DISCLAIMER: I don't own Lupin III… But I do have a sparkling personality, the tendency to repeat myself, a general likeability, and the tendency to repeat myself.

Oh my God, an update!

That's about how it is right now, neh? I think that more than a few were surprised that not one, but both of my now-running stories. Guess the little creativity fairy struck me. Wish she'd stop by more often, hehe. I hope you guys enjoy this chapter, andddd I'm not gonna say "I hope I start to get these out earlier" because that just seems to be a jinx for me. Aw, crap! Eh, well…. Enjoy, all the same!

p.s.: Added a lot more pictures! A whole page of artwork including a picture of Mamoru Pycal, early concepts of grown-up Avery and Jared, and even another picture of Jigen in drag, ala 'A Mile in my Heels'.

Fun Fact of Boredom: Fuji seems to have a mild obsession with the old school anime Cutey Honey. This is because the voice actress for Fujiko in Japan is also Cutey Honey's voice actress, and, well, I always thought that Fuji would sound like her mother.

Chapter three: Twist of the Knife

"So, Mister Toshiro…."

"Mister…. King, I guess…." Toshiro returned, glancing to Pius.

"Pius… Simply Pius," the king turned to Toshiro and smiled. "You appear apprehensive!"

"Listen… I know you're tryin' to help, but I just wanna grab my daughter and head back to New York… It's about time to start decorating for Halloween," Toshiro grumbled, and Pius stopped him, placing his hands upon his shoulders. Toshiro gave a bizarre look and tilted his head, and then looked slowly to the left and then to the right.

"I know what it is you need, exactly what it is!" Pius said with a wide smile, patting him on the shoulders. "Come! Follow me!"

Toshiro hesitated a moment, and then nodded and followed Pius into the palace, deep into the marble innards of the large castle. He was finally led into a room decorated in red, pink, and purple silk and golden furniture. The women who sat lounged throughout the room looked over to Toshiro, giggling at him. The samurai's face reddened immediately, and Pius patted him roughly upon the back.

"You can have your pick," Pius explained, undazed.

"Wai-wait what?" Toshiro yelped, pulling away the arms of one woman who had wrapped them about his waist. "You… You're joking, right?"

"What, you're not looking for a woman any longer?"

"What! NO! I… I'm not looking for any woman, or any man, either!" Toshiro snapped, and pulled away another woman. "No. Bad touch. Nothing below the—What in the hell don't you get about 'no'?"

"You seem quite… 'Uptight' for an American," Pius said with concern, speaking to the woman in his native tongue and shoeing her away. She gave another giggle and ran back to her seat, the other girls joining in the laughter.

"Who… Who are these girls?" Toshiro gulped, adjusting his gi while the girls continued to primp.

"They are entertainers in the palace," Pius explained, and nudged Toshiro while giving a knowing smile. "Quite young and all very available…"

"Listen, you're being… More than generous… Woah… But, I really… I can't go and do this, I, urm… I'm reallyyyy not ready for that," Toshiro explained with a nervous gulp.

"I see. Perhaps after a nap," Pius said with a smile. "You know…. I was just a boy when I met your father, Mr. Ishikawa."

"What? You knew my dad?" Toshiro tilted his head to one side as he followed Pius down the hall.

"Yes… He had a similar reaction to yours… Although I recall his wife reaching up and striking him from the back of the head…"

"Yeah, sounds like my mom," Toshiro chuckled.

"How is she doing? She and your father were so young when they came… It's been years…" Pius said with a shake of the head.

"Eh, they were in their late twenties… Guess that's old to me, too, now," Toshiro said with a shrug.

Pius stopped and looked to Toshiro with a frown, "No… They were about teenagers, then. Their parents brought them here… From what I recall, they were merely a weeks away frown marriage…"

"Wait… So that means… He came here with my mother," Toshiro said in a low voice. "And she was probably already pregnant…"

"My," Pius blinked, "your family appears as complicated as the Lupins!"

"You have no idea," Toshiro shook his head. "Hrm… Pius, what were they even doing here?"

"…I was eight. I was more concerned with horseback riding, at that age," Pius replied. "But, they left several things here, if you'd like to see."

"Yeah! I'd love to!" Toshiro said with a wide smile.

