AN- With Blood and Snow nearly over, a new story begins! I actually have one other new Conan fic planned after this, aside from Blood and Snow's sequel, but that's an idea I still need to work out some more before I can actually get it underway. I'm pretty excited about this story because I think it's going to be fun to write and (hopefully) be just as fun to read. Obviously this branches off from the story line right after the Nue arc.

Anyways, as always, I hope everyone enjoys! Thanks for reading! Please remember to leave a review if you can, I'd really appreciate it! It's that sort of encouragement that keeps me writing!

(Don't) Believe What You Know

Chapter One

Premonition

Reflecting back on it, it was a bit hard to pinpoint exactly when all of this began.

Hattori Heiji, Conan thought, was honest to a fault. That was both a positive and a negative, depending on what you needed him to do for you. If you needed him to keep a secret, it was most definitely a negative. If you wanted someone you could trust with your biggest, most dangerous secret, it was definitely a positive.

It was no exaggeration to say that Conan trusted Heiji with his life. Considering the nature of his secret, the Osakan high school detective was essentially carrying his life in his hands every single day. And while he might bumble names, Heiji would never willingly expose Conan's secret.

Edogawa Conan- no, Kudo Shinichi, trusted him explicitly, beyond a shadow of doubt.

And that was exactly the reason he hated having to suspect him of anything, much less of keeping secrets from him- important secrets. Because as it turned out, just because one was honest to a fault, and was terrible at lying, that didn't mean that they couldn't lie and it most decidedly didn't mean that they couldn't keep secrets of their own.

So, when was it, exactly, that doubts formed in his mind in regards to the detective of the west?

The mysterious child abduction case? The blank paper murders? The Kaito Kid heist? What about the incident at the supposedly haunted manor, or what had occurred during the visit to Osaka?

Was it when he learned about Heiji's mysterious disappearance as a child? Or was it because it had come to his attention that there were things that his own parents didn't know about their son? Or perhaps, he thought, it was because he had been keeping things from his childhood friend, Kazuha, things that didn't involve his romantic feelings for her.

It could have been his mysterious relationship with that beautiful but strange black haired girl, one that he didn't seem willing to expand upon. Perhaps it was simply because he'd finally decided to stop and question why he always seemed to get involved in so many so-called supernatural cases in the first place.

No. It was none of those. When he really thought about it, then without a doubt the start of everything was none other than that fortune.

"Worst luck, huh?" Ai's tone was laced with a light hint of amusement, as she peered over at the fortune that he'd just unfolded. "It's been awhile since I've seen something like that."

"It doesn't matter. It's just a silly fortune." Conan observed, shooting her a look. "Everyone knows this sort of thing is fake anyways."

"If you insist, Kudo-kun." Ai said lightly.

"And? What kind of fortune did you get if you're going to try and rub mine in my face?" Conan asked, shooting her a look.

"Small luck." Ai said simply, shrugging her shoulders. "Not too bad, all things considered."

"Eeh, did you get a bad fortune, Conan-kun?" Ayumi asked, quite literally poking her nose into the conversation. "Worst luck! That's bad, Conan-kun. You'd better hurry and tie it up, before it sticks!"

"Like I said, this sort of stuff's not real. There's nothing to actually worry about." Conan insisted.

"This shrine's fortunes are said to be spot on, though." Mitsuhiko noted, peering at the fortune himself. "Let's see here... 'Your faith in a close friend will be shaken as you unravel the secrets they've been hiding. The imposter close to you will soon be in grave danger. Be careful of clinging too closely to previously held beliefs. Be wary of the sound of flutes.'. I understand what the first line and the third line mean, but what does the second one mean by an imposter? And why should you be wary of flutes?"

"Maybe it's about Kaito Kid?" Ayumi asked. "You know, because he pretends to be other people. But I don't really understand why it would warn you about him being in grave danger... wouldn't that just mean he would be close to being caught? Wouldn't that be a good thing?"

