the lack of hair on his head and his rounded glasses. Glancing around the office, she noticed they were not the only occupants; another student in uniform stood no less than five feet away from them. He was around their age, with a handsome face and blondish hair contributing to his rather foreign look–

Shiho gasped. The young man noticed and turned to give her a wink – the second one she would've received from him in the past week, as a matter of fact. Shinichi glanced at her, confused.

"Ah, Kudo. I see you've returned," the headmaster peered at Shinichi through his glasses, smiling.

"Yes, Nakamura-sensei," the young detective responded. "I thought it'd be best to check in with you before heading to class."

"Of course," the principle nodded, and turned to Shiho. "Miyano Shiho, I presume?"

"Yes, sensei," Shiho said.

"Thank you for calling in ahead of time. Now, you and Hakuba Saguru here will both follow Kudo-kun to your class."

This time it was Shinichi's turn to be surprised. "Hakuba!" The young man took his eyes off of Shiho and turned towards Shinichi.

"Kudo," he nodded, smirking. "I haven't seen you for quite some time now." Shinichi frowned. He remembered Hakuba being involved with one or two cases before...

"Well, I'm glad you two are already acquainted," Nakamura-sensei grinned over his paperwork. "Considering you will all be in the same class, I'd definitely suggest you get to know each other better." He paused, filing through some letters for a minute. "Ah, Kudo-kun, considering you have missed so many days, your sensei and I have decided that it'd be best for you to forget about any make-up work and start fresh – just as our two new students will be doing." He flashed a wink at Shiho and Saguru.

"Thank you, sensei."

"Well, if that's all," the headmaster handed the three students a small stack of papers. "Your teacher requested that I give this to you. Any worksheets or classwork you may need will be in this stack." The three students bowed before exiting the office.

"Follow me," Shinichi said. He didn't know what to make of Saguru being in his class. He turned, frowning, to the young man. "What brings you to Japan, Hakuba?"

"My father is the Chief of Police," Saguru replied with a smirk. "He was transferred over to Beika for some rather important investigations. I followed, naturally. Not to mention, there seems to be an increase of KID heists in this area..." He turned to Shiho, pausing to gently kiss her left hand. "And how about you, Miss Miyano? You seem like you would belong in England, perhaps, where I'm from."

"Well, I –"

"We're here!" Shinichi announced, interrupting their conversation. He politely opened to door to their classroom for Shiho (nearly closing it on Saguru). The class, which up until this point, had been seated quietly, erupted into loud conversation.

"Kudo? Is that Kudo?"

"No way! Wait – who's the girl? She's kinda hot!"

"Omigosh, Ran, lookit that new guy! He is CUTE!" (And here Shinichi shot Sonoko a dirty look.)

"Shinichi! Shinichi, sit here!" Ran jumped up and down in attempt to make her voice heard over her classmates.

"Alright, class! Settle down!" The sensei screamed at the top of her lungs. Everyone quieted. Taking a deep breath, she continued, "Yes, Mr. Kudo has indeed returned. We also have two new transfer students! Please welcome Hakuba Saguru and Miyano Shiho. Now you three may take a seat anywhere you'd like – so long as it's not occupied, of course."

"Shinichi! Over here!" Ran smiled happily at her friend, who gladly proceeded to take a seat next to her. The other two soundlessly took seats side-by-side near the window, ignoring their other classmates.

"Now class," the teacher began once things calmed down, "Please take out your textbooks and turn to page 387..."

Their first day back at school had begun.

By the time school ended, the sun was still bright and high in the sky. The joyful chattering of high school and primary school students could be heard as they exited their classrooms. A gentle breeze was blowing across the campus. It was a beautiful afternoon.

The perfect day for a romantic date, Ran Mouri smiled to herself as she headed out of school. Her childhood friend (now boyfriend) strode alongside her left, while her best friend, Suzuki Sonoko, was on her right. Everything seemed just right.

Lagging not too far behind was Shiho. Her face impassive, she stood apart slightly from the trio. Her eyes were focused solemnly upon the ground.

I don't know why I even agreed to this. Here I am back in high school like he insisted upon so badly and yet it's like I'm not even here... Of course. I should've seen this coming.

