DISCLAIMER: Aw, hell, make your own! Think of it as a bonus game!

Hi!

Glad everyone's liking it so far! Seems like a lot of people are starting to get favorite characters in here—If you have one, let me know. And if there's a character I need to work on, let me know that, too, okay? Feedback not only benefits me by giving my ideas on how to improve my writing, by benefits you, the reader, in the end, by improving the story. Oh, by the way, glad Leo and Max made such a hit team! Thanks! Bye for now! See you around!

'I just wanna dance with you all night,

in this world there's nothing I would rather do,

'cos I'm happy just to dance with you,'

--The Beatles, 'I'm Happy Just to Dance With You'

Chapter Five

A Little while Later, Nighttime in a New York City Hotel: Tankobusi

"It's nice up here… Nice, and quiet… Two things I have definitely not be seeing a lot of, as of late," Toshiro said to himself contentedly as he sat crossed-legged on the balcony rail. Things had since calmed down around the Lupin gang's hotel, and most had either gone out to eat or chosen sleep. Ally was the only one who had chosen to stay home and sleep, as far as he knew. Jigen had fallen into a deep sleep, where his mind had traveled to Toshiro could only guess.

Odori, Heiji, Ryo and Fuji had all gone out to eat. Toshiro had no idea where Yukiko was, but she more than likely was not in the mood to speak with him. Things had been much easier when they were smaller, where he would say he loved her and she would laugh at him and call him an idiot. Now, with his dead family in the picture, things had become much more complicated for the pair of friends. It was blatantly obvious that she did not trust him as much as she had, and her trust was the kind that was hard to win, in the first place. He was unsure as to whether she would ever trust him as much as she had ever again.

Toshiro turned his head as he heard whistling from the room next door, and he leaned over to look into the room through its clear glass doors. Yukiko had returned, and was preparing to celebrate the night off with a large bottle in a brown paper bag. Toshiro watched as she removed her fedora and shoes, and turned away as she removed her jacket and loosened her tie, "I am not going to do this… I'm not some kind of common pervert! Well… I… I'm not, usually, and I…"

Toshiro looked back at Yukiko quietly, and silently watched from a distance, "She's much prettier than she gives herself credit for…" he muttered to himself, "Much prettier…." He then jumped in surprise as he heard Ally in his bed, stirring quietly and then rising.

Ally stretched, and walked over to his balcony. He could have sworn he had seen someone there only moments ago. Ally looked the balcony area over once, and shrugged as he found no one to be there. He turned back into his room, and lied back down to sleep.

Toshiro exhaled a breath of relief, and jumped back up onto the balcony, where he had been dangling off the edge of by his hands until a few moments ago. He shook his head, and turned once more to Yukiko's room. She had fallen asleep by this time, fortunately, "I can't believe I was doing that! She's my friend! Jeeze! That's like spying on Dori—Eww…" He shuddered, and walked back into his room. He jumped in surprise as he heard Ally snuggling himself down in his bed.

"What? But Ms. Milder, you just got here! Aw, Bette—You know just what to say to a lawn gnome… Tee hee…" Ally mumbled to himself in his sleep.

Toshiro grimaced, "I don't think I want to know what he's dreaming about…" He exited his room with little purpose other than to escape Ally. When he changed his mind, he went back to his door, only to find it locked, "Great…. And we all know what a light sleeper he is! Well, she's a light sleeper, at least…" he knocked on Yukiko's door, and moments later, she opened it, now clad in a black T-shirt and white shorts, as well as her fedora.

"You wear that hat just as much as your dad, don't you?" Toshiro concluded as he glanced upward at her fedora. Yukiko smirked, nodded, and flicked at the brim.

"Yeah, I guess it's grown on me…" she shrugged in response, "Are you locked out of your place, or did you come to visit?"

"Visit," Toshiro lied abruptly.

