DISCLAIMER: I do not own Lupin III… Sorry, nothing really witty to put up here this time. Just pretend I said something funny, okay?

Hi there!

Glad you guys liked the last chapter so much! Positive reviews—Yay! That's almost as good as a hot bowl of Ramen on a cold day! Yes, we got to see Jigen cry… Um… That's got to be creepy and unsettling for some of his friends to have to sit through. Well, I know some would rather we got along with the story right now, so, without further ado, here is the next installment! Enjoy!

Chapter Forty Six

A Few Moments Later: Every Rose has Its Thorns

'Sometimes I wish I knew you well,

then I could speak my mind and tell you

maybe you'd understand,

I want to tell you,'

--The Beatles, 'I Want to Tell You'

"Lupin!?" Jigen looked upward from the dashboard, "Is that you!?"

"No, it's Madonna," Lupin sighed, "Yeah, it's me, Jigen… I'm about fifty miles out in the desert—west, I'm guessing. Don't worry, you'll know me when you see me. Come quick—I think I've broken my leg… Or rib cage… I really don't know… But I'm positive I've broken something…"

"Well, at least we can rest assure it wasn't his skull…" Toshiro muttered in a tone that seemed to come directly from his father.

"Okay, we'll be right there!" Jigen increased the speed on the plane, and all kept a keen eye out for any sign of Lupin, save for Natasha, who had gone to work bandaging the now awake Remy's wound. Luckily, the Frenchman had a repairable wound in the arm, and would easily recover from it.

The unnamed lackey pilot was bound by his arms and legs and then thrown in a crate, as was Fujita. Amaya, who was surprisingly knowledgeable in the art of tying difficult knots, treated both men with little care as she fixed their bindings and then put both in their crates. She literally threw Fujita in his, and then sealed it.

"There, there he is!" Julia shouted, pointing out her window.

"Where?" all ran towards her window, and saw a distinct parachute laying on the sandy desert—It was a red and white parachute, with a large cursive 'L' in the center. There was a figure a few feet away from the parachute, waving down the plane. All knew in an instant who this was.

"Right there!" shouted Ming, "Jigen, you see him?"

"Yuki, get Daddy's sunglasses—This glare's a bitch to see with, and I don't want to turn Lupin into road kill!" said Jigen to his daughter. Yukiko nodded, ran up to her father, and lifted his hat off of his head. She pulled out a familiar pair of black plastic-framed glasses, and placed them on her father's face. "Thanks," he nodded, and pulled downward on the handle.

The plane came in for a semi-rough landing, and as it came to a halt, all watched in horror as Lupin, weakened by the ordeal, fell into the sand. Goemon and Jigen pulled Lupin into the plane, and laid him next to Remy. Jigen quickly returned to the pilot's chair, and began to fly once more, destination undetermined. Goemon propped Lupin next to the recovering Remy, and backed away a few paces, in order to give his friend breathing room.

Lupin groaned, and turned his head to a side. He slowly opened his eyes, and the blurry image he saw first as a shapeless form soon took the shape of his brother Remy.

"Oh, God, there is a Hell…." Lupin mumbled at the sight of his brother. He looked to his right, and saw Zenigata looming over him, "and Pops the Gatekeeper…. Boy, I just knew it… I guess Jigen owes me that ten dollars, after all…"

"Lupin!" Fujiko yelled, and began to run towards him. Zenigata stopped her, though, and signaled for her to wait a moment.

"Are you all right?" Zenigata inquired sincerely as he kneeled down next to Lupin.

"Huh? What are you doin', Pops?" Lupin asked in confusion, "Whoa, whoa! Now what in the hell are you doin'!?" Lupin yelled worriedly as the ex-officer took one of the thief's arms firmly.

"Relax, just checking to see if you have anything broken," Zenigata answered quietly, "Had to go through a first aid course back when I was—Hell, younger than you."

"Well, I'm not that young anymore, then, I guess," Lupin began to laugh, but then stopped as he realized it hurt a great deal to laugh, "Hey, I'm not dying! You don't have to be so nice, Zenigata! Jeeze, you're like a doting parent! It's embarrassing! This is the part where you arrest me, remember!?"

"I think his brain's a little rattled," Goemon confided to Amaya.

"Hm," Amaya nodded in reply as she looked over at the two, "Daddy really cares about his stepson," she said to herself in an amused laugh.

