Tokyo Tower

"Hah, I am nothing compared to Kudo-kun." Sera kept her tone light as she finished with Kir's shoulder wound and directed the woman's hand to it. "Press here."

"Kudo-kun? The high school detective?" Kir pressed down hard as Sera went to work on Kir's leg.

"The one and the same." A gunshot punctuated Sera's words and she jumped slightly. Did Shuichi-niisan . . .?

Kir struggled to sit up, her spare hand holding a pistol. "Get down," she hissed, peering out of the window as a shadowy figure walked toward them.

Sera recognized the familiar stride. "It's okay; it's Shuichi-niisan."

"Brother, what happened?" Sera asked.
"Nothing special. We'd better get going now." Akai shrugged and took the driver's seat.
"Where are we going?" Kir asked.
"I'm taking you to the place where FBI is right now."
"I guess you are not going to show your face to them yet." Sera assumed as Akai started the car engine.
"Correct."

Kir relaxed her grip on the pistol slightly and noticed blood staining the car seat cushions. "Sorry about ruining your car."

"It's not a problem," Akai-san replied. "I can have the blood removed. Have you checked for any bugs on your clothing?"

"Not . . . yet." Kir struggled to sit up and Masumi-san pushed her back down.

"Stay still. I'll check for bugs." The teenager kept one hand on Kir's leg as she searched Kir's clothing. "She's clean, niisan."

Akai-san pulled over to the side of the road and got out. "Let me check you, Sera-chan." He found one bug under her jacket collar and ground it into pieces with his foot. Getting into the driver's side again, he pulled out into traffic. "We'll be there in a few minutes."

"I could have checked the bugs myself." Sera complained as she sat on the back seat again. "But those bugs told something about what they were thinking."
"Like what?" Kir asked immediately.
"You didn't heave any bugs so they probably already saw you as a traitor and had killed you after all." Sera shrugged. "I had that one bug so it's possible that they saw me as a threat and bugged me in the case I manage to flee somehow."
"I see..."
"But one thing bothers me. The Gin said he had already had an idea about my real identity. How did he find out about it?"
"..." Akai didn't say anything. He was thinking the same. How it was possible that Gin had known about her?

"Well you both have very distinctive eyes. Members were told to keep an eye out for anyone who resembled Akai-san." Kir struggled to sit up to look out the window, but Masumi-san pushed her back down again. "And both of you have good deductive skills. It took very little effort to realize that you two were related."

Related . . . like Ei-chan and me. She looked toward Akai-san. "I will need to get to America as soon as possible."

"Understood," he replied.

"But you're in no condition to leave," Masumi-san insisted, pushing down on Kir's bleeding leg.

"If I stay here, I may as well have a target on my back; the Black Org. is not going to give up until Gin is holding my severed head. And they won't stop at me. They'll try to get to anyone that I'm close to." Kir closed her eyes and forced tears back. "And since I failed my mission . . ."

"Hmm... guess so..." Sera mumbled. "I'm sure FBI will help you." She smiled to the woman.

They drove forward for a while but stopped inside a parking hall.
"Where are we?" Sera asked.
"At Haido Hotel. Luckily it's night-time now." Akai replied as he stepped out from the car to help Kir. "Call, Kudo-kun. He and FBI will come soon."
"'Kay." Sera took her phone and dialed the high-school detective's number.
"See you again someday." Akai said when he got back to his car and drove away. Sera waved her hand to the man as Kir sat on the ground, leaning against a car nearby. Finally Kudo answered.

"Masumi-san? Where are you?" He sounded angry and worried.

"I'm in the Haido Hotel's underground parking lot. Mizunashi-san is with me; she's wounded and needs medical help," Sera replied, watching the CIA agent's eyes search the area.

"Are you okay? Did they hurt you?" Kudo-kun asked.

"They broke my nose, but it's not a big deal," Sera replied. "Just come as soon as you can. I don't know how long Mizunashi-san will last."

"We'll be there in five minutes," the boy detective promised and then hung up on her.

Closing her phone, Sera smiled and turned to Kir. "The FBI and Kudo-kun will be here soon."

"Good," Kir said shortly, her pistol clenched in her hand.

((hi, I'n finally back. I didn't have a chance to go online earlier. I'm sorry))

Kudo and the FBI agents arrived sooner than Sera had estimated. It was pretty amusing to see their shocked faces but also relieving that someone reacted normally.

"Masumi-san, are you alright?" Jodie asked.
"I'm fine, I'm fine. But like I have said several times, Mizunashi-san needs help." Sera smiled to the woman.

When Jodie and Black helped Mizunashi to their car, Kudo stepped closer to Sera and asked quietly: "How did you get away?"
"Try to guess."
"Akai-san?"
"Right, he revealed he is still alive. After all Mizunashi's cover was already blown up."
"Why isn't he here then?"
"Well, would you be? If some people have thought for months that you are dead, would you just show up and say: 'Nice to meet you. Sorry for tricking you.' ?"

((It's fine. XD ))

I have failed. I have failed. The thought pounded in Rena - or rather, Hidemi -'s head as the FBI agents carried her to a car and laid her in the backseat. "Ei-chan . . .he's in more danger now that my position is exposed," Hidemi gasped as Starling-san carefully examined her.