Shiho tore her eyes from the ground, glancing towards Shinichi and his little group – now joined by the majority of the soccer team. He laughed at something one of his old friends said. He didn't notice the young woman standing away from the group bite her lip regretfully. However, another rather attractive detective did.

"Hey, what's the matter Miyano-san?" Hakuba Saguru excused himself from a group of new friends (most of them girls) and headed towards Shiho. She gave him a cold look, hoping it'd make him leave. To her dismay, it did no such thing. Instead, Saguru's smile widened and he held out an arm, offering to carry her bag. Shiho hesitated, wishing to show no signs of weakness or submission. At last, she gave in and handed it to him.

"Whoever said anything was the matter?" she continued on her path home.

He followed. "Well, the expression on your face was my first clue..," Saguru replied smoothly with a smirk, their bags slung over both his shoulders. Shiho gave an exasperated sigh. Would anyone ever give me a break?

But there was something about his grin... Something about the way he walked and offered to carry her bag. It actually reminded her of Kudo somewhat.

Shiho shook her head. "I regret ever going back to high school." Why was she telling him this? She had no idea. At least he's listening,she thought, scowling at the image of Kudo, probably laughing and being reunited with all his popular friends.

"Why is that?" Saguru walked quicker to keep up with her brisk pace.

"I don't fit in," she answered simply. He looked surprised.

"Sure you do!" Saguru laughed. "I overheard more than half the class asking to show you around! It was you who turned them down!" Shiho rolled her eyes.

"I don't mean it like that." It was true. She had indeed become instantly popular – like some shiny new toy for everyone to play with. It was a lot like her first day at Teiten Primary when she was still Haibara Ai.

"Then what do you mean?" God, this guy was persistent. If only he and Kudo got along better...Shiho grimaced at the possibility.

"The environment, the people... it's just not for me." Shiho shrugged, sending Saguru a glare once more. "Although if you'd excuse me, I believe I'm done allowing you to pry into my personal life." She quickened her pace once more, until she reached Agasa's home at last. As she was about to unlock the door, she heard a long whistle from behind her. Whipping around, Shiho glowered at the young man who was standing in awe at the sight of her home.

"May I help you?"

Saguru was grinning broadly. "Are you forgetting something, your Highness?" He held her school bag in his right arm. "Lovely house, by the way." She snatched the bag from him and headed inside without another word, leaving the door open for reasons even she did not know. Of course, she heard following footsteps behind her.

"I hope you don't mind," the rather annoying detective smirked at Shiho's irritated expression. The two had a silent staring contest for a second or two. She could have kicked him out. She knew if she shot him her coldest death glare, he'd be likely to either faint or at least leave immediately. But she didn't. All because of that stupid, oh-so-familiar smirk. At last, Shiho let out a sigh and made her way into the kitchen.

"Juice?" she offered. Saguru's gaze softened considerably as he followed her to help with the glasses.

"That would be very greatly appreciated, your Highness," he bowed.

Shiho couldn't help but smile.

A/N: Yay! Finished! Sorry, I've decided to make it a little shorter than some of the previous chapters.. I don't know, when I have the urge to finish, I finish. Haha (:

Anyways, I KNOW I added mostly Shiho/Saguru and you guys may be able to tell where this is going... well, don't worry! It's already posted on my profile, the true pairing of this fiction! Go check it out! But I think it may be obvious anyways.

Um, what else..? Oh yeah, the headmaster/principal (I didn't know what to call him) had a completely RANDOM name... I just looked up a list of common Japanese names and picked one! [;

Shiho is (quite obviously) my favorite character, and I support not only Shiho/Shinichi, but also Shiho/Kaito and even Shiho/Saguru (as you can see, even though they have never truly met in the series). But if anyone wishes for me to portray a pairing other than Shiho/Shinichi, you only need to ask! I'll see what I can do!

PLEASE REVIEW (I don't know HOW much I have to stress that! I really don't mind if you've reviewed once... twice... three times, whatever! Reviews make authors VERY happy!)

Thanks for reading! (:

[Slightly edited as of May 27, 2012]