Yukiko saw this was a lie, but decided not to call him on the carpet for this. Instead, she allowed Toshiro in, and seated himself in the living room of the large hotel room. She picked up the remote, and seated herself next to Toshiro, "You want to watch somethin'?"

"Broadway Review?" Toshiro inquired earnestly.

Yukiko slowly turned to him, and looked at him in disbelief., "You, you're joking, right?"

"Sure," Toshiro cleared his throat, and turned back towards the television, where an old Western was playing in black and white.

"Ryo loves Westerns," Yukiko sighed, and rolled her eyes, "She knows Clint Eastwood better than he knows himself!"

"You don't say…" mumbled Toshiro.

"Yeah, she's almost as bad as Dad…" Yukiko chuckled, shaking her head, "They're really alike, those too. But she's got his cooler side. Ally's a lot like Mom when I first met her—Crazy as hell."

"Ally isn't crazy as hell—He's just crazy!" Toshiro corrected, "There's a difference! Ari's crazy as hell!"

"Ari's just sad," Yukiko muttered, "Don't get me started on Ari! Dear, precious, chicken-livered Arsene, who abandoned us all!"

"You shouldn't be that mad about him leaving, Yukiko," warned Toshiro.

"You're just glad I don't get this mad about everyone who abandons me," Yukiko snapped directly toward Toshiro.

A Swanky New York City Club:

"There are more food groups than squid, rice, sake, and tea, Dori," Heiji said to his sister as he looked down at her plate of food.

"They are all I require," Odori replied as she dug into her squid with her chopsticks and ate a bit of the kalamari.

"Those and your baby," Heiji added, looking down at the sword at Odori's feet. Odori looked downward at the resting Zantetsu, and gently graced her fingers over it once.

"He's not mine yet, but hopefully someday soon he will be…" Odori said with a gleam in her eye.

"And then you two can finally get married and buy a house in Los Alamos," Heiji added.

"Star Trek is fake, you know," Odori commented as she sipped her tea nonchalantly.

"That was very low," Heiji hissed quietly.

"Fellas, fellas, c'mon! Let's get along, okay!? It's a bright day, and the sun's shining!" Fuji said happily as she raised her forth glass of wine up joyously.

"It's twelve at night and that's the chandelier that's shining. You're just drunk," Ryo retorted monotonously.

"Just have to ruin all of my fun, huh, Ryo-san?" said Fuji with a wink.

"I'm almost as good at killing a mood as I am killing anything else," Ryo replied coolly as she lit a cigarette and puffed at it a few times before extinguishing it in a wineglass of water.

"Ryoko, the queen of class dining," Heiji muttered as he watched the cigarette bob in the glass of water.

Unbeknownst to the group, across from them in a booth were two Japanese detectives—One with blonde hair and the other with a purple jacket. Max had finally convinced Leo to get out, and Leo had taken Max to one of his favorite restaurants. Neither inspector realized that they were dining with the enemy.

"Is your family rich, or something?" Max inquired as he looked over the menu.

"Well… They gave me a good sum of money when I turned eighteen, and I've invested it over the years. Plus I take other jobs translating on the weekends, and I also teach languages to college students, sometimes."

"Jeeze, you could buy yourself therapy to get a girlfriend with that sort of money, Leo!" Max laughed, "What languages do you speak, anyway?"

"Well, primarily French, Japanese, and English, but Yiddish, Russian, Spanish, Italian, Romanian, German, some Hungarian and Greek, and I'm studying Latin and Vietnamese right now!"

"So, you're dodecalingual, eh?"

"And you're in love with butchering any language you speak, eh?" Leo retorted, "Sorry, but it's a pet peeve of mine," Leo sighed after a moment.

"It's all right. I have mine, too."

"Such as?"

"Failure, namely."

"But, technically, we're both fail—"

"And that's why I like neither of us," Max concluded, and then took a sip of his water. Something caught Max's eye as he went to rest his glass back down on the table, "But, you know, I have the feeling I'm going to like us both a whole lot more soon…"

"Why, Max?" Leo inquired as he watched Max rise from their table.

