AN: I still don't own any of this and I'm sorry… Please read it anyway…

Chapter 13: Shattered

As the day was nearing its end, the girls seemed to stick together like glue, trying to savour every moment they had together.

"One might think you were dragging her to some chore, instead of the great trip you have planned," Heiji chuckled, walking next to Shinichi behind Ran and Kazuha who had their arms linked and their heads close to each other, talking in hushed tones while strolling down the way towards Heiji's home.

Shinichi, who had been quiet and reserved the whole day, just shrugged.

"She has been talking about visiting Kazuha for at least two months. Maybe we should have planned more than a two days stay here," he answered, his hands in his pockets.

Heiji frowned at his friend.

"Is something the matter, Kudo? 'Cause you sure seem to be pissed about something," Heiji started, stopping the other man.

"Now is really not the time or place to go into that!" Shinichi told him and a squeezing lump settled itself in Heiji's stomach.

"So you are pissed," he stated, just as Kudo started walking again, "just tell me!"

Shinichi turned towards Heiji and opened his mouth, only to be disrupted by Kazuha and Ran.

"What are you doing? We need the keys!" Kazuha called out, waving from the Hattori mansion's door. Heiji stared at Shinichi.

"Whatever it is, we will talk about it before you leave!" he mumbled, nodding towards Kazuha as he set himself in motion again.

"Is something wrong?" Shinichi heard Kazuha's question, before Heiji leaned down and kissed her softly on the lips.

"Nope, we were just talkin'," he told her and Ran glanced at Shinichi, who forced a smile and continued towards them as well.

He had never thought Heiji was that kind of guy, but obviously he was.

"You bet we'll talk about this," Shinichi murmured, entering the house right behind his friends.

"When is your train leaving again?" Kazuha asked, sitting next to Heiji on the sofa after dinner, her legs crossed under herself in a comfortable manner.

"It's leaving at 10.05," Ran sighed, glancing at a big clock standing on the fire place's mantel. It was already 8 ó clock, leaving a little more than an hour before she and Shinichi would have to leave.

"I still need to pack some things," Ran told Kazuha, who smiled at her friend, "I think I'll head upstairs to take care of that."

"I'm going to make some tea and join you," Kazuha offered, shortly looking at Heiji who only nodded in approval. Kazuha turned towards the dark skinned boy, shortly nuzzling his neck – the movement feeling so common a normal person wouldn't detect anything out of the ordinary. Except for a detective. Opposite Heiji, he noticed Shinichi tensing for a second before regaining his posture.

Standing up, both girls left the room in different directions, leaving the two detectives behind in the living room. Waiting a few moments, Heiji cleared his throat.

"Alone at last, Kudo. Care to tell me what's bothering ya now?" Heiji declared, his voice quiet so Kazuha wouldn't be alerted.

Shinichi's mouth was a thin line, seizing Heiji up for a moment before speaking up.

"I just can't believe how low you've stooped," he told the other man, shaking his head.

Heiji frowned, now tensing himself. "What do ya mean?"

Shinichi gritted his teeth.

"I know what you did. Kazuha told Ran about your 'love story'."

At this a sudden flicker of understanding crossed Heiji's face, before it hardened again.

"You have no idea…" he started, but Shinichi interrupted him.

"Until five minutes ago I merely thought you used Kazuha to win our bet – which was worse enough. But this whole day I felt something was off between you two. Something had changed," Shinichi started, his voice dangerously calm.

"I can't believe you would go as far as sleeping with her just to prove you can deceive me!" Shinichi hissed standing up, staring down at his friend with an icy glare.

At this, Heiji stood up as well, taking a step towards Shinichi.

"Of course you think you have figured this out, but you are way out of line, Kudo! And watch your tone, I don't want Kazuha to hear any of this nonsense!" Heiji snarled in a low voice. Shinichi just held up one hand to stop Heiji, his voice devoid of emotion.

"Of course you wouldn't want her to hear," he mumbled, his voice getting louder, "Tell yourself whatever you like, Hattori, but what you did is just wrong! Telling Kazuha to pretend to be your girlfriend, while you only want to win a bet with me and then using her and sleeping with her for your own twisted amusement is the worst crime I've ever encountered!"

Just as Heiji opened his mouth to tell Shinichi to shut up, something shattered behind them. As Heiji turned around he saw Kazuha standing in the doorway, a tray of spilled tea on the ground, one of her hands covering her mouth in shock.

"A p- pretend? What…?" she shocked up, looking at Heiji with tears in her eyes.

"'zuha, it's not," Heiji started, stepping towards her, but she just spun around, leaving the living room behind her.

"Kazuha!" Heiji called out as they heard the front door slam shut. Staring after her for a moment, Heiji could hear Shinichi's quiet voice from behind himself.

"She deserved to know," he mumbled, before a hard punch to his face knocked him down.

