Mikau: Hello everyone! Thank you for joining me! This is my entry for Poirot Café's writing contest number five, Unlikely Friends. Voting begins on March ninth. This is a friendship fic, so technically there's no overt pairing, but all of my fellow BL fangirls have my permission to squint and read into things. If I do ever continue this, it will, inevitably, end up HeiKai, but I don't have any plans to do so at the moment. So this first chapter is just friendship. Thanks a bunch for checking this out, and I hope you enjoy it!

Disclaimer: If I owned it, the whole thing would be set in Kyoto, my awe-inspiring, breath-taking, charming second home. Furthermore, the songs mentioned aren't mine either. I highly encourage you to listen to them, though. You can find them on youtube by searching "96neko Yoshiwara Lament", "Senbonzakura Kyounosuke", and "Senbonzakura piano". I'll also be posting links when I post this on Poirot.

…

Summer Glow

It wasn't like Kaito was spending the summer holiday in the Kansai region for fun. He wasn't on vacation. He was studying with his father's old acquaintance in Kyoto, and it was not shaping up to be an enjoyable experience, so remind him again why he had to bring home souvenirs for his classmates? And souvenirs from Osaka of all places!

Aoko wanted some kind of takoyaki bell phone strap and some okonomiyaki crackers. Akako presumptuously demanded chocolate and some brand name soap or shampoo or…what was it? Oke…something. Yama? Mori? Tani? Hmm.

As for Hakuba, the smug jerk hadn't asked for anything. Rather, the Brit said, and I quote: "Oh. You needn't bother." Which was Hakuba-speak for "If you don't bring me back the best souvenir I have ever received in my life, I will be incredibly disappointed and probably discontinue our acquaintance."

Kaito couldn't decide if that were necessarily a bad thing. He was kind of considering picking up the scent of Osaka in a can for the blonde (thorn in his side/best male friend).

Regardless, since Kaito was "in the area" for the whole summer, he'd been charged with bringing back gifts from not only Kyoto but also Osaka and Nara as well. Kaito was kind of looking forward to the deer part of this experience and the Hershey factory, but…as of yet, he'd spent his first two days in Kansai getting settled and doing other people's shopping.

That was what he'd been doing, shopping in Osaka, when there was a scream.

Kaito turned around, and a dead body fell at his feet. He didn't squeal exactly, but a high-pitched sound did happen to leave his throat.

It all kind of happened at once, but Kaito's eidetic memory took a photo for him: blood on his shoes, a knife in the woman's chest, lifeless eyes, face contorted in horror and agony, and a man running away—five foot nine, black hair with tan tips, fair skin, khaki cargo shorts much like Kaito's own, navy blue plaid button down over a white undershirt.

And then Kaito's nearly comatose state was interrupted by an accusatory cry of, "Kudo?! What th' hell are ya doin' here?! What happened? Did ya see th' guy that did it?!"

Kaito blinked. There was blood on his shoe. Kaito didn't handle blood well. Kaito didn't handle death well. Ever since the whole father being murdered on his eighth birthday thing happened, Kaito hadn't really been one for all that. Actually, it kind of made him have terrible flashbacks and gave him nightmares for weeks. And there was blood on his shoes.

He had this strange feeling that he should be on his guard now, that he knew the dark-skinned young man that had just gotten right up in his face and demanded answers that Kaito really didn't have at the moment. But Kaito's mind was too busy with horrific images of all the times Tantei-kun had brought the shadow of death along to rain on Kaito's heists or that one time when his glove slipped, sending Nightmare falling to his death. There was also the smoldering ruins of the theatre in which his father performed his final show. There wasn't any room for Kaito to process everything that was going on at present.

He was, however, able to spit out the culprit's description.

The other young man cursed under his breath in frustration, grumbling, "Why didn' ya go after 'em?" as he whipped around and started running like an African track star.

Kaito wondered at the boy's sanity. It wasn't normal to go running after killers that could possibly still be armed.

So Kaito stood there and waited for someone to come and tell him what to do about the bodily liquid starting to stain his socks through his shoes.

Kaito had a vague recollection of the dark-skinned stranger running down the murderer and beaming them with a metal sign that had been standing outside of one of the shops in the mall, advertising buy one get one free bras at Victoria's Secret. Kaito would have to come back later in appropriate dress. Unless he pretended to be buying it for a girlfriend that he didn't actually have. But then he couldn't try it on and make sure that it fit before he bought it. Hmm.

