DISCLAIMER: You think I own Lupin? If you mean by owning Lupin I own a candy apple, then yes.

And welcome to the next chapter,

The next belated chapter… Yeah, I know I put out a Scrapbook story last week, but still. Oh, well, I guess I beat myself up too much over this sort of stuff. Speaking of beat up… Eh, well, just read the next chapter and find out. By the way, if you read the story last week… Yeah, the link didn't show up. Sorry. The link's on my profile. If you have no idea what in the hell I'm talking about, I've got a Photobucket site set up with my pictures for this series. So, if you're having a slow night, just check it out, and let me know what you think. Thanks! P.S.: Happy Halloween!

Fun fact of boredom: Not sure if I should be pointing this out, but… If you look in the beginning chapters of the Lupin IV series, Max was taller than Leo. Somehow over the years he's lost about four inches… He's now 5'5, whereas Leo stands 5'9…. Yeah, now I actually check for continuity.

Chapter twenty-eight: Hungry like the Wolf (Oh, you know that that chapter title was coming, ha ha)

Wolf Island:

"A little bit longer," Sarante muttered to his lackey as he paced back and forth. "….There, that ought to suffice…"

The guard let go of his grip on Leo's neck and allowed Lupin to come up for air. Leo fell back onto his elbows, gasping for air and a slight bluish color.

"Heh heh, maybe we knocked a few languages out of his skull," a guard chuckled and looked downward at the panting Lupin, who was still a bluish shade after a minute. Leo was in the middle of an asthma attack, and couldn't signal that he was having difficulty even sucking in the smallest breath. Not that anyone looking down at him would care. Sarante caught onto this, smirked and removed an inhaler from his pocket.

"It said you were asthmatic," Sarante murmured and tossed Leo the device, which Lupin rapidly picked up from the floor and began to use. He laid his head back on the ground and coughed a few times more as his breathing returned to normal. When it finally had, he was greeted with a bamboo pole smacked across his chest. Leo gripped his ribcage and sat up on the stone ground, and then looked out his barely opened eyes to Sarante.

"You're lucky they broke out the bamboo instead of the chains, like they did with that blonde bastard," Sarante murmured and removed a cigar from a pocket deep in his suit. "My workmen get very angry when things don't go there way, and when people have the ability to hold their breath under water for extended period of time… They also hate smartasses…." He turned to his guards and barked. "Get him the hell out of here. Take the others with him. Escort them back to their bunker… Personally…"

Leo was loaded into the back of a paddy wagon, and soon Jordan and Victor were loaded in. Leo noticed Jordan's back and gave a shudder at the marks on it, and then turned to Victor. "What, they didn't beat you, too? What'd you beg for your life?"

"They removed my wisdom teeth with pliers," Victor replied, and spat blood at Leo's feet. Both Jordan and Leo shuddered at this, and watched Victor bang his head against the wagon from the pain.

"They… They'll get you something for that at the bunker… We will," Jordan said reassuringly. "All I need is some aloe… So what'd they do to you?"

"Left me with some brain damage I've yet to discover, no doubt," Leo muttered and felt the van start up. He looked over to Victor and wiped some of the blood away from his cousin's mouth. "Well, you needed them out anyway, huh, Victor?"

Victor said nothing and looked downward at the floor of the van. "Ryo can't see me like this…" he said even though his pain was immense.

"Well, she won't," Leo reassured him, and the three sat in the back of the van in silence until they were unloaded in front of the bunker and thrown in.

"Oh my God!" Fuji gasped as they rose, and she and a few others immediately went to tending to the three injured men.

"Victor's in a lot of pain, is there anything we could give him?" Leo looked upward at Gabe with great concern as the Irishman finished bandaging him up.

"Eh, well, I got something…." Gabe admitted uneasily, and revealed something extra in a pack of cigarettes he carried, "That ought to put him on cloud nine…"

"Give it to him, and tell him it's cigarettes…" Leo murmured as he glanced at the joints briefly and back up at Gabe. Gabe nodded and walked over to Victor, who was holding onto his jaw. Gabe lit one of the 'cigarettes' for Victor and placed it in his mouth, and soon Lupin was out of much of the pain he had been in.

