A/N: And one more chapter rewritten. Finally. I'd started with this one ages ago but ultimately finished only now. As you can see while reading these chapters, you can see references to the newest ones too. Like the name 'Boshi' used in an alias.

Chapter 9.

Tsukiko waited. She laid on the cot with her eyes closed. She was patient. She had to. That was practically all the girl could do. She glanced down at her hand and noticed them shaking. Tsukiko clenched them into fists. But of course one of the agents noticed it.

What's up?" He asked. The girl opened her eyes. If she remembered right, his name was Johnson.

"Nothing. I'm just a bit nervous, that's all."

"Nervous? Why?" Apparently the agent had a lot of faith in the plan.

"Don't you hear that motorbike? It has followed us almost all the way from the hospital. And… I bet there are at least two more bike following the other vans." Tsukiko didn't mention Vermouth's bike. That would've raised more than enough unnecessary questions. The agent looked outside through a shadowed window.

"You are right. How did you notice it?"

"When a person is nervous and there isn't really use for eyes it's better to use ears." The girl muttered. "And of course I had a good guess… It was likely that they would follow these vans and try to find out what is the one that has Mizunashi." She explained before closed her eyes again. Minutes passed and then the motorbike's sounds became more and more quiet.

"What? Are they giving up?" The agent who had talked with Tsukiko noticed with a frown on his face.

"Probably…" Some other agent thought aloud.

"No." Tsukiko said sharply. "I doubt it."

"Well, little girl, what do you think then?" A third agent sneered at the girl. Tsukiko glared him and his name tag saying 'Murray'. She didn't like his way to talk. He was probably one of those people annoyed that Conan and Tsukiko were at the hospital and helping the FBI. Well, he was half right(only half): this was FBI's mission and in real life there shouldn't be any kids around. But it still didn't give him any reason to talk to the girl with that tone or look her down. Especially when she was right. Time to make him think.

"What would you think about this then? What could be the other reason for their retreating than giving up?" Tsukiko snarked. It was better to let them deduce it themselves than tell the answer straight away. Some brain exercise and all. Plus they were still suspicious about the girl and her motives.

"A-! Could it be…?" Realization dawned on Johnson's face. He opened a little shutter in the wall that separated the passenger side from the drivers. "Taylor, inform boss the motorbike that followed us is retreating. It's possible that the organization has found out Mizunashi Rena's location." He said to the agent who was sitting next to the driver and had the radio. The agent, Taylor, just nodded before the shutter was closed.

Soon after that Tsukiko fell asleep. The lull in action and lowering adrenaline was the cause of that. Plus she was used to sleeping during long road trips. It made the time go faster. When she finally woke up, the van was already back at the hospital. Tsukiko yawned and sat up. No one was in the van anymore. She yawned again and got up on her feet, heading to the van's door and opening it. Some agents including Black were in the parking hall, waiting for something. A quick look around revealed that the two other vans weren't there yet.

"Ho? Aren't numbers two and three here yet?" Tsukiko asked.

"No, not yet. Number two is on its way here but we have lost contact with number three." Black answered, frowning at the radio in his hand.

"So the first part of the Plan succeeded… Amazing." The girl had hard time not to grin in her glee so she decided to attract attention to something else. Fortunately she spotted something – or someone – right for the purpose. There was a shadow behind a car a couple of meters away. "A le le, what is that?" Tsukiko pointed at the shadow. With an agent(Johnson again) she made her way there. "Jodie-san?" She 'gasped'.

"Agent Starling? What is she doing here?" Johnson crouched down to shake her awake from her shoulders. After checking if she'd hit her head and she still had a pulse. The woman woke up disoriented and with the other agent's help the trio made it back to the others. Black was surprised at the sight of her.

"J-Jodie-kun? I thought you were somewhere… else. Camel-kun said…" He stuttered. Poor man. The day wasn't going as planned at all for him.

"Camel, Camel… He tricked you! How is the mission?" As soon as Jodie had gathered her bearings, she was full of ire and pent up frustration. Thankfully the van number two arrived soon so she didn't go into full blown rant(probably in English too). And a bit later also Akai's Chevrolet found its way to the parking hall. Camel was with him. Akai in the other hand refused to tell anything to anyone until they were at the planning room. During the whole way there, Jodie was glaring evilly at the back of Camel's head.

Akai and Conan explained their plan to the rest of the FBI agents. Everyone in the room was shocked, excluding Tsukiko of course. And being the over-observant little twerp he was, Conan naturally noticed the lack of reaction.

