-o-

When Shinichi Kudo had arrived, uninvited, at the door to the detective agency of a bloodied child in his arms, Kogoro Mouri had feared the worst. He couldn't help but recall the number of times Ran, as a girl, had been whisked away into some kind of scuffle by the same lad. It wasn't his fault that his first thought upon seeing the detective brat was that the freeloader had been hurt. Conan had been in his care after all, and for all he denied being the kid's father; he did actually worry about him at times.

It had taken time and effort before his old friend and colleague, Megure, had allowed him in on the case. The more he learnt about it, the more afraid he became. The Kudo brat was avoiding the investigation, the FBI was involved, and needless to say, the identities of the deceased and what they were accused of being had sent shivers down his spine.

But that wouldn't scare him off. He needed to know.

As he accompanied the police officers and the FBI man named James Black into an umpteenth raid upon a location linked to the nebulous criminal organisation that had been uncovered, he found it easy to remember why it was he was helping them sift through coded record upon record of criminal proceedings...

It was to protect.

-o-

-Chapter 10: For Protection. -

-x-

The match had just finished when the doorbell rang: a satisfying victory for the Osaka team. Ai remained seated while Shinichi went to answer the door. She could glimpse the unexpected guest through the doorway when the teenage detective guided her through the entrance hall. An American lady, hair cut short, serious expression upon her face. Upon seeing Ai in the living room, the stranger gave her a sad smile. Obviously another who knew her that she could not recall. Hearing Shinichi call her Jodie, and indicate that they could go to the library, Ai got the hint.

"We'll be back in five..." The young man called out to her. Ai didn't believe him, and when five minutes had passed, she gave up flicking through the TV channels and went to see if they were anywhere near the end of their obviously important discussion.

It took her a small while to find the library. The house was foreign to her, and its layout had nothing in common with the professor's house. Ai felt a certain degree of foreignness, a sense that she was intruding, as she went by the stairs... And yet, it felt somewhat familiar. Running her hand along the top of the stair rail, despite the fact that she needed to step on her toes to do so, she inspected the thick layer of dust collected by her fingertips, too thick. She could see that it had last been dusted a couple of months back, but even so, a lived-in house should have enough hands gliding along said stair rail to at least halve the amount of dust left. She could glimpse only a couple of handprints left amongst the dust. Obviously, Shinichi Kudo had been away for a long time before his recent return.

Ai felt like she had been there before, examining the dust, maybe going through drawers... She hadn't been alone in intruding at that time. And yet for some reason, as she came across the ground floor bathroom, she could recall looking up to him, the occupant of the house as he grinned into the mirror, school tie around his neck. She felt warmth wash across her cheeks at the mental image. Yes, she had to admit that he was a handsome man. She had to hold her hand against her chest as some phantom pain made its presence felt.

Finally finding the library – at the very back of the house, strangely enough, Ai saw that the door had been left slightly ajar. Tilting her head in such a way that she could eavesdrop without announcing her presence; she leaned against the doorframe to listen. The voices inside were, as expected, Shinichi Kudo's and the Jodie woman's. By their matter-of-fact tones and querying sentences, she could tell that they were still in full debate over whatever it was they were discussing, even if it was in hushed voices. She could only make out so much of what was being said.

"... You sure that would be your best option?"

"You said yourself..." The sound of a map being unfolded covered up half of what was being said. "We don't know how much intelligence he has access to... Until we..."

Sighing, Ai gave up on listening. Whatever the two were discussing, she'd heard enough to know that they were still going to take a small while to hash it out. She could tell that whatever they were talking about would give her a headache if she tried too hard to understand. Glancing at the clock in the hallway and feeling the pain in her leg stir, she decided it was time to go back to the professor's house for a bit. It would be lunchtime soon enough and somehow she didn't think Shinichi would remember about her medicine for her leg. She hobbled back out of the house through the living room, where the latest Gomera movie was hogging the small screen. The young girl continued out the side door and, gingerly as her injured leg complained, Ai clambered over the debris that served as a shortcut between the two properties. She wondered what had caused the wall to collapse in the first place.

She didn't feel the need to leave a note. After all, it wouldn't take a detective to figure out she'd gone back to the turtle-shaped house.

