This here, ladies and gentlemen, is my participation to the Fanfic contest of April 2005, of the website Naniwa.

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Whatever permits.
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With a loud slam, the front door of the apartment is shut.
"I'm home!" calls out a young woman.

Her voice is fluid, strong and present. We can easily imagine her shouting at us, or, if one has been really good, singing us a lullaby. But...

Her Japanese sounds a bit awkward to our ears.

That is because she speaks with an accent. An accent that clearly announces pride in her Kansai origins. Kansai, in case you don't know, is not the name of another country, nor a continent, but that of a region. Her accent is purely Japanese, and the frustration one can perceive in her voice betrays her fiery temper.

Kazuha Toyama, seventeen years old, has just returned home from school.

Not hearing any response, the young woman with a ponytail takes off her shoes, puts on her slippers, and heads straight to the kitchen, frowning.

There is a piece of paper on the table.

She gives a frustrated sigh, her keys finding themselves propelled with force onto the kitchen counter.
She sits down, brooding but resigned, picks up the paper and reads.

"Idiot..." she whispers.

Her anger has vanished. Tears are forming in her eyes.

She drops the letter to wipe them away. Taking a deep breath, she stands and goes to her room. The girl comes back out, five minutes later, after having changed her clothes.
She walks over towards a small Buddhist shrine set up in the corner, and then kneels beside it to burn some incense.

"Hi, mom." She says with a small sad smile...
She's talking to the framed photo, which is settled on the small shelf, where one can see a middle-aged woman, a charming smile on her lips and her eyes strangely familiar...

Kazuha has her mother's eyes.

After praying, she stands up to head to the kitchen once more.
There she turns on the radio, in an attempt to drown any unwanted thoughts, while she busies herself with cooking tonight's supper. She is prepared, and has already bought all the necessary food, so it isn't long before she finds herself chopping up the vegetables.

Her bad mood is starting to lift, and she even starts to sing along to the tune on the radio.
The phone rings.
Kazuha puts down her knife, turns down the volume, and goes to answer it.

She knows it can only be him.

"Hello?" She says, her voice giving off the false impression that she is bored to death... or raving with anger inside.
The caller draws in a sharp breath. Obviously they've assumed it is the second case.
"Ah... Kazuha? It's me. You got my message I take it?"

She should be frowning, but there is a taunting smile on her lips...
"Yes, Dad." The inkling of blame in the capital D does not pass unnoticed.

Whereas the man starts to lose himself in explanations and excuses at the other end of the line, his young daughter can not help but ask herself how come her father, a strong policeman who has spent years fighting the lies and manipulating schemes of various criminals, never fails to be tricked by his only child's 'feel guilty and squirm' trap.

He had promised to go with her to the temple tonight, and she'd made sure it wasn't an fake promise he'd forget...

They'd both forgotten the erratic nature of his work.

At last, the young woman takes pity on her father, and interrupts him.
"I get it dad, no need to continue apologizing... promise me you won't come home too late and be careful. If you wish we'll go there as soon as you're back."

Relieved, her father answers accordingly... By changing the topic.
"I was told that young Heiji is sitting his motorbike exam tomorrow... He seemed pretty tired when I last saw him; you think he'll do okay?"

This is unusual... Her father, worrying about an exam her childhood friend was sitting? Heiji might be stupid, but he's not useless.

"Of course he will! I even made him promise to go to sleep early tonight... But may I ask why you are inquiring?" Her voice takes on the tone she oh so often uses when she suspects her father is hiding things.

"Ah, well... It's just that if he gets his permit, I'll have to start worrying about my only daughter falling off his bike!"
He said this in the quick tone of someone who knows they're saying something silly but still wants to say it all before being told off.

"Dad!" As expected...

"Now, now, Kazu-dear, I'd better get going. See you later!"

"Wait a minute, you...!" Too late, her father has cut off.

Kazuha sighs, but can't help smiling...
If her father is still able to tease her so, than he is no longer as depressed as she had feared when reading his note. Her mother might have been dead for over ten years now, but the anniversary of her departure was still a difficult time, as much for the husband as for the daughter.

Anyways... Her father's comment on her best friend has brought her thoughts back to the present, and she wonders what her mother would have thought of the prefect's young son as he is now.

She returns to the kitchen humming merrily, to finish preparing the meal and to put aside a portion for when her father gets back.
She's just put the fish to cook when the news report replaces the music.
She stops singing to listen, an odd feeling of dread making itself known in the depths of her heart.