"Shut up and tell me if this hurts, all right?" Zenigata snapped in irritation as he moved Lupin's shoulder. The thief let out a groan of discomfort, and the old man sighed, "I'm guessing it's out of joint. Well, let's put it in while we're here…"

"Am… I the only one who finds this disturbingly sweet?" Ming inquired.

"Uh… No comment," Goemon answered as he looked over at the duo.

"Jeeze, put it in the socket already, would you, Old Man!?" Lupin snapped.

"All right, all right—I'm just having a little trouble—"

"I slept with your wife!" Lupin yelled out of the blue, causing Natasha and Fujiko to both stop and snap their heads in his direction.

"You WHAT!?" Zenigata growled, pushing Lupin's arm upward with a sudden thrust of energy. There was a loud popping noise, and Lupin sighed in relief.

"Thanks, Pops…" Lupin said contently as he rubbed his shoulder, "You're a lifesaver."

"I'll turn into a life-taker if you ever say any lies like that again!" Zenigata added in a yell, "Little jerk…. I'm nice, and that's the thanks I get…"

"Ah, give it up already, Pops," Lupin grumbled, "I'm just a little tired right now. You can yell at me later, I promise."

"God, could you imagine how pissed ol' Pops would be if Lupin had slept with Natasha?" Jigen laughed to himself in amusement. Natasha, who was standing next to Jigen at the control panel, briefly exchanged glances with him. Jigen's eyebrows raised in interest, but he soon turned his attention back to the sky. "Damn… Well, I ain't sayin' anything. I know when to keep my mouth shut…" Jigen muttered quietly.

"Well, you have a broken left femur, and there are probably some bones broken in your ankle, too," said Zenigata as he sat back against the plane wall, "Fujiko, he's all yours."

"Good," Fujiko smiled, and kneeled next to Lupin, "How's your head?"

"About the only part of me that isn't hurting," Lupin admitted.

"Great," Fujiko smirked, "That means I'll be able to get the point across to you!" she yelled, slapped him across the head once, "Never play hero like that again, you hear me!? You could've been killed! And then what would've happened to the kids, huh!? I can't train them in the family business!"

"Ah, same old Fujicakes. It's good to be home," Lupin sighed contently as he took another blow to the head from his loving and worried wife. When Fujiko's hand began to sting, she quit, and then embraced him.

"Never go and do anything that dangerous again, all right?" Fujiko asked.

Lupin sighed, "I'm not for much, but hopefully my word's good enough… I'll try never to do anything that stupid again. Promise."

"Well, as much as they nag, they really do care about one another in the end, huh?" Julia said to Toshiro and Yukiko as she looked over at the two.

"Yeah," both admitted.

Later, when Fujiko had finally let go of her hold on Lupin, Remy took his turn speaking with the injured thief, "Hey, wasn't there supposed to be a bigger explosion?" Remy inquired.

"Yeah, but I was able to fiddle with the system a little before I had to eject," Lupin answered, "It only exploded to about a ten of its capacity…"

"Well, you saved the world, got heat from it from the girl, and you didn't get the treasure. Good job—I… Guess…" said Remy.

"The treasure!" Lupin slapped his forehead, "Crap! I knew there was something I missed! I must've lost that coin back there! Damn it!"

"Why do I have a hard time believing you forgot about that, Lupin?" Goemon said suspiciously.

"Ah, it's just his old age talking," Jigen laughed.

"Hey, Mr. less-than-a-decade-away-from-being-over-the-hill—Keep your eyes on the sky," Lupin snapped, "Besides, I don't remember inviting you two into this conversation!"

"You were having a conversation with your family," Goemon pointed out.

"And we're your family," Jigen added.

"So, in the tradition of a younger brother, I get to annoy you," Goemon concluded.

"And in the tradition of an older brother, I tell you when you're acting like an ass, and I also get to bail you out of jail occasionally," Jigen added, "But, hey, Goemon, don't we do that already?"

"On many occasions, yes," the samurai answered.

"Does that mean if we date, it's incest?" Toshiro asked Yukiko worriedly.

"No what they mean is… Nevermind…" Yukiko sighed, "Cripes… You can take the boy out of the country, but…"

"I know," Julia added in agreement to Yukiko's statement, "Boy, do I know…" She shook her head at the memory of Toshiro bringing home several pigeons one day, much to her and Kome's disgust. In a matter of weeks, the boy had them fully trained. There was a pigeon who could turn the coffeepot on, a pigeon who could turn the television on, a pigeon who could…. What his obsession with birds was about was only Julia's guess.