The jungle outside of the palace:

"Damn it…" Yukiko shot another large spider away, this one merely from Heiji's head. Ishikawa nearly fell over in response to this, and panted as he looked back to Yukiko.

"What… The hell…."

"That thing was about to suck your face off. If you'd look up from you World of Warcraft game long enough you'd realize," Yukiko snapped in return, flicking away a cigarette. Odori sliced the cigarette in half as she also cut through a snake that had been inches away from Yukiko's fedora.

"I could say the same to you," Odori answered gravely, sheathing her sword once more.

"What are you doing, anyway, Heiji?" Ryo glanced over Heiji's shoulder as Odori worked her way back to the front, and continued to slice through the dense jungle beside Ally, who wiped his forehead and then resumed chopping.

"I'm trying to see if those poachers have a computer, maybe have a connection set up… And if they've got a GPS system set up, well…Then they'll be like sitting ducks, now won't they?"

"Hrm…" Odori stopped suddenly, and Fuji, who had been directly behind her, bumped into the small samurai.

"Ow! What the hec, Dori!" Fuji yelped, taking a step back from the samurai.

"They're Asian," Odor muttered.

"What, are you looking for another boyfriend?" Fuji grumbled. "I was convinced you were strictly on white guys, now."

"I'm biracial," Jordan said quickly, but this fell upon the silent and annoyed ears of Fuji and Odori.

"Those men… Look, through the brush," Odori whispered, crouching down and peering through the thick ferns.

"Japanese?" Leo blinked and pushed up his glasses.

"They look like ninja…" Odori muttered.

"Ninja poachers… Hee hee…." Heiji commented without looking up from his computer. This was met with a frown by the others, and they then turned their attention back to the men surrounding the jeeps. They were dressed entirely in black, and spoke roughly to one another, pointing in different directions and having a harsh argument. During this time Odori noted there was a large white symbol upon their backs, and the samurai cocked her head in an attempt to get a better look at the traditional uniforms they wore.

Fuji looked over her shoulder to Yukiko, Ryo, Odori, Jordan, Heiji, and Ally, "Hey, game plan. Dori-chan, you stay here. Yukiko, Jordan, Ally, you three circle them. Heiji, you get up in that tree and try to block any signals they may be trying to send out… And try to see if they're sending any outgoing messages, too, while you're at it. Ryo-san, you go back and get the jeep."

"What about me?" asked Odori, looking upward to Fuji.

"Come out swinging if they're not friendly," Fuji replied, adjusting her jacket and not even glancing to Leo's stunned expression.

"That's your plan!" Leo hissed, pulling back his sister. "Talking to them?"

"Jeeze, and I thought you were the pacifist!" Fuji grumbled. "When did we start doing a role reversal, here? Christ, don't tell me I'm gonna end up doing cartoons, too."

"It's just a cartoon! They started a show with puppets, too," Leo said defensively.

Fuji paused and gave a hard glare to her brother, "You are so low on my cool list right now, I—"

"Would you keep quiet!" Odori snapped. "I'm trying to listen to them!"

"They're speaking in gibberish," Fujiko whispered, frowning.

"No, they're just speaking in a form of Japanese," Leo hissed. "If I could get closer, I might be able to tell what they're saying!"

Fuji looked to her brother and smiled, "…Then we'll get you closer…"

After a few moments later, the men at the jeeps all frowned as they heard a rustling from the bushes, and drew their machetes and swords, and stanced themselves. All relaxed as they saw it was merely one of their own, an identical man in a black outfit stumbled out, and they merely rolled their eyes and brushed him away.

Leo looked over his shoulder to Fuji pleadingly and she shooed him on, and Leo took a few more hesitant steps forward, leaning against the jeep casually and nodding to the other men.

"Why is it the only time he looks gay is when he tries to play straight?" Fuji moaned to herself, slapping her forehead. Upon looking upward, her eyes fell upon several large bags in the back of one of the jeeps, and a smile came upon her face.

Heiji was now perched up in a tree, and tossed down a small fruit, causing it to impact with Fuji's head. She growled and clutched onto the aching area, and looked upward to him with a glare, "Don't even think about that stuff!" he whispered.

