Ran fell to her knees. In front of her loomed the only Sakura tree in the forest surrounding the garden. However, what really caused her inner turmoil was a parchment which was strung from the tree by a scarlet ribbon.

"Are you okay Ran?" Heiji asked softly.

Ran whipped around at his voice and grabbed Heiji by the collar.

"Where is he?" Ran growled through clenched teeth.

"Where is who?" Heiji asked, sweat beads forming on his forehead.

"Don't play with me! Where is that imbecile who hasn't shown his face around here for three years and now suddenly tries to take a trip down memory lane! WHERE IS SHINICHI?

Around them, guests stood uncomfortably, some clucking their tongues in disapproval of the groom being rough handled by Ran.

"Ran," Heiji began timidly. "Even I don't know where he has hidden himself. I can only communicate with him through the blue tooth he gave me, but he hasn't responded. The only way to find out where he is would be to read the last Haiku and then finish the mystery hunt."

Ran angrily released Heiji, then reached up to the tree branch and snatched the parchment. Ripping the ribbon off, she roughly opened the paper and began to read.

"Streams shoot through the air,

Knitting a liquid design,

A magical scene"

Ran began to dash off toward the garden, reminiscing about one of the last times she saw Shinichi as she ran.

Ran gasped as an icy metal can brushed her cheek. Turning around she saw Shinichi with a smirk on his face holding out a can of coke to her. Shinichi had taken Ran out to tropical land that day in order to celebrate her winning the city karate championships.

"You looked kind of thirsty," he remarked, handing a can to her. Of course the Sherlock Holmes freak would be able to pick up on something as trivial as that.

"Oh thanks," Ran responded, looking down as a small blush tinted her cheeks.

Shinichi glanced at his watch. "Let's go, we'll be late!" He said anxiously. Seizing Ran's hand, he began to run.

"Huh?" Ran asked confused as she focused on keeping up with his fast pace. "Late for what?"

Instead of replying Shinichi kept running in an unknown direction. Climbing down some stairs he came to a sudden halt in the middle of a blue and white compass like pattern.

"All right," He sighed in relief. "We made it."

"What are you talking about?" Ran asked suspiciously. "I'm not seeing anything."

"Just be patient," Shinichi answered secretively. Glancing at his watch once more he began to count down.

"10…..9…...8…..7…..6…..5…..4…..3…..2..and 1!"

Streams of water shot out from jets all around them. Ran gasped, and looked around in wonder. "Wow!" she breathed.

"The fountains are programmed to spout every two hours," Shinichi said with a twinkle in his eyes. "So what do you think Ran?" he asked smiling

"It's great," Ran said appreciatively, a blush appearing on her cheeks.

Abruptly, Ran came to a halt in front of the fountain in the garden."Shinichi!" She screamed in frustration. "Where are you?"

The guests openly gawked at her emotional outburst. They began to whisper among themselves. To Ran, most of them sounded like "Girl has lost it," and "It's insane getting worked up like this at her close friend's wedding!"

"Let them think what they want," Ran thought to herself, exhaling in attempt to calm herself. It didn't work very well. Ran could feel tears threatening to cascade down her face. It was so unfair. Why was she the only one that never got her happy ending? Everyone else did. Ran was the only one she knew who had no one to phone when she was lonely, no one to comfort her in their arms, or no one's shoulder to cry on. She felt so lonely, so lonely that her heart felt like it was about to shatter into a million pieces.

"I wish it would all end," Ran whispered quietly to herself, as more tears trickled down from the corners of her eyes.

"Are you sure about that?" A familiar voice behind her questioned gently. Ran's pulse picked up as her chest squeezed tightly in pain. Could it be him? Strong arms wound around her before she could turn around and see the perpetrators face.

"Hear me out before you make any judgements okay?" The person with a voice suspiciously similar to Shinichi's asked gruffly. Ran nodded meekly, too caught up in the fact that Shinichi might possibly be back with her to talk.

And so he began to spin a tale of suspense, tragedy, fear, and secretiveness. One where the right decision would always be the one that hurt him the most, where he was imprisoned in a state where his cocky self would never be able to shine. One where he would have to make choices that would affect many people, because of a simple decision of his to check up on suspicious behavior. One where he would be forced to make difficult decisions about who he would trust, regardless of their background.

"Three weeks ago, as this case nearly wrapped up I was shot with a bullet in the leg by the last non captured member of the organization. I wanted to come see you so badly, but the doctors told me I was in critical shape, and if I even tried to leave the hospital, I might as well jump off a bridge for all the good it would do me. They confined me to my bed and had guards on the door to stop me from making any attempt to leave. I'm so sorry Ran," He finished, his voice cracking. "After I was out of critical condition, Miyano gave me the antidote to get out of that accursed form."

"Why didn't you tell me anything?" Ran asked bitterly. "Do you really think I'm that untrustworthy, or that I can't take care of myself? I bet you and Shiho mocked poor little old Ran, so incapable of even-"

Shinichi brusquely spun Ran around and furiously grabbed her by her shoulders. One look from his smouldering azure eyes silenced Ran.

"Do you think I would be able to live with myself if something happened to you? The thought that it was entirely my fault for getting you involved in this situation and not being able to protect you well enough, for being such a useless person that I not only got myself into this foolhardy situation, but pulled you down with me? I couldn't. I had to protect you. It was the only way out, the best way, you have to und-"

Ran flung herself into Shinichi's arms, effectively ending his hysterical ramblings. "I was just so frightened that you would never come back, that I would spend the rest of eternity waiting for your phone calls while watching everybody else's life go by," she cried, holding balls of his shirt in her hands.

Shinichi stroked her back gently. "Ran," Shinichi began reassuringly. "I love you. I have loved you since we were little, and I have grown up loving you, watching you shine brightly every day. Even though it would've seemed impossible to the me before Conan, but turning into Conan made me love you even more. I got to see your maternal side, your caring side, and I missed constantly being with you so much that it felt that there was something missing in here," Shinichi said, pointing as his heart. "There was a part of me that was constantly gone, that only you could fill. I love you so much Ran and I want to continue loving you forever." Shinichi said, and then slowly began to disentangle himself from Ran who grudgingly let him go.

Shinichi got down on his non-injured leg, and slowly pulled out a black box. Ran's eyes widened, and she covered her mouth with a hand. Her heart beat picked up. He couldn't be-

"Ran," Shinichi said seriously. "Will you marry me?"

Ran couldn't speak. The giddiness welled up inside her after his speech was stopping her from forming words. So she just nodded, a single tear of happiness leaking out from the corner of her eye.

Shinichi broke out into a huge grin. He gently slid the ring on Ran's finger, then quickly stood up and pressed his lips to hers. They shared a deep and passionate kiss before Ran broke off and leaned towards Shinichi's ear.

"I will forgive you this time, but if you ever leave me again with no explanation, I won't be so merciful." She murmured threateningly.

Shinichi smirked. "Will do," he whispered back, then pulled her back for a kiss.

Thank you SO much reader, reviewers and subscribers of this story, it meant SO much! Just to let you know the memory from this story was from Detective Conan movie#4: Captured in her Eyes. Don't give up on this story yet though, I'm going to write an EPILOUGE soon! So stay tuned, and please review.

Xoxoxo,

Agentlebreeze