DISCLAIMER: I don't own Lupin III, and I'm leaving to work on my true love—Pinky and the Brain slash fanfics!... GOT YA! (heh… Btw, I don't look for any Pinky and the Brain fics from me anytime soon, or… Ever, for that matter. I like the show, but I'm happy in my niche).
Allo, allo!
Started a new semester, hence the tardiness. New story up—This one's from Lup. If you like Max or Yukiko, or any of the cast, for that matter, I'd definitely check it out : ) You actually get to see Max do his job, something I rarely cover myself. I think he's cooked more than he's shot his gun. Anywayyyy…. Thanks again for reading, and I will hopefully have another chapter out sooner…. Yeah, I could probably push my mat homework back. Pfft…. Degree, who needs it!
P.S.: Lupin the Third Forum now up. If you love me, you'll read.
Fun Fact of Boredom: Inspector Charley Kosai is named after Charley Kosei, the man who did the vocals for many Lupin songs, like Superhero (which, while not officially released in the U.S. on CD, I'm sure many of you have).
Chapter thirty-four: Dirty Laundry
Seattle:
"We disrupt ya'll?" Hector asked with a smile from beneath his mask.
"Not unless he was doing her nails," Tony replied as he rose to his full height and ran toward Leo. Lupin lifted up a chair and held it in between himself and his attacker, and was shocked to see one of the legs slice right off. He stared at the blade that had shot out of Tony's outfit's arm, and gulped as he realized the entire length of his arm was covered in the blades. He then noticed the other arm, too, was covered in an equally sharp set of painful looking blades.
"Inspector Kosai!" Leo shouted and looked over at Charley, but the woman was frozen in terror. He fell back onto the bed and grabbed his gun, firing off a shot close to Tony's head. Leo grabbed Charley as Hector swung down upon the bed with his cane and literally busted the mattress in the middle, just as Leo lifted up Charley and ran into his shoes, and out the door.
"He a chicken, or just stupid?" Hector wondered aloud as Tony ran to the laptop.
"It ain't here, Hec," Tony said with a sigh of disappointment. "I guess it's with the other Lupin."
"Well, that make our job a li'l easier," Hector said with a shrug. "Ya think he gonna come back?"
"Probably not…. Come on, let's head out, I'll buy you more coffee."
"Eh, s'like these people never heard a' tea," Hector muttered to himself. "So we just gonna let them go?"
"We're getting paid to take that disk, not to massacre, so don't go screwing it up 'cause you wanna see some heads roll," Tony reminded him.
"Heh, it'd be more like a warning."
"Hector, no is no, all right? Damn it, you're like a damn puppy sometimes when it comes to listening to important directions…. You've got the attention span of a tomato, man, I swear!"
"Let's jus' go… I don' wanna kill no mo' time hear if I don' have to," Hector murmured and exited through the window with Tony.
"Are they gone?" Charley asked from the hallway quietly.
"Yeah," Leo said with a nod, and looked over at her. "Did you freeze up there?"
"I… Urm, yeah," Charley nodded, and embraced Leo tightly about the neck. "Thank you so much for helping me!"
"I… Well, ur… I…" Leo cleared his throat and flushed at this gesture, and attempted to get his mind to wander over to other areas… But little worked, even as he opened the hotel door for his partner. "Come on, let's go get packed. We don't know if they're going to come back or not."
"Yeah," Charley nodded, and retrieved an envelope from her suitcase as she went to packing.
"What's that?" Leo asked.
"Something to send off to a friend," Charley answered quietly, looking down at the package a few moments in contemplation.
Paris, the following night:
"Please, no," Jared begged and covered his eyes as Dako grabbed hold of the remote. "No more reality shows, I beg of you! Mercy, mercy!"
"Oh, shush," Dako grumbled and rolled her eyes. "You're such a big baby! They're one of the few things I actually like on television, so keep quiet!"
"Ohhh…." Jared groaned in response to this and fell back onto the couch. "The only reason you watch these is because you don't have a life!"
"Shut up!" Dako pushed Jared this time, nearly off the couch. She then turned her attention to the television program, which was Japanese but with English subtitles (for not only her and Jared, who were non-native speakers, but for Avery as well, even if he was young).
