A/N: This chapter is quite a bit shorter. But it does have Hoshi in it. I hope you like that feature. Remember that essentially Hoshi is same than Tsukiko. Only main difference is the knowledge of Detective Conan and the face she has been raised by her grandmother for the most part.
This chapter also serves as fast forwarding to the next year and eventually to Shugo's return to Tokyo.

The third file: Not quite an intermission
Sub-file five: Year before Tokyo again

April

Notes glided through the air as slim fingers trailed their path along the piano keys. Clair de Lune was the music piece presented for the residents of the house in Kyoto. The girl playing the grand piano was around middle school age, with blue grey eyes and hair in pixie cut, both features which she'd inherited from her Japanese mother. Mother which she'd last seen many years ago but who still sent her a birthday presents. It was the same situation with her father who was supposedly in Europe.

Warm gust of air blew through the open window of the room, scattering cherry blossom petals on the carpeted floor as the girl went to finish her piece. Then she gracefully lifted her hands from the keys and laid them on her lap.

Sound of clapping woke her from her thoughts that still lingered on the music. The girl looked up at the door of the room. There was a man standing there. Black hair, grey-blue eyes… Obviously a Kagemiya and maybe vaguely familiar.

"That was excellent, Hoshi-chan." The stranger said, smiling. "You are as talented as your mother."

"Thank you… May I ask who you are?" Hoshi asked a bit shyly. Usually it was just her grandmother, with whom the girl lived, that complimented her. Who was this man? And what was he doing here?

"Ah… My apologies. I'm Kagemiya Tsukasa. Your mother's brother."

Hoshi's eyes widened.

"Obaa-san has mentioned you! I've never seen any recent pictures of you though. You do resemble okaa-san, Tsukasa-jisan."

"And you resemble Tsubasa." The man nodded. "It seems Kagemiya traits are dominant on you."

"My eye shape is sort of like otou-san's though." Hoshi felt the need to point out. "And I like to be called Tsukiko."

"True enough." Tsukasa chuckled. "Now… How old are you? Today is your birthday right?"

"I'll be fourteen." It was the thirteenth of April. New school year had just started.

"Almost adult then." Tsukasa walked into the room. "What other songs do you know?"

"I know a lot. Because neither obaa-san nor Kana-sensei try to pressure me to competitions, I can learn whatever I want to. All my music sheets are there." The girl pointed at mountains of paper piled on a nearby desk and bookshelf. "They always pile up and because I sometimes search for something specific I haven't played for a while, they get messed up." She explained a bit sheepishly. Well, that corner was the only place allowed to be messy.

"I can see that." The man searched through the pile. "I've played piano myself with your mother and Tsubame-nee, but honestly I prefer guitar."

"Guitar is handy with some songs but it can't track the melody as well as piano and many other instruments." Hoshi decided, with Tsukasa nodding and then fishing one of the music sheets out of the pile.

"Ever played four-handedly?" The man asked and he straightened up and snatched a nearby

"Some songs… With Kana-sensei."

"What about this one then? You play melody and I add harmony." Tsukasa deposited the music sheet on the music stand of the piano. It was Por Una Cabeza. "It's one of my favourites."

"Oh, I love this song! It's simply so beautiful."

"Alright then. Shall we have a try then, Hoshi… I mean, Tsukiko-chan."

August

"Your uncle sent you new notes? Lucky!"Mi-chan exclaimed.

"Yes. I can't wait to try them. They even have Valse Lente by Oskar Merikanto and some Impromptu pieces from Jean Sibelius! Not to mention some Tchaikovsky!" Hoshi gushed.

"You keep in contact then?" K-chan asked.

"Yep! We exchanged numbers when we met and occasionally talk. He is really busy though so we haven't seen since."

November

Phone rang in the apartment in Osaka. It rang for a while before Yamato picked it up.

"Moshi, moshi? …Tsukasa-san? …I understand. I'll keep my eyes open. …Yes, I'll check on Hoshi-chan too. …Tsukiko? Well, that name certainly suits her."

