Chapter 5
Note: Please do not torch me, it'll all work out. Close to the end, it kind of becomes a West Wing crossover, but only for a few chapters. Again, please do not torch me.
Lupin knew his friends were there far before he ever saw them. Goemon had a trick with his friends, so that he knew not to attack them if they ever disturbed him while he was meditating or sleeping. He knew Jigen was in the room if he smelled gunpowder, cigarettes, and sometimes some form of alcohol. Lupins' giveaway was bad cologne that didn't even have a name. Fujiko always wore Channel #5 perfume. Well, Lupin had become so accustom to being around his friends, he had also picked up this trick without ever noticing. He smelled gunpowder, and incense Goemon always used while meditating or sharpening his sword. But he also smelled something else. Gunpowder, yes, but different than Jigens'. Where had he smelled that before? Wait for it... wait for it... wait for it... ah-ha! That smells like my gunpowder. What the... Then he remembered. He had given his prized Walther to Jigen so he could train Lealah. Shit! How could they be so friggen reckless? If Pops finds out about her he'll have her here in a heartbeat.
He had been lost in thought, so he didn't realize he was being watched until a guard walked in. "Visitors for you, Lupin." In walked Jigen, Goemon, and Lealah. Where the hell did she get those clothes? he thought.
"How did you get in here?" he asked her.
"Dad brought me," she said jerking her head at Jigen. "I always wanted to meet the great Lupin III, so Ji-Dad finally gave in and brought me here." Lupins' cheeks puffed from trying not to laugh.
"Jigen, buddy, you never told me you had a daughter. So what's her name?" Lupin couldn't wait to hear what they had come up with.
"Question of the day," Jigen muttered. "Her name is Mitsukia Jigen." Lupin just couldn't contain himself. "Careful, Lupin. She kneed Pops in the crotch for making that mistake. Still don't know if he woke up or not." This only made him laugh harder.
"Man, bet he didn't see that one coming. So did your Dad give you that hat, or did you swipe it?"
"Dad gave it to me while he was teaching me to shoot." Lupin put his arm around her and turned his back to the camera.
"You look just like a mini Jigen. What's the plan?"
"Be ready at midnight."
"Gotcha. Sorry, got to make this realistic." He wrapped one of his arms around her and grabbed her butt with the other.
"I'm sorry too. But I have to be realistic." She reared back and slapped him as hard as she could.
"Hey, buddy, pull that shit again and I won't need my gun to kill you. Let's go, Mitsukia." As they left they passed Zenigata, still on the floor groaning. Lealah laughed a high pitched laugh that could only be heard one other place.
"You sound exactly like your brother when you do that," Goemon said, letting a rare smile pass his lips. Lealah grinned and thanked him, stating it must come from being around "that cop." Goemon had rarely heard Lupin use it around anyone else but "that cop" so he agreed.
Once back at the apartment, Jigen had told everyone to go to bed. They had a long night ahead of them and the last thing he needed was two half-asleep accomplices. He also told Lealah to set her watch to go off at quarter till, in case he fell asleep. She agreed and walked to the room her and Lupin shared. It was only 7:00 so she wasn't very tired, but she laid in her bed anyway after setting her watch. Soon she fell asleep.
Beep beep beep! Lealah woke with a start. She checked her watch. Right on time. She got up full dressed. She decided to get Goemon first. He wasn't even asleep. He had been meditating on the patio since they got there. After that was done, she walked into Jigens' room. He was laying under the covers asleep. Lealah hated to wake him up, but after all, this was his plan. She sighed as she walked over to the bed and began gently shaking him awake. "Jigen...Jigen...Jigen..."