"Oh, you mean that thief who pretended to be me once?" Genta asked, finally joining the group. "Ayumi's right though, Conan-kun. You should probably tie a fortune that bad up right away."

"Alright, alright." Conan heaved a sigh, finally relenting to the demands of the genuine seven year old children around him. "I'll tie it up if that'll get all of you off my back. See?" Walking over towards where the other fortunes were tied, he neatly tied off his own, before turning back to them. "All tied up. There's no bad luck anymore."

This seemed to perk up the other three Detective Boys right away, and Conan let out another sigh. What exactly was he doing spending a Sunday morning with a bunch of children again? He'd had other plans for the morning when Ayumi, Mitsuhiko, and Genta had all but invaded the detective agency, declaring that they were all going to visit a shrine to get fortunes. Ayumi had apparently heard about their super accurate fortunes, and had wanted to go ever since.

"Honestly. Dealing with children is troublesome." Conan mumbled, rubbing the back of his head. Well, even thought he said that, he still allowed himself to be dragged along by them, so it wasn't exactly as if he completely hated it. Even if he did think fortune telling was a load of nonsense.

"Someone who looks like a child himself really shouldn't be sayin' somethin' like that."

It took him a second a place to voice, and another second to place the telltale accent. Approximately three seconds passed all told before Conan whipped his head around, all but pivoting on his heel to come face to face with none other than his fellow high school detective, Hattori Heiji. The dark skinned teenager was peering at him from behind the metal wire rack where the fortunes were tied up, a huge grin on his face no doubt due to having once more successfully snuck up on him.

One of these days, Conan was going to find out how he kept doing that.

"Hattori?!" Conan took a step back, only dimly making out the excited voices of the Detective Boys as they recognized Conan's so-called 'detective teacher'. "What are you doing in Beika? Shouldn't you be back in Osaka?"

"Don't worry 'bout why I'm here." Heiji said, his grin only growing as he walked around the wire rack, kneeling down in front of Conan and ruffling his hair with a good deal of vigor. "I heard from that Professor uncle that you an' the tyke squad over there were comin' to this shrine. Thought I'd see if I could catch up with the lot of ya."

Honestly, Conan wasn't entirely convinced. Whenever Heiji showed up in town, there was usually a case following him not far behind- and he doubted that this was an exception. Still, his cap was backwards at the moment, so he probably wasn't in the middle of chasing one right now, at the very least.

"Really? I thought for sure you'd still be licking your wounds, Hattori." Conan spoke up, putting on his best cheerful child smile. "After all, just recently you completely failed to confess to Kazuha-neechan, right?"

"Eh, is that so?" Ayumi asked, the other members of the Detective Boys having joined them now. "Did you really try and confess, Heiji-niichan?"

Shooting a glower towards his pint sized rival, as if warning him that he was going to pay him back for this later, Heiji turned towards Ayumi and the others, flashing them his best grin. "W-well, I wouldn't exactly say that I failed! It just wasn't the right moment, that was all!"

After all, who could confess with members of the JSDF lurking around anyways? Nobody in their right mind, that was who. Honestly, that entire trip had been a bust- he'd been able to accomplish nothing he'd actually set out to do. Granted, he'd been able to solve a murder case- but it wasn't like he'd set out to solve one in the first place, so that was kind of a moot point, all told.

"It's always not the right moment with you, Hattori." Conan observed.

"Well, I don't think you're really in a position to lecture him." Ai noted lightly. "And? Surely you didn't come here to get a fortune for yourself as well, Hattori-kun?" She asked, glancing up at him. She didn't know the dark skinned detective that her fellow shrunken teen trusted with his secret all that well, but from what she knew of him through Conan, he was apparently just as skeptical of such things as he was- even if he did regularly carry around an omamori.