He blinked.

He was sitting down inside the little police box just outside the shopping center. He was shoeless. They'd probably been tagged as evidence.

The first thing that he was really cognizant of over the roar of the fire consuming his father's body inside of Kaito's own mind was that teen from earlier.

"Ya 'wake, Kudo?"

Crap. Hattori Heiji. That was Hattori Heiji, Tantei-kun's Osakan friend! Of all the worst luck in the entire universe!

Kaito forced out all of the bad thoughts and slammed down his poker face.

Before Kaito could say anything, Hattori cut him off, "Like I said before, what th' hell are ya doin' here, and why didn't ya tell me ya were comin'?! Where's Neechan and Occhan? And why th' heck are ya all decked out like that?! Somethin' happen?"

Kaito's mind quickly began to whir as he attempted to come up with some kind of excuse, some way out of this situation. Still in a bit of a daze, he muttered, "Uh…case. I was…I mean…I went…"

No. That wasn't working at all. He was still a wreck over the dead body and the gruesome images his mind called up to torture him with. His poker face was shot. There was no way he would be able to pull off a convincing Kudo like this. Time to flee.

"I've got to go!" he announced rather coherently, jumping to his feet.

"Wha? Ya changin' back er somethin'?" Hattori stood as well, a look of infinite concern clouding his features. "Whadda ya need me t' do?"

"Nothing!" Kaito tossed over his shoulder as he raced for the exit barefoot.

"Oi, Kudo!" the Osakan detective shouted after him, and it was all Kaito could do to make a mad dash for it and lose the Detective of the West in the crowd, disguising himself and waiting for things to settle down before he bought a new pair of shoes and then went straight home. To Kyoto anyway.

…

Later that day, when Heiji called the real Kudo Shinichi, there was ample confusion.

"Kudo, where th' hell did ya disappear off t' today?" he snorted.

And Conan blinked. "I went to the park to play soccer with the Tanteidan. Why? Did you try to call me or something? I didn't have any missed—are you in Tokyo?"

And then Heiji blinked. "N-No. I meant in Osaka! Today at th' mall!"

Conan switched the phone to his other hand to facilitate groping for a juice bottle one shelf beyond his easy reach. "I wasn't in Osaka today."

The Osakan frowned. "Course ya was. I saw ya there. You know…as…as YOU. You were all big an' there was a murder, and they still got yer shoes as evidence, an'—"

Conan froze and then slowly withdrew his hand from the fridge without his intended prize as he listened closely to his friend's words. "—Hattori. I wasn't in Osaka today."

There was silence.

"…But ya were."

Three deep trenches formed in Conan's brow. "Hattori, what exactly happened?"

After Heiji finished recounting the story, the real Kudo Shinichi stood there in thought for a moment. Two minutes of sifting through the known facts later, he tentatively asked, "…Hattori? …Do you happen to know if there's a Kid heist in town?"

"Kid?" Heiji did not see how these two conversations fit together. "Ya mean yer thief? That crazy bastard in white that ya chase?"

"He's not my thief," Conan grumbled. "If anything he's…" But then Conan thought better of mentioning Hakuba Saguru around Hattori. "He's not mine."

"Fine." Heiji easily shrugged it off without much thought. "No. No heists. Why d' ya ask?"

"…No reason," Conan hummed. "…Say, how did your tournament go the other day?"

Easily distracted from the topic of Kid, Heiji launched into a fifteen minute, blow-by-blow account of the matches.

…

Kaito loved and loathed Kyoto at the same time. He hated his lessons. His father's acquaintance (probably an old girlfriend) was a strict woman that didn't cut Kaito any slack. He practiced with the other girls, aspiring entertainers, for hours every day, and then afterwards there were chores.

Still, he felt that he was learning valuable skills. He needed to be well-rounded in order to become a better magician, a better thief. Okay. So learning traditional dance wasn't really…well, maybe it was teaching him focus and finesse, body control. He really did like the classes on makeup, hair, dress, and accessories. Serving tea was…he doubted he'd actually ever use that one unless he really did have to impersonate a geisha. Ditto the music lessons, but…

The point was that he was improving himself. And improving his female disguising techniques too since he had to spend the entire summer pretending to be a girl.

