Chapter 6

Ten minutes after twelve, Jigen, Goemon, and Lealah were dropping out of an air vent inside of the prison. The vent was on the ceiling about ten feet off the ground, so Jigen and Goemon had no problem coming down, but Lealah, this being her first time, needed some help. Goemon caught as she fell.

"Thanks," she muttered. Somewhere an alarm rang. Lealah walked over to a panel on the wall, and pulled a screwdriver from inside her overcoat. When she pried the panel open, she began tinkering with it. When she was done, she attached the panel back on the wall, cleared her throat, and said in a deep, disguised voice, "The previous alarm was false, I repeat, false alarm." Then she sighed and said, "I don't know how long that'll last, we have to hurry." Goemon nodded and ran ahead, Lealah following a few feet after him, still avoiding Jigen. Jigen stared sadly after her, and went to join the two. The hallway had led into a medium sized office. Goemon and Lealah were no where in sight. Jigen turned around, confused, thinking they might have made a turn, when two cops barged in on him, guns raised. One of them shot the gun from his hand, and it went skidding across the floor.

"Diasuke Jigen, you are under arrest for just about everything in the book except tax fraud!"

"Damn, I can't believe you guys missed that one!" he exclaimed with a nervous grin. How the hell would he get out of this one? Just then Lealah walked by, and looking in the door, saw his predicament. The cops tried to fire rounds at her, but apparently she had her brothers invincibility to bullets. She leapt forward into rolled on the ground to avoid the bullets, picking up Jigens' discarded gun en route. She raised it to them and they paused, giving Goemon just enough time to drop down from above and slash the two with the reverse edge of his blade, knocking them out. Lealah held the gun out to Jigen, butt first. He walked over to her to retrieve it.

"Thanks, I thought I was screwed. . ." He put his hand on his gun and cocked it, still in her hand. Big mistake. She jerked her hand back, with, if possible, an even more frightened look on her face and ran down the hall. Goemon gave him an inquisitive look, and he shook his head. They stared to run after her. When they got to Lupins' cell, he was asleep on his bed.

"How are we supposed to get him out? Did either of you lift a key?" Lealah asked them. Jigen and Goemon smiled at each other.

"Stand back," said Goemon stepping forward. She obliged, wondering what he could do. He drew his sword and cut the bars, all in one solid motion. Lealah stared in amazement as the bars fell to the floor.

"Whoa. Goemon, are you a Samurai?" He smiled at her. "Wow, that's cool! I was wondering why you wore those clothes." This got a laugh out of Jigen. Lealah walked over to the bed. "Hey, Lupin wake up. . ." As she got close enough to see his head, she let out a loud scream and fell back in front of Jigen.

"What's wrong?!" She pointed to Lupin.

"D-d-d-d-d-d" She couldn't even make out one word. Jigen walked over to him and grabbed him. Even he had to gasp. There he lay, dead, with a bullet hole in the center of his forehead.

"Dammit, Lupin! Who could have done this?" As he spoke, he saw a smile start to appear on the dead thief's' face. "You little. . ."he growled. Then Lupin burst out laughing.

"HAHAHAHA, you should have seen her face! HAHAHAHA! It's a wonder what you can do with catsup and strawberry jelly! HAHAHAHA!" Jigen grabbed the collar of his prison clothes and started shaking him violently.

"What the hell kind of a sick-ass joke was that, you bastard?! You scared the living shit out of us! She's been through enough tonight!"

"What is that supposed to mean?" Lupin managed to ask, between shakes. Jigen threw him to the bed and lowered his hat on his head.

"Nothing, just come on." They began making their way back to the air vent they came from. The problem was that when they got there, they found it was being guarded. When the cops saw Lupin, black and white stripes and all, they yelled "PRISON BREAK!" and started shooting in their direction. Lupin pulled Lealah behind the corner they had just turned.

"Jigen, did you bring my Walther?" he asked Jigen.

"You should know me better than that, Lupin," he said with a grin as he handed Lupin his gun. Lupin grinned too.

"Did you bring one for Lealah?"

