#could do this only because in this dream i was searching for kazuha

[daystud]

"we will meet again even if now we are separated" my ass he's not real anyways and i see him everyday everytime i log in ☠️

[bedoballoons]

Think about the anemo boys, they had some traumatic past and maybe they have night terrors when they are stressed....what will happend if they wake up after a heavy(and really angst) night terror and they search for reader and the bed is empty? (and the reader is eating something because who doesn't had a midnight snack?)

{Sorry for the bad english!}

Your English is perfect don't worry!!! I love writing the anemo boys so thank you so much for your request!! (Also a midnight snack is something I do often so you're one hundred percent right about that!) I hope you enjoy!! <3

(P.s sorry if this isn't incredible, I was having major writers block...)

─⊰⁠⊹ฺ🎃𝔾𝕖𝕟𝕤𝕙𝕚𝕟 ℍ𝕖𝕒𝕕𝕔𝕒𝕟𝕠𝕟𝕤⊰⁠⊹ฺ🎃

{༻~Where have you gone~༺}

CW: Characters have night terrors! Lots of tears and worries! Descriptions of death in the night terrors, (it's not real), sleep walking in Heizous, cursing in wanderers! Slight angst but fluff in the end!! (Pet names: Kazuha: Honey, Xiao: Flower, Venti: My dear)

(Includes: Kazuha, Xiao, Heizou, Venti, and Wanderer!)

♡♡♡♡♡♡♡♡♡♡♡♡♡♡♡♡♡♡♡♡♡♡♡♡♡♡♡♡♡♡

𑁍༄Kazuha:

Kazuha shifted closer to you sleepily, trying to shake away the remnants of his night terror and stay awake so he wouldn't slip back into the horrible dream world, but even as tired as he was, he noticed instantly that you weren't near him, your comforting familiar warmth was gone and seemingly nowhere to be found. He sat up slowly, rubbing his eyes and scanning the dark room, it was unlike you to leave in the middle of the night...

Goosebumps formed on his skin as he remembered his nightmare once more, the sound of glass shattering, the subtle grunt of the intruder as he struk you down, was it real? Were you slipping away while he sat there idling on? He glanced at his sword, making the silent decision to take it with him as he left the bedroom behind and quietly made his way around the house, if anyone had gotten in he'd take care of it before they could even make a move.

"Kazuha what are you doing?"

He turned to face you, a blush crawling up his cheeks as he noticed the glass of milk in your hand, he'd gotten carried away again..., "I was just...checking to make sure no one unexpected had shown up in the house, ahem, what are you doing up so late honey?" You chuckled softly and the sound warmed his heart instantly, you always helped him, without even knowing it.

𑁍༄Xiao:

Xiao groaned quietly, sitting up in your shared bed with sleep clinging to his sharp yellow eyes, his heart was racing with emotions...anger, fear, sadness, hatred...but it had all been just a bad dream right? Nothing had actually happened to you, "Flower...are you awake?" His voice was raspier than usual, laced with with worry as he glanced in your direction, but your side of the bed was empty...in fact you weren't even in the room.

Panick started to set in, what if it hadn't been a dream, but a memory, had he lost you? Or what if someone had attacked while he was sleeping? He threw off the covers, polearm appearing in his hand as he rushed out of the room, what was he going to do if he couldn't find you?

"Xiao? You okay?"

His eyes shot in your direction, a heavy sigh of relief escaping his lips as he pulled you into a tight embrace, "Thank the archons..." He whispered into the crook of your neck, you weren't sure what had gotten into him, but you kissed his cheek and snuggled into his touch, "Hey it's okay...I'm alright."

𑁍༄Heizou:

Heizous feet slowly padded against the cold floor, his eyes dazed with sleep and barely even open, yet he knew he wasn't where he was supposed to be. He could have sworn he was just investigating a death, now he was suddenly in the living room?...what had happened in between those two points? He shook his head, recalling what he'd thought had happened, only to be brought back into his dream, realization hitting him almost instantly, face pale as milk as he stared down at you...the death he had been investigating...was yours?

He took a step back, crashing onto the floor with a loud thud, he couldn't wrap his head around what was happening and he was starting to have trouble breathing, where you actually gone?

"Heizou?!"

He looked up at you, now even more confused as tears welled up in his eyes, was he relieved, scared? He didn't even know, "Y-you're okay?" His voice sounded so fragile, like your answer could break him, "I'm perfectly fine...are you okay? You're the one sitting in the middle of the living room floor." You kneeled down next to him, kissing his cheek while he sighed in relief and gave you a short nod, "I'm okay."

𑁍༄Venti:

Ventis eyes fluttered open, cold tears clinging to his cheeks as he stared up at the ceiling, the image of his friend slowly leaving the world plaguing his thoughts..making him wish he didn't even have dreams. Until that day he'd never experienced the loss of someone close to him, in fact he hadn't gotten that close to someone since then, other than you. He loved you so much, the idea of losing you would be even worse than death...

He started to hum in a attempt to make himself feel better, cuddling up to you...or at least trying to, "Huh...?" He sat up slightly, moving the covers to find that you were in fact gone and he was all alone, so alone...his night terror replayed again in his mind, only this time it was you who was slipping away and he swore it was like his whole world had shattered at the sight of it, tears welled up in his eyes and he didn't even know what to do. Was this some type of panic attack, was he really all by himself?

"Oh my gosh, Venti what's wrong?" You set your small tray of food aside and rushed over to him, pulling him into a tight hug while he shook with emotion, "Shhh it's okay. Did you have another nightmare?" He didn't answer, he just pulled you you even closer to him and hid his face in the crook of your neck, sniffling as he tried to calm himself down...if he ever lost you...it might just mean the end of himself too.

𑁍༄Wanderer:

Wanderer looked out the window, on the outside his appearance was the same as always, unbothered...maybe even slightly annoyed, but on the inside it was a different story. He was terrified, the words you had said in his dream replaying over and over in his mind, each time stinging worse than the last...

"I'm leaving and I hope I never see you again"

♡♡♡♡♡♡♡♡♡♡♡♡♡♡♡♡♡♡♡♡♡♡♡♡♡♡♡♡♡♡

If that ever happened...he wasn't sure he'd be able to handle it, you're the one person he'd ever felt love towards in his hundreds of years of living and without you...it would be like loosing his heart all over again, "Please don't ever leave me." He whispered, hoping you hadn't heard how pathetic it sounded...wait speaking of hearing, why didn't he hear your soft snores. "Oh crap...are you awake?" He glanced in your direction only to be caught off guard by the empty space, covers thrown aside like you'd just got out of bed in the middle of the night and wandered away.

Again your harsh words came to mind and he clenched his hands into fists, anger flowing through his veins, had you left him without even saying a word?

"Oh hey, want some crackers?...what's with the look on your face? Bad dream?"

He shot you a glare for a split second, "I don't have bad dreams, I'm just annoyed...that you woke me up so late. What the hell were you doing?" His words sounded harsher than he'd meant them too, but you didn't mind, you knew by now that whatever he said was usually the opposite, "I wanted some crackers, hence the plate of crackers."

"...you're an ass."

"Do you want some or not?"

"Yes I want some."

"That's what I thought."

◥(•̀￦•́)◤☪︎ ִ ࣪𖤐 ☾𖤓~Have a nice day~*⁠.⁠✧

[kairakeiji]

“i don’t think anything i’m gonna tell you is going to convince you to stay.”

“then you know me well my love,” kazuha smiles as he takes his hands in yours. “you know i won’t be gone long though.”

and you can only sight as he meets you meet his shining eyes and small smile, reassuring as always. “i’ll be back before you know it, the crux stops by pretty often after all.”

at least it would be, he said that the last time he left liyue.

you knew how kazuha’s been ever since you met him. he’s never been tied down to one place, more or less seeing where life takes him. it’s something you love about him. his free spirit allows him to see the sights your strict schedule doesn’t allow. he’s able to go where he pleases while you’re stuck working your nine to five.

it’s inspiring in a sense, and it seriously makes you contemplate actually quitting your job.

“i’ll miss you,” he mumbles as he pulls you close, wrapping his arms tightly around you.

“i’ll miss you too,” you whisper into his skin before pressing a kiss to his cheek. “i wish i could come, but my job,” your voice trails off with a small sigh. it’s an idea you’ve thought of countless times before. traveling around with the crux and kazuha felt like a dream come true. but you had your commitments, your schedule built up with the qixing due to ningguang keeping all of you busy.

maybe if she pulled some strings…

no, it’s too late to think about that.

“it’s okay,” kazuha starts, snapping you out of your thoughts. “you have commitments here,” he smiles.

that’s kazuha for you, reassuring as always.

“how long do you think you’ll be gone?” you try.

and he only looks towards the boat, the last of the crew members taking their stuff on. “i’m not sure,” he tells you softly before turning back to you. “but when i come back, i’ll find you immediately.”

and you can’t help the way your heart cracks at not seeing your lover, much less for an undetermined amount of time.

your eyes move towards the ground, silence serving as your response. kazuha’s gaze turns back to the boat, catching sight of ningguang and beidou now approaching. his time with you was slowly running out.

“this might be selfish of me to ask,”

your breath hitches when his hand takes your once more, giving it a light squeeze.

“what if you came with me?”

you look up at him instantly, “kazu what?”

“i know you have your commitments with the qixing, but ningguang is right there if you want to try asking.”

you swallow when catching sight of the tianquan standing with the captain. “i couldn’t-”

“you could,” kazuha cuts in. “you used to tell me about how you dreamed of traveling the world, how you never got the chance to do it because of your schedule and your career.” he holds your hand up to his lips, giving the back of it a kiss before meeting your gaze. “what if i were the one who got to show you the world?”

your cheeks flame up as your heartbeat spikes. “i couldn’t possibly.”

“you could,” he reaffirms with a nod. “let’s do it, you and i, together. we’ll see the world just as you’ve always dreamed of doing.”

“i,” your gaze turns to ningguang who’s now smiling at you as beidou calls for kazuha. but the boy keeps his eyes on you, searching for some kind of answer in your eyes, sign in your lips telling you that this was something you were willing to do.

“i have to ask ningguang first,” you tell him.

“and we can do that,” he nods, smiling at the fact that you’re even considering doing this. “you work too hard anyway, we can just say it’s a good vacation.”

you can’t help but laugh at that before you hear beidou call kazuha’s name once more.

“so what do you say?” he tries once more, “let’s give it a try.”

and a smile breaks out on your lips.

“let’s do it.”

tumblr’s still being annoying with the content warning on my pinned sob sob...i’ll make a new one with my masterlists on it soon sigh :/

thanks for reading! reblogs/interaction are always appreciated <3

[fabelyn]

Lore: Explaining the motivation behind the reveal in the last part of the Five Kaisen quest. Aka, why "Kurounishi" did it

Placed underneath a read more due to spoilers and size

So, we find out in the event that Scaramouche was behind the decline of the Sword Arts. But not why. Or why he spared Kazuha's grandfather. Well, if you piece together certain parts of lore from Inazuma, you can find out, I'll sum it up here:

Source for the below: Husk of Opulent Dreams set, Aged Notes found in Tatarasuna. Katsuragikiri claymore description, Yae comments to us in the Archon quest.

So Scaramouche is a doll created by Raiden Shogun, who she felt pity on so set free. When he was set free he had no goals and so wondered around Inazuma. At one point he reached Tatarasuna, whereupon he made a friend among one of the swordsmiths, even did a beautiful sword dance with him etc. But the leading swordsmith, upon finding out his connection to the Shogun, locked him up (likely feared he was there to spy on them). His friend felt bad and went against orders to free him, and even suggested to beware in the future of revealing his connections to the Shogun so easily.

Because Tatarasuna was suffering during this time, Scaramouche went off to ask for help for the people at the shrine, and its implied he met with Yae Miko.

Regardless, after he left, the head swordsmith was enraged and murdered Scaramouche's friend for freeing him.

Scaramouche chose violence. He began to enact vengeance by ruining all the main five swordsmith families. Doing so in secrecy so no one knew it was a person, just assuming decline from the families.

But then he reaches the Kaedehara family. He recognizes Kazuha's great grandfather, and it's revealed the grandfather is not Kaedehara by blood, but adopted after his own father disappeared.

It's likely that Niwa was the clan from Scaramouche's friend. And so he stopped his vengeance because it would require killing the family of his friend.

He tried looking for the Note that would reveal all this while he was in Inazuma, failed, and ran off with the gnosis. Ayato, aware of his search, waited for news that he left do search as well and upon finding the Note... well, you know the rest.

********

********

Appendix: in case this helps, I'll paste below the most relevant parts of my sources. reading everything is always best, but I'm putting below only the parts that are specifically relevant to what I wrote in my summary:

Rather Aged Notes:

Rather Aged Notes #2

"...Also, Sir Katsuragi discovered a nameless eccentric while patrolling around Nazuchi Beach..."

Rather Aged Notes #4

"...and we could not find that eccentric...The Inspector flew into a rage and slashed Katsuragi. The great blade cut deep into the flesh...cast his own nagamaki into the furnace's flame...Nozomu could not abide by that order, and drew the completely melted weapon out of the furnace... He was horribly burned..."

