Well, the good news is I didn't die! I just got wrapped up in a NaWri... Na... Narwhal MeowMeow writing assignment. Back now though!

"Jet lag's going to be the death of me!" Max yawned and stretched as he followed Leo into the hotel room and sat down on the squeaking mattress of the cheap bed. "You gotta hand it to Lupin, she sure is making a name for herself…"

Leo had no sooner turned on the TV then they both saw it—A playback from a morning show, and Fuji standing out in the audience in Rockefeller Center, holding up details of her next heist on a bright green sign written on with glitter pen.

Max's fists balled as he gripped onto the questionably clean duvet underneath him, "We could hide her body and they'd never know… No. She wouldn't float in the bottom of the Hudson. Her boobs are probably too buoyant."

"Do we really have to go on about her chest, Zenigata?" Leo asked with a light chuckle to hide the fact he slowly felt himself dying on the inside every time Max did it.

"Eh, yeah… I get it if you're shy… Sorry, I'll try to keep that in check, LeBlanc."

"Well, it's not that, it's just… She's… A criminal, you know? It just… Doesn't feel professional."

"Yeah… Sorry LeBlanc, didn't know you felt that way about it… I guess stuff just worked different at my old department."

"Thanks for understanding, Zenigata," Leo's shoulders fell with relief, and he set to unpacking his suitcase. His rare moment of peace was interrupted by the ringing of his cell phone, and he looked down at it and its incoming number with disdain. The number was restricted, but he knew exactly who it was.

Leo took the phone call out in the hallway of the hotel, and he was less than pleased by the cheerful, flilttering giggle on the other end.

"So I see Fuji's been busy!"

"Dad, I… This is a really, really bad time to call me. Also how are you even making this call? I don't have long distance on my personal phone!"

"I got Goemon's wife to hack into the system so you get it free now! Isn't that great? What a wonderful woman... I really swear, if he hadn't snatched her up, I-"

"You... You what?! Make her change it back. Now, Dad."

"You know, I remember when you were grateful... What's all this being hyper about anyhow? Is it the reason your mother and I can't come over?"

"No! Yes… Kind of… Listen, I'm on assignment in New York, we'll talk as soon as I get back, I promise!"

"We could do that… Or we could get together for lunch!"

"You… You know that I can't do that. I have a job now, and if anybody knew—"

"Ari, when are you going to come around? I get that you had to get some stuff out of your system, bu it's been almost a year and—"

"Let me do this!" Leo snapped. There was silence on the other end of the phone, and Leo rubbed his eyes beneath his glasses.

"…If that's what you want, Ari."

"Dad? No, Dad, wait!" Leo glared at the screen that showed the dropped call and turned to head back into the hotel room, but found the door already open.

"Sorry, I heard shouting and at a place like this it could've been a murder out here for all I know…" Max replied, taking a step aside to allow Leo back in the room. "Everything, um… Okay?"

"Fine… Yeah, it's fine… Sorry, Zenigata… So it's a book of prints she's after this time, right?"

"Right. The Museum of Modern Art."

"She really isn't aiming for small," Leo huffed and tossed aside his phone on the bed. "Hopefully we'll get taken a little more seriously this time."

"Hey, we're heroes in Dubai at least."

"You've been looking at that for over an hour," Odori opted for a couch, for once, as she took a seat beside Toshiro. Ally was arguing with Heiji over whether the dining room table would be better served for hosting an array of computers or, well, dining implements, while Ryo tended to a scrape Yukiko had received from the attack the night before. Fuji was busying herself with an Etch-a-Sketch at the same dining room table where Ally and Heiji argued.

"I… I'm trying to remember what the words mean…"

"Hrm?"

"I don't really… Read Japanese anymore…"

"You would like me to, then?"

"If you don't mind…"

Odori skimmed over it before handing it back to Toshiro, "It's inconsequential to the task at hand."

"…It's about Julie, isn't it?"

"…Yes."

"...Yuki chewed me out for keeping this place a "shrine" last night. Before the attack."

"So you were nearly killed by Rat Clan members… And your main concern is that you got shouted at."

"It's not that… I mean… Do you think…?"

"I've never lost anyone like you have… But at the same time, I think if you are questioning it this much that you may already have your answer. I need to go practice. May I move your bed out of the way?"

"What? O-Oh, yeah…"

Odori gave a dutiful nod, and Toshiro was left to look at the note and wonder exactly what it was written on it.

"Finally! This is what I'm TALKING about!" The only time Max's grin had been wider was when he had gotten the latest Xbox on the last night of Hanukkah, after enduring the obligatory seventh night of receiving socks and new school clothes. He was practically giggling at the guards lined up in front of him, while Leo chose to shirk back, doing his best to remain behind Max. "This is the amount of manpower we need for her!"