"…Do you think television stations in Japan have obligatory white reporters?"
"Jared!"
"Tonight on channel ten… A very special series on the enigmatic Lupin the fourth gang and the inspectors who chase them," the announcer began. "We all know about Lupin the third, his exploits are legendary. But his son, Leo Lupin, has stayed out of the spotlight for the most part… We sent out reporter Charley Kobayashi to get the story."
The screen cut away to a choppy video, and sure enough there was Leo, eating at the lasagna from the previous night.
"Max… That's your lover, right?"
"Urm…. I never thought of him with that word, really… I don't mind 'husband'. We argue a little too much to be something like lovers, heh heh…"
"Is that why he's not here now?"
"Nah… We just decided one of us should stay home with the kids, and I'm less domestic than you'd think, so Max took over duties this time. Do you have any kids of your own, Ms. Kosai?"
"…" Jared turned to Dako, and Dako looked to Jared, and both jumped as they heard Max in the background.
"Hey, what are you guys watching?" Max asked, pushing up his glasses.
"Nothing!" Dako flipped the channel with the remote. Max gave an unimpressed tired glare, and looked to Jared for an answer.
"We found these videos," Jared began. "I was looking for my shoes in Papa's closet, and I just kinda found them."
"Videos?" Max murmured. "Umm…. W-what kind?"
"Oh, I didn't watch too much," Jared answered with a shrug. "They got boring really quick."
"G-good," Max muttered and walked out of the living room quickly with a worried look on his face.
"That was awesome! How'd you even know about those!" Dako asked with a gasp of admiration for Jared.
"Eh, lucky guess…. See, I used my ninja skills!" Jared shouted triumphantly.
"Don't get so full of yourself—We've got a lot of work to do…" Dako growled and punched Jared in the arm. "Let's go."
"Go where?"
"We'll call him," Dako answered, rising from her seat. "You're so clueless sometimes, Jared!"
"…I wonder why I take the insults you dish out at me so much," Jared muttered, but he knew, secretly, why he did.
Seattle:
"Oh, no! Well, maybe someone found it," Charley reassured him, resting a hand on his arm.
"Yeah I… I just can't believe I lost another cell phone!" Leo huffed. "This is the third one since June! Good thing it's a company phone."
"Come on, we've got to find another room, at any rate. I'm not spending another night in that car, not for all of the tea in China!" said Charley with a small smile across her features. Leo looked downward at her, and looked away after a few moments. Charley chuckled and folded her arms. "Could we at least find someplace in a hurry? I'm freezing."
"Oh!" Leo quickly removed his jacket and laid it over Charley's shoulders. "There you are, Inspector. Sorry it's not a long Interpol coat. I keep mine at the house… Khaki makes me look like I work in a Target. How about you—Where's yours?"
"It's at the cleaner's," Charley answered quickly as Leo opened the door to the cruiser that had been for them and allowed her to climb in while he walked around to the driver's side.
"I didn't even get to say goodnight to the kids," muttered Leo regretfully.
"I'm sure the feeling was there," Charley answered. "…You really love your kids, huh? What're they like?" His kids were the only thing he would talk about openly, Charley had realized a while back. That and work.
"Well… There's Dako. She's eleven, and takes most after Max. Especially when it comes to her temper."
"She's Max's biological daughter?"
"Ohhhh no. The only woman Max has ever been with—Urm…. Her parents died a while back, and we adopted her so she wouldn't go into an orphanage."
"Oh," Charley blinked, and inched closer to Leo in order to get better sound. Leo misinterpreted this, however, and looked straight forward at the road in front of him, "Well, that's surprising. He seems so nice. You both do—The kids are lucky to have you both. What about the boys?"
"There's Jared… His mom is in New Orleans… At least, I think she is. They never found her after… Well, she disappeared," Leo muttered darkly. "And Avery… He's my biological son, too. He's really sweet, and drives Max and me crazy. This one time, haha, when Max was trying to paint the living room, he—"
'Please don't let this turn into a whole assignment of him talking about his kids… This guy's got to be more than a domestic,' Charley thought with a twitch of a smile. 'Please don't pull out the photos…. Please!'
