In which stalking ensues (Detective Conan, Heiji/Kazuha, #20)
Title: In which stalking ensues
Author: fireblazie
Pairing: Heiji/Kazuha
Fandom: Detective Conan
Theme: #20 - the road home
Disclaimer: I don't own Detective Conan. Am just borrowing the characters for a bit! (And as usual, Grey’s Anatomy belongs to the brilliant minds of - well, not me. Bah.)
This story is also largely inspired by Something Came Up by Chl Cornell. It’s a reeally hilarious Ryoma/Sakuno fic, for those of you that are into the Prince of Tennis fandom.
Heiji had had a prickling feeling for quite some time now. And that was what it was. A prickling feeling. Running up and down his spine. It was quite uncomfortable and he, to frankly put it, hated it. However, what really got to him was the fact that he didn’t know the cause of said prickling. And being the detective that he was - well, that was just plain annoying now.
It was a slow Sunday morning, and he was in the midst of finishing up his English homework - not that it took him very long or gave him a really hard time or anything - when it finally came to him, what this prickling feeling meant.
It was the absence of a certain ponytailed girl.
Heiji leaned back against the chair, dazed. Come to think of it… they hadn’t really been spending a whole lot of time together lately, had they? Oh, sure, they still walked to school together, and they still walked back home together, but other than that… nothing. He hung out with his guy friends, she hung out with her girl friends.
And… wasn’t that what he wanted? He’d been complaining for some time now that she followed him around way too much for his comfort. Always getting in his way. Always pointing out silly, unnecessary things. Always pissing him off. It ought to be a good thing that she was gone.
Right?
Right. Of course. Heiji leaned back forward and continued his exercises on adverbs and adjectives.
He tried to concentrate, he really did.
But after the span of an enormously lengthy three-and-a-half minutes, the dark-skinned detective could take it no longer. He leapt up from his chair, sprung towards the door, and off he went, in search of the source of his problems.
-.-
Dammit.
That was the third twig that had poked him in the arm now. At this rate, he was going to end up stomping home, covered in cuts and scratches.
And she was completely clueless, utterly oblivious. As usual, he thought, bitterly. He’d been trailing them for about an hour now, and he had yet to really hear anything interesting. How about something like, Hmm, I kind of miss hanging out with Heiji. I think I’ll go see how he is. Bye!
Hmph.
No. She was laughing and smiling and happily chattering away with her friends.
And he was pissed.
Because - well - how dare she be happy without him! He was supposed to be the core of her existence, her very reason for living, for even daring to breathe. She was supposed to be miserable without him and god forbid that she could actually live out her life without stopping to miss him!
She was such a crappy friend.
And Heiji had every intention of marching up to the girl, screaming his head off, going into Evil-Demon-Head-of-Doom mode, and letting her know of all of her shortcomings as his friend. Because after all, he was the Detective of the West, and he couldn’t just hang out with anyone, now.
But he did have an image to uphold, and it wouldn’t do to randomly spring out of the bushes and blather on and on and on while foaming at the mouth.
So he waited.
And then it started to rain.
-.-
Two hours later, fully soaked, Heiji sat on the muddy earth - who cared anyway? He was already soaked, a little mud wouldn’t hurt - while glaring murderously at his so-called “best friend” who was still happy and zippy and chipper. He yearned to throw an empty can of soda at her - he’d gotten thirsty - but couldn’t bring himself to do it.
When were they ever going to leave? They’d been shopping for, what, three hours now? And they’d gotten into at least twenty different stores; their arms laden with bags showed the fruits of their labor.
“RARGHHHH!” he finally yelled, pounding at the damp mud.
One of Kazuha’s friends turned. “Did you hear that?” she asked, curiously.
Kazuha smiled. “Nope.”
-.-
Another half-hour had passed and Heiji was face-down on the dirt. If someone had walked by, it would have looked like he was kissing the dirt. Hah. Kudo would laugh his face off. As would Kuroba. And then they would both take pictures.
Didn’t he have any normal friends left?
“Oh, that was fun.” One of the girls, one with long curly hair down to the middle of her back, stretched luxuriously. “All right then, Kazuha-chan. I have to be going home soon, or my mom will kill me…”
“Me too,” the second girl said, “I’ve got to finish up some homework.”
Kazuha smiled serenely. “Of course. Thanks for coming with me today, guys.”
