Episode Nine:
Yuma walked up to the door, unsure of herself. She was in a different neighborhood, about to knock on the door of a man she didn't even know. As she stared at the metal barrier, not for the first time, she wondered, 'Am I ready to do this?'
Indeed the thing she was about to do was devious. She planned to gain the hard-ware she needed by means of sex. She would prostitute herself to get it, getting Lupin back for his untruthfulness in the process. It had all seemed so simple. But now, she was really wondering if this was the right thing to do. She shook her head. Lupin was a player. She could see that now. She had no obligations towards him. Clearing her head, she knocked on the door.
"Be there in a minute," she heard a man's voice. She heard footsteps up to the door, and it opened. "My, my," he said, looking her up and down, "A lady! What brings you here, miss?"
"I'm here for a special hardware," she purred, "and I was wondering if you might be able to give it to me?" She gave him an innocent look.
"Sure!" he said, suddenly a little too happy, "Come right in!" He ushered her through the door and shut it behind her, leading her to an old couch, "So, what do you need?"
"I am in need of a special hacking hardware," she said, matter-of-fact-ly, "and, from what I hear, you're the only one that has it."
"I don't know," a crafty look spread across Ice's rat-like face, "it took me a lot of time to get it. It may cost extra money."
"I'm sure we can work something out," she purred, "if you know what I mean."
"Oh, I definitely know what you mean," he said in a slick voice, "but it's going to take a little more than that."
"I knew it would come down to this," she said in a smooth voice, "so I brought some extra … incentive." She pulled out her purse and unzipped it, taking out some money she'd stolen from Lupin's bank account. "Will this be enough?"
"Sure, sure!" he said cheerfully, "Come this way." She followed him down the hall, listening, "It gets a little dark, so watch your step." She heard his footsteps, then, suddenly, they stopped.
"Ice?" she called after him, "Ice?" Suddenly she felt a sharp pain at the back of her head, and everything went black.
When Yuma woke up, she was in a dimly lit room. Lupin's room. She looked over to the chair beside her, where he sat. He didn't look happy. In fact, he looked betrayed. She rolled over, suddenly feeling terrible. She didn't want to look at him. She didn't want to think about what she'd almost done.
"If you're worried about the money," he said in a soft, somewhat flat tone, "don't. I've already got it back." She lay there, silent. "As for what you're wearing," he continued, "I've decided to dress you more decently."
"Lupin-" she said softly.
"Don't," he cut her off, "I don't want to hear any excuses."
"You know," she said angrily, tears coming down her face, "you weren't the only one ending up hurting in all of this!"
"I know that," he said in a quiet, cold voice, "but I'm not the fortune hunter around here, am I?"
"I never wanted your money, you idiot!"
"Oh, an idiot, now am I?" he said, "I'm not the one who stole $2,000,000 in cash. And I'm certainly not the one who looked like a whore being hauled out of that apartment. Yuma, I thought you were different."
She got up, but felt someone pull on her wrist, "Lay back down." The words came out as an order, not just a statement. "I know now that I can't trust you. I'm leaving you in here to think about things for a while. You know where the bathroom is. I'll be getting your dinner in a couple hours." She looked at him, hurt. "Don't say anything," he said, turning his back to her, "I've already heard everything I wanted to hear. It's been fun, Yuma, but I've gotta go take care of some other business." With that, he walked out the door. Yuma heard the lock click as he walked away, and put her head in her hands. What was she going to do now?
She looked down. Lupin was the only man she'd ever allowed herself to truly love. Now, because of her, all that was gone. Every kiss, every hug, all that meant nothing now, and it was all her fault. She had already turned her back on 'civilized' society, and she would never be able to show her face here again. She had nobody and nothing to hang on to. Her life had been a rollercoaster ride of ups and downs. To tell the truth, it had been hell. Lupin, for a brief moment, had shown her hope. Now, with him gone, there was nothing left to live for. She had one final option, and the answer was in the built-in bathroom.