"How'd you even know I was—"

"Because I know you, Fuji," Heiji answered in an as-a-matter-of-factly tone.

"So we get this, and we get back to the camp!" the leader of the group said to the men, sheathing his sword. He looked to Leo and frowned, leaning inward to examine a nervous Lupin. "Have I seen you somewhere before?"

"I've got a really average face!" Leo reassured him with a chuckle and a smile, and couldn't help to look upon the boss's features and think the same himself.

"All right, let's move out!" he shouted, his voice cracking in the midst of this. Some of the others gave a chuckle, and he spun back around, growling and smacking them on the side of the head. "Is there anything else you wanted to say about my voice!"

"N-no, sir!" the men whimpered, and Leo remained silent, with his eyes widening as he realized the young man was really a boy in his mid-teens.

'What's a kid doing, running this!' Leo thought to himself in awe.

"Hey, you going to gawk all day or are we going to a get a move-on!" the boy shouted. "Old man, can you hear me!"

It took Leo a moment to realize the 'old man' was him, and he tried to hide his deep insult as he hopped into one of the jeeps and motioned for Fuji to back off.

"He's merely a child," Odori said as she appeared out of the brush, the others gathering about her.

"What in the hell did Ari think he was doing!" Fuji snapped, bawling her fists and slamming her heel down. This sound resulted in a loud "crunch!" noise, to which Fuji shuttered and looked down. And when she saw the large spider impaled by her high heel, Fuji Lupin gave a loud scream, which quickly had to be stifled in order not to get caught.

Later that night:

Leo had been driven to the camp of the bandits, and sat in the midst of many who were either now sleeping or drunk.

The leader of the bandits eyed Leo suspiciously, and stood from his place in front of his tent and then over Leo, "You're the only one I haven't seen drink anything all night…"

"Ulcers," Leo responded in a well-meaning shrug.

"…Why do I not remember seeing you get on the plane with us?"

"Like I said, I have a face that's easy to forget," Leo explained as he looked into the fire momentarily and then back to the leader, who only narrowed his eyes and turned away from Lupin.

The bandit leader climbed into his tent and sighed as he laid back upon the tatami mat he had laid out, giving a yelp of surprise as he realized there was another figure beside him.

"A dream, or your lucky day?" Fuji said with a smile, sitting up and resting with one hand supporting her. "One way to find out, huh?"

"Wh-wha?" the frazzled leader looked her up and down, the older woman in long lavender nightgown and bathrobe. "How did you—What are you doing here!"

"Mm, probably hoping the statue of limitations here is a little different than in Japan or the U.S.," Fuji answered absently.

"If—If you don't leave this instant, I'll get my guards on you!" snapped the leader, crawling into one of the corners of t he tent and watching in a panic as Fuji followed. "How'd you even get here!"

"Does it matter? All I know is, they're all drunk, and no one can hear you scream in a jungle already full of weird noises," Fuji said, placing a hand about the waist of the shorter man and smiling. "So no one would know the difference…"

"I still don't know how you got here," snapped the leader.

"You know, sometimes, it just doesn't matter," Fuji said sweetly, and as her hand trailed up, Fuji's blood ran cold, and her eyes widened, "Oh my God, are those…?"

The leader then looked away, his face flushed completely red.

"You… You're a girl…" Fuji blinked. "That, or you're just plain weird…"

"You're the one who's in a negligee in the middle of the African jungle," snapped the leader.

"Touché… Jeeze, I'd like to say that this is the first time that this has happened to me…. Should I take this as a sign to go after girls, now?"

The leader only looked horrified, and adjusted her top, "Who in the hell are you, anyway?"

"Why, Lupin the Fourth, my dear!" Fuji said with a wide smile.

"But he's a man…"

"Eh… Debatable," Fuji said, looking away, clearing her throat and then smiling to the young woman. "Well, what's your name, kid?"

"I'm not a kid," she said defensively, brushing away her bangs and continuing her glare centered at Fuji.

"But… You dress like a guy. So are you…."

"I'm not that, either! Now if you excuse me, I have some guards to fetch, to chop off that head of yours," the leader snapped, standing.

"I don't think so," Fuji smirked, leaning back and chuckling.

"What's that supposed to mean?"

