Mikau: Hey guys! Happy Memorial Day to all those that that means something to. I'm sorry I didn't get this up sooner. I meant to have it up on Saturday, but I went home for the weekend for the first time since Easter, and there was no internet! It was terrible, and it was just my computer that couldn't connect. Anyway, here's the next chapter. I hope you enjoy it; the next one's going to be the last, but it's a little longer. By the way, thanks so much to athieisademon, Syrus07, Invader Devi, Cyanide Flowers, Aoiyou, and Ace in the sleeve for reviewing. I'm so glad that so many people are liking this fic the way that they are.

Disclaimer: If I owned it, Conan would still be wearing the little suit jacket and bowtie. Even though I love his new wardrobe, it must be a pain to think up all of those outfits. Kudos to whomever does that; it must be a lot of work.

….

Building Bonds

"…and then after we were done at the café, Keiko-san suggested that we all go do karaoke together. I sort of lost track of time, and that's why I'm late. I'm sorry, Baaya. I'll call next time, I promise," Saguru explained, bowing his head in shame, waiting for his surrogate mother to scold him.

Baaya blinked. "You were out with friends?" Her child didn't have friends.

"Yes, Baaya," the blonde mumbled, awaiting his punishment.

"How much money did you spend?" If those people had found out about his memory loss and decided to take advantage of him, she was going to—

"I didn't spend any. Kuroba said that he'd treat me, so…I figured I'd treat him next time."

Hmm. "Oh. Well, that was very nice of him. Kuroba…that was that boy from the other day, wasn't it?"

"Yes. That was him, Kuroba Kaito. He's very kind." Saguru smiled at the thought of his love interest.

"Saguru, you're blushing," Baaya pointed out with an evil smirk.

Hakuba smiled sheepishly and admitted, "I…may have a crush on him."

Baaya nodded and patted him on the head. "Is that so? You should invite him over sometime. Let him know that he doesn't have to bring a gift or anything—you just want to hang out."

"I'll…I'll do that," Saguru said with an optimistic grin.

There was a twinkle in those golden eyes that Baaya hadn't seen for a very long time—since her child had been an actual child, really.

Saguru hadn't had any good, old-fashioned fun with friends in a long time, and it was good to see that this Kuroba boy had brought some joy back into her foster son's life…even if he had to construct an enormous lie in order to do it.

000

"That was a foolish move," Saguru snickered, taking his beloved's knight with his bishop.

"Dammit," Kaito hissed. "No take backs?"

"No take backs," the detective chuckled smugly.

"Come on," the demi-god begged, making puppy-dog eyes at him. "I'm having an off day. Please?"

"Let me think…no." Saguru right out laughed at Kaito's pouty face. "Oh, alright, but only because it's you. Stop making that face at me."

"Yes! Thanks, Ru!" Kaito chortled as he changed the position of his resurrected knight. "Checkmate!"

Saguru sighed. "I was so hoping that you hadn't seen that move…and please don't call me 'Ru.'"

"Oh, you like it, you masochist," Kaito hummed, mussing the blonde's hair as he started to clean up. "I see the way your ears turn red. You like it, don't you, Ru?"

"A little," Saguru muttered under his breath, cheeks turning as red as a pair of cherries.

"Let's play backgammon next. Winner gets to get creamed by Baaya," Kaito proposed, getting out the board and pieces.

"Do you think we'd do better if we took her on together?" Saguru sighed. Baaya was the king of backgammon.

"Maybe," Kaito considered. "…if I rolled the dice and you moved the pieces. I always get good numbers, but your strategy is better."

"We could give it a try." Hakuba shrugged.

"Say, you went to the doctor today, didn't you?" Kaito asked while taking his first turn.

"I did." Saguru sighed as Kaito's roll came up doubles. "She said that everything's fine and my memories will return when they return."

"I think you should get a different doctor. This one's clearly incompetent," Kaito snorted. Doubles again.

"She's fine, Kaito. Amnesia is tricky."

"But it's been six months, and you still don't remember anything," the brunette sighed.

"I remember some things," Saguru retorted defensively.

"Ru, you remembered that you used to hate eel." Those heavenly, iris-colored eyes rolled condescendingly at him.

"Yes," Saguru chuckled. "Not that that does me much good now, since Baaya told me how much I loved it when I'd first lost my memories. I also remembered how much I liked the Beatles."

"Yeah. Good job.…Try to remember your mother's face or something useful next time." Oh, the sarcasm.

"Don't move there. I'll take it next turn and send it back to the very start. Move these two together," Saguru advised.

"Thanks." Kaito smiled, and it meant more to Saguru than the words themselves.

"I remembered something else," the blonde whispered conspiratorially.

"Yeah?" Kaito leaned in.

"You once dyed my hair red, white, and blue on the fourth of July just to get a rise out of me."

"Seriously?" Kaito sighed in exasperation. "You remember that? Remember something important like your first kiss or your childhood friends. Don't waste it on memories of me pranking you."

"Kaito, that is important," Saguru insisted, putting down the dice. "It's important to me because it's a memory of you."

The idol of his religion snorted, looking away. "Geez. What host club did you work at?" Kaito rolled his eyes and reached out to ruffle Saguru's hair. "Idiot."

"I wanted to remember the day we met, but…I suppose I can't really pick memories, can I? You know, the funny thing is, I don't really care if I get my memory back or not, but…I want to remember my nineteen years with Baaya and my two with you…though the first few years of my life are probably impossible to recover. They say you can remember as early as three or four, so maybe I could get fifteen or sixteen years with Baaya, if I'm lucky. Oh, unless I was traumatized. Then I could remember earlier."

"Knowing you, you probably were traumatized, you weirdo," Kaito sighed. "Why just memories of Baaya and me? Why don't you want the rest back?"

"I get the feeling that they weren't any good." Hakuba picked up the dice and gave them a roll. A one and a two. Figures. "My parents probably weren't around much, and I don't think I had friends. I think the other Saguru was very lonely…or possibly so jaded that he didn't feel anymore. I don't know, but he certainly wasn't happy. I was looking at some of his things—his writings—and it's all very disturbing. He was very clinical and impersonal…cold, like he didn't have emotions. I don't want to remember how he got to be that way, but I want to remember his relationship with you…how you got him to feel again."

Kaito swallowed hard as he picked up the dice. He did his best not to look at his friend. "Maybe…it's better if you don't remember before. It wasn't like you and me. We didn't hate each other, but we didn't really get along, either. Hakuba was my rival. He was important to me, but not like you're important to me, Ru. Ru, you're my friend."

"Th-Then…maybe my memories of these past six months are enough," Saguru chuckled, feeling like he was about to float off of the chair. "Thank you, Kaito, but…I still want to know how we met."

Kaito heaved a gigantic sigh. "Fate brought us together one day six months ago in a department store. I had been dragged there by my childhood friend, Nakamori Aoko, and you were there shopping for clothing that wasn't horrifically out of style. Our eyes met across the room, and I found myself inexplicably drawn towards you (by Aoko). I opened my mouth and said something to the effect of, 'Sorry you got turned into street pizza. I'm glad you're not dead.' And then you said, 'Thanks,' and I knew, from that moment on, you would continue to be a constant presence in my life, since not even getting flattened by a car had killed you. And we lived happily ever after. The end."

All Saguru could do was laugh.

Yes, that was the story that they'd tell their children and grandchildren.

…

(8) v

Mikau: I tried to make a snail. So, Ru's really adorable. I kind of don't want to give him his memories back. Well, thanks for stopping in and reading. I'd appreciate it if you took the time to send in some feedback. Thanks as always, and take care!