DISCLAIMER: I don't own Lupin, II, III, or VII—Lupin IV, however—Well, nevermind it…
Holy crap…
Finally found some artwork for Lupin VIII…. Wow…. You think after enough generations they would look different, but they all look exactly the same in this series—Sure, there are some changes in hairstyles but they look really similar to their ancestors… Goemon's similarity to the point where one would believe his family just kept marrying inside the bloodline…
Well, anyway, purging my thoughts of this…
A character to fill in Zenigata's role? I'm interested…
Enjoy the next chapter…. And happy holidays!
Chapter Thirty
A Month Later: Beautiful Boy, Darling Boy
'Here comes the sun,
Here comes the sun,
And I say,
It's all right,'
--The Beatles, 'Here Comes the Sun'
"Careful with the head now!" Amaya warned.
"I know," Goemon replied.
"Watch out! He's slipping a little!"
"I know. I've taken care of it."
"It's getting cold out. Do you think we should put a hat on him?" asked Amaya nervously.
Goemon stopped, and Heiji squirmed in his arms, "Amaya, don't worry. I know what I'm doing…"
"I just hope I know what I'm doing…" she replied as she looked downward at Heiji, who had gained a considerable amount of weight over the past few weeks.
"You'll do well," Goemon responded as he opened the back door to the Chrysler and strapped the baby in. Amaya double-checked Heiji's safety straps, all while Goemon looked onward tiredly.
"Okay," she nodded her approval, and climbed into the car with Goemon. She started up the car, and cautiously pulled out of the parking lot, "Do you think we should get the camcorder out?"
"Amaya…."
"I know, I know… Just a little nervous," Amaya responded with a weak smile, "Aren't you?"
"Yes. But he's survived the worst of it yet. He was born a fighter," Goemon answered, looking back in the rearview at Heiji, "That's good to know."
"Well," Amaya sat back in her seat, "How's Toshiro?"
"Better," Goemon answered.
"What was wrong with him? That day I fought the samurai is the same day he stopped talking to you—For two weeks straight!" Amaya responded, "It was the strangest thing I had ever seen!"
"Well…" Goemon looked back at Heiji, and sighed heavily, "Never mind. I'll tell you in a little bit."
"How bad is it?" Amaya chuckled, and smiled. Her smile faded as she saw Goemon's expression, "Oh, God… What is it?"
"Your father and stepmother are arriving today, right?" Goemon inquired, obviously trying to change the subject.
"Yeah. Uh, they're probably getting off the plane from Hawaii right now," Amaya answered as she briefly glanced at her watch, "When I told Dad Heiji was going to be all right—You should have heard him!"
"I did. The entire house did," Goemon responded, "Your father is rather… Expressive."
"Yes, disproving the old myth that girls try to marry men like their fathers," Amaya said with a slick smile, "Although, in certain areas, I can see some similarities…."
"Don't test me, woman," Goemon replied sternly.
Later:
Amaya was silent as she opened and shut the car door. Goemon exited the car, and went to remove Heiji, but struggled with undoing the safety belt. Amaya walked over, unbuckled Heiji in two movements, and smiled at Goemon smugly. She wordlessly walked past him up the stairway to the house, where the rest of the group, including Martha (who proved herself to be a Dalmatian after numerous washings) awaited them.
"That my nephew?" Fujiko asked as she looked downward at the napping Heiji.
"Yep," Amaya suddenly shifted her attention to her son, and smiled. He looked a great deal like his father and Toshiro, "Toshiro…" she muttered, and looked downward at Heiji. Toshiro and Heiji could have passed as brothers, she realized.
Goemon came into the house, and Amaya looked over at him, and smiled tiredly as Heiji moved in her arms.
"Ah… That's cute…. Well, got to get back to work on cleaning out the costumes! Coming, Jigen, or too busy with the baby?" asked Lupin.