Heiji peered through the leaves, breathing a long sigh of relief as the two girls turned at the intersection. Kazuha swung her bags lightly back and forth, crossing the street. She was going home. He knew this path like it was the back of his hand.
Maybe he should jump out now, he thought, but then decided against it. They were at a particularly busy intersection, crowds filling the streets despite the rain. He shivered as his soaked clothes clung to him, but ignored the chill and concentrated on the ponytailed girl. All right. When they got to a deserted area, then he’d get her…
-.-
Kazuha had to be the slowest walker in the entire world.
Okay. It had been twenty minutes now, and she was still in the busy streets, not anywhere closer to a more quiet environment. At this rate, it was going to take another hour before she even got back to their neighborhood.
He sneezed.
She turned her head slightly, and for a moment Heiji thought she’d actually seen him. But then she turned away and hummed a song under her breath. Heiji felt like strangling her.
-.-
Finally. They were about ten minutes from home now, and the streets were considerably emptier than they had been when they were both downtown. Heiji made to get up, ready and raring to finally give Kazuha a piece of her mind.
She went first, however.
“What do you want, Heiji?” she called loudly over her shoulder, never once stopping.
Heiji, in all of his surprise, fell flat on the cement. For the second time that day, he was kissing the ground. Kazuha glanced around to look at him, rolled her eyes, and walked on.
“I want - I -“ Heiji was stammering. Gah. He did not stammer. He just didn’t. He was going to stop now. Yes. “I want to know where you’ve been, that’s what!”
Kazuha snorted. Loudly. Even four feet away from him, he heard it. “You’ve been following me around the entire afternoon. You really need to know?”
Good point. But still, “that’s not what I mean! We’ve barely talked to each other this past - this past month!”
She laughed. “Miss me much?”
Heiji, against his will, turned red. “N - No! It’s just -“
“I’ve just been busy,” she said, truthfully. “And come on, really. You know you like it better without me anyway. You were always complaining about me getting in your way, so, hey, aren’t I just doing the both of us a favor?”
He wasn’t quite sure what he was thinking.
But before the thought fully registered in his mind, he found himself standing directly in front of her, his eyes locked on hers.
“Go out with me,” he said.
She stared at him thoughtfully.
“No,” she replied.
-.-
He was, for the first time in his life, dumbfounded. The proper Heiji-thing to do at this point, he realized, would be to blow up and start yelling at her. But for some reason, he couldn’t. He… He couldn’t bring himself to. And standing on the sidewalk as cars whizzed past on the streets, he watched her walk away.
-.-
But that didn’t last long. The next day - Monday - he was in top form, ready to confront her. He wasn’t quite sure what he was going to say or why this was bothering him so much, but that wasn’t important. What was important was that he was going to find her, yell at her, and get her to say yes. Or at least find out why she’d said no. He preferred the former.
He stared at her during English class, in the middle of finishing up the homework he hadn’t been able to finish yesterday. He stared at her during physics, halfheartedly listening to the lecture on the theory of relativity. He stared at her during calculus, barely looking at the board to see how the problem had been solved. He stared at her during history, hand automatically skimming across the sheet of paper as he took notes on the Cold War.
He itched to throw his pencil at her.
-.-
He wasn’t able to get her alone during school, but after school was another matter. She was going straight home today, he knew, and despite the fact that he had kendo practice, he chose to skip.
He nonchalantly leaned against a light post, pretending to be engrossed in an Ellery Queen novel. She cheerily walked past him, humming something under her breath.
Once she’d gotten a respectable distance away, he stepped out of his hiding spot, and carefully began to tiptoe his way over to her. When he’d gotten close enough to reach out and tap her on the shoulder, he opened his mouth and -
“You’re stalking me. Stop it.”
He nearly fell over again, but luckily managed to catch his balance.
“Wh - I am not!” he sputtered, indignant.
“You’ve been staring at me all day,” she said, matter-of-factly, “and now, you’re following me home.”
“I am not!” he repeated. “I wasn’t staring at you. And I’m not following you. I’m going home. We just happen to be going in the same direction.”
She didn’t miss a beat. “Don’t you have practice?”
“Canceled,” he lied smoothly.
“Ah. I see.” And she continued to walk on.
They went on in this way for several minutes until Heiji could stand it no longer and burst out, “WHY?”