"It means your tent's surrounded by my men…"

"And women!" came the snap of Ryo's voice. The ninja leader spun her head about, and then growled.

"What do you want from us, anyway?"

"I want to know why you're here, why you're bugging my friend, and, perhaps most importantly, who the hell you are exactly."

"I am Chiyose, of the Rat Clan…"

"Aw, you're Chiyo-chan!" Fuji said with a wide grin, causing Chiyose to blush. "So, is Miss Sakaki really that tall?"

"Would you shut up! The rumors about you being obnoxious are true!" snapped Chiyose.

"Oh, rumors? What are some of the other rumors, huh, huh?"

"That you're a skilled thief… And a complete whore."

"Wow, so they really do think I'm a good thief, neh? Cool!"

"Your brain must look like a sieve," said Chiyose plainly. "You have my name and I've yet to kill you, so what else could you possibly want of me?"

"You out of here," Fuji answered, sitting up in the tent and giving a cocky grin.

"That I cannot do… I must get those animals."

"Yeah, but why? I mean, are you selling them to zoos or something?"

"Our clan is sick, including our current leader, and that who is supposed to be our leader in her place has not answered our calls… Not that we would know where to find him, at this point," Chiyose explained quietly.

"Your leader? What's her name?"

"His… It's Goemon Ishikawa, the fourteenth," Chiyose answered.

"WHAT!" was collectively heard, and the group stuck their heads through the opening of the tent.

"I… Take it you know him…" Chiyose said quietly.

"Yeah! I was married to that rat bastard!" Yukiko snapped.

"…She meant that with respect to your clan," Fuji explained to a stunned Chiyose.

"You… You know him….?" Chiyose said with a blink, and gasped. "Of course! You're Lupin the Fourth, so you must know Goemon!"

"Yeah, all of them," Fuji answered with a smirk. "Well, the living ones…"

"Yeah, she's always this weird," Ryo explained, "we dropped her from a bridge when we were kids."

"Dropped? You said you slipped and I fell!"

"Urm…"

"You little bitch!" snapped Fuji.

"Would you guys knock it off?" Leo sighed tiredly, and looked to Chiyose, pushing up his glasses. "What if I told you we could set up a meeting with you?"

"You… Would really help me like that?" Chiyose said with wide eyes, and Fuji looked to Leo with a frown.

"Better stay away from this one… She's not legal, and you've got enough on your plate," Fuji said warningly to her brother.

"What's that supposed to mean?" Ally inquired, looking over to a flustered Leo. Lupin only cleared his throat, and turned away from the tent.

"Wait… You're dressed like a Clan member… How'd you get that outfit?" Chiyose inquired to Leo, who faltered and merely gave a nervous smirk.

"He borrowed it, from Goemon," Ally said quickly, not wanting to reveal the fact that it had actually been stolen from a clan member he and Jordan had knocked out cold and left in the middle of the jungle.

"Oh, I… I see…" Chiyose blinked, and Fuji cleared her throat and smiled at Chiyose.

"My dear Rat Clan leader, I assure you that whatever problem it is you have, that Lupin the Fourth will be able to solve it!"

"Here she goes again," Ryo said with rolled eyes.

"Somehow, this always gets us into trouble," Ally murmured.

Fuji ignored this completely, and smiled, "Miss Chiyose, would you give me twenty-four hours to solve your problem in exchange for you returning all of those nice rhinos to King Pius?"

"I… How am I sure I can trust you?" asked Chiyose, eyeing Fuji.

"Mm… Some collateral would be appropriate now, wouldn't it?" Fuji looked aside and thought for a moment, and then clapped her hands together and smiled. "How about if I can't come through for you you can chop off my head, eh?"

"WHAT!" all yelped and looked to Fuji, stunned, including Chiyose.

"Yup. If I can't pull through, this'll allll be yours!" Fuji said confidently.

"You're officially insane," Odori said with narrowed eyes.

"Heh, try being related to her," Jordan muttered.

"Try having to share a womb with her," Leo added.

"Ah, don't worry about that, Dori-chan! A few more months and you will be family!" Fuji said with a wide smile, causing Odori's usually half-closed eyes to shoot wide open.