"I didn't know I was supposed to," Jigen replied to this. He stole a glance at her. She looked scared, but determined. This would be so much easier if I hadn't scared her, he thought. He took out his Magnum and started shooting at the cops. "Goemon, we'll hold off the cops, you get her the hell outta here!" Goemon nodded and drew his sword.

"Where are we supposed to go?" Lealah asked him as they began running away from the gunfire.

"I assume they meant to go out the way the police cars do."

"Man, if Lupin had said that, I probably could find 20 things wrong with it." "Yes, but I am not Lupin."

"Ain't that the truth!" she exclaimed. As they reached the garage, they spotted Lupin and Jigen running behind them.

"Run, I planted plastic explosives!" Lupin yelled to them, still shooting behind him. "Get in one of the cars!" She and Goemon jumped into the back of one of the cop cars. Not long after, Lupin and Jigen came up and got in, Lupin in the drivers' seat, Jigen riding shotgun.

"Hey Lealah, you OK?" he asked her.

"Fine. Thanks for asking," she returned nervously. Then she slammed the soundproof glass that separates the back and front of cop cars shut.

"What was that all about?" Lupin asked him as he began to wire the car. "There, got it!" he exclaimed. Jigen looked over at him uneasily.

"Well, I kinda. . . I was having a dream. . . and I sorta. . . scared her." Lupin laughed.

"Scared her? I don't think so. She doesn't scare easy."

"You'd be scared too if someone you just met put a magnum to your head," he muttered. Lupin slammed on breaks. Somewhere off in the distance, they all heard a loud boom.

"YOU DID WHAT?!" he screamed. "WHAT THE HELL DID YOU DO THAT FOR?!

"Like I meant to! She came in to wake me up, and I pulled the gun on her in my sleep. I thought I had it against Kings head!"

"What, your old Mob boss?" Jigen nodded and told him the full tale of what happened.

"Oh, well, in that case you just need to talk to her, tell her what happened. I never told her you were an ex-hitman. Hell of a way to find out, huh?"

"Yeah," Jigen muttered. He hadn't wanted to tell her about his history, but now it didn't look like he had any choice. "Damn Mafia."

"You say something?" Lupin asked as they drove into the parking lot of the apartment building.

"No, not me. . ." As soon as they walked inside, Lealah went straight to her room, locking the door behind her. Lupin smiled. 'She really think that'll stop any of us?' he thought. Jigen walked up beside him, staring at the door. He had never been especially good with kids; the only reason he taught them in the Mafia is because he was the only one who actually hadn't threatened to shoot someone if he got the job. Anyway, those were mob brats, and they were not like normal kids. They were as cold-hearted as their fathers and the only reason they hadn't shown their true colors was that his reputation had scared the crap out of them. Back then, no one messed with Daisuke Jigen and lived to tell about it. Then, along came the curveballs, Lupin's 2 and 3. Now, nine years later, there he stood, trying to figure out how to tell a teenager he didn't mean to put a gun to her head. So he stood. Lupin looked over at him.

"Hey, you gonna go in?" he asked.

"Can't," Jigen replied.

"Why?" Jigen pointed down to the lock. "Oh, come on, she won't mind you breaking in to apologize!" Jigen rolled his eyes at him.

"It's not that. It's that not all of us have the title of 'World's Greatest Lockpick'." Lupin slapped his forehead.

"You're freakin' pathetic. After I get done training her, I'm teaching you, man." Lupin began to pick the lock. "So, watcha gonna say?" he asked Jigen.

"No idea. Since when did it become any of you damn business anyway?"

"Since you put a gun to my sisters' head," he muttered. "There!" the lock clicked open. "Go say your apologies. And try not to be a complete jackass like you usually are. She might not like that." Jigen threw a punch at him, which he dodged, and walked inside. Lealah was sitting in her bed reading. When she looked up to see who it was, the same feared expression returned to her. She made a move to try to get out of bed and run to the door, but she soon realized Jigen had positioned himself so he blocked the door. 'Crap,' she thought nervously. She started to edge closer to the window.