Rather Aged Notes #5

"...Nozomu died that night. I daresay that while Sir Katsuragi may have committed malfeasance, it was out of the goodness of his heart..."

Rather Aged Notes #6

"...I also remain unwilling to forget the joy of creating the Daitatara Nagamasa with him, and that joy of watching that nameless eccentric perform that sword-dance with Katsuragi..."

Rather Aged Notes #7

"I wish that the Inspector will someday find it in his heart to remember the joy he felt when forging a weapon with his own hands, before Sir Katsuragi..."

Husk of Opulent Dreams (the whole set is all about Scaramouche, I will only be copying the parts pertaining the story I wrote above)

Calabash of Awakening

Amenoma, Futsu, Isshin, Hyakume, Senju.

These were, once upon a time, the five branches of the Raiden Gokaden,

But today, only Amenoma still maintains its line of succession.

While the Isshin line can just barely be said to have extant descendants.

In the eyes of the people, this is just the natural result of the ravages of time.

They never once suspected that such sudden falls from grace might have some hidden mystery behind them.

The wanderer would never admit to this.

He would never admit that he had done this as an act of revenge against the bladesmith.

Nor would he ever mention the truth

Item Plume of Luxury

The long-wandering eccentric no longer thinks about this,

But when he closes his eyes, he can still see the moonlit nights over Tatarasuna and the burning furnace flames.

The kind young deputy said:

"This gold ornament is a proof of identity granted by the Almighty Shogun,"

"But as you travel the world, please bear this in mind,"

"Never to reveal your identity to others."

The upright Inspector said:

"This gold ornament may be a proof of identity granted by the Almighty Shogun,"

"But you are neither man nor mechanism,"

"And so I can only deal with you in this fashion. Do not hold this against me!"

The wanderer who has left yesterday in the dust no longer thinks about it,

But when he covers his ears, he can still hear the wild winds that roared that year.

A pair of expectant eyes said:

"This gold ornament is a proof of identity granted by the Almighty Shogun,"

"It must surely be able to save the people."

The intelligent, lovely shrine maiden said:

"This gold ornament is a proof of identity granted by the Almighty Shogun,"

"And she will not abandon you."

"As for me, I shall do my best to send for help immediately..."

...But in the end, the golden arrow-feather were covered in dust,

And all tales were incinerated in karmic flames till nothing remained.

Katsuragikiri Nagamasa

When his yoriki Katsuragi was connected with but a single trace of misconduct, he had him executed without mercy.

Ever since then, the name of the sword and his title were changed forever.

[dogloveri23]

Normal

Pairing: Kazuha x reader

Warning: Not proof read, not enough angst, brief Kazuha neglect

A/n:Not gonna lie, I almost forgot that I was meant to write this because I wanted to finish the in-game story plot first. This is long overdue, so for rex lapis.

Content belongs to @dogloveri23

My Genshin UID: 627473190

After the battle, roaring cheers could be heard as the resistance made their way back to base. They had managed to push the raiden shoguns army to retreat. Of course you were happy that you could safeguard your hydro vision for another day and a hard earned night's rest would also be pleasing. Your unit was not going to be involved in any missions for now until urgent matters arose. The traveler had a meeting with Kokomi at the shrine while you headed back to the base, you still had to train a few more recruits in handling weapons and understanding tactics. The walk was quiet with no interruptions. "Y/n ! Are you okay? You seem a bit down" A voice said from behind you. "Teppei? Your back already? I'm just a bit tired, that's all" You say as I rub my temple. "Well, you can rest easy, the new recruit I brought in will help turn the tide, I'm sure of it. I'm off to the front lines! Don't rest too much though, or I might surpass you soon enough" Teppei said in a happy tone. "In your dream!" You say playfully before nudging his arm and saying good-bye. Frontlines? What was Kokomi thinking when she put him on the front lines? You hoped he was going to be ok.

The white and red hues of hair crossed your vision as your eyes made contact with a pair of red ones a few steps in front of you. "My love" Kazuha says as he steps towards you extending his arm to make contact with yours, only for you to step back. The look you gave him showed nothing but anger and disappointment. But due to how in tune kazuha was with nature, he could tell that under all that, your heart held a mix of sadness, anger and most importantly, love and longing. You missed him, but you were way to stubborn to actually say it to his face. But then again, did he really deserve to know you loved him after he left Inazuma without saying goodbye to you. Not leaving a note or hell even a haikuu would make the situation a bit bearable. Kazuha pursed his lips as he racked his head for something to say, anything that would ease the tension between you both.

He would tell you how he felt for this period that he was away from you, but for you to listen to all of it, he had to have a damn good opening. His eyes searched yours as though he was looking for an opening. He sighed before saying " My love....".That was enough for you to cut him off. "Y/n " You say as you cross your arms. "What?" Kazuha asked a bit confused. "Call me Y/n, or we're not having this conversation" You say blankly. "My love, I..." He starts but you start walking away. "Y/n,..." He says hesitantly feeling disgusted at how you were both back to a first name basis like you weren't intimate with each other. You halted and slowly turned to face him, giving him a small nod so he knew you were listening. "It was wrong of me to leave without notifying you. After I had failed to save him in tenshukaku, I snatched his vision before the shogun could obtain it which led to me being wanted. I couldn't stay in Inazuma because it would have put not only me but you in danger as well, I couldn't risk...." "Did you ask me ?"

Kazuha looked confused. " I don't need you to make decisions on my behalf Kazuha. You could have told me the first half of your statement and I would have understood right away. You're a ronin, Kazuha, you never stay in a place too long. I took that into account when I started dating you. I was ready to move with you anywhere, it wouldn't be too far from the usual except for us having to look behind our shoulder which I already do now. i never wanted to be left alone here. Granted, you can't exactly write the letter while you were running but a couple of short sentences upon arrival and I would have been sold. Either way, we were going to end up fighting this war against what we knew was wrong from the very beginning" You say like it was the most obvious thing in the world.

Kazuha stood there in shock! Oddly in this moment he truly felt loved, he felt like the whole in his heart that formed when he left was filled. "My love.... you're special you know" He said with a small chuckle following suit. "You can go over the rest later, I've been granted a small break and assuming you are free as well, I believe much needed quality time should be in order" You say as you grab him by his arm and drag him with you to a location that he didn't know per say. But as long as you're there with him, it would feel normal.

[mirasolis]

Ehe maybe a Kazuha x GN! Traveller reader where Kazuha accompanies us in our journey since he knows what's it like to be separated from someone so close to you- also because he noticed that even if we reached Inazuma we barely received any help back in return? Can be brainrot, headcanons, a little scenario, it can be anything as long as your comfortable writing it ^^

Ik it's anonymous but ty for reblogging and liking some of my posts 👉👈

Goodluck on future genshin pulls :3

Kazuha x GN! Reader: Together, Freedom Sounds Sweeter

I don't know if you wanted something platonic or romantic, so I opted for something that can be interpreted as both. I made it kinda long, so I hope you like it! :D also thank you for the luck, and good luck to you as well<3

Word Count: 822

⊱ ────── {⋅. ✯ .⋅} ────── ⊰

Finding your sibling was a taxing endeavour. All it was to you was day after unrelenting day of adventuring, running around to do commissions, and fighting whatever enemies came your way. The feeling of loneliness echoed in your mind every time you went to sleep, taunting you in your dreams.

You ventured through the lands of Mondstadt and Liyue for leads, but none were there no matter how hard you searched. All that you did find yourself doing was helping the people of the lands with their problems, and what do you get in return? Missing posters. Very helpful.

So you tried your luck in Inazuma, ruled by the God of Eternity. And once again, you had to help the people with their problems, as they were rebelling against their archon for stealing their Visions and closing them off from the rest of the world.

You asked Beidou to haul you across the sea as a favour, and on the way, you introduced yourself to the Inazuman fugitive, Kazuha. On the way to Inazuma aboard the Alcor, you both talked about your adventures. His voice was a tender and pleasant sound to your ears, which let you slow down and enjoy the world around you, even though you were rushing to find your sibling.

Once in Inazuma, you carried out your promises and helped the people. You witnessed firsthand just how brutal this world could be. Your fellow comrade who had not once asked you of anything, Teppei, succumbed to the machinations of the Fatui, and you strived to avenge him.

You get your shot at revenge and being able to convince the archon to change their mind inside the palace of Tenshukaku, challenging La Signora to a duel, and winning. But, Snezhnayan diplomat or not, she dies to the might of the Raiden Shogun, who acknowledges your strength and allows you to leave Tenshukaku alive, and only Tenshukaku. You reach the outer steps of the palace and see Kazuha, General Gorou, and a few resistance soldiers, run up and see you. But they stare in horror when they see the Raiden Shogun appear behind you from her Plane of Euthymia.

With little time to react, you stare down her blade and brace for an impact, when a strong gust of crackling wind rushes past you. Kazuha is in front of you, blocking the blow, and pushing the Shogun back, which leaves you enough time to enter the plane and face the archon with little more than your blade and the ambitions of the people, and win.

After the battle, you decide to take a rest at Watatsumi Island. You're just sitting under a tree while Paimon is napping, when you hear gentle footsteps approach you. You look to your right and see the anemo swordsman himself.

“Hi Kazuha, what’s up?” You greet him kindly.

“May I beg for your indulgence for a minute?” Kazuha asks, and you nod. “Why is it that you are helping so many people, yet you receive very little in return? Surely you must be rewarded for your deeds.”

You open your mouth, hesitant to speak, but you voice your concerns. You trust Kazuha. “Well, it’s about my sibling. I’ve been searching for them all over the place, and I’ve tried asking for help by doing things for others. But even that has proved to do very little to benefit my search. I’m just trying to do my best to find them. It…it gets hard to keep searching sometimes. I really want to see them again, but they are always out of reach.”

Kazuha was solemn and silent. “I see. If I may offer my two cents, let me tell you about my friend, who told me how to brave the lightning’s glow. He wished to face the might of the Musou no Hitotachi on his own, and he had died for it. I'm not angry about that, he knew what was at stake and died honourably. Yet at times, I do miss him dearly. We wandered, and we were free. That was all we ever needed to survive.”

“Really? Well, I do hope you’re not too lonely any longer Kazuha. You are a delight to be around.”

“About that, may I ask to accompany you on your journey? Though I love my homeland, I long to be free and wander like I used to. With a partner like you, I believe that I will experience much more than what I had in the past,” Kazuha suggested.

Your eyes widened in surprise. You never expected to have someone besides Paimon beside you on your journey. “Actually, I think me and Paimon would like that very much.”

Kazuha nodded, and pulled out a leaf to whistle a tune that carried itself all over the island with the wind. What a pleasant sound to hear: the sound of adventures and companionship, and a song that only freedom could bring.

[shivada-jade]

reply back

modern!au/idol!au

characters: aether, lumine mentions: venti, xiao, kazuha, barbara, azhdaha warning(s): swearing because lumine and aether are siblings

notes: i've been lACKING these idol au's so im gonna write more idol au's because i nEEED it

You were seven when you were introduced to the twins. Coming from a foreign land, you struggled with the language they spoke in, but they were patient with you and taught you their language and much more. The twins were multilingual and explained it was from their frequent traveling and relatives from different places.

You and the twins were close, but Lumine spent more time with you, making Aether whine a lot. He would always poke sticks at you and hide your legendary, full art Pokemon cards to catch both Lumine's and your attention. It does work, but Lumine's mad.

"Aether!" She'd scream with a lisp because of a missing tooth. "Stop doing that!"

Oh, but Aether is a sibling, meaning he'd play the 'innocent' card. "Stop doing what? What am I doing?"

In the end, you'd always have to call their parents when they fist fight at the sand pit. "Aether and Lumine's mom! They're fighting again!"

"Again?" The tall blonde sighed. "Thanks for telling me, hon."

After a good scolding, Aether and Lumine would be totally okay the next minute like nothing happened. You were used to their banter and rightfully took your Pokemon cards back. Lumine stuck a tongue out, blowing a raspberry at Aether when he turned his back, grabbing three large sticks.

"Fight me!" He cried with glee, giving one stick to his sister and one to you. "I will be the grand king of the sand pit!"

You vaguely remember the rest. Maybe you lost the 'sword duel,' or maybe you didn't, but what you did remember was this tall kid playing with his cat and eating the sand. Forget the kid, the only thing you remember is his cat's name called Azhdaha.

Your hands close your story book. You would never admit to your friends, but Lumine and Aether that you still read fantasy. The other kids in the neighbourhood would laugh saying what you were reading is a kid's story.

"So what if it's a kid's story? If you like it, read it," Lumine says aggressively while Aether opens the door for both of you.

"Lumi's right. They think they're all grown up, but they're kids too," he closes the door behind him, waving goodbye to your grandma rocking on the porch. "What's the story about anyway?"

You walk ahead, leading the two to a local mall. Every week, Aether, Lumine and yourself would spend Fridays and Saturdays together.

You and Lumine often joke how Aether doesn't do 'Saturdays are for the boys.' To which, Aether would scoff and reply with, "Boys who say that are stupid, not all but most. Saturdays are for spending time with people you care about. I don't care if they think I'm weak."