"Do you want to see some pictures?" Leo asked with a bright smile. He was confused as Charley gave a small groan, and concluded that indeed she did not.
On the other side of town:
"It's like I'm trapped," Jordan said to Yukiko with a tiresome sigh. Jigen-Ishikawa simply nodded and placed a hand on her stomach as the baby inside of her kicked for its way out. Jordan glanced down at her stomach, and back up to her face. "Any hints? If anyone can get out of a relationship, it's you."
"Gee, thanks," muttered Yukiko. "Hey, do you have anything with chocolate on you? I'd kill someone for a Skybar right now. Go figure a year ago I would've done the same for a bottle of vodka."
"How did you get through eight months sober?"
"I took up gum chewing," Yukiko answered. "No caffeine, no nicotine, no booze…. I'm the healthiest in my life and I'm friggin' miserable."
"Heh," Jordan smirked and leaned forward. "It's your goofball husband's fault."
"Nah, I'm glad I did it. That means another generation to keep the Jigen and Ishikawa traditions alive…. And to bug the hell out of Lupin."
"Yeah… With song, dance, and probably an alcohol problem. So what do you think I should do about it?"
"Well…. Rich family, you love the kid, and Odori's really cute—If not a little short for you. But you like short girls, and there's always barstools," Yukiko gave a small smirk at Jordan's expression. "What'd be so bad in it? She's really nice…. And I've never seen her this civil around anyone, much less a Lupin, so you know that means that she likes you!"
"Yeah…. She's nice, but…. Crap, talk about rushing!"
"If she really loves you then she'll understand. Just like how you understood why we couldn't work."
"And if she doesn't understand?"
"Then you'll probably die a painful death by the sword," Yukiko shrugged. "It's one of two evils—Commitment or death."
"Jeeze, as much crap that happened between Dad and Fujiko, at least she never tried to slice him into tiny pieces."
"Actually…"
"No, no, no. I don't wanna know," muttered Jordan, rising from his seat. "I'll just go visit her. Thanks for listening."
"No problem," Yukiko answered, uneasily rose and placed a hand on her stomach. "Are you sure you don't have any candy on you? Not even like a Snickers bar?"
Jordan rolled his eyes, dug into his jacket and tossed her a candy bar he had picked up in the airport, "Enjoy. Remember not to eat any of your fingers, tiger."
"Huh? What'd you say?" Yukiko was already in the process of devouring the chocolate bar.
"Ehhh…. Yeah, I'm heading to my room," Jordan smiled and exited Yukiko and Toshiro's room, and walked down the hall to his. He paused as he placed a hand on the doorknob, and thought how he would handle the situation. Death, marriage, death, marriage… Things just never came easily to him.
He opened the door and immediately felt a body crash into him, and looked down at Odori with unsaid confusion.
"Oh, h-hello," Odori muttered and took a few steps back. "I was just trying on a different pair of sandals. You know, for…"
"Listen, Dori," Jordan took her by the arms and sighed. "About… The wedding…."
"Yes?" Odori gave a hopeful smile and looked upward at the pained Jordan.
"Well… I…"
"Hey, guys!" Fuji shouted hoarsely. "Ari's on the TV!" this statement was followed by a long line of hacking and coughing.
"We'll talk later," Jordan said quickly, and ran into Fuji's room, glad that he had an excuse to do so. He rushed out, and was immediately surprised by the presence of whom he thought first to be Ari, but with further inspection, he realized was Victor, seated in Fuji's room, beside the ailing Lupin's bed. He had a bottle of hand sanitizer on one arm of the wingback chair, and was rubbing his hands while staring at the screen.
"I'm as shocked as you are," Victor admitted with his usual calm expression, not bothering to look away from the news report.
"Someone explain what he's doing here?" Jordan asked, pointing to his cousin.
"He knows about our attackers," Fuji sniffed. "Don't you, Victor?"
"They did work for me for a time," Victor admitted with a small sigh and a shift in his seat. "They're two of the best assassins you can hire. I hear they do government work mainly, now, but they were still freelance when I hired them. That makes me feel incredibly old… I'm sure you could understand. You're close to forty, aren't you?"
"I wonder sometimes how you've stayed alive this long, Victor," Fuji admitted after a pause.
