Chapter Nine: Keep Your Friends Close...

While things seemed to be tangling into a heap overseas, particularly when Director Vance had to explain just what the two 'ottsels' discovered in the FBI van were...

Stated as being two 'highly intelligent information gathering work animals that were a bit too eager for their job', a statement that was taken if only for the fact that the ottsels themselves were more unbelievable than the excuse...

Well, Ran was not pleased, to say the least. Hanging up the phone with a scowl, she almost punched a hole in the wall before Eisuke stood in her way, barely avoiding getting hit himself. "M-M-Mouri-san, I'm sure that it's not his fault... I mean, from what I've seen, the two girls are quite convincing... Eeh..."

This did not help the young 'first year' with matters, and Ran turned to Eisuke with a stern glare. "Eisuke-kun," she said, crossing her arms, "I think that I have a right to know where the ones I was trusted with are."

"But R- Mouri-san..." Eisuke rubbed his head, sighing. "It was Gibbs and the others who were entrusted with their care, not you... You don't need to feel so responsible, and.. I'm sure things will be fine! Gibbs would never let a child die on his watch!"

Ran was not convinced. Taking a seat, she continued to glare, before the gaze softened, and her body shook. Eisuke stood and walked over, a shaking hand touching her shoulder. "Ran-san..?"

"I just... I almost lost him once... And I already lost someone else close to me... I can't... I just met these kids, and now they're just gone... I know that Kiyoiri-chan, and Kira-chan are in good hands with Heiji-kun but... I.. I..." She wiped her eyes, still shaking as Eisuke held a hand on her shoulder. "If they die... I will have done nothing..."

He had nothing to say to that.

What could you say?

For a while, Jodie had been rethinking her 'inherited' dislike for NCIS. Sure they were a bit... Rough, at least Gibbs was from what she could tell from the first meeting. But the other one, McGee, seemed nice enough. They hadn't done anything wrong in her eyes, at least nothing worthy of hatred...

"AAAH-CHOO!"

"Nani!?" The brakes were slammed at the edge of the parking lot to the hospital, and all at once the agents in the van scrambled to the source of the noise, eventually pulling out two squirming... Things. However, she recognized them all the same. "O-Ottsels!?" Eyes wide as they put the two ottsels in a cardboard box, she chose to focus more on parking than on the ottsels for a moment, before having Black speak to the Director through MTAC about things.

"Over eager work animals that closely resemble those from a video game?" Even just repeating it sounded ridiculous...

But... She could still hold firm... They couldn't be that bad...

"Oii!!!" The group turned abruptly, an oddly familiar Osakan running up to them with a small girl tagging along behind.

"Ohhh? 'Private Eye'-san?" Jodie smiled, turning to him. "Now what could you be doing here?"

Heiji merely stared. "O-Oi... I knew you weren't a normal teacher but..."

The woman winked, putting a finger to her lips. "Shhh... Not now hm? I'm a bit busy as you can see..."

From behind her, Gibbs walked up, along with McGee. "Hattori?" Gibbs frowned slightly, before spotting Kira and chuckling. "You fell for them..."

"H-Hey, don't tell me you knew about those two!" Before the teen could say anything more, he clutched his shin and gasped. "Fffff!!!"

Kira in the meantime, smiled. "It would be wise not to insult people who are right beside you, Heiji-niisan..."

Heiji looked down at the girl, gritting his teeth before shrugging off the pain and looking back at the agents. "Gibbs-san... Jodie-san..." He looked back at the hospital, frowning. "This wouldn't happen to be..."

The silent stares told him all he needed to know, as well as telling them the same thing. He knew. And now they knew that. Heiji sighed, rubbing his head with one hand as he slowly brought that hand down again. "Great... And something tells me you're not gonna let me help, which is probably for the better..."

More silence. However, Jodie spoke as she waved the FBI agents behind her onwards. "There is one thing... If you could go inside and distract them, that would probably be helpful rather than harmful, [ok]?"

