A/N: Sorry this chapter is being posted late. Not much to say except that there's gonna be a bit of a break between Omsk and the next bit of rising action...but that doesn't mean anyone's standing idle. Still, expect fewer explosions in this chapter and the next. Also, I needed a character in America for Eisuke's section...but don't worry; I'm still not planning on letting any OC's become main characters.

The warnings for the chapter are light, but spoilery, so they're at the end.

Chapter 14

Ayumi shrieked with joy as she slid down the slide, Mitsuhiko following close behind. Genta, still standing at the bottom, just managed to get out of their way before the two bowled him over.

Good thing, too, Shinichi reflected, peering at the three over his copy of The Adventures of Sherlock Holmes. Last time Genta had fallen over on the playground, he'd gotten a splinter, cried a little, and then whined about the resulting microscopic wound for a week after Professor Agasa got it out.

Normally, they would've dragged him into their game, but he had made it clear that he needed a few minutes to himself before he was ready to run around today. It was hard to admit it, but the fact that he'd been more-or-less responsible for Hakuba slipping away from their search was still getting under his skin.

Now that school had started again, they couldn't meet as often. He and KID were the only ones physically present, for that matter—both Heiji and Eisuke had to be "present" via technology now. And if they'd just gotten Hakuba back then, instead of Shinichi messing everything up, none of this would be a problem.

"I'm guessing it's not Holmes's case that has you stumped," Ai said, jarring Shinichi from his thoughts as she sat down next to him.

Reluctant, Shinichi shook his head. I guess we had to have this conversation eventually.

"It's the case Hattori and I have been working on," Shinichi said.

"Still?" she asked. "It's been more than a month." She narrowed her eyes. "Does it have to do with Them?"

Shinichi took a breath. "Not how you think." He held up a hand before Ai could start scolding him. "We aren't investigating Them. I would have said something," he added, not quite honestly. Well, I would have, eventually. When she forced it out of me.

"Then what is it?" she hissed, grabbing his wrist.

Shinichi pulled his hand away from her. "Someone else is, and we're trying to find him and stop him, before he messes up and brings down the wrong kind of attention."

Ai let her hand drop, blinking at him in surprise. "Well, that's a first. I didn't know you were capable of caution without me threatening you into it."

"For this, I can be," Shinichi said, grim-faced. "It's Hakuba Saguru, the teenage detective who went missing a while ago."

Ai frowned. "He's on the KID Task Force."

Shinichi grinned, wide, thin, and joyless. "His adoptive father is Superintendent-General Hakuba, of the Tokyo Police. If They find him, and decide to go after everyone he knows…"

Ai cursed, flinching back and fisting a hand in the hem of her shirt.

Shinichi grabbed her other hand. "We're going to find him."

"It's taken you long enough!" Ai said, voice nearly rising above a whisper. "Normally, serial killers take you and Hattori-san two days at the outside."

"He's smart," Shinichi admitted. "But we're doing everything we can. Trapping him is the hard part—we've got a method of tracking him and we're hoping it keeps working."

"And if he does get in trouble with Them?" Ai demanded, pulling her hand away from his. "What then?"

"I'll be in danger, but you won't be," Shinichi said. "He's never so much as met you. But he knows about me, and I have no idea how. That's another reason we have to find him."

"Knows—knows you're Kudou?" Ai demanded. "You need to be more careful!"

"Not sure how that would've helped," Shinichi said. "He saw me shrink, and I don't know when—but other than that first time, I've been careful to do it someplace private, or at least someplace deserted."

"And you don't know which time?" Ai asked. She made a soft humming noise. "Then again, I suppose you wouldn't. You don't remember the changes very well either, do you?"

Shinichi shook his head.

Ai grimaced. "This conversation is too private for us to have here. We're going back to the professor's."

"But—the kids—" Shinichi started, as Ai grabbed his wrist again and started dragging him in the direction of Agasa's house.

"I'll tell them it was your idea to ditch them," Ai said with a smirk in her voice.

About a half-hour later, settled into Agasa's lab, Ai leaned forward. "So, the superintendent-general's missing son is going after the Black Organization, and he knows you're Kudou."

Shinichi could only nod miserably.

"And you felt no need to tell me about any of this?" Ai asked, arching an eyebrow.

"I thought we'd track him down faster!" Shinichi said.

"Well, you didn't!" Ai said, scowling. "And if he gets caught, no matter what he does or doesn't know about me, I'm in danger from association with you!"