"A fortune?" Heiji blinked, tilting his head slightly. "Well, I might as well since I'm here after all. This shrine's supposed ta have real accurate fortunes, right? I heard about it from Kazuha before."

"That's right!" Nodding her head, Ayumi beamed broadly, before pointing behind her. "You can get them from over there, Heiji-niichan."

"Oh, thank ya!" Beaming, Heiji briefly reached down to ruffle her hair, before he headed over to get a fortune of his own. Even from a distance, Conan could still see his expression grow gloomier by the second as Heiji opened up his fortune, before he silently retreated back towards them, tying it up without so much as a single word.

"That bad, huh?" Conan couldn't help but ask, arching an eyebrow. "For a detective, you sure are fast to believe in superstitions, Hattori."

"Shut up." Heiji huffed a little, tying off his fortune in a neat little knot. Whatever gloomy mood had descended upon him upon reading his fortune was instantly wiped away with his next grin, looking at the assembled Detective Boys before him. "Hey, ya wanna go grab somethin' ta eat? It'll be my treat!"

The overwhelming answer to the offer was of course, yes.

"So? Are you actually going to tell me what you're really doing back in Beika again so soon, Hattori?" Conan observed.

"Can't a guy just come over ta visit his best friend?" Heiji asked, blinking. It had been a rather noisy lunch, which began with discussing their fortunes- Genta and Mitsuhiko had gotten medium luck, with Ayumi being stuck with the very unclear "Uncertain Luck". Something good was supposed to happen on the heels of something bad, or so it said. As for Heiji's fortune, he'd been rather cagey about it, just grumbling to himself that it had been bad.

He had made a slight face after Mitsuhiko had rattled off what Conan's fortune had said, but the shrunken detective hadn't noticed.

The Detective Boys having long gone on their way home, Heiji and Conan were left behind together, finally giving Conan a chance to ask him the real questions.

"Not when the person in question is you, Hattori." Conan said simply. "So, what brings really brings here today? A case? If you need my help, all you need to do is ask, you know."

"It's not a case, an' I don't need yer help." Heiji snapped lightly, before grumbling a little. "I just had a bad dream, that's all, Kudo. I just wanted ta make sure ya were alright. Considerin' what happened the last time ya showed up in my nightmares."

"Ah." Conan said lightly, his brows raising ever so slightly. "That."

"Yeah." Glancing away from the boy's sharp gaze, Heiji rubbed the back of his head. "Ya might mock me fer bein' superstitious, Kudo, but ya gotta at least trust me on this one."

"Well, if it makes you feel better, I'm not about to chase you away." Conan shrugged his shoulders. To be honest, he still chalked up Heiji's supposed premonition to being nothing more than coincidence- as well as the protection his omamori had ended up providing him. But he knew enough to know that Heiji had been deeply worried about him that time, enough to part with something that was precious to him- even though he hadn't been willing to admit it back then. Out of the two of them, it was Heiji who had ended up the most badly hurt, and he still had the scar to prove it.

It wasn't like he was going to mock Heiji outright for it, in the end. Tease him a little perhaps- but he had no intention of outright blowing off his concerns.

"That's great ta hear, Kudo!" Heiji seemed to perk up at his words, turning back to the boy with a huge smile. "Especially since I was plannin' on crashin' at yer place tonight!"

"I suspected as much." Conan merely heaved a sigh, having more than gotten used to this kind of wilful behavior at this point. Heiji was the type of guy who went at his own pace, after all, and had a tendency to drag everyone around him up into it, whether they liked it or not. Conan had yet to determine in which of these categories he belonged. "By the way, Hattori. How did it go with Kazuha after that?"

"Eh? Ah..." Heiji trailed off, rubbing the back of his neck, his cheeks tinting a faint shade of pink. "Well, I don't think she realized the reason why I brought her out there in the end. Well, I guess that's fer the best. I can just try again."

"Maybe you should try picking a place that doesn't have a monster legend to confess?" Conan suggested lightly, quirking a brow.