"You and me both," Victor rose from his chair and turned to Fuji. "I've given you all of the information I can, but that's all I can offer you."
Toshiro, who was also in the room and had remained silent for a majority of the discussion, looked over at Victor with concern, "Do you think it has anything to do with the disk I stole?"
"If it were about the disk I think that the motive would be to keep killing until they find out which one of you has it," Victor admitted as he began to pull on his heavy jacket. "That's just my thinking, though."
"What makes me think that you have something behind all of this?" Toshiro asked darkly.
"Why would I try to kill Ryoko?" Victor asked with a slight hiss in his voice as he took a step toward the samurai.
"Because I think you're the devil incarnate," Toshiro answered sternly, rising from his spot on the floor.
"And your wife is still more butch than you, no matter how pregnant," Victor returned quickly.
"Listen, are we just going to fight, or are we going to try to catch the bad, ur…. Worse guys?" Fuji asked nervously as she rose from the mounds of tissue on her bed placed herself in between the two men, both who looked ready to face off at the drop of a dime.
"I'll fight as soon as he leaves," Toshiro said as he slowly began to draw one of his swords.
"I can't help but agree with you on that," Jordan muttered, his hand going slowly to his hip.
"Two against one? I don't like the odds, but it's not impossible," Victor said with a smile as he began to draw his own gun. Just as he went to draw, a force zoomed through the room, and Odori came to a dead stop in the middle of the three men, holding two guns and two swords and wearing an unamused expression.
"This is the reason I gave up on her," Victor said to Jordan as he grabbed his gun from the samurai and placed it back in its holster. "As I was saying…. I gave you all that I could in the way of information, but they're both reclusive men. I never even saw their real faces, to tell the truth. I will tell you though, that they are both extremely intelligent men."
"Yeah, but they're not gods," Fuji said with a smile through her nausea.
"Why do I think you have a plan, Fuji?" Toshiro asked tiredly.
"Maybe because I do," Fuji answered. "I'm going to get those two out of my hair and I'm going to find that disk and become rich off of it! And I'm also going to find out when Ari got a television contract in the process. Translating, voiceovers, thievery and police work….. Talk about over achiever! He always makes the holidays awkward for me-ah…. Meh-ah… Ah, ACHOO!... Where'd my Vix go?"
"How special. Try not to get your cold or hepatitis or whatever else you're carrying on me," Victor murmured, grabbing his gun roughly from Odori on the way out. "I'll see myself out… After visiting with Ryoko."
"You and the wife have a good time now!" Fuji called, blowing a kiss in Victor's direction and waving him off weakly. Victor tripped lightly and at this comment, cleared his throat and continued out the door.
"Have a good day," muttered Victor, closing the door behind himself.
"….She married him?" Toshiro wondered aloud.
"Yeah," Fuji sighed and frowned, and then slapped Jordan on the back of the head.
"OW! What!"
"Why couldn't you have gotten off of your ass and come sooner, so you could've married her and we would've been in-laws!"
"Why didn't you just friggin' marry her?"
"Because Dad didn't need THREE in the family!" Fuji answered tiredly.
"Three?" Jordan repeated with a frown.
"We've got another one—The one who lives in Australia. Anyway, that doesn't matter," Fuji shook her head and slowly seated herself on the bed. "What we've got to worry about is Toshiro finding that disk, and getting the Brothers Grimm of our backs."
"I'm working on it," Toshiro said with a sigh. "I've got Yukiko's mom tearing up the entire apartment looking for it."
"So we basically just try to fend them off until then?" Odori asked with obvious annoyance.
"Well, um… Yeah," Fuji shrugged, scratching the back of her head. "It's been raining too heavily for any planes to leave or come in ever since Dori and Jordan showed up—"
"Ryo told you that you should've left then," Toshiro chimed in.
"I know, I know," Fuji coughed and hit her chest once in order to cease the hacking attack. "Now get Ally in here. I need some soup, and I'm out of tissues."
Across the city:
"Ow…"
"Hm?" Leo raised his head and put on his glasses after knocking down all of the other contents on the coffee table in front of couch he was sleeping on.
"Ouch," Charley murmured, and from what Leo could make out, she was rubbing one of her ankles. He rose, still wrapped in the hotel blanket, and seated himself on the edge of Charley's bed.