"Lupin! You're under arrest!" Max shouted, rising from the table, "Did I really just say that? Please tell me I didn't…" muttered Max as he pulled his handcuffs and ran towards the stunned Lupin table, Leo following close behind.

"Stop! Please! In the name of th—" Leo stopped as Ryo stood in front of him, "R-Ryoko! You're here, too!" He gulped, and suddenly became nervous at the presence of Ryo.

"Long time, no see, Ari," Ryo whispered as she drew a gun out at the petrified Leo.

"You, you're un, under arrest!" Leo sputtered.

"Nice try," Ryo whispered, removing Leo's handcuffs from his belt pocket and swinging them around, "What are you planning to do with these, eh? Fun night for you and the little Mrs.?"

At the mention of Max, Leo looked behind Ryo, and saw Max had successfully handcuffed Fuji, while Heiji and Odori had escaped unseemingly unnoticed. Lupin was the only one Max wanted, and he left the others to Leo's care.

"No, I—I… Ryoko, don't make this too hard, please!" Leo whispered.

"Hey, you're the man," Ryo winked, and slapped one of the handcuffs over his wrist, "Go on ahead, cuff me, Copper…" she smirked.

"I, um, well, I…" Ryo leaned forward, and kissed Leo, leaving LeBlanc in shock as she backed away.

"Gotta go, Dear. But I'll keep in touch, don't worry… Good night, Leo."

As soon as Ryo disappeared, Leo went to chase after her, but found the other cuff on the handcuff had been hooked to a nearby chair. He tumbled down to the ground as the chair became caught on a table leg, and Max looked downward at Leo, embarrassed and shocked.

"What are you doing down there!?" Max snapped angrily as he looked down at Leo, "I've got Lupin right—" Max looked upward, and saw no Fuji, but only a set of handcuffs and a note, "Out of my grasp… Crap!"

"Uh, help? I think I'm bleeding…" Leo mumbled as he felt his forehead and then looked downward at his fingers.

"That little—Oh, I'll get her…" growled Max as he tore the note from the table and stormed out of the restaurant.

"Hello? Your partner's still stuck to a CHAIR!" Leo shouted to Max, but this went without response from anyone.

The Next Day, the Hotel:

"You did what to who!?" Heiji gaped in horror.

"Hey, I did what I had to. Besides, it wasn't like it was a long kiss, or anything. Just enough to stun the little shmuck," Ryo shrugged as she looked downward at Fuji's master plan for stealing the scroll of the Rat Clan. All were gathered in the bedroom, and by this time they had all heard of Ryo's doings of the previous night.

"Anyway," Fuji glanced upward at Ryo in annoyance, and then back down at the plans. "Getting back to the main swing of things…" suddenly a cell phone went of in the room, and all looked around silently.

"Whose phone plays Chopsticks?" Heiji inquired. Toshiro coughed uncomfortably, and retrieved a cell phone from a hidden pocket in the robe of his gi.

"I have to take this…" he whispered as he stood and exited the room and walked to the balcony. All watched as he spoke on the phone through the soundproof balcony, and then hung up the phone. "I'll be back later!" he called as he ran out of the hotel room.

"There is something so wrong about a guy like that having a cell phone…" Heiji said after a pause.

"I still don't trust him…" Ally muttered skeptically, "There's still somethin' there, somethin' he isn't being clean about…."

"I'll follow him, then…" Yukiko replied and rose out of her seat, "I'll try to find him, and call you guys when I do…"

"Okay," Fuji nodded, and all watched as Yukiko exited the hotel room. "They've still got it…" Fuji laughed in amusement.

"Got what?" Ally inquired in irritation.

"Nothing, nothing," Fuji chuckled lightly to herself, "C'mon, guys, let's get shakin'!"