"Shut up. I didn't know about the nue stuff until after I got there." Heiji huffed, his lips twisting in a frown. Besides, Kazuha wasn't nearly so afraid of supernatural creatures and legends if Ran wasn't around- it seemed that she kind of ended up mirroring the other girl's fears when they were together. "Although don't'cha think it'd be interestin' if somethin' like that turned out to be true at least once, Kudo? It'd be a huge scoop!"

"Not really." Conan shook his head. "The world's probably better off without that sort of thing being real."

"Ah, is that so." Heiji blinked, looking slightly crestfallen. As usual, he wore his heart completely on his sleeve. "I thought it might be kinda neat, a little, dependin' on what were talkin' about, mind ya."

"You just want to try your kendo skills out against a monster, don't you?" Conan asked.

"Ya caught me." Heiji admitted after a moment, flashing a grin. "Well, ya saw how good I was back with that whole fake zombie business, right? I'm pretty sure I could take on a monster if I tried. Speakin' of that case though, ya should have seen the look on yer face when those extras broke through the window. It was somethin'!"

"Shut up." Conan hissed. "Your face wasn't that much better."

"My expression was plenty fine, thank ya very much." Heiji said with a light huff. "Well, ya missed my tournament that one time, so I guess that's as close as you'll get ta see my skills fer awhile. Unless I can convince ya to come to Osaka again fer the next one?"

"The only reason we ended up missing you in the tournament was because you ran off to go solve a case." Conan pointed out. "But well, I probably would have done the same thing in your position."

"Ah, that's right, now that ya mention it..." Heiji laughed a little, having already forgotten the exact circumstances as to why he'd missed most of the tournament in the first place. "Kazuha was pretty at mad at me fer like a week afterwards. Well, the other guys in the kendo club had gotten pretty used ta that sort of thing by then, so they weren't all too bummed about it."

"You really do go at your own pace, don't you, Hattori?" Conan observed. "Ah, but that talk about the fake zombies reminded me- do you know what those three have started calling you now?"

"Me?" Heiji blinked, easily figuring out that by 'those three', Conan was referring to Ayumi, Mitsuhiko, and Genta. "No, what?"

"They're calling you a secret monster hunter." Conan said with a grin and a snort. "They said it's because I always get dragged into fake supernatural cases whenever you're around, Hattori."

"O-oh, is that so?" Heiji laughed, his odd reaction quickly gaining Conan's attention- there was nervous chord in his laugh that was strange. Not to mention the way he quickly moved to avoid eye contact, by looking literally everywhere else other than Conan's face. "How 'bout that? Now that ya mention it, I do seem ta run into a lotta cases like that. I never really thought about it before."

"Well, once you get a reputation for that sort of thing, it gets around." Conan said with a simple shrug, deciding to let Heiji's slightly odd reaction go. "As long as you don't let it get to your head like a certain somebody."

"On the list of people I wish I'd never met, I'm pretty sure that Gunma Inspector is among the top." Heiji dryly observed, grimacing at the mere thought of being lumped into the same category as Yamamura. "Honestly, is Gunma's police force really goin' ta be alright with that guy?"

"It's a grim future." Conan noted. "Imagine if he ends up climbing the ladder even higher."

"No." Heiji said shortly. "I don't wanna imagine that Kudo, an' yer not gonna make me. That's more horrifyin' than any would-be monster."

"Well, you're not wrong." Conan laughed. "By the way, exactly how long are you planning on hanging around here, Hattori? I know you might be worried about me, but it's not like you can just camp out around the agency waiting for the off chance that something is going to happen to me."

"Well, probably not too long." Heiji was quick to reassure him. "At most I'll linger 'round fer a day or two. There's no school anyways, so I've got plenty of time ta kill in the first place. Once I make sure my precious best bud is safe an' sound, I'll probably head on back towards home."