*****
Daisuke Jigen was sick of the killing, sick of the rape, sick of the torture, sick of the goddamn Mafia. As he ran through the streets of Chicago, he wondered why he even got involved in the first place. Now that he was trying to get out, King wouldn't let him go easy. He knew too much. He could complicate things. But he had to. He had just seen the death of his best friends' father, and he hadn't done a damn thing to stop it. He couldn't stand it anymore. He had to get out. But first he had to get away from King. Only one of Kings cronies were following him, but that's all he needed. Jigen stopped looking back and focused on running forward. Suddenly he felt a sharp pain run up his leg. He had been shot! He fell over and his Smith and Wesson flew from his hand. It landed about three feet from him. King and his follower stood over him. The guy walked over to him and started shaking him. Jigen heard strange distant voices chanting his name. "Jigen...Jigen...Jigen..." If only he could reach his gun... Finally he reached it! Bam! One crony dead. Jigen cocked his gun and pointed to where the barrel was right up against Kings' head. Then he had to blink, because Kings cold gray eyes turned frightened. And brown. He blinked again. Now they had blue glasses around them. This time he blinked twice and his eyes widened in horror. He hadn't drilled his gun in Kings head. He had it pointing at Lealahs'! She was standing there with her hands over her head, with a horrible frightened look on her face.
"J-Jigen... p-p-please! D-don't shoot me..." Jigen stared at her with a sorrowful horrified look on his face until he realized his gun was still raised. He lowered it, hurriedly, and fumbled while putting it away.
"I...sorry...wha...why...bad dream...what's wrong?" Lealahs' expression didn't change.
"You t-told me to w-wake you at q-quarter till. I-it's t-time to rescue L- lupin. Goemon said he'd meet us there." She backed out of the doorway slowly.
"Wait, Lealah..." With a terrified look on her face, she turned and ran. Jigen heard the door slam.
"Dammit! I can't believe this!" He slammed his fist on the bed. "This is friggen unbelievable! The one time I don't want to scare anybody and I cant help it!" He sighed as he pulled on his shirt and coat. As he passed the kitchen table, he noticed a black fedora laying abandoned on it. He pushed his further down on his eyes.
*****
Goemon heard Lealah running up to meet him at his location about a mile from the prison. The first thing he noticed was she didn't have the hat Jigen had given her. Second thing was Jigen was nowhere in sight.
"Where is Jigen?" he asked her as she ran up beside him. He saw her eyes widen in fear.
"H-he's getting dressed. I-I left without him." Goemon sensed something was wrong.
"What happened?"
"N-n-n-nothing. He just...look, here he is!" Goemon say Jigen running up the road, tired and out of breath. Goemon waited until he was there.
"Jigen, what's going on with you and Lealah? She's acting very strange." Panting, he answered.
"I...huff huff...scared...huff huff...her."
"How?" Lealahs watch went off again.
"It's twelve!" she shouted back to them. It was almost as if she was back to normal, but when her eyes fell on Jigen she lowered them and turned her back on him.
"I'll tell you later. Gotta rescue that friggen friend of ours right now."
*****
Inspector Zenigata sat at a table in an expensive restaurant in France sipping red wine. Interpol had given him the honor of telling the French police that there native thief, and his constant pain in the rear, had been apprehended. They had been so impressed and pleased that they gave him a night out at an expensive restaurant, courtesy of the Paris Police Department. As he sat eating his veal, he pondered what to do next. "Well, I'll definitely go home and see Kohoku and Miyaka, but then what? I know Kohoku won't take me back. I wonder if Miyaka misses me? I left her when she was pretty young, 8 or so. God, she'll be 17 this year. Maybe I can get my old job at Tokyo Police Department. No, not until Jigen, Goemon, and Fujiko are caught. Man, seeing Jigens' kid reminded me of Miyaka, all up until she kneed me. Maybe I can get her on assault of a police officer. Oh, that still hurts!" Somewhere off in the distance, a clock struck eight.
"Inspector Zenigata?" Zenigata turned around to face a pretty woman with light, strawberry blond hair and a United States White House badge on. She was about his age, but still very pretty. He had to admit to himself that he was a little taken by her. "Inspector Zenigata? Hi, my name is CJ Craig, from the White House. I just wanted to congratulate you on your capture of the thief Lupin. I'm head of the Lupin case in America." My life is instantly better with Lupin out of the way. He thought.
