Disclaimer: Lupin III is the sole property of Monkey Punch. Don' Stand So Close to Me is the property of Sting.
This story contains inferences of an age-inappropriate relationship. It is positively AU to anything else I have ever written. I do not, under any circumstance, advocate or condone age-inappropriate relationships. This story is pure fiction, written for my enjoyment and to challenge myself. Do not, in any way, take this to be a piece of media advocating under aged relationships or underage sex.
Don't Stand So Close to Me
What happens when a simple crush gets out of hand? What happens when a paternal relationship becomes much more than it should be? Nothing good can come of this…
::Young teacher, the subject
Of schoolgirl fantasy.
She wants him so badly,
Knows what she wants to be.::
Lealah bounded down the stairs of their French safe house. It was fairly early in the morning, much earlier than she usually woke up, but this was when Jigen usually woke up. Goemon was in Japan and Arsène was still asleep, so that meant she would be alone with Jigen for a few precious moments. Even if it was only for a few minutes, and even if they didn't say anything to each other, she loved the time alone she spent with him. Just sitting near him was enough for her.
She stopped just outside of the door of the kitchen and just looked in on him. He was reading a newspaper in his dress shirt, slacks and tie, hat positioned on his head. His black jacket was folded over the chair. Lealah vaguely wondered how he was reading the paper, considering that he didn't know French. "Need a translator?" she asked. He glanced up from over his paper so that she could see his deep brown eyes and grinned at her. She began to feel giddy.
::Inside him there's longing,
This girl's an open page.
Book marking, she's so close now.
This girl is half his age.
Don't stand, don't stand so, don't stand so close to me.
Don't stand, don't stand so, don't stand so close to me.::
"Hey," he responded. "Nah." It was summer, and her tank top and tight shorts made it hard not to notice how much skin was showing or her nice figure. What she lacked in breasts, she made up for in a very good figure. He didn't even chastise himself for thinking that way. No, he didn't beat himself up for the stray thought anymore, but everyday he wrestled with his growing attraction to the girl. He could tell that she liked him; it wasn't exactly hard to see, and he could always read her. He was extremely careful since the first time he had noticed it not to encourage it in any way, but it was becoming harder with these new feelings of his.
"I was thinking about going to the range. I need to practice a little," she told him. Her hair was pulled back too, exposing her creamy neck.
"I'll come with you," he said, standing to follow her. The range was a couple of targets set up in the stables with lines marking how far you were from them. She didn't miss a single bull's-eye on a target until she was at 75 feet. She yelled in frustration.
"Why do I keep missing?!"
"Here," Jigen said, coming up behind her. "You aren't gripping it tight enough; the kick is throwing you off a little. Bring it up a little, like this-" he stood close behind her, right up against her, wrapped his hands around hers on the gun and positioned it. "And your stance is a little weak. Stand with your left leg slightly forward."
"Like this?" she asked, her voice shaky, as she fixed it.
"Yeah." His voice was getting lower too, he noticed. He had rolled up his sleeves in the heat a while ago, and the bare skin of his arms were touching hers. "And you're right-eye dominant. Close the left one and line the right one up with the sight." She repositioned her head and now they were almost cheek to cheek. "Remember, never pull. Squeeze," he said softly in her ear. She squeezed and a hole appeared in the dead-center of the target. "You see?" he muttered. He could feel her heart pounding through her back. She turned her face towards his, and now their lips were only inches away.
"Thanks," she whispered. He stayed like that for seconds that seemed like an eternity, then it hit him hard; she was only 15 years old. He let his arms drop and he pulled away abruptly.
::Her friends are so jealous
You know how bad girls get.
Sometimes it's not so easy
To be the teacher's pet.::
"So, Lealah, do you have a boyfriend?" Danielle asked her. Danielle was Lealah's relatively close friend while they stayed at Lupin Mansion, and Lealah wanted to hang out with her today of all days. They had gone to school together back when Lealah was very small. Now Danielle thought Lealah was home schooled.
"Of course not!" Lealah cried, her face turning red. Not exactly… not really…no.
"Then why haven't you been hanging out with me?" Danielle demanded. "You're always at home, you never return my calls, you're always blowing me off. If you had a boyfriend, I'd understand, but you don't." Come to think of it, Lealah had been shirking her friend lately. But, Lupin and Goemon had been off lately, so she'd been having a lot of time with Jigen, and she never turned down alone time with Jigen. It never even occurred to her that she could be hurting her friend.
"I'm sorry. It's just that my brother worries about me when I'm away, and-"
"He knows me! And I've seen you around that tall man! The one that always wears the hat," the other girl accused. Lealah blushed slightly. "Do you like him?"
