Hey there! Thanks for all the love and support from anybody who reviewed, it meant a lot:) It encouraged me to update faster:)

Just to let you know, this chapter is why the story is rated T. Anyway, please enjoy!

xoxoxo,

~Agentlebreeze

Ran leaned against the door of the entrance to the wedding hall, breathing shallowly. Behind her the guests who had followed her there waited anxiously.

"Is the next Haiku here?" An oba-sama asked eagerly.

"Yes it is," Ran confirmed with a shaky voice. She stood up straight and began to walk slowly towards the alter, her footsteps echoing aroundthe empty wedding hall. She stroked her fingers across the piano as she walked by then stopped at the floral covered white arch which Kazuha and Heiji had stood under during the ceremony. Beneath it was single rolled parchment with a silk red ribbon tied around it.

Ran sank to her knees. Was it possible that he was involved in this? Nobody else would have known that memory but him. Only he would know that she would be able to make the connection to their childhood because of that Haiku. Could he-

"RAAAN!" Heiji yelled exasperatedly. Looking up she saw that everybody in the room was looking at her with odd expressions upon their faces.

"As I was saying," Heiji continued. "Congratulations Ran on finding the second riddle! Now open the roll and read out your next Haiku."

The guests all held their breaths as Ran opened the scroll, fumbling briefly with the ribbon. Holding the scroll with unstable hands, Ran began to read the next location out loud.

"The wind thrashes us

But the earth holds us strongly

We slumber in peace"

Ran covered her mouth with her hands as her eyes widened in horror. This couldn't be a random guess. Nobody should know about any of these memories but him.

"Ran-," Heiji started, but by then Ran had already sprinted out of the room with the ever curious guests on her tail.

As Ran was running toward the location, she could feel the memory resurfacing.

"Why?" She thought, gritting her teeth.

Ran was lost. Not mentally lost, she didn't need a psychologist. Ran just had no idea where she was. In every direction Ran looked, all that filled her vision was trees. She collapsed her back sliding down a Sakura tree as she sat, put her head in her hands and began to weep as rain poured down around her.

The day had all started with Itsumi sensei saying that the teachers had decided to take the Teitan junior high students on an unexpected 3 day field trip to the nature reserve. Ran had been bubbling with excitement. It was not often that she got to venture out into nature parks, as whenever Mouri Kogoro was lucky enough to get a customer, it was always a problem situated in the city. Shinichi however, was a total opposite to her boundless joy.

"Why would you be excited to be shipped off to the woods?" He asked Ran grumpily as they waited outside the bus for its departure. "All there is out there is bugs, wild animals and more bugs."

"Of course YOU wouldn't understand," Ran responded scathingly. "I bet YOUR parents took you wherever you wanted to go when you were a child. I however, am not so lucky!"

"I'm sorry Ran," Shinichi said softly. "I forgot that your parents hated outdoorsy trips."

"It's okay," She said, a smile creeping through her angry front. It was really hard to remain angry at Shinichi.

"LOOK HOW LOVEY DOVEY OUR MARRIED COUPLE IS!" Sonoko shouted with a look of glee upon her face.

Shinichi and Ran turned away from each other with a blush creeping on both of their faces.

"I think I see Aizawa, talk to you later Ran!" Shinichi said hastily, than hurried off.

Ran glared daggers at her best friend.

"Ohohoho, I couldn't help it, you were ignoring me," Sonoko justified, sweat beads gathering on her forehead.

Suddenly a girl walked by and shoved Ran into the side of the bus with her shoulder.

"OI! Watch where you're going!" Sonoko snapped at her, irritated with her superior behavior.

Totally ignoring Sonoko, the girl turned around and Ran gasped. She could have been a supermodel. The girl had luscious long blond hair that fell in gentle waves down her back and pale blue eyes. She wore her Teitan junior high uniform with her skirt pulled up to the shortest length flattering her long legs, and the first few buttons of her jacket open showing off her cleavage.