"Okiya-neechan, you don't seem surprised at all." He said.

"Maybe because I'm not surprised…" Tsukiko muttered back. Not low enough for no one to hear though.

"So, you are saying you knew about this?" Jodie's attention snapped on the girl. Tsukiko took a step backwards when the woman leaned towards her accompanied by evil eyes.

"Yes, I did. More or less. This was quite easily predicted after properly assessing the situation." The girl. Then one of the agents who had been in the van number one opened his mouth. It was the accursed Murray. Tsukiko glared at him.

"I'm more curious to know how you knew the organization's plan." He said. "You knew about the three following motorbikes and the reason for their retreating."

"Like I said earlier… I had a good guess. Anyone with brains and the amount of adrenaline I had could've deduced it. To win the enemy, you have to know the enemy. When you know the enemy, you can see through their moves and predict them. So, you must know them in order to defeat them."

Silence followed the statement. Tsukiko couldn't figure out why. After all that's exactly what Akai and Conan were doing all the time. It shouldn't have been that surprising really. But then, she was an unknown factor still. Finally Akai broke the silence by asking the one question (among several others) that Tsukiko didn't really feel like answering. "And who is your enemy?"

"The people who put me in this hospital." Tsukiko stated with a curt tone and hid a yawn behind her palm. "Sorry, didn't really sleep last night. I was trying to open the door of my room. Someone had locked it…"

The door closed behind the girl. A silence reigned for a while, mulling over her declaration of locked room doors and lock picking.

"Camel, where is that Eisuke-kid?" Akai asked then, breaking the silence once again and concluding the train of thoughts in the room.

"I put him to a hospital room that was right next to Mizunashi's. There wasn't much of choice." Camel stated like it was obvious. Jodie facepalmed at the answer.

"Well, we didn't inform you…" She muttered, making the man look at her in confusion.

"What do you mean?"

"Okiya-neechan sleeps there. She was in coma about as long time as Mizunashi-san." Conan chirped up. Cue a wave of facepalms from the other agents in the room.

Tsukiko sat on a chair opposite of Eisuke. The high schooler himself was sitting next to the window and gazing outside, deep in thought. The aura emitting from his told the girl that he clearly wanted to be left alone and let to think through all resent events.

"They probably want to meet you. The FBI, I mean." Tsukiko stated finally, fishing a peach from the fruit basket on the table and a napkin from a little pile of them. Where they had come from, she didn't know. Eisuke's head snapped up but settled then back on his palm, his gaze refocusing on something outside.

"Guess so…" He muttered and frowned.

"Are you even listening to me?"

"Should I?" Okay, that was out of character.

"Well, you don't need to but…" Tsukiko paused when another yawn came. The boy remained silent. She sighed. "Whatever. I'm going to get some sleep now. Please don't watch when I'm changing." The girl got up from the chair and laid the napkin with the peach a top of it on the night stand next to the bed. She took her hospital clothes and changed into them quickly. It was a talent she'd honed at junior high. Back then she used to be a bit self-conscious about her body and didn't like to be naked even in the presence of other girls. Now however… Well, quicker the deed was done, the better. Why waste time?

But in the end the warning wasn't even needed. Eisuke barely even noticed Tsukiko was there. The girl laid her bag next to the bed and climbed between the covers. Finally, she could catch some more sleep.

"Knock, knock, knock…" That sound came through the dreamless sleep and woke the girl up. She blinked blearily and yawned. Someone was at the door and that someone also opened it. The nurse who Tsukiko had seen semi-frequently.

"Morning, Okiya-san!" She smiled.

"Morning…" Tsukiko mumbled and sat up. It was sort of weird to be called with that name all the time. The name also made her think about the problems she was probably – most likely – to face later then.

"I came here to tell you that today doctor will give you a health check-up. If you are alright you can go home already today." The nurse told the girl with a polite smile. Tsukiko gasped. That wasn't good at all. Well, it was good in a sense. No need to hang out at the hospital… But in the other hand leaving was problematic too. Because… where would she go then? Somehow the girl managed to keep her poker face on though and gave a tense smile.

"Oh… That sounds great. Thank you for the information." Tsukiko grimaced internally at her hollow words and swallowed the uncomfortable bile in her mouth down. The nurse left after telling to come and get the girl for the appointment when needed. Tsukiko collapsed against the pillow with a sigh. She needed to come up with something and quickly. And that was when she noticed something missing.

"Wait a minute…" She shot up and looked around. Where was Eisuke? He should've been right there, in this room.