You step foot in the bus, tapping the card to pay for your admission. The twins, walk behind, doing the same and sitting next to you on the bus.

"It's called 'Songs of a Siren.' It's cool, you should check it out." You say, scooting a bit closer to the side so Lumine could have more pace to sit. The bus is packed. Teenagers littered inside, only a few adults were there including the bus driver. "Let's leave. Teenagers stink."

"...But you are one."

"Well-"

After the next stop, you push yourself through the crowd, trying to exit. Lumine pushes people, muttering a few 'excuse us' while dragging her brother. Your feet land on the concrete sidewalk and you finally breathe freely.

You see the twins finally get off the bus and tilt your head, "Let's go, the mall isn't gonna wait for us."

Entering the mall, the first thing you pass by is a clothes shop. You and Aether share a look, quietly doing rock-paper-scissors behind Lumine who's beaming to go inside.

Rock.

Aether chooses paper.

You droop to the floor because you're dramatic, knowing that once you go in the shop, you'll be the one carrying Lumine's purchases.

"Alright, Lumine," you say sighing. "Let's go shop."

You see Aether in your peripheral vision, pumping his fist laughing a quiet, "Yes!" when Lumine takes out her wallet.

"I know you did rock-paper-scissors." She counts the bills from her wallet, "But I'm buying for Aether which means even if you carry the things I buy, Aether's gonna have it much worse because he will be trying on everything I tell him to wear." She grins, settling with a black debit card.

After hearing this, Aether tries to walk in another shop to avoid dressing up for Lumine, but his sister quickly catches on and pulls him by the ear and walks in the clothes shop.

"Let's go!" She says to you, "These clothes won't shop themselves!"

...

"This one?"

"No, you look like grandpa in that outfit."

"Well what if I like looking like grandpa, huh? What are you gonna do about it?"

"Some people can pull off the sexy grandpa look. You're not 'some people.'" Lumine pulls out another outfit from the rack. "Try this one," she laughs, seeing Aether's horrified face and pushes him in the dressing area.

This is the ninth clothes shop you three go to, and you were starting to feel bad for Aether who had to wear every outfit Lumine wanted him to wear.

"Lumi," you say calmly, having trouble holding five shopping bags on each arm. She's on a shopping spree and you wonder how she gets all the money to buy these things. "That should be enough shopping for the day. I'm hungry."

The blonde lifts a hand. "Hold on a second," she smiles before banging on the changeroom door, "AETHER LET ME SEE THE FIT."

You can hear the loud sigh from the other side of the door as it slowly opens. He only peeks his head out, shyly mumbling, "This is embarrassing. I don't want to walk out like this."

Lumine rolls her eyes and pulls the door open, revealing Aether in a white dress shirt and dark pants.

Aether lifts an arm, inspecting the design. "It's a bit..." he pauses, thinking of a way to not offend his sister. "It's not my style." His eyes seek for your help to back him up, but you couldn't. The style on him looks so ethereal to him, and Lumine has the same idea.

His twin ran up to an aisle and picked out two accessories: a silk cloth and a floral pin. Lumine shushes Aether who tried to punch her.

"Shut up Aether, you'll look great." She pins the black rose onto the front of his shirt and ties the silk cloth around his neck. She steps a few steps back, making a rectangle shape to symbolize a picture frame and elbows you lightly. "He looks okay for once."

Okay is underwhelming, but to describe Aether better, he looks celestial. The warm studio lights hug every angle of Aether from head to toe. His golden eyes seem to brighten more and the outfit only accentuates his physical traits more.

From the corner of your eye you spot a tall-ish man who has been wandering past the same aisle but never picking anything up. He wears ordinary clothes- a T-shirt and jeans (rather stylishly), but you know from his incoming aura he's more than just an ordinary person.

You tap Lumine discreetly while still holding onto her shopping bags and tilt your head towards the man.

Aether, who keeps picking on the cloth around his neck goes frigid when the strange man walks up to him.

"Hey kid," he says cooly. He looks Aether up and down, lifting his shades to see clearer, and pulls out a small business card from his pocket. "You look like idol material. Ever thought about being a part of a boyband?"

Out of politeness, Aether takes the card and laughs nervously, "Not really" He looks at Lumine and you for help, but you two pretend to not know him when he turns to you.

The man shoves his hands in his pocket, blowing a bubblegum and popping it. His hair slightly tousles when he turns, waving a hand.

"If you ever do decide if you wanna be an idol, auditions are held next week at 10AM," he saunters off. "If they ask who recruited you, tell them a man by the name of Valentin did."

His lavender irises looks back once more before leaving the store, "The people from Teyvat Entertainment are introduced by my very hands. Don't disappoint me."

The automatic sliding doors open for him and he waves the store greeter a goodbye.

You see Aether's eyes scanning over he card Valentin gave. His lashes flutter quickly, signaling you and Lumine he was either shocked, or confused.

Lumine grabbed the paper, a habit she picked up due to being a twin and having to share everything with Aether who won't share. Her lips part, showing the card to you.

Teyvat Entertainment.

A company who created the world's famous DCKZ and the idol, Barbara. Teyvat Ent. has one of the youngest, top rookies of the year because of a group called TVT Dream. A company with many celebrities' and the business card is legit.

A store worker no older than your age meekly walks up to the three of you and asks, "Hey, uh. Are you ready to purchase your clothes?"

...

Aether shoves Lumine (don't worry she shoves him 10x harder) on the stairs while you watch from a safe distance.

You wave hello to their mom before waltzing into their home like you did many other times. You were their third child in their mom's eyes.

You slam the twins' room open and lay yourself on the bottom bunk of their bunkbed. "So do you wanna check Teyvat Entertainment?"

You fish out your phone from your pocket and hand signal for Aether and Lumine to come close to see. Your phone turns on, showing the lock screen of the twins in their embarrassing toddler moments then unlock it. Quietly laughing at the twins who have their faces beet red from the photograph.

"Why do you have that pic? DELETE IT."

"Did mom give that to you..."

You ignore them, opening up Google and typing in the Teyvat Ent. website and search their contacts. You ask Aether for the business card, comparing the two numbers side by side, and Valentin is indeed one of the scouts for the company.

You shut your phone off, hugging the two siblings together tightly. "Whether Aether decides he wants to be an idol or not, we'll still be the best of friends."

Lumine grins, squishing your cheeks, taking a closer look at you. "Well, duh. Are you scared we'll fall apart? No, if anything you should be scared we're never going to leave you alone even if you're 60 and married."

You pinch her cheeks and start to say something until you hear sniffles and coughing. You turn to Aether who was hiding his tears.

"Shut up, I'm not crying." He harshly wipes away the water falling from his eyes, "When I go famous, I'm going to give you my autograph so you can sell it and eventually get 20 cars and houses."

...

You were a teen when the dark-haired Valentin scouted Aether to be a trainee in Teyvat Ent.

You note that without Aether, their home is extremely quiet. It's odd not seeing Lumine scream at Aether for taking her hair clips. It's odd not seeing Lumine aggressively pull on the colourful flower hairclips on Aether's hair, just to get the clips back. It's so odd not seeing Aether is general.

Lumine scrolls through her phone, looking for furniture to add to her new apartment she shares with you. The only thing in the newly bought apartment is three mattresses, three plates, and three cups, just in case Aether visits. Though, Aether visiting is rare. His visits only happen during December for Christmas, but even then he had not visited. It's been two years since you and Lumine last saw him.

You stare at your last sent messages to the blonde boy.

▶ hEY. (threatening)

YO

▶ take care okay? lumine's worrying all the time for ur health bc she keeps watching yt vids on how idols over-do themselves from training

haha thanks for telling me

are you sure it's not you who's worrying 🧐🤧

the last thing lumi sent to me was "FUCK YOU"

▶ well the last thing you sent to her was "U BUTT"

▶ and she took that seriously

are you siding with her?

▶ yes

oh okay, frick you too seen three months ago

Your feet pad against the wooden tiles, grabbing a glass of water while scrolling through twitter. You lift the glass to your lips and almost choke from the water you drink.

You click the link on the phone with the title "Debuting boy band already claiming the hearts of many! Please welcome 4nemo!" Four boys stand in the picture, one being Aether.

You place your glass to the sink and run to Lumine, sitting next to her and who her your phone. She reads it over and visibly shakes. You swear she was about to cry until she takes the phone from your hand and starts throwing it, "AETHER THAT BITCH. HE DEBUTES AND SAYS NOTHING."

You're mortified and pull your friend away from your phone, "THAT'S A NEW PHONE, STOP." You push her away and run to your device, clicking on the link.

"One, two, three! Hello we are," Aether, the familiar blonde says.

His group members follow after him. "4nemo!" They say in chorus. One by one they start introducing themselves.

"Hi I'm Aether!"

"Kazuha," one says with a raise of a hand.

An energetic member steps up with a grin, "And I'm Barbisabeto!"

"He's Barbatos, forgive him." Teal undertones make it's way to the camera, "Hello, I'm Xiao.

The one with twin braids step up, mischievously grinning. "Please take care of us and support us during our journey through the music industry."

His teal eyes squint behind the camera, whispering to the member behind him. "Psst, Xiao. I can't read I'm blind."

Xiao rolls his eyes and steps up, slightly bowing, "Please support our debuting group, we will see you in our music videos."

But Lumine and you never paid attention to what they were saying. Both of you just started crying insults of endearment to Aether because he looks so... different. His face had mature and he's a real idol now.

Reality sinks in.

Now that Aether had a growing fanbase, it's going to be harder to contact him.

"Lumine, how are we going to talk to him now?"

Lumine ponders a bit, resting her chin on her hand before smirking. "Let's create an Aether hate page."

"Yes, let's do it."

After a quick recording of Lumine and yourself, you posted the video online, and soon enough, it goes viral.

Lumine laughs, replaying the video.

"This one's for the boys with the booming system," You say monotonously in front of the camera like what you said was a speech instead of a song. "Top down, AC with the cooler system."

Lumine comes on screen, flipping her middle finger at the camera. "When he come up in the club, he be blazin' up. This one is actually not for the boys with the booming system. This is for the BITCH, AETHER WITH THE BLONDE BRAID. Look at you with your ugly ass smile," She speaks in one breath and it amazes you. "Make sure you get millions of hits or it's all for nothing. Oh Aether's an ass."

The screen shows your hand scooping the phone up and waving good bye with Lumine still dissing Aether.

You nudge Lumine, showing a comment written at the bottom of the video, covering a laugh.

"who's aether?"

"huh??! aether?"

"lOL Why Does The Person On The Left Look Like Aether?"

"OH 4NEMO DABUTE. SHUTUP YOU ANTI. THEY'RE GORGEOUS. YOU'RE THE ONE UFLY" ➡ "ahisfdh you obvi didnt watch the whole video. she said "make sure get millions of hits"

Lumine grins, commenting at the people calling her ugly and Aether way better looking. "Lol, IKR. the one on the left is trying too hard to look like Aether. it's like shes tryna be a twin or smthn"

Though, because of your viral "hate" video, 4nemo's popularity sky rockets because of the unknown 'Aether' of the group.

...

Aether watches the video on the news channel, because that's how popular the video got. He looks at his manager, "Can I send a hate video back?"

"Aether, no."

But the winds are troublesome as the ocean, because a boy with teal tips on his hair snatched the managers phone, running and giving it to Aether. "AETHER. DO IT RIGHT NOW."

...

It was a shock to you seeing people follow your twitter account.

"LUMI, [NAME], IM SRRY I LOST MY PHONE AND DIDNT WANNA TELL ANY1 OR THEYLL GROUND ME," said the tweet, tagging you in comments.

Lumine doesn't have twitter, so when she looks over your shoulder seeing the tweet with her name on, she grabs the phone and locks herself in the bathroom, "R U FR AETHER?U DIDNT REPLY TO MY HAPPY BDAY. WE SHARE A BDAY DUMBASS"

She calmly unlocks the door, giving your phone back casually while you whine, "Lumine! This is twitter! They're gonna cancel me!"

"I'll cancel them back."

Ding! You receive a post with you name under the comments again.

hello, i have to apologize for our member stealing the manager's phone to tweet that. i swear that kid's the most responsible, but he's been triggered. #kazuha

You quickly type back, under the hashtag 'kazuha.'

"@/4nemo sorry uh thats one of ur members twin & shes mad that aether never gave her a bday present when she gave 1 to him #kazuha"

notes: psst here's where i got aether's outfit inspo when they were outfit changing at the mall

[m00n-elixir]

What I think the visions in Genshin Impact symbolize (The Vision Theory)

(THIS IS JUST MY SPECULATION. DO NOT TAKE THIS AS CANON)

Ever since I first started playing Genshin Impact, visions have always intrigued me. I wanted to know what they symbolize for certain characters and what they really mean. So, I decided to take my time to write my theories on what they symbolize! Enjoy! (possible spoilers under tag)

ANEMO : Freedom or Your Desires Of Freedom

I think that the Anemo vision resembles the holder's desires of freedom (Jean wants freedom for Mondstadt, Xiao wants freedom from his karma and past, Kazuha wants freedom from Inazuma and on the Crux Fleet, etc.)