"Why am I thinking you're only realizing this now?" Fuji asked with raised eyebrows.

"Please… Could you just get me a meeting with Goemon?" asked Chiyose with a hopeful smile.

"…Yeah… We can do it," said Fuji with a nod.

Back in the palace:

"…You're worried about them too, aren't you?" Carmen said quietly as she bounced Dai upon her knee while Max paced back and forth restlessly in front of one of the many open windows of the palace.

"I don't like being out of the battle," Max muttered.

"What happened… I mean, to your… That is…" Carmen's eyes shifted nervously, and Max sighed took a seat beside her.

"It's fine… I get that a lot, anyway," Max said quietly to her as he watched Dai plop onto her lap and giggle. "It was a couple of months ago… Five, maybe…. And we'd just finished a big case… One of our first as detectives… Well, we were in the middle of chasing the suspects down in this old mall that was set for demolition… Never saw the guy coming. Got shot in the spine, and I was told it was a miracle that I was alive. Months of therapy later, it's a good day when I can walk the stairs in my own house without having to take a breather."

Carmen looked downward to the ground and then upward to Max, "So why did you come on this trip, then?"

"Eh, same reason you came," Max said with a smirk. "Love turns us into morons… I had a hard enough time convincing him to even give me a chance… So you really think I'd let him go? Nah… No way I'm letting him out of my sight."

"That sounds… Quite beautiful," Carmen said quietly. "I… Wish I could have done that for Allen, when he…."

"Yeah, I heard…. And who hasn't, with Fuji?" Max asked with a shake of the head.

"…I haven't," Carmen answered, "….Why? Have you?"

"Should princesses even really be talking about this sort of thing?"

"Mm… I see that that's a 'yes'," Carmen said with a chuckle. "She really has quite a charm about her, doesn't she?"

"I see that's a 'wow, I'm jealous'," Max looked her over, and Carmen brushed back her hair.

"I'm not… Honestly, when I look at her, I'm more saddened, than anything…"

"Sadness for the fact you only gave her a black eye…" Max said beneath his breath, causing Carmen to do a double-take.

Meanwhile, in another area of the palace, Toshiro was continuing to sort through the belongings his parents had left behind so long ago, while Pius looked onward with a smile upon his face.

"I… I can't believe this…." Toshiro said with a disbelieving laugh as he pulled out a black kimono. "This must've been my old man's!"

"Old? Yes, Goemon must indeed be quite aged, now…. But I remember him as being such a young man!"

"What? Oh, you mean the hair, heh," Toshiro brushed his fingers through his hair and smirked. "Well, this is from… Well, a lot of regrettable things… I guess that it's just a reminder."

"All things considered, you sound much older than your father ever did…" said Pius with some concern.

"I…" Toshiro turned and began to answer, but there was a loud shout that was recognizable as Carmen, and both went running, Toshiro wearing one of his father's kimonos as he sought out Carmen.

"I'm… I'm really sorry about this…" Max said with a sigh of embarrassment as he looked down to the pinned Carmen.

"It's all right, you just caught me off guard," Carmen answered as she attempted to slide out from beneath Max, who had accidentally pinned her as she had tried to help him stand. Fortunately, the children were in their playpen, and none were injured, although some were crying from the surprise of the noise. "Is your back all right?"

"No, I think I froze it up," Max huffed, and gave another groan as he attempted to climb off of her, finding this futile.

"Well, you're not that heavy…" Carmen muttered. "All right, now… How about you move your arms, and then I… Well, no, that doesn't work…. Perhaps we should wait for help?"

"And have Ally kill me? Yeah freakin' right! I'd rather end up in a wheelchair again!" Max grumbled and paused for a moment. "Okay, do you think you could push me off of you?

"But wouldn't that hurt you?"

"I'm almost a hundred and forty pounds… Trust me, I'll have a lot to land on," Max replied, and Carmen placed her hands on Zenigata-Lupin's shoulders, and attempted to flip Max off of her. This only resulted with Max falling harder onto her, knocking his forehead into hers and both yelping at the pain.

"What in the hell?" came Ally's octave-higher-than-Jigen's voice, and Max shut his eyes as he prepared for what was to come.