"Just two weeks ago you thought she was a joke," Leo reminded him, and Max cringed and cleared his throat.

"I reserve the right to adjust my opinion at the situation changes… How what are you thinking, about twenty guards in the front? Maybe around the around the air vents?"

"Fuji doesn't do air vents," Leo replied offhandedly, and just as quickly mentally kicked himself.

"What, how did you…? Right! Boobs are too big! LeBlanc, you're a genius!"

"I-I thought we agreed to stop talking about those!"

"Right, so we'll just focus on the entrances!" Max paced around the large room in front of them, stopping in front of a Pollock painting, and Leo walked over to him with a brochure from the museum, nudged him, and pointed out the floor plan.

"S-Six stories and a theater?!" Max yelped, his voice cracking. Just as it had when he had been a young teenager and gotten the Xbox.

The tiny performance artist, dressed in all white and hidden behind a large pair of sunglasses and a large, floppy white hat looked unamused at the tour guide. Her entourage, also dressed in flowing white outfits, was greeted with a warm welcome by the curator.

"Who's Yoko Ono over there?" Max whispered as he nodded to the tiny woman, who was now getting flanked by photographers walking backwards as she strolled through the exhibits.

Leo flipped to another page of the brochure and held it closer so he could read it better, "Huh! Looks like Maki Nakamura… A "scream artist"."

"Meaning?"

"It's all basically just recordings of her screaming at different national landmarks…"

"…You ever just get angry that you went to school for years for a decent job, LeBlanc?"

"All the time," Leo folded the brochure and shoved it in his pocket. "Apparently she's a recluse."

"So… She's a Japanese artist who's rarely seen and she's here the same time Lupin wants to steal something…"

"And she's short with long hair… Just like Ishikawa."

Max looked to Leo, Leo looked to Max. Max reached for his handcuffs while Leo pulled out his badge.

"Ohhh… That's rough…" Fuji winced as she watched the footage on her cell phone. It was nighttime in the city as she drove through it with her companions, but it was still well illuminated enough outside to make it look like they were still in the daytime. She couldn't help but giggle as she watched Maki smacking both Leo and Max with her white sun hat.

"They get arrested?" Ally asked.

"No. Nakamura ended up loving the audio playback so much that she offered to not press charges as long as she got to keep the security tape." Fuji shut her cell phone and smile. "I like that Ari's new job seems to be working out for him!"

"I can't believe they thought that was me," Odori huffed.

"I know! Her scream is TOTALLY different, Dori-chan!" Fuji giggled.

"Hey, we're here—Where do I let you out at?"

"The salon… I broke a nail…"

"Fuji! Focus!"

"So mean, Ryo-san…" Fuji adjusted the glasses on her face and adjusted the side view mirror of the car. "Do you think I could pass as an insurance agent?"

"You look to me like you could suck the life out of something," Yukiko said plainly from her spot on Toshiro's scooter as they pulled up beside her and the others in their car. Toshiro climbed off of it, adjusted his suit, and nodded his thanks as Yukiko handed him a briefcase.

"Toshiro," Odori called out to him. "…Be careful in there."

"I will, Dori. Don't worry," Toshiro handed Fuji a matching briefcase and the two headed into the large museum.

"So what food's the best here?"

"Eh? I thought you were a dieting freak, Fuji?"

"Are you kidding? I eat like a pig. I just run all the time to keep this figure up!"

"Chinese."

"Really! This coming from a guy who actually visited China, too…"

"It's totally different, believe me. Where's this book at?"

"Second floor. It's almost closing time in, but we're going to be in assessing its value."

"How'd you convince them?"

"Well, oddly one of the higher-ups thought it would be a good idea after the scare yesterday."

"Really…? So random phone call?"

"I love that so many of you can sound American!" she giggled and stopped in front of a large glass case, and her grin grew. "This is it! Beautiful, huh?"

Toshiro glanced at the open page in the case and tilted his head, "Eh? Oh, yeah… They're all kinda demented looking though, don't you think?"

"Oh don't be like that, Toshiro-chan! This is your culture!"

"These things used to give my nightmares, Fuji! My dad was banned from bedtime story duty for a reason! Now what?"

"Well, since Ms. Nakamura took all of film from the security cameras, and I know for a fact they haven't been replaced yet, I say you let me work while you keep the curator busy. Turn on the charm!"

"W-What?"

"Mr. Inoue?" asked an unfamiliar voice.

"T-That's me!" Toshiro snapped his head to find the curator in question there. She was also a Japanese woman, dressed in a business suit and holding a clipboard in hand. Toshiro was relieved to see that she was older—So the need for "charm" was probably unnecessary.