"I've got one of my own to keep me busy, thanks," Jigen replied, and walked towards Lupin, "Cute kid, Amaya. And doesn't look a damned thing like Zenigata!"
"I know!" Lupin breathed a sigh of relief as he seated himself on the couch of the living room. Spread out around him were various disguises that he and Jigen had been cataloging that morning. Martha followed into after Jigen, and lied down at his feet.
"Goddamned dog," Jigen muttered as he opened another trunk, "Hangs around me—No matter where I am! It's a struggle kicking her ass out of the bathroom when I'm trying to take a shower!"
"Maybe you're so hairy you remind her of her mommy," Lupin retorted.
"Do me a favor and go to hell."
"Hey, I've already spent the night in the ghetto section of Detroit in the winter, thanks," Lupin retorted, "Hey, look at this one!" Lupin laughed, and held up a Nazi uniform, complete with insignia.
"Jesus… You kept that?" Jigen inquired, "Why?"
"You bet. You never know when a nazi costume will come in handy!" Lupin responded, and put the jacket on, and mock-saluted, "Heil!"
"Oh, my—" he heard in stifled gasp.
"Fujiko, I—Oh, hi, Natasha, Pops…. How was the honeymoon? Hawaii everything they say it is?… He he he…." Lupin said as he meekly removed the jacket and walked over to them, "Uh… That's not an everyday thing, I swear! I'm the farthest thing from a—"
"Uh… We just got in, and came to visit Heiji," said Natasha, somewhat dazed.
"Oh, he's out front," Lupin replied.
"Thanks," Natasha nodded, and began to walk in that direction with Zenigata.
"Nice going, dumbass," Zenigata muttered as he walked past Lupin.
"Hey, I didn't know! I'm not a nazi!" Lupin yelled. He looked over at the smug-looking Jigen, and threw the jacket at him, "Choke on it!" he snapped, and stormed out to the others.
Meanwhile, in the playroom that had since been set up for the children, Amaya laid Heiji down with Ryo, Ari, and Fuji. Yukiko and Toshiro looked downward at the babies, and Yukiko turned to Toshiro.
"This is our gang?" she asked flatly.
"I… Uh… Guess…" Toshiro responded as he looked downward into the crib. Fuji and Ari were near walking age, and reached upward to their two 'partners', "Wow… This is going to be one hell of a wait, waiting for them to grow up."
"Yeah, but it'll happen," Yukiko replied as she picked up Ari and then Ryo. Toshiro picked Fuji and then Heiji out of the crib, and both sat on the floor with the children. Ari looked upward at Yukiko, and gave her hair a short tug, "Ow! You little jerk!" she snapped, "Oh, I can't wait until you're old enough to duke it out with me!"
"Until then," Toshiro allowed Fuji to run around the playroom while he held onto Heiji.
"He looks a lot like you!" Yukiko commented, "Look, his hair parts in the same place as yours and Goemon's!"
"Uh… Yeah," Toshiro nodded.
"I'll bet you looked just like that as a baby! Do you have any photos we can compare?" asked Yukiko.
"I don't have any," Toshiro replied.
"Why not—"
"I just don't!" Toshiro snapped, and handed Heiji off to Yukiko, and then exited the playroom. She grumbled, and set Heiji down in the crib, and then gathered up Ryo, Fuji, and Ari, who was the hardest to force back into the crib. When Yukiko turned to leave, Ari grabbed onto her from behind.
"Oh! ARI!" she yelled.
"What is it!?" Lupin asked, running into the playroom.
"He just grabbed me!" Yukiko answered.
"By your hair? Aw, sweetie, that must've really—"
"By my ass!" Yukiko responded.
Lupin paused a few moments, allowing this to sink in, "Are you sure?"
"Yes," Yukiko nodded wildly.
"Sorry, Yuki. I, uh, guess he just takes after his old man," Lupin replied coyly. Yukiko stormed out, and Lupin walked over to the crib, and looked downward at Ari, "You've got to talk to them before you put the moves on 'um, kid," sighed Lupin. Ari spat out something that sounded vaguely like 'vodka', and Lupin shuddered.