She jumped slightly and had the nerve to look surprised. “Why… what?”
“Why won’t you go out with me, dammit!”
Kazuha stared at him and raised an eyebrow. “Because I don’t want to. Anyway, why are you suddenly so interested in me? Just because I got a life and moved on? Grow up, Heiji.”
“I’m not interested -“
“Then why are you asking me out?”
“I just - it’s just - THAT’S NOT THE POINT!”
“Then what is?” She was just - looking at him, eyes slightly narrowed, unsure of what to expect from him. “What are you going on about?”
“I don’t like change.” There, he’d said it. “All my life, you’re the one that’s always been stalking me, following me around everywhere I went, being an eternal pain in the ass. And now you decide that you can just all of a sudden change things? I don’t think so! No, I don’t think so.”
“I’m saying that I’ve had enough.” There was something odd about the quality of her voice, but Heiji couldn’t quite place his finger on it. “We’re different, Heiji, haven’t you realized it? You’re smart, you’re brilliant, easily at the top of the class. My brain doesn’t work that way. You’re obsessed with solving mysteries. I couldn’t care less. Your idea of fun is curling up with an Ellery Queen book. My idea of fun is staying at least twenty feet away from any kind of mystery novel at all times. Starting to get the picture yet, Mr. Detective?”
“That’s never mattered before!” He was practically in hysterics and he couldn’t even figure out why this was bugging him so much. “I thought you liked me!”
“Well, of course I do,” Kazuha said, indifferently, much with the air of someone reciting Newton’s law of inertia, “we’re childhood friends and our parents are friends and, you know, it was fun -“
“I know what this is,” Heiji cut in suddenly, eyes very bright, “this is reverse psychology, isn’t it.”
Kazuha stared at him. “What?”
“That’s what this is. You’re trying to convince me that you’re not interested in me so that I, in turn, will be interested in you. Reverse psychology. I didn’t know you liked me that much, but I’m fla -“
“In your dreams, you egotistical bastard,” she snorted, and proceeded to walk away. But Heiji had other things on his mind, and his hand reached out to grab her wrist. She turned quickly to shoot him a questioning and threatening gaze.
“We,” he began, advancing towards her, going forward, forward, forward, until her back was firmly pressed against a brick wall, “have been together for way too long to stop now.”
Kazuha squirmed. “Heiji -“
He was unfazed. “We,” he said, cornering her, looming over her, his right hand reaching up to push against the wall, over her head, “have gone through too much crap to just let everything die now.”
He smirked when he noticed the pink flush on her cheeks. “So,” he said, eyes never leaving hers, drawing closer and closer until their faces were dangerous inches apart, “go on, then. Can you still tell me that you don’t want to go out with me?”
She opened her mouth.
“I have homework,” she said, hastily. Heiji was too shocked to say anything, and allowed her to flee.
-.-
Kazuha collapsed on her bed, schoolbooks forgotten on her desk, backpack thrown carelessly on the floor. She buried her face in her pillow and took deep breaths.
What was the matter with her? Hadn’t she been dreaming of this occasion for - for months, for years, even? So why was it that when That Idiot finally decided to use his brain, she couldn’t bring herself to say yes?
But it would never last, she thought, repressing a sigh, the only reason he wants her now is because now, she’s a challenge, and Hattori Heiji never backed down from a challenge. Once he caught her, he would set her free, and that would just hurt too much.
-.-
Heiji, being Heiji, knew that today was Kazuha’s turn for cleaning duty. And once all the students and the teacher had left, he strode back inside the room, subtly locked the door behind him, and cleared his throat.
Kazuha spared him a two second glance before returning to mopping up the floor. But her fingers had clenched around the mop, and hope built up in him. A reaction was a good thing, right?
“Kazuha.” His voice was curt, down-to-business.
“Heiji.” As was hers.
He remembered that he was supposed to stay calm. And not do anything stupid. Right. Don’t do anything stupid, don’t do anything stupid…
And so he sat there. Watching her as she mopped up the floors, straightened the desks, erased the chalkboards. Not a word was said between them, but none were needed. In the end, it was just the two of them.
“Do you hate me?” he finally asked.
He watched as her back stiffened. “…no,” she said, and he knew she was telling the truth because when she lied she had a habit of fingering the ends of her ponytail or tugging at the hem of her shirt, and she did neither, “I don’t.”