"I already have agents picking him up at the airport," Black-san assured her. "He'll be placed in the Witness Protection Program whether he wants it or not."

"Good." Hidemi stared up at the ceiling of the car.

"She will need to be taken to the hospital to realign her nose and get the bullets out of her body," Starling-san reported.
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
"True," Kudo-kun said. "And the Black Org. doesn't take tricks like that lightly." He looked over to where the agents surrounded the C.I.A. agent. "We were taking a gamble anyway, returning her to the Org. when they were already suspicious," he muttered to himself.

"Hey really, I'm fine. I don't need to go to a hospital." Sera protested. It had continued about five minutes already between her and Jodie.
"But you are in a bad shape. Blood everywhere."
"I'm absolutely fine. My nose isn't even broken, it was just bleeding much."
"You keep talking. Why don't you want to come to a hospital?"
"'Cause there is no need for that!"

Kudo sighed as he listened their arguing. He didn't really know whose side he was...

Agent Black cleared his throat. "You two can argue in the car on the way to the hospital. Hondou-san needs immediate medical attention."

"Yes sir," Starling-sensei muttered, climbing into the front seat.


Kudo-kun waved. "I'll contact the television station and have Mizunashi-san resign again."

"Yoko-chan. Will she be safe? I spoke to her several times before I left," Hondou-san/Mizunashi-san/Kir protested.

"She'll be fine. I'll send Uncle Mouri to protect her."

From her investigation, Sera had already known that the injured woman had several names. Still, it was strange to hear all of her identities. "Jeez, how many more names do you have?" Sera asked her as she sat in the back and put the woman's head on her lap.

"I'd tell you, but I'd have to kill you," Hondou-san joked. At least Sera thought she was joking.

"Say, who helped you out from there?" Jodie asked suddenly. "I'm sure you couldn't have done it on yourselves."
"Well, who knows..." Sera mumbled and lifted her gaze out from the car window as hey drove past stores, parks, building, sights... "Maybe there was someone..."
"At least we didn't see anyone." Kir added. "But someone was definitely there... Causing a fire alarm near Gin's Porsche and forcing him out of the room where we were..."
"But who it was, we don't know."

Jodie frowned. Why didn't they tell her? It was also surprising how quiet they were about the happenings. Not shocked or traumatized, just quiet.

"But anyone else didn't know about the situation." The woman thought aloud.
"Sorry?" Was heard from three mouths.
"Ah, nothing..." Jodie laughed nervously. "No one else except that Okiya who just appeared... Why Kudo-kun had contacted him in the first place?"

"What bothers me," Hidemi said, "is that Gin let us go so easily. He should have shot us immediately when he cornered us in the alley. Why didn't he?"

"That also has been troubling me," Black replied, his eyes glancing back toward her.

We were bait. Hidemi's eyes widened. The Black Org figured that Akai would show up if they kidnapped and roughed up his little sister. They decided to get rid of me at the same time. Glancing over at Sera, she could tell that the younger girl was thinking the same thing.

Exactly... We all are human after all... Sera thought. They wanted to be sure was he alive or not.
"But I guess I can't stay in Japan anymore either..." She stated aloud. "They know my name and my face. Probably everything possible..."
"That's true. You are going back to America as soon as possible." Jodie replied.
"Funny thing actually..."
"What is?" Kir asked immediately.
"If I hadn't been a detective, if I hadn't been so damn curious... We probably wouldn't even be in this situation." Sera mumbled.
"Don't blame yourself. Of course you wanted to know more." Kir said. "It's just natural. We are human after all."
"Yeah..."

Even as she comforted the girl, Hidemi knew that she was right. If I had been more cold-blooded or gave her a more serious injury, she wouldn't have been able to find out about the Black Org. But Hidemi couldn't tell her that. She closed her eyes.

They soon arrived at the hospital where Black parked in an underground parking lot and got out. "Please wait here. I'll contact my friend the hospital director and see if he can spare us another room and tend to Hondou-san's wounds," the older man said.

"Yes sir," Jodie replied, turning around to check on the passengers. Minus the blood on her face, Sera looked all right, but Hidemi looked very pale. Blood continued to seep out of the temporary bandages on her shoulder and leg.

Sera's cell phone rang. She let it rang a while before answering it. She knew who was calling.

"Hello?"
"Are you already at a hospital?" She heard her brother's voice.
"Yeah."
"Good. Are you alright?"
"I'm fine. You?" Sera answered short that Jodie hadn't known who was calling. Although the woman watched at her during the whole conversation.
"Fine. I'll call you later."
"Okay, bye."

Sera hung up.
"Who was that?" Jodie asked. It was natural question in that situation. Who would call to a girl who has just been rescued from kidnappers?
"No one." Sera replied and pocketed her phone. Kir looked at her. She guessed she knew who that caller had been.

Judging by Sera's short answers, Hidemi guessed that Akai had called. Closing her eyes, she carefully re-played the situation from the time that Gin had ordered her back to the television station. Could she have kept Sera from getting kidnapped?

