Goemon's Story
Eight years ago.
Goemon was in Edogawa, Japan, looking for his next meal. He didn't have much money on him, and he took his food very seriously. He was looking for a cheap food cart as he walked down the street. His attention was not on where he was going, and so due to his lack of attention, he almost walked right over the woman standing in front of him. Goemon was sure she was an adult, he hadn't seen a teenager dressed in a summer suit consisting of a spotless, pinstripe, dark gray skirt, and jacket, with a white button up shirt, and a ribbon, tied as a tie, around her neck. Her hair was cut sharp and short, a bob, she would tell him later, and blue black as only Asian influence could be. She was Chinese, and had put red lipstick on her full, kissable, lips.
"Mister Ishikawa, Goemon?" said the young woman with a bright smile, that made Goemon blush slightly. "I'm Jin Hua. I am an agent for Acquisitions for the Aquapolis Museum. My employer would like to purchase from you, a sword by the name of; Zantetsuken?" Jin Hua said slowly, sounding out both Goemon's name and the sword's name. She was reading from a folder full of papers.
"Zantetsuken is not for sale." Goemon said after a moment to process what had just happened.
"I am authorized to offer you one million euros for the sword." Jin Hua offered immediately, she had come with the expectation to haggle over the sword.
"No. It is not for sale." Goemon said again, and sidestepped Jin Hua to continue his search for food.
"Two million?" Jin Hua said, her heels tapping lightly as she hurried after him. "The sword would be on display inside a bomb proof case. Hermetically sealed from anything that could ruin it, even rust!" she added in a rush, before walking into Goemon's back as he stopped dead in his tracks and glared down at her.
"My Almighty sword is not made to sit in a case and be gawked at. It is made to be used and broken when it finally meets an object greater than itself." Goemon said tersely.
"Three million euros." Jin Hua said, looking up at Goemon hopefully. "And I'll see if I can't get you in to put on a proper display of swordsmanship before the sword is put on display. A real samurai is hard to find nowadays." Jin Hua said, tilting her head slightly and smiling at Goemon, in a way that immediately made him think of doing things that weren't honourable, but very satisfying.
"Yet you managed to find me." Goemon said, fighting back another blush. "How did you manage that?" he asked suspiciously. Jin Hua looked surprised, her red lips made a little o that tested Goemon's control over his ability to keep from doing things in public, that belonged behind bedroom doors.
"I was supplied a photograph, of you and your sword. Also, I was given a general location on you. When my employer wants something, he gets it. Three point five million euros." Jin Hua said firmly.
"No, and persistence will not lead me to sell Zantetsuken." Goemon said, just as firmly, turning away from Jin Hua so that her adorable pout wouldn't weaken his resolve. Goemon started his hunt for food again, aware that Jin Hua was following him, glaring adorably at his back, he would catch her reflection in the large windows now and again.
Goemon's hunger was beginning to outweigh his frugal nature. He stopped outside a restaurant, he could smell the mouthwatering scent of miso soup and fried meat dumplings. With a dejected sigh, he continued on. It took him a few moments to realize that Jin Hua was no longer behind him, he relaxed a little, and kept walking, his steps a little lighter. Then the scent of dumplings reached him again, even though he was no longer near any restaurants. Goemon turned swiftly, there was Jin Hua, behind him, and holding a large take away box, full of fried mochi, and she was nibbling on one experimentally. She looked him in the eye, and smiled sweetly.
"Hungry, Samurai-domo?" Jin Hua said cheekily, and held out a mochi dumpling. "These are delicious." she sang sweetly, Goemon could swear he saw horns and fangs on the little she-oni, no matter her sweet smile and innocent eyes. Goemon held out for all of a minute, until Jin Hua began to withdraw her hand holding the mochi. Goemon's hand moved like a striking snake, snatching the small snack, before Jin Hua's hand had moved two inches.
"This does not mean I am willing to sell my sword." Goemon said, before he ate the snack.
"Of course not. Want another?" Jin Hua said with a chuckle, and offered the box of treats to Goemon, he didn't know how it happened, but he manage to eat two dozen mochi cakes to himself. He also managed to become a little infatuated with Jin Hua. She was sweet, charming, beautiful, now that he knew for certain she was above legal age, and hilariously blunt when she was in a mood to be so. She had followed him for most of the afternoon, and was pouting now that he said he had to go off on his own.
"But Goemon-sama. I need to purchase that sword! You can't go yet." Jin Hua protested, her lower lip protruding in a pout that threatened Goemon's resolve yet again. He wanted to suck Jin Hua's lower lip, and kiss her mouth, until she begged him to take her to his bed. Goemon shook his head and fought the blush creeping up the back of his neck. Jin Hua had already caught him turning red several times that afternoon, and seemed to have realized what the cause was.
"I must. I have to train, and meet up with my friends soon. They will be expecting me." Goemon said, nodding to Jin Hua and turning to walk away. Jin Hua looked panicked for a moment, looking around for something to spark an idea. Then she had it.
"At least have dinner with me at my hotel? All you can eat in the restaurant there." Jin Hua said hopefully and was pleased to see Goemon stop walking.
"Very well. But after that, I must leave." Goemon said, to Jin Hua's pleased smile. He was a sucker for a pretty girl.
"Wonderful. Meet me at the Imperial, at eight. Don't be late!" Jin Hua said, impulsively kissing Goemon's cheek, before running off down the street. Goemon was surprised and touched his cheek.
Present time.
"Oh my god, Goemon! You are such a dorkus!" Mira laughed, leaning to her left.
"I was still very young." Goemon said, an embarrassed blush staining his cheeks. Jigen and Lupin were convulsed with silent laughter, and were leaning on one another to stay upright.
"I know this story and I still can't believe how easy it was for that girl to play him like a drum." Jigen laughed, as Goemon turned an even darker red.
"Do you want to hear this story?!" Goemon demanded hotly, still bright red.
"Yes, yes, yes! Give me a minute, you adorable doofus." Mira said, dissolving into a fit of giggles. After composing herself, Mira picked up her laptop and continued to type as Goemon dictated his story.
The Imperial Hotel.
Goemon felt incredibly underdressed for the luxurious place he found himself in. His robes, while clean, were not up to the standard of this place, and he felt it keenly, as even the bellhop looked down on him, in his smart red uniform. Goemon walked in, head held high, and looked for Jin Hua, she wasn't present in the dining room yet. Goemon sat in a lounge chair, to wait, and keep both entrance and exit in his line of sight. He had been in enough situations with Lupin and Jigen that had necessitated hasty exits out of high rise windows. Goemon sat and waited for what seemed like an eternity in this room full of people judging him on the quality of his clothing and the state of his hair.
"Mister Ishikawa! You came!" Jin Hua said, from behind him. Goemon stood and turned, Jin Hua was there, dressed as if she belonged to the higher echelon that dined in the other room.