“Oh.” He had been so sure that she was going to say yes. “Well. Good.”
Silence.
“Do… Do you hate me?” she ventured to ask him now.
He stopped to think. She fidgeted. “No,” came his answer. “I’m just confused.”
A smile. “Well, that’s a first.”
He smiled back, just a little. “You’re the first to do so.”
“And is that a good thing?”
“I haven’t figured that out yet.”
“Good. Keeps things interesting that way.”
Fifteen minutes came and went, and at the end of that time, Kazuha had finished her duties. Now, she had slung her backpack over her shoulder and was on her way to exiting the room.
She stopped.
Heiji tensed.
“The door’s locked,” she said, back facing him.
Heiji nodded, knowing that she couldn’t see him. “Yes.”
She watched as her left hand gathered a fistful of her skirt. “And why is it locked?”
“Because we need to talk.”
“Okay. Go. Talk.”
“Why won’t you go out with me?” He was oddly quiet, he realized, but maybe that was because he knew that yelling and screaming would get him nowhere this time. This was different, strangely so.
“I don’t want to.” She still wasn’t looking at him.
“Yes. I get that. Why?”
“Does it really matter? What matters is that I’m not going to, and I never will, I won’t, I won’t -“
In a flash, he’d gotten up from his desk, marched over to her in forceful, long strides, turned her around to face him,and pinned her effectively against the door. His shockingly green eyes were locked on hers, and he wouldn’t look away.
“Even if you say that, I’m not going to go away.”
He listened as her breathing grew irregular and watched as her eyes grew wide.
“Because I like you.” The words sounded funny to his own ears, and part of him was still incredulous that he’d actually figured it out and was actually saying it to her. But the prospect of losing her had awakened some sort of primal instinct in him, and he barreled on, “do you get it? I like you. And maybe, one day, if you’ll let me, I’ll love you. But I’m not going to force you into anything because that’s not what I want.”
He stopped and simply looked at her.
“That’s it.” He stepped away from her, giving her ample breathing room. “You can leave now if you want. You know how to unlock the door, I’m sure.” He moved to the other side of the room. This time his back was facing hers.
He knew what was going to happen. He saw it coming. But the sound of her footsteps quickly leaving the room and the noise she made when slamming the door shut still sent a mad, chilly sensation through his being.
-.-
Heiji was sulking.
And he did very little to hide that fact. He’d finished his homework ages ago - he supposed the blind rage he was in had helped him to just charge straight on through the formulas and readings - and was sitting in front of the T.V., glaring every single time he switched to a soap opera, in which an excessively muscular man and a painfully thin woman would be making out (which was quite often, as it was primetime).
And dammit, he was cold. Had his parents forgotten to pay the heating bill or something? He considered getting a jacket or maybe an extra blanket, but was too lazy to move from his spot.
Then someone rang the doorbell.
Heiji grumbled as he grudgingly pulled himself up from the couch and stumbled to the front of his house.
He opened the door.
Kazuha shot him a quick look before brushing past him and taking off her shoes. Making herself right at home, she settled herself on the couch, eyes glued to the screen.
Heiji stared.
He wasn’t sure how much time had passed before he decided to slowly walk over to the couch and sit down next to her. There were no words exchanged between the two of them. They just sat there, watching the show.
Five minutes into the next program, Heiji started when he felt a warm weight on his shoulder. He glanced down and saw that she had settled herself comfortably in his side. He could tell that she knew he was looking at him; she had tensed up. He gingerly placed an arm around her shoulder.
He ripped his eyes away from her and continued to watch the show, a small and almost invisible smile on his lips. He wondered why it was so warm all of a sudden.
FIN -
Lots of notes here, folks. Curse of being a firm believer in handing out credit where credit is due? Hahhh.
Again, basic plotline and the “reverse psychology” idea taken from Something Came Up by Chl Cornell, which is a Ryoma/Sakuno fic, from Prince of Tennis.
The idea Kazuha has of Heiji pursuing her only because she’s a challenge is taken - and messed around with horribly - from Rain Delay by EllipsesBandit, which is a Tezuka/Fuji fic from Prince of Tennis (have we noticed another obsession here?)
“You’re stalking me. Stop it.” is yet another line from Grey’s Anatomy. Why am I obsessed? I dunno. Curse of being a med student? Hah.