"What, we get beat and he gets pot?" Jordan moved a chair over to Leo's bed and seated himself next to his younger half brother. "That's kinda unfair, don't you think?"

"Pot makes me puke, anyway," Leo gave a shrug, and decided against doing that again as he felt pain surge through him. "They when they get mad, they really get mad, don't they?"

"At least we know that they can't kill us," Jordan sighed and rubbed his sore shoulder. "They can put us through hell, though."

"I'm hoping on some off chance Dad watched."

"Are you kidding? Desperate Housewives was on… He probably TiVo'd it and won't watch it until June," Jordan muttered darkly.

Victor was less than himself as he laid down upon the cot, and glared at Chris in the bunk next to him, "This is all your fault, you little bastard…. Do you have any idea what they did to us in there?... I know you saw it…"

"Don't pay attention to him none; he's high as a kite," Gabe said in a sigh to an apparently hurt Chris.

"Poor guy…" Chris muttered under his breath.

"I am a bit happy to see karma works in mysterious ways," Peter remarked to Chris. Chris shot his head around and snapped in a hiss.

"He might not be the greatest person, but there's a reason why he's like that. And it's probably a long and not-so-nice story. Show some compassion," Chris barked.

"Hey, bro, how are you?" Fuji passed by this bickering duo with the ease of the cat burglar that she was and seated herself on the edge of Leo's bed.

"I'm fine, Fuji, I just got a little beat up is all," Leo replied with a yawn. "I'm just kind of tired… And I feel weird without my glasses on."

"You look more like dad without them."

"Fuji, about seven other people look like Dad. Even Jordan does if you squint in the sun," Leo turned over on his side and closed his eyes, signaling for Fuji to leave him alone. "I'm going to try to sleep now, okay?"

"M-hm. Good night, Leo," Fuji kissed her brother on top of the forehead and rose, and climbed up to Jared's bunk.

"That's my dad, isn't it?" Jared muttered as he looked down at Leo's bunk, where there was only a purple-jacketed back viewable from his perch.

"You're smart," Fuji replied as she seated herself beside her nephew. "He may look like a dork, but he's awesome. He's got two kids…"

"I've got siblings?"

"Uh-huh. A little baby and a cute adopted sister," Fuji answered. "And, well, another dad."

"Wait, I've got three now?" Jared whipped his head about and blinked a few times.

"Well, that guy, my brother, met another guy…"

"…You mean he's…"

"Jared, there's nothing wrong with it," Fuji responded. "Let's face it… He lost it to a hooker twice his age, was engaged to someone with clinical depression, looked to comfort from a klepto, and was used nine kinds of ways by his boss. I can't blame him; I'd have made the switch long ago if I had his track record!"

"I… Guess…" Jared replied uneasily. "So should I go home with him? What about my other family?"

"I'm really not the one you should be talking to about this, Jare."

"What, I thought I had the right family, too."

"Because there was evidence… Now I'm thinking they rigged it, because ninjas are sneaky bastards like that. There's a reason I don't like working with them," she made sure to lower her voice with this comment, for there was a ninja present among them. "That means they wanted you for some reason."

"You mean… They wanted to use me?"

"Probably," Fuji admitted with a frown. "Sorry…"

"It… It's okay… Like father, like son, I guess," Jared replied.

About 200 miles off the island:

"We're sure this is it?" Lupin called over the rough waves, and then looked over at Odori and sighed. She was once again leaning over the side of the ship, sick from the waves and its rocking of the ship. "…Could someone lead her to a bathroom?"

"I'll take care of it," Ally sighed and lifted up his friend, and led her downstairs to the bathroom facilities below.

Jigen watched his son lead Odori below deck, then turned his attention to his two daughters. Two discussions to have and only so much time. His one was now beginning to show her pregnancy and was still fighting, and the other was dating a sadist. He had hoped that his later years would have been calm ones. He was wrong.

"Yukiko," Jigen nodded his daughter over and motioned for them to go inside, to where Zenigata was down below manning the two-way radio.

"What's up, Dad?" Yukiko perched herself up upon a table and stopped a lamp from rolling off of it as they hit a heavy wave.

"Your stomach, for one," Jigen murmured, and watched his daughter's eyes roll at this comment. "What in the hell are you doing carrying around a magnum and a baby?"

