Old fic. The next one should be Sera/Ran or Kai/Shin depending on which gets pulled out of the metaphorical hat. Thanks for reading!

s: one-sided ai/ran. Shinichi's dating someone, Ran's inexplicably single, and Haibara's still in the body of a child. She wanted a new start, but maybe she'd chosen the wrong one.

Waving from the Back of the Line

Haibara stared impassively at the wall as soft fingers combed through her hair. A sweet breeze filled the room, carrying the sounds of summer with it.

"How short would you like it, Ai-chan?"

Haibara's eyes flickered, the only indication that she'd heard. Rolling her shoulders back slightly, she turned to look at Ran. The other girl smiled brightly.

It was hard to swallow.

"Short," she responded after a beat, quickly adding on a subdued "please, Mouri-san" to the end.

"Oh! Ran is just fine, Ai-chan," Ran told the girl, turning to organize the tools around her.

"Shiho."

Immediately after the name left her lips, Haibara bit her tongue hard enough that the faint taste of iron filled her mouth and caused her fists to clench.

"Ah... 'Shiho'... that's your real name, right?" Ran asked quietly, looking at Haibara for confirmation. It had been a year since the Black Organization was taken down by a combination of all of their efforts, and a year since Ran Mouri had been told the whole truth about Conan Edogawa and the partial truth about Ai Haibara - that she was not really 7, that she'd helped develop the Apoptoxin, but nothing else. It had been 8 months since things had gone back to being relatively normal. Shinichi returned to solving cases, he and Ran were speaking regularly, and... Haibara was still in the body of a child. Shinichi had accepted and respected her decision to not take her own cure. He'd changed a lot as Conan, if the fact that he never once asked her "why" was any indication.

Haibara never felt the need to admit her true identity to anyone else. Only a handful of individuals even knew that Shiho Miyano was still alive.

She must have given some sort of answer while she was thinking because Ran went back to situating the scissors and brushes on the table next to her. That smile was still on her face.

A sheet was draped over the front of Haibara, the ends wrapped carefully behind her shoulders as Ran prepared to cut the smaller girl's hair.

Nimble fingers pulled stray strands of strawberry hair back, combing them together. It was slightly past shoulder length now, growing unhindered due to Haibara's preoccupation with ensuring that the Organization would never return. The summer was becoming too hot, however, and she'd tentatively asked Ran to cut her hair after seeing her do the same for Ayumi while the Shounen Tantei-dan were visiting Agasa's house.

"No style preference, then?" Ran asked, wetting Haibara's hair with a spray bottle. She reached around to brush a hand across overgrown bangs, the calluses on her fingers ghosting over the bridge of Haibara's nose. "Fighter's hands," she thought absently.

"She's not dating anyone. Shinichi's involved with- whoever it is he's been spending time with," Haibara frowned minutely at the thought, wondering where it had come from.

"But it's true."

"Okay! Ready, Shiho?" Ran asked, the name rolling off her tongue easily. The scissors in her hand glinted in the bright summer light.

Several minutes later and the floor was littered with locks of hair. Haibara's eyes were closed, her breath even as deft fingers glided through damp strands. The room was quiet save for the static noises of nature coming from the window to their right.

"She's not dating anyone. Why is that?"

Haibara opened her eyes and stared at the wall once more.

"What would Kudo say if I told him that I liked the girl he used to love?"

The thought was desperately malicious and left a flat feeling in Haibara's stomach.

"Almost done! Would you like to see?" Ran asked, reaching for a mirror before Haibara had the chance to answer. She sounded excited. A second later and Haibara's shoulders were flanked by long arms, bare in the summer heat. Ran leaned her chest lightly against the back of the chair in front of her, extending the mirror in front of Haibara's face with both hands.

"Smells like..."

"I think it looks cute. How about you, Shiho? Would you like me to trim some more, or...?" Ran trailed off, waiting patiently for an answer.

Swallowing back the biting sarcasm that Haibara usually employed defensively, she instead gave a slow nod of approval. She spoke carefully, "It looks fine, Mouri-san. Thank you."

"Ah, ah! Ran, remember?"

She was already moving to place the mirror back down, missing the blank look that Haibara was giving the wall. Ran hummed lightly as she removed the sheet from around the smaller girl, cleaning the mess up with an ease honed by years of playing housekeeper for her father.

Haibara turned her head, "Mo... Ran-san," she corrected herself, "why aren't you dating anyone?" The words spilled out before she could stop them. The wind blew again while she sat still, blood cold. It felt like her heart had stuttered. Was it beating faster or slower? Had the birds stopped chirping?

Was she embarrassed by the question, or was she afraid of the answer?

Ran seemed to still, her face smoothed into an expression that Haibara couldn't read. She quickly finished sweeping the last of the hair into a small dustpan. She deposited it into the wastebasket before setting the broom aside and placing a slim hand on her hip. It was another minute before she spoke, words coming out slowly as if she were explaining them to herself.

"I suppose... I just haven't found that person, yet," she admitted. Pausing, she gave a small wistful smile. "I used to think... You know, I used to think that Shinichi and I... And so did he, but it just didn't work out. It sounds a little sad, right? But I'm okay with it. He's found someone, so at least he's happy."

Ran moved to smooth down the shoulders of Haibara's shirt, combing her fingers through short hair one last time.

"I'll find someone eventually. You will too, when you're older again – you've got such beautiful hair, after all. Who could resist?" the brunette teased.

Haibara helped Ran finish cleaning, placing the brushes and scissors back in their designated places throughout the professor's house. She thanked the brunette and led her to the door, watching silently as she made her way across the lawn.

Ran smelled like something soft and something strong, something safe. She sounded like reassurance, happiness, comfort. She looked like the future.

Gripping the door frame with one hand, Haibara ran the other through her newly-cut hair. She closed her eyes and breathed. Maybe Haibara wasn't her future. Maybe Ran wasn't, either... At least, not yet. Haibara retreated back into the house, her mind a whirlwind of hypotheses and variables.

She'd spent a long time in the shadows, hiding in the background. Maybe it was time for a step forward.