"Hey! Toshiro!" Yukiko caught up to the young samurai in his room, where he was watching his birds intently from his bed, "You okay?"
"I'm fine… I just…" Toshiro shook his head, and slid off his bed, "You ever feel like you don't belong somewhere?"
"All the time!" Yukiko laughed, "But then I look at my Dad—And I guess I feel like I belong here again. We're alike in a lot of ways. We both like shooting, and old Westerns, too!"
"I don't feel that…." Toshiro muttered, "I feel like I'd be better suited somewhere else. Not back at home, though—I don't belong there, either…"
"Then where the hell do you belong?" Yukiko laughed.
"I wish I knew for sure," Toshiro responded.
Downstairs:
"I'll get it!" Ming called as the doorbell rang. She made sure her gun was loaded before she answered the door, and frowned as she registered the face of the visitor, "Rat-boy?"
"Jigen's wife?" Rat-boy returned.
"Sure…. Come on in…." she said slowly, and allowed him to step into the home, "How are you doing?"
"Fine," Rat-boy responded as he looked around at the surroundings, "Nice taste, but that's exactly what I'd expect from Lupin…"
"Why are you here?" Ming replied as she closed the door.
"I came to fetch my cousin. Someone said he came around to these parts," Rat-boy replied, "But Goemon probably killed him already."
"Wrong," Ming answered.
"Oh, so he's alive?"
"No. Amaya killed him."
"What?!" Rat-boy choked, "The Zenigata girl!?"
"Hey, she's part of Goemon's clan now," Ming answered, "Now, why was your cousin here?"
"That doesn't concern you, China doll," Rat-boy replied as he began to search the rooms for something, or someone.
"What are you looking for? Maybe I could help you?" Ming asked as she hurriedly kept up with him as he traveled from room to room.
"Goemon," he stopped as he found Goemon in the upstairs library. Goemon stopped, and turned to Rat-boy, "I believe your mother filled you in on the situation. I've come to talk you about the pact."
"The pact has a name," Goemon snapped, slamming a book he had been reading shut.
"I know. But you're familiar with it, I'm sure, so I don't have to use it," Rat-boy laughed. Goemon glowered, and his face reddened slightly in anger. Rat-boy turned back to Ming, "We've got this under control, China doll."
"Don't call me—" the door suddenly slammed shut in front of her face, "that…. Stupid jerk…"
"Ming? Who is that?" Lupin asked as he stuck his head out of the playroom.
"Rat-boy. He and Goemon are talking," Ming replied.
"Really? Thanks…" he nodded, and exited back into the playroom. He set Ari back down in his playpen, and opened a secret panel in the wall. It was a small room behind the library, which had a large panel of clear glass on one side, but looked like a painting of the Battle of Waterloo on the library wall. He gasped a little in surprise as he saw Jigen was already there, a bag of popcorn on his lap.
"What—What the hell are you doing in here!?" Lupin snapped.
"Where ever you go, I go," Jigen answered, "Popcorn?"
"Put that away!" Lupin snapped, and seated himself next to Jigen, "Anything happen so far?"
"Nope. Just talking…. Nothing really good, yet," Jigen admitted, and picked up a drink he kept by his side on the floor, "Hey, remember when the library used to be our interrogation room? I have a lot of good memories in here…" Jigen said, "I wonder what'll happen when they try to recarpet it and find all of the blood on the floor!" he laughed.
"Shut up," Lupin whispered, leaning inward and listening to the two. They watched Goemon and Rat-boy talk to one another, and Goemon stopped suddenly, and turned to the window. The next thing Jigen and Lupin knew, Zantetsu had wedged itself into the bulletproof glass, inches away from their faces. Both fell back in their seats in shock.