He was having fun despite himself, though. He had the weekends off, and after the chores were done at night, he could go out and explore the city. Kyoto was an entirely different world, a far cry from Tokyo, and he seriously was enjoying his daily adventures. This summer was full of wonder and self-discovery.

And sweets. Kyoto was a treasure trove of traditional sweets, and Kaito was quickly growing to adore the taste of green tea and red bean paste.

The city itself was beautiful with its parks, temples, and shrines. Little patches of nature were tucked around every corner even amongst the towering skyscrapers and the clamor of urban life. Kaito loved that he could find peace and tranquility whenever he wanted to get away. Kyoto was a haven.

There were all of the modern conveniences of a big city with the natural beauty of the mountains, woods, and streams never far. Tossed in the mix were the marvels of the ancient world, if he were feeling like appreciating his heritage. Kyoto was an oasis, and he felt so grateful to be able to experience it and all of its charms…even if that meant he had to do the grueling practices, pretend to be a woman, and help out with the chores.

There was fun to be had too, though. Sometimes lessons would let out early on particularly nice days so that the girls could enjoy the weather. Occasionally their slave-driving instructor would give them a day off on Wednesday to go into town and just be regular young women.

And there was plenty in Kyoto to do. There were concerts, sporting events, bazars, festivals!

One Friday night, the girls all got dressed up in yukata and went to one such festival at a local shrine.

Kaito wasn't gonna lie. He loved getting dolled up. After much work, Kaito had learned how to create a convincing female disguise, and now he delighted in his ability to fool the world. He truly enjoyed preening in the mirror, fussing over himself, because he made a gorgeous woman.

So he giggled with the other girls as they all got dressed, doing their hair, coordinating accessories, and putting on subtle makeup for the evening (a little shadow to accentuate the indigo of his eyes, a little blush to make his cheeks appear flushed and rosy, lipstick as red as juicy cherries…just to give the gawking gentlemen ideas).

Feeling desirable exhilarated Kaito. It was something he just didn't get when he was dressed as a guy. Having fangirls squealing over him as Kid was one thing, but…this was different. When guys looked at him with hunger in their eyes, Kaito couldn't help but revel in being the prey for once.

That Friday, Kaito and the girls went out in a gaggle, breaking off into smaller groups once they actually got to the festival. As the night wore on, it was only Kaito, Mariko, Haruna, and Kei.

"Kai-chan, show me how you do that thing with your eyes," Mariko begged as they crossed over the bridge.

"Yeah," Kei snickered. "Make some poor sap trip over himself."

They moved over to the right as a large group passed on the other side, and Kaito picked his mark from the small herd.

Kaito looked up at one of the young men, and their eyes met. Kaito smiled demurely for a split second before slowly looking away, maintaining eye contact until the very last moment.

And the guy did trip…right into his friend behind him who had at that time been dodging a roundhouse punch from his childhood friend/girlfriend (?). This threw the second young man off balance, sending Hattori Heiji crashing right in to Kaito.

With an in-character "Kya!" Kaito found himself on the ground under the detective. He felt the impact as they slammed into the side of the bridge, but Kaito's head didn't hit the railing like he'd expected. When he opened his eyes, he was staring into two hunter green orbs.

"Y'all right?" the detective asked as he pulled a stunned Kaito to his feet, steadying the magician.

Kaito's poker face was back in place lightning fast, and he smiled dotingly, looking at Heiji with doe eyes. "Thanks to you."

The Osakan had somehow managed to wrap an arm around Kaito as they'd fallen, shielding the thief and taking the brunt of the collision himself.

"Good," Heiji responded with a clueless smile, completely unaffected by Kaito's charm. And then, still holding on to Kaito by the shoulders, he whipped around and shouted at his buddies, admonishing them for goofing off and not watching where they were going and almost killing some poor Tokyo girl.

"How did you know Kai-chan was from Tokyo?" Haruna inquired, always full of curiosity.

"Her accent." Heiji shrugged.

Kei looked at the way that the handsome stranger was still holding on to Kaito and smirked. "You know, Kai-chan's single. She just broke up with her abusive boyfriend Aoi back in June, so I'm sure she'd be interested in spending some time with such a brave, heroic guy like yourself."

"Aoi wasn't abusive!" Kaito felt the need to defend his best friend of nearly fifteen years.