This one is for Lyn-chan.
Author: fireblazie
Pairing: Heiji/Kazuha
Fandom: Detective Conan
Theme: #20 - the road home
Disclaimer: I don't own Detective Conan. Am just borrowing the characters for a bit! (And as usual, Grey’s Anatomy belongs to the brilliant minds of - well, not me. Bah.)
This story is also largely inspired by Something Came Up by Chl Cornell. It’s a reeally hilarious Ryoma/Sakuno fic, for those of you that are into the Prince of Tennis fandom.
Heiji had had a prickling feeling for quite some time now. And that was what it was. A prickling feeling. Running up and down his spine. It was quite uncomfortable and he, to frankly put it, hated it. However, what really got to him was the fact that he didn’t know the cause of said prickling. And being the detective that he was - well, that was just plain annoying now.
It was a slow Sunday morning, and he was in the midst of finishing up his English homework - not that it took him very long or gave him a really hard time or anything - when it finally came to him, what this prickling feeling meant.
It was the absence of a certain ponytailed girl.
Heiji leaned back against the chair, dazed. Come to think of it… they hadn’t really been spending a whole lot of time together lately, had they? Oh, sure, they still walked to school together, and they still walked back home together, but other than that… nothing. He hung out with his guy friends, she hung out with her girl friends.
And… wasn’t that what he wanted? He’d been complaining for some time now that she followed him around way too much for his comfort. Always getting in his way. Always pointing out silly, unnecessary things. Always pissing him off. It ought to be a good thing that she was gone.
Right?
Right. Of course. Heiji leaned back forward and continued his exercises on adverbs and adjectives.
He tried to concentrate, he really did.
But after the span of an enormously lengthy three-and-a-half minutes, the dark-skinned detective could take it no longer. He leapt up from his chair, sprung towards the door, and off he went, in search of the source of his problems.
-.-
Dammit.
That was the third twig that had poked him in the arm now. At this rate, he was going to end up stomping home, covered in cuts and scratches.
And she was completely clueless, utterly oblivious. As usual, he thought, bitterly. He’d been trailing them for about an hour now, and he had yet to really hear anything interesting. How about something like, Hmm, I kind of miss hanging out with Heiji. I think I’ll go see how he is. Bye!
Hmph.
No. She was laughing and smiling and happily chattering away with her friends.
And he was pissed.
Because - well - how dare she be happy without him! He was supposed to be the core of her existence, her very reason for living, for even daring to breathe. She was supposed to be miserable without him and god forbid that she could actually live out her life without stopping to miss him!
She was such a crappy friend.
And Heiji had every intention of marching up to the girl, screaming his head off, going into Evil-Demon-Head-of-Doom mode, and letting her know of all of her shortcomings as his friend. Because after all, he was the Detective of the West, and he couldn’t just hang out with anyone, now.
But he did have an image to uphold, and it wouldn’t do to randomly spring out of the bushes and blather on and on and on while foaming at the mouth.
So he waited.
And then it started to rain.
-.-
Two hours later, fully soaked, Heiji sat on the muddy earth - who cared anyway? He was already soaked, a little mud wouldn’t hurt - while glaring murderously at his so-called “best friend” who was still happy and zippy and chipper. He yearned to throw an empty can of soda at her - he’d gotten thirsty - but couldn’t bring himself to do it.
When were they ever going to leave? They’d been shopping for, what, three hours now? And they’d gotten into at least twenty different stores; their arms laden with bags showed the fruits of their labor.
“RARGHHHH!” he finally yelled, pounding at the damp mud.
One of Kazuha’s friends turned. “Did you hear that?” she asked, curiously.
Kazuha smiled. “Nope.”
-.-
Another half-hour had passed and Heiji was face-down on the dirt. If someone had walked by, it would have looked like he was kissing the dirt. Hah. Kudo would laugh his face off. As would Kuroba. And then they would both take pictures.
Didn’t he have any normal friends left?
“Oh, that was fun.” One of the girls, one with long curly hair down to the middle of her back, stretched luxuriously. “All right then, Kazuha-chan. I have to be going home soon, or my mom will kill me…”
“Me too,” the second girl said, “I’ve got to finish up some homework.”
Kazuha smiled serenely. “Of course. Thanks for coming with me today, guys.”
