DISCLAIMER: Heh, if I owned Lupin the Third, my car would have the rewiring it needs, don'tcha think?
Howdy and greetings,
Well, another chapter out, and I've noticed a similar question from a few friends and fans… Will there be a Lupin the Fifth series after this? Ummmm…. No definite word on it yet, but I won't say that there's no possibility at all of Lupin the Third's grandchildren, along with Jigen and Goemon's, to make their own appearance, even if it is for a shorter period of time. But I tell you now that there's no way that this'll continue to Lupin the Eighth, even if that was a real series. I'll go back and just do a bunch of Scrapbook Memories if I have to. By the way, Lupin forum still up, as stated in the last post. And, if I don't see anyone around until after the 14th, happy Valentine's Day to all!
P.S.: Brey, it's good to have you back in the saddle again : )
Fun fact of Boredom: Tony and Hector are probably in more works than any other of my characters. They've been floating around for about five years now, and done everything from fight demons to get stopped by the Romanian border patrol to show up in stories that take place in New York, Chicago and Seattle and help out a superhero that's a mix between Joan of Arc and Sailor Moon. They're truly well-traveled men.
Chapter thirty-five: Cry Like a Baby
Seattle:
"Five days of nothing," Leo moaned and rubbed his eyes. "I don't believe this…"
"It'll be all right," Charley smiled and placed a hand on his arm. "I'm sure they know you're doing a good job!"
"She's an Asian woman with an extremely loud outfit and big chest who drives around in an Alfa Romeo… How in the hell does no one see her?"
"Maybe they do," Charley took a sip of her tea and bit into her tuna sandwich. The newspaper Leo had brought to read during lunch had somehow mysteriously vanished from the table.
"Hrm? What's that mean?"
"Well, you see a celebrity, you're star struck," Charley explained. "Just like I was when I first met you… A lot of people wouldn't turn in Lupin the Fourth because, well—She's Lupin!"
"I… I do kind of wonder why I get asked for my autograph sometimes," Leo admitted. "That's one way to look at it… But we're still no closer to catching her."
"Could… Could I ask you a kind of personal question?" Charley inquired hesitantly.
"Eh, depends on what it is," Leo replied with a relaxed smile.
"Why do you chase your sister around so much? I mean, you have your own family to look after now, so… Why not let her just worry about it?"
Leo gave a small sigh and looked down at his plate, "I'd like to wash my hands of Fuji sometimes, yeah, but worse comes to worse, she's always been there for me. She was the one who tracked me down when I went crazy, and she cared for me then… She's saved me dozens of times over the years, she loves her nephews and niece and…. She took the pressure off of me to be the next great thief."
"I don't understand," said Charley with a shake of the head.
"I figured not… I was pretty hazy with that, wasn't I? When I was in training to take my father's place, I was supposed to be the next one to carry on the traditions. The next great Lupin in a long line of them. When I left, Fuji took on that name. She took away part of the guilt I had for leaving my family behind. So I chase her around to make sure she doesn't get hurt or get in too much trouble… And we have an agreement. If I catch her, she finally settles down and starts her own family."
"Wow…" Charley muttered in awe. "I… I wish I could meet someone like you more often!"
"No, no you don't," Leo said with a small chuckle. "I'm not as nice a guy as I seem. I've also got a lot wrong… Well, up there. Don't tell, though, I don't want everyone to think I'm crazy, and I could lose my position chasing Fuji."
"I thought… I thought the crazier a cop you were, the better assignments you get."
"It's not like a movie," Leo said with a sip of tea. "Being crazy isn't fun… Or cool. Not being in control of yourself is one of the scariest things you could ever be put through. It's like hell. Ms. Kosai, are you okay? I'm sorry if I upset you… Please don't cry again!"
"I just… You're so kind," Charley whispered and set down her silverware. "My fiancé was so like you, it's frightening. I'm really jealous of Max, and if I didn't know you were a father of three, well—" She was cut off from the sounds of Leo choking upon his meal, and looked upward with great worry.
"Mr. Lupin!" Charley rose and ran around to the other side of the table and placed her hands about his waist and began to push until Leo finally spat out the bit of roast beef sandwich that had gone down the incorrect pipe. "Are you all right now?"
"Yeah… That was just… Unexpected," Leo admitted as he placed a hand on his throat. He stiffened as he felt a chin on his shoulder and glanced over at Charley. "I… Charley, I…"
"I'm sorry for everything, Ari," Charley said with a small sigh.
"Only my family can call me that, Inspector. I'd appreciate if you didn't," said Leo quietly with closed eyes. He pulled himself up from his chair and turned about to face her. "You… You'll meet someone really nice Charley, I promise. As good a person as you are—"
"I'm not though!" Charley cried. "Don't you get it! I'm—"
"I don't care," Leo answered. "I just… Let's just forget that happened, all right?"
"Leo…"
"Come on, let's go and look for Lupin," Leo said quietly, and patted her on the shoulder as he passed.
"Yeah… You got it," Charley rose quietly and followed Leo out the door, her head slightly hung and her eyes falling upon her necklace.
A different part of town:
"Um… Yeah, right now," Toshiro nodded and sputtered into the telephone. "I-I don't know why, either! I-I-I know it's early!"
"You wanna quit gabbin' a gimme a hand?" Hector growled. "OW! Quit hittin' mah head, woman!"