"Well excuse me!" Shinichi snapped. Then, he took a deep breath. "No, no, you're right. But—I didn't even know he knew who I was until a little while ago. And we still know next to nothing about him."

Ai gave him an odd look. "You've described him to me before, in some detail," she said. "Blond, half-Japanese, fond of Sherlock Holmes cosplay, proud owner of a hawk named Watson, obsessed with KID…really, I'm surprised the two of you didn't strike up a friendship."

Shinichi managed a tired laugh. "The hawk and the KID obsession are accurate," he said. "We don't know about the rest of it. Hakuba's complicated."

Ai narrowed her eyes.

Conan slumped. "I don't know if anyone mentioned it to you, but he's adopted, and you know about as much as the superintendent-general does about his birth parents."

"I don't know anything about his—" Ai broke off. "Oh."

Conan managed a thin, sharp grin. "Exactly. Hakuba knows all sorts of things the KID Task Force didn't teach him, he actually slipped us when we nearly had him cornered, and it all has something to do with his past, I'm sure of it. Like I said, we're going to find him." He took a breath. "But there are ways you could help."

Ai nodded, a little hesitantly.

"One of the people I'm working with told me something, and if you could verify it, it might help some of Hakuba's motivations make a little more sense," he said. Well, that, and it will help me know for certain whether KID is being honest. I want to trust him, but…I know he's willing to lie too, and that freaks me out.

"What exactly do you think I can verify?" Ai asked.

"It's about Them," Shinichi said.

Ai frowned, tight-lipped. "I'll try," she said, softly.

"Remember that island with the mermaid legend?" Shinichi said. "You said They sent you there to study those legends. Did…did they do things like that a lot?"

Ai cocked her head to one side, the tension in her posture melting off. "Like what?"

"Looking into legends and things," Shinichi pressed. "Taking them seriously."

Ai worried her lower lip in thought. "Yes. We were instructed to treat myths and 'legendary objects' as though they might hold some sort of undiscovered compound or unknown information."

Shinichi tried not to look skeptical. From Ai's laugh, he didn't succeed.

"Think about it this way, Rational-Detective-san," Ai said. "Many types of medicine were derived from folk remedies. And those folk remedies…well, at some point, someone had to eat a plant or berry or piece of bark while they were ill or in pain, and then notice that it helped. Some peoples certainly did decide those plants were magic in some way. It's only through modern science that we're able to understand how they work."

"So, you're saying that we just might not understand how the things described in those legends They were interested in work?" Shinichi asked.

"The fact that we don't understand it yet doesn't mean it's false or impossible," Ai said blandly. "So, yes, I was asked to look into things you might find ridiculous."

"Ever hear anything about jewels?" Shinichi asked.

Ai narrowed her eyes. "No. Does this have to do with KID?"

Shinichi held up his hands quickly. "O-of course not!"

Ai sighed. "Don't drag him into this. You're in enough trouble already. Did you have any other questions?"

Shinichi paused, not sure how to approach the topic.

Ai narrowed her eyes. "Kudou…" she said warningly.

"There's a chance…given some of the things we know about Hakuba, that he might be like you," Shinichi said.

"Like me," Ai repeated carefully.

"A child who was raised as one of Them and escaped when they were older," Shinichi said.

"He's been on television," Ai said, dismissive.

Shinichi weighed his words carefully, then took a risk. "So has Vermouth."

"You think he's changed his appearance."

"We know he has."

Ai's eyes were dark. "If he's going after Them, and he really is like me, he knows well enough what They're like to know that he probably won't come back. So either he's taken measures to keep the people he left behind safe, or he doesn't care if they die. In either case, it might not be worth going after him."

Shinichi frowned. "I'm sorry, but I can't think like that. I have to at least try to help him. And...even if he doesn't care if they die, we have to."

"You get idealistic at the most inconvenient times, Kudou-kun," Ai said, frowning right back. "Don't forget, if Hakuba does bring down their wrath on the Tokyo police, your neck will be the first one on the line. All of the officers know at this point—if that Edogawa child points something out, it's important. How long would it take Their infiltrators to connect that to Kudou Shinichi and the apotoxin, do you think?"

She grinned humorlessly, eyebrows rising into her bangs. "You should figure that out, Meitantei, because that's how long you'll have to run before they kill us both and everyone you care about with us."

Shinichi swallowed. She's terrified, and she's partly right, but you can't let her make you irrational, he told himself.

"If we find him, first, none of that happens," he said firmly. "But, what I needed to ask you—did you know any of the other children there?"