Two weeks later the phone rang again. Yamato answered again.

"Tsubasa-san? …I see. You have my condolences. You should inform your mother soon. …And, please be careful too."

"Your uncle has stopped calling? Really?"

"Yeah… I'm worried something might've happened to him. I tried to ask obaa-san but she doesn't know anything either."

"What about your mother then?"

"I haven't heard anything from her either but in the other hand I haven't really heard anything in years from her or otou-san. I hope everything is alright. Tsukasa-jisan is really nice."

December

Hoshi was reading some manga when the doorbell rang. Her grandmother went to answer it. Then she and whomever there was, went to the sitting room. They were speaking hushed whispers. It was strange usually there was no need for whispering. If grandmother wanted privacy, she closed the door. Hoshi closed her book and laid it on her bed. She made her way quietly towards the living room.

"…know when this happened?" Kagemiya Tsubaki asked.

"Sometime in November. The office contacted me only now. They needed to investigate first and I'm in different department and prefecture anyways." A female voice answered with strangled quality in her voice, like holding back tears.

"Investigate? He was their agent! Why the delay? Why didn't they inform you sooner? Or me for that matter? Tsukasa was my son!" Grandmother raised her voice. Hoshi gasped. What had happened to Tsukasa?

"He was undercover! He failed to check in so they had to start backtracking his movements to even find his body! And locating his cellphone didn't work since it was destroyed. It was lucky that his colleague managed to eventually reach out and give enough information." The other female voice was kind of familiar though.

Granmother sighed. "Do you know if we are able to hold the funeral, Tsubasa? I'd like to have Tsukasa near Ki'ichi."

"He has already been cremated after the autopsy was concluded three weeks ago. It was for security reasons mostly." Tsubasa? Mother! Hoshi crept closer carefully and peeked into the room. Tsubaki and Tsubasa both were sitting by the low table in perfect seiza. Both had dark hair though Tsubaki had some dignified steel grey strands pinned stylishly back. Tsubasa in the other had seemed to have this defeated air around her and her low ponytail seemed to be slipping too. She still sat her back straight but not quite… Not quite as strongly as Tsubaki. Other difference was the fact that Tsubaki was wearing a kimono while Tsubasa had a business suit.

"Security?!" Grandmother asked with an incredulous note in her voice as she arched her eyebrows.

"Yes. He was undercover, it was as much for the offices security as much as for our safety that he was cremated quickly."

"I see…" At that, Hoshi backed away. It was almost Christmas. She didn't want to be sad. But to hear that her uncle was dead.

"Has Tsukasa been leaving any information here?" Tsubasa's voice made the girl freeze again.

"Nothing more than usual. Last visit was sometime in October. Hoshi-chan was in school at the time so they didn't meet. Pity really. They were getting along quite well from what I heard."

"Tsukasa wouldn't have risked Hoshi's safety… How did they keep in contact?"

"Mostly by emails. Occasional phone call."

Tsubasa sighed in relief. "Thank kami the phone was destroyed or they would've tracked her down…"

Hoshi hurried back to her room and threw herself on her bed. She didn't want to hear anymore. She didn't want to know anything else. Burying her face into her pillow, the girl began sobbing, her shoulders quivering.

March

Shugo kept his eyes trained on the computer screen showing the video feed from a hidden camera in a warehouse. The warehouse had FBI agents lying in wait and Akai Shuichi standing in the middle.

The boy leant back in the backseat of Yamato's car and tried to relax. It should be simple. The old man of the organization would come to the warehouse, Andre Camel would think him as civilian and thus blow Akai's cover. For now Shugo would just observe. And start hacking as soon as the old man was gone.

The old man dressed in black windbreaker and helped by a cane came into the warehouse and sat on one of the boxes near Akai. The undercover agent didn't react to him. A couple of minutes passed and then agent Camel stood up and warned the man off.