"Good, because I'm pretty sure a day or two will be Uncle's limit in putting up with you, especially when you show up out of the blue like this." Conan noted. "Which granted, with you, is always. I can't remember a single time when you've shown up with warning like a normal person."

"Rude." Heiji almost pouted. "I come all the way out here, leavin' behind my beloved Osaka just ta look after my good friend, an' this is the reception I get? Honestly, Kudo, it's like ya don't value our friendship at all."

"I'm just joking, don't worry about it." Conan told him, before glancing up, spotting Ran just ahead of them. "Ran-neechan!" He called out, waving a hand to get her attention.

"Oh, Conan-kun?" Ran asked, glancing behind her, having to do a double take when she spotted Heiji next to him. "And Hattori-kun! What are you doing here? Is Kazuha-chan here too?"

"Nah, I left her back in Osaka." Heiji told her, flashing the girl a broad grin. "I'm gonna be crashin' at yer place fer a day or two, hope ya don't mind."

"I don't mind at all. The more the merrier!" Ran was quick to say. "But I'll need to buy a bit more for dinner in that case..."

"Then, I'm lookin' forward to spendin' time with ya, Neechan!" Heiji said, before scooping up Conan, completely ignoring his protests at being so suddenly and abruptly picked up for no reason. "An' of course, this fellow right here!"

"You two are close as ever, I see!" Ran said with a slight chuckle. "But Hattori-kun, I don't think Conan-kun really likes being carried that way, so you should probably put him down."

"But he's so very portable." Heiji's voice had a slightly sullen note to it upon being scolded, but he did at the very least put the shrunken detective down. "I can't help it."

"Well, I can't say that I don't know what you mean..." Ran admitted, trailing off a little. Conan was extremely small and light, after all. "Are you here on a case though, Hattori-kun?"

"Nah, not this time. Just on some other business." Heiji was quick to say. It was best not to mention anything about prophetic nightmares to her anyways. Oh, there was no doubt she'd fully buy it unlike Kudo, who he was pretty sure was just humoring him to a degree- but then he also knew that she'd stick fast to Conan's side the whole time, and that would make things real difficult for the shrunken detective real fast.

Heiji put far more stock into his dreams than his shrunken rival would ever know- and he planned on keeping it that way, to be honest. The detective of the east might be his best friend, but there were things that Heiji thought would be best if he never mentioned to him.

"I'm surprised though, Hattori-kun. I thought for sure the reason why you were here was because of the missing children." Ran said with a small frown.

"Missin' children?" Heiji asked, blinking a little, her words quickly catching his interest. "What do ya mean by that, Neechan? Ya got a kidnapper runnin' around or somethin'?"

"Something like that." Ran said with a small frown. "I heard about it from dad. The past three nights, children have gone missing from all over Beika. Their parents would just wake

up in the morning to the realization that they weren't in their rooms. The police haven't been able to find any trace of them yet, or of the culprit."

"I see." Heiji frowned, his brows furrowing together. Briefly, he cast a glance down towards Conan- which he couldn't help but take note of, considering it wasn't the usual conspiratorial one. One of worry, maybe? Well, he did look like a child, he guessed, and it wasn't like Heiji had actually told him the content of his so-called precognitive dream. "That does sound pretty troublin'. And ya say it started around three nights ago?"

"That's right." Ran said, nodding her head. "It's more than one child a night as well. If I recall, three nights ago, three children went missing, and on the following two nights, the number of children that disappeared was four and six respectively."

"I see." Heiji said with a frown, folding his arms in front of his chest, processing this information. "That's quite a number fer just one night. Do the kids live in the same area, maybe the same apartment?"

"No." Ran said, shaking her head. "That's just it. They've been scattered all over Beika so far."

"I see." Placing a hand on his chin, Heiji mulled over this information. "I might as well try an' look into it while I'm here. What about you, Ku- no, Conan-kun?"