"I said I would." Goemon said with a slight bow, he couldn't take his eyes off Jin Hua. She was dressed in a fashionable red cheongsam dress, with the back cut out, and no sleeves. It fell to her knees, and had two slits halfway up her thighs. She was wearing a darker red lipstick that sparkled a little under the beaming light, and her short hair was held back with a red silk scarf, knotted to look like a braid around her head.
"Come, dinner will be served soon." Jin Hua said, tucking her hand into Goemon's elbow and leading him to the elevator.
"But the dining room?" Goemon said in confusion.
"That's for people who don't have a dining room in their penthouse suite. This way." Jin Hua said, gently, but firmly, leading Goemon to the elevator and up to the very top of the hotel. Goemon followed obediently. If there was good food at the top of this building, he would be happy enough.
As they rode in the elevator, Jin Hua looked at him for a moment.
"My employer has authorized me to offer you ten million euros for your sword. He refuses to take no as a definite answer." Jin Hua said softly. Goemon straightened up.
"My decision is final." Goemon said stiffly, turning away from Jin Hua and crossing his arms.
"I know." Jin Hua sighed, clasping her hands in front of her and looking at the floor. She looked so dejected that Goemon wanted to hold her until she smiled at him again. They reached the top floor and walked to the penthouse door.
"If you please?" Jin Hua said with a grin, Goemon smiled lightly down at her and preceded her into the room. The luxury was staggering to someone accustomed to life on the road and often sleeping out in the open.
"This is breathtaking." Goemon said, as Jin Hua walked by him, and grinned at him over her shoulder.
"My boss spares no expense when it comes to getting what he wants." Jin Hua said, with a coquettish shrug. "He doesn't know about this dinner. Totally off the record."
"You asked me to dinner because?" Goemon prompted.
"Because I wanted to. The moment you walked in here, you were no longer a part of business. This is personal." Jin Hua said, "Sake?" Goemon took the saucer and tested the sake, it was good, and very strong.
"How personal?" Goemon asked suspiciously, and got a completely wicked grin in response.
"That piece of steel isn't the sword I'm after tonight." Jin Hua said pointing to Zantetsuken, Goemon had propped it against a chair in the lounge. Jin Hua then looked at Goemon, and he could swear his clothing took on life of it's own, it felt as though it was trying to crawl off his back.
Present Day.
"We barely made it through dinner, before she dragged me to the king size bed. I think I was there for three days, and I can't remember much beyond the occasional need for food and water. She was energetic, and enthusiastic." Goemon admitted sheepishly.
"What? Come on Goemon, we need more details than that!" Lupin all but cried, they had gotten so wrapped up in Goemon's story telling, that they had missed lunch.
"Let's go eat. There's still more to this story, isn't there?" Mira asked, Goemon nodded and stood to go into the kitchen.
"Bring your computer, he talks more after he's eaten." Jigen said, Mira dashed back out to the porch to grab her laptop and followed Jigen inside, brushing against him as she passed to get a seat across from Goemon.
The Imperial Hotel.
Goemon lay sleeping, utterly exhausted from the fifth round of intense sex that night. Jin Hua carefully crawled out of the bed, thankfully Goemon had become accustomed to her coming and going enough to remain deep in the throes of slumber. She went to the bathroom and cleaned herself up, before dressing and packing her things. Jin Hua had been called back to the head office, and was warned to have the sword with her. Zantetsuken sat on the sofa were Goemon had left it after they had finished eating, and it just sat there. Jin Hua looked into the bedroom, Goemon was still asleep, and likely to remain that way for hours. She hadn't set out to completely seduce him, he was just so sweet and naive, it was too easy to take advantage of his overly trusting nature.
Goemon woke up with the sun streaming in through the massive windows on the east side of the sitting room. Not bothering to dress in anything more than his fundoshi, he wandered into the kitchen to get something to eat. He didn't wonder at Jin Hua's absence, due to her job, she was often gone most of the morning, and returned to spend lunch and the rest of the day with him, usually in bed, or a close resemblance of a bed. Goemon finished his breakfast and went into the sitting room, looking for his sword. It was not on the couch where he had left it last night, when he had approached Jin Hua. He had left it lying on the cushions, now there was only a piece of paper. It was a cheque, for ten million euros. Goemon destroyed the penthouse in his rage and left the hotel, only to immediately run into Fujiko and join her in her endeavor.
Present Day.
"Wow, a cheque for ten mill, in euros. You could have bought a pardon from every country you'd been in." Mira said with a low whistle.
"He never cashed it." Lupin muttered, "He could be a rich man and our sugar daddy for when we needed one, but no! He had to go on a vendetta." Lupin groused, leaning on the back of his chair, that he had sat on backwards.
"It was a matter of honour. And you were paying me by the hour at that time." Goemon said, sipping his tea. Jigen snorted and lit another cigarette.
"We aren't even at the halfway point yet. That was just a peccadillo. Keep going Goemon." Jigen said,
"I wouldn't see Jin Hua again for five years. The anger had cooled, but the hurt remained. I wasn't so trusting of women again. Not even Fujiko, one woman I knew would act true to her nature."
Three years ago, in Italy.
"So Fujiko is bringing a protege with her?" Jigen asked, as Lupin ate his way through a box of biscotti. Goemon was helping him, snatching handfuls of the cookies whenever Lupin came up for air and a swallow of wine. "What's that, like a robin to her batman? A sidekick?" Jigen pressed.
"All I know is that this kid has skills Fujiko wants to learn, and what Fujiko wants…" Lupin trailed off deliberately.
"Fujiko gets." Jigen said, with a slight curl of his lip as he sipped his red wine. It was early evening in the Tuscan town they were hiding in. Once Fujiko arrived with her protege, they would all head to Monte Carlo and pull a heist on some of the casinos, getting away with millions in hard cash. Jigen hoped the kid knew what she was doing, hanging out with Fujiko.
A sporty red car pulled up to the tenement house and two women got out.
"Are you sure about this Shifu? This isn't my first time pulling a large heist. I have found it to be easier with less people, rather than more." Jin Hua said, softly, playing the respectful student to Fujiko's dominant teacher.
"Don't worry about the take, sweetie. Lupin and his boys know perfectly well what they're doing." Fujiko said airily. The sound of the two women's voices made both Lupin and Goemon look up from the biscotti, one looked hopeful, the other, had a look of angered disbelief on his face.
"It can not be!" Goemon said in a growled whisper as he went to the balcony and looked down as the women passed beneath. He only caught a glimpse of blue black hair, but it seemed enough to awaken the buried hurt and betrayal. "It can not be!" Goemon shouted, charging out of the room and storming down the stairs, to confront Jin Hua.
"Fujiko-san, this isn't...Goemon?" Jin Hua trailed off as Goemon appeared behind Lupin, who had raced downstairs the moment he heard the car come up the drive. "You didn't tell me you knew Goemon-san." Jin Hua said to Fujiko, clearly terrified of being anywhere near Goemon.
