After feeling an overwhelming onset of determination, Kazuha walked briskly (understatement) to the Hattori residence. When she arrived there, she knocked forcefully on the door, expecting to see a certain tanned face man. Instead she was greeted by the matriarch of the home, Hattori Shizuka.
"Good morning Shizuka-sama, is Heiji here?" Shizuka looked down for a moment, which understandably worried Kazuha
"Uh…no actually his father requested his assistance on a case" Kazuha felt her heart shudder. 'How could he?' she heard a voice scream prominently in her head. 'He has to know how much I need to see him right now, and he just leaves without a word.' After what felt like a few minutes of watching Kazuha struggle internally with the news, Shizuka finally spoke "Kazuha-chan?"
"Huh?" she looked up at Shizuka, almost surprised by where she was and who was in front of her
"Are you okay?"
"Uh…yes Shizuka-sama I'm fine. Can you just tell him to call whenever he arrives home?" she visibly held back tears as she made her request
"Kazuha-chan, I think you should come in and have some tea, you seem troubled" She smiled invitingly, doing her best to silently encourage the seemingly broken girl that stood before her. Kazuha pondered the invitation momentarily before nodding in acceptance and walking into the house. Once inside, she avoided the concerned gaze of her pseudo-mother. When she arrived at the coffee table, she knelt before it and placed her hands in her lap.
"Would you like sugar with your tea, Kazuha-chan?"
"Yes please" After a few seconds, Shizuka appeared with two cups of tea. She took her place across from Kazuha at the table and placed a cup of tea in front of each of them. Kazuha received her cup and lightly sipped the contents.
"So my dear why is it you look so mournful? You look as if you've suffered a great loss?"
"How could I not?" Kazuha said in a comparatively raised voice "I mean, everything was going so well and now I'm being taken away from everything I know and love. It's just not fair!" Shizuka tried her best to present a calm and understanding front for the suffering girl
"Kazuha…I know it seems like a tragedy now bu-"
"It IS a tragedy! What good could possibly come of this!" she screamed. After a pause, she composed herself, taking a second to realize how inappropriate her outburst had been "Shizuka-sama I'm terribly sorry. I shouldn't have yelled like that" throughout her apology she glued her eyes to the cup on the table in front of her
"Kazuha there is no shame in expressing oneself. I don't blame you for being angry at the situation you've been put in. But you mustn't lose heart, anything worth having will still be here when you return home I promise" she smiled reassuringly and the girl as she blushed lightly at the thought.
"S-Shizuka-sama?"
"What is it dear?"
"Do you think Heiji will wait for me to return?" the questioned made both of them blush, one with embarrassment and the other with sheer excitement
"Why" she smiled, gazing at Kazuha inquisitively "has my son found a place in your heart?" the hue that Kazuha's face adopted at that point was comparable only to that a ripe cherry tomato.
"Uh….well, I mean…i-it might maybe have….sort of…."
"Kazuha-chan you beautiful girl!" Shizuka leapt across the table in an unorthodox fashion and wrapped her arms around the girl she'd always considered her daughter-in-law to be "You've fallen for my Heiji! I'm so relieved! There is no woman I would rather have marry my Heiji than you, Kazuha-chan!" Kazuha couldn't help but be flattered by the comment. After a fairly lengthy embrace, Shizuka finally retook her seat at the other side of the table. They sat silently for what seemed like a significant span of time with Shizuka's eyes never leaving the embarrassed girl's face.
"T-Truthfully, Shizuka-sama, I fell for him a long time ago" Kazuha held her breath in anticipation, awaiting another large-scale projection of affection from the woman before. But instead, she remained completely calm and only smirked slightly at the comment
"Silly girl" she said condescendingly "of course you did" 'Jeez' Kazuha thought to herself 'at least now I understand why Heiji thinks so highly of himself'. "I've known this for quite some time"
"What are you talking about?" Kazuha seemed almost offended by the statement "How could have possibly know?"
"I'm his mother, and I've known you long enough to consider you my daughter. You think I wouldn't notice the obvious affection you share for one another?" Despite her confusion at the thought of his mother knowing about her very personal feelings, she couldn't help but be mentally preoccupied with a particular word she used: shared.
"Wait Shizuka-sama, did you say shared?" Shizuka chuckled to herself almost mockingly of Kazuha's obliviousness.
"Let me tell you a little story
~Flashback~
A fourteen year old Heiji stomps angrily through the front of his house. The nature of his entrance startles his parents who are currently sharing a peaceful cup of tea in the living room
"Heiji!" Heizo said forcefully, commanding his son's immediate attention "What's the meaning of this disrespectful entrance?"
"Sorry father, it's just been a frustrating night" he grimaced at the recollection of the events that had taken place and turned to go to his room
"Stop right there Heiji" Shizuka said, sternly yet softly. He turned, cringing at the thought of what he knew she was already going to say "Tell us what happened". Heiji looked toward his father for verification of his mother's request
"Heiji, I believe your mother asked you to do something. Do not disrespect her wishes" Heiji gulped hard, trying to hide his obvious discomfort.