To his dismay, Ai shook her head. "They kept us isolated," she said quietly. "I spent time with a few other children, but they all became researchers, and the ones who weren't killed weren't good at anything but research. I can't imagine them figuring out how to escape, much less a way to disguise their appearances or how to be a murder detective."

"Are you certain?" Shinichi pressed.

Ai glared at him, and then he processed her words fully—the ones who weren't killed.

"I'm sorry," he said, weakly.

"I hope your theory is wrong," Ai replied, not meeting his eyes. "There are other reasons to go after Them."

Shinichi could have brought up the evidence he had for Hakuba being a former member of the Black Org. But he couldn't bring himself to say any of it aloud. Ai was absolutely right—it would be better for everyone if he was wrong, this time.

Maybe I could make a streak of it, after Omsk, he thought, with a twist of dark humor.

:::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::

Eisuke rubbed sleepily at his eyes and then scratched out the answer to yet another math problem.

"Still not done?" a voice that had become familiar over the last two weeks asked.

Eisuke grinned at his new neighbor, a Japanese-American twentysomething named Kiyoshi Rogers. He was currently at her kitchen table, since she'd started inviting him over for dinner a few nights a week since she moved in. Of course, the first time, it had been because he'd actually managed to cut his head open on her doorframe by tripping over her doormat, and, she'd offered dinner by way of apology. He'd been a little too lonely and hungry to refuse more than once, and somehow, he'd ended up spending most of his afternoons at her place.

Okay, he knew how. Her eyes were dark, not pale blue, and she wore her hair in loose braids instead of a tight ponytail, but there was an air about her that made him think of Hidemi.

"Almost," Eisuke replied. "Just a few more problems."

"Good," Kiyoshi replied. "The hamburger steaks are almost done, and the rice is on 'warm' already. And you'd better not insist on working until the food gets cold—all this Japanese food is for you, you know. If I buy hamburger, I just make hamburgers out of it." She made a huffing noise. "But I had a friend who really liked making this stuff, so I do know how, at least."

Okay, so she was a little more…opinionated than Hidemi, at least compared to the last time Eisuke had talked to her. Then again, Hidemi had been infiltrating a group of murderers and thieves who trained children; she could be even more opinionated than Kiyoshi now. Eisuke had no way of knowing how she'd change by the time she got out. Assuming she did.

Kiyoshi wasn't back in the kitchen. Instead, she was still standing over the table, her gaze focused on Eisuke.

"Must be some math problem," she drawled.

Eisuke forced a laugh. "Yeah, yeah it is," he agreed. It's not as if I could tell her, he told himself. And it's not like she'll notice that I'm not being honest.

If there was one thing that growing up at Okudaira Mansion had taught him to do, it was to pretend everything was fine. His mother's employers had been sympathetic when he'd been diagnosed with leukemia, and they'd given his mother leave when necessary to take him to appointments…but they'd expected his illness to have a minimal impact on their lives. And that meant that Eisuke's mother couldn't go around the house looking worried or sad, and Eisuke couldn't be grumpy or sulky at them because he didn't feel well. In a way, it had been good training for going to Tokyo to find Hidemi.

"That's a bad habit to get into," Kiyoshi said.

"What is?" Eisuke asked, honestly confused.

"Smiling every time someone asks you what's wrong," Kiyoshi said, crossing her arms over her chest. "There are times you really have to do it, but if you just default to doing it 100% of the time, you can screw yourself up pretty well."

"Eh?" Eisuke asked. Sometimes Kiyoshi's English got a bit too fast and slang-filled for him.

"It isn't good to pretend you don't have feelings, Eisuke-kun," Kiyoshi said, her Japanese slow and painstaking—she said she'd learned some from a grandmother and the rest in university some years ago. "If you're always smiling or always acting angry, it's the same…you aren't having the real feelings you want to have. You aren't showing that part of yourself. So you can end up feeling like you're always hiding yourself. That's a really lonely way to live. Do you understand?"

Eisuke nodded.

"I've seen people do that," Kiyoshi said briskly, switching back to English. "It didn't end well for them. There are certain jobs where you have to do that, at least some of the time…but you're a student. There's no good reason for you to be hiding your feelings 24/7." She glared, and poked Eisuke in the chest. "So don't."

Eisuke shrank back on instinct.

"The steaks are going to burn, now, because you were making poor life choices," Kiyoshi said, turning and heading back for the kitchen.

"Uh, sorry?" Eisuke said uncertainly. It's not my fault you decided to scold me!

