Back to "Normality"
"HOLY CRAP WOMAN WHERE HAVE YOU BEEN!"
Jess smiled as she entered the school to hear that friendly, or insane, voice again. To whom the voice belonged to was a girl by the name of Kim. She was Jess' partner in crime so as to speak and always had boys chasing after her, though not the welcomed kind. Cute as a button and friendly to all, but if you asked her she was neither. While Jess was considered the courageous sarcastic one, Kim had been dubbed the quiet nice one. But, when the two were together and "with their powers combined" they were an unstoppable duo of mischievous antics.
"If I told you, you would never believe me."
"Ummm, you're going to tell me right now since you left me all alone to deal with 'nice' and 'extreme.'" The names of "nice" and "extreme" had been given to two particular lads in the girls' lives that gave them fits. To explain would take time and since Jess had to relate the story, we must continue.
"I missed your commanding," Jess said with a laugh. "You never ask…always commanding!"
"Uh huh, shut up and tell me where you have been and I may forgive you," Kim exclaimed with a smirk. To listen to the two girls talk, one may think they hated each other, but it was just their way of some twisted affection. This same banter was similar to that of Lupin's and Jigen's, which made Jess quiet to think about. But, as all things, it only fazed her for a bit and she finally related the long story of the thieves.
Across the ocean, in a time zone far, far away, the aforesaid thieves were dividing up the sack of rubies they had "borrowed." What Lupin hadn't told the other two men right away was that the job was going to be done on the plane going to London, not in London itself. It was small change compared to the money they got from the Hope Diamond, but it was a nice sum to add to the good ole' 401K.
"Well gentlemen, I have business to tend to in Italy so you are on your own," the man in the red jacket said with a dreamy expression on his face.
"I assume by business you mean Fujiko and by tending…well, let's not friggin' go there," sneered Jigen as he sat cleaning his Smith and Weston.
"Lupin, it is not wise to let desires of this magnitude determine your fate," Goemon interjected.
"Just because my desires don't include sitting around and cleaning my sword doesn't mean they aren't worthy. If anything you are the one with the messed up priorities man…" His rant was cut short by a glare and a swift hand movement by Goemon towards his weapon. "Anyways," Lupin continued as he slowly moved away from the temperamental samurai, "I will get a hold of you all if something comes up, but consider this a nice holiday."
"Aw, everyday with you is a holiday Lupin!" the sarcastic gunman exclaimed. The rest of that day's conversation was lost on our fedora wearing friend, though, as his thoughts turned toward America. With this new found free time, he had the excuse he needed to go back. Those fiery brown eyes seemed to haunt him. Jigen decided to leave in a couple of days when everyone else was departing so as not to bring attention to his new mission. He knew he couldn't just walk up to her out of no where, not when she was adjusting back to her normal life. He would observe her from afar and find the right time and place.
"Jess, are you serious?" Kim asked with a shocked look on her face.
"Yes. All of that happened in a time period of a week."
"No, I'm not talking about that crap; I'm talking about you hooking up!"
"Oh, yea I guess. I didn't really hook up…" she began to trail off and blush immensely. As comfortable as she was talking with Kim, the thought of that kiss made her extremely shy and quiet.
"Awwwwwww. Jess likes a boy!"
"Shut up." Jess said with a smile and a deeper blush. "Anyways listen, I'm on my own for a week because my dad is going on his seasonal hunting trip. In other words, if I'm calling more than usual that is the reason: pure boredom."
"Sounds good, but don't get off the subject at hand! Where is this guy? Did he just leave you? Who does that? What was he thinking?" This line of inane questioning could have gone on for a quite a bit, but Jess stopped it with a wave of her hand and a simple explanation.
"He'll come when he can. If he doesn't, it wasn't meant to be. If he does…well, we'll see what happens if he does." Jess bid her partner in crime adieu, as the story took all day to tell and the above conversation happened at the end of the school day. Jess wasn't about to get her hopes up about a man. After what happened to her last time, she guarded her heart and turned away any suitors that presented themselves. She was searching for someone special and since her school only presented a very crappy selection of men, she was disheartened and at times a little bitter.
A few days had past since her return home and Jess was getting back into the swing of her normal activities. Most of them centered on school, band, and sleep (only of which sleep she had fun in.) But, as mentioned, her father left for his seasonal hunting trips, so she found herself at least alone. When Jess was alone she could be as free as she pleased.
"Looks like it's just you and me, my little snow bird," said Jess to the dog standing next to her. While the little "snow bird's" real name was Taylor, Jess took it upon herself to come up with as many nicknames as possible. She did this to all of her pets, which confused both her dad and the animals alike. Since her father had taken the other two dogs with him, Jess only had to worry about Taylor. She enjoyed the company, though, since it was that little brown and white dog that had stood by her for 9 years. "Let's do something, arctic puffin…"
It was a beautiful spring day out, so the pair went for a walk through the neighborhood. With spring, though, comes allergies, which became evident as Jess began sneezing non-stop midway through their normal route.
"Shit, I'm sneezing like it's my job. We need to go home my little lamb." The brunette turned around and saw something dash into some bushes. "Stupid squirrels." Taylor began growling at the "squirrels" though, something she rarely did since she was rather old and didn't care. "Tay, it's an f-ing rodent, chill out." Jess never thought a thing of it though. Her thoughts turned towards the museum when a child standing next to her (while looking at a stuffed camel) proclaimed that it looked like a squirrel. "What a friggin' idiot," she said with a laugh. She always was a girl who managed to entertain herself, which she attributed to only child syndrome.
When Jess returned home, she fed Taylor and scrounged for some food herself. Since the list of foods she could make was very short, she settled on grilled cheese and a pickle she found in the back of the refrigerator. She had to learn to eat what ever she could find since in a few months she would be off to college. The rest of the night was spent with loud music and dancing around the house, as was the custom. This was her favorite part of her dad not being home, being loud and crazy. But like all good things, her festivities ended when she realized she had school the next day and would need some sleep. To the bed she went and began to fall asleep.
2 AM rolled around and as it would be expected that Jess would be asleep, she was woken up by Taylor growling at the top of the stairs.
"What is it snow bird? You must have been having a dream, go back to sleep love." But Taylor didn't stop growling and actually began barking ferociously. This kind of behavior brought Jess to the full upright position. Taylor wouldn't just bark at nothing, someone was in the house.
Thoughts ran rapid through her mind. "What did dad tell me to do if someone got into the house? The gun." Silently Jess slipped out of bed and went to her father's room. Under a stack of old clothes on a high rack lay the hand gun Eric kept just in case. The trembling girl took the gun, loaded it, and moved towards the top of the stairs. She took Taylor by the collar and had her walk down the stairs with her. The dog went chicken on her, though, and ran back upstairs where it was safe.
"Oh, you traitor!" growled Jess, but she was cut off from any other insults when her breath was taken away.
A pair of arms had grasped her tightly from behind; one around her mouth, the other on the hand with the gun. Hot tears ran down her face and her heart raced to near ends. Jess thought her time had come, that she was going to die right here, right now. She could feel the breath of her capture on the back of her neck. It was steady and calm, far from what she was experiencing at the moment. "This man is going to kill me and not even break a sweat," she thought. The breath came closer and finally right up to her ear. The tears continued to stream down her face as the brunette saw her end coming.
"You know," said the capture, "you won't shoot many people with the safety on."
That sarcastic voice was so familiar and then it finally hit her. "JIGEN!"
