No… it wasn't supposed to be like this… this was all wrong… Shinichi watched as she spoke eagerly to the teenaged detective on the other line. Yes. She was supposed to be with a teenaged detective. But not him. He hated that guy so much for taking her away. But at the same time he was grateful. He was happy she was happy, but as selfish as it was he was also unhappy. He wasn't the cause.

Three hours. She had been on the phone for three hours. It was time to get off. After all, people were going to be calling for cases, the line needed to be open. Shinichi casually looked at his watch. Two hours and forty eight minutes. It was still too long.

"Ran-neechan!" Conan tugged at her skirt slightly. Ran looked down at him.

"Nande?" Shinichi needed something to say, something that wouldn't show his obvious tactic to get her off the phone. Something good. Maybe he was hungry? No… he had just used that excuse an hour ago and Ran had cooked while talking on the phone. She could multitask, very well. Maybe he was bored? No, that would result in chores. He wasn't up to that just now. Maybe…

"Ojisan is drinking too much again!" He reported. Ran blinked and then sighed.

"Conan-kun…"

"Yes?" He asked innocently.

"Otousan is out playing Majong." Conan blinked. Oh. It was Saturday, Kogoro's night to play Majong with the neighbors.

"Well… he should be home soon." Ran blinked.

"At close to dawn." She sighed and turned back to the phone. Shinichi sighed. Another attempt to get her off the phone failed. Maybe he should fake sick? Or just call her cell phone as Shinichi, that'd get her attention.

No, he couldn't call now, later sure but not now. He wouldn't be able to explain Conan's sudden disappearance, and he wanted to stay nearby to monitor the conversation.

There had to be something he could do as Conan to get her off the phone, anything.

"Ojisan might try to call!" He offered.

"My cell phone's open." She said offhandedly. Shinichi twitched. Maybe he should break the stupid phone. The idea… was so tempting. Ran looked at him.

"Conan-kun, want to get some ice cream?" She offered. "You seem bored."

"Hai!" Conan eagerly accepted. The girl smiled and turned back to the phone.

"I'll see you soon then, Ja matte!" She hung up. Conan was twitching.

"He's going?"

"Well yes."

"I'm not hungry." Ran frowned.

"Conan-kun… you're going to have to get used to being around Saguru-kun." Conan shook his head.

"And why is that?" He interrogated. "I don't like him." Ran blinked.

"W-well… I… I don't need to explain myself to you." She said defensively. "Now, get your jacket so we can go." Conan blinked.

"But I said-"

"You can't stay here by yourself."

"I can't?"

"No." She grabbed his hand and pulled him out of the agency and towards the ice cream parlor.

"Shouldn't you call your dad?"

"We'll be back before him." Ran stated, pulling him along. "What's with you lately? You're so stubborn." Conan blinked.

"Am not." He supplied childishly. Ran sighed and pulled the door open, stepping in and getting a booth. She then turned to Conan with a serious look.

"Be nice."

Shinichi pretended to not hear.

There was a chiming sound as the door opened and the tall blonde stepped in, spotting Ran he walked over. "Ran-chan, Conan-kun." He acknowledged them.

"Saguru-kun." Ran greeted him. Conan ignored his existence.

Saguru didn't seem to notice, or he didn't make a big deal of it. He sat next to Ran. Shinichi crawled under the table and popped up between them.

"C-Conan-kun!" Ran exclaimed. "Mou…"

"So, what's your favorite flavor Ran-chan?" Saguru asked, unfazed.

"Strawberry." Conan answered for her, in a dull tone. Ran sighed, Conan was going to make sure they didn't say very much to each other at all. He was probably going to try to answer any and all questions for her.

"And what's yours Conan-kun?" asked Hakuba.

"Vanilla." Conan said curtly.

"Me too!" Hakuba smiled, "So shall we get ice cream now?"

Conan ignored him.

"Hai." Ran responded.

Hakuba stood up. Ran started to get up but Conan remained seated.

"He's fine on his own." The boy shrugged. Ran sighed.

"Conan-kun… please move." Shinichi looked at her.

"Demo… I'm too tired." Ran picked him up and switched places with him so she could get out.

"Matte! I've decided I have the energy again!" Conan hopped off the seat. Ran sighed. She knew exactly what he was up too.

Saguru sighed as well. This was going to be a long trip.

Ran was starting to think she should have left him at the agency. It wasn't far from here, she could take him back now.. or maybe to the professors. She sighed.

"Conan-kun… I think you should go home." Shinichi looked up.

"Oh?"

"You're not being very good." Shinichi fought the urge to shrug. He didn't really care. "I'll take you home. Come on." She grabbed his hand.

