What Crooks Love

DISCLAIMER: I do not own the rights to Lupin III or anything remotely noteworthy for that matter.

Author's Notes: I am not dead! Just extremely busy. Even if my writing comes out at a much slower pace, I'm not going anywhere! We're approaching the end so get ready for some angst. Enjoy!

Chapter Six: Catharsis Is Disappointingly Elusive

Jigen checked his watch. It was midnight already. The abandoned warehouse that Zenigata had chosen for the meeting wasn't exactly what he had in mind when he said he wanted to talk, but it served his purpose nonetheless. 'Old pops should show up any minute now.'

"How did you manage to come into contact with him at such short notice," asked the samurai from his cross legged position. How the man was able to sit like that for hours on end was something that had perplexed Jigen ever since the two first met.

"I… I texted him man," came Jigen's irritated response. Goemon's relationship with technology had always been poor, but in recent years it had reached a comical degree. Goemon could easily adapt with the times, yet he was too stubborn to even try.

"Oh… I did not know you two had a direct line of communication." Despite trying his best to hide it, embarrassment was evident in his voice.

Jigen made one of his signature Jigen sounds that only two men knew how to interpret and lit up another cigarette, his first of the new day. The gunman was surprisingly smoking a lot less lately, far from his own gargantuan standards. "Everyone has a direct line of communication with everyone nowadays. If you tried using that phone we got you for once you'd find out for yourself."

Now it was Goemon's turn to be irritated. "I have no interest in being in direct communication with anyone," he exclaimed loud and clear. "Not to mention, these things can be easily tracked. What if someone were to pinpoint our location because you foolishly decided to text the man who has been pursuing us for years?" Goemon almost tried to hide the venom in his voice.

"How much of a freaking amateur do you take me for," yelled back Jigen. "So you don't know what Google is but you know that phones can be traced? I hate those damned things as much as you, but while some of us adapt to all that shit, others are still stuck in the Edo Period!"

Deciding not to press the matter any further both men eased up. The last thing they needed was more inner conflict. Jigen checked his watch again. "He's late," he announced.

Just then, the sound of a car could be heard outside of the building. The car's headlights went off and a familiar figure stepped out of it. The samurai finally stood up and held his sword tight. "Speak of the devil and he shall appear."

In a matter of seconds the inspector stood in front of the two men, his expression impossible to read. The tension in the room was almost palpable.

"Things must be getting out of hand if you two shitheads need my help." Zenigata was always straight to the point, a quality of his that both Jigen and Goemon appreciated.

Jigen took another drag before shoving the cigarette back in his mouth. "Yeah well, he's missing and if someone might know where he is, it has to be the president of his fan club himself," came Jigen's snarky reply.

Zenigata smirked. "You didn't seem to have any trouble tracking him down in his mansion the other day."

"Neither did you," came Goemon's reply. Hearing Goemon speak was still something Zenigata was getting used to. The samurai was so quiet and he could count the times he had spoken to him with his hands. Jigen's more familiar voice came to complete Goemon's sentence. "We know you were with him in jail so he might have told you something. We wouldn't ask for your help if he had just gone missing, it happens more often than you might think. Problem is, we're still not sure what's going on up there," he said, pointing his index finger at his head. "We don't want him shooting people on sight again, and we're pretty sure you don't either. He's hard enough to contain as is."

Zenigata stayed silent for a few moments, taking their words and the events that had recently transpired into consideration before speaking. "Where's Fujiko? Is she insisting it's none of her business again?"

"Worse," said Jigen, "she actually went off to find him herself."

This was proof to Zenigata that things might be serious. That woman would have to have a really good reason to ever openly display genuine affection towards Lupin in front of others. But he figured they were overreacting, it was only natural considering recent events.

"He was acting weird in his cell, pretty obvious to tell that something was eating him up inside. Turns out he was feeling guilty about my subordinate that almost got killed, Arianna. Didn't even think that asshole could feel guilt!" That last part was a lie.

At the sound of that both men facing the inspector tensed up even more. Just as they had suspected, Lupin was indeed facing some demons. "And then what," asked Goemon.

