Our Secret

Chapter 13 : Chosen

"WHAT?!" Mouri Kogoro's voice could have perhaps rendered the entire household deaf.

"Outosan!" Ran retorted, crossing her arms and frowning at her father. "Don't be so rude!"

"Ehh, Ojisan!" Heiji said defensively, raising his hands up in a protective manner, "It'll only be for a short while!"

"Please, Ojisan," interjected Kazuha, who was stood beside Heiji, facing Detective Mouri, who was sat, smoking, legs stretched out and perched before him on his desk. "It's not like she'll-"

"Ahou!" Heiji rudely interrupted, turned to Kazuha and clasped his hand over her mouth to shut her up. He whispered, his breath hot on her ear, "Didn't I tell you to let me handle this?"

Kazuha's face flushed.

"It's only for a few days," Heiji persisted, "And there'll be many others too! Just because there's no adult supervision, and the mansion is supposedly haunted-"

At that, Kazuha licked the inside of Heiji's hand, who for lack of better explanation - freaked the hell out - and immediately retreated his hands, face as hot as an oven.

"Ahou!" Snapped Kazuha, "You're not supposed to mention that part!"

"It's not like he'll be the one to freak out!" Retorted Heiji, who was now so close to the petite pony-tailed brunette he could practically feel the anger streaming off her face.

"Yeah," Kazuha said, "but she will," her finger pointed to Ran, whose eyes were wide, face pale and body slightly shaking.

"D-d-did you say... h-haunted-" Ran said unsteadily, but Conan piped in, "It's okay, Ran-neechan! I'm sure it's nothing like that!"

Kogoro huffed, "Fine, FINE! But I swear to god, if anything happens to my daughter, I will-"

But his threat went unnoticed, as he realized that Heiji, Kazuha, Ran and Conan were no longer in sight. He turned quickly to the door, only to briefly see it shutting behind a chatter of noise.

~~~~~~~~~~~

"C'mon Ran-chan," insisted Kazuha, "It'll be fun! And there'll be other people there too, though only people under 21. Heiji and I were chosen, so we're allowed up to two more people each to accompany us! And I decided on you and Sonoko-chan, and," she pointed at Conan, "Heiji chose him and I guess Conan is free to pick one more person... now won't that be fun? Please, Ran-chan! It's in a week and it's only for a few days..."

"Think about it, Kudo!" Muttered Heiji, not that the girls could hear from this far away anyway; but still, better safe than sorry. "It'll be great... and if you take the temporary antidote..." Heiji winked, "You and..." he motioned to Ran, "...can have a little bit of fun, eh?"

Conan's face tinted, "Oi, you...!"

Heiji burst out laughing.

"Fine," huffed Conan. "But who should I bring?"

"Anyone you want, really; you don't even have to bring someone if you'd prefer not to," Heiji shrugged, "but why not use the opportunity! It must be a girl, though, Kudo..."

"Yeah..." Conan said, his voice lowered, "I think I might have someone in mind..."

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

On the way home from school that day, Haibara nearly got hit by a bus.

She was mad and unnerved for several reasons; one was that Kudo didn't show up to school today. She knew that high schools all over Japan only came into school for their mock exams these next couple of weeks, and this week was her own last week of school before the holidays, but still, did Kudo really have to skip school just to spend this one day with Ran?