"You didn't tell me you knew him." Fujiko said, surprised.
"How do you know Goemon?" Lupin asked, curious.
"I stole Zantetsuken from him five years ago." Jin Hua admitted. "I did leave him a payment of ten million euros. But I doubt he kept it for himself." she said as Goemon reached into a pocket inside his robe.
"This cheque for ten million euros?" Goemon demanded, his rage was simmering, almost to the boiling point.
"Well, I'll be damned, you kept it, all this time." Jin Hua said, bluntly. Goemon flung the cheque into the fireplace, where it burned on the remaining coals.
"You've had a cheque for millions of euros and you never cashed it?!" Lupin and Jigen demanded at the same time. "And you burned it?!"
"It is blood money." Goemon growled, glaring at Jin Hua, who was trying to sink into the floor, behind Fujiko. "You seduced me and stole my sword." Jigen and Lupin abruptly started giggling like teenage girls.
"I told you that sleeping with you was personal, not business. But business got personal when my boss wanted the sword or my life. It seemed easier to replace a sword, than my life. After I turned in the sword, I took all my pay and quit. Didn't look back at the Aquapolis, even when it fell." Jin Hua explained, sitting down at the dinner table, and pouring some wine into a glass. "I've had other things to worry about since then. You aren't even on the top ten list anymore." she added with a sigh. Goemon felt his rage ebbing, and tried desperately to hold on to it.
"We'll just go into the next room." Lupin said, as he, Jigen, and Fujiko tip toed out.
"I am not ready to forgive you." Goemon stated, standing up straight and crossing his arms over his chest.
"You've been nursing that hurt for five years. Of course you're not." Jin Hua said sadly. ""I hadn't thought I'd ever see you again. I've been living on the opposite side of the world, and then word would get to me that you were on the same continent and I'd have to move, just to avoid even a chance encounter. The irony is that I've known Fujiko for three years now, and this is the first I've heard of you, and the other two."
"She keeps her secrets close." Goemon said simply. A shriek and the sound of flesh striking flesh was heard. "She also keeps her friends at arm's length. Yet still within striking distance."
"Clearly." Jin Hua said with a slight grin, it faded when she looked up at Goemon. "I've lived with my mistake, and the regrets for five years, Goemon. I can not forgive myself, until I know you have forgiven me."
"I can not give you that. You took what was most important to me. You did it knowingly." Goemon accused in a growl, leaning forward to loom over Jin Hua.
"I took more than the sword, didn't I" Jin Hua asked pointedly. Goemon leaned back quickly, startled into dropping his guard. He floundered for a moment.
"You took my trust, and my belief that people are intrinsically good at their core." Goemon said, aiming to sound wise.
"I took your heart, too." Jin Hua said, Goemon went red and gaped at her. Jin Hua stood and went to stand directly in front of Goemon, who seemed rooted to the floor. "I took your heart with me when I left without a word. I got a bill for thousands of yen in damages from that hotel. You deliberately destroyed the penthouse, and not in the search for your sword." Jin Hua said.
"You do not know what I went through after you vanished." Goemon said quietly, Jin Hua's eyebrows rose in realization.
"No, I don't. Let's get this job over and done with, so you don't have to keep living in the past." Jin Hua said, opening the door, only to have Lupin, Fujiko, and Goemon fall through it and sprawl on the floor. "Subtle, your friends." she commented lightly, Goemon grunted wordlessly.
They wouldn't exchange more than a few words again until the casino heist in Monte Carlo. Two heists went off perfectly, and the co-conspirators were celebrating in their hotel penthouse suite. Jin Hua had elected to go out on the balcony, after Goemon had gone out to brood.
"It's a beautiful sight, isn't it?" Jin Hua asked softly, Goemon looked at her out of the corner of his eye, she had lost that fresh, sweet, innocent look she had had when he first met her in Edogawa. Now she was cooler, detached from things. Jaded, he would hazard.
"It is." Goemon agreed, tonelessly. "You have changed." he added quietly.
" I realized that the world is not as pretty as our parents tell us it is." Jin Hua said. "My sister is with the F.B.I. And she is hunting me." Jin Hua said, Goemon looked at her.
" Why would she be hunting you?" Goemon asked, confused.
"She wants to make an example of me." Jin Hua said with a shrug. "I can't stay for the final heist. I have to go. I can feel the noose tightening around my neck, even as we speak." Jin Hua said, heading into the sitting room.
"Why would the F.B.I. want you anyway." Lupin asked, blocking Jin Hua from entering the room.
"Because her sister is five kinds of crazy." Fujiko said, running her finger under Lupin's chin. "If we can help Jin Hua, she'll give us half of her share of the take from all three heists. Won't you dear?" Fujiko asked sweetly, as Lupin all but drooled on her hand.
"A fourth." Jin Hua said immediately.
"A third. And we'll get you out of the country, if we can't stop your dear older sister." Fujiko offered, Jin Hua's lips thinned as she thought about the offer.
"A third, and help leaving the country. Done." Jin Hua said, holding out her hand, Fujiko took it and and then yelped when Jin Hua snapped a bracelet around her wrist. "Activate."
"System activated. Detonation in forty eight hours." chirped the bracelet.
"If I don't give the kill code in less than forty eight hours, you'll be injected with enough taipan snake venom to kill an army." Jin Hua said coolly.
"What?! But, Jin Hua! I thought we were friends!" Fujiko protested.
"You don't have friends. You have stepping stones. Remember?" Jin Hua asked pointedly.
"You were supposed to be asleep!" Fujiko snapped.
"You were supposed to be trustworthy." Jin Hua shot back.
"You're one to talk about trustworthy." Fujiko muttered with a pout.
"I broke one person's trust, once. I can still redeem myself. Can you?" Jin Hua asked with a less than friendly smile. Fujiko pouted silently, as Jin Hua went to her bedroom, Goemon followed her.
"You will have to give the kill code." Goemon said, "Lupin will make you give it."
"There is no kill code. It's just a tracker bracelet." Jin Hua said, "I learned how to be devious and believable in the past few years. What have you learned?" she asked, turning to face Goemon. He was less than a foot from her, and he could see her cheeks darken in a blush.
"Why do you blush?" Goemon asked, running his thumb across her cheek.
"You are just as handsome as I remember." Jin Hua admitted, pressing her cheek into his hand. "There hasn't been anyone, since I was with you." she whispered.
"What are you after this time?" Goemon asked, dropping his hand from Jin Hua's grasp, and making her look up at him.
"Some comfort and companionship. I've been lonely for a very long time." Jin Hua said, looking Goemon in the eye.
"I don't think I trust you." Goemon said, uneasily, a smile appeared on Jin Hua's face.
"You were certain you didn't trust me the first time. Remember? You said so yourself, right before I made you..." Jin Hua trailed off as Goemon went bright red.