"Dad, it's not like my water's broken or anything, I'm fine!" Yukiko reassured him.

"You may be, but you can't be sure of the baby," Jigen responded. "Even your mom had some downtime, when she was pregnant with Ryo and then Ally. Fujiko took a break when she had kids, so'd Amaya. Hell, even Natasha quit cooking for a little while. Why can't you just relax?"

"Relaxing isn't in me," Yukiko replied with a shrug.

"Yeah, but someone who'd appreciate a break from this is," Jigen laid a hand on her stomach and looked at her sternly. "Let Toshiro be the protector for a while. You've got someone who'll take care of you, and you need to let him. If I know him, he's dying to."

Yukiko muttered and tapped her fingers on the table, "What do you want from me, then?"

"A promise that you'll lay off until that baby's born. Take maternity leave," Jigen ordered.

"You know, Ryo's dating a crazy, you could bug her…"

"She's next on my list. I'm going in order of danger, though, and you're at the top," Jigen responded. "Your mother's been at that place you and Toshiro bought for months now with that boy-toy she's got."

"What, are you jealous?" Yukiko asked with a laugh, nudging her father. "You still have a small flame for someone?"

"There'll always be something between me and her, I can't not love her. I love Ming, though, and that's who I'm staying with. Besides, Sakura and I are too different now…. I'm sure you can relate."

"She was your Jordan, neh?" Yukiko smirked, and Jigen simply nodded. "Well, hopefully he'll meet someone sooner than Mom did… He deserves someone nice."

"That boy deserves a friggin' bullet as much as he stressed me out," Jigen remarked under his breath, and Yukiko gave him another gentle push. "Come on, the worst Toshiro did was dress in drag and maybe do some drugs—"

"How'd you know about that?" Yukiko asked in a mutter.

"Please, Ming tells me all the time how she redoes his hair red because it's growing in friggin' gray now. That's what happened to Steve Martin from all the coke he did."

"You're crazy, it's from the hair dye. The red's reacted with his hair so now it grows in that color and that dye in particular is the only kind that won't make it look like crap. Nothing else just seems to work on him," Yukiko sighed.

"You say potato I say main-liner," Jigen was caught off guard as his daughter reached over and embraced him, and gave a sigh and resigned himself to placing his arms about her as well. "At least he gave up that crap… I'm proud of you, I wanted you to know that before you got too busy popping out those grandkids."

"Dad!"

"Heh, you really can't take a joke, you know that? I'm gonna go ride your sister, now… She's got a lot of explaining to do," Jigen broke from their grip and then walked up the stairs to the deck of the ship.

Ryo was starboard on the boat, and turned about in surprise when she felt her father's hand on her shoulder. "Hey, Daddy…"

"I just got done with your sister, so now it's your turn," Jigen said warningly.

"No time, we're here," Leo announced. He looked over at a ship in the distance and smiled. "And with company…. Woah, down, tiger," he lowered the raised gun of Ally, who was standing beside him. "This is a friendly ship…. I'm gonna say hello!" he laughed and hopped down below with the spryness of one of his grandchildren, and sauntered over to where Zenigata sat. "How's life treating you, soldier?"

"I'm guessing you want to talk to him, too," Zenigata muttered, unamused by Lupin's joviality.

"You betcha," Lupin took the headset and leaned back in a chair in front of the machinery. "How's my favorite in-law?"

"Worried about his favorite Lupin," Max answered tiredly.

"But I'm just fine, Max!" Lupin chuckled.

"Hi, Grandpa!" Dako called.

"You, you've got the kids with you?" Lupin choked.

"What was I supposed to do with them?" Max sighed.

"Eh, I'll Pops watch over them when we land. We've got some pretty sweet coordinates to dock on, you want?" Lupin inquired with a chuckle.

"Heh, are you kidding—Gimme," was Max's brisk answer.

The two boats docked inside a cave, and Dako was quick to jump out and tackle Lupin and Zenigata, who were standing side by side.

"We missed you too, Dako… Now can you let go of our legs? We need them," Lupin said as he patted the young girl on the head and Max and Heiji jumped onto the Lupin gang ship, Max with Avery in his arms. Heiji gave a small depressed sigh as he saw there was no Fuji to tackle him and greet him, as there had been so many times. Instead he was greeted by the ever-stoic face of his father, his siblings and his grandfather. Smiling wasn't a normal function in the Ishikawa or Zenigata clans, he concluded.