"Hattori-kun." Ran's tone was rather sharp, more than enough to make the dark skinned detective flinch. "Don't get Conan-kun involved in a case that involves missing children. I know he likes to learn things from you, but I'm worried enough about him as it is!"

"Ah, sorry, sorry, Neechan." Heiji laughed a little, sheepishly glancing away from her. It was too easy for him to forget sometimes that other people didn't know that 'Edogawa Conan' wasn't the child that he claimed to be, after all. "I promise I'll keep Conan-kun far away from it, alright?"

"That's good." Ran said, nodding her head. "Well, in that case, I'm going to finish up my shopping. But feel free to go ahead and make yourself at home, Hattori-kun! And don't worry about what my father might say, you're always welcome at the agency anytime."

"Oh, thank ya, Neechan!" Flashing one of his characteristic grins, Heiji waved at her as Ran headed off to complete her errands. He waited until she was out of earshot until he glanced down at Conan, quirking an eyebrow at him. "An'? When were ya plannin' on mentionin' this case ta me? There's no way ya aren't the least bit curious about it."

"Well, I am." Conan said, a considering look on his face. "But given the number of children going missing and the distance covered every night, we're obviously dealing with more than one person here. That's all the more reason to be careful. Besides," the shrunken detective looked up towards Heiji. "I thought you had other concerns of your own bringing you here."

"Well that might be true, but there's no way I can turn a blind eye ta somethin' like this. But don't worry, Kudo! I'm pretty sure I can look after ya an' solve this case at the same time! It'll be no problem at all!" Heiji reassured him.

Conan mumbled something underneath his breath about not needing Heiji to look after him, but his protests, of course, fell on deaf ears. After all, once Heiji got an idea in his head, he wasn't the type to let it go so easily.

As expected, Mouri Kogoro did not enjoy the idea of obtaining another freeloader, least of all a loudmouthed brat from Osaka who fancied himself a detective. Biting back a remark that the only reason Kogoro had the prefix "great" attached to the "detective" part of his occupation was because of Conan's own deductions, the two simply decided by and large to ignore Kogoro's ramblings.

Of course as Conan quickly learned, being 'looked after' by Heiji meant the Osakan detective basically not leaving his side the entire time. Whenever he left the room, Heiji was sure to get up and follow right behind him. For a moment, Conan couldn't help but be reminded of a faithful dog following it's owner from room to room- except this 'dog' was a human being with a strong Osakan accent instead of any kind of fuzzy companion. As the day turned into evening, and evening turned into night, it increasingly started to get on his nerves.

"I'm pretty sure that nothing bad is going to happen to me in my own house, Hattori." Conan observed, heaving a deep sigh as he turned around to look at the teenager who for all the world, looked ready and willing to follow him into the bathroom. "I'm just going to take a bath. I don't plan on drowning in the bathtub anytime soon."

"Well, ya are real small." Heiji said, indicating with two fingers what he roughly thought about Conan's height. "But I can't help but worry, ya know?"

"Honestly." Conan grumbled, scratching the back of his head. "What was this dream supposed to even be about if it's got you this worried?"

"What's this about a dream?" Ran asked, peeking out of her room. "Ah, sorry. I wasn't listening in or anything, I was just..."

"Ah, no, it's nothin', Neechan." Heiji said quickly, shaking his head. "Nothin' ya need ta worry about at all. We were just talkin' about this kid's dreams, right, kid?"

"Ehhh, we weren't talking about that at all Heiji-niichan. There's no reason to hide it!" Conan blinked, putting on his best impression of a cute child, even as his fellow detective glowered at him. "You know, Ran-neechan, Heiji-niichan here said he had a bad nightmare about me, and that's why he came all the way here to Beika just to see me!"

"Is that true, Hattori-kun?" Ran blinked, a slight frown on her face. "I thought you weren't the type who believed in that sort of thing."