The sound of oil hissing and smoking filled the air for a few seconds, a plate clattered on the counter, and then Kiyoshi stomped back into the room.

"Right after the lecture about being honest," Kiyoshi said. "I'm disappointed, Eisuke."

"It's not that easy to just stop doing—" Eisuke started.

"When you're used to it," Kiyoshi said, a vicious twist to her emphasis. "Like I said, it's a bad habit. So you have to be deliberate about dropping it. Stop yourself before you show people a fake smile every time. Take time to think about it if you have to."

"Look, there are differences between America and Japan," Eisuke said.

"Don't you even," Kiyoshi said. "You aren't supposed to talk about personal matters in professional places, yeah, more so than in America, but that's not the same as not showing feelings ever. Are you trying to convince me your country is crazy?"

She asked for it, Eisuke thought grumpily. "I'm already convinced yours is, so why not?"

"Now, that's it!" Kiyoshi said, beaming at him. "Put away your homework and keep that attitude, I'm getting the food."

Eisuke sighed and gathered his papers up, then carried them over to his schoolbag, which was still leaning against the wall beside his shoes. When he came to the table, two plates of hamburger steak, rice and steamed vegetables were sitting on it, slightly blurred by the steam slowly rising from them. Kiyoshi's place was set with a knife and fork, but she'd apparently gotten Eisuke a pair of disposable chopsticks from the local Chinese restaurant again. Eisuke was beginning to suspect that she snuck out five or six pairs every time she got takeout in order to have utensils for him, but…he wasn't really a detective down to the bone the same way Kudou and Hattori were; he could look the other way when it came to something as small as this.

Eisuke sat down and immediately clapped his hands together, "Ittadakimasu." He looked up at Kiyoshi. "Thanks for making this," he added.

"Try to work on the 'smiling when you don't mean it' thing and we'll call it even," Kiyoshi said, blowing on a forkful of rice.

"You really aren't letting go of that," Eisuke said.

Kiyoshi's smile turned nostalgic. "Like I said, I knew some people who it messed up pretty badly." She sighed, took another bite of rice, and smiled at Eisuke. "You're a good kid, and you have a lot to deal with already, living on your own in a new country. You don't need to deal with something like that."

"I told you, I'm used to living on my own," Eisuke said, before taking a bite of his vegetables. "And it's normal for someone my age back home."

"Yeah, yeah, I know, but you're just barely old enough to have your own apartment here, you're still in school, and I know the superintendent must've asked questions," Kiyoshi wrinkled her nose. "He's nosy."

"I might have implied my sister was probably going to come live with me eventually," Eisuke said, sighing.

"You do at least have a sister, right?" Kiyoshi said, cautiously.

I do, I know I do, it's only been a few weeks since Shinichi said she was all right, "Yeah," Eisuke said. As per Kiyoshi's demands, he didn't try to be cheerful about it.

"Is your relationship bad or something?" Kiyoshi probed.

"No, she's just got…a really, really bad job," Eisuke said, at length. "She can't quit, and I can't call her, and it kind of sucks."

"How old is she?" Kiyoshi asked. By her expression, she already knew the answer.

"A little younger than you," Eisuke said. "You look a little like her, too."

"I thought it was a little odd that you put up with me so easily," Kiyoshi said, smiling a bit. "I guess it makes sense, if you're used to having a big sister around."

"I put up with you for your cooking and because you speak Japanese," Eisuke teased.

Kiyoshi shrugged. "Whatever. It's nice having someone to talk to. And it's probably good for my Japanese to get some practice. Speaking of that…are you still working on that oh-so-secret project with your friends on the other side of the globe?"

Eisuke sighed. He'd had to at least explain a little bit of why he ended up yawning so much in the late afternoon, although he'd left out pretty much every detail except that it was important, big, and everyone else involved was in Japan so he could only meet with them in the early mornings.

"Yeah," he answered. "We aren't much farther along than we were last time I came over, but we're still working."

"Don't know what's so important that it's got you waking up at the crack of dawn every day, but it had better be worth it," Kiyoshi replied.

Hakuba called it pointless for us to try to find him…but I can tell KID's worried, Eisuke thought. And Hakuba's got an adopted family and friends, and they must miss him, too…

"It's important," Eisuke said firmly. "So, how's work?"

"Well, the temp agency finally sent me my first check," Kiyoshi said. "The job itself is still just a lot of sorting and filing. Nothing fun, but I can deal with it."

"It's not what you went to school for, though, is it?" Eisuke asked.

"Nah, but I wasn't expecting to find work in my field around here," Kiyoshi said. "It's not exactly full of jobs."