"Pops, why don't you take the kids while the rest of us think up a gameplan?" Lupin asked with his usual cheery grin.

Yukiko gave a sigh as she looked in her father's direction; she knew what he wanted her to do, and perhaps it was the right thing, "Nah, I'll look after them…"

Lupin blinked a few times, as if not hearing this correctly, "You sure Yuki?"

"Er, yeah," Yukiko took Avery and held him as if someone had just passed her a bomb, and watched as the others filed out onto the land.

"I'm proud of you. You're less stubborn than me, afterall," Jigen whispered to his daughter as he passed and then stepped off with the help of Goemon.

"Now let's go get my kids, it's past their bedtime!" Lupin said with a smile.

"How is that possible—You probably have on in every time zone," Jigen responded dryly.

"You know, Jigen, I didn't bag on you this much when we found out you had a kid."

"Yeah, because it was only one… You're just a slut," Jigen replied, and Lupin gave a small roll of the eyes.

At the Bunker:

"How'd you even get this, Fuji?" Leo looked downward at the flyer, and back up at his sister.

"Eh, I turned on my feminine charms…" Fuji replied uneasily.

"Oh, God, you didn't—"

"Hell no! I've been a one-man girl for months!"

"What, did they put you on a patch?" Victor murmured from his bed.

"Please let me kill him, Leo, just a little bit," Fuji said through gritted teeth. Leo paid no attention to this, however, and instead rose and put on his purple jacket, and adjusted his tie.

"I think I have a plan," Leo said, and had a look upon his face which Fuji had thought all but vanished. It was a classic Lupin look, one that said he would indeed end up getting his way.

By the evening, the patriarch of the Lupin the Third gang, a majority of his old team and part of his daughter's team were halfway about the island, and the Lupin clan in their bunker was already working on their plan.

"Noooo way," Jordan said, shaking his head. "It's bad enough most of the world now knows I wear Fruit of the Loom, this is pushing it. You're as crazy as he is."

"Yeah, I get that a lot," Leo answered with a mousy chuckle and a small grin. "Gabe and Peter are already going to get our disguises."

At the mention of their names, the Irishman and the priest burst in, their arms full with large boxes with bright colored fabrics sticking out.

"Maybe your ex'll take you back if she sees you," said Victor to Jordan as he opened one box. "She seems to go for guys in makeup, and…" he pulled out a koto, and gave Leo a look of curiosity.

Leo smiled and threw a kimono over his shoulders, "Men in kimonos like that tend to like traditional forms of entertainment."

"Ohhh boy," Jordan murmured and shook his head.

"I'm glad we're just getting' to kick a little ass instead of havin' to do something like that, ain't you, Pete?" Gabe asked laughingly.

"He is a nice man for a homosexual," Peter said with a nod as he looked over at Leo.

"What, did you think they bit or something?" Gabe asked with a laugh.

"Eh, I was not very sure," Peter replied with a shrug.

"Here, Jared," Leo tossed Jared a kimono and smiled. "We need a kid, anyway."

"You beat up a child?" the shocked Alsenia gasped as she looked over at Gabe and Peter.

"Nah, he was a mid—Er, 'little person'," Gabe replied. "…We think."

"Little people do not wear Pokémon clothing," replied Peter, who was then nudged roughly in the ribs by Gabe.

Jared took the outfit, then looked at Leo as he placed his own kimono over his shoulders. "Your kimono looks like mine," Jared murmured.

"That isn't the only thing," Jordan looked over at Leo slyly, and the inspector blinked a few times, as if not quite catching on to this. Jordan shook his head and sighed, "Hopeless…"

The Middle Eastern woman spoke up at this point, and said in a low voice, "How will they not miss you?"

"Because," Fuji looked over at her with a wide smile, "Alsenia's going to be leading you off to the edge of the island while we put on a pretty l'il performance. Chris and I went out again and we found where all of those fat cats dock their ships. We'll take care of the said fat cats."

"Lupin, here," Fuji turned her head at the call of her name, and grabbed onto the thick kimono she was handed.