"Is it about the dance?" Shizuka asked, staring piercingly at her son. He turned away, averting his eyes toward the nearest wall
"Okay okay, this is what happened. We got to the dance, and well, we danced. The fast songs were great, we both got lost in the mood of the room and just danced. I usually don't feel comfortable dancing but for some reason it was okay." He blushed faintly as he described his comfort with Kazuha
"Of course you were comfortable with her, you've known her since you were kids" Shizuka said, trying to appear oblivious to what she knew he was feeling
"Well anyway, everything was good until we got to one of those really slow songs. I didn't want to dance but before I had time to object that Aho already had me by the hand and we were practically running to the middle of the dance floor." The blush that had momentarily left his face now returned with a vengeance
"And?" Shizuka said only to antagonize him
"I'm getting to it. So, we're out there dancing and she seems really weird so I ask her she's acting so strangely. She says she has no idea what I'm talking about and puts her head back down. So we continue dancing quietly until the song ends. When it does, she looks really sad. I ask her why and she asks me if I enjoyed dancing with her."
"And what did you say Heiji?" Heizo asked, trying hard not to reveal any hint of interest in his son's story
"I…I said that it was awkward" The red on his face intensified to an almost unhealthy level. He cursed himself quietly, mentally kicking himself
"So, then what happened?"
"She slapped me and left. I couldn't tell from behind but it seemed like she was crying. I tried to find her but apparently she called for a ride and left before I had a chance to."
"Well…" Shizuka whispered
"Well what ka-chan?"
"Was it?" Heiji broke the very brief eye contact he had with his mother, once again darting his eyes toward the wall
"Was it what?"
"Awkward, was the dance awkward?" Having only momentarily regained the natural color in his face, Heiji once again took on a shade of crimson that he tried to keep invisible from his parents.
"Well yeah obviously I mean how am I supposed to feel comfortable with that Aho standing so close to me? She had her hands on my shoulders and her body was only a few inches away from mine" As he finished speaking, his parents only stared intently at his face, silently challenging the validity of his statement
"Son" Heizo said calmly, crossing his arms and turning his head toward the table "Do you think you can lie to me?" With that, Heiji suddenly felt his thoughts crash around him. He had denied the truth even to himself. As it turned out, his father knew his thoughts better than he did
"Well…" he slowly moved his head upward, facing his parents "I…." he struggled to finish his sentence, stumbling over his own thoughts "I don't know okay!" he screamed, turning quickly and rushing up the stairs to his room before his parents had any time to object.
~End Flashback~
"That, Kazuha-chan, is when I knew the affection you had for one another was mutual. Even if he did delude himself, I knew he considered you more than just a friend" Kazuha smiled uncontrollably at what she said.
"I remember that night" she said somberly "I hid in the boy's bathroom because i knew he would only search the girl's. I stayed there and cried for a while, which sent almost every guy running before they even made it to the stalls. By the time i was finally ready to come out, almost everyone had left, including Heiji" Kazuha looked into her now empty cup, saddened by the memory.
"Kazuha, listen to me." Her voice employed a more serious inflection than it had throughout their conversation "he won't let you go that easily, I promise" she smiled confidently at Kazuha, who responded positively to the encouragement
"You're right, especially now. I know he cares enough about me to work around this. Thank you…." She thought carefully about her next words "can I call you….okasan?" Shizuka shed a tear which gracefully rolled down her cheek
"Of course you can, Kazuha" They both smiled as they rose from the table. When Kazuha looked at the clock on their wall, she realized nearly two hours had passed since her arrival
"I should probably go, I have a few errands to run" As she made her way to the door, Shizuka lightly grasped her arms. Kazuha turned, slightly alarmed
"Kazuha" Shizuka said firmly "What did you mean by 'especially now'? Did something happen between you two?" Kazuha's cheek's flushed at the query as she jerked her head toward the door
"Okasan, I really shoud go, I have a lot of-"
"Kazuha" Shizuka now set a piercing glare on her, causing her to shudder under the immense pressure of her eyes
"Okay! Look we…we had a moment and he held my hand"
"Kazuha that's so romantic! Oh my you two are going to have such beautiful kids! I can just picture them now, I bet you have at least three maybe even four!"
As Shizuka continued on, raving about which attributes the children would take from each parent and how soon she should begin making wedding arrangements, Kazuha couldn't help but wonder how Heiji was and when he would be home. Meanwhile, in Tokyo, the two Hattori men strolled along a main street in Tokyo
"Dad, where is this case exactly, we've been walking for nearly twenty minutes" Heiji had become increasingly impatient with every inquiry that went without a response.
"Heiji, compose yourself. We're not here to solve a case. The truth is, as of right now I'm testing you" Heiji glared at his father fiercely as Heizo continued to stare forward without any visible change in emotion
"What the hell are you talking about 'testing me'? What kind of test?"
"It's a test of character, now come with me we have some things we need to accomplish" Heiji followed his father in a disgruntled fashion, mumbling obscenities to himself. 'Okay Heiji' Heizo thought to himself 'it's time to see what kind of man you've become'