"Ankle?" Leo asked after a moment.
"Yeah," Charley answered with a small nod. "I must've hurt it… Why would I only be feeling it now, though?"
"Oh, it's okay," Leo said with a small smile. "Once… When I was a lot younger, my best friend at the time shot me on a hunting trip, and I didn't realize it until I saw the blood!"
"….He accidentally shot you, right?"
"….Sure…. Anyway, sometimes you don't feel pain for a while. It's kind of mind over matter," Leo said with a shrug as he placed a hand on her foot and began to check to see if it was indeed sprained, or perhaps broken.
"Ow!" Charley hissed and laid her head against the headboard.
"Yeah…. That's gonna be sore for a…While…" Leo looked away and cleared his throat, wondering how to possibly keep up a conversation with her. "I'll get you some ice!"
"Thanks," Charley murmured and watched as Leo opened the door to the hotel room and stumbled out onto the cool concrete. She looked down at her necklace and sighed, and back upward at the door. "I think I know what they meant by not getting emotionally involved now…. Some people go overseas and document wars; I'm feeling guilty about a little documentary like this! Well…. This or starve, I guess."
"Back," Leo opened the door and held up a bucket of ice. He walked into the bathroom and walked out with his shirt and jeans on, as well as the ice now in a bag. He sat down beside Charley and instructed her as he placed the bag on her ankle, "Now just keep it still, all right? You ought to be fine. Hey… What's wrong?"
Tears had formed in Charley's eyes, and Leo felt a pang of guilt, thinking it was his fault. Charley lunged forward and grabbed onto Leo's dress shirt, and gave a long wail, signaling the start of her tears, "You're so much nicer than I thought you'd be! I'm so sorry!"
"Sorry?" Leo wondered. "What are you sorry for?"
"I… It's nothing," Charley wiped her eyes and lied back against the headboard. "I-I'm fine…. Just… My ankle."
"Yeah," Leo nodded, his suspicions ever growing as to what exactly Charley's full story was. He looked around the room, but his vision always fell back to the still-crying woman next to him. 'It's three in the morning, someone's trying to kill me, I'm in bed with someone who I think needs a straitjacket, and someone's crying. Wow, just like home.'
"You're so kind," Charley sniffed. "I wish I could meet someone like you…"
'Ohhhh boy…. The boyfriend speech. She's worse than Max is when he's hit his emotional lows,' Leo thought, but gave a small sigh and allowed her to continue.
"It's always the nice guys like you that are taken," Charley muttered.
"I'm sorry. B-but I'm sure you'll find someone," Leo said tiredly, and leaned forward to shift Charley's ice pack, that had fallen off of her ankle. As he sat back once again, he felt a face press against his, and knew things were about to reach a whole new level of difficult.
France:
"Try it again!" Jared urged.
"What do you think I've been doing, ordering pizza!" Dako snapped. "He isn't picking up!"
"Crap… Where do you think he is? Do you think he was kidnapped? Do you think it was—"
"If you say 'ninjas' one more time, I'm going to practice those wrestling moves I see on TV on you," Dako warned. She slammed the phone down once again in frustration, and both jumped away from the telephone as they heard Max shuffle into the kitchen. They relieved to see that it wasn't Max, however, and it was only their grandfather.
"….Why do I have the feeling you two are up to something?" Lupin asked as he removed Avery's firmly clutched fist from his tie. He made a small motion to the boy, who still was confused as to why everyone made hand gestures around him.
"What are you talking about?" asked Dako with a wide smile. "Where's Grandma, Dad, Nana and Ojiisan?"
"Grandma and Nana went clothes shopping… And Totsan and your dad went to their obligatory yearly father-son bonding ritual…. Dinner in awkward silence."
"So you got stuck with us, huh?" Jared said with a wide smile.
"I'll bet Grandma suckered him into it," Dako said to her stepbrother with a chuckle and a nudge. Lupin gave a roll of the eyes, and set Avery done on the ground to explore.
"They promised me that it'd be for a short time," Lupin explained. "Now care to come clean?"
"Eh… We wanted to order pizza," Dako shrugged.
"When's it coming, then?"