"Kai-chan, he chased you with a mop," Kei snorted.

"Yeah!" Mariko chimed in and then added mischievously, "Kai-chan could practice entertaining you! We're all maiko, and she's seriously the best."

Heiji looked puzzled.

Before he could speak for himself, the girlfriend (?), Kazuha, walked right up to them with her hands on her hips, barking, "Heiji's not interested in hangin' out with some sleazy call girl." She took her man firmly by the arm and growled, "C'mon, Heiji. Let go of 'er already."

But he didn't. He looked at the "girl" in front of him in confusion, and then something clicked.

Kaito could see it in his eyes the moment it happened.

Those green orbs widened, and suddenly Hattori was exclaiming, "Yer that guy! From th' mall a month ago! Yer that guy!"

"I-I don't know what you're talking about," Kaito insisted, panicking a little. He really did sound like a startled girl.

"That murder at th' mall." Heiji wasn't backing down. He stubbornly held on to his convictions. "But are ya actually a girl? Or are ya just a tranny?"

Kaito's mouth dropped open. This was getting out of hand. They were making a scene. People were whispering.

"Can I talk to you?" Kaito hissed.

Heiji nodded and then waited expectantly.

"Privately," Kaito stressed.

"Oh. Sure." Hattori turned to his companions. "Kai an' I are gonna go somewhere private. We'll catch up later."

And then Kaito was dragged off to the catcalls of Heiji's male friends and the cheers of his own. Kazuha's protests were drowned out.

They came to a stop down by the stream under the bridge, and Hattori gave him a curious look.

"We good?"

Kaito nodded, straightening his yukata and brushing off the dirt.

"So…you a guy or a chick or…?"

Heiji seriously looked like he was thinking about checking. Kaito could see him consider it, but it was quickly followed by the thought, "No. That'd be wrong".

Kaito thought about it. "…A guy."

"Then why ya wearin' girl clothes? Why d' yer friends think yer a girl?" Hattori seemed oddly unfazed.

"I have to pretend to be a girl to take the maiko lessons," Kaito sighed. "So no one can find out about this, okay?"

Heiji shrugged. "Okay. But why're ya takin' lessons? D' ya just really wanna be a geisha?"

"No. I…I'm an actor, so… This is to improve my skills as a performer," Kaito announced resolutely.

"Cool. Ya ever been in anythin' I'd a heard of?" Hattori actually sounded genuinely interested…and not at all concerned about the unusualness of the circumstances.

"Uh…mostly I do live performances, so…um. I guess Marth and Rosa about a year ago, but…" Kaito bit his lip, kind of thrown off by the sleuth's strange reactions.

"Ya do any kabuki?" Heiji inquired. "I was just wonderin' why yer practicin' for a female role."

"M-Maybe a little. I mean, what I do is kind of like kabuki, so…" In a way.

"Cool. I'm Hattori Heiji, by th' way." Heiji smiled amicably.

This whole situation was sort of surreal.

"Kuroba Kaito, but if you could call me 'Kai', that would be really awesome." Kaito clenched his teeth, waiting for the response.

"Sure." It didn't make much difference.

…

After straightening things out, the two returned to their friends, finding the "maiko" squad getting along quite well with Heiji's kendo club, much to the ire of the group's original female members.

"Kai-chan!" Haruna greeted enthusiastically.

"We're going with the boys to do karaoke," Kei informed. "You should come."

"Sounds fun!" Heiji laughed, clapping Kaito on the shoulder and almost knocking him over in the process.

Kaito was a little reluctant to spend more time than necessary with the detective, but it would be out of character for Kai to turn down the chance to flirt with cute boys.

So they went—the maiko girls, the kendo boys, and Kazuha accompanied by one of her female friends—to a cheap establishment that looked to be a former bar. A musty scent hung in the air, and an old piano sat in the corner of their room. Still, the aspiring geisha made the best of it, playing at entertaining, pouring tea, flirting with the boys, laughing at jokes that were not nearly as funny as they were made out to be.

They used the subpar equipment to belt popular songs, sometimes crooning to enka or even pecking out a piece on the piano. Kaito let the others fool around for the most part, itching to sing but far too cautious of showing off in front of Hattori.

He spent most of the evening chatting with the kendo boys…mostly Heiji since the dark-skinned detective openly discouraged the others from flirting with Kaito.