-x-

Shuichi Akai, ignoring Jodie's plans to go and talk to Shinichi Kudo directly, was prowling around town. He was on the hunt. Ever since hearing from the young teenage detective's mouth that Gin had survived the misfired trap that the high school student had laid out for the top members of the organisation, Shuichi had been combing the city for any sign of the lone operative. A week had passed since the blast. Knowing that his target had indeed been caught in the blast before making his getaway, Shuichi was prepared to believe that he would lie low for that time, but not much more. Caressing the remnants of scarred skin on his own face, he pondered upon the many things he and the silver-haired killer shared... all because of a young scientist going by the code name Sherry.

Every time he thought of her, he could not help but remember Akemi. The trust the young woman had put in him, and yet the protectiveness she had over her little sister... It had been sad to see such a happy young woman stuck in a desperately lost situation. It had been heart-breaking to see how life had separated the two siblings by such extremes... It had been heart-wrenching when he'd learnt of her death, after she'd sent him such a hopeful message. He hadn't even needed to guess to know who her killer had been.

He checked his pistol-holder as he went around asking people about a stolen Porsche 364A, possibly damaged. Upon finding with inspector Megure's crew that the boss's car and a number of other vehicles most probably owned by the remaining victims of the explosion had been found nearby, Shuichi had instantly noticed the conspicuous absence of Gin's trademark vehicle. He'd also found traces hinting that the car had collided with a number of trees and bollards on its way out of the woods. He couldn't quite say why he was persuaded the assassin would be hiding away near the Beika area, but his instinct told him that his arch-nemesis would go little further.

The hunt was on.

-x-

"Right, so it is agreed then?" Shinichi stood, folding up the map he had pulled out of the local area. The professor's electronic map had been surprisingly efficient for the conversation. "We ask Ran and her father to accommodate Haibara for a short while, with FBI protection around the building just in case, and during that time I'll come up with a plan to lure Gin into custody."

"I still insist that you stay at the Mouri home too, you know." Jodie intervened. She glared at him with all the righteousness acquired from being an English teacher to one of the more challenging classes of his high school. "You've been through a lot these past few weeks. Leave the capture of Gin to us. There is no reason to knock at death's doorstep by taking unnecessary risks."

He sighed. It was a shame that the FBI bases in town were either too far away or possibly compromised by the organisation before it was beheaded. As much as Shinichi agreed that his house wasn't the safest place to stay, and that the professor's was possibly even less so if Gin were to do an enhanced internet search on small auburn haired girls living around Beika. Blast Agasa's YouTube and blogging addiction. As much as the detective was determined to keep his promise to Ran about not leaving again, he felt really awkward at the mere concept of asking to live at the agency for however short a time as his adult self. Even if it was indeed the best positioned building for the FBI to stake out without being too conspicuous, he still thought of the place as Conan's home. He was done being Conan. He was done with the charades... And yet, what better place to end them all?

"Fine," he replied. "And I'll make sure the Professor finds some safe place to stay for the meantime..." So long as he deigns to read my email to his phone, he added in thought.

"Have you decided on the pretext yet?" Jodie added.

"Oh, simple enough: explain that both my house and the professor's are undergoing works to check for dry rot or something. I'll easily enough persuade my dad to get some company in for appearance sake. Maybe he'd even find a bona fide excuse. As for the professor, I'll just say that I offered to let him go visit a friend to rest for a bit, while I watch over Haibara."

Jodie paused as she considered Shinichi's response. He waited to see if she could find any flaws or ways to improve said pretext, but he had not expected the response she gave instead.
"Why do you call her Haibara? As far as I'm aware the only ones to call her that are the kids..."

Caught by surprise, he stuttered a bit.
"Ha-ah? I... I guess it's because I associate her with a deceased relative of hers I meet in a case..." The explanation sounded a bit lame to his ears, but it wasn't entirely a lie. He knew that Jodie might have had her doubts about Conan before hand, but he saw no reason to confirm them, especially if it meant she would connect the dots about Haibara's true age... It would defeat the whole point of accepting her amnesia.

Little did he know that Jodie was thinking exactly along the same lines: She could only recall too well the picture of an adolescent pinned to Vermouth's dartboard, auburn locks surrounding a melancholy face. It had been all too similar to the child that said organisation agent had attempted to kidnap and then shoot. Nevertheless, she accepted Shinichi's explanation at face value and decided to prod no further at the current time.

"Right, I had better get the arrangements made then..." She said, whisking her mobile phone out of her pocket. "Can I have your number to let you know when we're ready? I'll give you mine so that you can confirm things on your side."