"We spoke for a while and his mood got a lot better. He then announced that he was going on some trip and broke out. And by broke out I mean he made his cell explode." Anger was evident in his voice, Zenigata would never forget to check that damned hair piece again.

The gunman and the samurai eased up, relief washing over them. It was clear that Lupin had not gone mad again, at least not for now. But a few questions were still left unanswered. Jigen took the stand. "That's good, it means he hasn't gone ape shit. But you said he went on a trip? The hell does that mean?"

Zenigata shrugged. "You're his friends, not me. You should have a better idea of what he's up to. So far there haven't been any reports of him anywhere. That at least proves he hasn't been causing trouble. My guess is he wants to have some time with himself. Did he mention any specific location to you at any point?"

Jigen and Goemon looked at each other and tried to recall any potential mention. In the end, it was fruitless. "He doesn't usually travel without the purpose of stealing something. For all we know he could be anywhere." Jigen wondered if Lupin would go somewhere close to his past, or as far away from it as possible. Both equally good guesses.

"I believe it is best if we leave him be for now," was Goemon's input. "The events that transpired have obviously taken a heavy toll on him. As long as he does not pose a danger to others, we would be wise to let him do what he thinks he must in order to relieve his conscience."

The other two men reluctantly agreed, unable to find any other course of action. "Keep your eyes and ears open, if he goes nuts again we have to intervene before it's too late," said Zenigata, still unconvinced of Lupin's true motives.

Jigen and Goemon nodded and started heading outside. Zenigata yelled one last thing before turning to leave himself. "Tell Fujiko to stop searching for him, it's pointless!"

"Who do you think we are, her goddamned secretaries? She's a grown ass woman, she can do whatever the hell she wants." The last thing Jigen wanted to do was contact that person in any way.

The two men got inside the car, cautiously optimistic about the information they had just received. Yet Jigen was still uneasy. "You think this is the right thing to do? Just sit back and hope that he comes back in one piece mentally? You think he'd just stand around and do nothing if that was us in his place?"

Goemon closed his eyes and rested his back on the seat. "We cannot help Lupin fight his own mind. This is a battle he must win on his own."

Jigen puffed one last time before throwing away what little was left of his cigarette. "You and your fucking riddles." His tone was more playful than hurtful and it made the samurai smile ever so slightly.

"But if he loses that battle," wondered Jigen, "what then?"

Goemon opened his eyes and looked out the window, his eyes fixating on the abandoned building inside of which their meeting had just taken place. It couldn't help but remind him of Lupin's scorched mansion.

"Pray that we do not have to find out."

Lupin was no stranger to sleeping in his car, despite not being a stranger to the finest thing in life, the thief would always pride himself in being able to get by in just about any conditions without complaining. Whether he was sleeping in a 5 star hotel or a prison cell made little difference, especially when he slept alone. Yet as he was waking up from his slumber when the first rays of light went through the tiny Fiat's windows and into his eyes, he felt far from rested.

At times like these Lupin contemplated if his inability to dream was a good thing or not. Would he be able to find solace in dreams? Or would his self proclaimed mother haunt them? Unable to come up with an answer, the man decided to push such thoughts aside and momentarily exited his car to do some morning stretches before continuing on his journey.

As evident by his suit, Lupin liked the color green. He was driving slowly down the rural roads early in the morning, wishing to take in the scenery and its calming effect as much as possible. He opened the windows and let the mountain air fill his lungs. It was the perfect way to distract his mind, both from the looming apparition that was seemingly haunting him, and from his purpose back in those lands.

Soon enough however, the small car and the thief driving it inevitably reached their destination. Lupin parked his car just outside the entrance of the village and headed inside, as memories of the place were rushing back to him like a daydream. It sure looked a lot more empty than when he last visited. How many years had it been? Was it even in that lifetime, he pondered to himself?

As he was approaching the house where the young woman lived, Lupin came to the realization that he didn't know what he wanted to say to her. He had thought of trying to arrange a meeting between her and Goemon, like he did with Jigen the day before. But he soon dismissed the idea, the samurai would try to cut him into pieces if he brought it up even as a prospect. Then again he had no intention of speaking on behalf of his friend either. He figured the words would come to him in time. Yet as he was standing in front of her porch, no such words were to be found.