After finishing their disguises, and two Lupin siblings took turns knocking out the guards in front of their bunker, Alsenia and a Chinese Lupin put on the uniforms of the guards, smiled at one another, and nodded. They then went to leading out the 'prisoners' to a new destination.

Leo, Fuji, Jordan, Victor, Chris, Jared as well as an un-costumed Peter and Gabe then walked out a few minutes later, Gabe and Peter also dressed in uniform.

"I hate family reunions, I ever mention that?" Jordan murmured to Chris.

"At least you grew up with one," Chris muttered.

"Yeah, for a little while," Jordan answered, looking over to his right as he heard a twig snap in the said direction. After seeing nothing, he continued onward in procession with the others. "My mom died when I was little… A guy whom I didn't know to be my uncle killed her."

Victor gulped upon hearing this and grew outwardly nervous. It just never ended… He was still paying for his father's murderous streak. He had spent so much time in his life trying to defend himself from the attacks of angry family and friends of Remy Lupin's victims he sometimes wondered if he had turned out like him as a result.

"Wait, Leo, how in the hell are we going to hide these collars?" Fuji stopped dead and gripped onto the steel bar about her neck.

"Er, Jordan and I talked about that already…" Leo eyed the taller sibling uneasily, and halted in front of a boulder. "This'll be fine, Jordan."

"Okay, who's first?" Jordan drew a gun, and Victor immediately took a few steps back, with an expression likened to when he saw a snake about to bite him.

"Eh, I might as well… This is going to leave a ringing in my ears, though," Leo sighed and bent down, and not even Victor made a joke as he watched in silence. Jordan loaded the gun, a gift from Peter to him, and shot with the silencer on, much to Leo's relief. There was a slight burn mark on Leo's neck from where Jordan had shot, missing anything vital by inches. "I'm glad you and Yukiko thought of the shooting range as a romantic spot… Who's next?"

"Eh, what the hell? I follow you in everything—Being born, thieving—Why not this, too?" Fuji bent down, laying her head upon the boulder, and closed her eyes tightly. Jordan also bent down to Fuji's level, kneeling upon one knee, and he shot at where the ring had raised from Fuji's resting her neck upon a flat surface. She took rubbed her neck after she finished, and then Peter and Gabe followed, and then Chris, who was slightly nervous at their but kept it to himself nonetheless.

"Victor?" Jordan smirked, and his cousin paled at the call of his name.

"I… No, I…" Victor sputtered quietly and shook his head.

"Just trust me," Jordan sighed and loaded a few more bullets into the gun. A gun with a whole box of bullets… Fuji turned to Peter and silently wondered how indeed he had pulled this away from an armed guard. One more of Father Walker's secrets, she concluded.

"You make the shot," Victor said to Leo, who was puzzled at this request.

"Why him?" Jordan wondered aloud.

Leo gave a small sigh after a pause, and took the gun from Jordan. "I think I get why… Assume the position, Victor."

"I'll bet you say that to all of the en you meet," Victor murmured with a smirk, and Leo also gave a small smile at this comment. Jared had no idea what they were talking about, but also covered his ears for this shot, as he had done with the others.

"Okay, someone explain this to me?" Fuji asked as she watched an unharmed Victor rise.

"He won't kill me because I make Ryo happy," Victor responded.

"And you better keep it up, or the next bullet I fire will be between your eyes," Leo responded with a frown. "Okay, Jordan, you want to take care of Jared?"

"No, I want you to do it," said Jared quietly to Leo.

"You'd rather have your dad do it, huh?" Leo responded with the same quietness, and then looked over at Fuji's shocked expression. "I kinda figured it out when I was watching him… He fidgets like I do."

"Why do I have the feeling that you've got it on more than I have?" Jordan asked with a sigh. Leo shot at Jared's marker, and then freed Jordan, and they continued on their way. Peter and Gabe knocked out the guards in the front of the building's back entrance, and they entered through the stage doors.

"Now what?" Fuji whispered.

"I'll get the rigging," Chris announced as he looked upward at the catwalk above them. "Peter and Gabriel will run to the back on the building dressed as guards, the rest of you already know what to do—Right, Fuji?"

"Kid, do you want a job with me after this is all over?" Fuji asked with a smile.

