Unlike Hook, it seemed Wendy was quite punctual. She didn't have to be a rocket scientist to know that the foreign woman with long blonde hair was who she was supposed to meet. The woman looked at her, smiled and patted a spot next to her on the bench near a small pond.

Misaki sighed and looked around. Her cautious nature telling her to be alert despite the fact that the young woman said she would not do anything to her. Forcing a small smile, she walked over to the woman in question and sat down next to her as calmly as possible.

"Hello, Kirihara-san," she said happily as if finally getting a chance to speak to a long lost friend.

"Hello, Wendy."

The two were silent for a while before Wendy spoke up. "You'll have to forgive me, but my Japanese isn't the best…"

Misaki nodded gently. "It's all right. You're doing very well so far."

Wendy beamed at this. "I'm glad. I thought this was going to be a struggle, but thanks to Michael and Hook I was able to better it."

"You wanted to tell me something…" Misaki said cutting off whatever conversation could have grew out of those few words exchanged.

Wendy giggled. "Yes I did."

"I see. Well, what is it?"

Wendy yawned, stretching her arms out and slouching in her chair. She seemed quite bored and very much at ease despite the fact that she could be arrested at any moment. Then again, there was not much Misaki could have done to the woman if she happened to be a Contractor. Besides, she could have been "super-human," much like John was for all she knew.

"Want me to tell you a story?"

Misaki raised an eyebrow. A…story? Right then and there, she told herself that this girl was obviously quite insane… "W-what are you talking about?"

Wendy huffed. "You know what a story is don't you?"

"Of course I do," Misaki replied indignantly.

"Good. Answer yes or no. Your answer will determine my actions."

What Wendy had just said sounded rather confrontational. It was almost as if she was being bullied into either accepting this story that the foreign woman wanted to tell her, or face the consequences. "Is this story relevant to anything?"

"Does a story have to be?"

"I…I don't understand what you're trying to tell me."

"You won't, until you hear what I have to say," Wendy stated.

Misaki sighed, rubbing the bridge of her nose. "Very well. Tell me this story."

Wendy smiled, nodding with the enthusiasm of a child as she launched into her tale. "Once upon a time in a kingdom far away, there was a boy who was trained in the art of killing by a group of nobles. He had killed countless people, even children within his own division to prove that he was worthy of not becoming just a ghost to these high ranking people…"

"What? Where is this going?"

"Shh," Wendy hissed, waggling her index finger. "Listen."

Misaki sighed for what felt like the tenth time and nodded.

When Wendy was sure that Misaki was not going to interrupt anymore she continued on. "So, one day, these nobles bought a potion from a very powerful sorcerer. This potion was said to give people the strength of a bear and the speed of rabbit. Naturally these nobles decided to test this potion on ten of their most gifted servants. What they did not know was that this potion was highly addictive, and would drive its user to the brink of insanity. Also, it seemed that after a while, the user's life would be cut to almost nothing each time they used it. The potion put such a huge strain on the servants bodies, that only one survived the ordeal; the boy."

Misaki's eyes narrowed. She had a feeling there was a point to this story, some hidden agenda to Wendy telling her this, but she could not for the life of her figure out what it was that she was supposed to derive from this. "A question, Wendy…"

"Hm?"

"When you say 'brink of insanity' what do you mean?"

Wendy smiled. "The pain that came when one did not drink their potion was unbearable."

"So…it was extreme withdrawal?"

Wendy's smile widened and she nodded again. Misaki wanted to ask more, but she had no chance as the woman continued with her story. "I better keep going before I forget about this…" Wendy replied, rubbing her arm as if cold. "Anyway, years later, a large war between many countries happened, and these nobles sent two of their agents to spy and see what the others were up to. The boy, now much older, was one of them…

The two agents had done their jobs quite well…until they bumped into people from a rival country. Using every bit of cunning the two agents had acquired from their training, they joined with these four people in order to use them. Of course, the enemy agents were just as crafty and used them as well.

As time went by…the young man and an enemy agent became close allies, something that was simply out of the question. As such, the young man was given orders by the leader of his group to kill the rival countries most prized agent…"

Misaki tried her best not to interrupt, but she was somewhat lost. This sounded familiar… "Why would they want to do that?"

"Do what?"

"Kill that prized agent?"