"So, I can trust you to do the same?" Goemon asked, holding Jin Hua by her upper arms, and pulling her close.
"All that, and more, if you wish." Jin Hua said, and squeaked slightly, when Goemon kissed her.
Jin Hua slid her arms around Goemon's neck and pulled herself up against his chest, so that he wasn't leaning so far down to kiss her. Goemon held her hips once Jin Hua wrapped her legs around his waist, and carried her to the bed. It wasn't long before they had removed their clothes and were having vigorous sex. Jin Hua was straddling Goemon and undulating her hips in a carefully precise manner designed to bring a lot of satisfaction to both of them. Jin Hua was just approaching climax when Lupin walked into the room.
"Goemon, we need you and Jin out...here. I'll just be going." Lupin said, doing a double take, receiving two vicious glares, and turning to leave all within the span of five seconds.
"He ruined it." Jin Hua moaned, then yelped as Goemon flipped her onto her back and began thrusting hard and fast. Jin Hua managed to turn enough so that she could grab a pillow and scream into it as her climax hit hard. Goemon continued thrusting.
"I'm not done." Goemon growled in Jin Hua's ear, she didn't answer, too caught up in the pleasure of her previous orgasm, the second hit just as hard moments later. Goemon went rigid, and growled wordlessly as he came hard, inside Jin Hua. He leaned on her, for a moment, catching his breath, before withdrawing from Jin Hua, and leaning against the headboard of the bed. Jin Hua rolled over and cuddled up next to him, Goemon put his arm around her.
"I think, this is where a cigarette would be useful." Goemon said softly, Jin Hua started shaking in silent giggles.
"Not if you plan on kissing me again." Jin Hua said, with a chuckle, Goemon caught her chin and kissed her.
"Lupin wanted us out there for something." Goemon said, then stared at his legs. "I am both reluctant, and unable, to move my legs." he stated after a moment.
"Much like the first time, you let me on top?" Jin Hua asked with a wicked little smirk, Goemon chuckled. "Face it, this is your weakness." she added, running her hand up Goemon's chest.
"We will be here longer, if we continue." Goemon pointed out ruefully. Jin Hua made a face.
"As fun as that sounds, I still have to leave soon." Jin Hua said with a pout.
"Why does your sister want you?" Goemon asked, as Jin Hua began to dress. He propped himself on his elbow, to watch her.
"That's a story for another time." Jin Hua said evasively.
"Five more years from now?" Goemon asked pointedly, Jin Hua shot a look at him.
"Not only was that so long ago, but my sister was already after me. I had to disappear then, as I do now." Jin Hua said coolly. She left the room, with her head high. Goemon followed a few moments later, still tying his belt, to grins from Jigen and Lupin, and a knowing smirk from Fujiko.
"Seems you two mended bridges." Fujiko said suggestively.
"For now." Jin Hua said, not rising to the bait Fujiko was dangling.
"We'll get details later. For now, why don't you tell us why the F.B.I. is staking out every casino in Monte Carlo?" Lupin asked, looking at Jin Hua, she looked stricken.
"She knows I'm here! I have to go! Now!" Jin Hua said, in a panic. She grabbed her bag, and went for the door. Jigen stepped in front of it. "No, I have to go. You're all in danger, if I stay any longer!" Jin Hua shouted, hitting Jigen with her fists. He caught her wrists, and dragged her to the sitting room. Jin Hua sat on the sofa, wringing her hands nervously. Goemon sat next to her, keeping his sword in his hand.
"Start talking. Fujiko, what did you find?" Lupin asked, Fujiko pulled out a file.
"This is the death certificate of…" Fujiko began smugly.
"Of my twin brother, Chien Huo. He fell to his death, after throwing himself out the window of my sister's penthouse apartment in New York city." Jin Hua said, a frown on her face. "He has been dead for six years. And that is precisely how long my sister has been hunting for me." she added quietly.
"She's hunting you, because you pushed your brother out that window." Fujiko said, holding up a newspaper clipping.
"I was already employed in Acquisitions with Aquapolis. I was in China, only a few months away from my first meeting with Goemon. How could I have shoved the only man in my life at the time, out a window, from ShangHai?" Jin Hua asked drily, Fujiko pouted, thwarted.
"Your brother was the only man in your life?" Jigen asked pointedly.
"My father was dead, as was my mother. My sister and brother were the only family I had at the time. My brother is the standard to which I hold all men to. Only one has met that standard." Jin Hua said, lifting her chin.
"So, your brother is dead, your sister is hunting you down for his murder, even though it was a suicide." Lupin said, ticking off the pertinent facts on his fingers.
"It was murder. My brother would not have killed himself." Jin Hua said.
"How was it a murder? No one else was in the apartment with him." Jigen pointed out.
"Why was my brother in our sister's apartment, when he had our family home in Maine? What was he doing in New York, when he was about to start planning his wedding to his fiance in China? These are questions without answers." Jin Hua said, taking Jigen's scotch and downing it.
"Was it your sister, who killed your brother?" Goemon asked quietly.
"Yes, but I can't prove it, because I was not legally an eyewitness." Jin Hua said, handing Jigen his glass back. "I watched my brother fall to his death, through his eyes. We were twins, we shared the ability to see through each other's eyes. I watched my sister push my brother out the window, saw him turn mid air, and watched as the street came up to meet him in death." Jin Hua said, holding her arms tightly.
"Why would your sister push him out the window?" Fujiko asked, still pouting.
"He was going to marry another woman." Jin Hua said simply.
"So?" Jigen asked, keeping his new scotch away from Jin Hua.
"Your brother was the only man for your sister, wasn't he?" Goemon asked, catching on.
"My sister, is adopted. So was Chien Huo and I. Yet we all came from the same family in China. She is, by blood, my older sister." Jin Hua explained.
"And she wanted your brother as her man?" Lupin asked, a little horrified.
"Yes. And when she found out he wasn't going to be her lover, she killed him, and framed me." Jin Hua said. "She won't put me in prison. She has other plans for me."
"What kind of plans?" Fujiko asked blankly.
"The kind that will either make me into a man, or make me give her a nephew to train into the perfect man for her." Jin Hua said coldly, to shocked stares.
"She couldn't get away with that!" Lupin said in shock.
"She'd only have to keep me tranquilized, and say I was knocked comatose, and then take me to another country and have the surgeries performed." Jin Hua said miserably. "She caught me once, after Aquapolis. She was able to hold me for twenty four hours, but without proof, she couldn't keep me. We were in London at the time. I managed to escape, and have been running since." Jin Hua said, as Goemon held her hand.
"We will help you out of the country. You will go to Japan. They do not extradite, nor do they allow anything other than Interpol, to override their police. Your sister will not be able to get to you." Goemon said, "My family will take you in."
"I can't go to Japan. I have to go to China." Jin Hua said, making Goemon look at her, a little hurt. "There're loose ends in China I have to take care of." she explained, patting Goemon's hand.