"Nah-ah, I call dibs," Victor responded quickly and picked up the koto, and began to adjust the strings.

"What are you doing?" Leo asked, tilting his head to a side.

"You'll see," Victor muttered, and then looked to the others. "I take it we're ready?"

"There better not be cameras," said Jordan as he walked out to the tea room setting on the other side of the stage. There were low tables all throughout the room, with and the Japanese men only took up a few of them. Sarante was in the center of the room of course, but in the tables surrounding there were other potential buyers. Victor seated himself on the low stage and watched as the group spread out, serving tea to the various patrons and in Fuji's case, flirting horribly.

Leo had bent over to serve a tray of tea when he felt a smack upon his backside. He swiveled about, and caught sight of a middle-aged woman winking at him. He tried to hide a shudder, and resumed his work. He them looked up once again as he heard Jared.

"Hey, let go of me you creep!" Jared shouted to a drunken patron, who had taken him by the arm.

Before Leo knew what he was doing, he had already splashed an entire kettle of hot tea onto the man's face, and Jared ran to him.

The drunk patron rose and hobbled over to Leo and Jared, his sword drawn, "You wanna screw with me, eh?... Hey, you look familiar…"

"Tea, anyone?" Fuji quickly butted in and smile innocently, and only briefly glanced at Chris, who was working the lights by this time.

"Sir, is there anything you'd like me to play?" Victor approached Sarante, his instrument in hand. Other than Fuji, Jordan was closest, and noted how lose the strings on the mandolin-like instrument were.

"I'm not picky," Sarante murmured, then smiled. "Nothing too long… I'm sure your teeth are still aching."

Victor smiled, let lose the strings of the koto and in a swift move had them wrapped about Sarante's neck, "Any of you move and I turn your boss into sashimi!" he shouted to the armed guards about the room. Each group member took hold of a weapon, and Chris smiled and did his part. A few sandbags with other ingredients he had mixed in from natural plants dropped, and filled the air with a haze. The Lupin gang knew to cover their faces, and Leo lifted up Jordan and held the young boy's face to his chest to shield him from the thick powder.

Victor had to let go of the strings with one of his hands to shield his mouth and nose, and Sarante took this opening to kick Victor's other arm and Lupin briefly let go of the koto, but it was enough time for Sarante to take the upper hand and escape.

"Damn it, someone stop him!" Victor shouted.

"I've got him!" Jordan called and grabbed for Sarante, but only ended up with a stab wound in the arm.

The front door to the establishment was blown open as Sarante made his way to the front, and the Lupin the Third gang was more than shocked by the scene inside. The Italian still managed to escape, however.

"Here," Leo ran past Jigen quickly and deposited Jordan in his arms. "I'm going after him."

"I'm coming, too," Lupin murmured and ran after Leo through the woods.

"Dad, I can take him!" Leo reassured his father.

"We can both do it," Lupin smiled and jumped a log, and before long they found Sarante. He had fallen over a large branch, and now struggled to rise. When he finally did, he pulled a gun and aimed it at father and son.

"Please, a gun? My wife does this to me weekly!" Lupin laughed and shoved his hands in his pockets. "And I'm sure Ari and Max have a similar relationship, if he's anything like his father!"

"I have reason to not kill Arsène the Fourth, but your model is outdated, Lupin," Sarante snarled.

Lupin looked upward and saw perched in a tree Ally beside his father. On an opposing tree sat perched Goemon beside his daughter. He turned his attention back to Sarante and smiled, "Hey, I'm an oldie but goodie. Right, Leo?"

"Mm-hm," Leo nodded, and watched as Sarante went to fire. He saw this and quickly grabbed his father's gun from its holster and shot Sarante in the knee, making him collapse to the ground. A sword was thrown, knocking the gun out of Sarante's hands, and then a shot from a magnum was fired, killing him.

"Don't think that just because we're old we don't know anything," Lupin murmured as he lit a cigarette and discarded the match near Sarante.

"Dad… That was kind of cool…" Leo admitted with a laugh as they began to head back to the main building, where the Lupin the Fourth team had disabled and captured near all of Sarante's guards.

"Okay, let's get them in a line," Max shouted to the gang.