Saguru looked up. "I'll go to," he said.

"You don't have too." Ran said. Conan glared. He didn't need to know where she lived. But then again… the agency wouldn't be hard to look up.

"It's okay, it'd be better to walk with you then stand in an ice cream parlor anyway," Saguru said simply.

Ran smiled and then nodded. Conan sighed. This was bad. For him. Ran started towards the door, Conan's hand in her hand.

Saguru walked politely beside them.

Conan watched Hakuba closely the entire time. Ran sighed.

"Gomen, Saguru-kun, I promise he doesn't normally act like this…"

"Ne ne Ran-neechan!" Conan interrupted, now to think of something to say. "I think we should clean Shinichi-niichan's house again soon." Ran blinked.

"I guess so… we haven't cleaned it in awhile…" She said thoughtfully. "I'll call Sonoko and Eisuke-kun to see they'll help." She turned to Hakuba. "Would you mind helping?" Conan blinked. No. Hakuba was not allowed in his house. But how could he say that without exposing himself.

"Shinichi-niichan doesn't know Saguru-niichan."

"He doesn't know Eisuke-kun either." Conan blinked. Now he was speechless.

"I don't know…He may not appreciate someone just walking in and cleaning his house, even if a clean house is a bonus," said Hakuba, privately imagining someone besides him cleaning Watson's cage.

"Shinichi asked me to keep it clean, it's fine." Ran explained. "Demo… His house is so big… it takes forever to clean." She sighed. Conan twitched.

Excuse me for having rich parents… He thought to himself.

Hakuba blinked, seeming to have an epiphany, "A friend of mine enjoys cleaning, can she come too?"

Ran blinked.

"She?"

"Of course, she may want to bring her best friend Kuroba-kun with her," Hakuba added.

Ran smiled.

"Oh! Yes, that's fine." She decided.

And there for a moment I thought there was something… Shinichi thought as they reached the agency.

-

Being bad was dumb. He wasn't going to do it again. Actually… He shook his head. She could be doing anything with him. They had left around thirty minutes ago. Who was to say they weren't happily sharing an ice cream? Or maybe… they hadn't even gone back to the ice cream shop? Maybe they decided to go to a movie… what if they weren't watching the movie? He paced his room up and down. He needed to think with a level head.

Ran was smarter than that. She wouldn't… but he didn't trust that guy… who knew what he was capable of? Maybe he should kick a soccer ball at his pretty blonde head, then his face wouldn't be so pretty. He huffed a sigh and sat down.

For two seconds.

What if they went to an Italian restaurant… was there even one around? No. Chinese, yes. He sighed, he was really going to pieces over this whole thing. What was it anyway? Ran and Hakuba didn't have a title, maybe they were just friends? Unlikely… those happy cookies were a dead give away. Damn Haibara for pointing it out.

"Oh she seems much happier Kudo-kun." He mimicked. "The cookie shows this." How badly he had wanted to shove the cookie in her face. The death glares and cold shoulder would not have been worth it. He looked at the clock. Forty minutes she had been gone for forty minutes. He looked out the window. A full moon? Damn it. Now they were surely on a walk. Damn stars had to be visible tonight of all nights. Why not when it was raining and no one could go outside? Why couldn't it start raining now? Wait… that might help the mood. Why couldn't it hail at random? It was possible wasn't it. But then… if she got hit. Why couldn't… he didn't know, he run into a tree?

This pacing was getting him nowhere, except to the living room. What if… what if they decided to go on a picnic? At… eight o'clock at night. It was still possible. Or maybe they went to a night club. Except… they were both underage. But he might have a fake ID. Shinichi shook his head. This thinking… was getting down right dumb.

But then… what if she tripped and he caught her? That would be bad. But he wouldn't want Ran to hurt herself. What if… what if he convinced her to go back to his place? He'd kill him. On the spot. He looked back at the clock. An hour. They were gone for an hour. They should've been done with their ice cream by now! Surely they were… he had a mental image of them leaning into each other… they were…. They got closer… they were… they kissed. Conan grabbed his coat and cap and opened the door. Ran blinked.

"C-Conan-kun, where were you going?"

"Hakase's!" Conan chirped, without missing a beat.

"Weren't you going to tell me?"

"Where else would I go?" Ran sighed.

"To spy on me?" Conan's face flushed slightly.

"W-why would I do that?"

"Then, I guess I'll see you later, Ran-chan?" Saguru spoke up.

Ran looked at him and smiled while nodding.

"Of course, tomorrow good for you?"

"It's no good for us." Conan supplied. Ran blinked.

