Is it can be drabble time--
This is for 17_going_on_8, who requested this!
She didn't know how Crow did it. He made it sound so easy to take care of a bunch of lively orphans back home, and he did well with the two little kids he'd taken in on the island. Compared to those two bundles of energy, the quiet girl and the unusually mature boy Kazuha was looking after should have been ridiculously easy to watch over.
Kazuha had learned years ago that should was good in theory, but it was rarely how things actually went.
She looked her charges over now, the two of them (and her older roommate as well) sound asleep as the night dragged on. She'd tried to sleep several times, but it had always been fitful dozing, and she'd finally given up on that plan and just sat up in bed to contemplate what was keeping her up.
Conan. At first glance, just a cute little boy with a penchant for mysteries; Heiji had been like that ever since he was old enough to read and understand what he was reading. Conan, too, proved to be just as sharp-minded, although every time Kazuha would start to think he was being unusually serious, he'd quickly lapse into childish laughter and innocent smiles.
But that day, he'd blurted out so much, and he hadn't been smiling. He'd been pale, shaken, and the fear he'd shown as he'd struggled to keep himself from talking hadn't been something a normal child should even possess. Kazuha could have handled fanciful declarations, glossed over what would have been a child's overactive imagination-- but this was Conan. And the fact that he'd been so stricken over this secret was very worrying. Worrying enough for him to avoid her until today. And worrying for her, because even if his talk about taking down criminals and having a body that hindered him was odd as it was, there was a secret that was putting him in danger.
Kazuha sighed wearily and raised her hands to massage her temples. She didn't like this. Conan had implied that Heiji knew, and there was hardly anything her friend didn't tell her-- yet he'd never so much as indicated that he wanted her to know about this secret. And again, Conan hadn't acted like a kid. She'd been sarcastic when she asked him what he was, especially after hearing him call Maka (who was at least six years older than him) a kid, and he'd said-- something that was nagging at her. Not only because the words themselves seemed ridiculous when applied to him, but because of something that other Kazuha had said before he'd even arrived. She'd said...
"Conan-kun and Kudo-kun might be...?" Her own whisper startled her, and she fiercely shook her head. No. No, it wasn't impossible. Like Kaito had said, a seven-year-old and a high-school detective couldn't be the same person. Maybe if this had been solely an island thing, she could have believed it; she and Kaito had both been seven here, after all. But to say that they were the same was to say that it had happened back home. Home, with logic and rules and norms... there was no way a detective could regress ten years. Besides, she'd seen Shinichi Kudo, hadn't she? He'd looked exactly like a teenage boy (which, at the time, she wasn't sure whether she was relieved or not that the person Heiji spoke about so much and so happily really was a man).
But Conan had said something that almost sounded like "high schooler". And this secret of his would put her in danger if she knew. Kazuha could disregard that; having grown up with Heiji, she'd been in more dangerous situations than most high school girls would go through in their lifetime. However, her main priority had been to make sure Conan stayed safe while he was here, and she couldn't do that if she couldn't get him to trust her. She'd keep her promise not to ask him or Heiji, but that wouldn't stop her from wondering. So long as he was in danger, she couldn't just let it go at that. She had to protect him-- protect both of them, him and Ai, even if she couldn't say for sure that the little girl was involved in any of this.
Blue-green eyes settled on the sleeping pair again, and Kazuha exhaled as quietly as she could and felt a sense of frustration towards the rising feeling of helplessness. She had to protect them, but how could she when she didn't even know what she was protecting them from? Just what was it that was so big and so dire that even Heiji wouldn't breathe a word of it?
She'd find out. Sooner or later, she'd learn the truth, she was sure of it. But if it really was that Conan was secretly a high school boy trapped in a kid's body...
Kazuha snorted at the thought and curled up under the blanket. That was too impossible to consider, or at least it was when she was this sleep-deprived. She'd have time to think this through, but for now, all she wanted to do was get some rest.
Which, finally, she did, never knowing that Conan, his eyes closed, had been awake the entire time.