The sounds of running water could be heard from the house. He balled his hand into a light fist and gently knocked on the door, his mind still uncertain about the visit.

"I'm in the back watering the plants!" It was undeniably Murasaki's sweet voice. Although Lupin never formed a particular connection to Goemon's would-have-been bride, he still liked the gal. Her voice was a bit more mature, but hadn't changed much over time.

Silent as ever he made his way around the perimeter of the house until he saw the young brown haired woman with a hose in her hand. She had a light red t-shirt and some shorts on, clearly used to the mountain cold a lot more than him. She hadn't changed a bit. "Long time no see, little lady!"

Murasaki turned her head towards him, shocked to see Lupin appear uninvited after such a long time. Immediately however her expression changed from shock to joy as she turned off the hose and directed her attention towards her guest.

"Mr Lupin," she exclaimed. "Nice of you to come by! I certainly wasn't expecting a visit."

"I'm sure you weren't, but I was just on my way to a job and thought I'd stop by and see what my good friend Murasaki is up to after all this time! Hope I didn't interrupt you from anything important." He moved behind her and crouched until his nose came mere inches away from one of the many flowers. "Your garden is wonderful by the way," he said, making sure never to break his kind smile.

Murasaki blushed and bowed to him. "Thank you for the kind words. Would you like some tea? I'm afraid I don't have any coffee if that's what you wanted."

"Tea will do nicely my dear! Is your grandpa here too? I'd love to see how the old geezer is holding up!"

As soon as the head of the Suminawa family was mentioned, Murasaki's smile was replaced by a small frown. "I'm afraid you're a little too late for that, grandpa passed away 6 months ago…"

'Fuck,' was Lupin's initial thought as he dropped his smile as well. 'Way to go dumbass. She's almost crying and you haven't even mentioned Goemon!'

"My condolences, I didn't know him well but I'm sure he was a great man, and an even better grandpa."

Murasaki gave him a forced smile. "Thank you, he went peacefully in his sleep…" It was obvious that the lady wanted to discuss the matter no further, and Lupin was one to quickly pick up on such things. He lightly grasped the shorter woman's shoulder, careful not to have his intentions misinterpreted. "Let's go inside, you did promise me some tea after all."

A few minutes later the two of them were sitting comfortably, sipping on some green tea that Murasaki had prepared. "That's some really good tea! You sure you don't wanna open up a store or something? You'd kill it if you did!" Lupin wasted no time trying to be friendly with the woman, desperately trying to find the words he wanted to say to her.

"You're overreacting, it's just standard tea over here. You must have drank even better tea in Turkey, I hear they are quite the experts when it comes to it," Murasaki replied with a sinister grin on her face.

"Oh," came Lupin's excited response as he lifted his eyebrow. "Someone has been spying on me it seems!"

"Hardly, your face has been all over lately, I just read some news article about you sleeping with some politician there, hope she at least made you some good tea afterwards." Lupin wondered if the girl always used to tease as much, but he was amused nonetheless.

"You shouldn't believe everything you read online you know," he winked at her, "read any such articles about anyone else maybe?"

Lupin knew that sooner or later the conversation had to be steered towards the samurai. After all that's what his visit was all about in the first place. But much to his surprise, Murasaki's smile didn't disappear this time.

"He's not exactly a man who wants to be in the limelight," she said with a hint of sadness in her voice. "But I'm not worried about him. I know he's still working on his training. If you've managed to survive this long, I'm certain he has as well."

Lupin laughed. "Ouch, but fair enough." He was surprised by the woman standing across from him. 'Seems like she really meant it when she said she wouldn't wait for him,' he thought. Maybe there wasn't anything he needed to fix this time around. Murasaki seemed to be living a good life without Goemon, maybe bringing these two together would be a mistake after all.

That was until she spoke again.

"I understand that Goemon can't be here today for reasons of his own, and that you're interested in seeing how I'm doing on his behalf. But rest assured, I'm doing just fine and I can wait for as long as I must, until he is ready!"

Something shattered inside of Lupin at that moment. He dropped his friendly demeanor, put his cup down and looked directly into Murasaki's innocent eyes.