Kaito gathered that this was probably because he didn't want his friends falling for a trap, but to the others, not privy to Kaito's secret, it appeared that Hattori was possessive of Kai.

The gang teased their captain about his new girlfriend, making Kazuha furious.

Kaito tried to explain to the girl that he had no intention of stealing her man, but his assurances seemed to be drowned out by the blood pumping in her ears.

"Kai-chan, what's wrong?" Mariko came over and asked about an hour into the festivities. "You're not singing. You not feeling well?"

"Yeah. Kai-chan's always the center of attention," Haruna seconded.

Kei climbed over one of the kendo boys and reached out, taking Kaito by the arms. "Kai-chan, come to the piano." To the others, Kei announced, "Kai-chan's phenomenal with her hands. You've got to see her play." Back to a protesting Kaito, "Do Senbonzakura."

Kaito's wishes were not respected, and his excuses were batted away as Kei started up the song and urged, "Come on! Sing and do the piano accompaniment along with the track!"

At the insistence of the rest of their group, Kaito finally complied, putting on the mask of Kai and completely blowing his audience away as he trilled the notes and his fingers whipped across the keys.

At the end the small crowd cheered enthusiastically making comments to each other about how fast Kaito's hands had moved, how enthralling his voice had been…and then there were some inappropriate snickers about letting Kaito touch their keys anytime.

Kaito basked in the adoration for a suitable period of time before making a move to go back to his seat. Unfortunately, Kei had different plans.

"Kai-chan, sing Yoshiwara Lament with me next. I'm too shy to sing it on my own," the scheming brunette pleaded, tugging on Kaito's arm.

After the applause for the duet died down, Kaito was finally permitted to sit with a tired sigh.

"How d' ya do that with yer voice?" Heiji wondered, far too close to Kaito's ear for the magician's liking.

"Dude. Personal space," Kaito hissed, resituating himself.

"I guess it's 'cause yer an actor?" Heiji guessed, either ignoring or not hearing Kaito's gripes. "I bet ya had to practice a lot t' do that, huh?"

Kaito shifted once more. "Not really. I was kind of born with a talent for impersonations."

Hattori hummed in thought. And then it seemed that he got tired of that conversation because he soon changed the subject…to baseball.

And Kaito could care less. I mean, the Hanshin Tigers were kind of cool, but…he didn't care about less than half the stuff coming out of Tantei-han's mouth.

Fifteen minutes later, Kaito's opinion about baseball hadn't improved, but now he knew all about the history of the sport and how it had come over to Japan and gotten a start. He knew about the rules and some of the players that revolutionized the game. All he could really say was that it was neat how passionate Hattori was about the sport, but…

"…Ya don't like baseball, do ya?" the detective finally deduced…after a quarter of an hour of Kaito's bored stare.

It was decided that this could be fixed by going to see a game. Apparently baseball was something you grew to love by seeing it in person, doing it yourself.

Kaito had politely declined, but that Sunday Heiji showed up at the compound to pick up Kai. Apparently Kaito's traitorous friends had given Heiji the address.

And the game wasn't that bad. It was completely different from that time Kaito had attended a game for that stupid heist. It was kind of exciting, and Hattori was really knowledgeable. He explained it all to Kaito as it unfolded on the field below them.

After the game, Heiji took Kaito to eat okonomiyaki, and then they went to a park to play catch with the ball Heiji had caught at the game.

And Kaito begrudgingly enjoyed himself. A lot.

The kooky detective was actually kind of hilarious. Kaito loved his sense of humor, and Heiji seemed to appreciate Kaito's as well. Only…Hattori wasn't a wonderful conversationalist, often monologuing and completely missing all of the social cues. Hattori was surprisingly dense for a genius. At least, he was entirely socially inept, anyway. He didn't like to talk about more than a handful of subjects either, but on occasion he seemed to remember that he was supposed to let Kaito talk too and listen with interest while the magician did so. Once they found that they both had a love of manzai, they were practically set, though.

Their strange friendship went on like that for a month with Heiji forcing Kaito to spend time doing things that the Osakan enjoyed and then talking Kaito's ears off about things Kaito could care less about, but…Kaito was starting not to mind so much. He always had a good time somehow, and he was finding that things that held no interest to him before were sort of cool after all. He never would have imagined that he'd enjoy seeing a movie about old war lords and samurai.