He nodded- No use attempting to get involved with this, much as he would want to under normal circumstances; but the FBI was an entirely separate-

Wait.... As Jodie turned to leave, he called after them. "C-Chotto! Jodie-san, Conan-kun is..."

Shit... They were gone... He looked down, sighing before he frowned. "Oi oi... …..Kira-chan?" The teen whipped his head around, looking for a small sign of the girl. "Kira-chan!?! Oi!"

"Over here, Tantei-oniisan..." Heiji turned to the hospital, mentally sighing in relief. Hospital. Distraction. Right.

This would be fun.

Standing by the entrance around the back of the Hospital, the one leading down, Jodie pulled out her radio and looked over at Gibbs. "Right... I'm going to call for the others, and let them know where we are- Just wait a few seconds, alright?"

Gibbs seemed to give a look that said 'if you must', while Jodie began radioing in. The moment she looked back to the NCIS crew however, she blinked with surprise. "Hey!! What are you doing??"

The two looked back at Jodie, McGee looking slightly confused and nervous, while Gibbs simply had the usual 'stare'. "If we wait to long, what do you think will happen to the kids that went after them?"

Jodie blinked, before frowning. The kids... Sudden realization hit as her eyes widened even more with shock. The tracer file... McGee had sent her the map showing the tracer's progress, but although they claimed to have lost it overseas, there was still a constant signal in that area.

And if Gibbs knew the 'Private Eye'... Then how low could the chances of him knowing the 'Cool Kid' as well be?

…Screw this. Jodie stood up and ran after the two, radioing on the fly. There were kids to find.

The definition of a 'ventilation shaft' was the following, at least the denotation of it: A shaft in a building that serves as an air passage for ventilation. The definition of ventilation here in the meantime, can be taken as this: The replacement of stale or noxious air with fresh air. Which meant, as one would assume, that at that moment, guided by nothing but the light of the small poncle ahead, or in the case of the two with much longer hair, their eyes, that Koji, Karin, Conan, and Issun were now crawling in.

This was not the case. The tunnels they were crawling through scarcely fit their childish bodies, Issun being the only one moving about freely. However, through the cramped and heated tunnel that was the ventilation shaft, Conan still found time to question Koji, who was crawling behind him. "Hisoka..." He paused briefly as he scraped his knuckles across the screws in the metal shaft again, hissing slightly, but continuing as quickly as the wound healed. "You said you knew this place... But also the agent who took Shiro-kun, right?"

The boy behind him nodded, careful not to let Issun or Karin, behind him, hear what he said. "Ah. That's right." He moved forwards, occasionally bumping into the boy in front of him and scowling, before moving on. "Originally, when I met 'Maideira'.... Rather, 'Vivian Blackadder', it was during a meeting here in Section A, which I was part of before the transfer... She was extremely 'innocent' at a glance, and didn't seem well suited for the job... But later, when I met her as 'Koji' in Section F..."

The voices seemed to carry to the ears of the wind as he spoke the last words, the breeze eventually leading to a room filled with violet coloured tubes and canisters, at the center of which sat a shaking, pale young boy. "...Let's just say that if we don't hurry, you'll find out just how much of a ruse she held, Megane."

With pale faces and a steel resolve, they continued, oblivious to the actions going on above and below them.

It was a rather boring night in the hospital, that was for sure. Sitting behind the desk at reception, the woman blew another bubble in her gum as she turned a page of her magazine, occasionally looking at the empty lobby. A few minutes ago, a small girl had wandered inside and run off down the hall... Shortly there after a young man, presumably a brother or some other relative (Not that he looked it), ran into the lobby, turned around to scan the room frantically, and then disappeared down the same hall.

And aside from that... Nothing.

"SOMEBODY! WE NEED A DOCTOR, NOW!" The woman jumped from her chair, both herself and a few other 'on-call' nurses and doctors running down the hall to see the dark skinned young man holding the body of the same young girl that came in.

One of them, the first to the scene, quickly started talking to the teen while another called for anyone not busy to get over to the area immediately. But at the same time...