"Erica Sorayama," she extended his hand to shake it and grinned. "I was hoping we could discuss the matter of taking up some additional insurance on the book Ms. Yamada is looking at so intently."

"…Yeah…" Toshiro noticed she wasn't wearing heels, as he thought she was. In fact… They didn't look like dress shoes at all. He felt for the knife in his pant pocket as he followed the tall woman through the exhibits of the museum.

"So I heard a rumor… There's another group after this book… The Rat Clan?"

She stopped in the middle of the emptying exhibit, and turned around to face him. "That was just a rumor. Where did you hear that?"

"Word gets around this day and age. What the hell would they want with a single page in a book?"

"The person featured on it was their leader at the time. Well… An artistic representation…"

"I'd hope they wouldn't actually look like that…" Toshiro muttered, glad he'd inherited his father's features, even if they were hidden by a mask and wig at the moment.

She gave a chuckle as she opened the door to her office, "Not at all! It was a bit of a liberty he took."

"…This is your office?"

"Why yes." Eric took a seat at the desk and smiled. "You seem surprised."

"Well, it's just… There's a suit jacket and tie on the coat rack back there… And the jacket looks a little short for you."

"You're very perceptive, Mr. Inoue." She reached up from where her hand had been hidden by the desk, and pulled up a long blade. "It's a shame it's come to this. I was really hoping we could have chatted a bit more."

Fuji was humming to herself as she finished lifting the glass off of the case, quietly thanking Heiji for deactivating the alarm system remotely. Part of her wished for that same alarm system as she felt the tip of a knife jab her in the back warningly.

"My. I've heard about being excited by the arts, but this is just ridiculous!" she giggled as she raised both of her hands. She felt the book yanked out of her left hand before the blade was raised over her head, and a few of the hairs on the top were sliced through before a shot rang out and the ninja fell to the floor, instantly dead from his wounds.

"You couldn't have done that earlier!?" Fuji yelped, slamming her black high heel with its red back on the floor.

"I like being dramatic," Yukiko answered, and fired another round of shots as more ninjas jumped out from behind a sculpture.

The ones that came in through the left side hallway were greeted by Ally with his fists, and the ones on the right were treated to a taste of Zantetsuken, wielded by Odori.

"I visited the scream art exhibit and am even more offended that they thought it could be me!" Odori announced in-between slices.

"Fuji! Where's Toshiro!?"

"Distracting the curator! A Sorayama lady!"

"Fuji, there's no one on the payroll with that name," she heard Heiji say through her earpiece.

"…I think someone may need to go help!" Fuji added, high-kicking a ninja that rushed up to her with a sword.

Toshiro, meanwhile, was still fighting in the small office now strewn in destroyed books and paperwork. He ducked under the desk as Erica stuck out her blade, and just as quickly rose and kicked back the desk, pinning her against one of the walls temporarily. She snarled and pushed the desk away from herself, then hopped on it and lunged for him. Toshiro grabbed a nearby marble bookend in the shape of an angel, and used this to block her blade before striking her across the face with it.

She yowled out in pain, but looked up at him, seething, through the blood that dripped down from her forehead. She ran at him, but not with her blade drawn. Instead she pushed into him, and sent them both sailing through the splintered door of the office, sliding across the floor of the hallway with him.

It was at this same time Leo and Max were driving up, having received a short text message from a blocked number.

Even from the windows, both could see shadows of people inside the supposedly closed building. They nodded to one another and rushed in, weapons drawn.

"This is kind of fun!" Fuji exclaimed as she kicked away another ninja while sitting perched on the arm of a large statue of a Greek god.

"Do you think you could at least TRY to escape!?" Ally growled, breaking out of a headlock he'd been placed in and punching one of the Rat Clan members in the gut.

"OH! I nearly forgot!" she giggled, and bounded her way towards the exit, humming to herself and skipping over the fallen along the way.

She was stopped in the gallery by Erica, who had appeared to have lost Toshiro long enough to track down Fuji.

"That book… Give it to me…"

"…That blood does not match that necklace. And navy-colored ninja shoes with a cream pantsuit? Ouch. Nevermind. The blood's the least of your worries there."

"No games, bitch!"

"Don't call her that!" Toshiro growled as he jumped behind Erica, his blade drawn. She knocked him down on the ground with a turn, and Toshiro rolled down on the floor.

"Here!" He heard, and Odori stopped her fighting long enough to toss him the pair of swords she'd carried on her back.

"Dori, I love you right now," he said to himself as he ripped off his mask and wig and unsheathed the pair of swords.