And then one Friday night while they were hanging out with the gang, playing foosball, Heiji did something astounding: he asked Kaito what Kaito wanted to do. "I mean…I was thinkin' that we always do th' stuff that I want, but…" He scratched at his cheek, feeling awkward. "Er…Is there somethin' you wanna do? There's a magic show tomorrow, if…?"

Kaito's eyes widened, and he enthusiastically accepted.

Every once in a while Heiji would do something like that. Kaito could really tell that his friend was making an effort to be considerate. And it meant a lot to Kaito because he knew how hard something like that was for Heiji.

Kaito quickly picked up on the fact that Hattori didn't like trying new things, but the detective forced himself anyway for Kaito's sake. Most of the time Heiji could take or leave the new activity, but once or twice Heiji admitted that he'd actually found the event/show/activity surprisingly interesting. And that was good enough for Kaito. So long as they had fun.

…

The summer passed quickly with weeks full of text conversations, weekends spent hanging out with the group, sightseeing, and doing a variety of Heiji's (limited) preferred activities.

At first the group outings were unpleasant for Kaito due to Kazuha's jealousy at an imaginary threat to her relationship with Heiji, but once Kaito made it clear that he vastly preferred women, the poor girl was kind of freaked out and tended to clam up around "Kai". In retrospect, maybe Kaito'd hit on her a little too aggressively. Kazuha still thought that Kaito was female after all.

But the misunderstanding allowed Kaito to spend more time uninterrupted with Hattori, so…and Kaito really did enjoy being around the detective.

Sometimes he wanted to strangle Heiji or hit the guy, but Kaito eventually accepted this as part of the package and managed to grow fond of even Hattori's most annoying traits. After all, he could easily imagine that this was how other people felt about Kaito himself.

They went to Nara one weekend, and Kaito delighted in frolicking with the deer, feeding them crackers, and making Heiji take pictures.

"Get one with me and the baby!"

"Oh! Check out those two over there!"

"You think I could take one home?"

They spent a lot of time exploring Osaka and Kyoto, the modern and the traditional aspects.

"I don't get art. Is that supposed t' be…some kind of animal er somethin'?"

"Holy crap, bunraku is awesome! After a few minutes I didn't even see the puppeteers anymore! I didn't know you could express so much emotion using a puppet!"

There was a trip to Hiroshima during which Heiji proudly (and loudly) announced that Osakan okonomiyaki was better…and got them death glared out of the restaurant. Not that Heiji noticed. Kaito had to drag the guy out of there for his own good.

And then, before either of them noticed, summer had come to an end.

…

The night before Kaito was scheduled to fly back to Tokyo, he had dinner at the Hattoris' and slept over afterwards.

The two boys were sitting on the veranda just outside of Heiji's room, enjoying the full moon and the warm end-of-summer breeze, just chatting.

"Give me yer hand," Hattori insisted, taking the appendage before receiving Kaito's consent.

Kaito tensed. His heart lurched.

"This line here?" Heiji ran a finger over Kaito's palm. "It says yer gonna live forever."

"Yeah?" Kaito scoffed. With the number of times he'd been shot, he was surprised he'd lived to nineteen.

"Yeah. Yer invincible," Hattori confirmed, missing the sarcasm. "And this line…it says yer love life sucks. Like, bad until…here." Heiji pointed.

"Where's here?" Kaito peered down at his hand. "I mean…what year?"

"'Round nowish." Heiji shrugged. "It says things'll still be bumpy, but…I guess it's talkin' about that Aoi guy you used to date. Did he really beat ya with a mop?"

Kaito grimaced, pulling his hand away. "You have zero tact, you know that?" he snorted. "Geez. And Aoko is a girl."

"Oh." Heiji blinked and then frowned. "I upset ya, didn' I?"

Kaito shook his head. "I'm used to your lack of social graces."

Heiji bit his lip. "…I have aspergers. A real mild case, but…" He waited patiently for Kaito to respond, not looking nervous or anything.

Kaito blinked several times. "What?"

Hattori's brow furrowed. "Did I do it wrong? Sharin' a secret? Sorry. I thought…friends share secrets right? So…that's mine. I don't really tell people 'cause they always start treatin' ya funny afterwards, but…but that's why I…'have zero tact' and 'lack social graces'."