"Allen, he simply fell," Carmen explained as she looked upward at the group who looked back down at the two in surprise. "I was trying to help him stand…"

"I'm so damn sure," Ally grumbled as he gripped Max by the shoulders and stood him up. Max gave a yell that caught even Ally off guard, and lent upon his crutch as he waited for the pain to quell.

"Jesus Christ, Ally!" Toshiro said with an open mouth as he and Pius ran to the scene. The samurai failed to notice Chiyose, and the clan leader gave a small smirk as she caught sight of him. "What in the hell did you do to the poor bastard!"

"I was just… I mean, I…" Ally sputtered as Leo ran to Max. "I… I didn't mean for him… What I mean, is…. Aw, damn it!"

"Max, are you all right?" whispered Leo quietly.

"Yeah, I…. I'm fine," Max reassured him.

"You're going home," said Leo sternly. "I knew you couldn't take this…"

"What? No… No way!" Max snapped. "I'm fine, I just… I need to sit down for a few minutes, is all…"

"Yeah, on the airplane," Leo added, leading Max out of the room. "I'm gonna call the kids… It's pretty late there, but knowing Charley, they'll still be up…"

"Heh, better her than me," Max muttered, and Leo hid his small shudder of self-disgust, and led Max to their room.

Paris:

The phone rang once, and Dako looked about from the edge of the book she had been reading. Avery was playing in the living room, and had no idea the phone was ringing. He failed to see the blinking lamp that signified the ringing, as he was setting up a series of action figures in preparance for battle. Jared was in the backyard, kicking about a soccer ball in an attempt to impress one of his other girlfriends. The phone rang once more, and Dako sighed, slid off of her seat in the dining room, and stared at the caller ID for one moment before answering, "Bonjour, c'est le residence de les Zenigatas et Lupins. C'est Dako Zenigata."

"Hey, Dako!" Leo said cheerily. "Do you think you could go get Charley?"

"Yeah… I'll try…" she answered, and ran up the stairs, looking about for her babysitter. She found Charley in her parents' room, going through Leo's closet. The babysitter had over her shoulders one of Detective Lupin's jackets, and also wore a stunned expression from Dako suddenly swinging open the door. The young girl raised an eyebrow to this, and passed the phone to Charley. "….This is for you…"

"Urm, thanks," an uneasy Charley said with a twitch of a smile.

"Anytime," Dako said unsuredly, and then exited out of the room quietly as she had entered.

"…Hey, what's up?" Charley asked quietly, sitting upon the bed. "Did he…?"

"No, but that's another story," Leo said with a sigh. "Max just got hurt really bad… Ally got angry with him and grabbed him by the shoulders, and… Yeah, Charley, he's in a ton of pain… I'm gonna have to send him home…"

"I'm not going home," said Max with a grunt. "We're a team!"

"And a good teammate knows when his buddy's down," Leo replied quickly, and turned his attention back to Charley. "Can you wait for him at the airport in the morning?"

"I'm not hurt!" said Max sternly, and he began to stand, gritting his teeth along the way.

"Max!" Leo yelped, and gave a frustrated sigh. "Charley, I… I'm going to have to let you go…"

"Yeah, I understand," said Charley quietly, and she cleared her throat and whispered. "I—"

"Gotta go!" Leo called, and then there was the sound of the dead end of the receiver, and Charley sighed, falling back onto the bed and closing her eyes.

"Why do I bother? I know I won't win…" she said to herself.

"I didn't know you were in a competition," Dako said from the doorway with folded arms.

Charley looked across and Dako, and rested upon her elbows. "Don't you have homework to do?"

"Heh, it's summer…" Dako muttered, and strolled down the hallway. She saw Jared running down the hall, and he stopped as she motioned for him to join her in her room.

"Is what's-her-face still here?" asked Dako tiredly, folding her arms and sitting back upon her bed.

"What, Lily? No, she… Hey, quit giving me that look! I haven't done anything, and you look just like Dad when you look at me like that!" snapped Jared as he seated himself at her desk. "What'd you need, anyway?"

"I think there's something going on with the brunette lady…"

"You know she's got a name, right? For crying out loud, Dako, she's as good as family!"

"That's what I'm worried about," Dako said, rising and pacing in her room anxious.

