Chapter Four

I walked into my apartment over Koichi's garage cautiously, lugging the three large bags of groceries with me. The door had been already unlocked, which I found odd, as I always locked it.

"Hello?" I called softly, setting the bags down. I padded into the main room, smirking a bit when I saw Koichi lounging on the couch, a beer in his hand, feet on the coffee table, fixed on the American football game being played on the T.V. screen. "Koichi, you have your own T.V. in your own house. Why must you insist on watching over here and scaring me out of my wits?"

"Hello there, pretty lady," he sputtered. "How much do I owe you?"

"I'm not your prostitute, Koichi," I grinned, going back to lug the bags into the kitchen. "Why're you drunk on my couch?"

"I'm not drunk!" The inspector protested, his expression turning from downright humorous to solemn. "This was my only one." He stood, turning the T.V. off, taking groceries out of the bags. I began putting them into the refrigerator. "Ari," he finally said, "I'm leaving."

"What?" I asked, spinning on my heels to look at him. "Koichi, where are you going?" I knew where he was going; the whole reason I had moved in with him was to keep him from going there…

"we got another letter from Lupin. He's going after the Princess Sophia on her maiden voyage. There's supposed to be a big emerald on board." He sighed and looked over at me. "I'll be back soon." He touched me shoulder lightly and then began to walk out, intending to leave the tension between us.

"Pops, don't go!"

He turned back to me, a questioning look on his face. "Ari?"

"You can't go."

"It's my job. I don't want to…"

"No, Pops, you don't get it; Lupin is getting careless in his old age."

"That doesn't matter, Subari. It's still my job, and I have to do it."

I sighed, moving over to the couch, slumping down to it. "Please don't leave."

"Why not?" He sat down next to me. "What are you hiding from me?"

"When I came here…Two months ago." I whispered quietly. "Jigen and I…We didn't have a fight. We couldn't…We were…in love, I guess."

"And…?"

"Lupin told me that the next heist he was planning would be a dangerous one. He didn't want you following him. So he sent me as a decoy so that you would stay with the 'poor helpless girl' and not try to capture him."

"You lied to me?"

"I didn't want to! I didn't want to leave…I mean, Jigen and my relationship had just begun…it was getting better all the time, and I wanted to stay with him…Coming here…I thought it would be worse than hell…But…"

"But what? You don't want to be here, so go back to your little hitman and call it a day. A failure." He shouted.

"Inspector!" I shouted back, jumping up to face him. "It's true I didn't want to come and that I came because it was for the good of the team. But that's not the reason I want to stay anymore!"

"Why then? To torment me more?"

"No! I didn't expect-"

"Didn't expect what?"

"Inspector…" I sighed, quieting down. "I thought I was head over heels for Jigen. But when I initially came here…I didn't expect to fall in love with you. My crush on Jigen was a childish one." I shook my head, looking at the floor, then grabbed my purse, preparing to leave. "Good day, Inspector Zenigata."

"Subari-Ari. Don't go. Let's talk about this…" He pulled me down to the couch by my elbow lightly, stroking my hair with his other hand. Suddenly he kissed me, making me, again, saddened at him leaving.

"Don't go," I whispered again.

"I have to. But you'll see. I'll leave in the morning, take care of Lupin, and be back in a few days. No problems at all. No danger."

"Promise?"

He kissed me again softly. "Promise."

End Chapter 4

A note from Jaz-Wow… Didn't expect that one… oh well, Zenigata's gonna keep leading me where he will. I'm trying to write longer chapters! Tell me what you think-Jaz