-- Sprinklers began gushing water from above, and numerous people were suddenly in a panic, nurses attempting to lead patients to fire exits, while the doctors on 'scene' were still trying to solve the problem at hand. In the end, one settled for taking the girl from Heiji's arms, while the other began questioning him as they moved, a few other nurses returning with a stretcher and equipment for the girl.

"Sir, I need you to answer a few questions, is that alright?" The doctor seemed rather nervous, doing this amongst what was supposedly 'not' a fire drill, but for all that, Heiji had to admit that he was doing quite well considering the situations he and Kira had put together. It wasn't easy getting the alarm to delay but...

"Of course." But damn it, he had to play the part of 'cousin' now, or else it'd fall to shit! "Go on but..-"

"Sir, I need you to tell me what happened, understand?" Heiji nodded, keeping his eyes on Kira in the stretcher (She played an oddly good unconscious victim... So far she hadn't responded to the ear pinch, the yells, the noise...), as well as the slowly emptying building. "Alright. I need you to tell me what happened, as best you can alright?"

So far so good, most of the hospital was evacuating into the parking lot as they waited for fire trucks. "My cousin, Kin," he said, making things up on the go, "I was chasin' after her since she'd run off, but as she turned a corner, she slipped and fell... She stopped movin', and I... Well..." Ok. Let's face it. He was not that good an actor. The doctor seemed to buy it however, and as he made to ask the next question, Heiji saw the doctors block the hospital entrance and suppressed a grin.

He'd done his part, he thought as he attempted to still answer the questions smoothly through the lie. Now lets hope that Kudo... No... 'Edogawa' now, did his part.

-BOOM!-

Heiji's imaginary grin no longer needed to apply however, when a large explosion at the top of the building occurred, his face taking the typical 'o' shape of surprise. What... The hell?

In the depths of the hospital, Shiro wept black tears from his chair, shuddering as he grew weaker with each tube that took blood from his body. Footsteps reached the boy's ears. However, as he attempted to look up, a sharp pain from one of the tubes in the back of his neck stopped him, his head flopping forward, uselessly.

Until the woman in front of him raised his gagged face upwards to look at hers, his mind screaming with pain as the metal tube behind him dug into his skin. Hatred burned in his eyes, tears falling like acid on his clothes as the woman grinned maliciously. "Hm hm hm.... Your blood my boy... Is quite useful..." She threw his head upwards, the neck snapping with a crack before he flopped forwards again, eyes wide with fear and pain. "Ahahaha!" Walking around him, she grabbed the back of his chair, leaning in to whisper in his ear.

"Are you scared, little boy...?" The boy screwed his eyes shut, and the woman grinned madly, walking back around to face him. "Well, you should be... You won't die of course... We'd loose such a precious weapon... But..." The grin grew beyond it's already near impossible limit, twisting her seemingly beautiful face into one of a child's nightmare. "Until the point that we decide you can, you better get used to this treatment..."

-- The woman, Madeira, jumped up, her grin fading as the fire alarm rang. Frowning, her eyes gained a mad glint to them as she looked at the boy and then at the door. "Tch! Those fools... We're in a concrete building!" Turning back to Shiro, she grinned again, pulling a bit of curly hair back from her face as she left. "I'll be back... 'Boyo'..."

Within a few minutes, she was gone, the room left silent save for the slight rattle of cables attached to Shiro. Though his weeping was muted by the gag in his mouth, even the noise his tears made against the ground were audible to those above, the eyes inside the ventilation (The plan of going through the laundry chute had quickly been abandoned when it was realized that said chute was smaller than the shaft they were in) staring down.

Suddenly with a crash, the grate covering the vent in front of Shiro collapsed, a boy falling through, along with a 'bug', followed by another boy. All three of which Shiro recognized. Staring, he watched as the first one, baggy sleeveless clothes covered in dust with the glasses inside a pants pocket for protection, walked forwards to pull his gag off, the other boy, tight clothes equally as filthy, removing the cables with a jolt of pain at each one. "Ach!" Finally able to speak, his voice was barely muffled by his friend's hand as the last few cables were torn out, before Conan removed the hand.