"Thank you! Please, sit down. Would you like something to eat or drink?"
"Oh, no, I couldn't..."
"Nonsense!"
"I just wanted a chance to talk to you, Inspector. You make me feel so welcome!" Zenigata blushed. He had no idea why, but he felt inclined to tell her his first name.
"Please Miss Craig, call me Koichi."
"Is that your first name? I always liked Japanese names. OK, if you'll just call me CJ."
They struck up a small conversation, which grew larger, as CJ asked the question she had been wondering since she met him. "So, Koichi, are you single?" Zenigata winced as if remembering bad times.
"No... wait, yes, I'm divorced. I have a 17 year old."
"Oh, I'm so sorry, what happened?" she asked with genuine concern.
"Nine years ago, after I was assigned the Lupin case I had to move a lot with the job. Visits home got further and further apart, until she sent the divorce papers. Now, I supposedly see them once a year, but sometimes I miss it because something came up in the case. I haven't seen my daughter in 5 years." She laid her hand on his, which sent a shiver of anticipation up is arm.
"I know how hard it is. I've never married, but the last boyfriend I had was killed in the line of duty." Her eyes shone with tears. "He was trying to buy me roses, to go along with the ring, when he walked in on a robbery. Not Lupin, just some amateurs trying to hold up a gas station. He stopped the robbery, but was shot in the process. He never woke up."
"I'm so sorry, CJ."
"That's why I dedicated my life to stopping criminals. And Lupin. How about you?" "Mines family history. One more thing I have in common with the anti- Christ." CJ laughed at his joke. "It was nice meeting you CJ, but I have to go. I'm catching a red-eye back to Tokyo at 3, and I need to go home and pack."
"OK. It was nice meeting you Inspector Zenigata. I really enjoyed talking to you." She held out her hand and he shook it. While CJ went straight out to her car, he had to use the restroom. After he took care of business, he tipped the waiter and began walking to his car. She was nice. Really nice. It felt good to talk to someone normal for a change, he thought. Then he sighed. Too bad I'll never see her again. Just as he was inserting his key into the car door, he heard someone scream.
"DAMMIT! Crapcrapcrapcrapcrap!" That sounds like CJ, he thought. As he walked over to where the noise came from he saw CJ attempting to start her car.
"What's wrong?" he asked her.
"This damn car won't start! Oh, perfect! I'm out of gas!" she leaned her head up against the steering wheel.
"I'll drive you. Where are you staying?"
"Interpol headquarters."
"Oh, good, my rent-a-house is only about three blocks from there." She smiled at him.
"How about you drop me off at your house, and I'll walk the rest of the way?"
"Oh, I could just drive you all the way there."
Oh, no, I don't want to give you anymore trouble. Anyway, walking is my only forum of exercise, and I'm overdue for a workout."
"If you insist." They talked while he drove, had a few laughs, and then he drove up to the house he was renting. "Well, here we are." They both got out of the car and she walked him to the door. As she stood on his front steps, she made one last attempt at small talk.
"This house sure is big. I think it's Victorian, I never knew they made houses like this in Japan."
"Yeah, they make houses like this all over, although the columns make me thing more of Greek style, Parthenon, whatever the hell its called, but now that you mention it..." He never got to finish his sentence. CJ had put her hands on his shoulders, and as she pulled him down to her, their lips met. Zenigata was surprised at first, but then he closed his eyes, embraced her and welcomed the kiss. He had never felt like this before, even with Kohoku. It was almost as if the world had stopped turning, just to wait for them. When they finally broke away, they were both blushing.
"Uh, do you want to come inside?" he asked. He hadn't noticed before just how blue her eyes were. She smiled back up at him.
"I thought you'd never ask," she answered as she pulled him to her again.