Silently she padded in there, looking around. Just as she'd expected, there was a razor in the shower. With lifeless eyes, she closed the door and ran herself a bath. Hopefully, Lupin wouldn't intrude. She didn't want him to feel sorry for her. She didn't want to have anything to do with any of them. It would just hurt too much. Secret suicide was a much better option.
Once the bath was full, she undressed, and lay down in it. She didn't have to worry about electrocution, even when the water hit her bloodstream, because she was half-human. Quietly, she took the razor-blade and slashed her wrist. She cried out in pain for a moment, the tears welling up in her eyes, but she wasn't about to stop. Next, she slashed her other wrist. Again, a sharp pain came to her skin. She lay down and watched the red liquid flow from her body, pinking the water.
Exactly two minutes later, Lupin walked in. He was going to talk to Yuma about a few places she could go until he could get her a fake ID. He walked over to the bathroom door and picked the lock. Something wasn't right here. He sniffed the air. Blood! He ripped back the shower curtain and saw Yuma's blood streaming out of her veins. Picking her up, he ripped a few parts off her shower curtain and tried to cut off the blood loss by wrapping it around her wrists. After that, he quickly put her on the bed and yelled, "GOEMON! JIGEN! CALL AN AMBULANCE! YUMA'S BLEEDING TO DEATH!"
Yuma's eyes slowly fluttered open, "What's going on?" She saw Lupin walk into the room and tried to roll over, murmuring weekly, "Go away. Leave me alone."
"No," he said firmly, "I can't do that. Yuma, why did you do this?"
"If I don't have you, I don't have anything," she said, "You were the last good thing in my life."
Lupin sighed and sat her up against him in an upright position. "I called an ambulance. We're getting you to a hospital."
"Why can't you just go away!" she started crying, "Go away!"
"Yuma," he said softly, "I love you. I don't want you to die."
"Well, I do!"
"Why?"
"'cause you don't love me," she said, "You're gonna throw me out, and I have nothing. I wanna' stay, but you're not gonna let me. You blame it all on me, and you didn't even tell me that you were just using me-"
"Using?" he said, "No, not at all. Listen, baby, I'm very complex."
"Bullshit," she said.
"No, really! I grew up in a family where it wasn't uncommon for a man or woman to have more than one person they loved. We don't believe in monogamy."
Yuma, realizing her mistake and feeling utterly humiliated, burst into sobs, "I'm sorry, I'm so sorry!" She continued, "I didn't mean it, I just wanted to –"
"Oh, it's okay," he whispered, soothing her, "It's alright. All that matters right now is that we get you to a hospital for a blood transplant. I promise you that that's all that'll happen. Then, we can get you home, and I'll have my family doctor check up on you."
"How could I be so stupid?" she cried.
"Because I was dumb enough not to tell you," he murmured, "Now just calm down and sit tight. Everything's gonna be fine."
"I'm getting sleepy," she yawned.
"No! No, no, no! You stay awake, okay?" he said sharply, "Don't fall asleep!"
Right at that moment, he heard an ambulance. Fujiko walked in, "I've heard about Yuma's situation from Jigen. We're taking her to a special hospital where nothing bad'll happen to her. This people deal with her kind all the time."
"You mean there's more?"
"They're all over the place, Lupin!" she said, "Did you actually think there was only one prototype running around?"
"Fuji-cakes, they might be wanting to capture her," said Lupin calmly.
"Not while I've got them at gun-point," she smiled craftily, "I've got people working for me, too. Remember that."
The paramedics quickly raced through the door and put her on a stretcher. Lupin was allowed to get into the ambulance with her, with Jigen, Fujiko, and Goemon following. It seemed that, physically, Yuma would be fine. Whether or not she would be okay emotionally was another thing entirely. At this point, one could only hope things would be alright, and, right now, things didn't look good.