"Then why'd you go into it?" Eisuke asked, half-fishing for career advice.

"Oh, you know, sometimes you just sorta…fall into something, and then it fits," Kiyoshi's grin was a little crooked. "It was like that for me. Never had much of a choice, really."

Was that what it was like for Hidemi-nee with the CIA? Eisuke wondered. Did she follow Dad into it and then just end up liking it? Or does she even like it? Did she ever get a chance to choose, or did Dad just sort of drag her in? No, no he wouldn't—

"Your sister again?" Kiyoshi asked.

"Yeah," Eisuke said weakly. "Sorry, I worry about her."

"With how you say that place she works at is, I don't blame you," Kiyoshi said. "I guess she must worry your family, too, huh?"

Eisuke blinked. "Huh?" I mean, my family is—she can't think I'm living on my own, here, while they were still—unless she means extended family, but I never even met Dad's side and now I guess I know why, and Mom's side never approved of the marriage or of Mom working as a servant—

"Your family, Eisuke," Kiyoshi repeated, in a tone caught between exasperation and gentleness. "I mean, I kind of figured that your mom and dad weren't around, you've even mentioned your mom in the past tense, but I thought you at least had some relatives or—" she broke off. "Eisuke? Kid, are you okay?"

Eisuke, himself, was sort of stuck on the fact that this was the first time that someone had said it out loud since he'd found out. His mother and father were dead, both of them. That's, um, how…I don't really know how to feel about that…

"You know you can talk to me, right?" Kiyoshi asked, startling Eisuke, because she wasn't in her chair anymore—when the heck had she come over to the other side of the table and sat down next to him, he hadn't even noticed…

"It's—I don't want to talk about it!" he snapped, eyes flying down to his lap, where his hands sat, fisted and white-knuckled.

"Are you sure?" Kiyoshi asked gently.

"I—" S***, I am not crying about this in front of someone else again, d*** it, he thought, but his eyes were warm and wet and his vision was already starting to blur. "S***."

"How many times do we need to have the 'you can have emotions' discussion?" Kiyoshi asked, a note of humor to her voice.

"Not the time," Eisuke managed, voice thick.

"Okay, then, what can I do?" Kiyoshi said. "Do you need some time to yourself?"

I need some time to calm down, Eisuke thought. Just a few minutes. Everything will be fine. Just a few minutes, and then I can pretend like nothing happened at all.

…Why does the thought of doing that make it harder to stay calm, instead of easier? He took a breath. Maybe talking about it would help? And…as long as I don't mention the CIA, I shouldn't get her into trouble, so it'll be okay? Right? Right.

I can do this.

"Um, the thing is, my dad passing away, that was kind of, um, recent," Eisuke took a breath, because saying the words still stung. "I guess it…hadn't sunk in, so much?"

"Oh, Eisuke," Kiyoshi said softly. "I know it doesn't help much to hear things like this, but I am so sorry for your loss."

"Thank you," Eisuke said quietly. "Mom's been gone for a while, but Dad...it really hasn't been long, and I didn't find out in the best way. It hasn't been as easy as it could have been."

"And you haven't had anyone around to talk to," Kiyoshi said. "Mourning alone can be really difficult."

"Yeah, I guess it can be," Eisuke said.

"Would it help you to talk about him?" Kiyoshi asked.

"Maybe?" Eisuke said. "I don't know how much I really know about him. After he passed away, I found out some stuff and—" No mentioning the CIA, remember.

"That's kinda the way it goes, sometimes," Kiyoshi said, not quite lightly. "You wouldn't believe some of the things I found out about my dad after he passed."

Oh.

"Then, you—" Eisuke started, looking up in surprise.

"I was younger than you," Kiyoshi said quietly. "It happens. But I know what it was like for me. In that it sucked and I wish it hadn't happened to you. So, want to talk about what you do know about your dad?"

"Sure," Eisuke said softly. "But the food is probably cold, and I'm not even sure I'm hungry anymore…"

"Don't worry about the food, honestly," Kiyoshi said, waving away his concerns. "Just talk. So, what's your best memory of him?"

Eisuke took a deep breath, scrubbed at welling eyes, and started describing the restaurant in Osaka his father liked to take him to when he was little.

A/N: Warnings for vague implications of the kind of child endangerment and abuse that a childhood like Ai's would probably have involved; also, for discussion of crappy coping mechanisms, grief and mourning.

Thank you so much for reading. I love your comments and appreciate any you guys leave.