"Coming? Eh, well…"
"Papa'sintroubleandweweretryingtoreachhimbecausehe'sonTVandsomeone's makinghimlooklikeanidiotonpurpose!" Jared shouted suddenly, cracking from the pressure.
"You IDIOT!" Dako shouted.
"Woah, slow down… Your papa was on TV?" Lupin asked. "…..W-What was it of? I-I mean, there're a few videos out there, ehehe…"
"It's not the video that shows where Avery came from, if that's what you're hinting at," Dako said to a stunned Lupin. "It's like a newscast…"
"Mm-hm," Lupin nodded and lifted up the telephone from the receiver, "What channel?"
"A Japanese one um…. Nippon TV," Dako said after a moment's thought.
"You're lucky—I infiltrated that place once while looking for some dirt they had on me… They're like the Japanese version of Fox, almost," Lupin explained. "Except without that wonderful show known as the Simpsons or the occasionally funny Family Guy episode."
"So you know the number?" Jared asked.
"Even better," Lupin answered with a smile, reaching for his coat.
"Wait—Aren't you going to get into trouble?" Dako asked as she followed her grandfather to the coat rack in the living room.
"Probably—Dress Avery in something warm, will you?—But it's worth it," Lupin answered. "No one makes an idiot out of my kid unless it's their own fault…"
"Grandpa… That TV station's in Japan," said Dako, trying to instill some sense into her grandfather.
"Yeah, you're right," Lupin's shoulders slumped in thought for a few moments. "You kids better pack your bags, too."
"He's crazier than Uncle Goemon," Jared muttered.
"Just get packing," Dako answered with a roll of the eyes as she turned and walked into her room. "One thing this family isn't is boring…"
"Hey, could you just buy us new stuff when we get there?" Jared shouted from his room.
"Good thinking! It'll save on packing!" Lupin replied.
"….It's like if someone's a guy in this family they're brain-dead," she added, tossing her shirt aside and sighing.
Seattle:
"Thanks for everything," Charley said quietly as she broke away from Leo and rolled over in bed, leaving Lupin stunned and staring straight ahead at the blank wall, trying to piece together exactly what in the hell had happened. "Are you going back to sleep on the couch?"
"Yeah… In a minute… Or five," Leo answered, clearing his throat and reaching for the remote. Charley grew obviously worried, and then remember that she had prepared for this, as well.
"I don't believe it," Leo rolled his eyes as he found the television would not switch on. With a quick scan of the wall, it was obvious why, "Rat's chewed through the wires! I knew we should've gone one star higher… Me and my being cheap."
"I don't mind it…. Hey, Leo?"
"Hrm?"
"You're really sweet…. You don't have a brother, do you?" asked Charley with a smile. Leo in response calmly pulled out his wallet and let the long line of pictures encased in plastic fall down on the bed.
"Take your pick," Leo muttered.
"Oh," Charley sat up and scanned through the photos. "He's cute… What's his name?"
"That's Peter. Priest."
"Ohhh… Another gay guy," Charley said with a frown and sigh of disappointment. "How about him?"
"That's Jordan. He's not too bad. Tried to kill my dad once, but they're past that and are on good terms now," Leo answered with a casual shrug.
"Wow! He's really cute—And he doesn't look anything like you, either! Who's he?"
"My husband."
"Heh, whoops…." Charley gave a weak smile and let the photos she had been holding drop back onto the bed. "Well, if they're as nice as you are, I hope I can meet at least one of them."
"You probably will, if we'll be working together," Leo answered, and stood from the bed. "Well, good night, Inspector."
"Good night," Charley replied, and sunk down into her comforter.
That morning:
"You think you found it?" Toshiro asked excitedly. "Well, put it in!... More scripts? Damn it! Okay, keep looking, and call me if you find anything interesting." He hung up the phone and rose, stretched and looked to his still-sleeping wife. He knelt down and smiled until she woke up, slightly stunned by the set of eyes staring back at her.
"Um… Hey. I got something in my teeth?" Yukiko asked with a raised eyebrow.
"Good morning," Toshiro kissed her on the forehead and yawned.
"….You haven't slept yet, have you, you moron?" Yukiko asked with worry as she slowly sat up and placed a hand upon her stomach.