Tsukiko changed her clothes and left for the FBI's planning room. There were only few agents and… Eisuke.

"Morning, Okiya-chan. Did you sleep well?" Jodie asked her. The woman was like nothing has happened last night. Maybe it was because of Eisuke's presence.

"Yes, I did. Of course it won't fully make up for yesterday but… Hmh? Where is Tantei-chan?" Tsukiko looked around in the room but didn't see the fire hydrant sized detective anywhere.

"Conan-kun? He left home. Some hours after you went to sleep."

"I see." The girl gave a tense smile to the female agent. She really need to find something to change a subject then.

"Umm… Tsukiko-san?" This time it was Eisuke who spoke. Tsukiko noted that he had added '-san' ending to her name. She had expected it though. In the other hand she had not expected the next question. Or had but hadn't expected it to be him that asked it. She seriously shouldn't underestimate Eisuke. "Is something bothering you? You seem troubled."

"Ah, no. I'm alright. I just heard I might be discharged today…" The girl tried to smile, unsuccessfully. She didn't really have much of a poker face.

"But?" Eisuke prodded, much to the amusement of the scant few agents in the room. Thankfully there weren't that many to an audience.

"But what? It's a big relief. I just…" Tsukiko could practically feel how her nervousness levels were rising.

"Okiya-chan, you don't have any place to go, right?" Jodie noticed. She had suspected the matter for a while. Even though everyone's attention had been on the Organization and what they were going to do, there was little things that made the bells in Jodie's head ring in worry. How no one had even called the hospital and asked after a girl of her description. How Tsukiko almost suspiciously eagerly participated in foiling the organization, like trying to distract herself from thinking certain things. She had never mentioned where she usually lived, never really referred to her family in any way(and there had been lull in the action that had allowed for idle conversation despite mutual distrust)… She had reached out to the people she'd only just met and never tried to contact anyone outside the hospital even with the hospital phones.

"That… That is not true… I do have a place to go but… I can't…" Tsukiko's hands were shaking in her panic. It was glaringly obvious that she felt trapped in the room full of strangers.

"Okiya-san… Tsukiko-san…" Jodie reached for the girl in the verge of tears. "Let's go to outside. At the roof, wouldn't you say?" The woman steered the girl gently out of the room and to the upper floors.

Tsukiko let Jodie to take her to the roof. No one was there to look at her. No one would mock her for missing her friends K-chan and M-chan. She swiped K-chan's glasses off her face and furiously wiped the tears appearing in her eyes. She missed everyone dammit. Her family, mother, father and little brother that she jokingly called Iruka despite being actually named Lari.

"Do you want to talk about it?" Jodie spoke then. For a moment Tsukiko had forgotten the woman's presence but in the end it didn't matter.

"I… Stuff happened. I came to Tokyo without telling anyone. Got in the accident. Came here. No one has found me and all the number's I tried before meeting with you guys aren't working."

"I see…"

The silence fell.

"I don't even know whose been paying my hospital bills, dammit!" Tsukiko kicked the wall surrounding the roof in a fit of anger. She hated being so helpless.

"You don't?" Jodie blinked in surprise.

"No! I mean, I figure at first things just went on while I was a Jane Doe and they'd arrange things once getting my name but… I asked the information desk today after hearing about my final check-up coming… They just said it was all handled and had been since I came in. Some mysterious donator or something. I managed to scrounge the name after many, many minutes of needling the nurse."

"Who was it then?" It was true. Jodie had asked first when the eccentric older lady Kaikyone Sakiko had dumped the responsibility of Tsukiko on her. Back then she had also gotten the answer of the matter 'being already handled' but ultimately left it alone then.

"…Hibiki. Hibiki Boshi. And after I woke up and my name was in the system, he gave an instruction to put the money directly into covering my hospital bills." The girl was frowning now.

Listening to the girl, Jodie came to a decision. She had been mulling over it for a while but this conversation solidified it. So she opened her mouth and asked Tsukiko:

"Would you like to come and live with me?"

A/N: A little bit of warning to my readers: until I rewrite the next chapter, there is going to be a bit of discrepancy between the end of this one and the beginning of the next since I completely rewrote the roof scene. In the previous one Tsukiko ran out of the room with Eisuke and agents and Jodie followed her to the roof. And after Jodie offers place to stay, Tsukiko asks whether the woman is still suspicious of her. Cliffhanger, ta daa...

Oh, well... I'm happy about the revamp of this chapter. Got more length and depth. C ya! o/