PYRO : Passion or What You're Passionate About

I think that Pyro symbolizes the holder's passions, desires, wishes, or dreams (similar to Anemo). LIke how Diluc is passionate about keeping his dad's legacy alive, Xiangling is passionate about her cooking, Yoimiya is passionate about her fireworks, etc.

CYRO : Love or Your Unfortunate Past

The characters that share a Cyro vision are some of the most unfortunate individuals (Kaeya with his old home being destroyed and his biological and adopted dad dying, Diona with her negligent and alcoholic dad, etc.), but also share a form of love towards something or someone (Diona who shares a familial love for her dad, Kaeya who shares a familial love with Diluc, Ayaka with her love for her clan, etc.)

HYDRO: Justice or Your Morals

Hydro (in my idea) represents the holder's way of giving justice or presenting their personal morals and opinions. This applies to characters like Barbara (who believes that everyone deserves to be helped) and Kokomi (who serves justice to those without or those who fear losing their visions). I also think that Hydro visions are given to those who aspire or look up to someone (Barbara, who looks up to Jean, and Mona, who looks up to her master). Hydro visions could also be given to someone if they have a desire to help or protect those they care about.

GEO : Loyalty And Devotion

Geo holders seem to be loyal to a person, group, or cause (Zhongli and Ningguang are loyal to Liyue, Noelle is devoted to the Knights of Favonius, Gorou is loyal to Kokomi and the Resistance, etc.), and would sacrifice anything for their cause (similar to Hydro). Geo characters also tend to be extremely talented in their skills or hobbies (like how Albedo is a great alchemist and how Noelle is a great maid).

ELECTRO : Your Unique Identity or Your Association with Eternity

From what we have seen from the new Inazuma update, Electro vision holders tend to share a unique personality and/or a desire for a form of eternity (Baal for her wish of eternal rule over Inazuma, Razor being the only human amongst wolves and wanting to stay with them forever, Keqing with her eternal admiration for Rex Lapis, etc.).

DENDRO : Knowledge or What You Are Searching For In Life

Although we do not know much about the Dendro element, we do know that the Dendro Archon resembles Wisdom or Knowledge. This leads me to believe Dendro vision holders are either very wise, or are searching for answers to something they are struggling with (like how Baizhu is searching for eternal life due to his incurable disease).

I hope you all enjoyed this awfully long theory post (and yes, i will be pinning this just because i think it might be useful (?)). Have a wonderful day!

[thatringboy]

Numbers

Word Count: 855

Characters: Paimon (mentioned), Aether, Beidou, Kazuha

Warnings: Mentions of nightmares, Angst

Summary: Kazuha scores his nightmares on a scale of 1-10, but Aether sees right through him

On their first night aboard the Alcor, Aether sent Paimon to bed after letting her eat her full of pork rines and chicken skewers. In her absence, the Traveler walked along the dark deck of the grand flagship with Captain Beidou.

“How far will you take us to Inazuma?” He could barely see the twinkling lights of Liyue in the distance.

Beidou took a swig from a bottle she was holding and followed his gaze. “All the way, but we won’t stay for more than a few hours. That’s why I had my crew stock up on so much supplies for the round trip.”

Aether nodded, the scent of the salty sea calming his nerves. “Are you sure I can’t pay you for the trip?”

“Nah,” she set the bottle down on a stray crate and leaned against the ship’s railing. “I already get paid a bit by the Resistance and the Qixing for getting people back to the mainland. Think nothing of it.”

The Traveler nodded and looked up at the stars. Once upon a time, a short man from Inazuma had claimed that the stars were an illusion, but being out on the open sea and seeing the vast canvas that was the night sky disproved that theory. How could something so beautiful be a farce?

Then his mind wondered if that man would be waiting for him at his destination. Would the Fatui Harbinger fight him? Would he support Baal or the Resistance? Would La Signora be there too?

Beidou caught the troubled expression on his face and opened her mouth to ask about it, but a tiny shout from below deck drew her attention. The two dashed down staircases and ladders until the Captain pushed open the doors to a bedroom.

Sitting upright in a hammock and clutching something to his chest was Kazuha, his hair stuck to his forehead with sweat and his eyes staring at his blanketed feet like they held the answers to the universe.

Beidou snapped him out of his trance with a single worded question. “Number?”

The samurai took a deep breath. “Six—no seven.”

The Captain gave him a sad smile as he turned his head and noticed that Aether stood in the doorway. “Oh, Traveler, I didn’t see you there. Apologies if I startled you.”

Aether could see that the object in his hand was the masterless Vision he had been trying to find a new home for. “Are you alright?”

Kazuha nodded. “Yes, sometimes my mind is plagued with troubling images and the demons of my past love to bare their teeth, but I’m fine.”

Beidou frowned. “But you said this one was a seven. Want me to stay?”

“Seven? What does that mean?” Aether looked between them.

Kazuha slipped the Vision under his pillow. “My nightmares have become so frequent that the Captain has begun keeping track of their intensity on a scale of one to ten. If it is above a five, she stays until I have calmed down. Above a seven and she waits until I have fallen asleep again. And as you can see, I have calmed down so the two of you can return to what you were doing.”

The Captain shrugged and left it at that, but Aether hung back with a stubborn expression. Kazuha pushed his hair out of his face and stared at him. “Can I help you?”

His face turned soft and sad, his golden eyes swirling with recognition and sympathy. “You lied to her, didn’t you.”

It wasn’t a question but more of a statement of facts. The samurai looked away. “How could you tell?”

Aether located a wooden stool and sat down next to the hammock. “Because I get the nightmares too. And each and every one of them is easily a ten.”

Kazuha knew that Aether was on the search for his sister along with his quest to meet all Seven Archons, but when the Traveler had mentioned Lumine, he held only the faintest hint of fondness in his voice. Now the Outlander’s voice was filled with melancholy and nostalgia.

“Does it ever get easier?” He asked.

In Aether’s silence, Kazuha began to wonder if his words were confusing, but the Traveler eventually spoke up.

“The pain of losing someone never goes away, it just becomes easier to manage, I suppose. I’m lucky to have a lifeline with Paimon and my other friends, but there are times where I dream of when Lumine and I would travel worlds together and that feels like a million lifetimes ago. Recently, the nightmares have stopped, but I still remember what they felt like.”

Kazuha stared at his blanket with a dry smile. “Well, aren’t we two petals on a peach blossom.”

Aether chuckled and stood up. “Feeling better?”

“Just a little, but talking helps. Thank you, Traveler.”

The Outlander smiled. “No problem. Get some sleep and we can talk more in the morning if you want.” He moved towards the door. “Goodnight, Kazuha.”

“Goodnight, Aether.” The samurai slid back down into his hammock and waited for the door to be shut before closing his eyes.

[purplellamanator]

12 Day's of Christmas - Secret Santa Fanfiction

Alright, I know Japan isn´t known for celebrating Christmas as some of us might know it, but I wanted to do something really Christmas’y for you and since it’s a celebration for couples in Japan I thought It would be nice. I might have toyed with some western tradition as well. Hope you still like it and it’ll fulfill your Christmas wish! As you might already know I’ve chosen HeijixKazuha from the couples you mentioned the and decided that they finally get a confession… even if Heiji still has to struggle a little (a lot). Oh and the last parts isn´t beta readed yet~ Sorry ^^,

I hope you’ll like it! Have a happy and merry Christmas dear PurpleLlamanator

Your secret Santa Shelling Ford xxx

 __________

On the first day of Christmas, my true love gave to me A murder in a café.

The first snow had started to fall and the soft flakes that slowly coated the city suddenly turned into a heavy snow storm that threw Osaka into chaos. The traffic broke down and the people were fleeing the streets, searching for cover wherever they found it. So they end up, cold and shivering, in a crowded café dripping wet, before they finally found a tiny table for two. Heiji cursed and unwrapped the green scarf from his neck.

“That storm is madness! We’ll be frozen before we get home- and ta end up here of all places,” he grumbled, looking through the tiny cafè that wasn´t only filled with people but it seemed that each free space was covered in Christmas décor of all colors and well - tastes. Between candy canes and Christmas trees were deers in multiple colors (but all of them covered in a ton of glitter), big baubles in cupcake décor and was that a purple pig with a crown? Of course, the storm had to shoo them into this wannabe winter-wonder-land.

Heiji shuddered, partly because he could still feel the cold in his clothes and partly because he felt like sitting inside what must look like a crazy Santa-Claus workshop. With a sigh, he turned to Kazuha, who - to be honest - was the main reason for them being here. She had been shivering from head to toe and while she claimed that she loved the snow and would be happy to walk through a storm like this (crazy as that is) he simply couldn’t bear her trembling any longer. Looking at her now, he could see that it had been he right decision. Her lips had turned from a light blue back to a cherry red, her cheeks were still blushed from the cold wind, and her hair was wet, sparkling in the colorful light of the café. With shining bright eyes and a smile on her lips, her eyes wandered through the room.

“Isn´t that tha most beautiful place, Heiji?!”

“Uh-“ His first reaction was to ask her if she had suddenly gone blind and stupid at the same time, but her eyes, reflecting the thousands of Christmas lights around them, stopped him.

‘Tha most beautiful, huh-?’

Of course, Kazuha loved the foreign traditions, the lights, the decorations and everything… she had declared that it was her favorite season and well… he had to admit that she looked beautiful in the colorful surroundings. So beautiful that a lump formed in his throat. He would tell her about- the thing. Now or… at least during this season, but now would be nice, would be perfect if she loved this place so much, and suddenly the crowded café seemed empty, the decoration and lights well placed and warm, perfect even.

“K-Kazuha listen, I-“

But a scream stopped him mid-sentence.

Heiji froze, his eye twitching slightly while Kazuha had already left her seat, to see if she could help, but there wasn't much she could do.

“Someone call an ambulance!”

One screamed, while someone else declared that it was already too late. 

“Oh my God, he’s dead!”

“What’ya waiting for! Come on!” Kazuha’s order ripped him from his thoughts, his cheeks burning, like she’d just caught him doing something he wasn't allowed to. He just stared up at her, while she was waiting for him to move.

“But- a-alright.”

And with a sigh he made his way through the crowded and over-decorated place in order to solve the murder in the little café.

On the second day of Christmas, my true love gave to me Two hours of frostbite, And a murder in a café!

The wind was icy, but at least the sun was shining, so it seemed that everything went according to plan. He had one month of her favorite season to tell her… that he, kind of liked her - well she knew that of course. They were friends since they knew each other, but well - he liked her more than that, you know like really – oh well, anyway, even with his bad luck it should be possible to confess within a whole month. To find the right spot, time and setting - somehow.

Today, he’d chosen Osaka castle park. The snow was still fresh and clean, so that the whole place looked like it was covered in clouds. He was waiting on one of the bridges and due to the cold wind it seemed like they would have this place for themselves. The water below was frozen, but the ice was still thin so he could see tiny bubbles dancing beneath the thin layer, like hundreds of tiny dancing couples along with the flow of the river.

He’d chosen a spot where they could see the sundown when the white snow would turn into a warm orange and a soft rosé. A smile found its way to his lips, together with a slight blush. Heiji huffed and pushed his hands deeper into his pockets. Kazuha was late, even if she always blamed it on him when they weren‘t on time, he knew that it wasn't unusual for her to take a little longer. While the frostbite was already nipping on his nose, he forced himself to wait and enjoy the view.

Well… that was two hours ago.

Two hours of frostbite crawling through his clothes and icy wind blowing in his face.

His toes felt like they were about to roll around in his shoes all by themselves. Well, Heiji could only guess that was what they felt like, because they were mostly frozen by now. The detective’s nose and cheeks were bright red from the cold, nearly glowing in the darkening light. He cursed with chattering teeth.

“Where tha heck is that woman!?”

With numb fingers, he pulled his mobile from his pocket to call Kazuha.

“Hey, Heiji what-“ but her welcoming words were disturbed by his annoyed question.

“Where are ya?”

“What?” The high schooler was confused.

“What are ya talking ‘bout?” However, the fact that Kazuha had forgotten about their date let the corner of his mouth twitch in frustration.

“Our… meeting in tha Castle Park?”

“Huh? But ya told me ta meet ya there tomorrow…” she told him with an audible frown, so that Heiji finally exploded.

 “Idiot! That was today!” he yelled.

“Who are ya callin’ an idiot, ya idiot! Ya even texted me tha day and time again, remember?“

“Yeah, ta meet ya here today.”

“No. Tomorrow. Check your messages, ya blockhead.” With that she hung up, leaving him listening to a dead line.

“Oi, Kazuha! Kazuha!” Hattori cursed and switched back to the latest massage he’d send her.

“Darn it! I’m sure she- oh.”

He’d given her the wrong date, or was it him being too early?

“Oh boy…” Heiji sighed - well it was his fault and with her being cranky like that (why did he even like that testy girl?!) he would have to come up with something real good next time.

The Osakan shook his head and looked back to the bright red and blue glowing sky, while the world around him was aflame in a warm and shimmering golden light.

Something real good.  

On the third day of Christmas, my true love gave to me Three stolen purses, Two hours of frostbite, And a murder in a café!