"Sure..." After a quick exchange of contact details (not that he would admit already having hers), Shinichi guided Jodie out of the house and waved her goodbye. He knew that he'd have a big job ahead of him convincing Ran to let him and Haibara stay over after what had happened that morning, so he decided it was time he sorted out lunch for the two of them. He was still mindful of Haibara's remark about his nutrition. He might as well get some more toiletries for staying over at Ran's in too.

He recognised the end song of the latest Gomera film as he returned to the living room. How many times the Detective Boys had dragged him and Haibara to see it, he'd lost count. He was surprised that she'd even consider watching it, amnesiac or not.

"Yo, Ha-Ai!" He said as he strode in. A cold hand gripped his heart as he noticed that the room was empty. She couldn't be... Could she?

Forcing himself to think logically, and with his knowledge that the rest of the house had been conspicuously vacant as well, he decided to do the obvious thing and return to the professor's home to check there first.

"Dammit, Haibara..." Shinichi muttered as once again he painfully vaulted over the broken down wall. "Please be safe."

-x-

After having explained to Ran what had happened to him on the night of the incident, Eisuke wasn't quite sure what to do. After having cleaned himself of the spilt milk, he'd returned to his seat opposite her and, naturally, they had started talking about what he would do next. He wasn't prepared to go back to his flat: he did not know if Gin was still there or not. He did know, however, that he ought to get someone to check. Ran was adamant that he should go to the police. He was reluctant. He had actually hoped to use Shinichi's contact with the FBI, but wasn't certain how much he could tell Ran of Shinichi's secrets. There wasn't enough of a CIA presence in town for him to call upon them, not that they'd listen. He hadn't gotten very far into enrolling before his sister's news had brought him back to Japan in a rush.

"Listen Ran, I..." He tried hard to think of the best way to phrase it. They'd spent a long time talking over the subject again, after the long awkward pauses where Ran had sat and thought things through. The café was starting to get busy and it was obvious the staff were waiting for them to leave. Their beverages had long since gone cold. "From what I understand, it's not a hundred percent certain that going to the police would be safe at this moment. They were conspicuously absent when Shinichi faced this organisation. I... I think he'd know who to go to, to be safe."

Standing up as yet another waiter rolled their eyes at pair; Eisuke hinted to Ran that it was probably time for them to depart. Pulling up his hood, he continued.
"Meanwhile I just want to find some place to stay, to hide out while we figure out what to do. If that guy has left the flat, and he sees me, I'm pretty certain he'd be only too happy to get rid of me."

Seeing Ran's face ashen in colour at what he'd said he felt the need to reassure her, but she spoke before he could.
"In that case, I know just the place."

Grabbing his arm, she dragged him all the way to a street that he found all too familiar. It didn't take him too long to figure out exactly where they were headed.

-x-

Even though she had had quite an early breakfast, Ai didn't really feel all that hungry when she saw the clock flashing noon at her. Responding to the pain in her leg, she went for her medication that was kept in one of the kitchen cupboards. With a sigh, she took the pill and drowned it down her throat thanks to a glass of water. Leaning against the kitchen unit, she pondered a bit about the nature of her injuries. Beyond her amnesia, there was her leg. She'd received a couple of cuts and burns after whatever explosion it was that Shinichi Kudo had rescued her from. She had a big bruise that was only just starting to swell down, possibly a weakness in some tendon near the knee. As far as Ai could tell, she had very few injuries above her leg. Even her head, bar the small bump, seemed fine. Shinichi, on the other hand, seemed to have a number of scratches down his back that she could infer. His arm was still thickly bandaged and she could not help but wonder if his appetite problem might also be a side-effect of the incident. Now that she pondered it, she hadn't really thought to find out more about what had happened then. She had been much more preoccupied by other memories.

"Hum, nothing in the paper..." She muttered after flicking through one the professor had left on the small table beside the television, unsurprising really, considering it had been a full week. After a moment's hesitation, she continued her thoughts out loud. "Maybe there'll be something about it on the internet."

Ai went down the stairs to the basement carefully, one step at a time, hand guiding her along the wall. She could have used the desktop computer the professor kept on the ground floor, but somehow she felt more comfortable with the idea of using the one in that small room near the garage. Even if it meant a little discomfort getting there; she winced a little as her weight shifted painfully upon reaching the last step. Massaging her knee, she hobbled passed the door into the room.