"Oh?"

"I don't feel well… so if I get sick…" Ran sighed.

"Conan-kun… tomorrow we're cleaning, if you're not feeling well then you can rest on Shinichi's couch while we clean."

"…"

"See you tomorrow Ran-chan," Hakuba smiled, meeting her eyes, then leaving.

How dare he look at her like that! Shinichi thought as Ran ushered him inside.

"If you don't feel well, you should go to bed."

"Hai!" Conan chirped.

-

Conan sat on the steps of his house while Ran got all the cleaning supplies ready. Sonoko and Hondou were helping her as they filled buckets with soapy water. Conan was still playing sick.

It was then that the blonde object of Conan's hatred walked up with a girl and a boy trailing behind him, arguing irritably.

Hakuba walked up to Conan, "How are you feeling today Conan-kun?"

"Eh? Terrible." Conan said curtly.

The girl looked at Conan for a second.

"Doushite no?" She asked, kneeling in front of him. Conan blinked.

"A-ah…?" This girl… she looked like… Ran, only her face was a little different and her hair was shorter. She was shorter.

"I'm sick." He told her, lying, sort of, he really wasn't feeling the best. That was probably just jealousy though… wait… he wasn't jealous, he just didn't trust Hakuba.

"Poor thing." She put a hand on his forehead. "Eh? You don't seem to have a fever." Conan sighed.

"I just don't feel well." He managed. Aoko blinked.

"Kawaii!" She hugged him.

"Oi!" The boy objected. Conan blinked. Why was he being hugged at random?

Aoko was a girl, she knew what Conan was up to, well some of it. She had no idea he was insanely jealous, but she did know he was faking being sick. To her it just seemed like he was over protective of his neechan, which was very cute.

"Kaito." She turned to the boy. Who, Shinichi had realized, was a living replica of himself. With messier hair and wider eyes, that clearly had a like for mischief.

The boy, Kaito blinked.

"Nani?" Aoko stuck her tongue out and turned back to Conan.

"I'm Aoko." She explained as Ran opened a door and stepped out with a bucket filled with soapy water.

"Saguru!" Ran greeted him happily as she set the bucket down. She froze. "Sh-Shinichi?" She shook her head. "Gomen!" She bowed to Kaito. "You look like a friend of mine." Kaito blinked.

"It's really not a problem. It's better than the other person I'm confused with." Kaito glared at Hakuba. Aoko rolled her eyes.

"You must be Ran-chan!" She said happily. "I'm Nakamori Aoko and this is Kuroba Kaito." She looked Ran over a second. "It's good that you're not wearing a skirt." Kaito sighed.

"I only do that to you."

"Because she is truly special to you, neh?" Hakuba hinted. "Like Ran-chan!" He smiled at her.

Kaito and Aoko blushed.

"It's not like that! Idiot!" They both responded. Ran blinked, having blushed herself. Shinichi glared.

"So, shall we go? That house is only collecting more dust," said Hakuba cheerily, apparently enjoying his triumph at embarrassing Kaito and having complimented Ran in one swoop.

Kaito glared and stepped in when Ran ushered them inside. She handed Conan a feather duster.

"Would you mind dusting the library?" She asked. Conan blinked and then nodded, taking it from her and heading up the stairs.

"Ne, Saguru-kun, would you mind helping him, he normally gets distracted by the mystery books."

"Ah…" Hakuba followed after him.

Conan started to dust and then noticed Hakuba had come in. Why was in here? This room was his place to be him for awhile. Ah! The sign of four. He pulled the book out and opened it up.

Suddenly the book was pulled out of his hand, closed and put back on the shelf. "That's why I'm here," he said, as if he had read Conan's mind.

"Ah re?" Conan looked up. "Oi!" He objected. "I was reading that!"

"Not dusting, which is what you should be doing," said Hakuba.

Conan blinked and then glared.

"I was going to get to it… after Sherlock."

"Though Sherlock is probably more entertaining, we have work to do," said Hakuba kindly.

Conan hmphed and walked over to his dad's desk and started to dust, using more force than necessary, and accidentally knocking a picture of himself, from when he really was seven, over. He blinked. He had never liked that picture anyway. His mom had loved taking pictures when he was sleeping. She still loved taking pictures. He sighed.

Hakuba looked up, walking over to the desk and picking up the picture. He looked at it, and then looked at Conan. "A picture of you?" he asked.

"Iie. That's Shinichi-niichan." Conan said lazily.

"You look just like him," Hakuba commented, setting it back up on the desk and moving back to the book shelves.

Shinichi shrugged.