"What, you think she's having an affair with Dad?"

"Heck, no… I think he remembers her name as well as I do! I think it's Papa…"

"Pop? Jeeze, you're nuts…" Jared said with a sigh. "Like he'd ever go off and do anything like that. I'm come back when you start talking sane, all right?"

"Jared, she was wrapped in one of his jackets. When's that friendly behavior!"

"You ever think she might get cold, genius?"

"You ever think I could beat you to a pulp in front of all of your girlfriends, idiot?" Dako answered sternly, balling her fist. "Or at least tell them that you're dating like, four people at once?"

"…Fine, what do you want out of me, anyway, Dako?"

"Whatever dirt you can scrounge on her, Naruto," answered Dako with a confident smirk. "Grandpa's been teaching you how to snoop around, anyway…"

"I'm good at that because I'm a ninja!"

"Yeah, and I'm Haruko Haruhara," Dako said skeptically, pushing him out and then closing her bedroom door.

Jared's shoulders slumped as soon as the door of her room was closed, and he sighed, "Great… Now she definitely hates you… Nice going, Jared…. What's your next trick gonna be?"

Ororo:

"So…. You trained with my mother?" Toshiro said as he sat in his bedroom across from Chiyose. She merely gave a nod, and the two continued to talk, unaware of the pair of angered eyes looking onward at them.

"Do you believe that!" Yukiko shouted after she and Ryo were a good distance from Toshiro's room.

"Yeah," Ryo admitted, and Yukiko stopped, stunned, and looked to Ryo with an insulted expression. "What? Yuki, he's a man scorned… And, well, she's a lot… Urm…."

"What? Younger?"

"Well… Yeah…. And they probably have a lot more in common than you two ever did."

"What? I only shared most of my life with him… How could you even say that!"

"What do you and him have in common?" asked Ryo. "Other than a child and a love for drinking."

"Damn it…." Yukiko sighed, placing a hand over her forehead in thought.

"Exactly," Ryo nodded, and stopped in the hall. "You're not jealous, are you? I mean, I could understand that you might be a little green because she's younger, but… You almost sound like you might kind of want him back."

"Nah-ah… No way in hell," Yukiko said sternly, shaking her head.

"Well, then what's the issue exactly, Yukiko?"

"She's all over him like a dog with a bone…."

"Are you so sure she's the dog?"

"And now what's that supposed to mean? Jeeze… You get one lousy degree and suddenly you're friggin' Buddha!"

"I like to think of myself as more of a Mulla Nasridin character…."

"I don't follow Aladdin…."

"He's not… Ugh! Nevermind! You're jealous and you're too much like dad to admit it!" Ryo sighed, throwing her arms up in the air in frustration.

"Yeah, says the woman who put a hit out on Max and blamed it on Max's ex-boyfriend's wife."

"You're sworn to secrecy about that, you hear me? I tried to get that hit cancelled!" snapped Ryo, pointing to Yukiko accusingly.

"Christ, it's your girlfriend…" Yukiko rolled her eyes as she watched Fuji bounce down the hall, whistling to herself.

"Well, you two look cheery!" said Fuji with a smile.

"Go put a sock in it," snapped Yukiko, turning away from Fuji and lighting a cigarette.

"Yup! Same happy Yukiko-san…. Thought you'd like to say bye to Saiyuri before Carmen took her with her to France!"

"Who said my kid was going to France?" Yukiko inquired in a snap.

"Said the responsible parent, probably," Ryo said beneath her breath, and Yukiko stomped off, toward Toshiro. She slammed open his bedroom door, and was about to speak when she took in the entire situation. Chiyose and he were sitting across from one another, laughing over something quietly amongst themselves. Just as Toshiro turned about in surprise, and Chiyose took this opportunity to grab hold of his hands. He shot his head briefly back at this gesture, and then bolted as Yukiko quickly fled the doorway.

"Jeeze… Now I've definitely screwed it up…" Toshiro muttered, allowing his shoulders to slump.

"What's she done to you?" asked Chiyose, looking him over with worry.

"Huh? What's that supposed to mean?"