"Ah, well." Heiji began, suddenly finding literally every part of the hallway other than where Ran's face was located immensely fascinating. "Ya know how it is, right? I just wanted to come by an' make sure the kid was really alright after that, that's all!"

"I see." Ran said, chuckling a little into her hand. "You're really like a brother to him, Hattori-kun. I think that's why Conan-kun looks up to you, you know?"

"Oh?" Heiji's eyebrows shot up as he all but leered down at the pint sized detective, amusement obvious as anything in his eyes. "Is that so? The kid looks up ta me, is that how it is?"

"It is!" Ran nodded her head, her smile rather blissful. "That's why you're always hanging around Hattori-kun whenever he's around, right, Conan-kun?"

Forced into a corner, Conan had no choice but to begrudgingly agree- but that didn't mean he'd let Heiji win this round. "Y-yeah. He's not as cool as Shinichi-niisan, but Heiji-niichan is still pretty amazing!"

The twitch that got from Heiji was definitely worth it, Conan thought to himself. "Hmph! I'm way cooler than that idiot, idiot!"

"Now, now, there's no reason to fight." Ran said, smiling at the boys. "Hattori-kun, the bath is free if you want to go ahead and use it."

"Ah, that's fine, the kid was in line 'afore me, I'll let 'im use it first." Heiji told her, still shooting Conan a dirty look in regards to his earlier comment.

"Then, I'll go ahead!" Casting one last sly look towards Heiji, Conan darted into the bathroom before the Osakan detective could follow behind him like the worried mother hen he was acting like. As Conan shut the door behind him, Ran peered over towards Heiji, sliding up until she stood beside him.

"So?" Ran asked, glancing at him from the side of her eye, not wanting to look too obvious. "How did it go with Kazuha-chan after that?"

The way Heiji managed to mix the grumble of annoyance at being asked the same question again twice in one day, and the flustered embarrassment from what it meant was nothing short of impressive, Ran thought. The Osakan detective was always one given over to high emotion, and this clearly was no exception.

"Well, it kind of hasn't..." Heiji trailed off, rubbing the back of his neck, before he blinked, looking wide eyed over at the girl beside him. "Wait a second? How do ya know about that in the first place? Did Kudo tell ya?"

"No." Ran said, shaking her head. It was the first time she'd heard that Shinichi knew anything about Heiji's feelings for Kazuha, though. She was a little surprised. "It's just kind of obvious."

"...eh?" Heiji blinked, for a moment at a loss for words. "...Is it really that obvious?"

Honest to god, it was starting to sound like he was the only person who hadn't noticed the fact that he had feelings for Kazuha up until now. Did this honestly mean he was the last person to know about his own crush? Some great detective he was.

"Yeah." Ran said, slowly nodding her head. "For awhile now, really. But it's alright, Hattori-kun!" She was quick to reassure him, patting him on the shoulder. "You can confess to Kazuha-chan next time! I can even help if you like."

"No, this is kinda somethin' I need ta do on my own." Heiji told her. "An' listen. Don't tell Kazuha a word about it, Neechan. Ya gotta swear. Cross yer heart an' everythin'."

"Don't worry, my lips are sealed." Ran said with a grin. Well, if things continued to drag on like this for much longer, maybe she'd go ahead and take action to push them together a little... but that wasn't quite telling Kazuha, per say. Just speeding things up a little, she thought.

A late night thirst was what roused Conan from his futon in the middle of the night. Blearily blinking tired eyes, he pushed back his covers, before slowly getting to his feet. Kogoro was snoring away next to him- it was really amazing that he'd been able to get used to that noise. He thought he'd never be able to get a good night's sleep sharing a room with this guy.

Speaking of people he was sharing rooms with though- Conan frowned, his sleepy mood drifting away from him when he noticed that Heiji wasn't in the futon next to him. Crashing at the detective agency meant the three of them sleeping to a room, but it didn't appear that Heiji was here.