"Ugh! You two are sickening." Fujiko muttered under her breath. "Will you take this thing off?" she demanded, holding out her wrist, with the bracelet on it. Jin Hua and Goemon glared at her.
"Not until I'm out of the country, remember?" Jin Hua said, with a smug little smile, Fujiko pouted at her, making Jigen grin.
"Alright, ladies. We have to get to planning." Lupin said, cracking his knuckles and getting down to business. They would spend hours planning an escape for all of them, with a quick stop in China for Jin Hua.
Goemon and Jin Hua eventually wound up back in his bed, for a final night, they would begin running the next day, which was only a few hours away.
"After China, you will join me in Japan?" Goemon asked, hopefully.
"Isn't there another woman out there, waiting for you to ask her that question?" Jin Hua asked, lying on Goemon's chest.
"Fujiko was the closest I got to another woman after you, and she wasn't a real attachment." Goemon admitted, enjoying the glare Jin Hua shot the door, and beyond that, Fujiko. "She and I didn't do anything. She was far too aloof and cold to be a good companion." he added, grinning at the nasty smirk now on Jin Hua's face. Jin Hua sat up, straddling Goemon, and smiled at him.
"So everything you did, was everything I taught you?" Jin Hua asked, tracing the adonis line on Goemon's left hip, moving up and down the crease slowly, and feeling Goemon rising in response.
"We do not have time. We need as much rest as possible." Goemon ground out, growling when Jin Hua's hand slid under his fundoshi and grasped his firming manhood. He went hard very quickly, when Jin Hua untied his fundoshi, and licked the tip of his penis. "Do not stop." Goemon gasped, as Jin Hua slid her mouth around and down the length of his shaft, and sucked firmly, before releasing him with a slight pop, and starting the same routine again. Goemon gripped the sheets beneath him, in an effort not to grab hold of Jin Hua and take her, hard. The decision was taken from him, when she stopped what she was doing and mounted him. Goemon grabbed her hips and tried thrusting with her on top. He couldn't, and in a moment of frustration, removed himself from her, bent her over the side of the bed and took her from behind, hard. Jin Hua cried out as he thrust into her, and he felt her come as he was moving within her. He came a moment later, with his own guttural cry. He released Jin Hua and climbed back onto the bed, pulling her along with him.
"I did not mean to be so rough with you." Goemon whispered, a little shamefully.
"I expected you to do that. It didn't hurt." Jin Hua said, yawning. "Perhaps we'll have time for a proper romp in bed, after we escape my sister." she added, snuggling into Goemon's chest and falling asleep. He was awake for a short while longer, enjoying a fantasy about what his future would be like if Jin Hua joined him in Japan.
The next morning came too soon, three hours of sleep were not enough to ensure good moods. Only Lupin and Fujiko were in good spirits. Jin Hua was carefully going over her personal information, she was an accomplished identity thief, having assumed aliases all over the world. Some countries, she had more than a few identities. Goemon and Jigen had breakfast ordered and sent up, while Fujiko and Lupin finished up their disguises. The sound of a photo printer made Fujiko look up from molding a new face.
"What are you doing?" Fujiko asked, interested.
"My sister will have my current information plastered all over the news. The airport security will try to detain me on the basis of my resemblance to a wanted criminal." Jin Hua said evenly, placing the new i.d. into a laminating packet and pressing it with the iron included with the room. She then pulled a small contraption out of her bag and set it up.
"What's that?" Lupin asked.
"A picture trimmer. It can cut this to look like an actual i.d. card." Jin Hua said with a grin and held up her new professional looking i.d.
"I need to get me one of those." Lupin said, watching as Jin Hua pressed more cards, these ones for him and the others.
"They aren't sold and are dismantled after breaking. You'd have to find the five separate pieces and put them back together." Jin Hua explained, "I only have this because I took it with me after my last legitimate job as a security officer. I made the badges the press wore to functions." she added as Lupin pouted. Goemon and Jigen took Lupin and Fujiko's places so they could eat. Jin Hua finished other pieces of identification and ate some breakfast too. Their planning seemed to be pointless, Wen Hua hadn't showed so much as a single hair at the airport, or at any point along their escape route. This only made Jin Hua paranoid, and kept her from relaxing enough to look innocent whenever they passed through a security checkpoint. They made it to China, and were leaving Hong Kong, in search of a large farming city several hours northwest. Jin Hua wasn't very clear on the name on the city, but kept Jigen up to date on the direction they were going in.
It was about halfway to the city of Wuzhou, that Fujiko finally asked a good question.
"Weren't we supposed to part ways in Hong Kong? After all, you gave us a part of your take from the casinos." Fujiko pointed out.
"Yeah, but then we got curious as to just what Jinny was calling a loose end." Lupin said, with a grin at Jin Hua, as she rolled her eyes in response to his nickname for her.
"It isn't like I'd have been able to stop all of you from coming along." Jin Hua said, glowering at the back of Lupin's head. She and Fujiko were in the back seat of a sedan, Jigen was driving, with Lupin occupying the passenger seat. Goemon had elected to ride on the roof for much of the way, as he didn't enjoy being wedged between the two women, or crowded against the door on Jin Hua's left. They lapsed into silence again, having already discussed whatever it was Jin Hua was keeping secret, and not getting any concrete answers. Nearly an hour passed when Jigen busted out a true gem of a guess.
"How much you wanna bet, she's got a kid and is looking to hide it even better than before?" Jigen asked with a grin, as all eyes in the vehicle snapped open and stared at him. "Betcha it's Goemon's kid too. Didn't you say he was the only guy you'd been with in the last few years?" he added, then noticed how pale Jin Hua had gone. The car stopped abruptly, sending Goemon rolling down the windscreen and onto the hood.
"Are you serious? We're going after a kid?!" Lupin demanded, turning in his seat to stare at Jin Hua.
"He is in danger, and needs to be protected." Jin Hua said archly, as her door opened and Goemon climbed inside.
"What is going on?" Goemon asked, straightening himself out.
"We're going after Jin Hua's kid. It's his kid too, right?" Lupin asked, suddenly excited and grinning.
"Yes, directly after Aquapolis, I realized I was pregnant, a few weeks before my sister found me, I had gone to China to find and inform my birth family of my brother's demise. They were distantly related to my adoptive family, which is how, my siblings and I remained together during adoption. Our birth parents took me in and later adopted my son, it remains to be seen if he is anything like my brother as he is only four years old." Jin Hua explained, keeping her eyes on the back of Jigen's seat.
"Who is the father?" Goemon asked blankly, to sudden snickers. Jin Hua winced.
"Who was I with five years ago?" Jin Hua asked pointedly. Goemon's face remained blank for a moment as he put the facts together. Then his eyes almost fell out of his face.
"I have a child? Why didn't you tell me before now?" Goemon demanded after the shock receded.