The small study was pretty much identical to the way it was that morning. Discarded toys and gadgets still littered the shelves; dust still plagued the various nooks and crannies, thankfully to a much lesser extent than at Kudo's house... No sign of a silver-haired beast at all. Ai sighed and gave herself a self-depreciating smile as she spotted the small radio sat precariously next to the keyboard. It had been nothing but a bad day-dream. The computer itself she found to have already been turned on. Curious, she brought the screen back to life. The computer had been accessed using an account that was obviously the professor's, and required his password to access. She pouted a little as she clicked the button to start a session as a different user, hoping there was a guest one. To her disappointment, there wasn't. However, there was one that, thought oddly named, she recognised as obviously being her own.

The username was fairly mysterious sounding, but rang a cord as she whispered it out loud; the user image was one of her amongst the detective boys, cropped down to show only herself and the one called Ayumi. Two little girls, smiling happily while on some camping venture. Ai couldn't help but share that smile as she hovered the mouse pointer towards the password input box. There her smile faltered. She had no idea what password she would have used. The more she clawed at her mind and willed her fingers to automatically type in the asterisks, the less she could think of the answer. Her mind a complete blank, she clicked on the hint prompt.

"Get out, Kudo." It stated simply. Her eyebrows knotted themselves together in confusion. She was under the impression that Kudo had been out of town since before she'd came to stay at the professor's. Why would she...? Then again, it had been hinted that Shinichi Kudo would sometimes stop by to collect mail. Still, why would she feel the need to protect her computer account from him? It wasn't something she pictured herself needing to do for an occasional visitor... Unless...

Disheartened, she swivelled the chair away from the disappointing display. She glanced around at the floor and sofa, looking for the book she'd been reading that morning. She had felt a connection with its contents; maybe it had a hint as to her password...

The book was nowhere to be seen. Puzzled, she examined the desk, drawers and shelves. She had no reason to believe either Agasa or Kudo would have removed it from the room. Someone must have put it back in the box she had found it in. Puzzled, she stood and went to the corner full of boxes she had investigated only hours before. She frowned as the distinctive black box turned out to be missing. It was deliberately moved, and it didn't take a genius to guess who. Though she had no proof, her gut instinct told her it was Shinichi Kudo. There was something in that box that he didn't want her to find. Well tough, she thought. She was going to find it, and that was that.

Knowing that the bulky item could not have left the room, she turned and examined the immediate area. He wouldn't have hidden it at a height convenient for a child, so naturally, her eyes went up. With plenty of shelves and a good cupboard or two reaching the ceiling, there was plenty to look at... And that was while dismissing the possibility he might've hidden it above one of the ceiling tiles.

With a grumble, she climbed onto the sofa, careful to steady herself using the back of it. Needing just a little more height, she clambered on to the arm of the furnishing. Feeling her blood pumping behind her ears as her precarious position and angry confusion had her adrenaline flowing, she slowly and carefully observed the higher contents of the cupboard that she had opened and the nearby shelving. It took her two turns, but she spotted it.

"There you are..." Spotting it within the cupboard, deep upon the very top shelf, she hopped off the sofa and puzzled over how to access it. With sudden insight, Ai shuffled over to the side door of the office that led to the garage. Opening it, she quickly found the object she was after: a rather tall step ladder, folded up and leaning against the wall. Steadying herself as she prepared to lift it towards the cupboard she was after, she listened out for sounds of either the professor or Kudo returning. Hearing nothing, she proceeded to moving and setting up the ladder. After several minutes of clumsy tugging and pushing, she succeeded. Her leg being a nuisance, she required another minute while she waited for the pain to pass. Finally feeling the numbing effect of the tablets kicking in, she climbed up.

Sat upon the top step of the ladder, Ai was just at the right height to look into the box and, so long as she braced one hand upon the top of the cupboard, she could rummage within. It was a little tricky to see the contents. Though the covering blanket had been removed, very little light actually reached the higher shelves. It didn't take her long to find the book she had been reading earlier. It was small and square, and fairly near the top. She grinned as she found it. It had naturally opened upon a page that could explain why someone would have felt the need to hide it away from her. But to judge a book by one page... amused and somewhat underwhelmed, she returned the book to the box. Curiosity overcoming her, she decided to sift through the contents some more. Most of it seemed to be paper, small plastic containers and disks. The latter intrigued her, not because of what they were, but that she recognised them at all. For a child of her age to know of a floppy disk as more than some strange image on a toolbar, but an actual method of storing information and transferring it form computer to computer... Then again it wouldn't surprise her if professor Agasa still used such things on a regular basis. He seemed to be of the generation that would have come up with them in the first place.