"Shiro-kun," the boy whispered, as Koji looked around the room for any other problems. "Are you alright?" Almost immediately thereafter he added, "Aside from the obvious?"

The boy nodded, groaning as he stood. Koji, Issun sitting on his shoulder, walked over, looking around almost nervously before turning back to Shiro. "We need to leave. Now. Karin-chan's going to distract them but-"

-BOOM!- The boys looked upwards, trembling slightly as the shock wave shook even the dust down below. Issun looked up, eyes wide as he hopped from Koji's shoulder to the floor. "...That was Karin-chan..." He swallowed, blinking nervously as he made his decision. "Right... Looks like I'll have to help you in a bigger way." The others looked down almost quizzically, though Koji seemed to slowly gain a look of realization.

Holding his hands out before anyone could say a thing, a large mallet appeared before Issun, large enough for each of the boys to hold in their hand. "Reverse..."

Conan blinked- 'Reverse...' His dreams on the train... He felt himself thinking back to them briefly, about the cocoon experience in the past, and on the odd nightmarish scene that had come as what he thought was a result of that. Karin and Shiro... They had shown up in it, the two children from the festival. A premonition....? Or a warning...

A bright light snapped Conan from these thoughts, and the boys, save for Shiro, shielded their eyes as what appeared to be a swinging mallet slowly created a 'shadow' in front of them. Shutting his eyes, Conan grimaced, waiting for the light to die down as he heard the two beside him gasp. Opening his eyes, he saw why.

Standing before them, insect helmet super sized and hanging off his back, Issun, garbed in his kimono and cape, pants just barely reaching his ankles and sandals, crossed his arms with a frown. He looked scarcely over 12, and yet... To think they had thought him an adult... The boys were snapped out of this by his next words however, as the poncle, now human sized, drew his katana and pointed it at the door. "Let's go! We don't have much time!"

The others nodded, Koji waving an arm towards the doorway opposite the one Madeira left through. "Come on- The closest exit is this way!" Footsteps pounded without question through the halls, doors slamming open or merely being cut down by Issun's blade as they ran, the sword more than enough for the hollow frames. Koji's mind raced as hallways and door numbers, stair locations and windows ran through his head, the boy leading them up and down, left and right.

"Hisoka!" Conan cried out as they ran, the halls oddly empty for them. "I thought you said this was the closest exit!"

"It'll be the closest one that's empty!" The others almost stopped at those words, Conan looking at Koji incredulously as they ran.

"Closest empty one!? How the hell do you know Hisoka??"

The boy turned, and they came to a small room, the bottom half cutting to a balcony. Staring for a moment, Conan suddenly knew. If Koji had worked here before... And had told Karin just where to bomb... Briefly he looked up. The lights had been completely shot in all the areas they went through. And if Koji's memory was as good with buildings as it was geography.

Koji simply stared back with half-lidded eyes, before speaking. "Let's just say, I just know, Megane." Turning back to look over the balcony, beneath which sat a room with an 'Exit' light at the end, the boys walked over before a clicking noise stopped them.

Healing was instantaneous... But not all the time... It took time to gain the full effects of healing, Conan thought to himself as they turned, seemingly in slow motion towards the sound of a gun's safety being pulled off. If he was shot too many times... He would not recover easily.

"Don't even think of moving, brats..." The woman held the gun steadily, her grin eerily reminding Koji of a certain expression of his own, his face paling considerably when she continued. "Especially you, Gin."

AN: Ohohoho~ Did I say 'least inspired'? I think I might have jumped the gun there... :'D *cough* Suddenly, I am on fire! Two chapters! Whoo!

...Don't expect a third right now. It's late. I NEED SLEEEEEEEEP. I shouldn't be catering to you people (Even though I love it)~~~ *cough* Innnnn any case. Does this chapter tell you where the title 'Hidden Memories' come from I wonder? :'D Enjoy this guys! I think that after this one, the next two (End, and epilogue) will be equally if not more than as long as this. 3

I LOVE YOU ALL. 3