Later:
"You two had no right to be there, watching me!" Goemon growled as he stood with Lupin and Jigen in the library. Rat-boy had since left, and Zantetsu still lay jammed in the middle of Napoleon's forehead on the picture.
"How'd you know?" asked Lupin.
"The picture was too low to the ground to be real. I've seen enough art museums in my lifetime, I would think," Goemon responded as he pulled Zantetsu out and sheathed it.
"Goemon, what's this about a pact?" asked Lupin, "We can help you, if you let us."
"It's nothing of your concern!" Goemon answered, "There's nothing to help! It's of my own doing, so it will be of my own undoing!" Jigen and Lupin turned to one another and eyed Goemon wordlessly, and Goemon stormed over to a window, and quickly opened it, "I'm going to see if we can go back…" he said quietly.
"Back where?" asked Lupin.
"Japan," Goemon replied, "It was a mistake to leave the country. It was stupid to take Toshiro out of Japan in the first place."
"This has something to do with Toshiro, doesn't it?" Lupin inquired, "Goemon…. What does he have to do with the pact?"
"He is the pact," Goemon responded, and exited the library via the window.
"He is…. What the hell did that mean?" Jigen wondered out loud.
"Between the Rat Clan and the Ishikawa Clan," Lupin explained.
"What?" Jigen snapped his head in Lupin's direction, "Is Toshiro's mom from the Rat Clan!?"
"Yep," Lupin nodded.
"So, he and Goemon are both half Rat."
"No, Toshiro's mother is from the Rat Clan."
"But how can—"
Lupin turned to Jigen, "Goemon's mom isn't Toshiro's mom."
"How can't she be!? He and Goemon look alike and—" it suddenly dawned on Jigen, "Oh…. Oh, holy sh—"
"Lupin!" Fujiko stuck her head in the doorway suddenly, "Mail from England, and it's not that Collin creep, either!"
"England? Who do I know in—Oh, right," Lupin took the letter from Fujiko, and opened it. He scanned through it quickly, and shoved it in his pocket, and turned his attention to Jigen.
"He did the exact same thing I did!?" Jigen yelped, pointing over his shoulder to the opened window.
"Not quite," Lupin answered, "Goemon was supposed to marry the girl."
"So, that's twice he's almost-married, once married?"
"Yep."
"Damn," Jigen shook his head in disbelief, "What happened?"
"She figured that it wasn't going to work, so she called it off. Soon after, Goemon left, and Toshiro came onto the scene. Good ole' Uncle Heiji stole Toshiro from his mom, and gave him to Mrs. Ishikawa to raise as her own son," Lupin explained, "He thought the Rat-Clan had become corrupt, or some B.S. like that…"
"You saw that all in the hospital?" Jigen inquired.
"No. I bugged the phones, too. We don't know what kind of affects this could have in our lives. If the Rat Clan gets angry enough…."
Jigen was stunned at this, "That kid's entire life has been nothing but one long lie… Jesus… I feel for him."
"Me, too. But we can't go telling him. It's Goemon's duty to do what he thinks best."
"Right," Jigen nodded, "Poor kid, though. No wonder he and Yukiko get along so well."
"No, it's not that. It's because Toshiro just happens to find your daughter attractive," Lupin responded.
"What!?" Jigen drew his head back a little in shock, "No way would he—"
"Jigen, relax. It's all harmless."
"Yeah, it's all harmless until I'm a grandfather before I hit 50!" Jigen answered spiritedly.
Meanwhile, outside, on the roof of the house, Goemon sat there, meditating. So Toshiro really did like Yukiko? He would not know what to tell the boy about this—He was good with proverbs, he admitted, but advice to that degree of an emotion was difficult for him. He thought of this, and also back to a few months ago, when his mother had visited, and the words they had exchanged.
Back at the Hospital, a Few Months Previous:
"Mom, what is it? I don't have time, and— What's wrong?" Goemon asked as he looked downward at his crying mother outside the hospital waiting room. He could feel the others looking at him, but ignored them. Something about her facial features frightened him.