"What, I'm on your payroll now?" Toshiro muttered, but drug one of the bound guards and lined him up against the wall with the others. The prospective buyers had also been caught and placed in their own section of the large room.

"Woah, Zenigata, the kid is a good cop," an astounded Lupin stood himself next to his old enemy and both watched Max at work.

Max turned his head and smiled at Leo, "Inspector Lupin, do you want to read them their rights?"

"Certainly!" Leo responded. "I'll even translate!"

"What's even scarier is your kid is a good cop, too," Zenigata added as they both watched the duo at work. Max leaned over and kissed Leo on the cheek, and smiled, much to their parents chagrin.

"I know exactly what that expression means," said Lupin as he watched Leo smile as he continued to bust the bad guys. "That's the same look I used to get when I still got lucky on a regular basis."

"Yeah, well if you hadn't gotten lucky so much this might not have even happened," Zenigata snapped in response.

"Eh heh heh," Lupin smiled and scratched the back of his head. "Oh, come on, like you've never at least had a girl think that you got her pregnant."

"Why do you think I married my first wife?" Zenigata snapped and stormed off, leaving a bewildered Lupin in the middle of the room.

Jordan snuck up from behind and placed Lupin in a firm grip, "How are you, old man?"

"Gyak! Too tight, too tight!" Lupin shouted, pounding upon Jordan's arm. He let go of Lupin and smiled, and Lupin paled as his eyes fell upon Jordan's wound. "You need to get that checked out, Jordan… That looks pretty deep! Jeeze, you're just like your mom! She used to come back with all of these friggin' wounds, I'm surprised she lasted as long as she did."

"I'll take care of you," Odori stepped over to Jordan, and Lupin raised an eyebrow as he watched the samurai's body language, as did Goemon. Jordan merely looked back at his father and shrugged.

"I wish for you to come with me to Japan," said Odori as she kneeled in front of Jordan on the ground and retrieved a roll of gauze from her gi. "If you aren't doing anything of importance, that is."

"What about your boss?" Jordan inquired, looking over to Max and Leo briefly. One guard had tried to make a run for Leo, and Max, in response, kicked the guard back roughly against the wall.

"This is a personal mission," Odori answered. "I'm retrieving my daughter. She misses me. She isn't eating like she used to, and she never sleeps, so I am to go to Japan and get her back."

Jigen watched Odori and Jordan with amusement, and then looked to Lupin, "Your brood's going to an island off of New Zealand. You gonna meet them there?"

"Nah," Lupin shook his head. "Call me a chicken, but I can't face them all at once. Leo already told me that Fuji got information from all of them, so I think I'll get in touch with them one at a time."

"Which one you gonna visit first?"

"My Nazi-killing priest son who lives in Germany."

"Good to know that Ari isn't your only gay son."

"Yeah, I found some reassurance in that, too," Lupin muttered. "Fuji's inviting them to a party though, in Mexico City. That girl… Is doesn't matter how serious the situation is, she's always concentrated on the next party."

"She grew up to be just like her mother, in that way."

"Damn it I know!" Lupin sighed, and chuckled. "Speaking of mothers, looks like Ryo's turned into her mom. She's going for a bad boy, it seems…"

"Huh?" Jigen turned his head and saw Ryo tending to Victor. Jigen gave an outward shudder, and went to go run over to Victor and hopefully crack his skull open, but Lupin stopped his faithful gunman.

"Listen, maybe Victor isn't the ass he is to everyone else when it comes to Ryo," Lupin suggested. "Plus this is kinda cute to watch… Now if you excuse me, I think I can handle seeing two of my kids…" He stepped over to Peter and Gabe, and Jigen, from the little he could see, could see Gabe was happy to see him while Peter was understandably a little nervous.

"Good to have things back to normal," Jigen said to Goemon as the samurai passed him.

A few weeks later, San Francisco:

"Naruto, huh?" Dako adjusted her tiara in the mirror and looked back at her new brother Jared, who was putting on his headband.

"Yup! Max helped me make the costume," Jared answered.

"Yeah, he helped with mine, too… How he knew how to make a Sailor Moon costume without looking at a pattern is kinda scary, though…." Dako admitted as she looked over he costume once more.

"You guys ready?" Leo called from downstairs.