"Lealah, wait, I'm not gonna hurt you. I want to explain to you what happened."

"I saw what happened, I was there! One minute you were asleep, next minute I was staring down a magnum barrel!" she exclaimed.

"Well, a lot happened between minutes one and two actually." He lowered his eyes. "I've been through some tough times, Kid."

"Like I haven't? It's not like the Chinese Mafia is after you or anything."

"Your right. It's actually the American Mafia." He walked over and sat beside her on the bed. "I guess we should have told you this, but I'm a little jumpy when I'm asleep. Especially when I'm stressed out. This won't be the first time I've woken up to me pointing a gun at someone, and probably not the last." Her expression changed from hurt, scared, and angry to shocked and sympathetic.

"Jigen, I had no idea. Why did you wait this long to tell me? Wait a minute, this is my first day here. Still. . ."

"I don't even pretend I'm proud about my past. I didn't want anyone else to know unless they had to. Look Kid, I'm. . ." His voice trailed off. Lealah got the message, though.

"I'm sorry too. I knew you couldn't have known, cause your eyes were closed, but it still scared the crap outta me." Jigen stood to leave.

"Yeah, well, next time you need to wake me up, throw something soft at me."

"I will," she promised with a smile. "Goodnight."

"Uh. . . Yeah. . . Goodnight," he returned, a little taken aback. 'She really forgave me that quickly? She's either more gullible than Pops or really understanding.' As he left he heard her shut off her light. When he got into the main room, he sunk down in a recliner.

"So, did she forgive you?" Goemon asked from the couch.

"Yeah." Goemon nodded thoughtfully. Lupin walked in.

"Yeah, she's a great kid. You met her before Jigen. Remember that kid I was babysitting when we were at the park? Damn, I was 22, so that had to be, what, 12 years ago?"

"Hey, she was that kid that jumped out from under the bench, wasn't she? I knew I'd seen those eyes before!"

"Yeah, that was her. Hey, Goemon, what's up? You seem even quieter than usual, which is saying a lot." Goemon opened his eyes and raised his head to the thief and the gunman.

"Did you notice anything strange about that break-out? Like something was missing?" Jigen thought for a moment.

"Well, now that you mention it yeah, but I can't place my finger on it." He looked over at Lupin who had a white face and the gleam of realization in his eyes. "You know what it was?"

"Yeah," said the thief, shaking his head. "Where the bloody hell was Pops?" Somewhere, a cookoo-clock sounded three.

*****

Three a.m. found Inspector Zenigata and CJ Craig running to the ticket booth of a French airport, trying to get there in enough time to buy her a ticket and still make his flight. He didn't normally miss a flight, especially when either Lupin or his family were the destination, but it had been so long since he had done anything like that. He had woken up beside her about thirty minutes ago, grabbed his bags, told her to pack, and rushed off to the airport. He still couldn't believe CJ actually liked him, but there he was, trying to get a ticket for her to Tokyo ten minutes before his plane left. When he got to the desk, he recognized a familiar face; Pierre, the annoying jerk with the heavy accent that had sold him his ticket home last time he was here.

"Ah, Inspector, we were afraid you were not coming."

"Look, I need a ticket for my same flight." Pierre then spotted CJ.

"Bonjour, Mon Cherrie!" he said, kissing her had.

"Er. . .hi. . ." CJ replied. Zenigata was quite sure she had no idea what he had just said.

"Forgive me, madam! I did not realize that your French was comparable to the inspectors'!"

"Just get the damn ticket!" Zenigata growled through gritted teeth.

"Oui-oui!" He stepped into a back room.

"What did he mean by my French was comparable to yours?" she asked him.

"He's insulting you," Zenigata replied.

"Oh really. . ." Pierre came back in holding a ticket.

"Here you are, mon ami! One first-class seat, right next to yours!" He handed the inspector his ticket as he held out some money.

"Merci beau-coup," CJ said to him with an angelic smile. "Je espior pour ệtre volant avoc te encore biento^t." Then she began walking toward the gate, both Zenigata and Pierre staring after her.