The Local Theater District:

"This is the point where I lost him…" Yukiko mumbled to herself, "Could this be where he is now?" she inquired as she looked up at a theater sign, "I know he and Julie had a lot of acting friends… He and Julie… Yeesh…" She shook her head, and entered the building. She was shocked at first by the loud banging of familiar Japanese drums. Yukiko walked into the auditorium, which held a silent audience full of young children. She looked forward at what the children were staring at, and found it was kabuki actors, all performing on the shiny wooden stage. She noted one actor in particular being taller than the others.

"Toshiro…" she whispered in shock, "What's he…"

"Shh," a child whispered. Yukiko nodded, and seated herself numbly. She watched as the actors performed an ancient Japanese play on the stage, and nearly forgot about how she was to call Fuji and the others. Luckily, right as the actors went into Tankobushi (the coal miner's song), a traditional Obon dance, it dawned on her, and she called Fuji.

"Heya, Fuji?" Yukiko whispered, "I'm at the Dobbs Theater, do you know—"

"Yeah! Be right there!" Fuji replied, and hung up the phone. Yukiko removed her phone, and turned back to the stage, where at this time, the taller Asian spotted her, and became pale under his makeup.

The Lupin gang arrived, and all sat in stunned silence until the end of the show. All of the actors exited the stage, but one in particular appeared from behind the stage moments later, and walked towards the Lupin group, still in full makeup and dress.

"You want to explain this?" Heiji inquired, looking Toshiro up and down in shock.

"I agreed to do this months ago, as a favor to some friends of mine. They needed some help with the Asian culture and dances… This is a charity event, to help underprivileged children learn about different cultures," Toshiro explained.

Fuji paused, "And… What'd you get out of it?"

"The smile on a child's face and an excuse to wear makeup in public," Toshiro replied calmly.

"I know you were being sarcastic about at least one comment, but the scary thing is, I'm not sure which one…" mumbled Heiji.

"You… Gave up going over plans for stealing an ancient scroll that someone's going to pay millions for, in order to do something for free?" Fuji choked, "What—What in the hell is WRONG with you!?"

"I've been doing charity for a good many years, Fuji," Toshiro reminded her, "I don't always require a reward. Doing things should not always require payback."

"But it sure as hell helps! My family did not make their fortune off of charity! It's a dog eat dog world!" Fuji replied.

"You don't understand, and you never will, because you're a Lupin," Toshiro sighed, "I'm going to change. See you all in a few moments."

"I don't get him! FREE!?" Fuji muttered, clutching her forehead, "He's almost as bad as Ari when it comes to tree huggers!"

"I wonder if they ever unhooked him from that chair…" Ryo thought aloud to herself as she thought back to Ari.

"Hey, I thought you were changing out of your makeup…" Heiji frowned as he looked costume-clad figure next to him up and down.

"That isn't Toshiro…" Odori whispered as she slowly began to unsheathe Zantetsu, "Get the children out of here; I don't care how…"

"Ally," Heiji nodded to Ally, and Jigen back nodded in response. The two then went to work clearing out the theater as quickly as possible by ushering the children out of the theater quickly.

Odori took a stance out in front of the mysterious mask-wearing samurai, and drew her sword out of its sheath. The samurai in full kabuki costume also drew out a blade, and as he did this, all noticed several other kabuki samurai come out of the shadow. The group of about twenty kabuki warriors quickly invaded the group, while a middle-aged Japanese woman in a black kimono looked onward from the stage.

Toshiro came out of the dressing room, expecting a calm and complacent group, save for the riled Fuji, but instead walked out to a battle of centuries, "What's going on!?" he demanded in horror.

"A slight rodent problem!" shouted Ryo in response as she kicked the sword out of one samurai's hand.

Toshiro turned back towards the stage, and saw her. The woman in the black kimono. Toshiro began to slowly draw out one of his swords and numbly approach her when Yukiko shouted to him.