Note: Please do not torch me, it'll all work out. Close to the end, it kind of becomes a West Wing crossover, but only for a few chapters. Again, please do not torch me.
Lupin knew his friends were there far before he ever saw them. Goemon had a trick with his friends, so that he knew not to attack them if they ever disturbed him while he was meditating or sleeping. He knew Jigen was in the room if he smelled gunpowder, cigarettes, and sometimes some form of alcohol. Lupins' giveaway was bad cologne that didn't even have a name. Fujiko always wore Channel #5 perfume. Well, Lupin had become so accustom to being around his friends, he had also picked up this trick without ever noticing. He smelled gunpowder, and incense Goemon always used while meditating or sharpening his sword. But he also smelled something else. Gunpowder, yes, but different than Jigens'. Where had he smelled that before? Wait for it... wait for it... wait for it... ah-ha! That smells like my gunpowder. What the... Then he remembered. He had given his prized Walther to Jigen so he could train Lealah. Shit! How could they be so friggen reckless? If Pops finds out about her he'll have her here in a heartbeat.
He had been lost in thought, so he didn't realize he was being watched until a guard walked in. "Visitors for you, Lupin." In walked Jigen, Goemon, and Lealah. Where the hell did she get those clothes? he thought.
"How did you get in here?" he asked her.
"Dad brought me," she said jerking her head at Jigen. "I always wanted to meet the great Lupin III, so Ji-Dad finally gave in and brought me here." Lupins' cheeks puffed from trying not to laugh.
"Jigen, buddy, you never told me you had a daughter. So what's her name?" Lupin couldn't wait to hear what they had come up with.
"Question of the day," Jigen muttered. "Her name is Mitsukia Jigen." Lupin just couldn't contain himself. "Careful, Lupin. She kneed Pops in the crotch for making that mistake. Still don't know if he woke up or not." This only made him laugh harder.
"Man, bet he didn't see that one coming. So did your Dad give you that hat, or did you swipe it?"
"Dad gave it to me while he was teaching me to shoot." Lupin put his arm around her and turned his back to the camera.
"You look just like a mini Jigen. What's the plan?"
"Be ready at midnight."
"Gotcha. Sorry, got to make this realistic." He wrapped one of his arms around her and grabbed her butt with the other.
"I'm sorry too. But I have to be realistic." She reared back and slapped him as hard as she could.
"Hey, buddy, pull that shit again and I won't need my gun to kill you. Let's go, Mitsukia." As they left they passed Zenigata, still on the floor groaning. Lealah laughed a high pitched laugh that could only be heard one other place.
"You sound exactly like your brother when you do that," Goemon said, letting a rare smile pass his lips. Lealah grinned and thanked him, stating it must come from being around "that cop." Goemon had rarely heard Lupin use it around anyone else but "that cop" so he agreed.
Once back at the apartment, Jigen had told everyone to go to bed. They had a long night ahead of them and the last thing he needed was two half-asleep accomplices. He also told Lealah to set her watch to go off at quarter till, in case he fell asleep. She agreed and walked to the room her and Lupin shared. It was only 7:00 so she wasn't very tired, but she laid in her bed anyway after setting her watch. Soon she fell asleep.
Beep beep beep! Lealah woke with a start. She checked her watch. Right on time. She got up full dressed. She decided to get Goemon first. He wasn't even asleep. He had been meditating on the patio since they got there. After that was done, she walked into Jigens' room. He was laying under the covers asleep. Lealah hated to wake him up, but after all, this was his plan. She sighed as she walked over to the bed and began gently shaking him awake. "Jigen...Jigen...Jigen..."