Wendy chuckled. "Because it would make the rival country angry of course. The two rivals love to do that you see. They're too scared to fight one another, but they're not against causing the other harm in underhanded ways."

"If that's the case why are they using one another?"

"Aren't all powerful organizations and countries always using each other for more power?" Wendy stated boredly.

"Yes but…"

"Then you have your answer," Wendy interrupted with slight annoyance. "My goodness...Hook was right."

Misaki frowned. "What are you talking about?"

"Hm? Where was I? Hmm…oh yes! I really do need to hurry…" Wendy said, completely ignoring Misaki as she continued, but her speed was faster now. "Reluctantly, the young man did as he was told. He got the agent somewhere where they would not be watched and attempted to kill him. However, the agent knew this would happen, and thus acted accordingly. Using the skills taught to him by his country, he used a wire to strangle his opponent. It was brutal or so the tale says, but in the end, the agent could not truly kill his friend. At the last minute, he pulled his wire back, allowing the young man to survive the ordeal.

Eventually, the young man's ally appeared in hopes that she could stop the fight. Of course it was already over, so there was not much to stop. The agent told the young man's ally to take care of him, and to keep away from the agent and his group from now on, or he would have no choice but to kill them. The young man's ally agreed and did just that.

After all this…the young man and his ally were called back to the base, leaving the war torn country alone. This was the day the stars fell, and the war torn country become uninhabitable…"

Misaki felt as if she had been slapped in the face. This story did have relevancy! Wendy had told it in a fairytale type fashion…which was odd, but she knew that this story was about John and Hei. She had no idea who the other people were; however she did know that it was those two who Wendy was emphasizing.

"You're talking about the South American conflict?"

Wendy nodded, looking quite bored again. "I have a terrible memory, but I do remember this much. I've lied to Hei about it a couple of times…so he probably thought I truly did not remember who he was or where I saw him before. Hmph, silly man…"

"Those two people you were talking about…were John and Hei." Misaki stated that rather than said it as a question. She knew the answer, but she just wanted to hear it from the strange young woman.

"Correct. I was also there. Hook was the one passing information to us via through a headset. This was before he lost his body through…unfortunate circumstances…"

"And the three agents on Hei's side?"

"The three agents that were with Hei were Pai, Amber, and Havoc, whom I believe you have met before."

Misaki gasped, her eyes quickly landing on the pond before her. She knew the other two but…who was Pai?

Wendy as if sensing her thoughts, answered. "Pai is an agent who was very close to Hei. That's all I will tell you. The rest you will either have to hear from him, or you'll have to do a bit of information digging to find it." With that said, the young woman stood up, stretched and attempted to walk away.

"W-Wait a minute!"

Wendy stopped, turning and tilting her head to the side. "Yes?"

"Why did you tell me this? I could use this information against you!"

"And who would you tell?"

Misaki sighed, rubbing the bridge of her nose again. She couldn't tell anyone. No one would believe her. The Chief, maybe, but no one else knew anything about her relationship with Hei and this strange organization. "No one…"

"That is correct."

"You…you never told me why you were telling me about this…"

Wendy crossed her arms and glanced at the sky. "Well, since my memory is so fragile, I thought it was best you remembered for me. I'm sure John would have wanted you to know about him at least."

"You make it sound as if I'm not going to see him again."

At this, Wendy looked back at Misaki, a very thoughtful expression on her face. It made the woman look much wiser than she had appeared earlier with her childish tale and antics. She now seemed conniving and much older than she had appeared. "Who knows?" With a wave, she turned and finally walked away. "When we need you, we'll call you!" she shouted.

Misaki watched her go, sighing when the woman was gone, and laying down on the bench listening to the gentle chirp of birds and the melodic sloshing of water going back and forth in a repetitive dance. Her question about John and Hei had been answered…but what was she going to do with this information besides simply storing it in her brain? Was there some hidden reason for Wendy telling her this besides the joy of telling?

Stop thinking, Misaki. Just relax for a while…her thoughts told her. For once, she didn't ignore them.

The whole time Misaki was at work, all she could think about was when Hook or even Wendy would call her. She kept glancing at her clock nervously. Each time she did, she felt as if time was going by slowly. It would take forever for midnight to come if she kept this up…but what could she do?

"Kirihara-san…"

Misaki glanced up, staring into the happy-go-lucky face of Hideo.

"You're not in your office?"