"You can't name the baby Goemon," she said, shaking her head, "Oh, God… I should have told you at the beginning!"
"Told me what?" Goemon inquired, "Why can't I name the baby Goemon?"
"There already is an Ishikawa Goemon XIV," she replied.
"What?" Goemon drew his head back, shocked, "Who!?"
She looked upward, "Toshiro isn't who you think he is."
"Mom? Mom, who the hell is Toshiro?" Goemon asked.
The Present:
So it had come to this. Here he was, in freezing temperatures, on the rooftop of the house. He looked over the side. Good-sized jump—Probably could do the trick and—What the hell was he thinking? He had Heiji to watch over, and—The Rat Clan was on his tail, now. They were angry over Toshiro. Amaya had fought that samurai defending the boy's life, and he had not even realized it.
"Goemon!" Amaya gasped, and poked her head out of the window, "What are you doing out there!? It's freezing! Come on—My father and Natasha are in here, too, and I want to get some family photos!"
"I'll be in in a moment," Goemon answered.
"Are you all right?"
"I've been better," he responded.
"Do you want me to come out there?" Amaya asked earnestly.
"No, better you didn't. You might catch a cold," Goemon answered, "And that wouldn't be good news for you or Heiji, or anyone in the house, for that matter."
"All right," Amaya nodded, "But if you need anything, just shout. If possible."
Goemon exchanged the nod, and watched as she ducked her head back into the room, and closed the window behind her. What in God's earth was he going to say to her?
An air over the library:
What had begun as Yukiko's idea of an adventure had turned into a nightmare. Toshiro looked downward through the air vent slots, his eyes wide from shock. Yukiko was behind him, but had heard everything.
"L—Let's go," she said quietly, and followed Toshiro out of the air vent. He was still silent when they exited the venting system, and watched Yukiko as she bent down and screwed the screws back onto the vent. She stood, and turned to Toshiro, "Are you all right?"
"Everyone lied to me," he said in a low voice, "You knew, too, didn't you?"
"No, Toshiro I didn't!" she responded, grabbing onto on of his arms. Toshiro shrugged her away, and looked upward at her coldly.
"Why did they all lie to me!? I thought you said they were nice!"
"They are!"
"Then why didn't anybody tell me who I really was!?" he yelled in such a voice that Fujiko stopped reading her book, walked out of her room, and peered down at the two from the stairway. Yukiko and Toshiro both stood in the living room, arguing with one another. Ming soon emerged from the kitchen with Martha at her side, and Zenigata, Amaya, and Natasha also made their way down the stairs.
"How would you like it if someone lied to you about your entire life!?" Toshiro yelled.
"Yeah, they did!" Yukiko rebounded, "But my mom only did it because she loved me! She didn't want me to grow up knowing my daddy killed people!"
"My mother is really my—God!" he put a hand to his forehead, and turned away from her.
"Toshiro, I—" Yukiko took a few steps forward, and put a hand on his shoulder. Toshiro, out of anger, turned and swung at Yukiko, but she ducked his punch, "Don't do that again," she ordered sternly as she saw Toshiro's expression as he registered the fact he had tried to hurt his only friend.
"What's going on?" Lupin whispered as he and Jigen saw the crowd at the stairway.
"Quiet," Natasha ordered, putting a finger to her lips and turning back to the two.
"Yukiko, I'm really sorry," he said in a whisper.
"I—I know," she nodded, and embraced him, "It'll be all right, okay? We'll straighten everything out, I promise. It's okay, we're all your friends."
"But I can't trust anyone anymore," Toshiro answered.
"You can still trust me, okay? Promise," Yukiko replied.
Goemon was the last to walk down the stairway. He felt his blood run cold as he read the looks on everyone's faces, and saw Yukiko holding onto Toshiro, who looked as though he had had a mental breakdown.
"What happened?" he asked, waiting anxiously for his answer.
"Toshiro found out," Lupin replied.