"The explanations can wait until after he is moved somewhere safe." Jin Hua said, firmly, not allowing any arguments. She ignored the beseeching look on Goemon, and the other's, face quite well. Two hours of drive time later, had them at the small city. Jin Hua directed Jigen to the large farmhouse outside the city limits, where her family lived.
"This place is really off the beaten path, isn't it?" Lupin asked, as he got out of the car.
"How are we going to smuggle a kid out of China?" Jigen asked, lighting a cigarette, as both Jin Hua and Fujiko refused to let him smoke in the car.
"He has dual citizenship through myself and his biological father. I made sure to hide him carefully, even after he was put on government records." Jin Hua said, "He is a legal citizen of Japan, and China." she explained, Goemon looked at her askance.
"I wasn't going to keep him from you forever, just until I knew he would be safe." Jin Hua added quietly, Goemon huffed and pointedly looked away from her.
"Well, let's go meet Goemon Ishikawa the Fourteenth." Lupin said brightly and started walking towards the farmhouse, only to be blown off his feet by the explosion that destroyed the house completely.
"Lupin!" Jigen and Fujiko shouted, running forward to help him up. Goemon held Jin Hua back from running to the burning wreckage.
"What happened?!" Lupin shouted, his ears ringing from the blast. "Who did that?!"
"Wen Hua was already here!" Jin Hua exclaimed in horror.
"Yes, and it's another murder you are going to have to answer for dear sister. Three actually. Our dear cousins and their son." Wen Hua said, as she walked out from behind the car. "Of course, no body for the child will be found. His remains will have been completely eradicated." she added, with a malicious smirk, as Jin Hua fell against Goemon.
"Where is my son, Wen Hua?!" Jin Hua demanded hoarsely.
"If you want the boy, then I suggest you surrender yourself. Of course, if you do, as his only living relative, he'd still come under my care." Wen Hua said with a shrug, still grinning. "After all, you would go to prison for the murder of our brother and cousins. He'd be fully grown by the time you faced parole."
"Why do you torture me with this? You can not have my son, there is another with a closer claim than you!" Jin Hua shouted angrily.
"Really? The unnamed father? Or his 'family'? Good luck in finding any of them in China. You couldn't even put his name on the birth certificate." Wen Hua said dismissively.
"My son was not born in China. The Chinese certificate you have is for a deceased child in an orphanage. I stole it and replaced the real one in the hospital where I said I gave birth." Jin Hau said, with a grin of her own. "Had you looked further than your own nose, you would have found this out sooner than now." Wen Hua looked furious.
"Surrender to me or the boy dies!" Wen Hua shrieked, lifting her gun to aim at Jin Hua, only to scream in pain, when Jigen's bullet tore it from her hand.
"Where's the kid?" Jigen demanded. "I don't care if you're a woman or not. I'll kill you with the next bullet, if you don't give us the kid"
"He's being held by my people in the American Embassy." Wen Hua ground out, reluctantly.
"Which city?" Jigen asked.
"That doesn't matter. Without me, you won't be given access to him." Wen Hua chuckled darkly, then froze as a gun was put to her head.
"Which city?" Lupin repeated Jigen's question coldly.
"ShangHai" Wen Hua snarled inelegantly.
It took less than an hour to track down the two remaining members of Wen Hua's bomb squad and dispose of them, before taking her transport and heading to Hong Kong. Fujiko kept Wen Hua unconscious with chloroform and later forcing tranquilizers into her by means of spiking her drinks. She was kept drugged in the airport, but to prevent even a half hearted attempt at escape, a plastic gun was kept to her back thanks to Jigen's ingenuity. As they approached the embassy, Jin Hua began to get nervous again.
"Relax, we'll get the kid, expose your sister for the crazy she is, and you and Goemon can go to Japan, and live happily ever after, while having more kids." Lupin said, gesturing broadly, unaware that Wen Hua was listening intently, trying to remain coherent through the tranquilizers she was kept on.
"More? You mean that waiguo ren is the father? You couldn't even have a Chinese man father your child? And you think I'm bad?" Wen Hua laughed, a sound that became more and more unhinged as time passed.
"He is a good man. And very handsome. I didn't need much more than that five years ago. After all, I meet him mere months after Chien Huo committed suicide. I needed a connection to someone, and he did fit the criteria I had." Jin Hua explained coolly, making Wen Hua sneer when she didn't get the desired reaction.
"All good things, I'm sure. But did he have to be Japanese? You could have done so much better." Wen Hua continued derisively.
"Perhaps I could have, if I had your standards. A penniless samurai may not seem like much to you, but he is honourable, and enthusiastic." Jin Hua said, grinning wickedly at Wen Hua and making her shriek in anger. Jin Hua traded seats with a smirking Fujiko.
"Well played." Fujiko commented.
"She doesn't like to believe that Chien and I both had a life beyond her. Especially since it would mean admitting that she is not the center of my world. Rubbing her nose in the fact that I willingly and repeatedly slept with a man who is neither Chinese nor Chien sends her into a rage." Jin Hua explained.
"She wanted you to sleep with your brother?" Jigen asked in disgust, Lupin was driving at the moment, so he had little to amuse himself with at the moment.
"The fantasy could stem from the fact that Chien Huo and I shared a bed till we were five, and would sleep together off and on until high school. We were twins, and didn't enjoy the separation. It was more for comfort than anything. After all, we shared everything, including a birthday." Jin Hua explained, Jigen grunted wordlessly, and turned back around. Goemon, who had been sitting silently across from Wen Hua and glaring at her, shifted.
"If any harm has come to my son, you will pay in flesh and blood." Goemon growled, popping zantetsuken several inches out of it's sheath.
"Don't engage the crazy lady, Goemon dear." Fujiko admonished gently, leaning over to pat his knee. Wen Hua curled her lip in disgust and looked away from Goemon.
"Actually paying money for a limousine was a very good idea Lupin. So much room to move around and stretch out my legs." Fujiko mused as she stretched out her legs.
"Anything for you, Fujiko." Lupin said, grinning happily. His grin faded as the embassy came into view. "We're almost there. Everyone ready?"
"We are." Jin Hua said, as she smoothed her clothes and adjusted her fake i.d. badge.
The gate guards let them pass with no issues, and they were well on their way to getting Jin Hua's son and leaving.
"So, tell me, Wen Hua. What were you going to do with the kid, if you didn't get Jinny here?" Lupin asked, far too casually to be a completely innocent question.
"Nothing. The boy is dead in the farmhouse with the people who were raising him for my traitorous sister." Wen Hua said with a smirk. "I only needed to get her here. Interpol and my contacts in the F.B.I. will finish the rest of you off, but she will face justice in America." Wen Hua said triumphantly.
"Dead?! You killed an innocent child to get to your sister, after murdering your brother, because he wouldn't sleep with you?" Fujiko asked appalled.