"Stay away from Shinichi," She said to Ran, her cold eyes emitting immense waves of hatred.

With much effort Ran managed to find her voice again. "Why should I? Who are you to tell me what to do?"

The girl let out a harsh bark of laughter. "Why shouldn't you? You're a tomboyish and dumpy. Your hairstyle is SO 1980's, and on top of that, you practice karate of all things. Like, talk about femininity suicide! Shinichi deserves WAY better. He deserves someone who has the looks, and knows how to use it. You, my dear, are not worthy of him. So go shrivel up in a corner and die."

Ran fought the tears that threatened to brim over. "I won't stop being around him just because you're insecure," she retorted in a haughty tone. "So dream on."

The girl sneered at her. "You just made a big mistake," she said threateningly, then stalked off.

Ran looked over to Sonoko to see her steaming. "The girl's name is Haruna Maria," she said, spitting out the name. "She's a very influential person at Teitan due to intimidation."

"So basically she's a bully," Ran seethed.

"Basically," Sonoko agreed. "Be careful Ran, she's clearly made you her next target."

"Students, you can now board the bus!" Itsumi-sensei declared in her usual peppy tone.

Ran and Sonoko boarded the bus and sat down both with high anticipation for the field trip, forgetting all about Maria. The entire trip Ran practically bounced up and down on her seat and was asking a continuous stream of questions about nature parks, successfully managing to tick Sonoko off. A couple seats back Aizawa was laughing at Shinichi.

"Your girlfriends acting as if she's on drugs Kudo," he said jokingly.

"Shut up," Shinichi said, a blush tinting his cheeks, causing Aizawa to double over laughing.

When the bus pulled in Ran was bubbling with excitement. She couldn't wait to get to the calm beautiful serenity of the nature park. Getting of the bus, Ran was so engrossed in sight seeing that she did not realize that somebody was right in front of her.

*BANG!* Ran and the girl crashed into each other and both fell back painfully.

"I'm so sorry, are you alright?" Ran apologized, concerned.

"You should be you slut. Honestly, how you live with yourself after the things you do is a mystery to me," the girl snapped, brushed herself off then walked away.

"What was that about? Ran asked Sonoko, more hurt than confused. She had done nothing to deserve that. Of all people, she was the last one most people would think of as a slut.

"I think it is about this note," Sonoko said grimly, holding up a crumpled piece of paper. "Maria appeared to have been passing this around while we were on the bus."

"Dear girls," Ran read. "It was common knowledge that there is no way on earth that our handsome prince Shinichi-kun would be attracted to a hideous and dreadful girl like Mouri Ran. However, I recently discovered that he is being forced to pretend to care for her. You see, Ran knocked him out one day with some pills and took a picture that looks like they were doing *unspeakable things* and uses it to blackmail him. Our poor handsome Shinichi, caught up in her twisted game just to protect his honor! Join me girls, in uniting against this foul witch who does not deserve our Shinichi-kun! Let's fight to win our Shinichi-kun back from her evil clutches!

~Haruna Maria

"This is complete garbage! How can anyone even believe this? It doesn't even sound realistic!" Ran cried hysterically.

"The problem is, Maria's influence is enough to force the girls to go along with it," Sonoko stated miserably. "She has us cornered."

Everything suddenly got very blurry, and Ran could feel herself blacking out. She welcomed unconsciousness, as it was better than having to deal with all the humiliation Maria had caused. Ran distantly heard a voice calling her name, but she was too far away to answer it.

"Ran? Are you awake?"

Ran squeezed her eyes shut, and then opened them. Slowly, as things began to come into focus, she could make out the rough shape of Shinichi sitting at her bedside.

"Ran, what happened?" Shinichi asked with concern clear in his eyes. "Sonoko wouldn't tell me. She said that it's your job to."