"I know. Ran-neechan thought we were the same person once."

"Hm…You're a little young to be him," remarked Hakuba pleasantly.

Shinichi twitched inside. I am him… He thought.

"I'm pretty sure I know that." He said bitterly. "We're ten years apart I think…"

"I wonder why Ran-chan would think you were the same people," Hakuba mused.

"I don't know." Conan shrugged and continued to dust the desk off. He finished and hopped down going back over to the book shelf and dusting off his mother's romance novels.

"Have you considered asking him about that?" asked Hakuba.

"No." Conan said curtly. "I never really talk to him." Except when I think to myself…

"Ah really? Are you related to him?" Hakuba knelt down towards ones further down. He blinked. 'Edogawa Rampo….' His eyes moved. 'Sir Arthur Conan Doyle…' He glanced at Conan, dusting quickly and moving on.

"Yeah…" Conan answered. He couldn't quite remember what his mom had said… her uncle's grandpa's cousin… something like that.

"So, was your father a Sherlock fan?" asked Hakuba offhandedly.

"Yup. That's why I'm named Conan."

"Heh. It makes sense that you would be a fan then, huh? So what's he doing overseas anyway?" asked Hakuba curiously, almost to the other side of the room.

"I think it runs in the family." Conan shrugged, after all, his dad was a Holmes fan. "I don't really know, business trip."

"Ah. What does he work as?" Hakuba straightened a row of books.

Shinichi thought about it. He hadn't thought up an occupation for his imaginary dad. Well… since Conan was fond of being detective, it would make sense for his dad to be one too..

"Tantei." He said after awhile.

Hakuba blinked, "Sou ka…Good occupation." He laughed a little.

"Ah…" Conan shrugged, moving to his fathers unfinished and unpublished manuscripts. He was supposed to have finished this one last week… he must have made a copy. He picked up the unfinished 'night baron' story. I've never actually gotten around to reading his latest books. I should probably do that… soon. He stored the manuscript in the drawer, knowing exactly which one the manuscripts went in.

"Come here often?"

"When ever Ran-neechan comes to clean." He said dully.

"Ah." Hakuba looked around the room. "This looks good enough, hm?"

"Probably." He agreed.

"Then we should go find Ran-chan and see what else we can do," said Hakuba.

"A-ah…" Conan said, remembering that he didn't like Hakuba. He hurried out of the room to find Ran first. She was dusting off the movies in the living room.

"Ran-neechan! The library's done!" He said happily.

"Oh… then… could you go dust Shinichi's room?"

"Hai!" He bounded up the stairs again to his old room.

Hakuba blinked, quickly side-stepping to avoid Conan, who went barreling past. He blinked, then walked over to where he saw Ran.

"He ran off," he said.

"He's dusting Shinichi's room." Ran said calmly. "He always does, he never lets anyone else in there." She looked over the entertainment center. "Yukiko-san's room is the only one left I think…"

"Itai!" A loud crashing noise came from the kitchen. Ran blinked.

"Mou…"

"Eisuke-kun! Daijobu?" She heard Sonoko ask.

Hakuba blinked, "Does he do that often?"

"He's very clumsy." Ran explained as she walked into the kitchen where an empty bucket lay on the ground, soapy water pooling around it.

"The bucket fell on him." Sonoko reported. Ran sighed.

"I told you I have no luck." Eisuke reminded her. Sonoko sighed.

"I know… I know…"

Hakuba blinked. 'Bad…Luck…' he thought. A serious look crossed his face at a thought, then he walked over to the kitchen. "Should I help in here instead?"

Hondou shook his head.

"No… I can handle it." He declared. Sonoko nodded.

"I'll make sure he doesn't get hurt again. We just thought we should set the bucket on the fridge, and it fell." Ran sighed and looked at the spilled water.

"I'll take care of it Mouri-san!" Hondou offered. Aoko came in with her mop and quickly got it.

"And I just mopped here too!"

"Trust Nakamori-chan to tell when her mopping has been disrupted," Hakuba remarked.

Ran blinked. Aoko shrugged and started to mop again. Kaito came back in.

"What was with all the noise?" He asked. "Oi!" He was hit by Aoko's mop.

"That was for earlier." She said calmly.

"I'm amazed you actually hit me."

"Nani?" She looked up at him. "I won't chase you around in someone else's house." She stated. Kaito stuck his tongue out.

Conan came down with the feather duster and handed it back to Ran.

"All done!" He said happily, hiding a tinge of sadness.

Hakuba noted it, but said nothing.

Ran took the object from him and stored it away.

"I think that just about does it… it didn't take anytime at all." She noted.