"Does falling asleep in the middle of an argument with Heiji on the phone count?" Toshiro asked with a small laugh.
"Eh, no. He headin' over here anytime soon?"
"Later this morning," Toshiro answered as he helped her rise from the bed and followed her into the bathroom.
"Hey, grab me a kimono."
"What?"
"A kimono. Like that thing you wear," Yukiko answered plainly. Toshiro gave a nod and left, returning with a navy-colored kimono, and he was more than slightly surprised as Yukiko put this on, as well as tied her hair up.
"….Did you take too many pills again?" asked Toshiro.
"No, this is just easier to wear," Yukiko answered with a yawn. "And I feel like being lazy today…. She's taking a lot out of me."
"Yeah, she's taking up a lot of space, ehehe…."
"So I'm getting fat?" Yukiko asked with a glare.
"Yu-Yuki… You're eight months pregnant…. Of course you put on a little weight… B-but you're still beautiful!" Toshiro sputtered.
"I'll give you a five-second start before I start beating you with my hairbrush," Yukiko said, gripping onto the said brush.
"I-I'm gonna try to find you some sandals," Toshiro sputtered, and backed his way out of their bedroom and straight into Jordan. "Oh, you! Have you seen my sister around?"
"I was about to ask you that," Jordan murmured, shoving his hands in his pockets and glancing to his left and right.
"What's up with you?"
"Eh, it's…. It's nothing…"
"Oh, this is about there not really being a wedding thing, right?"
"What! Crap! Who told you!" Jordan yelped, jumping back from the samurai.
"Heiji," Toshiro shrugged.
"And who told him?"
"Fuji," Toshiro answered.
"Well, as long as she doesn't know," Jordan said with a sigh of relief. Not a second later was there a strong blow to his stomach, and he doubled over, and looked to his left to see a tear-filled Odori, who was clenching her teeth and fists so tightly that she shook.
"I…. You couldn't even give me the decency to tell me!" Odori shouted. "I… I don't want to see you again. I want you to be around neither myself nor my daughter, ever again! We're finished!"
"Dori, wait!" Jordan coughed, and glared up at Toshiro.
"I didn't tell her," Toshiro said defensively.
"Dori!" Jordan ran a few feet to her, but Ishikawa drew her sword, and held it to Jordan's neck.
"I'm telling you to stay away from me," said Odori with a hiss. She looked back at her brother and continued, "Toshiro, you look after Namiko for a few hours. I will be back when he is packed and on his way."
"Wait! What? Listen, I never even said I—Odori!" Jordan shouted, but the samurai continued walking down the hall, not looking back and Toshiro and not looking back at Jordan. "…Christ…. Someone shoot me now."
"I'll call Victor if you want," Toshiro pushed his bangs out of his eyes and crept into his room.
"Jeeze," Jordan placed his head in his hands and wondered where to go from where he stood. He didn't wait long—Odori's unmistakable scream was heard moments later, and he went bolting down the stairs.
"HEY!" Jordan shouted, and hit the landing with a thud, but it was too late. The screeching of tires could be heard, and at the floor of the stairwell was Odori's sword. "Damn it… Fuji! Heiji! They've got Odori!"
"Always me," Fuji muttered with a roll of the eyes, standing and immediately falling back onto the bed. "Crappp…."
"I'll go with you guys," said Toshiro.
"No, no… You stay with Yuki, make sure she doesn't try to escape or anything," Fuji stood and slid into her heels. "I'm going with everyone else… Ally!"
"Hrm?"
"Bring me my jacket… And my Dayquil," Fuji said with a sniff.
Japan:
"You're their father?" the TV producer repeated with a raised eyebrow.
"Mm-hm," Lupin nodded, and looked at the two wary children behind him, both in disguise. Avery was in one of his arms, squirming futilely, while in the other hand was his cell phone, and still on the phone a very angry message from Max. He ignored this, however, and kept insisting to the guard that he once worked in the studio.
"I just want to show them my old office," Lupin answered with a smile.
"Pleassseeeeeee?" Dako and Jared begged in unison.
"Well… I guess. But don't let the boss know," the producer muttered, and led them to a back room.