Briefly, he thought that he might have just gotten up to get a glass of water or to go the bathroom- but not only was Heiji's futon neatly arranged, but from the look of his bag, his clothes were also missing. What's more, in their place, he could just make out the tank top he knew Heiji had worn to sleep in the first place.

That was strange- had he gone somewhere? In the middle of the night? It was already three in the morning, after all. And without telling anyone, even him? That didn't seem like Heiji. Had something come up?

Any trace of sleepiness now wiped away from Conan thanks to the driving force of his curiosity, the not-child carefully crept out of the room he shared with Kogoro. He didn't hear any signs of anyone moving out and about inside of the house, but he'd go ahead and look around anyways.

Seeing no signs of Heiji within the living area of the Mouri apartment, he headed down a flight of stairs towards where the detective agency was. Jiggling the handle, he determined that it was still locked. His brow creased at this, wondering where exactly it was that Heiji could have run off to in the middle of the night.

Perhaps there really was another reason he'd come to Beika, after all- one that he wasn't sharing with him, Conan thought to himself, his eyes narrowing at the very thought of it. Usually Heiji was a little more forthcoming than that- was there something that he didn't want to involve him in?

Perhaps it really was the scent of the child abduction cases that had drawn him to Beika in the first place. But something about that explanation didn't sit right with him- he looked like he'd been hearing about them for the first time from Ran, after all. Heiji wasn't exactly very skilled in the lying department, as Conan had learned firsthand many times over already.

Well, it could also be that he simply decided to investigate after hearing about it from Ran- but even if that was the case, wandering around in the middle of the night wasn't really the best way to solve the case at hand. The police had already significantly increased patrols in response to the kidnappings, and they still had found nothing.

Jumping a little as he heard a slight sound coming from upstairs, Conan quickly hurried back up to investigate. That was where he found Heiji letting out a loud yawn as he seemed to curl back up into his futon, dressed in his sleepwear. When the dark skinned detective caught Conan looking at him, he frowned a little.

"What's wrong, Kudo?" He asked, keeping his voice to a whisper so as to not wake the old man. "Ya look like ya've seen a ghost."

"Where were you, Hattori?" Conan whispered, sliding into the futon next to him. "When I woke up, you were gone."

"I was just goin' ta the bathroom, the bathroom." Heiji told him, resting his head on the pillow. "Don't tell me ya woke up an' found me missin' an' got scared?"

"Shut up." Conan lightly hissed, not buying Heiji's explanation of going to the restroom. After all, he'd checked the restroom, and it had been completely empty. There was no way he could have just simply missed him that easily.

But then, where had he been? And how did he get back into Kogoro's room without him noticing anything? There was no way he could have entered it without passing him and yet he had.

As much as Conan wanted to pursue these questions, drowsiness threatened to overcome him now that he was tucked back into his futon. His eyes fluttered as he fought to keep them open, trying to prevent himself from falling asleep while there were still questions unanswered- but it was no use.

He'd have to ask Heiji more thoroughly about his odd behavior tomorrow morning, he thought, finally shutting his eyes. He was certain that once cornered about it, the Osakan detective would spill his guts to him with no problem. It was probably just something about a case, he thought- judging from the way Heiji had acted back during the last case after he'd had a nightmare about him, it wasn't unlikely that he was just trying to leave Conan out of whatever he was investigating. It was more than a little annoying- he could at the very least tell Conan that he was working a case, the knowledge alone wouldn't send him to an early grave. He didn't like being left out of the loop.

As Conan slowly drifted back off to sleep, for a moment, the fortune he'd gotten this morning from the shrine came floating back to him- most noticeably it's words of warning.

'Your faith in a close friend will be shaken as you unravel the secrets they've been hiding.'

No way, Conan dimly thought to himself. There was no way that honest to a fault Hattori Heiji, of all people, could be keeping secrets from him.