*****
Daisuke Jigen was sick of the killing, sick of the rape, sick of the torture, sick of the goddamn Mafia. As he ran through the streets of Chicago, he wondered why he even got involved in the first place. Now that he was trying to get out, King wouldn't let him go easy. He knew too much. He could complicate things. But he had to. He had just seen the death of his best friends' father, and he hadn't done a damn thing to stop it. He couldn't stand it anymore. He had to get out. But first he had to get away from King. Only one of Kings cronies were following him, but that's all he needed. Jigen stopped looking back and focused on running forward. Suddenly he felt a sharp pain run up his leg. He had been shot! He fell over and his Smith and Wesson flew from his hand. It landed about three feet from him. King and his follower stood over him. The guy walked over to him and started shaking him. Jigen heard strange distant voices chanting his name. "Jigen...Jigen...Jigen..." If only he could reach his gun... Finally he reached it! Bam! One crony dead. Jigen cocked his gun and pointed to where the barrel was right up against Kings' head. Then he had to blink, because Kings cold gray eyes turned frightened. And brown. He blinked again. Now they had blue glasses around them. This time he blinked twice and his eyes widened in horror. He hadn't drilled his gun in Kings head. He had it pointing at Lealahs'! She was standing there with her hands over her head, with a horrible frightened look on her face.
"J-Jigen... p-p-please! D-don't shoot me..." Jigen stared at her with a sorrowful horrified look on his face until he realized his gun was still raised. He lowered it, hurriedly, and fumbled while putting it away.
"I...sorry...wha...why...bad dream...what's wrong?" Lealahs' expression didn't change.
"You t-told me to w-wake you at q-quarter till. I-it's t-time to rescue L- lupin. Goemon said he'd meet us there." She backed out of the doorway slowly.
"Wait, Lealah..." With a terrified look on her face, she turned and ran. Jigen heard the door slam.
"Dammit! I can't believe this!" He slammed his fist on the bed. "This is friggen unbelievable! The one time I don't want to scare anybody and I cant help it!" He sighed as he pulled on his shirt and coat. As he passed the kitchen table, he noticed a black fedora laying abandoned on it. He pushed his further down on his eyes.
*****
Goemon heard Lealah running up to meet him at his location about a mile from the prison. The first thing he noticed was she didn't have the hat Jigen had given her. Second thing was Jigen was nowhere in sight.
"Where is Jigen?" he asked her as she ran up beside him. He saw her eyes widen in fear.
"H-he's getting dressed. I-I left without him." Goemon sensed something was wrong.
"What happened?"
"N-n-n-nothing. He just...look, here he is!" Goemon say Jigen running up the road, tired and out of breath. Goemon waited until he was there.
"Jigen, what's going on with you and Lealah? She's acting very strange." Panting, he answered.
"I...huff huff...scared...huff huff...her."
"How?" Lealahs watch went off again.
"It's twelve!" she shouted back to them. It was almost as if she was back to normal, but when her eyes fell on Jigen she lowered them and turned her back on him.
"I'll tell you later. Gotta rescue that friggen friend of ours right now."
*****
Inspector Zenigata sat at a table in an expensive restaurant in France sipping red wine. Interpol had given him the honor of telling the French police that there native thief, and his constant pain in the rear, had been apprehended. They had been so impressed and pleased that they gave him a night out at an expensive restaurant, courtesy of the Paris Police Department. As he sat eating his veal, he pondered what to do next. "Well, I'll definitely go home and see Kohoku and Miyaka, but then what? I know Kohoku won't take me back. I wonder if Miyaka misses me? I left her when she was pretty young, 8 or so. God, she'll be 17 this year. Maybe I can get my old job at Tokyo Police Department. No, not until Jigen, Goemon, and Fujiko are caught. Man, seeing Jigens' kid reminded me of Miyaka, all up until she kneed me. Maybe I can get her on assault of a police officer. Oh, that still hurts!" Somewhere off in the distance, a clock struck eight.
"Inspector Zenigata?" Zenigata turned around to face a pretty woman with light, strawberry blond hair and a United States White House badge on. She was about his age, but still very pretty. He had to admit to himself that he was a little taken by her. "Inspector Zenigata? Hi, my name is CJ Craig, from the White House. I just wanted to congratulate you on your capture of the thief Lupin. I'm head of the Lupin case in America." My life is instantly better with Lupin out of the way. He thought.