The car door opened, and Black's voice said, "We're to take Hondou-san and Masumi-san up to Room 489. The doctor will be waiting for us there."

"Good, you brought a gurney with a sheet," Jodie replied as another car door opened. Hidemi heard her get out and come around to the outside of Sera's window.

After Sera got out of the car, Black and Jodie carefully lifted Hidemi up on the gurney, placing the sheet over her body to prevent anyone from seeing her face. It wouldn't be good if innocent people saw Rena Mizunashi at the hospital.

Some hours later, in a hospital room

Sera leaned back in the chair she was sitting on. Mizunashi laid on a bed after a surgery and was sleeping. The girl sighed.
"I want to go home... But not without brother..." She thought but sighed again then. "Even though I know he can't come and doesn't even want to come..."

"Masumi-chan?" She heard then.
"You were awake..." Sera mumbled. Mizunashi sat up slowly.
"Yeah... Are you okay?"
"Fine..."
"Something is bothering you."
"I'm sorry. This all mess is just my fault."
"No, it's not. I'm more in response of all thi-"
"Stop that. You know it too. I caused this. I shouldn't have come to Japan at all..."
"..." Mizunashi looked away. She didn't want to admit it but she had been thinking the same. "Maybe so... Maybe you were too curious... But it's still better than living without knowing anything."

There was something about the woman's demeanor that made Sera suspect that there was more to this mission than just an assignment. "Do you feel like you let down your father? He was the undercover agent before you."

Hidemi hesitated, then nodded. "I was the only CIA agent in the group. It will be much harder for the CIA to send someone undercover again." She closed her eyes as she remembered her father's face as he sacrificed herself for her.

Then Sera asked softly, "How did he die?"

After a moment, Hidemi sighed. "He wrapped my hand around his gun and forced me to pull the trigger."

Sera flinched when she heard that even though she tried not to show any emotions.
"I know. Sounds horrible." Mizunashi smiled sadly.
"I don't know what to say..." Sera whispered.
"Then don't say anything. Sometimes silence works better than any words."
"Yeah..."

They stayed quiet for a while, avoiding to look at each others. Finally Mizunashi broke the silence.
"How did you start suspecting that your brother was still alive?"
"I..." Sera blushed slightly. "It's pretty weird thing actually. In the beginning I didn't even know he was dead and had been part of the FBI... But then... on the next night after the happenings on the Tower. I saw a nightmare where I was shot..."

((geh, gotta stop now. damn you mum...))

Hidemi listened to the girl's explanation, and then said, "You two must have been very close."

"Yeah. We always hung out together." Sera smiled at the memories. "He encouraged me to go into martial arts, actually."

"It's nice to have a supportive sibling like that. I only wish I was a better sister to Ei-chan." Hidemi sighed and stared up at the ceiling.

"I'm sure he understands. He knows your situation after all. I didn't know anything before I started to find out about things."

Outside of the room Jodie leaned against the door and listened the conversation there as well as she could without raising suspicions. Next to her Camel sighed.
"Don't you know that eavesdropping is not very polite..." The man said.
"I do know but I also know that those two are hiding something. And I'm going to find out what it is..." Jodie mumbled back.

"Well, why don't you go in and ask them?" A voice said. "If you are so curious..."
Jodie and Camel turned to the direction of the voice.
"Okiya-san, what are you doing here?"

"I just came to drop by and see how the patients are doing," Okiya replied, holding out a bouquet of flowers.

"How did you know we were here?" Jodie asked, glaring at him.

"It's not hard to spot two foreigners." He shrugged. "How are they?"

"Doing okay. The woman just woke up from surgery. I'll give them the bouquet for you." Jodie reached for it.

"Actually, I'd like to speak with them alone," Okiya said. "But you can search it for bugs or bombs if you want."

Who was this guy? Jodie narrowed her eyes, but took the flowers from him.

Bugs and bombs... Camel thought. Those two words in the same sentence reminded him about the case at the hospital. When Mizunashi had been in coma and organization had tried to get her back... They had sent gifts to patients with bombs and all those bombs had had a tracker inside... Camel glanced at Jodie. The woman seemed to think the same.

"Who exactly are you?" Jodie asked.
"I'm sorry I don't really get that question." Okiya answered politely.
"I understand you might know Kudo-kun. He has a lot of connections. But how do you know Masumi-san? It was weird enough that you appeared to know about organization and suddenly disappeared. But to appear as suddenly here and mention those two things..."
"Two things? You mean 'bugs and bombs'? Well, as an FBI agent you surely understand that you can never be too careful."
"Yes, but..."

Sera heard voices outside the door and recognized her brother's low tones. Walking to the door, she peeked outside and saw him talking with Agent Starling. "Okiya-san, thanks for coming," Sera said with a laugh. "I was wondering when you would get here."

"You asked him to come?" the blond-haired agent asked, raising her eyebrows.

"Yes, I called him using the hospital's phone. I knew he was worried," Sera replied, smiling.
"Can he come in?"

"I guess," Jodie said grudgingly, giving the tall man a glare. "We will still search your flowers."

"Don't worry, I don't have any nasty surprises," Okiya said with a grin, stepping around her and entering the room.