"You're from a long lineage of great samurai warriors, and you allow a woman to rule over you…" Chiyose explained, rising. Her stern features softened as she watched Toshiro's surprised expression, and she walked over to a nearby window. "I… I know… I have no business talking to you like that. It's your relationship, and I was just butting in…"

"Nah, everything you said was right," Toshiro muttered. "She walks all over me, and I let her… I put up with the friggin' borderline verbal abuse for years… You ever want something for years and years only to find out that, when you get it, it's not exactly what you wanted?"

"I think we've all had that happen," Chiyose said, tilting her head downward. "This may be a little forward, but I'd like you to come home with me after this, both you and your daughter."

"….I… Well, I…"

"Our clan needs its leader more than ever, and you're the one for the job," Chiyose said, gripping onto his hands once more. Toshiro looked downward at this gesture, and broke their grasp.

"I'm sorry…. New York's my home, now, not Japan. I barely fit into your culture, anymore," Toshiro said regretfully.

"That's very unfortunate… And sadly, it'll cost you," Chiyose said, and Toshiro confusion kept him from preparing for the blade of the knife Chiyose jabbed deeply into his chest. Toshiro grunted, his eyes widened, and he slowly slumped to the ground.

"Wh… Why did you…"

"It seems like the Ishikawas get weaker with each generation," muttered Chiyose, tossing aside her knife. "Like I'd really allow you to take my spot as the next potential Rat Clan leader… Please… You're pathetic…" she said with a sneer, and headed out of the room, smirking and chuckling to herself while Toshiro remained on the ground, "now to start phase two…."

Ororo had a train station running through it, and that was where, and while Toshiro lay in an ever-increasing pool of his own blood, Fuji and her gang, save for the samurai and Yukiko, stood in front of a large series of freight cars, Fuji looking over the scene and wondering how to approach the situation. Leo had taken Max and Carmen to the airport, much to Zenigata's protests, and they had left with all of the children, headed toward Paris. This only left the gang leader, Ryo, Heiji, Ally, Jordan, and Odori, who all looked over the wooden freight cars with concern at the size of the pearl-white creatures inside.

"All right… So what's the grand plan, Fuji?" asked Ryo, glancing to her watch and the looking to her friend.

"In all honesty? Have Dori-chan slice open the locks and then run like hell," Fuji admitted, scratching the back of her head meekly and chuckling at the stunned expressions from all around her.

"Great… I'm gonna go out getting trampled on by some kind of poor man's running of the bulls…" Ryo muttered.

Odori looked over to her shoulder at Jordan, and sighed as she unsheathed her sword, "I might as well humor the fool…."

"Now that's not very nice, Dori-chan!" said Fuji, putting a hand upon her hip and smiling. "Besides, we've got the matter of our visitors, before anything…"

"Visitors?" Odori inquired, blinking.

"Mm-hm… Looks like my plan's gotten a lit-tle more complicated…" Fuji said as she looked around at the gang of ninjas that surrounded her and her gang.

At the palace:

"Aw, what in the hell?" Yukiko felt her jacket pocket and sighed, shutting her eyes as she remember the exact whereabouts of her lighter. "I friggin' dropped it back there… Great, and they're probably just finishing up and he's using it to light her up one…" she grumbled, heading out of the gardens and up to Toshiro's room. She found the lighter right beside Toshiro's opened door, and bent down to pick up the silver Zippo with Japanese engraving upon it.

Yukiko frowned as she noted something staining the front of the lighter, and held it closer to her face to get a better look. She tilted her head to a side as she wiped away some of what she quickly identified as blood, and then heard a groan come from the bedroom. She placed the lighter in her jacket pocket and slowly crept in, Magnum drawn.

"Yuki…" Toshiro murmured as he looked up from the floor to his ex, "L… Lo…"

"Oh my God!" Yukiko gasped in horror. "What in the hell happened to you!"

"Look… Look out!" Toshiro coughed, clutching onto his wound tighter and attempting to reach for Yukiko. But it was too late. Chiyose, who had been hiding on the ceiling of the room, hopped down, and placed a thin string about a stunned Yukiko's neck, and began to pull back, trying with all of her might to choke the gunslinger.

"You're just as bad as any of the others," Chiyose hissed in Yukiko's ear. "And in a few more moments, there'll be one less of you to worry about…."