Today was the day, he’d planned it well. He’d found a Christmas market, with little stores selling candy, hot drinks, Christmas trees and baubles besides other rather unnecessary stuff, all bright and colorful – Kazuha would love it. And she did, but other people seemed to like it, too… that was the fault in his plan - there were just too many people. Kazuha still enjoyed the strange market but - it was far from what he would call a date, or romantic or anything like that.

They made their way through the crowd to a little candy store beneath a giant maple tree that was illuminated by fairy lights. He got himself a coffee while Kazuha was trying to choose something from the store. It had started to snow again, but luckily it wasn’t a storm, at least not yet. The soft, icy crystals floated to the earth, glowing in the multiple light of the fairy lights and multiple stores and it seemed like they’d finally found a spot, that wasn’t too crowded.

He blew on the warm coffee in his hands and tried a sip, before the warm white frog from his cup revealed his childhood love, wearing a bright smile. He blushed beneath his green-white woolen hat, but shook his head briefly, eying the candy in her hand.

“What’s that?”

“A candy apple.” Heiji nodded, frowning at the apple, coated in a layer of bright red sugar.

“It tastes great,” Kazuha announced, taking another bite, but the detective was all fixed on the cherry red color of her lips.

“Ah…” he gulped, eyes still on Kazuha’s soft and sweet lips.

“… I’m sure it does.” He murmured, still staring, so that he didn't noticed Kazuha’s confused look, before she waved her hand in front of his face, taking a step closer to him as she did so.

“Hello, earth to Heiji, what are ya mumbling?” He blinked, ripped from his day dream only to find her standing only one step in front of him, her lips still tinted in an inviting red, her cheeks flushed from the cold and her eyes sparkling, reflecting the fairy lights all around them. Heiji blushed rather flustered.

“Well, I wanted to-“ he stammered, his voice breaking when he tried to form a sentence, so he tried again, taking a final step closer to her.

“I want to tell you-“

“My purse! Help! He got my purse!“ The scream made them both jump, before a guy rushed past them, clearly the thief on the run.

“Oh- ya’ve gotta be kidding me,” Heiji groaned, but already started to hunt after the man.

“Kazuha, call tha police, I’ll be right back,” he called, before he stopped by another couple, grabbing the umbrella they carried to use it as a improvised kendo sword.

“Can I borrow that for a second? Thank ya!”

When he finally reached the guy, it seemed like the thief had stolen not only one but three purses that night, and he might have also earned more than one bruise due to the detective‘s date, that was ruined… again.

On the forth day of Christmas, my true love gave to me Four eyes to visit, Three stolen purses, Two hours of frostbite, And a murder in a café!

This day wasn't going according to plan. Not at all! He had planned to go ice-skating with Kazuha, and now Tokyo’s biggest murder magnet, the angel of death, body dropping guy was sitting between the girls playing the sweet little kid.

They had chosen a self-serving restaurant, offering a giant buffet, with a nice view on the streets of Osaka.

“Alright, who’s up for a desert?” Kazuha asked and pushed herself from her seat along with Ran, who followed with a hesitating smile herself.

“Ya and Neechan go, Ku- kiddo and I are skipping tha sugar today.” Heiji let himself slip deeper into the bench, making it clear that he wasn't about to come along.

“Actually-“ But Conan’s the objection was stopped with a cold glare from the detective of the west.

“Ah no, but thank you, Kazuha-neechan,” Conan chirped with his kiddy smile.

“We’ll wait here, just go,“ Heiji murmured, so that Kazuha nodded and Ran turned to Conan with a warm smile.

“Alright, we’ll be right back.”

Shinichi watched them both go, before a cold voice forced his attention back to his friend.

“Go away.”

“What? What the heck is wrong with you, Hattori?!”

“’s nothing…” the Osakan grumbled, but Kudo’s raised eyebrow was making it clear that he wasn't buying it. Shinichi could see his friend chewing the bottom of his lip, before he finally mumbled something, avoiding his eyes all the time.

“Just… me trying to-  well, sort things out and now ya here, with ya all too perfect romantic British confession.”

“Huh?” The boy’s glassed nearly slipped from his nose in surprise, so he had to push it back, before he finally answered.

“So that’s what it’s all about, you’re trying to confess to Kazuha?” He questioned, with a knowing smirk. ‘Again’

Hattori just blushed, turning his gaze away from the boy.

“Well – yeah and ya‘re not helping,“ Heiji grumbled, before Conan rolled his eyes.

“Damn Hattori, this isn't a competition and besides…” he stopped with a sigh, staring holes in the table now.

“My confession was far from perfect, or planned. Damn, we screamed at each other, she was crying and I compared love to a stupid number, before I  had to leave her again,” he remembered with rather mixed feelings, before a blush found its way to his cheeks.

“And Kyoto… well that was nice, but the moment was ruined again…” He took a deep breath, looking up at his friend again, with a fond smile. 

“So, no matter what you’re going to do, you already won, since you don't have to leave her.”

There was a second of silence between them and Heiji suddenly had the feeling that he’d ben rather unfair – but before he could say anything, Kudo started talking again, with a smirk on his lips.

“Besides, when I planned to tell her it was a total failure, you know that. I had to solve a murder instead,” Kudo reminded him with a dry chuckle.

“Yeah, I know.” Heiji massaged the bridge of his nose, he knew that just too well.

“Just tell her everything and you’ll see it’ll turn out alright,” the boy told him with a knowing smile, which made Heiji raise a questioning eyebrow.

“What are ya - Dr. Love?”

“Oi, I’m just trying to help,” Shinichi objected with his arms crossed in front of his chest.

“Alright, I know, sorry,” he surrendered with a smile.

“I will try to tell her again as soon as this dark omen hovering over the city is gone,” Heiji announced, but the kid just gave him a questioning look, so the detective was nice enough to clarify his statement with a smirk.

“Namely, you.”

“What!? Come on, I’m not worse than you,” Shinichi huffed in annoyance.

“I beg to differ.”

“You-“

But before the boy’s banter went too far, the girls finally returned, plates full of sweet desserts of all sorts.

“Here we are,” Ran announced, retaking her place beside Conan, while Kazuha was doing the same next to Heiji.

“What have ya two been talking ‘bout?” But her question was answered from both detectives at the same time.

“Nothing”

Later, when they had said goodbye and their friends were already back on their way to Tokyo, Heiji was laying on his bed, reading when his mobile suddenly chirmed, announcing a text message. The detective took the device reading the name of the messenger, before he opened the text.

‘It’s from Kudo.’

Good Luck

On the fifth day of Christmas, my true love gave to me Five bloody noses, Four eyes to visit, Three stolen purses, Two hours of frostbite, And a murder in a café!

The scent of lilies reached his nose and made him smile. He was supposed to meet her at home, her dad was still at work, so they had the place for themselves in order to finish their school project. Heiji thought that the place and time was as good as any and to be honest, at least they should be safe from murders, thieves and what else. But in order to make it a little romantic, he’d decided to get some flowers, what took him and the now rather exhausted und distressed girl from the shop longer than he’d planned.

Roses just seemed too much, too cliché, too obvious - or whatever you want to call it, but the other flowers were either not the color he wanted or he didn't like the meaning behind them. After what felt like hours, he was finally satisfied with the small bouquet of lilies in his hand and was already on his way back. Heiji tugged his woolen hat deeper in his face, leaning against the cold wind, even if he had a little trouble telling whether he was trembling because of the cold or the nervous feeling in his stomach. He was about to cross the road when a group of people caught his attention. His gaze hardened looking to the four guys, who were obviously trying to “flirt” with two high school girls.

“Please, we just want to go home,” they begged, trying to get past the four men, but their way was blocked again by one of them, wearing an ugly smirk.

“Oh sweety, but you haven't told us to whom ya wanna go!” He grinned a foul smile and his friends chuckled, before another one of them wiggled his eyebrows.

“Yeah, I’ve got a special Christmas present for ya!”

The offer let the bile crawl up Heiji’s throat.

‘Alright that’s it.’ Heiji growled and made a step towards them, placing the flower bouquet on his shoulder carrying it similar to how he would carry his kendo sword.

“I guess they would prefer their own home, without any of you accompanying them.”

The high schoolers looked at him in surprise, before they took the chance that the attention wasn't on them any longer and slipped past them with a murmured thank you, before they hurried away.

“And who are ya?” the fake blond snarled, his lip thinning even more, before he added a special nickname with a ugly grin. “Flower boy?”

Heiji just rolled his eyes, ready to leave since he'd reached his goal, but the one with way too much wax in his sleek and slimy hair stepped in his way.

“Are ya planning ta weave a nice crown out of that?” he laughed, while trying to reach out to one of the lilies, but Heiji slapped his hand away with a growl.

“Hands off!”

But his action caused two of the guys to grab his arms, so that he’d lost the grip on the flowers in surprise. He swallowed; they still looked nice, but it was clear that it wouldn't stay that way for much longer.

“Why should we, ya just ruined our entertainment,” slimy-head argued.

“Hardly, ya faces already did that for ya,” Heiji told them with a dry laugh.

“Alright flower boy, that’s it,” the blonde guy grumbled, before his gaze fell to the bouquet on the ground.

“How nice, it’s a pity that ya dropped them,” he smirked, before raising his foot.

“Oh… I’m sorry, I must. Have. Stepped. On. Some-. -thing!” Each of his words was accompanied with another kick at the poor lilies,  before he looked up with an ugly smile.

Heiji just sighed, looking down at his latest plan.

“Ya really shouldn't have done that,” he whispered.

.

.

The doorbell interrupted Kazuha’s studies and she made her way to the door.

“Coming!”  She opened the door to find her missing school project partner right in front of her.

“Heiji, ya late, what-“  But the high schooler stopped herself at the appearance of her friend.

“Ya nose is bleeding!”

“Well yeah, that and four others,” Heiji chuckled darkly, but winced when that caused him to ache everywhere. 

She���d pushed him into the living room, placing him on the couch, and wrapped him (despite his protests) into a warm blanket, before she disappeared to gather something to treat him with.

“Here, I’ve made some tea, how’s ya head?”

“I told ya, I’m fine.” But Kazuha simply ignored him, carefully tending to the wound on his cheek, she was close enough for him to feel her breath on his skin. Well, he had a few bruises and hadn't told her what he wanted to, but all in all the day wasn't all that bad.

‘Not at all.’

On the sixth day of Christmas, my true love gave to me Six plates of cookies, Five bloody noses, Four eyes to visit, Three stolen purses, Two hours of frostbite, And a murder in a café!

The way to someone’s heart is through their stomach, at least that’s what they say.

So, when Kazuha announced that she wanted to try herself making Christmas cookies, he offered his help. After all it was baking not cooking and he couldn´t be that bad in both things after all, right?

Wrong!

Two sheets of burned to crisps cookies later, they knew he actually was that bad, and Kazuha banned him from the kitchen. Not without a job at least, as she’d placed the first plate of cookies in front his nose with a colorful assortment of sweets and warm chocolates to decorate them with.

“Ya can't ruin them with too much chocolate, so they should be safe with ya,” she had told him, before she’d disappeared back into the kitchen, leaving him confused and yes, maybe a tiny bit overchallenged in front of the first plate of cookies.

Heiji frowned and took the frosting bag, filled with warm brown chocolate in his hand, before a smile slowly found its way to his lips. Seemed like he still had his chance to tell her about... his opinion towards her. He'd seen decorated cookies with a tiny message on them everywhere, so it couldn't be that hard could it?

The Osakan picked one of the cookies, looking at it in concentration, thinking about the right way to place his sweet message, before he carefully placed the tip of the frosting bag on it, squishing it carefully, but cursed when the damn thing only left a dark smear on it. It even looked like - ah better not define the appearance of the ruined cookie any further.

‘Damn and what now?’ It was obvious that this kind of decoration was about to raise some questions, so what could he do about-

Crunch.

Heiji blinked when he noticed the sweet taste in his mouth, seems like his stomach had made the decision for him and a good one as well, since there wasn't left any evidence for his deed.

‘The perfect crime.’

Well it maybe was after the first plate of cookies, but not when he’d ruined the sixth. He swallowed his last fail. Atleast they were delicious, even if the cookies seemed to be plotting against him. After the chocolate had been dripping and smeared the first batch of cookies, it had now hardened and left nothing but an ugly heap on them instead of his supposed to be neat handwriting.

He tried himself with the last one, his last chance to make his plan work, well that was before Kazuha entered the room after she’d finished cleaning the kitchen from flour and cookie dough.

“Alright Heiji let's see what ya-” But she cut herself short, at the sight of the empty plates and the clear traces of chocolate at the corner of Heiji’s mouth.

“What have ya done!” she demanded, with her hands in her hips, making him flinch on his spot on the sofa.

“Uh..”

“Where are all tha cookies? Don't tell me-” But his face already answered her question.

“Ya ate them! All of them?” she shirked, reaching for one of the plates that offered nothing but a few crumbs of what she’d been baking all day.

“Uh..” he swallowed, his cheeks flushing in embarrassment.

“I can't believe ya ta be that selfish!” That finally pushed him from his stupor, so that he pushed himself from his seat.

“Oi! I didn't do it on purpose, they were ugly that's why-”

“They were what?!”

‘Oh fuck.’ He paled.

“I mean they weren't that good anyway,” he grumbled, crossing his arms in front of his chest.

