[A/N] : My first multi-chaptered story! This is a small filler chaper before the main story begins.. I have it written already but I won't be posting it till i have an idea for the third.. enjoy!

Chapter 1 : It starts with zero

Kaito stared at the device in his hands with unwavering attention, eyes boring holes onto the information written and mind going blank as he failed to properly process its meaning. This couldn't be right. His eyes narrowed ever so slightly as he scrolled through the page.

"Kuroba, do you have a moment?"

Nimble fingers continuously tapped through the screen as he opened his mouth for a short reply— not even bothering to shift his eyes off of his tablet. "Not now Hakuba, I'm busy."

"If busy means you staring hard at a news article about Kudou Shinichi then I'm entailed to think otherwise." A deep sigh followed, his classmate sounding like someone grasping for patience.

Slightly annoyed from the distraction, Kaito made to turn from his self appointed task. He was about to give the brit behind him a glare and maybe a change of hair color when he abruptly became aware of the surrounding's silence. Indigo eyes blinked, rounding up the classroom and was left confused at the tense atmosphere, the flinch and wince their classmates and teacher made under his gaze—Mina-chan even screamed and ran out the door.

"What did I miss?"

Hakuba let out a puff of air, face shifting to that of petulance as he turned to look at Aoko for guidance. The girl in turn made to get up, face set into a scowl as she stomped towards the magician's desk. Slamming both of her hands on said desk, she gave a slightly frustrated huff.

"Kaito." The voice was firm, controlled. "You have been silent for almost a week and only tampering with your tablet. I know you don't listen to lectures but you've been making weird faces at it everyday."

"Weird faces?" He raised an eyebrow. That couldn't be right, he always had his poker face on.

"Yes. Weird faces." She crossed her arms, eyes boring holes as if trying to consider him. "Like, you've ingested something bad or saw something unbelievable. Aoko's not exactly sure but you look like you're plotting now though."

Ah, that explains his peers and teacher's reaction earlier even if it seem a bit exessive. At least their reaction does have some merit as he was likely to have a pranking spree sooner or later to vent off his frustration.

He waves a hand in response as if to dismiss her words, lowering the brightness of his tablet with his other hand while at the same time turning it just right to let the light catch the screen to unable anyone from seeing its contents any further. He'll leave a nice gift at Hakuba's place later for being nosy and announcing his detective watching for everyone to hear. He's not stalking. Nope. Absolutely not.

Kaito grinned, "Why Aoko, black and red today?"

"What?!" Aoko blushed, face a burning red as she gripped her skirt down before embarassment gave way to annoyance. She proceed to grab a mop out of nowhere, aiming for the prankster's head only for him to dodge at the first swing. "Come back here Bakaito! I'm not done with you yet! Pervert!"

As the two made to circle around the room, shouts and small crashes along the way, Hakuba turned his attention to the gadget now left lying on Kaito's table, wondering and trying to make some connections only to draw blank. Why would he be researching about the newly returned detective?

Later that day when he got home and saw a huge wrapped box on his bed, he knew he's being punished. Maybe he shouldn't have told the specifics of Kuroba's latest obsession. He's contemplating of maybe throwing the box out before dismissing the idea as soon as it crossed his mind. The last time he did that, the box just kept mysteriously going back the way he saw it first.

He should just get this over with. Mind made up, he reached for the ribbon and gave it a careful tug. As soon as the knot was untied, he was immediately dozed with exessive amounts of sleeping gas, faintly feeling his clothes being changed and hearing a soft clicking sound somewhere.

He really should just skip the next heist if Kudou-san didn't show up.

"Achoo!"

Arakawa-sensei stopped in the process of explaining how to solve the assignment only a few of them had been able to answer to glance at him briefly with a pointed look before turning back and continuing as if nothing happened. He was about to turn his gaze outside when someone tapped his shoulder from behind. Shinichi made to turn discretely, not wanting to be called on and raised a confused brow at Ran.

"Shinichi, that's the fifth time today. Maybe you should have that checked, I think you're going to catch a cold."