"W-why would you ask such a thing?" Lealah asked. "Of course not, no."
"Then all I can see is that you don't want to be my friend anymore. Goodbye." Danielle turned on her heels and began to stomp away.
"Danielle… Please, don't go…"
"Leave me alone!"
::Temptation, frustration,
So bad it makes him cry.
Wet bus stop, she's waiting,
His car is warm and dry.
Don't stand, don't stand so, don't stand so close to me.
Don't stand, don't stand so, don't stand so close to me.::
Jigen sat on his bed, head in his hands. This couldn't happen. It wasn't right. She was too young, way, way too young, and she was Lupin's kid sister. But he wanted her so, so badly, and she wanted him too, he knew it. They were both consenting, so why did it have to be so difficult? Because she's too young to know what she wants. Three years, just three years and she'd be legal, even in America. Three years isn't so long. What was in those three years that made her qualified to make decisions like that? A young teenager grows a lot in three years. But she's already so mature… Yeah, right. She watches cartoons and plays video games. He growled out of frustration and anger. This was unbearable. If it got worse, he'd have to take a hiatus. That would be a fun conversation. Yeah, I just need a break. Oh, that and I keep wanting to kiss your sister; you know, the usual. He heard the front door slam, a bedroom door slam, and crying noises start in the next room over. Definitely not Fujiko. Crap. He knew he shouldn't go in there, but her desperate weeping was tugging at his heartstrings…Hey, I thought those froze over a few years ago. Crap. Now he was getting up. His brain didn't have control of his legs. He found Lealah in her room crying. Crying wasn't the word. Bawling. "Lealah, what's wrong?" he asked, horrified.
"D-d-do you know the d-date?" she asked through sobs.
"Uh, yeah, it's, um…August 16th," he said, puzzled by her question.
"It-it-it's my 16th birthday!" she managed to gasp.
"Oh, wow! Happy birthday!" Two years. Dammit.
"I've been having the worst day ever!" she cried. "I had a big fight with my only friend, and I don't think we're friends anymore, and Arsène didn't even remember! My own brother didn't even remember my birthday…" The 16th birthday was an important one for American's, he remembered. It signified the first time they could drive legally. It was like a rite of passage.
"Oh, come on, he didn't forget. He's probably out getting you a present or something," he told her, sitting on the edge of her bed. She looked up at him. Her eyes were glassy with tears and her lashes were sticking together. Her face was splotchy, her lips red and widened and her nose was bright red. Not in the least bit attractive. Somehow, in her obvious vulnerability, he was even more draw to her, despite her less than pretty appearance and demeanor. No, damn, no, damn, no-
"No! He's out on a d-d-date with…Fujiko!" The name of the older girl burst out of her like she was trying to shove it out. "He left this morning, and he told me that's where he was going! I don't care about a party, or presents, I just wish my brother cared…" With that, she put her face in her arms and started to sob again. Finally, whatever in his mind that was holding him back just wasn't strong enough to overpower his instinctual urge. No, don't put your arms around her, don't get close to her, no, bad, bad, bad, no, don't do it, no, no, bad, bad, dammit- He wrapped his arms around her and pulled her close to him. She unfurled herself from her fetal position and allowed herself to be embraced.
"Shh…" he said. "It's ok…shh…" She cried herself out literally on his shoulder. Neither of them stopped to think what a precarious position it was. After a while, even the sniffles had died down and she was quiet, but still hugging him. Not, he could feel her wiry frame against his quite clearly, the wet places her tears had left through his shirt, her little body trembling against his. "Are you ok now?" he asked lowly.
"Yeah. I'm sorry," she responded, slightly muffled by his chest.
"For what? You don't have anything to apologize for," he told her. He was still holding her too. She looked up at him. Her eyes still shone, but her nose wasn't quite as red anymore, and her eyelashes weren't stuck together. Her face was still slightly splotchy, but now her lips looked red, but not so clownishly big. Full and soft and moist, in fact…
When she looked up she could see into his eyes, which was a rarity all in it's own right, but in his eyes she saw compassion for her troubles, something she was almost never given and never really expected to see in his eyes. She wondered why she never expected to see it though; his eyes weren't mean or hardened like you would expect of an ex-hitman; they were soft and sad, almost as though he really didn't care to see all he had of the world. Their faces began to gravitate together, almost like they were drawn to each other. Their lips were so close now, and then…
::Loose talk in the classroom.
To hurt they try and try.
Strong words in the staffroom.
The accusations fly.
It's no use, he sees her.
He starts to shake and cough,
Just like the old man in
That book by Nabakov.
Don't stand, don't stand so, don't stand so close to me.