“Ah- really?” Kazuha was about to argue again, before she blinked, looking worried now.

“Uh- no, I mean, yes- I mean, they weren't when I was done with them,” Heiji finally admitted, but not without pointing at the one thing that was responsible for his fail.

“It's not my fault that tha stupid chocolate didn't work!”

“Ya know that ya have ta warm it up in between right? And if something didn't turn out right ya simply could have covered tha whole thing with chocolate, instead of eating every single one!”

He blinked and for a moment there was nothing but silence between them.

“So, can I try again?”

“No way! No more cookies for ya mister.” Kazuha sighed, placing the frosting bags in the warm water.

“Oi, that's not fair!” Heiji whined, but took his seat again, while his friend raised an eyebrow.

“Ya had enough of them anyway.”

“Just because I tried ta solve a problem.”

“Well, ya better stick ta solving crimes.”

On the seventh day of Christmas, my true love gave to me Seven rooms on fire, Six plates of cookies, Five bloody noses, Four eyes to visit, Three stolen purses, Two hot chocolates, And a murder in a café!

Kudo was right, they were cursed.

He’d thought he could push his none existing luck again and arranged a dinner date for Kazuha and himself. After all, he knew that Kazuha liked this place, so what could go wrong?

Apparently, everything.

They had just finished their appetizer, and Kazuha wouldn't stop asking him why he was taking her out (she still suspected that he felt guilty for the “disappearing” cookies), but when he finally snapped and told her that it wasn't about that but something he had to say to her she’d suddenly gone silent and concentrated back on their food, without really caring about it.

He could feel her eyes on him from time to time, his mind running, searching for the right way to start their conversation again, or even better - to start the conversation, he’d invited her for. They weren't used to silence, not like this, and it seemed that Kazuha noticed that something was wrong, since it was her who finally broke the silence before he was able to form a sentence at all.

“And… what, what do ya have to tell me?”

Heiji swallowed, taken aback by the sudden question.

But the lump in his throat only got worse when he looked at her again. Kazuha was biting her lips with a faint blush on her cheeks, it was obvious that she was suddenly nervous too, even if she didn´t know what he wanted to tell her – or maybe she did?

Maybe she liked him the way he liked her?

Was she waiting for him to tell her?

Why didn't she say anything?

What if she liked someone else?

The detective shook his head. Trying to calm his racing heart, he reached for her hand, holding her delicate fingers in his own and it seemed that time stood still between them.

That was until an explosion shook the building.

The light went out right after the detonation, leaving the whole restaurant screaming in fear, since no one knew what was going on. Kazuha tightened the grip on his hand when he pushed himself from his chair.

“Heiji! What’s going on?” She trembled and he could see the fear in her eyes when the emergency generator provided at least some light.

“I don't know.” The detective looked around, searching where the explosion had come from and when he finally looked out of the window he saw it. The opposite building reflected a blazing fire, just two floors above them and Heiji cursed when the faint scent of smoke already reached his nose. Kazuha noticed his dark expression and followed his gaze, gasping at what she saw, but before she was able to say anything, Heiji shushed her.

“Don´t. Ya’ll only cause a panic,” he reminded her and Kazuha nodded, her eyes still fixed at the flames reflecting in the window.

“I need ya ta get these people out of here, tell them who ya are and that ya dad called ya or whatever - just see to it that they don´t panic.” Kazuha nodded, but gripped his fingers with both hands.

“What about ya?”

“I’ll see if there is anyone upstairs and get them out.” Kazuha nodded and he slowly loosened the grip of her hand on his own, ready to go, before her soft voice stopped him.

“Heiji-“ She bit her lips, her eyes resting on her feet before she looked up in worry.

“… be careful.”

“Sure.” The detective smiled, nodded and made his way to the stairs. But the only one he did find after he’d stormed through all seven rooms on fire, was the bomber himself, unconscious – who later told the police that his wife had left him a year ago on this day in this restaurant – so it seemed it wasn´t the best place to confess, after all.

On the eighth day of Christmas, my true love gave to me Eight peaceful hours, Seven rooms on fire, Six plates of cookies, Five bloody noses, Four eyes to visit, Three stolen purses, Two hot chocolates, And a murder in a café!

It was perfect.

He’d brought her to the ice rink he’d like to visit earlier. The whole place was decorated in colorful fairy lights and evergreens, they even had a big Christmas three in the middle of the ice. It was nice, they felt like they were flying over ice, in their warm clothes with a big smile on their lips and he could use the one or other chance to hold her hand, before he had to catch her since she’d been to fast at some point, calling his name, before she landed in his open arms.

“Ah-“ Kazuha blushed, with her cheek on his chest.

“Uhm- thank you.” She murmured and leaned back in order to offer him some distance again, but Heiji didn´t answer, instead continued to hold her close.

Kazuha looked up, blushing again, when she noticed that she could feel his heartbeat beneath her fingertips, but she didn´t struggle to get away from his grip. No, it felt good, warm… and safe.

Heiji took a shivering breath, looking down into her bright green eyes. His heart was beating, fast but strong and despite his mouth feeling dry he managed to hold her hand and finally found the words he’d wanted to tell her for so long.

“Kazuha I – I love you.”

He held his breath and waited for her answer.

The golden light of the sinking sun, brushed her cheeks and the fairy lights all around them seemed to multiply in her eyes when she finally replied him with a soft smile.

“I love you too… Heiji.”

.

.

.

She mirrored his smile, she didn´t knew what he was dreaming about, but after these last day’s he deserved some piece.

“Kazuha-chan, I’m home!” Her father announces, but instead of a warm welcome Ginshiro was greeted by a hiss from his daughter.

“Psst!”

“Huh- What?” He blinked, following her back into the living room, only to find Heiji Hattori solid asleep on his sofa.

“He’s asleep.” Kazuha helped her confused father to understand the situation.

“I can see that, but why?” The officer frowned.

Kazuha shrugged and turned her attention back to Heiji.

“These last days had were hard on him – he came over to help my with a school assignment, but when I prepared everything he was suddenly asleep and-“ Kazuha bit her lip.

‘- I couldn´t bring myself ta wake him.’  She smiled, pulling the blanked back up to his shoulders.

Ginshiro left them, offering to order take out food, so none of them would have to cook. Kazuha nodded and thanked him, before she took a seat beside Heiji, she had to admit that he looked kind of cute like this. 

Eight peaceful hours Heiji had to realize that his perfect confession had been nothing but a dream, but when he finally stirred ready to get up he noticed a weight on his shoulders only to find Kazuha who’d fallen asleep waiting for him to wake up.

On the ninth day of Christmas, my true love gave to me Nine poisoned mistletoes, Eight peaceful hours, Seven rooms on fire, Six plates of cookies, Five bloody noses, Four eyes to visit, Three stolen purses, Two hot chocolates, And a murder in a café!

There was one thing, one cliché Christmas tradition which could be found in every romantic Christmas movie and always seemed to work like a lucky charm.

A mistletoe.

It was an old tradition, that whoever met under the mistletoe was supposed to kiss the other. Heiji swallowed, his head changed color at the very thought alone. Well, they didn´t have to kiss right away, but maybe he could use the tradition to finally reveal his feelings to her and whatever happened afterwards… was up to them.

At least he hoped that that since special charms seemed to be kind of their thing, his cursed luck when he tried to tell her would be reversed by the mistletoe.

He found a place, not far from their school, where they had hung a mistletoe right above a gate, leading to a small park.

This time however he would make sure that Kazuha would be there, so he sort of kidnapped her right after class, dragging her along. Apparently that wasn´t the best idea to since his hears felt like they would start to bleed every second now, terrorized from her questions.

“Heiji, I demand that ya tell me where we’re going!” She whined, before he rolled his eyes again still taking her further.

“I already told ya that’s supposed ta be a surprise!”

“But-“ Heiji stopped her before she could annoy him any further.

“Now come on!” He didn´t slow down until the park finally came into sight, a big smile spreading over his lips.

Heiji stopped in the gateway, a little out of breath by his hurry. Kazuha huffed as well, her breath creating little white clouds. He could feel his heartbeat fasten, her hand was still in his own, and he closed is fingers once more around it, daring to tug her a little closer.

She looked at him in surprise, still not knowing what was going on, but blushed a little since he was to her.

“Heiji what?” Kazuha could feel that he was up to something, he was behaving really strange this month and even now the slight blush on his cheeks confused her.

“Look up.” He smirked knowingly.

He bit his lips when she finally did, his mind going crazy thinking about what was about to happen when she finally saw the little charm right above their heads and maybe… he would even gain more than to reveal his feelings to her. A grin spread over his lips, he would even be a step ahead of Kudo. Heiji took a deep breath, closing his eyes, waiting for what was about to happen, before Kazuha’s somewhat annoyed question broke through his little dream.

“And… what now?”

Hattori blinked in surprise.

‘What?’ But his question was answered when he finally looked up, only to find that his lucky charm was missing.

“I, uh- where is it?”

“Where is what?” Before he could answer Kazuha’s question another voice interrupted him.

“Heiji-kun? Is that you?”

“O-Otaki-keiji?”  The high schoolers frowned when the officer made a step towards them.

“What are ya doing here?” The tall officer sighed and shook his head, before he answered.

“We had to confiscate the mistletoe.”

“Huh, what mistletoe?” Kazuha wondered.

“Ah the one-umpf” Officer Otaki’s answer was muffled by Heiji’s gloved hands, who looked at the detective in confusion before his eyes went wide.

“Uh- oh! Oh!” Heiji let go and tried to ignore his bright glowing cheeks while Otaki smiled at him, before he cleared his throat.

“So what’s wrong with it.”

“It’s poisoned.”

“What!?”

So his chance ended in another case, featuring a poisoned mistletoe that left other couples in the hospital, because the wind had caused the poison to flutter down on them. In the end there had been nine of them, spread all over the city and it took the police and him three whole days to put the puzzle pieces together and find the culprit.

Heiji sighed, that much for his hopes for a little Christmas miracle.

On the tenth day of Christmas, my true love gave to me Ten icy snow balls, Nine poisoned mistletoes, Eight peaceful hours, Seven rooms on fire, Six plates of cookies, Five bloody noses, Four eyes to visit, Three stolen purses, Two hot chocolates, And a murder in a café!

They had to study and he promised himself to focus on that and only that. His parents were out, so they had decided to put their base camp in the living room. It would be their last test before winter break and Kazuha had even brought what was left of the Christmas cookies he’d almost ruined.

Heiji frowned and took another bite of his cookie. Kazuha had left a few minutes ago to get a book she’d forgotten at home. The Osakan sighed and let himself fall back to the carpet stretching his legs beneath the table. There were only a few day’s left until Christmas, maybe he should simply give up. ‘Yea… I guess that would be tha best.’

He closed his eyes and tried not to think about it, but with the sweet taste of cookies in his mouth and the clock ticking in the background it was just a matter of time until his temper got the better of him.

“Damn it! What is talking her so long!?”

Heiji cursed and pushed himself from the ground. Kazuha had left through the porch door through their backyard so she should come back that way too. But when Heiji pushed the door open he wasn´t only greeted by a blow of icy wind and snow but Kazuha’s laughter as well. It had snowed a good deal, their whole backyard looked like a winter wonder land. In the middle of it all was his childhood friend, laying on her back in the soft snow laughing joyfully.

He blinked in surprise, making another step to her.

“Oi, what are ya doing?” Kazuha just laughed and stopped her movements to lay there, staring up at the white heaving and the snow falling on top of her.

“I was making a snow angle.” She grinned and didn´t saw that Heiji just raised an eyebrow, daring to question if she’d just gone crazy, but Kazuha just continued.

“Don´t you think that it sometimes feels like magic? Everything is white and looking so clean and soft, while the world we know it seems to be asleep. Maybe that’s what haven looks like.” She rambled in amazement, with a warm smile on her lips.  

“It’s beautiful.”

Heiji swallowed and finally could see that she indeed had made a snow angle, still lying there with her own wings of snow, her eyes glittering with joy.

‘It is…’

That was his chance.

The detective bit his lips but when he looked up again, only to be hit in the face, by what was supposed to be his cold white ally.

‘What the-‘

Kazuha had stuck him with a snow ball, now giggling like a maniac at his dumbfounded expression.

Heiji blinked and shivered a little when the snow run down his collar, even though it didn´t take long to provoke a reaction from the detective.

“YOU-!”

“Ya’re going ta regret that!” He cursed and started to form a snowball himself, while Kazuha was already searching shelter behind the next three, where she could form more “weapons”.

Ten icy snow balls later- he didn´t know that she could throw so well- the big speech he’d planned was forgotten, as well as their studies, while he focused on an ice cold revenge.  

On the eleventh day of Christmas, my true love gave to me Eleven hostages screaming,  Ten icy snow balls, Nine poisoned mistletoes, Eight peaceful hours, Seven rooms on fire, Six plates of cookies, Five bloody noses, Four eyes to visit, Three stolen purses, Two hot chocolates, And a murder in a café!

Heiji groaned and let himself sink into the free chair he’d cast an eye on half an hour ago, when it was still occupied by another annoyed and tired man.