Heiji peered through the leaves, breathing a long sigh of relief as the two girls turned at the intersection. Kazuha swung her bags lightly back and forth, crossing the street. She was going home. He knew this path like it was the back of his hand.
Maybe he should jump out now, he thought, but then decided against it. They were at a particularly busy intersection, crowds filling the streets despite the rain. He shivered as his soaked clothes clung to him, but ignored the chill and concentrated on the ponytailed girl. All right. When they got to a deserted area, then he’d get her…
-.-
Kazuha had to be the slowest walker in the entire world.
Okay. It had been twenty minutes now, and she was still in the busy streets, not anywhere closer to a more quiet environment. At this rate, it was going to take another hour before she even got back to their neighborhood.
He sneezed.
She turned her head slightly, and for a moment Heiji thought she’d actually seen him. But then she turned away and hummed a song under her breath. Heiji felt like strangling her.
-.-
Finally. They were about ten minutes from home now, and the streets were considerably emptier than they had been when they were both downtown. Heiji made to get up, ready and raring to finally give Kazuha a piece of her mind.
She went first, however.
“What do you want, Heiji?” she called loudly over her shoulder, never once stopping.
Heiji, in all of his surprise, fell flat on the cement. For the second time that day, he was kissing the ground. Kazuha glanced around to look at him, rolled her eyes, and walked on.
“I want - I -“ Heiji was stammering. Gah. He did not stammer. He just didn’t. He was going to stop now. Yes. “I want to know where you’ve been, that’s what!”
Kazuha snorted. Loudly. Even four feet away from him, he heard it. “You’ve been following me around the entire afternoon. You really need to know?”
Good point. But still, “that’s not what I mean! We’ve barely talked to each other this past - this past month!”
She laughed. “Miss me much?”
Heiji, against his will, turned red. “N - No! It’s just -“
“I’ve just been busy,” she said, truthfully. “And come on, really. You know you like it better without me anyway. You were always complaining about me getting in your way, so, hey, aren’t I just doing the both of us a favor?”
He wasn’t quite sure what he was thinking.
But before the thought fully registered in his mind, he found himself standing directly in front of her, his eyes locked on hers.
“Go out with me,” he said.
She stared at him thoughtfully.
“No,” she replied.
-.-
He was, for the first time in his life, dumbfounded. The proper Heiji-thing to do at this point, he realized, would be to blow up and start yelling at her. But for some reason, he couldn’t. He… He couldn’t bring himself to. And standing on the sidewalk as cars whizzed past on the streets, he watched her walk away.
-.-
But that didn’t last long. The next day - Monday - he was in top form, ready to confront her. He wasn’t quite sure what he was going to say or why this was bothering him so much, but that wasn’t important. What was important was that he was going to find her, yell at her, and get her to say yes. Or at least find out why she’d said no. He preferred the former.
He stared at her during English class, in the middle of finishing up the homework he hadn’t been able to finish yesterday. He stared at her during physics, halfheartedly listening to the lecture on the theory of relativity. He stared at her during calculus, barely looking at the board to see how the problem had been solved. He stared at her during history, hand automatically skimming across the sheet of paper as he took notes on the Cold War.
He itched to throw his pencil at her.
-.-
He wasn’t able to get her alone during school, but after school was another matter. She was going straight home today, he knew, and despite the fact that he had kendo practice, he chose to skip.
He nonchalantly leaned against a light post, pretending to be engrossed in an Ellery Queen novel. She cheerily walked past him, humming something under her breath.
Once she’d gotten a respectable distance away, he stepped out of his hiding spot, and carefully began to tiptoe his way over to her. When he’d gotten close enough to reach out and tap her on the shoulder, he opened his mouth and -
“You’re stalking me. Stop it.”
He nearly fell over again, but luckily managed to catch his balance.
“Wh - I am not!” he sputtered, indignant.
“You’ve been staring at me all day,” she said, matter-of-factly, “and now, you’re following me home.”
“I am not!” he repeated. “I wasn’t staring at you. And I’m not following you. I’m going home. We just happen to be going in the same direction.”
She didn’t miss a beat. “Don’t you have practice?”
“Canceled,” he lied smoothly.
“Ah. I see.” And she continued to walk on.
They went on in this way for several minutes until Heiji could stand it no longer and burst out, “WHY?”
She jumped slightly and had the nerve to look surprised. “Why… what?”