Don't stand, don't stand so, don't stand so close to me.::
Days later, things were not going well in the Lupin mansion. Jigen was anxious about getting caught with Lealah, Lealah was trying to adjust to her continually complicating relationship with the gunman, Goemon still wasn't back, and Lupin was beginning to get suspicious. Even Zenigata was beginning to see it. During a heist the previous day, he had yelled that Lupin should "keep an eye on his cradle-robbing best friend," just to rattle the thief. Granted, each one of they had a tendency to gravitate toward younger women that they had known in their pasts, but there was something in the cop's voice that had insinuated more. Lupin had given Jigen a very strange look when Zenigata had said that, and then his eyes had cut to his sister. From that moment on, Jigen knew that Lupin was suspicious. Suspicious of what exactly, though? That he and Lealah had feelings for each other, that they had made these feelings known to each other? He couldn't possibly know. They had been careful. And it had only been a few days. Jigen paced the streets trying to come up with an answer. How had Zenigata known? Was it really that obvious? If it was, why hadn't Lupin already guessed it? Still wondering, still thinking, Jigen entered the French mansion. Lupin was sitting in a chair waiting for him. Saying nothing, the thief stood, stormed over to the gunman and without missing a beat, slugged him hard across the face. Jigen was caught by surprised, still in his reverie, and had no time to react to protect himself. He caught the full force of the blow and pain erupted in his head and lip as his head snapped back. He staggered back a few steps and finally caught himself.
"What the hell is going on with you and my sister?" Lupin asked dangerously. Jigen gazed up at him murderously.
"You son of a bitch, what the hell are you talking about?!" Jigen yelled, wiping the blood from his split lip. Without a word, Lupin threw a few enlarged photos on the ground at Jigen's feet. The first one was of him and Lealah embracing in her bedroom those few days before. The second was them at the shooting range. He was standing almost obscenely close to her. The third was the two of them, just yesterday, at a restaurant together. Lupin had been gone, so Jigen had treated her to dinner. They were both laughing in the photograph. There was a fourth under that one that he couldn't see. "You abandoned her on her 16th birthday, I was trying to make her feel better. She was having trouble hitting a few targets and I was helping her. And last night, you left, so yeah, I took her to dinner. We had to eat somehow!" Just then, he heard something scamper down the stairs. Lealah.
"Arsène! What are you doing?!" she yelled. Jigen froze in body and mind. She looked beautiful. She was in her normal clothes, the ones she tried so hard to emulate her brother with, but her expression was fiery in his defense and worried for the both of them at the same time. He began to tremble. It was over. Somehow, he knew it in his bones. There was no way they could convince Lupin that there was nothing between them. So, under Lupin's watchful, critical gaze, he broke down.
"What's going on between you and him?!" Lupin asked.
"What are you implying?!" Lealah yelled back.
"That you and him are somehow romantically involved," Lupin growled lowly.
"That's stupid!" Lealah yelled. But her face had turned deathly pale.
"Is it?" Lupin kicked at the pictures at Jigen's feet. Lealah blinked blankly.
"That doesn't prove anything!" she insisted.
::Please don't stand so close to me.
Please don't stand so close to me.
Please don't stand so close to me.
Please don't stand so close to me.::
"It's true," Jigen said quietly, avoiding either of their gazes. This wasn't right. It had to end, and it wouldn't unless he was forcibly removed from her presence.
"Jigen!" she cried. This couldn't be happening. It was just a stupid crush! How did if end up like this?
"I don't know if I love her, but I want her," he said, simply, bluntly. Murder in his eyes, he punched Jigen across the face again very hard. This time, he was sent to the ground.
"Arsène, stop it!" Lealah screamed. Lupin stood over Jigen's stunned body.
"The only thing that's stopping me from killing you right now is your years of telling me the truth about this and what used to be our friendship. Get out of my sight and never come back, or I will kill you. Never come near Lealah again, or I will kill you. The partnership is over!" he yelled. Jigen got up, not even looking at Lealah.
"Arsène!" she screamed. Her turned to her.
"You're going back to America. For good. I will never contact you again. If you ever use the Lupin name again, I will steal all of the money out of your account that our Grandfather built for you and you will be left with nothing."
"Arsène, no!" she yelled. "I can't go back there! I'm a Lupin!"
"You should have thought of that before!" he screamed. Then he set his sights on Jigen. "Now, you. Leave!"
"Lupin… I'm sorry."
"GET OUT!" Lupin roared. Jigen left without another word to either of them, and without looking at Lealah. "I'll give you 30 minutes to get your stuff together, then, you're gone," he told her, then he stormed out of the room. Lealah dropped into a chair with her head in her hands.
Where could she go from here?