‘Why did I even agree on this?´

Kazuha had vanished in the next changing booth, because after they had been strolling through the crowded shopping mall for the last three hours, searching for Christmas gifts she wasn´t tired, no- instead a dress in a shop window had lured her in and him with her.

She only wanted to try it on, even through she knew that it would be too expensive anyway- so why the trouble? Why even trying it? There was no logic to that- so the detectives mind wasn´t able to understand her actions, not at all.

He sneezed and glared at the Christmas three decorated right beside the changing cabins, it seems that he become allergic to them- what a surprise! Heiji sneezed again and pushed himself deeper into the chair with an annoyed groan.

“Hey, what’s taking you so long!” His grumble joined the sound of “Last Christmas” that was played for what felt the thousandth time.

“Alright-“ Kazuha announced and the curtain of her changing cabin wavered, before she finally stepped outside.  

“-here I come.”

Well, she did. Wearing a dark green dress, with some lance here and there and simply looked stunning.  Heiji didn´t react- or at least he didn´t notice his reaction, so he wasn´t aware that he stood up and made a step towards her, mouth a gasp, while “Wham!” to give their heart to someone special. He kept staring until Kazuha waved her hand in front of her nose, looking at him in confusion.    

“Oi- earth to Heiji! Hello?” He blinked, slightly confused about how he got here.

“Could you please- I mean, could you close it for me?” She stuttered, cheeks glowing a little red, before she turned around exposing her back to her- or should he say, her almost naked back.

The detective swallowed and observed how his own shivering fingers closed the sipper of her dress, carefully not to touch her skin.

“Thank you.” He nodded, still unable to form a correct sentence.  Kazuha smiled her cheeks still tined in red, before she took a step back, gesturing up and down herself.

“So… what do ya think?”

Heiji’s mouth had suddenly gone dry, he swallowed before he was finally able to from something similar to words.

“You- ya’re looking-“

But a gunshot stopped him form telling her that she was the most beautiful being he’d ever seen and that he loved her. Instead he looked around to find four man dressed in black with masks covering their faces and guns in their hands.

“No one moves!” 

‘Oh seriously?!’ He grunted.

“Kazuha get down!” 

So, their shopping trip ended in being held hostage with at least eleven other people until he was able to outwit the man, along with the police. Kazuha however brought the dress back and he knew that his chance to see her in it again, was less than zero.

On the twelfth day of Christmas, my true love gave to me Twelve missing heartbeats, Eleven hostages screaming,  Ten icy snow balls, Nine poisoned mistletoes, Eight peaceful hours, Seven rooms on fire, Six plates of cookies, Five bloody noses, Four eyes to visit, Three stolen purses, Two hot chocolates, And a murder in a café!

Heiji sighed and ignored the cold wind caressing his cheeks and the snowflakes settling in his dark hair.  He’d failed.

It was Christmas eve and tomorrow all the sparkle, spirit and wonder would be gone again, along with his chance to tell her… that he loved her.

Maybe it just- shouldn´t be.

Alright, Kudo had taken some tries as well, but not what- eleven?!

At least everything could go back to normal, once this day was over. His parents were hosting a small party for their friends and family and of course Kazuha was there too. Wearing a breathtaking red dress, that was enough to transform him into a stuttering idiot, gasping for air like a fish out of water. All the love and joy all around him was simply too much- why had it been so hard to tell her the truth anyway? It was like he’d been cursed.

He took his chance to get some air, choosing the wide balcony on the upper floor, which allowed him to see a glimpse of the city.  The whole neighborhood was dressed in cold white snow, with magical touches of light form the decoration of the different houses.

Heiji took a deep breath, it was calm, peaceful, maybe he would be able to forget-

“Heiji?”

‘Oh darn it!’ 

“What are ya doing here?” She questioned and stepped on the balcony, tugging her dark purple cloak closer around her body, while he answered with a sigh looking back at the city again.

“Just catching some breath.” Kazuha nodded, before she noticed that he was wearing no coat, his dark green pullover was the only protection against the snow.

“Alll ya catch will be a cold, here take this.” And before the Osakan had a chance to answer he found her warm red scarf around his neck. He blushed in surprise when he noticed the soft scent of her perfume, which still lingered in the stitches.

When he looked up again, Heiji suddenly noticed that Kazuha was still standing close to him, one hand resting on his chest, where she had placed the end of the scarf, staring holes in his chest.

‘K-Kazuha?’ He swallowed when she finally looked up again and immediately dared to drown in her eyes. Silent Christmas music reached them from downstairs, muffled by the snow and while the night was pitch black, the city lights all around them formed their own universe of bright glowing stars in the darkness.

“Heiji, I …” Kazuha started to stutter, it wasn´t just the cold wind that dipped her cheeks into a warm red color.

“There is, something I want to tell you, that wanted to tell you for a while now…” Heiji’s eyes grew wide, he could feel his heartbeat fasten, while it felt like ants were crawling up and down his spine.

No… it couldn´t be… could it?

Kazuha took a shivering breath, her fingers digging into his pullover afraid that he might go, that she would lose him after what she was about to tell him and yet he grounded her and was the reason she found the courage to look up again.

“Heiji I… love you.”

Her words were barely more than a whisper but enough to make his heart stop.

It was like the snow had stopped falling mind air, time stood still only for them while Heiji found himself lost in her eyes. It took the detective twelve missing heartbeats until he was finally able to respond, even though his answer wasn´t what any of them expected.

“WHAT?!”

He shouted, gasping for breath while his now supposed to be girlfriend just looked at him with wide eyes. “You- but- I- HOW?!”  Heiji stuttered, she told him- just like that, she told him.

That meant that she loved him right?

Well, that was a good thing.

It was amazing!

But why had it been so easy for her just to-

“Heiji- what are you talking about?” Her voice ripped him from his trance, she didn´t dare to look at him and her voice held an unsteady shiver to it.

“Don´t you- I mean-“  Heiji was taken aback by the sudden tremble in her voice and looked down at her, but Kazuha avoided his gaze, yet he could see that her eyes dared to become glassy and she was biting her lips - Darn it, he’d managed to ruin even that!

“What no- I mean yes. Arg!” He took a deep breath, massaging the bridge of his nose with a sigh.

“I’ve been trying to tell you, these last weeks but everything went wrong and now you just-“ The detective muttered, instinctively holding her a little closer. Kazuha just blinked and looked up at him again, only to find his face glowing bright red in embarrassment.

“So that’s what it’s been all about?” She asked with a smirk, remembering his strange behavior and all the “not dates” in the past month.

“Well yeah…” Heiji stuttered. He took a deep breath and brushed a melting snowflake from her cheek, before he continued with a sigh.

“I wanted it to be perfect.” Heiji confessed with a blush.

Kazuha just shook her head with a smile, before she allowed her hand to touch his cheek.  

“It is, silly.” 

The detective smiled and took her hand into his own.

‘True.’

“I love you Kazuha.”

[trouvelle]

Dreams

A/N: I apologize in advance for any mistakes and errors in the story. Fandom: Detective Conan/Case Closed Pairing: Hattori Heiji/Kazuha Toyama Rating: G Genre/Tags: Soulmates AU Summary: His mother told him that the dreams would go away, that the dreams would stop. They never did. The dreams never stopped coming.

How can you miss someone you've never met?

Heiji didn't know how that works, all he knew was that it felt like there's an enormous, painful hole in his chest that refused to go away. It got worse when he woke up, when the dreams were still fresh in his mind, branded into his memories.

He had been having them for as long as he could remember, dreams filled with an wide eyed child about the same age, full of images of a life that wasn't his. Now, Heiji wasn't an unhappy child by any means—he's pretty loud and rowdy—but the only time he felt truly happy, was when he was asleep. When he was awake, it just felt wrong.

Like something was missing.

Someone.

Some nights the dreams didn't come to him and those were the best and worst nights of all. They were the best because he wasn't haunted by visions of big emerald eyes, free to actually dream like a normal person, but also the worst because somehow the emptiness grew even larger with the absence and eventually engulfed him, suffocating him.

He'd only ever told one person about his dreams. When he was younger he hadn't realized that other people don't dream of the same person over and over and over. That it's not normal. His parents had dismissed it as an imaginary friend, someone Heiji had created in his mind.

He had believed it too for a while.

But there were things that made him doubt.

He never saw his imaginary friend during daytime, to start with. He never played with her, not even in his dreams. It was more like catching glimpses through the window to someone else's life. He had seen her play with other children but never with Heiji. It was very odd.

The only face he seemed to be able to remember upon waking up was that one girl—chubby cheeks and pig tails and skinny limbs—no matter how many people she encountered and interacted with in his dream.

He was expecting to grow out of his dreams just like his mother said he would. One day, she had said, he wouldn't need his imaginary friend anymore and the dreams would stop all on their own.

They never did.

It didn't matter how many friends Heiji had, how many parties he went to, how much he had grown. They never went away. Always the same person, the same girl.

Heiji thought that maybe he's mad.

When he was younger, Heiji wanted to be friends with her. The moments when he watched her, playing with her friends in his dreams, she always looked like she had fun.

She's a bit prickly, not liking to be the butt of anyone's jokes, pleasantly overbearing and easily overwrought, but she never seemed to bear a grudge about it. Just a quick thump and whump on the arm ("Kazuha-chan, that hurts!" whined one of the other kids—freckles and braids) and then they're back to running around like idiots.

No, Heiji wasn't lonely. He had friends at school. He played over at their houses. But there was just something about this girl that had him intrigued. It was strange because she didn't really seem the type Heiji would hang out with normally (all of his other friends were, well, boys. No girls allowed!). He did play around but he seemed equally happy to be quiet.

He liked reading. He liked playing police and thieves. He couldn't sit through any movies without any talking—unless it's a mystery movie. He often wondered whether this meant he and the girl in his dreams couldn't be friends if, you know, the girl was real, because people always said opposites attract.

And Kazuha was just as loud and as boisterous Heiji was.

That thought made him quite sad. Not that he was turned down (which did make him sad for a day or so but he got over it quick enough) but that she wouldn't like him. Heiji liked her a lot, but he didn't want to change himself just for her to like him. That was not Heiji's way of ninja. Heiji was not going to change for anyone. Instead he'd just have to bother the dream girl until she likes Heiji back. That'd definitely work.

Once Heiji grew older he realized more and more how childish that sounded. 'Bother her until she likes me back'? He sounded like a kid who was plotting to pull his friends' pigtails to make them notice him.

...which actually seemed like a fantastic idea. Although there's a slight problem now. Kazuha no longer wore her hair in pigtails. She had been keeping it in a ponytail ever since she joined her school's youth cheerleading club and started taking Aikido lessons. He wondered if pulling on a ponytail would have the same effects as pulling on pigtails.

Stupid, he thought. He's nine. He's grown up enough and observed enough to realize that if he wanted to be Kazuha's friend—best friend—he needed to tow a fine line between playful banter and genuine annoyance. You know. If Kazuha existed. That's what he'd do.

He was twelve when he finally found out where Kazuha probably lived. He was reading the last chapter of one of his Ellery Queen book in his father's office when he was practically forced to put it down and greet his father's guest. The tall stern looking uncle called Ginshiro was once his father's partner, and Heiji's eyes shone bright when he heard that he was previously the Chief Detective of their police district. That was, before she eagerly took a transfer to Interpol, and was allocated to London afterwards.

They were chatting, probably updating each other about their current lives. He eagerly revealed that he had a child, pulled out a photo and showed it to Heiji’s father. Now, Heiji was a tall and growing boy. From his height, he could make out the silhouette of a girl in a school attire that wasn’t commonly seen in Japan. Heiji watched Kazuha often enough to immediately recognize that the outfit in the photo was in fact, her school uniform!

Before Heiji could ask if he could see the photo as well, the topic of their conversation was already changed, and the photo was shoved back into Uncle Ginshiro’s wallet.

—

He was seventeen when he first realized he's in love with the girl and he felt sick. He knew because she was all he had ever thought about (aside from cases and kendo and school lessons, of course. He may be a detective but he's still in high school).

He had no choice at night but even during the day he found himself remembering what movie Kazuha had been watching. He thought about Kazuha's seemingly soft hair and toned arms. He daydreamed about Kazuha's wide eyes and how much wider they would go if Heiji surprised her with a kiss.

A kiss. Sharing a kiss with Kazuha.

Kazuha, who wasn't real.

Heiji woke up then.

That night before he went to bed, he put his hands over his burning cheeks. He had fallen for someone who didn't even exist. It's abnormal. He had imagined a person and then fixated on them like some kind of creep and that was absolutely messed up whichever way you think about it.

He spent the next two years of his life dating anyone who asked him out. The relationships never lasted. He could admit to himself that he wasn't really interested in any of them the way he should be. They were pretty, he enjoyed their company and everything was cool but something just wasn't right. Never seemed to be enough. So bad they weren't even relationships anymore.

It felt like he was searching desperately anyone to fill the hole in his chest, to take away the ache he felt when he woke up and realized once again that the girl he was in love with didn't even exist.

Then Kazuha's mother died. Heiji's dreams were filled with heart-wrenching sobs so painful that he wished he could reach out and comfort Kazuha. She never cried during the day, only at night.