"Almost!" Dako shouted, and turned away from the mirror. "So have the Fumas done anything else, Jared?"

"They're still sending threats, but Leo and Max aren't scared," Jared responded, and stepped out of the room with Dako behind him. He looked over at her and frowned; why in the hell had God cursed him with a good-looking stepsister?

Leo held Avery in his hands arms, and Max had gone to fetch the camera. Avery was dressed in a Doraemon costume that made him look like a small blue ball of felt. The children's fathers had also gotten into costume, Max borrowing his father's trench coat and fedora and going as Inspector Zenigata and Leo taking the role of Lupin the Third and donning a red jacket for the first time in years.

"Let's go, I want to get enough candy to get sick on," Dako announced as she ran down the stairs with Jared close behind her. She ran straight in to Max, who was fidgeting with the camera, and they collided and both fell atop one another.

"My spine," Max groaned.

"Come on, Max… Dako, are you okay?" Leo chuckled lightly as he bent downward to help both stand.

"I'm pretty sure she broke something," Max murmured as he rose and shook his head. He adjusted his fedora and ruffled Avery's hair. "Let's get going so we can beat he other little monsters…."

"Sounds good," Leo nodded, "Now let's get a nice—" but the children were already gone. Leo sighed and looked downward at the drooling Avery, "At least you can't run."

"Eh, don't worry, we'll get a picture with them after they're passed out from gorging," Max muttered as he looked down at the camera, accidentally hit the flash and snapped a photo directly in his face. Max was briefly blinded and blinked and cursed until his vision returned to normal.

"Dork," Leo chortled. "Let's get going before we have to use the police cruiser to track them down…"

"Sounds good," Max murmured and rubbed his aching eyes.

"Hey, Max, are you sure you're okay with this?" Leo asked quietly.

"Adopting Jared? Sure," Max shrugged. "That kid's told me about Fuma… Sounds like the military!"

"And what about, well…"

"Getting a house?" Max paused. "Eh, I'll live with it. Besides our place is too damn small for these kids now…"

Leo gave a wry chuckle, "I just feel like I was this total manwhore and now you're paying for it, too."

Max smiled and patted Leo on the hand, "Hey, don't beat yourself up over it. Besides, I waited long enough and fought hard enough to get you, I'm not going to let something like this get me down!"

"Thanks," Leo sighed and leaned in against Max as they walked out of the house and down the steps of the porch onto the street. "I think even Ryo would've been running about now. I'm glad I found a lunatic to stay with."

"Um, thank you? And for the record, Ryoko's crazier than I am," Max replied and smiled as Avery grabbed on to Leo's tie and began to bite at it. "Are you going to go to their wedding?"

"Not sure… I'm not exactly invited… Plus she hasn't even said yes, yet!"

"She'll say yes…"

"You don't know that, she might and—Dako, no! Put the pumpkin DOWN!"

"Oi… I'll take this…" Max broke in to a run to catch up to his son and daughter, while Leo continued to look after Avery.

"Just for the record, he's just as crazy as anyone else I've dated, he's just a lot nicer," Leo said to Avery with a smile.

Japan:

Jordan glanced over once again at Odori, who sat with Namiko in her lap. The samurai was making faces at her daughter and laughing at Namiko's amused expression, and reached down to kiss her on the forehead.

"You're like a whole different person around her," Jordan said to Odori when they came to a traffic light.

"It's hard for me to find people I enjoy the company of," Odori admitted, and brushed some of Namiko's black hair with her fingers. "It's even harder for me to find people I love."

"Yeah, Fuji mentioned that you don't really express your emotions much, and that you're a lot like Goemon," the light was green after a few more seconds, and Jordan made a right-hand turn back toward the airport.

"You and Fujiko spoke of me?" Odori asked with a frown of distrust.

"Nothing bad," Jordan did not look over to see Odori's narrowed almond eyes, but kept his attention merely upon the road. "Just random conversation."

"Hrm, I see," Odori looked out the window, and Jordan kept his focus upon the city in front of him.

He glanced down at Namiko and smiled, and she looked back upward at him and gurgled, "Dada."

Odori shot her head in the other direction and looked at the little girl, as did a stunned Jordan, and then the samurai and the Lupin heir looked to one another.

"Dada," Namiko giggled once again.