"Ne, ne! Ran-neechan! I'm going to the professors for a little bit." He stated. Ran blinked and then nodded.

"I'll come get you later then."

"Don't bother, I think I'm going to stay the night."

"Okay then… have fun Conan-kun."

Hakuba blinked. He was leaving…? But before he had tried as hard as he could to keep him from being alone with Ran…Something must have shook him up…

Conan left the house quickly. Ran watched as the door closed before turning back to everyone.

"Arigatou gozaimasu!" She bowed. "For helping, it really went by much faster."

"I always help you." Sonoko said lazily. "And he started when we became friends," she pointed to Hondou.

"It's nothing! I enjoy cleaning." Aoko smiled. "I'll gladly help next time too, Ran-chan!" Kaito shrugged.

"It wasn't boring." Ran blinked.

"A-ah…"

"So are you tired or do you want to go do something?" Hakuba asked Ran.

She thought about it.

"Like… kissing?" Kaito offered, innocently.

"Kaito!" Aoko whacked him on the back of the head. "That's rude!"

Ran blinked, blushing furiously.

Saguru blinked as well, blushing at the corner of his eyes, but trying to act calm about it, "That's not exactly what I had in mind."

Kaito blinked.

"Then what did you have in mind? Dirty minded detective."

"Kaito!" Sonoko laughed and Hondou blinked.

Hakuba turned bright red. "I was thinking of going out you dumb ass!"

Kaito grinned.

"Objective of annoying Hakuba-kun… achieved." Aoko sighed. Ran blinked.

"W-we can go out if you'd like… maybe see a movie?"

"A-Ah," said Hakuba. Trying not to think of anything Kaito had said.

"Hey, are you even going to watch the movie?" Aoko whacked him again.

"Would you stop that!"

"Did you want to go?" Aoko blushed.

"No!"

"Who said we wouldn't watch the movie? I would rather watch then…" His face turned red. "Well… I'm not taking you."

Hakuba sighed, "Shall we go? What do you want to see?" He turned back to Ran.

"Makoto-san needs to get back and take me to the movies!" Sonoko whined. "We could go see that new romance movie!" Hondou blinked.

"I wouldn't want to see romance, but I'll take you Suzuki-san." He offered. Sonoko looked at him flatly.

"You would knock over the screen." Hondou blinked. Ran giggled.

"Any's fine really."

"As long as you don't actually watch-" Aoko smacked him again.

"We're leaving now, because Kaito's being rude. It was nice meeting you Ran-chan!"

"Nice meeting you too." She smiled as Aoko dragged Kaito out the door.

Hakuba smirked, "She's good for him. She'll beat him over the head until he's quiet or unconscious."

"A-ah…" Ran blinked. "I guess."

"Gomen, I'm only like that because he's a special case," said Saguru.

"Oh…" She blinked again and then shook her head.

"Makoto-san!" Sonoko had called him, walking out the door with Hondou.

-

Hakuba and Ran sat in the dark of the movie theater, a lady told them to turn off their cell phones, a few commercials past and then the movie started. Hakuba really hated Kaito. A lot. He watched the screen serenely, no inner turmoil apparent.

Ran watched the screen intently, her focus completely on the characters in the unfortunate role. She jumped as the killer popped out and claimed his next victim, but of course the movie switched scenes. She hated these parts because she knew someone else would be killed soon. As she thought, the killer approached what would be his second victim. She leaned into Hakuba, shielding her face from the scene.

Hakuba held her, he laughed slightly. "I would almost think it was funny that the karate champion is scared if I didn't know these movies were designed to scare you."

"It's scary…" She defended herself.

He laughed, "You're cute." He smiled, looking down at her. He blinked, suddenly overcome with the urge to…

Ran blushed as she looked up at him. She didn't really know what to say to that.

"Hey Ran-chan…If it's okay…Can I…?" Saguru seemed slightly flustered.

She blinked.

"Okay if you what?" She asked, whispering as to not disturb the other people watching the movie.

He was glad that the movie theater was dark and she couldn't see him blush. "It's…nothing…Just that Kuroba-kun…Nothing." He shook his head.

Ran blinked.

"Oh?" She said, her lips slightly puckered.

Saguru's blush deepened, and he leaned forward and said softly, "I wanted…to kiss you."

Ran blinked.

"Oh… well… that's…" She leaned in too.

"Okay?" He was centimeters away.

"A-ah…" She leaned in a little more.

"Good," He did an almost laugh and leaned a little closer.

Ran leaned in a little bit more.

He turned slightly and leaned the rest of the way in, his lips on hers.

((So… end chapter one….))