"Thank you so much," Lupin chuckled in his natural voice, and placed a damp rag over the man's mouth. He collapsed to the floor while both children looked upward at their grandfather in horror.
"Relax, he's just sleeping," Lupin reassured them as he stepped over the body and into the back room. "Now… Let's find that file. Dako, you take that—"
"I can't read Japanese," she replied.
"Me, either," Jared quickly added.
Lupin placed a hand over his face and thought for a few moments before finally deciding that Jared would play lookout while Dako held the baby and he worked to hopefully find any more videos of his son.
"Hrm… This might be it—OW! Ow, ow, ow!" Lupin cursed at his own stupidity as a shelf full of videos crashed right onto his foot.
"Grandpa, are you okay?" Dako asked worriedly.
"Yeah… Grandpa's just getting old," Lupin muttered and rubbed his sore foot. As he did, one tape in particular caught his eye, and he lifted it up to get a better look at the tag. "…Hrm…"
"What? You found it?" Dako asked.
"No, but something just as interesting," Lupin shoved the tape into his jacket pocket as the sound of feet running down the tile hall. He quickly drug the producer into the room and stepped out with the children, with an angered looked upon his face.
"I don't know what kind of establishment you're trying to run, but there is a man drunk in that room!" Lupin shrieked at the security guards. "Drunk! In front of my children! How dare you! I ought to sue! It's a disaster in there!"
"S-sir, don't worry, we'll handle him," the guard said reassuringly.
"I would hope so!" Lupin murmured, and strode down the hall with a child at either side.
"…You rock, Grandpa," Dako smiled.
"I just like being related to you," Jared added with a smile.
Seattle:
"She'll be fine," Yukiko sighed and adjusted the pillows for her aching back.
"I hope you're right," Toshiro said quietly, glancing out the window at the rainy sight before him. "What a depressing day to have alone time…"
"Eh, it's not alone time if you count the sleeping baby."
"Which one?"
"Both," Yukiko looked over at the sleeping Namiko, who was soon awoken by the sound of the phone ringing. Yukiko gave a groan as the little girl awoke, and Toshiro sprung for the phone.
"Hello?"
"Toshiro?" on the other end was his mother-in-law, "I think I found what you've been looking for."
"Yeah? Well, are you sure?"
"It says government all over it… Well, what I can make out of it," Sakura responded with a tone of confusion in her voice.
"Make out of it? What's that supposed to mean?"
"Well… There's a lot of code here. Can you have your brother look at it?"
"They're all trying to find my kidnapped sister," Toshiro answered with a heave of a sigh.
"Do you want me to throw it out?"
"No. If they want it so bad there's got to be a reason for it."
"Toshiro…" Yukiko tugged upon his gi sleeve.
"Hrm?"
"You ain't gonna like it," Yukiko said with a gulp.
"Holy crap!" Toshiro slammed the phone down and rose as he noticed another figure looming in a shadow of the room.
"Well… Ain't this sweet?" Hector said with a wide smile as he looked over to Toshiro, and then to Yukiko.
"You stay away from her!" Toshiro shouted, and immediately pulled out his blades.
"It only take one a' us to get yo' sistah… What makes you think you be any challenge fo' me?" asked Hector with a smile beneath his mask.
"You know, I hate to break up the tea party, but I didn't even notice back of bones there," Yukiko growled. "What I meant is I think I just had a contraction."
"Aw hell no," Hector muttered, his eyes shooting open wide and taking a step back as Toshiro went to his wife's side.
"Isn't it too early?" Toshiro asked in a nervous whisper.
"I don't know! I don't know this sort of crap!" Yukiko said with a nervous break in her voice.
Toshiro then looked over his shoulder to Hector, who was attempting to once again fade into the shadows. "Aren't you a doctor? Didn't you mention that?"
"I… I'm a mortician!"
"You still went to med school," Yukiko huffed. "Now either you're completely evil, or you can give me… A hand…"
Hector paused a moment, gulped and set down his cane, "Why you trustin' me?"
"Because she's still got her gun on her and she could kill you faster than you could even glance at that baby evilly," Toshiro replied with a confident smirk.
"….Fine… Gimme some towels," Hector muttered. "Tony ain't gonna believe this."