"You got one hell of a catch there, mon ami," Pierre said to him.

"I'll be damned if I don't know it, too," the confused inspector replied. Once they had found their seats on the plain, Zenigata asked her how she knew French.

"Well, I minored in French in highschool, and decided to brush up when I was put on the Lupin case, since he was French and all." A stewardess came up to them.

"Would you like anything before we take off?" she asked them.

"Just a blanket and two pillows," he replied to her. After she had walked off, Zenigata leaned back in his chair and slid his hat down over his eyes. Then, realizing disgustedly he was starting to act like one of his worst enemies, he took it off and put it under the seat while CJ giggled. When the stewardess returned, she found them both fast asleep, her head on his shoulder and her arm around his waist, and his arm around her shoulders with his other hand resting on hers.

*****

The next morning when Lealah woke up, she found Lupin gone with his bed unmade. When she looked at the clock she was shocked to find out that it was nearly 11:30! As she walked into the kitchen from her room, she was met by Jigen with a newspaper and Goemon at the stove.

"Oh look, Rip van Winkle finally decided to wake up." Jigen smirked at her over his paper. He turned to light a cigarette. Lealah wrinkled her nose.

"You smoke?"

"Yeah, so does everyone except you and Goemon."

"Nasty habit. Never liked the smell of smoke, cigarette or not."

"Thank you!" Goemon said sarcastically behind her, glaring at him. "For Buddha's' sake, how do you keep the yolk whole?"

"Don't jab at it," Lealah returned just as sarcastically. "Where'd that brother of mine go, anyway?" Jigen yawned a reply.

"He was leaving just as I woke up. Said something about finding out where Pops was last night. It's strange that he wasn't there, he's usually harder to get rid of than head lice." Lealah let out a short laugh.

"Here you are," Goemon said putting a plate in front of her.

"What's this?" she asked.

"Fish. I gave up on the eggs."

"For breakfast?"

"Yes."

"Cool," she said as she started eating. Jigen looked at her from over the paper.

"She's crazier than you are, Goemon."

When Lupin returned from his outing a few hours later, he found Lealah on the couch watching TV, Jigen leaned back in the recliner with his hat over his eyes, and Goemon meditating on the balcony. He took of the hat and mask he used to get in and came over and sat beside Lealah.

"Hey," he whispered more out of caution than courtesy. "When did you finally get up?"

"11:30. Where were you?"

"Spying on Pops. Apparently, he was sent to France to tell them of my capture, and was supposed to catch a flight back to Tokyo at three yesterday morning. Well, he made the flight, but he had another passenger with him. Man, that's just creepy. What if it's a girl?"

"It's more than I can say for any of you," she told him casually.

"Hey, what the hell is that supposed to mean, huh?!"

"Oh, come on, I saw you and Fujiko yesterday. You were pathetic!"

"I. . .she wants me!"

"Yeah, whatever. How about him and Goemon?" Lupin thought for a minute.

"Goemon is too serious, and I don't think Jigen takes interest in women."

"You know, I'm not asleep, I heard everything you said," Jigen said from under his hat.

"Good, then I don't have to repeat myself. You take Lealah and tail Pops."

"What?! No offence Lealah, but isn't she a little inexperienced to do something like this? Shouldn't we wait till after the trial mission?"

"No, the whole reason you're taking her is to train her. She needs to learn spywork too."

"Hey, I taught her to shoot! You tail Pops!"

"No, I need to do some research, and I need Goemon for it. That's why you're taking her."

"What research could you possibly need Goemon for? The guy lives under a friggen rock!"

"So sue me, it was just a ploy to get you to train her! Look, I'm tired, and I don't know if Goemon can drive. So you're taking her." Lealah and Jigen looked at each other.

"I'll go get changed," she told him, walking into her room. Jigen stared after her.

"Hey, Lupin?"

"Look, you're taking her, and that's it!" he yelled.

"It's not that. Are you sure she is your sister?"

"What the hell is that supposed to mean?"

"Well, she doesn't act anything like you."