“Why won’t you go out with me, dammit!”
Kazuha stared at him and raised an eyebrow. “Because I don’t want to. Anyway, why are you suddenly so interested in me? Just because I got a life and moved on? Grow up, Heiji.”
“I’m not interested -“
“Then why are you asking me out?”
“I just - it’s just - THAT’S NOT THE POINT!”
“Then what is?” She was just - looking at him, eyes slightly narrowed, unsure of what to expect from him. “What are you going on about?”
“I don’t like change.” There, he’d said it. “All my life, you’re the one that’s always been stalking me, following me around everywhere I went, being an eternal pain in the ass. And now you decide that you can just all of a sudden change things? I don’t think so! No, I don’t think so.”
“I’m saying that I’ve had enough.” There was something odd about the quality of her voice, but Heiji couldn’t quite place his finger on it. “We’re different, Heiji, haven’t you realized it? You’re smart, you’re brilliant, easily at the top of the class. My brain doesn’t work that way. You’re obsessed with solving mysteries. I couldn’t care less. Your idea of fun is curling up with an Ellery Queen book. My idea of fun is staying at least twenty feet away from any kind of mystery novel at all times. Starting to get the picture yet, Mr. Detective?”
“That’s never mattered before!” He was practically in hysterics and he couldn’t even figure out why this was bugging him so much. “I thought you liked me!”
“Well, of course I do,” Kazuha said, indifferently, much with the air of someone reciting Newton’s law of inertia, “we’re childhood friends and our parents are friends and, you know, it was fun -“
“I know what this is,” Heiji cut in suddenly, eyes very bright, “this is reverse psychology, isn’t it.”
Kazuha stared at him. “What?”
“That’s what this is. You’re trying to convince me that you’re not interested in me so that I, in turn, will be interested in you. Reverse psychology. I didn’t know you liked me that much, but I’m fla -“
“In your dreams, you egotistical bastard,” she snorted, and proceeded to walk away. But Heiji had other things on his mind, and his hand reached out to grab her wrist. She turned quickly to shoot him a questioning and threatening gaze.
“We,” he began, advancing towards her, going forward, forward, forward, until her back was firmly pressed against a brick wall, “have been together for way too long to stop now.”
Kazuha squirmed. “Heiji -“
He was unfazed. “We,” he said, cornering her, looming over her, his right hand reaching up to push against the wall, over her head, “have gone through too much crap to just let everything die now.”
He smirked when he noticed the pink flush on her cheeks. “So,” he said, eyes never leaving hers, drawing closer and closer until their faces were dangerous inches apart, “go on, then. Can you still tell me that you don’t want to go out with me?”
She opened her mouth.
“I have homework,” she said, hastily. Heiji was too shocked to say anything, and allowed her to flee.
-.-
Kazuha collapsed on her bed, schoolbooks forgotten on her desk, backpack thrown carelessly on the floor. She buried her face in her pillow and took deep breaths.
What was the matter with her? Hadn’t she been dreaming of this occasion for - for months, for years, even? So why was it that when That Idiot finally decided to use his brain, she couldn’t bring herself to say yes?
But it would never last, she thought, repressing a sigh, the only reason he wants her now is because now, she’s a challenge, and Hattori Heiji never backed down from a challenge. Once he caught her, he would set her free, and that would just hurt too much.
-.-
Heiji, being Heiji, knew that today was Kazuha’s turn for cleaning duty. And once all the students and the teacher had left, he strode back inside the room, subtly locked the door behind him, and cleared his throat.
Kazuha spared him a two second glance before returning to mopping up the floor. But her fingers had clenched around the mop, and hope built up in him. A reaction was a good thing, right?
“Kazuha.” His voice was curt, down-to-business.
“Heiji.” As was hers.
He remembered that he was supposed to stay calm. And not do anything stupid. Right. Don’t do anything stupid, don’t do anything stupid…
And so he sat there. Watching her as she mopped up the floors, straightened the desks, erased the chalkboards. Not a word was said between them, but none were needed. In the end, it was just the two of them.
“Do you hate me?” he finally asked.
He watched as her back stiffened. “…no,” she said, and he knew she was telling the truth because when she lied she had a habit of fingering the ends of her ponytail or tugging at the hem of her shirt, and she did neither, “I don’t.”