"Oh," Kaito replied softly, taken aback. "O-Oh! Man. Yeah. No. Geez. You're fine. You…you did it right, but…" Suddenly a lot of things made more sense: narrow list of interests, monologuing, personal space issues, lack of ability to read the situation. "Now I feel like a jerk. You've been trying really hard to be friends with me, haven't you?"

Heiji shrugged, completely downplaying his struggles.

Kaito pursed his lips. "Thank you. That's… You're really awesome, Hei-chan."

Heiji smiled and laughed at the praise, reaching out to muss Kaito's hair. "Yer pretty cool too, Kai-chan." And then he waited expectantly. "Was there…a secret ya wanted to share? Somethin' ya wanted to tell me?"

Kaito's voice caught in his throat. He really did want Heiji to know about the whole Kid thing, but…he was afraid of what it would do to their relationship. He'd found a true friend in Hattori, and the thought of losing him, having him turn on him, was…

Kaito lowered his gaze to the floor. "Someday, yeah," he whispered. "For now…just know that I'm secretly a bad person."

"I don't think so," Heiji replied firmly, reaching out and clapping Kaito on the shoulder. "C'mon. Let's go in and play some cards. Ya can show me a new trick er somethin', and then we should prob'ly turn in so ya can make yer flight tomorrow."

Kaito smiled and got up to follow. Heiji didn't like playing cards and really could care less about learning a trick. He was just trying to cheer Kaito up, and that was something Kaito had newfound appreciation for, considering.

…

The next day at the airport, Heiji waited at the gate with Kaito. They chatted half-hearted, each sad to be losing the other's constant companionship. When it came time for boarding, they stood, and there was awkward silence. Neither knew what to say.

Finally Kaito smiled. "Thanks. I…I'm really gonna miss you, Hei-chan."

"You can still call, ya know." Heiji bit his lip, hands stuffed in his pockets. "An' we kin text an' maybe…maybe ya can come back an' spend a weekend. I'll visit ya in Tokyo too when I come."

"That'd be great." Kaito's smile shone a little stronger. "Well…I'll…I'll text you when I get home. I'll keep in touch, so…"

"…Have a safe flight," Heiji replied, raising a hand in parting as Kaito reluctantly turned to go.

Heiji bit his lip, struggling internally before he called out, "Ya know, I've been thinkin' about comin' to a Kid heist!"

Kaito froze, almost tripping over his rolling suitcase. He turned and stared at his friend, completely blindsided by Heiji's comment.

"An' I think he should have one in Osaka sometime," Heiji continued, closing the gap between them. "An' you should come, 'an we could hang out afterwards. There're still a lot of places in Osaka that I have t' take ya, so… An' you kin show me Tokyo too, so let me know when the next heist is, an'…okay?"

"How did you…?" Kaito stared at him with wide eyes.

Heiji chuckled, grinning. "I got suspicious when I first saw ya, so I called th' real Kudo. When we met again, I got curious. An' ya sorta let some stuff slip. Little things, but…we've been hangin' out for three months now, so…they piled up. I kinda did some investigatin' into ya, and…I don't think yer a bad person, Kai-chan."

Kaito opened and closed his mouth a few times before he gave up and just laughed. "Thanks, Hei-chan," he replied, going in for a side hug. "Thanks."

"Yeah, no problem." Heiji returned the hug with interest. "Now go get on yer flight, and don't forget t' text me when ya get home."

As the summer came to a close, they parted with smiles and laughter. On the ride home, Kaito debated how to break the news to Haku-chan that he'd found a new best friend.

The

End

…

Mikau: *Cries* I am just not happy with how this turned out! I think there are a lot of good parts, but there's a lot of potential here that just didn't get fully realized. It was really hard working within the word constraints on this one. I feel like I need to do a series of one-shots to fill in the blanks and flesh this out. Man. Oh well. It was a lot of fun working with Heiji. This was my first time, so what do you think? The hardest part was his accent. I can do Kansai-ben…in Japanese. I mean, I went to school and worked in Kyoto. Getting the accent to translate into English, though, was brutal. Well, I hope you enjoyed this fic, even though it was a little…I don't know. Maybe I'm just imagining it and it's really fine after all, but I think it would have been better if I didn't have the word limit. What did you think? I hope you had fun reading it. See you next time!