"She spent the last nine years in foster care. What did you expect her to act like, Mini-me?"

"Ok, Ok, but she doesn't look like you either." Goemon appeared inside, like a ghost.

"That isn't true. If you look very closely, you can see a striking resemblance in the eyes. And she has her brothers' big mouth. I've also heard her let out a certain laugh that we all know."

"See, Jigen, there you g-wait a minute, my mouth isn't big!" Meanwhile, in her bedroom, Lealah was looking for her shoes.

"I always loose those things! Darn it! Maybe they're under the bed." As she began to reach under the bed, she felt something cold, and hard. "What is this?" she asked. It almost felt like the case her clarinet went in, but it was leaning against the wall across the room. When she finally managed to pull it out, she found it was some sort of instrument case, perfectly square. It was too small to hold a rifle, and too big to carry a handgun. As she opened the case she gasped. Inside was a beautiful brass trumpet. She could tell it was very old by the way the case looked inside, but the actual horn still shone like new. When she ran her hand over the cold brass, she didn't feel any dents or flaws. She shut the case and walked into the other room where the others were to tell them of her findings. They were all gathered around the TV, staring at it intently, even Goemon. "What are you all doing?" she asked.

"Trying to figure out what Ozzy Osborne was thinking when he did that," Lupin said pointing to the TV. "Oh yeah, these yours?" he asked, holding up her lost shoes.

"Uh, yeah, thanks. You ready, Jigen?"

"Yeah. Please tell me that's just a bad joke," he said, pointing to her clothes.

"Huh?" She looked down at what she was wearing and rolled her eyes. "Look, believe it or not, this is what I grabbed back at my old house. It's not my fault!" She jammed her hands into her khaki Capri's. A red jacket that stopped at her waist was covering her blue blouse.

"Right, sure. Let's go." They both got into his car and started to drive.

"Hey, where do we start?" she asked him.

"Interpol Headquarters. The first place he would have gone would be there, even if it were the middle of the night. The guy is fricken obsessed with his job."

"Really? Never would have guessed." She responded sarcastically. "I can't believe I kicked him like that. I've never done that to anyone!"

"Why did you do that? I mean, he was laughing at me, not you."

"I don't know. It just got me mad that he was laughing at the first Japanese name I could think of."

"Well, he's not much of a social guy, as you can see."

"You're one to talk." She looked over at him.

"And how would you know anything about that?" he asked her, concentrating on finding Pops too much to even be mad.

"Hitmen don't have social lives."

"Ex-hitman, thank you very much."

"Ok," she said. "Hey, you'll never guess what I found under my-"

"There he is!" Jigen exclaimed, spotting Zenigata walking on the side of the road. He looked downtrodden and pissed all at the same time. "Looks like he found out about last night. Get out, he knows this car, so we'll tail him on foot." They got out and began following him, staying on the other side of the road. After a little while, Pops stopped at an apartment building. Jigen pulled Lealah behind an arrangement of bushes next to a tree across the street. As they peered through the bushes, they saw a blonde haired woman come out to meet him.

"Koichi? What's wrong?" she asked him.

"Koichi?" Lealah asked Jigen as quietly as she could. He looked just as bewildered as she did.

"I have no clue, we always called him Pops."

"Koichi, what happened?" she asked again. He looked at her with a sorrowful expression.

"He escaped. Last night. And it'll take weeks to get a new warrant!" "Who?"

"Lupin. . ." His voice was barely a whisper. He hung his head to the ground. "I guess you'll wanna get back to your own apartment now. . ."

"What? Why would I want to do that? I love you for who you are, not what you do." She pulled him into a kiss. Jigens' mouth hit the ground. Lealahs' eyes grew to twice their width.

"Lupin will not believe us. . ." Lealah began. Jigen shushed her. Pops and the woman had begun to talk again.

"I know what you need," she told him, a mischievous glint in her eyes. Zenigatas' eyes shone.

"Just like last night?" he asked her, hopefully. Jigen nearly choked as his throat constricted as he gasped. Lealah stared, not comprehending.