"Hey, if you guys are my brothers, does that mean Zenigata has to adopt you two, too?" Lupin asked with a laugh.

"Wha—Now see here!" Zenigata yelled defensively.

"I'd rather he didn't," Goemon said as he glanced over at Amaya, "That would be hard to explain to Heiji…"

"And whatever children we adopt later on," Amaya added.

"What?" the usually stoic samurai gulped.

"Jokes, Dear, jokes. It'd help if you learned some," said Amaya with a smirk.

"Well, I dunno—Pops is better than my old man," said Jigen, "How would you like it if I called you Papi, Zenigata? Just like I called my dad."

Ming sat there a moment in contemplation before she spoke to Jigen, "You know, that's the first time I've heard you say 'Papi' out of bed." The plane suddenly took a sharp drop downward, and all lurched forward. Jigen looked over at Ming, his face obviously bright red under his fedora.

"Did you call Ming that, or is the story behind that even weirder?" Fujiko inquired.

"Um… Why do I want to know that story, but at the same time, I don't?" Lupin said, "Please tell me he's never said my name before."

"No," Ming shook her head, "But he did call me Fujiko once."

"Jigen! You bastard!" Lupin screamed.

"Hey, she's lying about that one!" Jigen yelled in defense, "I swear! Li Yan—Both you and that mutt back at home are as good as dead!"

"Not for a few months, at least," Ming reminded him.

"God, please don't let it be this bad for me when I'm grown up…" Yukiko mumbled to herself.

Later that Night:

He had forgotten the coin was under his shirt collar. She had found it while she had helped to bandage him and his brother up, and could not pass up the offer. It was too good not to take. She had taken a somewhat sullen Amaya with her, in order to cheer her up. Something had happened between her and Goemon, and the two had spoken little in the evening. That was after the loud argument the two had had, which even Zenigata and Natasha, two rooms down from them, had heard. There had been something about a magazine, and Amaya had brought up his two near-marriages in return. Beyond that point, she stormed out, and went into her father's room for comfort.

She had also taken Julia with her, at the young girl's begging. Julia reminded her of herself in some odd aspect—Perhaps because she was the same as herself when she started her career in crime.

Yukiko and Toshiro had decided to stay home, and enjoy one another's company for at least a little while longer, until he went back to New York with Julia, and she went home with her parents to pack for their move to Chicago. Fujiko had not always liked Jigen, but she would miss him.

Jigen and Ming had disposed of Fujita and the unnamed pilot. The Prime Minister of Italy was more than a little surprised to find two wanted men tied to his gate in the middle of the night. Lupin had written a simple note to him, which Jigen translated with his shaky Italian. Ming was tired as a result, but at the last minute decided to also go. She had Jigen convinced she had gone out to find Kosher pickles.

Surprisingly, Natasha had volunteered to come along on the ride, to act as a translator for the group. This was fortunate, for neither Fujiko nor Julia knew a single word of Hebrew. Fujiko had to pity Zenigata in some sense; it didn't appear to be an easy language to learn, but Pops was willing. She would also miss Zenigata in the coming months. And it was only a matter of time before Goemon and Amaya moved back to Japan, she knew. There had even been talks of moving to Germany in the coming months.

The five pulled up to the domed building, which now sat unattended, even from the heavy guards which had only recently been there. The group easily entered the building and Julia, the smallest amongst them, volunteered to go up and place the coin in its rightful place.

"Koichi's going to kill me…" Natasha mumbled.

"Not before he kills me," Amaya added.

"I got it!" Julia yelled from her place hidden in the building.

"Shush! Not so loud!" Fujiko snapped, "Come on down!" she ordered. The four women heard a set of feet excitedly run down the old stairway, and Julia appeared moments later.

"No, you know who's really going to kill us?" Natasha inquired, looking over at Amaya.

"Lupin," Ming replied.

"Yep," Natasha nodded.

"Oh, well. We're married, so what's his is mine and what's mine is mine," Fujiko sighed breezily.

"Wonder why you hung onto that saying," Ming smirked as she watched the doors of the old structure slowly open.

"Oh, look, there's the hole we blew in the place," Natasha said with no apparent irony in her voice.

"I can't wait to get home and get off of my ankles," Ming mumbled, "I've got to remember to buy some pickles before we get home…"

"I can hook you up," Natasha said as she slowly entered along with the others, her gun drawn.