He gave a light sniff, pulling out his handkerchief and dabbing his nose before giving a reply. "Nah, I don't think so. School is more important and I can't really afford to miss more since this is the last year. I've missed the last two years already because of that case and I'm lucky enough the school only let me take exams to compensate for my lack of attendance." And it's true. He's going to graduate this year without being held back to repeat his years of absence.

Ran frowned, expression showing concern and was about to retort back —to tell him to take it slow and take care of himself first— when Arakawa-sensei turned back towards the class to start another lecture after writing some equations on the board. She gave an inaudible sigh, giving up for the time being, and leaned back towards her chair.

Shinichi's right but that doesn't mean he should be work his body to the limits. He's been studying nonstop and continuously running into cases that when he told her of Conan she couldn't let herself be angry long enough at him for it. She undersrood, the danger he would be putting her and everyone through, but that didn't mean she's just going to forget everything that had happened.

The experience changed something in them. Never would they be able to pursue a romantic relationship after being brother and sister for a long time. They just couldn't see each other that way after all, not after spending so much time together and treating each other as the siblings they never had. Not that they didn't try the romantic route.

They gave it a shot for the last two days, —small dates to the cinema, eating out and the like— to go out after classes for something romantic but everytime they made a move, they just keep feeling awkward. The holding hands and goodbye kisses on the cheek felt wrong, it's like touching or kissing a brother or a sister. At the end of the second day, they laughed it off, made a mutual decision to just remain as friends and continued their previous relationship just the way it had always been. And they had been right. It was more comfortable without the boundaries of romance over them.

Maybe they just aren't made for each other. That thought would have made her sad two years ago but maturation and experience made her a lot more practical about things. The puppy love has finally dulled that now it was only relief they hadn't end up together after all. She kind of figured they wouldn't work out in the long run anyway.

Shinichi likes going out into cases, either running into them, tempting fate by actively pursuing danger or just literally having bodies fall around him, endangering himself in the process. Ran could handle that. They're not childhood friends for nothing after all. Having different interests would have been fine. Ran likes going out and socializing with her friends from time to time and Shinichi likes reading and mostly staying out of having to interact with people, but despite their differences, they remained close friends. And the list goes on..

It was in the sense of feeling incomplete. As if there's something missing. The way you just know there's something wrong about the whole picture being painted that you just have to stop for a moment and think things through before continuing. She saw the littlest things like whenever Shinichi would look around the crowd, looking quite lost and desperation just behind his eyes; obviously searching for something, someone. And she couldn't help but know that they weren't for each other as she kept doing the same too.

It's the lack of something. His eyes won't shine as bright as it always did when he solves cases. With her, it always looks soft and genuine, family but never the different kind of look that was reserved for someone special. He had never so much as looked at her like he's in love. Maybe they had never been in love after all.

She never saw it back then but she did now, and she's just greatful that they didn't try to pursue a more complicated relationship. That would've spelled disaster for the both of them and a lot worse heartache than Shinichi leaving her for the sake of protection for the second time. Thankful that they're not trying to make something work out when in fact it never did in the first place.

Something was bothering her though. Shinichi kept throwing himself into cases and if not, refusing to go out of his huge fort of a house, holing himself into work and studies that she's almost sure he's hiding or at least trying to avoiding something.

She gave a glare at the back of her friend's head and noticed him tense the slightest bit. That was another one of the things she's been worrying about. He kept tensing whenever someone so much as look at him the wrong way, as if he could sense their gaze on him and whenever it's ill intent or not. She thinks he's being paranoid but given his status and experiences she couldn't help but agree that being more aware and alert of his surroundings had become a drilled self-defense mechanism already that he could't live without.

Glare softening, she smiled sadly for a moment, seeing the tense muscles relax before turning back in time for Sonoko to be called off to answer the fifth equation. All she could do was support him in the sidelines now as a friend and a sister. She could only hope that the melancholic look on his face that she kept seeing from time to time would vanish one day.

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