"Thank you! Please, sit down. Would you like something to eat or drink?"
"Oh, no, I couldn't..."
"Nonsense!"
"I just wanted a chance to talk to you, Inspector. You make me feel so welcome!" Zenigata blushed. He had no idea why, but he felt inclined to tell her his first name.
"Please Miss Craig, call me Koichi."
"Is that your first name? I always liked Japanese names. OK, if you'll just call me CJ."
They struck up a small conversation, which grew larger, as CJ asked the question she had been wondering since she met him. "So, Koichi, are you single?" Zenigata winced as if remembering bad times.
"No... wait, yes, I'm divorced. I have a 17 year old."
"Oh, I'm so sorry, what happened?" she asked with genuine concern.
"Nine years ago, after I was assigned the Lupin case I had to move a lot with the job. Visits home got further and further apart, until she sent the divorce papers. Now, I supposedly see them once a year, but sometimes I miss it because something came up in the case. I haven't seen my daughter in 5 years." She laid her hand on his, which sent a shiver of anticipation up is arm.
"I know how hard it is. I've never married, but the last boyfriend I had was killed in the line of duty." Her eyes shone with tears. "He was trying to buy me roses, to go along with the ring, when he walked in on a robbery. Not Lupin, just some amateurs trying to hold up a gas station. He stopped the robbery, but was shot in the process. He never woke up."
"I'm so sorry, CJ."
"That's why I dedicated my life to stopping criminals. And Lupin. How about you?" "Mines family history. One more thing I have in common with the anti- Christ." CJ laughed at his joke. "It was nice meeting you CJ, but I have to go. I'm catching a red-eye back to Tokyo at 3, and I need to go home and pack."
"OK. It was nice meeting you Inspector Zenigata. I really enjoyed talking to you." She held out her hand and he shook it. While CJ went straight out to her car, he had to use the restroom. After he took care of business, he tipped the waiter and began walking to his car. She was nice. Really nice. It felt good to talk to someone normal for a change, he thought. Then he sighed. Too bad I'll never see her again. Just as he was inserting his key into the car door, he heard someone scream.
"DAMMIT! Crapcrapcrapcrapcrap!" That sounds like CJ, he thought. As he walked over to where the noise came from he saw CJ attempting to start her car.
"What's wrong?" he asked her.
"This damn car won't start! Oh, perfect! I'm out of gas!" she leaned her head up against the steering wheel.
"I'll drive you. Where are you staying?"
"Interpol headquarters."
"Oh, good, my rent-a-house is only about three blocks from there." She smiled at him.
"How about you drop me off at your house, and I'll walk the rest of the way?"
"Oh, I could just drive you all the way there."
Oh, no, I don't want to give you anymore trouble. Anyway, walking is my only forum of exercise, and I'm overdue for a workout."
"If you insist." They talked while he drove, had a few laughs, and then he drove up to the house he was renting. "Well, here we are." They both got out of the car and she walked him to the door. As she stood on his front steps, she made one last attempt at small talk.
"This house sure is big. I think it's Victorian, I never knew they made houses like this in Japan."
"Yeah, they make houses like this all over, although the columns make me thing more of Greek style, Parthenon, whatever the hell its called, but now that you mention it..." He never got to finish his sentence. CJ had put her hands on his shoulders, and as she pulled him down to her, their lips met. Zenigata was surprised at first, but then he closed his eyes, embraced her and welcomed the kiss. He had never felt like this before, even with Kohoku. It was almost as if the world had stopped turning, just to wait for them. When they finally broke away, they were both blushing.
"Uh, do you want to come inside?" he asked. He hadn't noticed before just how blue her eyes were. She smiled back up at him.
"I thought you'd never ask," she answered as she pulled him to her again.