"Alright…" Shugo cracked his fingers and began typing. With a little antenna and a radar positioned next to the camera, the teenager managed to connect to the cellphones and the radios in the room. He filled the radios with static but sent identical emails to all of the agents' cellphones. All except Akai's. No, he had a different message.

"Run. Leave now before it's too late, Rye.
-Hibiki"

Underneath he attached an image file liberated from the camera of the Organization member that Yamato killed around two years ago. It was a picture of Shugo and Masumi hiding behind a pillar and peering at Akai and Scotch.

"PS…"

The location of Yamato's car followed the post script with the notion of being there for the next five hours.

"We better go." One of the agents spoke up in English. The video camera's microphone picked it up surprisingly well, considering the location and distance between it and the people below. The message received by all of them in the other hand was assumedly from the leader of the operation.

The agents left quickly and efficiently. Akai headed for Shugo and Yamato's location. Half an hour later the door of the passenger seat was opened and the man slipped into the car.

"You know… I wouldn't have added that photo if I hadn't deemed it needed." Shugo spoke up from the backseat as Yamato turned the key in the ignition. The boy didn't look up from the laptop screen as he continued typing.

"That was probably the only hint that told me this wasn't a trap." Akai replied dryly. "Where are we going?"

"One of my hidey-holes here in Tokyo. The day after tomorrow you and the rest of your colleagues are already packed into plane and back to the land of eagles." Yamato stated.

"I already sent a message to your operation leader that the stake-out was a bust. With the way I crafted the messages to him and to your colleagues there is no conflict between them." The teen added.

"Why the name Hibiki?" Akai asked, deciding to ignore the fact that a kid of the same age than his little sister was manipulating several FBI agents.

"To piss of the Organization. As of now, I'm currently linked into their network and liberating them of some information…"

The agent's eyes widened fractionally in astonishment. There were very few ways to break into the organization files not meant to be accessed even from inside not to mention outside. And not to mention that this was a mere kid who was doing it.

"How are you able to do that? The Night Baron virus should've attacked you in retaliation by now."

Shugo grinned. "Yeah… But I am the one who created Night Baron they fished from the internet. As it is my own creation, I can easily circumvent it without raising an alarm or being crippled. And the only trace of my visit will be on files not protected by Night Baron."

"Don't try to comprehend him. I gave up years ago." Yamato stated in boredom as they approached an intersection. "Any news about my brother's movements?"

"I was meant to meet and work with him soon." Came the terse reply.

The platinum blonde man just hummed thoughtfully. "Be glad you didn't meet him. Even slight twitch into wrong will get you on his hit list. I know he has threatened to kill his partner-slash-babysitter several times… And his attention also got Hondou Ethan killed…" Yamato muttered bitterly. He'd liked the CIA agent even if their meetings had been quite brief.

"Who?"

"No one important…"

On the backseat Shugo glanced up at his friend and guardian but refrained from saying anything. Ethan's death had been a though place for Yamato, just like Kuroto's death had been for Shugo if for a bit different reason.

April

Hoshi looked at the message on her phone in puzzlement. It had arrived months ago and every so often she'd open it and look at it. It contained a voicemail from her uncle and the message itself had come from her uncle's phone. The problem was though, the voicemail was password protected. And while the message said that Hoshi needn't to hurry in opening the message, she still desperately wanted to know what it contained. After all, it was the last message she ever got from him.

A/N: Right... Really short chapter. In the end I don't know if it made you guys more confused or what... Sorry...

Replies to Reviews:

-hellfire000:
This chapter... hopefully cleared some stuff...
I'm glad yoiu liked the part with Yukiko. She will definitely appear again. At least when Shugo is back to Tokyo. Meaning in about two chapters.

-Zeladious:
:D
Yukionna is a beautiful case, isn't it?
Ze-la-dious~!

()

I still advertise the forum I made for this fic and it's pair. Leaping into a Dream is its name.