The newscast reporter is talking of a homicide...

She turns down the gas, without turning around...

The news is being broadcasted live...

'Please tell me it's not... Please tell me it isn't...' she prays in her head.

The voice announces the presence of a young high-school boy.

"No..." she says, her eyes wide...

A young high-school detective, the pride of the region.

"Heiji!" she cries, turning to glare at the radio.

It's at that precise moment the journalist decides to announce his guesstimate as to how long it should take the young genius to solve the case, it's obvious he isn't the one going to have to suffer the wrath of Kazuha the following day!

-

And it is so that the next morning, at school...

"Idiot! Imbecile! Look at you; you look like a zombie!"
Drowning under an avalanche of insults, the young man with tanned skin, half kneeling, lifts his arms above his head in an attempt to shield himself from her cries and the odd fist...

"You dolt..." he says in a cracked voice..."No need to shout...!"

He whimpers at each shriek that splits through his eardrums.
"Oh yes there is! Weren't you supposed to sit your licence right now! Mister 'I've Already Failed It Twice'...!"
Visibly Kazuha feels no pity at all for the tired detective.

"Let me explain, Kazu-..." He's cut off by a fresh round of decibels...

"Oh I don't need an explanation!"

Their classmates, normally immune to their frequent quarrels by now, are staring at them as if they were from planet Mars. The young girl isn't usually so persistent when the Kendo team's captain is in such a weak state.

Even their teacher, who just happens to enter the classroom, holds his breath seeing Kazuha grab a textbook with her hand.

"Idiot, idiot, idiot!" She punctuates each word with a slap of the book.
"You promised me that you'd sleep well this time for your exam! And what do you do? Mister Detective finds himself involved in yet another murder case! At this rate you'll never get your permit!"

Silencing her by holding up his hand, Heiji Hattori, his hair in a mess and his eyes underlined by black bags, hoists himself up with a desk to reach for something in his leather jacket.

It's a rectangular card, which he shoves under her nose... She stares at the writing upon it, suddenly speechless, before facing her friend...

"And now..." He says, sitting down in his chair, "I believe we are in the middle of a class..."

Seeing this as an opening, the teacher gives a little cough and loudly begins the lesson.
Slowly Kazuha returns to her seat, still amazed at what she had thought was impossible.
Beside her, Heiji begins to softly snore...

-

The day ends without Kazuha being able to get a decent explanation from Heiji as to the existence of a motorbike permit in his name within his coat pocket.

It's not possible, she thinks. How could he have a permit at eight AM when his exam was at eight thirty!
She had followed him all day long, but he'd been either too busy answering the queries of his pals about the case last night, or catching up on the sleep said case had deprived him of.
By now she was dying from curiosity... And the theories that come to her mind just get crazier and crazier.

But at last, the bell that signals the end of class tolls. The young girl, who doesn't count patience among her virtues, smiles.
This is the moment she'd been waiting for.

The students depart in groups, chatting about their day, glad the school day is over... She turns to face Heiji's table.
He's already gone.

"Damn!" she thinks, quickly shoving her books into her bag. She was hoping she'd be able to question him on the spot.
She leaves the room at a quick pace, that's not quite running, her eyes scanning left and right looking for the dark-skinned man.

Strange. He always waits for her after class. They walk some of the way home together, teasing each other, sometimes shouting at the other. There wasn't any club activity today, so unless there had been a case...

No! Please let it not be another case! There's been way too many of those of late!

Now she's truly running.

"Hey!" Startled, it takes her a moment to realise someone has caught her by the arm.
"Idiot!" says her friend, now fully rested. His green eyes sparkle with malice and vitality.
"Where do you think you're going like that?"

"Heiji!" She looks at him with wide eyes; his head is covered by a motorcycle helmet.

"Hey, I've got my permit now you know! Catch." He tosses her another, smaller, helmet.
"Normally you should wear a thick jacket too, but I think we'll do without just this once..."

"What?" she asks. She isn't quite certain she understands what he's getting at.

"Jump on!" he says, gesturing towards the bike at his side. "I'm driving you home."
And at those words, he mounts his Honda, showing the example.

Seeing him bring his visor down, she pouts like a child, before pulling her own helmet onto her head and climbing on behind him... Noticing as she does so the pendant hanging around his neck.

