Hi lurkers! XD --Always wanted to say that.

And this! ************* I wanted to use * before but wouldn't let me. ******************

Yea, yea, I'm going bananas.

Disclaimer: Atashi wa Gosho-sensei no teishi. Not.

10 years ago…

A rust-coloured leaf twirled in the wind, tugging at its delicate petiole. With a pluck, it broke free, twining around branches and stems until it landed peacefully in a child's hand. Six-year-old Mouri Ran brought her hand to her dainty lips, and with a blow, sent the leaf soaring away again.

She sighed.

"Mou… What's taking him so long?"

Crossing her short arms across her chest, she leaned on the main gate of Beika Elementary School, a corner of her mouth twitching in exasperation.

The person she was waiting for was none other than the elfin Kudo Shinichi, her friend even before her first memory was formed. Shinichi was rascally, always embroiled in one trouble after another, with an insatiable thirst for mysteries. Ran, on the other hand, was sweet and gentle, a lovable child in every way possible. Unfortunately for her though, the latter always found herself dragged into one tribulation after another by her impish childhood comrade.

Nevertheless, they were as close as two six-year-olds could be.

Said young lady was currently simmering with indignation at her friend's nonappearance. She wound a wisp of silky russet hair around her tiny forefinger, occupying herself by conjuring up all sorts of punishment for Shinichi in her mind. They were supposed to walk home together, but Shinichi, wearisome as always, decided to use the lavatory just before they were leaving. And now, she had to wait incessantly for him.

"Taku… Ano baka…" she grumbled.

A twig snapped behind her, and she rolled her large blue eyes impatiently, turning around expecting to find Shinichi's apologetic face.

Instead, all she saw was darkness clouding over as a whiff of something pungent and smothering sent her to the valley of unconsciousness.

***

"Goal!" Kudo Shinichi exclaimed exuberantly, a leg projected in mid-air after dribbling a soccer ball straight into the net. His companions knelt down panting for air.

One of them waved his arms frantically. "I-I gi-give up! You're t-too tough!" he wheezed.

Shinichi raised an eyebrow. "But I haven't even warmed up yet."

At his words, the others dropped onto the ground, keeling over with exhaustion.

"I can't play anymore. I have to go home now anyway. Okasan's waiting."

Something began whirring in Shinichi's brain, and after a few minutes…

"I FORGOT ABOUT RAN!" he screamed. Without another word, he loped away, the others staring after him in understanding.

"He's gonna get some yelling," one deduced.

The others nodded rapidly in unison.

Meanwhile, Shinichi had reached the front entrance, and much to his surprise, no one was there.

"She couldn't have left without me, could she?" he mumbled to himself.

Pacing around the iron gate, he scanned the area for a sign of his disappeared friend. Not even a shadow was in sight. A gust of cold wind blew by him, and he felt a chill of ominous augury down his spine.

Ran…

Something foreign cracked under his feet. Looking down, he saw a piece of paper flapping in the ill-omened wind, held in place by a large stone. He stooped down, retrieved the paper, all the while shrugging off the neck-tingling sensation bothering him.

All thoughts and emotions left him as he perused the words written on the paper.

I HAVE YOUR DAUGHTER, MOURI KOGORO. I'LL BE CONTACTING YOU SHORTLY AFTER FOR THE RANSOM. BE SURE TO STAY BY YOUR PHONE.

Shinichi gasped. Ran was kidnapped, and judging by the note, most probably by someone who held a grudge against her father, like a criminal apprehended by her father. Which meant that Ran was in dire peril.

It's all because of me… Because I didn't meet her like I was supposed to…

The realisation hit him hard, and he bit down on his lower lip, a hand clenching in vehemence – and remorse.

"Kuso!"

But this was out of his hand, nothing a six-year-old could handle. Brain still reeling with shock, he did the only thing he could.

He sought for Ran's parents.

***

After that, the adults bustled into a flurry of activities, contacting everyone of assistance, waiting anxiously by the phone, Ran's mother bursting into tears for the first time Shinichi ever saw her, and even Shinichi's parents involved themselves as well. Nobody paid the slightest attention to him, shoving him aside, no one blamed him either for Ran's kidnapping.

It made him feel worse.