"Have you any idea what you've just done?" Heiji hollered, hovering over Shinichi, who had crushed into the coffee table. "You damn idiot just ruined everything!"

Heiji's voice sounded dangerous as he inched closer, just as Ran raced down the stairs, her voice echoing from the hall.

"What is going on?" she demanded as she stopped in her tracks looking at the two man.

"Shinichi, what happened?" she shrieked, scooping down next to him, looking up at Heiji.

"You had no right!" Heiji shouted, his fist shaking dangerously, as Ran watched him, confused.

Ran stared at Heiji and then at Shinichi, helping her boyfriend up from the ground.

"Stopp it! Why would you hit him, Hattori? And where's Kazuha?"

Heiji took a deep breath, his jaw clenching as Shinichi told Ran.

"I told Kazuha Hattori only pretended to like her. He wanted to win a bet with me, that's why he told Kazuha that whole story of her pretending to go out with him," Shinichi summed up what happened, only to be shoved back to the ground by Ran.

"You did what?" she screamed, her gaze even angrier than Heiji's.

"She deserved to know!" Shinichi repeated his earlier statement, making Ran even madder – to Heiji's surprise.

"I don't know how you can call yourself a detective if you can't even see through the clearest situations, you moron!" Ran hissed, planting her hands on her hips.

"I don't care how or why they started dating, but any idiot could see they are in love! And I don't care if you don't believe it," she cut off Shinichi who wanted to say something, "and I don't care if you would like to deny it," she turned towards Heiji, who hadn't even thought about saying anything.

"Hattori is clearly head over heels and I really don't understand why he isn't chasing after Kazuha right this moment!" the Tokyo girl urged, shooting Heiji a look, who just then started to move.

"You're right," he murmured, sprinting towards the door.

"We'll go to the station by ourselves," Ran shouted after him, "go get her!"

Behind her, Shinichi picked himself up from the floor, rubbing his swollen cheek.

"I think I need ice," he mumbled, making Ran whirl around, the dangerous glint still in her eyes.

"I told you not to mention anything stupid in front of Kazuha," she whispered, her voice scary low, "I told you specifically not to ruin this for them!"

Heiji backed off a bit, the back of his legs bumping against the chair he had been occupying.

"I tell you, Kudo Shinichi, if you just ruined this because of your big, blabbering mouth, a black eye will be the least of your troubles!"

With that, Ran turned around, stomping out of the room and up the stairs.

Heiji knew exactly where to find Kazuha. Stepping onto the playground, which was only lit by a hand full of old street lights, he could make out her silhouette on the swings immediately. Her head perked up a little, alerted by his foot steps on the sand, but she didn't move.

"I really don't want to see you," she whispered, her voice merely audible in the quiet night and Heiji stopped for a moment, considering what to say.

"Kazuha," he started, but she weakly shook her head.

"Is it true?" she asked faintly, her voice sad and tired, some tears still audible in it, "Was it because of a bet?"

Heiji gulped, looking to the ground.

"It started that way," he breathed, unable to lie to her. "Kudo goaded me by saying I couldn't make relationships work and so I agreed to this bet to go out with one girl for at least a month, but I didn't know he would pick you," he told her, his voice very quiet and steady.

He wasn't sure, but he thought he heard a soft and unamused chuckle from her.

"Of course I could not plainly ask you, since I didn't want to ruin our friendship, so I told you about the pretend," he went on, taking a step closer to her.

"I'm really sorry, 'zuha," he murmured, softly reaching out for her shoulder. At his touch, she flinched and jumped up from the swing.

As she turned around, Heiji realized her eyes were puffy and red from crying.

"Don't be," she told him, shaking her head, "I never really thought you could finally be interested in me. It must have been so hard for you to pretend all this time. I mean, you are a brilliant actor, I give you that. Maybe you missed your calling! I just don't understand why you would go so far, just to win a bet!" Her voice sounded bitter, and Heiji closed the gap between them, embracing her. At his touch she stiffened for a moment, before trying to shove him away.

"Let go, Heiji!"

"I don't care what you think, but I would never do something like that! I'm sorry I hurt you by not telling the truth, but you can be sure about one thing: The worst thing about pretending was realizing I wasn't pretending at all!" He pressed Kazuha harder against himself, inhaling her familiar scent.

"Do you really believe I could do something like that? To you?" He put his hands on her shoulders, pushing her away just far enough to look into her eyes.

"Do you really believe I would have done what we did this morning if I wasn't honest about my feelings? I really do love you, 'Zuha, don't you believe me?"

She stared at him for a long moment, hurt and confusion and a mixture of all kinds of feelings crossing her eyes before she suddenly sighed.

"I really don't know what to believe anymore!"

End of Chapter 13

So, what do you think, folks? Like it, hate it? What about Ran and Shinichi?

Give me reviews, please :D Otherwise I won't know if you want them to be together at the end or not ;)