"Why are you still waiting for him?"

The question coupled with Lupin's rapid change of attitude frightened the young woman and she looked back at him. "What… what do you mean?"

"Are you seriously expecting him to come back?"

Murasaki froze, unable to respond in any way.

Lupin was feeling dizzy. He wanted to lie. To tell her how good she's been waiting for his friend all this time. To reassure her that her sweetheart would come back to her in time. But he was fed up with lying. Even a thief has to come clean once in a while. This was the only way he could truly help her. Tell her the truth alone, hard as it may be to swallow.

"He wants to come back to you. He's never said it of course, but I know him too well. Goemon isn't like me or Jigen when it comes to women. Him choosing you suggests you… actually mean something to him."

The woman was hanging from his every word, practically begging him with her eyes to tell her something, anything that would give her hope.

"For as long as I can remember him, Goemon has been training. It's his favorite excuse. But even if he ever does become flawless in his craft, he won't come back to you, he'll still keep on training. Me and him have several differences, but if there's one thing we have in common it's that we both…"

His head felt like it was about to split. He could feel a woman's hands caress his shoulders. Her voice a familiar whisper in his ear. "Say it."

"We both can't live a normal life. It's not in our blood. Settling down with someone like you, it's just not our destiny. God knows I tried. But I failed. And as much as I hate to admit it, Goemon will too. You shouldn't wait for him. Not any longer than you already have."

The woman behind him smiled. Lupin couldn't see her, but he knew she had the exact twisted smile she had when he took her life.

Murasaki was silent. Tears started falling from her eyes yet she refused to make a sound. Lupin prayed for anything. That she would swear at him, tell him he's wrong. But much to his disappointment only two words came out of her mouth.

"I understand."

There was no further talking, no goodbyes. What had been said could not be unsaid for better or worse. "I'm sorry," is the only thing he managed to say before getting up, putting his shoes back on and disappearing into the day.

"No good deed goes unpunished, does it my boy?" There was no escaping the witch, not this time.

"Get out of my fucking head Tomoe, I know you're not real." Lupin walked back to his car and reached for some painkillers that he had in the trunk for emergencies.

The woman laughed. "And since when can someone talking to himself distinguish what is real and what is not? I'm as real as you make me to be my son."

"What the hell do you want from me? How are you in and out of my mind so easily damn it?" Lupin was fuming, though he wasn't quite sure who his anger was directed towards.

"I only go where I'm invited, remember? It's not my custom to go where I'm unwanted."

"And what makes you think you're invited here?"

"You do my dear, you need me. Now more than ever."

Lupin punched the roof of his car in frustration. "What the hell could I possibly need you for?"

Tomoe's vision smiled. "The truth, my son. I taught you how to lie to everyone around you, but not to yourself."

"I didn't lie to Murasaki." Lupin was now on the verge of a breakdown.

Tomoe's voice was suddenly commanding. "And where did that get you? You don't care about Murasaki or whatever her name is, Lupin. You're not on this so-called journey to help your friends, or any of these women. You're here because you can't accept the truth of who you are."

"That's… not tr-"

"Stop making excuses boy, you're too good for that. You're Lupin the Third. You're my prodigy. My greatest creation. We don't care about these people. You just want their validation because you want to feel better for what you've done to them when-"

"SHUT THE FUCK UP!" Lupin shouted on top of his lungs. But Tomoe wouldn't hear it.

"When we don't need them! That's why I'm here, Lupin. That's why YOU brought me here. To make you understand that we don't have to apologize to anyone. These people are nothing but dirt beneath our feet. What good is telling them the truth about anything?"

Lupin couldn't take it anymore. He got inside the car and started the engine. He had to leave or he'd go insane. Thankfully the apparition did not follow him inside the car.

"Run along to the next one," he heard her shout. "Pretend that you care about her as well. But soon enough we'll meet again. You can't outrun yourself Lupin."

Lupin stepped on the gas, leaving the village and his mother's vision behind him. His head was finally starting to clear again. It was obvious that escaping the witch was no longer possible. He had to conclude his journey and face her himself, once and for all.

Was it the right thing? Telling Murasaki the truth?

He didn't know.

He didn't know anything.