"Of course not! That would be wrong on so many levels." Wen Hua said, too smoothly to be serious, or taken as such. Wen Hua ignored the looks she got, and continued to walk with her head held high.
"Why do you even want your sister? Except, you know, to have her tried for the murder of her brother." Lupin continued, trying not to dwell on the fairly ominous warning about getting Jin Hua to this particular embassy.
"He was my brother!" Wen Hua snapped, overly emphasizing the possessive 'my' "He was meant to be my brother, and mine alone!"
"It's a good thing Goemon, Jigen, and Jin Hua stayed with the security. They'd be all over you by now." Fujiko pointed out.
"All it would take is one word from me…" Wen Hua began hotly.
"But you aren't you anymore, are you?" Lupin asked cryptically. "You see, during one of your many blackouts, I had plenty of time to create and apply a realistic mask to your face. The compound is so light and natural feeling, that unless you applied it, you wouldn't even know you were wearing it. As of this moment, you are Jin Hua, and she is you. Didn't you notice how much she had changed?" Lupin asked with a sly look at Fujiko, she grinned back at him.
"Now, tell us where the kid really is." Fujiko demanded. "Before we hand you over to the authorities."
"And swear you'll never come after Jin Hua again." Lupin added quickly. Wen Hua eyed them both for a moment.
"The boy really is dead. I had no use for a half breed. As for my sister, she was in Shanghai when I shoved my brother to his death. Out the picture window of my apartment in the States. I set the bomb that killed my distant cousins and my mongrel nephew." Wen Hua said coldly, without preamble. "All I wanted was my brother to love me like any man would. Is that so wrong?"
"When it's your brother, yes, yes it is. She's all yours Pops." Lupin called, and let Wen Hua fall to the floor after he let her arm go. As interpol agents swarmed out of the doors, Fujiko dropped a smoke bomb, allowing her and Lupin to escape, leaving Inspector Zenigata to arrest Wen Hua.
"That went better than expected." Lupin commented as he climbed inside the limousine, next to Goemon. "How is the real Wen Hua doing?"
"She has been silent this whole time." Jigen said, lighting a cigarette and exhaling blue smoke in a thin stream.
"All we gotta do is wait till the transfer happens and make the switch." Lupin said brightly. "Until then, let's get out of here. Before Pops catches on that we used a limo instead of a sports car." Jigen switched his fedora for a driver's cap and drove the limousine out of the embassy parking garage.
"You won't get away with this." Wen Hua said sullenly.
"Au contraire! We have you on tape, and in hearing range of several dozen witnesses, admitting to killing your brother, and framing your sister for his murder. As well as killing her child and his adoptive family, simply because she wouldn't come to heel." Lupin said with a wicked grin. "All you have to do is tell us where the kid really is and we'll give you a running start." Wen Hua remained silent. "Alright, Jigen, find us a nice place to eat. Jin Hua here is feeling peckish."
True to his nature, Lupin allowed Wen Hua to eat and drink, and use the facilities in the restaurant, under the watchful eye of Fujiko, while Goemon watched the back door in case she attempted to escape. Jigen remained out front, in the off chance Wen Hua made a break for it past him. After the meal, they retired to a hotel, near enough to the embassy to get there if the plan went belly up, but far enough away that those who worked there, wouldn't find anything suspicious. Wen Hua had steadily refused to divulge information on Jin Hua's son or a general location.
"I'm beginning to believe the kid really is dead." Jigen muttered as he cleaned his gun with almost religious care.
"Can't be. She'd need the kid as leverage if Jin Hua refused to cooperate." Lupin stated, he was flipping through one of his ever present comic books, and nibbling on some dumplings a street vendor had sold him. Fujiko and Goemon were both out, he on the roof, and she finding what information she could.
For her part in the plan, Jin Hua was disguised as Wen Hua and awaiting deportation to the United States since she had confessed to the murder of no less than four people. Jin Hua had to be satisfied with Wen Hua receiving jail time and possibly the death sentence for the murders of their last remaining family members. As the hours to midnight ticked away, Jin Hua found herself contemplating a life in Japan, with Goemon and the possibility of more children with him in the future. Sitting in the secured room was beginning to play tricks on her mind. But as she considered it, the possibility began to look more inviting. A steady life, free of running and hiding. Raising her children, instead of leaving them to be raised in safety and seclusion from the rest of the world. Jin Hua hadn't made enemies who wanted her dead or those closest to her dead in her place, not beyond Wen Hua, or her former employer at Aquapolis. A settled life was becoming more appealing as time went on.
Goemon sat on the roof over their rented hotel room. He had considered the same scenarios as Jin Hua, and he found them just as appealing. Especially more children, he did not believe that his and Jin Hua's first child was dead. Lupin would get the whereabouts of the child from Wen Hua eventually, and if he couldn't, Fujiko would find out where the boy had been sent. For now, Goemon would have to content himself with fantasies of what a life with Jin Hua and their children would be like.
"Well, the transfer will be taking place any minute now. Let's get going." Lupin said, he hadn't gotten so much as a set of coordinates out of Wen Hua. She had refused to speak since requesting a trip to the ladies room not an hour ago. Lupin was frustrated, he almost always got what he needed from people, even when they didn't want to give it to him. Fujiko hadn't yet returned, but she wasn't expected to have anything solid for a few hours yet. He, Jigen, and Goemon, piled Wen Hua into a smaller car and headed to the embassy to wait for the prison van.
Twenty minutes later, the van showed up with a small escort consisting of two police officers, two American F.B.I. agents, and nearly two dozen interpol officers and Inspector Zenigata. Lupin sighed, things were just never easy sometimes. Waiting until Jin Hua was brought out of the embassy, loaded into the van and driven ten minutes down the road, Lupin and Jigen engaged the plan to retrieve Jin Hua and replace her with Wen Hua.
Lupin pulled the car alongside the van while Jigen jumped onto the side of the van and worked his way inside. He slowed the van enough so Goemon could toss both the driver and the accompanying officer onto the street with very little harm to both of them. Lupin slowed and cut off the escort, leading them away from the van as Jigen headed to the prearranged rendevous point. They would have all of three minutes to exchange Jin Hua and Wen Hua before the escort and Zenigata caught up to them. Jigen reached the meeting point and let Jin Hua out of the transport.
"Hey kid. How're you doing?" Jigen asked with a grin, Jin Hua chuckled.
"I'd be better with these off my wrists and on Wen Hua's." Jin Hua said wryly, holding up her handcuffed wrists. Jigen stopped Goemon from cutting through them with his sword.
"They have serial numbers. Wen Hua has to be wearing these when the police take them off her. They match the record of arrest and transfer." Jigen explained, Goemon glowered, but sheathed zantetsuken, while Jigen picked the handcuffs and removed them. Lupin finally arrived, and hauled Wen Hua out of the backseat of the car. Jigen got one handcuff snapped on her wrist before she lunged into him and grabbed for his gun, turning it on him. Jigen backed away from her slowly, while Lupin and Goemon pulled their own weapons and waited for an opening.