"Is this it?" Julia asked in a whisper of awe as she looked around in amazement. She was, at that moment, like an excited fangirl, getting a firsthand experience of what it was like to be a world-class thief. If her father had been alive, he would have died again out of shock.

"There it is," Fujiko said with a determined smile as she looked across the room at an old box.

"Good—Even if there isn't anything in it, I can throw it at a certain someone," Amaya grumbled darkly.

"Uh-oh, sounds like trouble in paradise," Ming smirked. Amaya made a small guttural noise of detest in response, and shifted on her wooden sandals.

"Well, let's get this and get out," Fujiko ordered.

"Gotcha," Natasha nodded, and all set to work retrieving the treasure.

Back at the Hotel:

"How long has he been at it?" Jigen asked Yukiko in a whisper. The young girl looked down at her silver watch, and back up at her father.

"Ten minutes," Yukiko responded. She glanced over at Toshiro, who lied with his face down on the table. He had fallen asleep out of boredom. Yukiko and Jigen looked down at the boy, who quietly stirred, and then back up at Goemon, who was still pacing slowly back and forth. He had not noticed that he had lost his audience about five minutes ago, and had continued to vent.

"Well, what do you say, Jigen?" Goemon inquired, snapping his head in the direction of his friend.

"Me? Well, I…. Yukiko, what do you think?" Jigen asked, obviously handing the question off to his daughter.

"I never knew anybody could bitch that much—Especially you," Yukiko admitted to her father's horror and Goemon's shock. Jigen tried to lightly laugh off the situation, and reached for a yo-yo in his pocket. He needed his little stress reliever.

"I suppose I have to agree with you. It was a tad out of character," Goemon sighed as he seated himself with the other three.

"A tad? I thought you were possessed. I thought for a minute we'd have to call your Uncle Heiji to come and exorcise you," Yukiko answered, "Why are you so upset about Amaya doing that? That's like saying you've never done a stupid thing in your life."

"Well, I—" Goemon looked upward, and made eye contact with Jigen, who was daring Goemon to deny the fact that he had screwed up in years past, "Maybe, but…"

"Listen, it'd be a lot easier if you just forgot about the entire thing and let the past be the past," Yukiko said, "Just let go of the samurai pride for three seconds—Three, that's it."

"Have you been reading Fujiko's books again?" Jigen inquired after a pause.

"A little," Yukiko admitted, "Well, I'm going to watch cartoons now. You coming, Toshiro?"

"Huh?" the boy raised his head, and looked over at Yukiko, "Sure, miso soup sounds great. Thanks, Yuki," he yawned, and laid his head back down on the table.

"Come on, sashimi-for-brains," Yukiko sighed, taking the young samurai by the arm and leading him to a different room of the hotel suite.

"Hey, man, we all make our mistakes. I've made my share, and, you know, not all of them have been bad. But a lot have," Jigen admitted, "You've done the same. Two of our best little mistakes our watching Spongebob in Israeli as we speak. You just have to realize that everyone makes mistakes, and sometimes we just need to forgive them. If I nagged Ming about every little thing she's done in her life that's wrong—Well, needless to say, I don't think it would have gotten as far as it has… That girl gave up everything she had to be with you—She chose this crazy life on purpose. You really want and go hurt her because she made one mistake? Now, that ain't too noble."

"You really think I should let it go?" Goemon asked.

"Why don't you go get her flowers? I'd help you go and pick them out, but I'm not one to judge right now. You know, can't really judge much at night."

"I understand," Goemon nodded, "Thank you, Jigen. And tell Yukiko I thank her, as well."

"Don't worry, Goemon, I will," Jigen replied, "Have a good night. Here's hoping it's a lucky one."

"Thank you—But please never hope for a 'lucky night' for me again. It sounds wrong, coming from you," said Goemon.

"Yeah, it'd sound just as weird coming from you," Jigen laughed, "Well, g'night."

"Good night," Goemon said quietly as he exited the room, and began to walk down the hall to his room. Along the way, he passed a large bouquet of flowers outside of another guest's room. He looked down at the floral arrangement, and contemplated his morals as he stared at them. "Ah, who'll know?" he mumbled to himself as he picked up the bouquet and quickly scurried back into his own room. He then set himself to cleaning up the hotel room from the argument he and Amaya had had earlier that day.

The car that the women had borrowed arrived about half an hour later, and all exited, tired but well satisfied.

"He's going to wonder where I found them, but he'll love them," Natasha smiled as she pulled a few of the coins she had taken out of the treasure from her pocket.

"How are you going to explain to Lupin how you got—" Ming started.