“Oh.” He had been so sure that she was going to say yes. “Well. Good.”
Silence.
“Do… Do you hate me?” she ventured to ask him now.
He stopped to think. She fidgeted. “No,” came his answer. “I’m just confused.”
A smile. “Well, that’s a first.”
He smiled back, just a little. “You’re the first to do so.”
“And is that a good thing?”
“I haven’t figured that out yet.”
“Good. Keeps things interesting that way.”
Fifteen minutes came and went, and at the end of that time, Kazuha had finished her duties. Now, she had slung her backpack over her shoulder and was on her way to exiting the room.
She stopped.
Heiji tensed.
“The door’s locked,” she said, back facing him.
Heiji nodded, knowing that she couldn’t see him. “Yes.”
She watched as her left hand gathered a fistful of her skirt. “And why is it locked?”
“Because we need to talk.”
“Okay. Go. Talk.”
“Why won’t you go out with me?” He was oddly quiet, he realized, but maybe that was because he knew that yelling and screaming would get him nowhere this time. This was different, strangely so.
“I don’t want to.” She still wasn’t looking at him.
“Yes. I get that. Why?”
“Does it really matter? What matters is that I’m not going to, and I never will, I won’t, I won’t -“
In a flash, he’d gotten up from his desk, marched over to her in forceful, long strides, turned her around to face him,and pinned her effectively against the door. His shockingly green eyes were locked on hers, and he wouldn’t look away.
“Even if you say that, I’m not going to go away.”
He listened as her breathing grew irregular and watched as her eyes grew wide.
“Because I like you.” The words sounded funny to his own ears, and part of him was still incredulous that he’d actually figured it out and was actually saying it to her. But the prospect of losing her had awakened some sort of primal instinct in him, and he barreled on, “do you get it? I like you. And maybe, one day, if you’ll let me, I’ll love you. But I’m not going to force you into anything because that’s not what I want.”
He stopped and simply looked at her.
“That’s it.” He stepped away from her, giving her ample breathing room. “You can leave now if you want. You know how to unlock the door, I’m sure.” He moved to the other side of the room. This time his back was facing hers.
He knew what was going to happen. He saw it coming. But the sound of her footsteps quickly leaving the room and the noise she made when slamming the door shut still sent a mad, chilly sensation through his being.
-.-
Heiji was sulking.
And he did very little to hide that fact. He’d finished his homework ages ago - he supposed the blind rage he was in had helped him to just charge straight on through the formulas and readings - and was sitting in front of the T.V., glaring every single time he switched to a soap opera, in which an excessively muscular man and a painfully thin woman would be making out (which was quite often, as it was primetime).
And dammit, he was cold. Had his parents forgotten to pay the heating bill or something? He considered getting a jacket or maybe an extra blanket, but was too lazy to move from his spot.
Then someone rang the doorbell.
Heiji grumbled as he grudgingly pulled himself up from the couch and stumbled to the front of his house.
He opened the door.
Kazuha shot him a quick look before brushing past him and taking off her shoes. Making herself right at home, she settled herself on the couch, eyes glued to the screen.
Heiji stared.
He wasn’t sure how much time had passed before he decided to slowly walk over to the couch and sit down next to her. There were no words exchanged between the two of them. They just sat there, watching the show.
Five minutes into the next program, Heiji started when he felt a warm weight on his shoulder. He glanced down and saw that she had settled herself comfortably in his side. He could tell that she knew he was looking at him; she had tensed up. He gingerly placed an arm around her shoulder.
He ripped his eyes away from her and continued to watch the show, a small and almost invisible smile on his lips. He wondered why it was so warm all of a sudden.
FIN -
Lots of notes here, folks. Curse of being a firm believer in handing out credit where credit is due? Hahhh.
Again, basic plotline and the “reverse psychology” idea taken from Something Came Up by Chl Cornell, which is a Ryoma/Sakuno fic, from Prince of Tennis.
The idea Kazuha has of Heiji pursuing her only because she’s a challenge is taken - and messed around with horribly - from Rain Delay by EllipsesBandit, which is a Tezuka/Fuji fic from Prince of Tennis (have we noticed another obsession here?)
“You’re stalking me. Stop it.” is yet another line from Grey’s Anatomy. Why am I obsessed? I dunno. Curse of being a med student? Hah.
This one is for Lyn-chan.