"Did you think it would go so easily? You fools! I've been hunting my sweet, innocent, sister for years! I've planned for everything, including her managing to get herself some accomplices." Wen Hua laughed, sounding more than a little deranged. "Month after month of almost catching you, dear sister, and now I have you! You and your bastard half-breed. I may not be able to do anything to you now, but the boy will grow up knowing his mother abandoned him to the whims of her sister. And even if I die here, they won't be able to find him! I've hidden him better than you ever could. Did you really think some distant cousins would be too obscure for me to find?" Wen Hua ranted, training the gun on Jin Hua, Goemon edged closer to Jin Hua, trying to get between her and Wen Hua, while Lupin circled around behind Wen Hua, to get into her blind spot. Jigen had backed up all the way to the car, and ducked inside as soon as Wen Hua had turned to Lupin, taking her eyes off Jigen long enough for him to grab another gun he had hidden in the glove compartment long before Wen Hua had even seen the car. When Jigen looked back up, he cursed, Jin Hua was standing alone, Goemon and Lupin were backing towards the car and closing in on his narrow clear shot. Fortunately, both Goemon and Lupin knew what Jigen needed, and kept apart, rather than fear huddling and closing his window of opportunity. Wen Hua was speaking in mandarin, a language that escaped Jigen, to his ears it sounded as though she was gloating, and the look on Lupin's face meant she was doing very well. Jigen glanced at his watch, they had less than two minutes to clear off before the escort found them. Leaning on the console inside the car, and accounting for the driver side window glass to distort his aim slightly, Jigen lined up his shot, as Wen Hua levelled his magnum at Jin Hua. A sharp question from Jin Hua, made Wen Hua pause, before answering, and then; absolute chaos.
Later, Jigen and Lupin both couldn't tell for certain if it had been their bullets or Goemon's expertly thrown sword that had killed Wen Hua, no more than seconds after she had stunned them all by shooting Jin Hua through the heart. Goemon had howled in rage, and for the first time since obtaining the sword, he had willingly parted from it, he had thrown zantetsuken with enough force, that it had sank to the hilt, in and through Wen Hua's sternum, just as Lupin's second gun, and Jigen's had both gone off not even a moment apart, once they had registered Jin Hua falling to the ground after a bullet passed through her own sternum. Goemon was by her side, holding her and praying in Japanese for her to be alright.
"He's alive. His name is Goemon. The fourteenth. He answers to Chiou Huo. Find your son." Jin Hua gasped, before expiring in Goemon's arms. Ever stoic and practical, Goemon held in his emotions and followed Lupin and Jigen to the car to make their escape. Jin Hua's body would be treated respectfully by the authorities, now that she had been cleared of murder charges. If Lupin and Jigen noticed the silent tears that slipped past Goemon's mask, they didn't say anything, they too were shocked at the outcome of what should have been a simple bait and switch.
Fujiko turned up at the hotel the next day and pointedly avoided asking any questions. The news had been all over the escape attempt, Zenigata had been vocal in declaring Lupin and Jigen accomplices in the retribution angle he was spinning, the bullet in Jin Hua's torso was physical proof. Fujiko had also outdone herself. After finding a safe house Wen Hua had used right up till the burning of the farmhouse, and going inside, Fujiko had found Wen Hua's private computer. She had opened it and found it unlocked. A few moments of poking through files, Fujiko had come across a very promising lead.
Two weeks later. Goemon walked across a manicured lawn, towards a small house. Lupin, Jigen, and Fujiko, were already inside, speaking to the owners of the foster house. Goemon walked around the side of the house to the back yard. Several children were playing on the playground equipment, but one little boy wasn't. He was sitting in the sand box, absently shoveling a scoop of sand into a bucket, as if he had never done the activity before.
"Hello Goemon-chan." Goemon said, as he knelt next to the sand box. The boy looked at him in surprise. Goemon was surprised to see Jin Hua's eyes looking at him from his father's face. "Do you know who I am?" Goemon asked in Japanese.
"Mama said my father was the only one who knew to call me that name." Chiou Huo said, in childish Japanese. "So you are my father?"
"I am. I am also called Goemon. Goemon Ishikawa the Thirteenth." Goemon introduced himself, Chiou Huo brightened and a grin spread across his face.
"Is mama with you? Only she said that you might not be able to bring her if you had to come get me." Chiou Huo said, amending himself sadly.
"You mother wanted nothing more than to be here with you today and always. But she died trying to get away from the same people who had you taken from your family in China. Now, you are going to come home with me, to Japan." Goemon said, rising and holding out his hand to his son. Chiou Huo hopped to his feet and took Goemon's hand eagerly.
"Are you going to teach me how to use a sword and be a samurai? Or a ninja?" Chiou Huo asked excitedly. "Mama told me all about how good you are with that sword!" Goemon smiled, a real smile, down at his son.
"There's a lot to learn before a real sword is put into your hands. It's takes much patience, time, and a lot of growing up, before you can hold a sword as mighty as this one." Goemon explained, patting zantetsuken. Chiou Huo looked up at him adoringly.
"Can you tell me how mama stole your sword from you?" Chiou Huo asked hopefully, and within hearing range of Lupin and the others, who all promptly burst into laughter. Goemon winced for a moment, then began laughing too, much to Chiou Huo's delight. The trip to the airport, and flight to Japan would be full of such stories.
"I'm sorry, I have something in my eyes." Mira said, dabbing at her eyes with a paper napkin. "That was not the outcome I had hoped it would be." she added, with a sniffle and a wobbly smile at Goemon. Night had fallen, Jigen and Lupin had gone into town to get more food for supper, they had returned and dinner had been eaten, Mira had refused to write at the same time, so she and Goemon had wound up staying awake long after the other two had fallen asleep on the porch in the cooling air. It was now after midnight.
"It is what it is. Thank you for listening to my story." Goemon said quietly.
"How is Chiou Huo?"
"He has become a very good samurai, for being seven years old. He still uses the bokuden, but he is not far from receiving his first steel sword." Goemon said proudly. Mira smiled indulgently.
"He's been with you for only two years?" Mira asked, Goemon blinked in surprise.
"Yes. I thought it was much less. He has surpassed his mother's death, and my frequent absence from his side. He will grow up, and he will do so safely." Goemon said, eyeing Mira carefully.
"We changed all the names, but Zenigata's. He'd be the only one still employed, who would know the case I've written about. It will be as you said. Your son will be safe. And the proceeds from the book sales can go into a trust for him, or added to your own finances." Mira added brightly.
"You reminded me of her for a time, she was a vibrant young woman when I first met her. I fell in love with her faster than she knew. Please, do not change the story." Goemon requested quietly, Mira sat, stunned for a moment, before nodding gravely.
"You have my word." Mira said solemnly.