Looking over she saw Sonoko leaning on the doorway, nodding her head vigorously. Ran smiled. "It's nothing Shinichi-kun. I was so excited this morning that I forgot to eat breakfast! I didn't even remember until now. I'm such a featherbrain."

Shinichi shook his head. He could tell she was hiding something. "You really had me scared Ran! Go eat something okay?" He scolded affectionately, ruffled her hair and then left.

Sonoko exploded. "WHAT DO YOU THINK YOU'RE DOING, NOT TELLING HIM? NOW HE CAN'T HELP YOU!"

Ran let a bitter smile overtake her fake one. "If I told Shinichi and he exploded, it would just make the girls hate me more. They would think I sensed the bad situation like a rat and blackmailed him into doing that too. No matter what, they will never believe me. It was a smart move of Maria's.

Walking outside, the girls discovered that Itsumi- sensei was planning on taking them on a nature walk.

"You up to it Ran?" She inquired. "You can always stay here and rest."

"No, I'm good!" Ran said cheerfully, resolute not to let Maria ruin her trip.

The Teitan High Juniors then were instructed to form a single line as they walked through the trail. Ran was having the time of her life, laughing with Sonoko, and taking hundreds of pictures. All of a sudden, as she stopped to take a picture, she felt someone bump into her and scream.

"MY GUCCI EARING! YOU STUPID INCORRINGABLE WENCH, HOW DARE YOU DO THIS TO ME?"

Ran turned around in dread. Voila, there stood Maria with an expression of loathing twisting her beautiful features.

"Tell you what," Maria said with a sly smile. "Go fetch my earing from the forest for me and I'll dispel those rumours about you."

"The rumours YOU started," Ran said fuming.

"Water under the bridge my dear." She said with a dismissive wave, and a smile that didn't quite reach her eyes. "So will you take me up on this offer?"

Shoving Maria aside, Ran treaded determinedly into forest. After a few paces into the forest Ran found the earring, picked it up and prepared to leave.

*GROWL*

Ran's eyes widened as her heartbeat began to pick up. She began to inhale and exhale quickly as she turned and ran deeper into the forest, no thought on her mind but to get away from the source of the roaring.

That was where she was now, so hopelessly lost that she collapsed against a Sakura tree and put her head in her hands. Tears fell through the gap between her fingers and soaked her shirt, as rain began to pour down hard.

"RAN? RAAAAAN WHERE ARE YOU?" Ran heard a voice calling distantly. She slowly began to come to consciousness.

"I must have fallen asleep after crying," Ran thought to herself. While she was sleeping the rain had stopped leaving a tranquil calm through the forest.

"I'm over here!" Ran managed to yell out in her grogginess. Shinichi ran over and enveloped Ran in a hug.

"Shinichi wha-?" Ran began, but Shinichi cut her off before she could finish.

"Ran, do you not trust me? How could you NOT tell me that those girls were bullying you because of me?" He shouted angrily grabbing her shoulders.

"Who told you?" Ran asked sighing.

"Sonoko did. Then I forced that swine Maria to tell me what she did with you."

"I didn't want to burden you," Ran said quietly.

Shinichi laughed hollowly. "Ran, do you know what you remind me of?"

"What?" she questioned.

"You remind me of the trees. No matter how much the wind knocks their branches, they always have their roots solidly in the earth."

Ran smiled. Slowly she managed to stand up, and then faced Shinichi. "Come on, let's get back the others."

"So what did Shinichi say to Maria in the end?" Ran asked Sonoko after getting back.

"It wasn't pretty. Your husband can be quite intimidating when he wants to. After the display he gave, nobody in their right mind could ever doubt that he was being blackmailed," She replied with a simper.

"DON'T CALL HIM MY HUSBAND!" Ran bellowed.

"Okay, okay! Look, now everybody's staring!" Sonoko chastised.

Ran blushed beet red. Everybody in the room was indeed staring at them. She ducked her head, and tried to ignore Sonoko's peal of laughter.