It was then that her fingers grazed an object that sent shivers down her spine. Cold, tubular, metallic... It felt like...
"Like a gun..." Ai whispered.

Carefully extracting the unseen device from the container, she found that her hand flawlessly wrapped itself around the item's handle. Grip, she mentally corrected herself. Small, black and heavy, it did indeed feel and look like a proper semi-automatic pistol, a Beretta to be precise. She could see the model number engraved along the barrel, along with the word imitation. The weight distribution felt a little strange to her, it was as though... Checking the magazine, she saw that it was a custom made hollow construction. Without removing it from the copy, she immediately felt a certain sense of security upon finding the branding "Flower power Ltd, magician and prankster's tools" on the ammunition's casing. She decided not to question her familiarity with the weapon. The silver-haired beast from her nightmare earlier was gnawing at her thoughts once more, and she had the feeling that she would need all the protection she could get.

Her heart pounding away, Ai slipped the replica gun into her belt, careful to hide it under her jumper. Deciding that she had done enough snooping for the day, she went to climb back down the ladder when a scrap of paper caught her eye. Hanging half out of the box, the unfolded sheet looked ready to fall. She didn't want either the professor or Kudo to figure out that she knew of the black box's current location. She would have to put it back in first. Taking the paper, a copy of a newsprint by the looks of it, the girl was about to put it back when a loud noise stopped her.

She heard a door slamming, nearby. Too near, she thought. Holding her breath, she waited for the inevitable footsteps. Loud, powerful strides announced the presence of a certain teenage detective. She knew who it was before he even started to shout out her name.

"Haibara! Answer me!" Ai could hear his muttered swearing as he rushed past the small basement room, through the corridor between the garage and the stairs leading up to the ground floor. She could also hear him ascending the steps two by two. Cursing herself for her curiosity, she quickly slid down the ladder, folded it up, closed the cupboard and replaced it in its proper place. It was only then that the auburn-haired child realised she still had the sheet gripped within her fingers. Aware that Kudo might return to look for her in that room at any second, she quickly folded it up and pocketed it as she sat in front of the computer screen.

Ironically, she only had to stare blankly at the screen for a split second before the password came to her. Her fingers flying across the keys, she typed in the name Watson. All it had taken for her to recall it was a Holmes-geek detective, how typical.

The session had only just finished loading when the door to the room flew open. Ai dared not look towards the doorway. She felt flushed, and somehow the way the young man behind her was panting was not helping.

"Th-There you are!" He gasped. "What took you? I mean... Why did you come back here?" She could hear the confusion in Kudo's voice.

After taking a small moment to regain her composure, there being nothing on the screen to warrant her ignoring him, Ai swivelled her chair around. She could see him standing within the door frame, leaning against it as he massaged his injured arm. She could see that Kudo had been running, and that irritation was threatening to replace worry in his eyes. Though he hadn't got a coat on, the young man appeared to have acquired a small backpack that hung limply from his hand.

In answer to his question, she pointed at her own wound. Despite the continuing cold and wet weather, she'd chosen to match her thick jumper with nothing more than a pair of tan shorts and long brown socks. Her bandage around her knee showed quite clearly. Needless to say, she hadn't been expecting to leave the house that day, there being another couple of days of convalescing to go through before she was expected to return to school.
"I came back to take my tablets for my leg. I need to take them at regular intervals to keep the swelling down and prevent an infection." She didn't add that the pain-relief component of the medicine had been more than welcome. She was swinging her foot around with only minor discomfort. Shinichi Kudo looked like he could do with taking some of his own. She smiled warmly at him.

With a sigh, he returned her smile, getting her subtle point and straightening up. It was amusing to see him suddenly pretend that his arm wasn't bothering him at all.

"Cool. Let's get them packed then. You can show me where they are kept."

"Packed?" Now it was her turn to be perplexed.

"Yes packed. We're going away to stay with some friends." He grinned. "We'll need to get some supplies on the way as well... Come on!"

Intrigued, she shut down the computer and followed. All thoughts of Internet searches were forgotten.

-x-

To be continued...