"I have friends who can put this in a little Swiss lockbox I got a few years back," Fujiko answered.

"How am I going to get past airport security with Israeli coins?" Julia asked worriedly.

"Leave it here and we'll mail it to you," Fujiko replied, "People never seem to check the mail."

"You know Lupin's going to be pissed that you shafted him out of something he worked his ass off for," Ming warned.

"He won't have to know," Fujiko answered as she stopped the car and then stepped out, "Well, goodnight, girls. I haven't had fun like that in years!"

"Hm… And it's only going to get more fun…" Amaya replied gloomily as she looked upward and saw her hotel light was still on.

All went up the elevator and then separated into their own hotel rooms. Ming had not forgotten the pickles. Jigen was curious, of course, but knew better than to ask. This was another instance where it was better to keep his mouth shut. Zenigata, too, was full of questions, but was much too tired to get into anything that night. He simply allowed himself to believe that Natasha had gone to visit relatives, and left it at that. Lupin was much too ill to realize Fujiko had even gone out. Julia, who shared a room with the Jigen family, was much too tired to talk of her adventure with her young friends, who drilled her with questions about her first, and more than likely, last, heist.

Amaya dreaded going back up to her hotel room, but found no other option. She was stunned when she found a large bouquet of colorful flowers awaiting her.

"Goemon, did you do this?" Amaya inquired.

"Yes," Goemon nodded.

"But, I thought—"

"All water under the bridge," Goemon answered before she could finish. "You… Like them?"

"Oh, they're gorgeous," Amaya gasped as she looked them over. "Hm, what's this?" She frowned as she noted a black box lying predominantly within the bouquet.

"What?" Goemon's eyes widened, and he looked on nervously as Amaya pulled out the box. Someone across the hall was going to be very angry with room service in the morning; that was for sure.

"It's beautiful," Amaya whispered as she removed a jade ring from the box, "And it matches the necklace my dad gave me!"

"Isn't that a coincidence?" Goemon said with a hint of nervousness still in his voice.

"Hn… What's this? A letter, too," Amaya said as she unfolded the letter. "Written in English? Well, I suppose your handwriting in Kanji is, well… It needs work, huh?"

"I'm sunk," Goemon muttered under his breath as he watched Amaya read through the letter. 'But what was the crack about my handwriting all about? It's not that bad,' he thought.

Amaya turned to him, folded the letter a few times, and Goemon watched as her eyes filled with tears, "You really want to? I've been wanting to ask you, but I was too afraid!"

"Oh—Of course. No need to be afraid," Goemon answered numbly as he patted her on the back.

"I'm going to call Ming really quick. I've been speaking with her about it," she said, kissing him and then walking towards the phone and dialing, "Hello, Ming? Are you busy? You are? Well, tell him to keep his pants on for thirty more seconds. He can wait. I just got a letter from Goemon—He said it would be all right if we adopted a few more children!"

Goemon Ishikawa walked straight to the minibar, found the hardest liquor he could find, and poured himself a shot, which he also quickly downed. He screwed the cap back on the bottle, turned the glass upside down on the oak bar table, and walked back up to Amaya.

"Well, tell Jigen I'm sorry for making him wait," Amaya said in her usually cool tone, "I'd call my father, but I'm sure he's in bed by now. All right, Jigen, I'm getting off now. Stop yelling—Sorry." She hung up the phone, and turned back to Goemon, who was still recovering from his drink and had seated himself on the bed in order to help the room cease revolving around him.

"How about we adopt a little girl? We can name her Odori, unless you can think of a better name," said Amaya.

"Odori?"

"I like the name," Amaya shrugged in response. She leaned against Goemon, and continued, "Thank you again."

"It's… No problem…" Goemon replied.

"I have one question though," Amaya said tiredly with a yawn.

"Yes?"

"Why did you write my name as 'Amanda'?"

Goemon looked downward at the nearly sleeping woman, and thought of a comeback quickly, "Still learning the lettering of the language."

"Oh. Well, goodnight," Amaya yawned. Goemon slowly lied her down on the bed, and then wandered back over to the minibar. Three children—At least. And definitely a little girl in the picture. He had enjoyed Yukiko, and still did—But he could not picture himself acting like a father towards a young girl. He had had a hard enough time trying to figure women out. He could see why Jigen had a disposition like he did. It must have driven him mad.

"Mother's going to hit the roof," Goemon realized as he poured himself another drink. "Well, that's what I get for stealing…"