Erica stopped her attack on Fuji, which had largely been unsuccessful due to Fuji's erratic jumping and dancing about. The willingness to look like a fool and ability to still move gracefully in heels was proving to be Fuji's advantage.

Erica stopped doing much of anything as she looked at Toshiro. Her mouth opened slightly, but no words came out.

"You hurt my wife. You won't hurt my friends," he snapped, a sword in either of his hands as he glared down at her.

"I… You… You're…" she started to sputter, but with a shake of the head quickly regained herself. Toshiro yelled and ran for her, but with a puff of smoke she vanished.

It fell silent in the gallery. As the smoke cleared, the Lupin gang found all of the Rat Clan members gone. Even the ones that had been injured, lying on the floor, were not missing.

"Out of here quicker than Dad whenever Mom cooked dinner…" Ally muttered, rubbing his aching fists.

"LUPIN!" Fuji jumped at the sound of Max's familiar growl, and she looked to her left and right.

"S-She couldn't have chosen a smoke bomb that lasted a little longer?!" Fuji yelped, running away from the duo and down the hall of the museum, tossing the book of prints to Toshiro along the way.

She finally lost them in the theater, and Ryo was there to pick her up. The rest of the gang had gathered, and Fuji immediately slumped down in her seat when she finally hopped into the passenger side of the car. Ally had been expecting Ryo's shoes to come flying back at him, but was unprepared when Fuji's high heels did the same. While he had only minimal injuries from the Rat Clan fight, he took one of these straight to the face, and clutched his aching nose.

"New rule! Shoes stay up front!" Ally snapped, lifting up the offending high heel.

Yukiko couldn't help but notice how quiet Toshiro was the entire, hectic ride back to his apartment.

"You have anything on her, Heiji?" Toshiro looked over his brother's shoulder at the three laptop screens in front of him, and Heiji shook his head.

"Just that she's a known member of the Rat Clan. No name, though. Why? You don't think…?"

"I don't know what to think," Toshiro admitted, placing his hands behind his head and giving a deep exhale. He noticed Heiji was no longer focused on the computers; instead, he was looking past these to Fuji and Ryo, who were playing a card game with one another.

"Ya know… You should talk to her."

"E-Eh? What?" Heiji snapped back to attention and blinked.

"Fuji."

"What about her?"

"You liked her back when we worked with Ari. Your excuse then was that Ari was our boss and it woulda been weird."

"Well, now Fuji's my boss, so it'd be even weirder."

"Hey, it's your business. Just don't wait on that shit, man."

"Noted… I'm gonna look in another database in the meantime." Heiji waved Toshiro off, and waited until he was certain he was alone to pull up another page, one he had kept minimized. One with the woman's name. One that told him everything he needed to know that Toshiro had been wondering about.

Toshiro found Yukiko walking around the apartment while brushing her teeth, and gave a roll of the eyes.

"That's gross. That's so gross that you do that. And what the hell if you trip, Yuki?" he asked as he sat down on his bed.

Yukiko returned to the sink and spit out the toothpaste before answering him. "Then I die and make a lot of people with gunshot wounds very happy that I went out that way. So what's with the boxes?"

"Eh? Got them from the liquor store this morning."

"You, uh, aren't taking up a new hobby, are you?"

"What? Hell no. I just figured it… Might be nice to have a change of scenery. And with what Fuji's gonna pay us I'll be able to afford an actual bedroom. Hell, I can have a guest room."

"You mean for once I won't get your couch? Aw, but that's tradition! Just like you scaring the hell outta my dad in the middle of the night when you visit."

"Yeah I'm movin' now, so let's talk about how you live at your parents' place still in your thirties..."

"OH! Lightbulb! You two should be roommates!" Fuji exclaimed, climbing over Ryo on the couch before being pushed back into her place.

Toshiro snorted. "Move from Chicago? Nah, you're cracked."

"Then again I am one of the few people who can stand you. And you'll never have to deal with your step-mom's cooking ever again."

"No, I'll have you and show tunes every morning, just like when we were kids!"

"Hey, you'll be getting up at a decent hour!... In all seriousness, I wouldn't mind it, Yuki. You're one of the few people I trust."

"I'll think about it, all right?" she answered. "At least let me get my tie on before you go asking me about big things like that."

"Oh, I ironed it for you!" Fuji called out, and Yukiko just as quickly made a strangling motion at Fuji.

"Y-You WHAT?! That's dry clean!"

"See! If you lived with Toshiro-chan he would know that and would have been able to stop me! I do owe you a new tie… Maybe we can update your whole wardrobe! A cute little cocktail dress or something!"

"Do I look like the cocktail dress sort?!"

It would certainly be louder again with a roommate, Toshiro thought to himself.