If only he had not gotten distracted by the soccer practice, if only he had met her on time, if only he had walked home with her as soon as the school ended…

If only…

Why was he so stupid? It was all his fault…

It was not Shinichi's nature to cry; he had not cried since he was three. He did not cry now either, still in a state of dazed disbelief. To think, his childhood friend was kidnapped, because of him…

He would never forgive himself if something ever happened to Ran.

Providentially, they managed to get Ran back safe and sound hours later, thanks to the intervention of Kudo Yusaku, and even captured the perpetrator. It was indeed like Shinichi construed, the criminal being a previous convict placed behind bars by Mouri Kogoro.

Ran reappeared amidst them, everyone fighting to dote over and soothe the little girl. Shinichi, however, shunned to one corner. He inspected Ran from far away, her lovely azure eyes swollen with sniffling, her arms scratched and bruised, her hair ruffled…

It had not been very long since he last saw Ran, but it felt like light years away.

Slowly, but surely, the crowd dispersed as Ran's parents wanted to tend to her, but Shinichi remained in a corner, his gazed never left his childhood friend for a more than a second. Ran did not meet his eyes, however, just smiling to reassure her parents that she was fine. Was she angry with him, or was it just by chance they never locked gazes?

Shinichi would apologise, even if Ran would never ever forgive him again.

Silently, he crept up to her side, his short stature concealed in the mob of towering adults, shot out a hand suddenly and grabbed her wrist. Ran jumped.

"Shinichi!" she cried when she perceived him beside her. Shinichi felt a wave of relief wash over him that Ran would still talk to him.

"Sshhh…" Shinichi hushed, a finger on his lips. "Come with me."

Ran blinked her adorably huge ocean depths.

"Doko?"

"You'll know soon."

Shinichi with Ran vaguely in tow dashed out of the room. Together, they ran through the quiet streets, the sun setting in the backdrop.

"The school? Why are we here?" Ran inquired, gasping faintly as they halted in Beika Elementary School.

Shinichi hauled Ran further into the school and stopped by a small plant. He crouched down, took out a penknife, and carved something on the bark of the plant.

"Hora!" he announced happily when he was done.

"E? What's that?"

Ran bent down to get a closer look. Her curious irises ran over the engravings.

"I promise I will never leave Ran again," she read out loud, pupils dilating in surprise. "What's that for?"

Shinichi turned to Ran, an overtly solemn expression on those typically mischievous features.

"Ran, gommenasai! If it wasn't because of me, you would never have gotten kidnapped!"

"It's not your fault!" Ran interjected, shaking her little head quickly, hair swaying behind her. "The kidnapper is obviously just waiting for a chance to get back at otousan. It has nothing to do with you!"

"It's me!" Shinichi contradicted. "If I hadn't forgotten about you and went to play soccer, you wouldn't have been kidnapped!"

"It's not, it's- Wait… What did you say?" Ran asked suddenly, her tone tinged with threat and eyes narrowing. Shinichi flinched.

"N-Nani?"

"You forgot about me? YOU FORGOT ABOUT ME?"Ran shrieked. Shinichi cowered back a few steps.

"U-Uhh… I can explain."

"You better do!"

The two kids chased after each other, giggling and laughing in the abating rays of the sun as if nothing had ever happened between them.

***

10 years later…

The leaves in the imposing tree shuffled in the autumnal breeze, casting shadows down on the leaves littered ground and a certain young girl resting in its shade. She swept the golden leaves covering the roots of the tree aside, revealing deep imprints with barely intelligible characters in the wooden bark, and smiled.

"It's been so long…" she murmured. "The plant is now a tree…"

A forefinger reached out and traced the outlines of the words, a ghost of a beam still dancing on her cherry lips as she reminisced the occurrences 10 years ago. Minutes passed by, unnatural silence hanging in the school, the only sounds were the hollow echoes of the squall, the crackling of amber sheets on the ground, the scattered chirps of bird, all orchestrated together to sing a wistful melody.

"You promised, Shinichi, you promised you'll never leave me again. I believe you," she breathed. Still touched the coarse bark, her finger feeling the thin fissures in it pensively, sapphires glazed over with memories long long ago…

"I'm waiting for you. Dakara… Dakara come back soon, Shinichi."

She stood up, allowing the wind to toy with her velvety strands, a trickle of tear tumbling down her porcelain cheek, before striding evenly away.

A little bespectacled boy emerged from the shadows, watching her diminishing figure, a regretful look in his brilliant cerulean eyes. He extracted a penknife and added another word below the scribbles on the tree trunk.

Definitely.