She didn't know how Crow did it. He made it sound so easy to take care of a bunch of lively orphans back home, and he did well with the two little kids he'd taken in on the island. Compared to those two bundles of energy, the quiet girl and the unusually mature boy Kazuha was looking after should have been ridiculously easy to watch over.
Kazuha had learned years ago that should was good in theory, but it was rarely how things actually went.
She looked her charges over now, the two of them (and her older roommate as well) sound asleep as the night dragged on. She'd tried to sleep several times, but it had always been fitful dozing, and she'd finally given up on that plan and just sat up in bed to contemplate what was keeping her up.
Conan. At first glance, just a cute little boy with a penchant for mysteries; Heiji had been like that ever since he was old enough to read and understand what he was reading. Conan, too, proved to be just as sharp-minded, although every time Kazuha would start to think he was being unusually serious, he'd quickly lapse into childish laughter and innocent smiles.
But that day, he'd blurted out so much, and he hadn't been smiling. He'd been pale, shaken, and the fear he'd shown as he'd struggled to keep himself from talking hadn't been something a normal child should even possess. Kazuha could have handled fanciful declarations, glossed over what would have been a child's overactive imagination-- but this was Conan. And the fact that he'd been so stricken over this secret was very worrying. Worrying enough for him to avoid her until today. And worrying for her, because even if his talk about taking down criminals and having a body that hindered him was odd as it was, there was a secret that was putting him in danger.
Kazuha sighed wearily and raised her hands to massage her temples. She didn't like this. Conan had implied that Heiji knew, and there was hardly anything her friend didn't tell her-- yet he'd never so much as indicated that he wanted her to know about this secret. And again, Conan hadn't acted like a kid. She'd been sarcastic when she asked him what he was, especially after hearing him call Maka (who was at least six years older than him) a kid, and he'd said-- something that was nagging at her. Not only because the words themselves seemed ridiculous when applied to him, but because of something that other Kazuha had said before he'd even arrived. She'd said...
"Conan-kun and Kudo-kun might be...?" Her own whisper startled her, and she fiercely shook her head. No. No, it wasn't impossible. Like Kaito had said, a seven-year-old and a high-school detective couldn't be the same person. Maybe if this had been solely an island thing, she could have believed it; she and Kaito had both been seven here, after all. But to say that they were the same was to say that it had happened back home. Home, with logic and rules and norms... there was no way a detective could regress ten years. Besides, she'd seen Shinichi Kudo, hadn't she? He'd looked exactly like a teenage boy (which, at the time, she wasn't sure whether she was relieved or not that the person Heiji spoke about so much and so happily really was a man).
But Conan had said something that almost sounded like "high schooler". And this secret of his would put her in danger if she knew. Kazuha could disregard that; having grown up with Heiji, she'd been in more dangerous situations than most high school girls would go through in their lifetime. However, her main priority had been to make sure Conan stayed safe while he was here, and she couldn't do that if she couldn't get him to trust her. She'd keep her promise not to ask him or Heiji, but that wouldn't stop her from wondering. So long as he was in danger, she couldn't just let it go at that. She had to protect him-- protect both of them, him and Ai, even if she couldn't say for sure that the little girl was involved in any of this.
Blue-green eyes settled on the sleeping pair again, and Kazuha exhaled as quietly as she could and felt a sense of frustration towards the rising feeling of helplessness. She had to protect them, but how could she when she didn't even know what she was protecting them from? Just what was it that was so big and so dire that even Heiji wouldn't breathe a word of it?
She'd find out. Sooner or later, she'd learn the truth, she was sure of it. But if it really was that Conan was secretly a high school boy trapped in a kid's body...
Kazuha snorted at the thought and curled up under the blanket. That was too impossible to consider, or at least it was when she was this sleep-deprived. She'd have time to think this through, but for now, all she wanted to do was get some rest.
Which, finally, she did, never knowing that Conan, his eyes closed, had been awake the entire time.