"Hey what are you—" Yukiko stopped dead suddenly in mid-sentence. Her eyes grew wide, and she fell to the group.

"Yuki!" Ally shouted, and ran towards his sister.

"Don't worry; the poison won't kill her for at least twenty-four hours," the black-kimono woman said with a smarmy smirk, "There is a cure here in my hand, but there's a price attached to it…"

"Okay, Lady, name it!" Fuji demanded as she looked downward at Yukiko, who was struggling to continue breathing.

"Goemon Ishikawa," she replied after a pause.

"Dad?" Heiji wondered out loud.

"No, not that old fool! This one!" she replied, looking down at the solemn Toshiro.

"That isn't my area!" Fuji shot back, "Name something else!"

"I'm sorry—He is all I require," she smiled as she slowly walked down the stage stairs and stood next to the much taller Toshiro, "You for your dear friend's life. It sounds reasonable to me…"

"I hate you," Toshiro hissed under his breath to her.

"I am only helping you to reach your full potential, Goemon-chan," she whispered, "You, and those swords of yours… A metal stronger than the metal that forged Zantetsu! Kept hidden from those bastard Ishikawas by the Rat Clan for centuries…"

"You set us up!" Fuji yelped it realization.

"Oh—Little slut has got a few working brain cells. That's a few more than her father or mother had…" chuckled the black-kimono wearing woman. Fuji frowned at her, but then put on her poker face. She removed a slip of paper from her jacket, and passed it to the woman.

"What is this?" inquired the woman.

"A paper, saying that I'm going to steal that scroll, after all," Fuji smirked in response.

"Fujiko, no," Toshiro said firmly, "I do not want anyone in this. I'm going with them, and I want no one to follow me and stop me…"

"Toshiro, no! She's bluffing!" Odori yelled.

"Oh, I'm not bluffing," the woman smiled wickedly at Toshiro, "It wouldn't be the first time I killed someone he had grown fond of…"

"Huh?" Heiji frowned, "Toshiro, what is she talking about?"

"I'm talking about that American whore he tried to muddy the Clan bloodlines with," snapped the woman in response, "Her and that out of wedlock bastard of yours she was carrying…"

"Oh my God…" Heiji put a hand to his mouth, and looked at his brother, "Toshiro—Did you and Julie really—"

"It doesn't matter," Toshiro snapped, "Give them to antidote. I shall accompany you, and give my full service to the Rat Clan."

"Excellent," she retrieved the antidote from her obi, and tossed it to Ryo, who caught it, and quickly went to work administering it to the fevering Yukiko while Ally held his sister in his arms.

"Come. We'll get you some new clothes, and try to get rid of that deplorable accent," said the Asian woman firmly. She began to walk down the aisle smugly, Toshiro dragging behind, his head hung low. Odori lunged forward, and went to slay the woman, but was stopped by none other than Toshiro. Both shared a tense few moments together before Odori silently and slowly backed away and sheathed her sword.

"I'm sorry. I am in their service now….I have to protect them, now… Take care of Yukiko for me…"

"Coward," hissed Odori, "Toshiro, let me kill her, please! One swipe, and--"

"No, please. You don't understand. Now get her home, and wait until her fever goes down…" Toshiro ordered quietly as the two exited.

"Good bye, see you when I steal that scroll!" Fuji called happily to the Rat Clan member and her new bodyguard.

"She's a cocky one, hm?" chuckled the woman.

"She's Lupin," Toshiro responded quietly.

"What don't I understand!?" Odori yelled angrily to herself as she threw her sword to the ground in frustration.

"Look at their eyes, and you'll see," Ryo answered, "Come on. We have to get her out of here…."

"Guys, don't worry!" Fuji said reassuringly, "We'll get everything in the end! I just need to make a few phone calls, first!"

"Fuji, I'm honestly doubting it…" Ryo admitted as they walked out of the desolate theater.