Heiji watched day after day, night after night, as she withdrew into her shell. He heard her calling out for her mother, repeating it until it sounded weird. He wanted so much to hug and kiss Kazuha's pain away.

Heiji tried to stop sleeping after that.

It wasn't what he wanted anyway. Heiji wanted love. Seeing Kazuha mourn over her mother made him realize that he should make the most of the time he had. He didn't want to waste time on meaningless relationships anymore. He didn't want to think about some unreal person anymore.

He knew that until he got rid of his feelings for Kazuha, he wouldn't be able to move on. The only problem was that he simply didn't know how. But he knew for sure that he couldn't just spend the rest of his life hung up on a figment of his imagination.

He had tried dating other people and that hadn't worked. He even tried not sleeping for three days in order to break the cycle. It turned out to be a terrible idea. He had collapsed in class, raving about imaginary people around one beaming, glowing one, and unfairness, and the same wide eyes and ponytail.

He was not doing that again in a hurry. He didn't know what else to do except burying himself in studying and friends and hoping it all goes away eventually.

So that was exactly what he did. He continued dreaming and waited and hoped always.                                                

Hattori Heiji was now twenty one, a third year criminology student. He had been solving even more cases than he used to in high school, sometimes competing with Kudo Shinichi, but most of the time teaming up with him instead. His grades were impressive, as per normal, but things had been such a constant and he really needed more activities aside from studying and solving cases and kendo.

So when his their other friend (Kuroba Kaito, excellent Mechanical Engineering student and magician, also a prankster) told him one of their friends (Hondou Eisuke, surprisingly competent future Environmental Engineer) had had to leave his part-time job due to university commitments and was looking for a replacement, Heiji jumped at the chance. A job's after all. A young man’s gotta save up as much money as he could.

And that was how Heiji ended up working at the one and only invention shop which sold geeky gadgets in the city. The owners, one very lovely but unique old man called Agasa (who in fact, was Shinichi's neighbor) and one girl who turned out to be Shiho (Shinichi's sarcastic girl BFF nonetheless).

Eisuke was one of the clumsiest person Heiji had ever met so how any of the gadgets in this shop survived was a mystery to Heiji. Or at least, how Professor Agasa was able to invent and fix and refix and refix. Heiji figured he was probably the most patient old man alive.

Then Shinichi started helping out at the invention shop too.

It's pretty dull, he'll be honest. There's rarely any customers, so Heiji did more homework than he did actual shop assisting. And solved more and more cases.

Once, Shinichi showed up with dark, dark circles under his eyes. He looked miserable and horrible. Heiji guessed he must've looked just as miserable and horrible when he avoided sleeping back then.

"Haven't been sleepin' well?" Heiji teased him.

Shinichi rolled his eyes and stifled a yawn. "Ugh. You wouldn't understand, Hattori."

“Oh? Try me.”

—

A few months after Heiji started working that he met the girl in his dreams.

It was just another day. No customers, no rain, no cases, no particularly good food. He had already cleaned the place so there was nothing to do but try to work on his recently assigned essay.

The bell rang. Someone walked in and Heiji looked up from his papers to give the customary greeting of the shop when the words died in his throat.

Standing before him, the all too familiar emerald eyes already scanning the gadgets lined up in the shop, is the girl from Heiji's dreams. She's a little taller than Heiji was expecting, less than five inches below Heiji's own height, but he would recognize that face anywhere. The girl didn't seem to notice him, just going about her business in the shop, eyes darting back and forth at the racks, seemingly at random.

Heiji felt like his brain had stopped.

She's not an imaginary friend. She's never just an imaginary friend. She's real.

Finally she plucked something out from one of the compartments—it might be Agasa's voice-changing bow tie or whatever, Heiji really wasn't paying attention to it at all, he was too engrossed in observing her features, her expression—and headed to the register. She looked up. Their eyes met. Time seemed to stop.

There's a momentary widening of the girl's eyes but then, nothing. She didn't recognize Heiji. Heiji didn't know how he felt about that.

Relieved? Scared? Excited? Worried?

Heiji rang up her purchase and mumbled his way through the sale—he didn't remember what he said, he was just so fixated on the girl's face—and then she's gone, just like that, walking out of the store and Heiji's life.

Of course this was the moment Kaito chose to waltz through the door, loudly announcing his entrance with a 'Tadaa!'. Heiji didn't even greet him back with his usual 'Yo!".

"Hattori, you okay?" Kaito said, in an uncharacteristic show of concern as he approached the counter. "You look like you've just seen a ghost."

"Yeah." Heiji says distractedly. "Fine. Just tired."

He's not fine.

The girl of his dreams did exist. She's real. And had a life that apparently did not include weird stalker dreams of Heiji.

Oh God.

Is he insane? Is he a psychic or something?

Oh God.

Kaito gave him a skeptical look. "You don't look fine. You look like shit."

Then Shinichi and Agasa walked out from the stockroom (seriously, why was everyone coming at once? Heiji simply wanted to freak out in peace goddammit).

"Kaito-kun!" Agasa called. "It's nice to see you! You haven't been over in so long!"

"Hakase!" Kaito shouted back, immediately draping himself over the elderly man. Both Kaito and Shinichi indulged Agasa's need to bestow affection on them at this time. At least it meant they weren't paying attention to him.

His mind was all over the place, trying to comprehend what just happened. He didn't even know where to begin.

It made him dizzy. He looked around and saw Shinichi watching him like a hawk, his expression inscrutable. He had his detective mode expression on. Heiji gave him a weak grin but Shinichi didn't return it—he just made some kind of humming noise and turned around.

Maybe I should wait till I get home ta think about this, Heiji decided.

He'd never told anyone about Kazuha and with good reasons. He's not going to let anyone find out now.

—

The rest of his shift was a torture. Time had dragged on like a limping athlete crossing a finish line and he's all but ready to weep tears of joy by the time the end had rolled round. He hadn't thought about Kazuha at all, but he had thought about not thinking about Kazuha more than he'd care to admit. It's frightening.

Kazuha.

His mind raced. How was this even possible? Honestly he almost preferred the idea that he was a creep with an imaginary friend than this—that he'd been dreaming of a real person.

He knew Kazuha so well. How she looked when she smiled, what would make her cry, the ticks that show she's nervous. While he's glad he's not the kind of psycho that made up a person down to those fine details, it's just weird to know these things about a person you've never ever met. Or supposedly just never met. Whatever.

Maybe it wouldn't have been so weird if Kazuha had shown any sign of knowing him but she hadn't. She hadn't so much as blinked in Heiji's direction, let alone gasped or anything that might have shown that Heiji wasn't alone in this madness.

Could Kazuha had been dreaming about him too all this time? Isn’t it possible, if Heiji had been dreaming of the girl? Maybe it could be true the other way around too. Heiji needed to know. It's so tiring, carrying a secret alone. Besides, Heiji was not the type to sit around passively when opportunities are handed to him.

That's it, he decided, I have to find her.

Worst case scenario Kazuha thought he's crazy and well, if that happens it's probably because Heiji really was going crazy.

Best case scenario Heiji gained a friend.

Friend or not, he just really wanted to see her up close in the flesh. He decided everything was worth the risk.   

—

Three days later Heiji was again at work and there's still no sign of Kazuha. In addition, Heiji had gotten no further on his quest to find something more concrete about her. His dreams were full of Kazuha's smiles (which were very beautiful and Heiji appreciated them, honestly) but nothing that might lead to them meeting again.

There were notebooks in his vision but he didn't have time to read them. Files. A lecture hall. Is Kazuha a student here then? But there were plenty of universities in Tokyo so that's not much help at all.

Heiji groaned and let his head fall with a thump onto the desk. Why hadn't he paid more attention to his dreams before? Maybe he could have even found Kazuha way before this, if he'd actually entertained the thought of Kazuha being a real person.

Then the bell on the door rang.

Heiji lifted his head from the counter. Time seemed to slow. There, standing in the doorway, framed by the sunlight cascading into the shop was Kazuha. The girl of his dreams. For a second Heiji thought he might still be dreaming.

Time seemed to slow.

"Kazuha?" He whispered.

Shock passed over Kazuha's face.

"Do you know me?" She asked slowly. Heiji mentally kicked himself because this was not how he wanted to reveal this. Maybe after he talked to Kazuha like a normal person instead.

"I…I know you."

"From school?" Kazuha looked curious now. Her eyes did that slight widening thing that Heiji had seen them do in his dreams when Kazuha was interested in something and, holy moly, she's even cuter in person.

He should answer. He wanted to but the words kept getting stuck in his throat. His palms were sweating. His face might be sweating. He's pretty sure he looked gross and all that cycles round his brain was this is not how I wanted this ta go, this is not how I planned this!

"Not really." He managed to say.

"Oh. I'm sorry, I'm not good with faces." Kazuha shrugged apologetically but Heiji was sure she's acting. The Kazuha he knew from his dreams was very good at remembering faces—and acting. Did this mean the Kazuha in front of him is not his Kazuha? Or was she lying?

"Yes you are." He accused mindlessly. "Ya've always been good at it."

Then he realized what he had just said.

Kazuha was looking at him like he's a particularly interesting puzzle, which was one better than disgust or panic but there's nothing deeper than Heiji can read. Blank.

"Why do I hate the swings in the playground?"

"Huh?"

"Why do I hate the swings in the playground?" Kazuha repeated calmly.

He looked up at Kazuha, who was waiting patiently on for Heiji's answer. She seemed calm. A little defiant even. And… nervous?

Could it be? Could it be that Heiji wasn't alone in this?

"Your mom," Remembering a certain word he used to hear in his dreams, a person who used to be the main source of her great distress, he answered carefully, knowing full well that this was a particularly touchy subject for her. "You and your mom used to play on the swings all the time. You don't hate them, they just remind you too much of her."

Kazuha's expression didn't change, but something in her eyes did. Heiji felt his heart sink in his chest. Had he read the whole situation wrong?

"I've never told anyone that." Kazuha said grimly.

"I know."

"You dream of me."

And it wasn't a question.

Heiji stepped out from behind the counter. It took two seconds to cross the distance between them and gather Kazuha up in his arms. She smelled good. Kazuha's arms wrapped around Heiji and he let out a sigh of relief.

"You're real." He murmured. "Thank god."

"Of course I'm real, aho." Kazuha muttered into Heiji's collarbone. "Just took me a bit longer to find you than I'd anticipated that's all."

There's a million things Heiji wanted to say to that—how did Kazuha know he's not a figment of her imagination? How long had she been looking?

He wanted to apologize for not looking for her himself. He wanted to thank Kazuha for doing the searching for both of them. But of all he wanted to tell her—

"I love ya."

Kazuha sighed. "I know. You say it a lot, you know?"

Heiji smirked. He picked Kazuha up by the waist and swung her around in the store, barely missing an electronic flying surfboard.

"Aho! Watch it!" Kazuha squeaked. Heiji grinned again, but stopped.

"I love ya." He said. He waited for a response, marvelling as he did so at the gorgeous woman he had in his arms. Kazuha looked like she's trying very hard to suppress a smile.

"I'm not saying it." Kazuha whined grumpily. "You've still got to make it up to me for not believing I was real and making me do all the work."

"How long will that take?" Heiji asked, aghast.

Beamed she did. "Forever. You better start now.”

—

Heiji introduced Kazuha to everyone as his childhood friend who had just recently moved back to Japan from London. Which was... extremely true no matter how they think of it, because it turned out that she had also been having dreams of Heiji for so long since she could remember.

Also, the dreams had stopped.

But he no longer felt empty when he woke up. In fact, on some mornings he woke up to find her curled up next to him, and he dared not kid—it was one of the best feelings ever.

But he hated it when they had morning classes, which meant his joyful morning routine had to be ruined by waking her up.

His joyful morning routine included re-draping their sheets over her bare shoulders and just.. watching her sleep and breathe. Dreams or not it didn't matter, he loved watching Kazuha.

And waking her up could get disastrous. She was an excellent actress (no worries, he's an excellent detective who could see through her masks) and she could be very very persuasive. And most of the time, he ended up back in bed with her.

Not now though, he was sitting in a coffee shop with Shinichi and Kaito, both of whom were successfully persuaded into having blind dates with Kazuha and her two friends. Heiji grumbled. Not that he minded hanging out with his buddies and girlfriend-slash-childhood friend-slash-girl of his dreams. But he wanted to have more alone time with her, seriously.

Kazuha didn't keep them waiting for too long. And when she stepped into the coffee shop with two other girls who looked disturbingly alike (one with side fringes called Mouri Ran, and the other with slightly messier hair by the name of Nakamori Aoko) that Heiji thought were twins had it not been for his sharp observation skills, he saw Shinichi’s and Kaito's eyes went as wide as saucer plates.

At first Heiji didn't think of it much. He merely smirked when he saw his friends rendered speechless, probably striked by their beauty or something.

Kazuha's hotter, he thought to himself.

But when he heard Kaito and Shinichi murmuring what sounded like "Oh God." and "She's real?” simultaneously from his left and right, realization dawned on him.

"Yeah," Heiji whispered, a grin on his face as he turned to watch Kazuha, who was ordering her food. He could finally talk about the dreams he used to have.

"They're real."