Hideo blinked, tilted his head and then burst into a quiet fit of laugher. "Wow, it's nice to see you as well."

Misaki blushed furiously. "N-No that's not…what I mean is...w-well…"

Hideo waved his hands. "It's all right. I was just playing with you."

Misaki coughed trying to destroy the blush that still clung to her cheeks. "I-I see. Well then, can I help you?"

"Nothing in particular. I just wanted to make sure you were still awake." He chuckled as if he had made the funniest joke in the world.

"You know I don't fall asleep on the job."

"I know…but well, you seem really tired."

"No, it's all right. I'm fine."

Hideo nodded slowly. "Well then…uh…here a folder I have for you concerning that case you're looking into."

Misaki yawned, leaning forward and grabbing the vanilla folder. It wasn't thick at all…which was suspicious. She looked up at Hideo, frowning. "Uh…"

"They're light, I know. I don't recommend you reading what's in those files until you leave the office. It would be folly to do so right now."

"What…is there…?" Misaki looked around, trying to appear casual, "Is there something I'm not supposed to know in these?"

"Something that could cost both our jobs." Hideo smiled.

"I see…it's that classified, huh?"

"Correct."

Misaki nodded. "Very well. I'm about to leave for now anyway…"

"Good, so am I." Hideo smiled again and slowly left the room.

"What…have I gotten myself into now…" she said to herself, leaning back in her chair and letting out a deep sigh. Things certainly were chaotic. Misaki wondered if she would even survive all of this still unscathed. She certainly hoped so.

Misaki left at her usual time, it would have been peculiar if she had left any earlier. After all, everyone knew she loved to work. That was who she was, a worker. Thankfully, she looked rather tired so no one stopped to talk to her as she left. Usually Jun would be the one to do that…but she had left much earlier under the pretense that she was feeling unwell and might have had food poisoning from the restaurant she had gone to. Misaki wanted to believe her…but something at the back of her mind told her that it was a lie.

In all honesty, Misaki was starting to feel like a lie detector. She couldn't even talk to someone without feeling suspicious of them anymore…

Sighing, she unlocked the door to her car and stepped in, simply sitting in it and staring up at the fake stars in the sky. Was she supposed to solve this case? Was it her place to get involved in something as deep as this? It was a duty yes…but just how far did that duty go?

"You're being silly, Misaki…" she told herself. Her gaze slowly fell on the manila folder. She had almost forgotten about it…

She sighed, leaning over to pick it up, and simply stared at it. Should she look at its contents? Was she going too far with this investigation? She shook such thoughts out of her head. It was her job to get to the truth! "I must not doubt myself…" she said with newfound strength.

As soon as she opened the folder, her eyes instantly landed on red text.

Dear Misaki,

Go to Sukoshi Park near midnight. You'll find what you want there. It pertains to that case you're studying into.

All right, actually I want to talk to you in person. I didn't put anything in that manila folder because well…it's better to talk about these things face to face. See you there!

Your friend, Hideo

P.S Haha, you thought this was going to be a highly important letter too didn't you? Shame on you for assuming! I bet you look hilarious right now, haha. XD

Misaki re-read the letter again and again before she burst into a fit of laughter. Here she was panicking for no reason. Misaki leaned back in her chair letting out a puff of air. All the dread she felt at the moment flew away and out the window.

Misaki pulled back her sleeve, staring at her watch. It was 23:30…almost midnight. She would be called eventually…she hoped anyway. If not, she was determined to find where Hei and Michael were supposed to be meeting. She would find a way to stop whatever conflict was sure to develop, even if she had to put her life in danger to do so.

"You're being silly…" she mumbled to herself as she closed the manila folder she would have to give the Chief tomorrow. Perhaps she was, but she honestly did not wish to see any more conflict between the two men…

With a sigh, she turned her key, and started the car. She would talk to Hideo, and then quickly find Hei and Michael. It was foolish, and it seemed awfully pointless…but she wanted to try. She was just that type of person.

Whew, sorry for the looooong update, lol. I've have major writer's block, not to mention college and video games and just about anything else I can think of, have been keeping me busy. xD

This isn't the last chapter obviously. I thought it would be best to just update what I had. So sorry if you guys think it's crap, because I did try really hard. x.x;;

Well, R&R! Tell me what you guys think, and I love all of you for still sticking with me. You're awesome! Now to get to work on my other fanfic...v.v;;