"That's right," she said as she began walking up the stairs. Zenigata began to follow her eagerly. By now, Jigen was rolling on the ground with silent laughter. Lealah just stared. Finally, after a minute, she got it.

"No, WAY!" she exclaimed, a little too loudly. Zenigata spun around, trying to see what had made the noise. Jigen jumped up and clamped his hand over her mouth, giving her a 'Shut up!' kind of look. Her eyes showed an apology. Pops looked as hard as he could, thinking he recognized the voice. When he couldn't find anyone, he shrugged, and with the earnest look back on his face, followed the woman up the stairs. He had decided, for once in his life, that he couldn't do anything about Lupin right now. Right now all he could do was. . .well. . .

Lealah and Jigen slowly turned their heads to each other. Then, Zenigata and the woman appeared in an upstairs window. The hitman and the girl below scrambled up the tree to get a better veiw. Through the window, Pops and his girl had began to kiss again. She began to unbutton his shirt. The coat came off, the hat, and when she got to his belt. . .

Suddenly, everything went dark for Lealah, and she felt someone trying to choke her.

"What the hell. . .Jigen? Get off me!" Jigen had pushed her hat down over her eyes and put her in a headlock to keep her from seeing anything. She tried to throw him like she had Lupin, but he was too strong.

"Keep it down! You want us to be found? Hell no, I ain't letting you go! I'm not gonna make your brother mad just because you want to see an insane Interpol agent and some bitch. . .Whoa, go Pops!" Lealah continued to struggle, as her foot slipped. She fell from the tree, Jigen still holding her by her neck.

"Jigen. . .you're hanging me. . ." she tried to yell, but all she could manage was a gasp.

"Hey, get back up here!" he exclaimed, pulling her up. "Don't do that again!" Jigen still had her in a headlock, but she didn't struggle any more for fear of falling out of the tree again. After a while of standing there in the dark, she heard Jigen say, "Man, if I watch anymore of this, I'll turn into Lupin. Come on, Lealah." With that, he pushed her out of the tree. She landed in some bushes, unharmed. Jigen jumped out of the tree and landed beside her. "You OK?" Some muffled yells were all he got. "Good, let's go tell your brother about this. He will not believe it."

*****

Lupin was lying on the couch where he had fallen asleep when Lealah walked in. He woke up as soon as she walked in.

"Did you find anything?"

"Yes," she said, stomping past him.

"Are ya gonna tell me what it was?"

"I can't, thanks to Jigen." She stomped all the way to her room. A few seconds later, Jigen walked in.

"What was that about?" Lupin asked him.

"It actually has to do with Pops," he replied, dropping himself on the couch. "We found him. And he was very pissed, let me tell you that."

"Like I expected any less. Is that it?"

"No. When we got to his apartment, a woman came out to meet him. She asked him what was wrong, then she kissed him." Lupin sat straight up at this.

"What, like a kiss. . .or a kiss?"

"A kiss."

"No way!" Lealah started laughing from inside her bedroom

"Hahahaha, you two sound like the cheerleaders at my highschool!" Lupin and Jigen ignored her.

"Yeah, and that's not all. Then they went upstairs and started. . .you know, right in front of and open window!"

"Oh my. . .did Lealah see any of it?" Lupin asked him.

"Nah, I covered her eyes just in time."

"You should have left her alone! She'll find out about that one day anyway!" Jigen gave him an incredulous look.

"What kind of a brother are you?!" Lealah, on the other hand, was laughing her pants off. "Oh, shut up!" Jigen yelled at her.

"Make me, Kuroji!" she yelled back.

"What did you just call me?! Lupin, my Japanese is rusty, what did she call me?"

"Your Japanese is fine, it's just your vocabulary. 'The man in black.' That's what Kuroji means."

"Oh, Ok. Whatever. I'm goin' out. Later."

"Your actually gonna let her call you that? You hate nicknames! Right?" Lupin asked.

"Well, 'Kuroji' is actually very fitting. Later." He slammed the door after him.

"Hmm," Goemon said thoughtfully. "Lealah, it is time for your lesson from me."