"When will you tell me how you got this permit?" she shouts through her helmet. She feels as if she's been cut off from the rest of the world, the way it stifles most exterior sounds.

"Later," he replies. "For now, just hold on tight!"

And, gently at first, he pushes the bike forward... Before starting the engine with a racket that must be deafening without a helmet. Now she gets what he meant by 'Hold on tight!'

Slightly ill at ease, she stiffens her jaw, half against the noise, and half because of the imminent feeling she has of falling. The memory of her father's jab from last night doesn't help her feel reassured! She tightens her grip around Heiji's torso. His solid presence helps her not to think about gravity, not to think about the hard and merciless road underneath.

His friend seems to feel her distress, he slows down. Pressed against his back, she risks popping open an eye to look through her visor. Fleeting shapes skid passed her eyes. For a short moment, she feels joy...

That is before Heiji leans over to the side, pulling her with him, his arms holding hers tightly against his torso. Unyielding.

-

A few terrifying corners later, they stop, both pulling off their helmets to heave a great sigh and breath some nice fresh air.
Before shouting at each other again.

"Heiji! You could have warned me about the corners! Did you have to lean over that much!"

This time Heiji doesn't let her get away with it.
"Idiot! It's either that or we crash on the road! You're supposed to lean with me, too! Speaking of which, did you have to hug me so tight? I couldn't breath!"

At these words, the two teenagers suddenly turn bright red and look away, each realizing what he'd just said.

"Wait a minute...?" They weren't in front of Kazuha's home, that was certain.

Noticing his friend's quiet surprise, Heiji leans over on the handles of the bike.
"I thought you might appreciate stopping by here before going home." He confides, a trusting smile and tender look replacing his previously angry face.

They are standing in front of a small temple's gates. Nobody goes there, and Kazuha's really the only one who thinks of it as a temple. Leaving her helmet on the bike's seat, she approaches the tiny construction cautiously. It really does look like a miniature temple. Tender childhood memories come back to life. Moments spent with her mother, learning how to make luck charms, watering the flowers, playing in the park and singing songs. Memories from before the day a fatal accident stole away with Mrs. Toyama's life... Before she'd gotten to know Heiji...

She'd hardly ever mentioned it to him... And it's not as if she'd told him it was the anniversary of her mother's death...

Kneeling on the ground, she pulls out some of the weeds from the foot of the little building, brushes away some of the cobwebs and dust.

Heiji, still on his bike, observes her while smiling like a satisfied cat. She seems content, lost in her nostalgia, therefore he is content too.

Once her nostalgia satisfied, Kazuha returns to her friend, a brilliant smile on her face.

"Time to go home?" he asks.

"Yes... But before!" She prevents him from putting his helmet on again. "Tell me how you got your license before even sitting the exam!" She frowns, demonstrating that the answer is compulsory.

"You weren't listening when I was talking about the case last night, were you?" A superior air taints his teasing grin. "The examiner was one of the suspects, and to prevent the culprit from getting away, I used my temporary licence to chase after him on my bike. The examiner saw me and decided to automatically give me my permit. I went to pick it up just before school this morning."

At this, Kazuha's eyes beam at him admiringly... That is until a small detail caught her immediate attention... His bike had been at school for them to go home together, right? But in that case...
"Wait a second, this morning? While you were literally sleepwalking! Please tell me you didn't hurt anyone."

Seeing Heiji's slightly guilty look, she goes on. "You didn't drive across the footpaths, did you!"

"I might have taken a short cut or two..." He answers, trying, without success, to disappear into the background...

Kazuha can't help seeing a mental image of her friend, still groggy, driving his Honda diagonally across footpaths, barely missing a bystander or two.

'Really, he'll never change...' she thinks. No wonder he needs an older sister to watch over him...

"HEIJI! You Twit!"

"Ouch! That hurt, you dolt!"

And that is the story of how Heiji got his motorbike permit.

-End.

Author's note:
This fic would probably take place some little time before the DC time line. The theory about Kazuha's mother being deceased is Fanon (Fan created fact) because Gosho Aoyama hasn't made her appear despite showing the Toyamas eating over at the Hattoris.

I'd like to add that I have no experience whatsoever in motorbikes, be it riding them or the licence technicalities. The descriptions above were to the best of my imagination.

Additional thanks to my sibling and her other half for both inspiring this, and not murdering me for writing it (at least yet!)
Also to Astarael for Beta-reading this translation for me.