"You better take off that damn skull mask," Yukiko hissed to Hector. "I won't have my kid come out and have the crap scared out of her by Jack Skellington."
"You askin' the wrong person th' wrong questions, chere," Hector murmured.
"I wasn't 'askin''. I was demanding," Yukiko said with a growl. Hector's eyes narrowed reasonably, and moments later the skull mask was on the bed while Hector went back to work preparing Yukiko for the labor.
"That's a real skull," Toshiro said with horror in his voice. Hector turned to face Toshiro, and the samurai took a step back and frowned.
"Ya never seen a Cajun 'fore?" Hector's face reddened; he knew that Toshiro had been surprised by the scars running across his face.
"I… I'll go get some towels."
"Now there's showin' some sense, yeah."
Toshiro disappeared into the bathroom, and Yukiko gave a small wail and gripped onto the mattress, "Damn! This is worse than gettin' shot! Owww…. OW! Hey, watch your hands!"
"It all right… It gone' be fine with Hector," Hector said calmingly to her.
"Hey, Doc…"
"Yeh?"
"You're kinda cute," Yukiko said with a small smirk. "Don't tell my husband I said that."
Hector gave a small smile and nodded, "Ya got it…" he peeled off his long black coat and muttered a small phrase to himself in French, and gratefully took the towels that Toshiro returned with. "Now you jus' start them exercises…"
"What exercises?" Yukiko asked, followed by a yell of pain.
"Lamaze," Hector said with uncertainty now filling his voice. "Y'know… Breathin' exercises."
Toshiro bent down beside Yukiko and gripped onto her hand, kissing it briefly and trying to hide the fact that he had begun to shake lightly. The last time he had attempted to begin a family, it had ended in disaster, so while trying to think the most positive thoughts he could, he continually thought back to Julia, and the violent images that he had come home to that one evening.
Yukiko gave another shriek and threw her head back in pain, and Toshiro immediately placed a damp towel on her forehead.
"Your brother's kind of cute," this was when he was still known as merely Goemon's little brother, and not his bastard son and the heir of the rat clan. She had been the first girl from the modern Japan he had ever seen.
"'Kay… C'mon, c'mon… Yeh, yeh, yeh!" Hector shouted amongst Yukiko's crying.
"Damn it, I AM!" Yukiko shrieked. "Would you SHUT UP? It's not HELPING!"
"I'll date you when you get a car," she told him with a joking smile. She wasn't smiling when he told her moments later that he'd only consider her when she actually developed a chest.
"Yeow!" Toshiro clenched his teeth together as Yukiko gripped onto it harder, and Hector said curses and other phrases that sounded like complete nonsense in an attempt to egg her on.
"I love you, too," it had been difficult enough for her to admit, so he quickly filled in the blanks for her. It had been the best Christmas he had had since his first Christmas away from his grandmother, which had been the first he'd ever celebrated.
Toshiro's attention was drawn back to the current situation as Yukiko's crying joined another's, and it wasn't nearly at growling or gruff as Hector's voice. That only meant one thing.
"Shh, shh now," Hector said in a surprisingly calm tone. "Ya'll wanna say 'allo' heah?"
"Hi, Saiyuri," Yukiko said with a tired and quiet smile as she looked on at the new baby.
Across town:
"Come on, speed up!" Fuji shouted, followed by a long coughing fit.
Ryo grumbled, and looked around at the zooming traffic, "No way I'm going any faster."
Heiji stood up from the back seat, and tossed out what looked to be a disk shaped object. It hit the trunk of the car, like he had hoped, and he seated himself once again better Jordan and Ally, and quickly pulled out his laptop.
"I'm the boss, I say speed up!" Fuji demanded.
"I hate it when you get sick," Ryo muttered and floored the gas, and made a right turn sharp enough to nearly send the reasonably tiny Ally flying from the vehicle. Jordan quickly reached over and grabbed Jigen's shirt collar, all while keeping his concentration upon the Thunderbird in front of him.
Tony was having his own problems in the black vehicle, "Would you please stop?" he asked Odori, turning to the samurai who was working at kicking out her door, for both her feet and hands were bound. "That interior's probably worth more than that damn sword of yours! Listen, don't you guys get it! We're just trying to do our job here! Damn, I'm not gonna kill you. I promise."
"Why don't you just let Fuji buy you out?" Odori asked in a pant.
"It ain't that simple," Tony explained, briefly looking through his rearview. "The government's involved in this—Crap! They didn't tell me I had Goddamn Tonya Stewart on this team!"
"The government told you this?" asked Odori with a raised eyebrow. She had given off the appearance of being calmer, but in fact she had remembered the knife she kept stored in her gi pocket.
"Heh, just one guy in particular…" Tony answered.
"Do I know him?" asked Odori.
"Not my place to tell."
"That certainly isn't polite to do to a woman."
"He said you're more demon than woman… I had no idea if he was being literal or not at first, but I'm starting to wonder," Tony muttered, and exited into a construction site, much to Ryo's dismay.
"Ryo-san, how are you going to—WHAA!" Fuji shrieked as Ryo cleared a pit in the construction site and sent the unsuspecting Lupin flying out of her seat briefly and then causing her to kiss the floorboards of the old car, her legs still up in the air. "Oh, my cough drops! I lost this months ago! I can use these!"
"Get serious," Ryo muttered and pulled Fuji up onto the seat and pressed harder upon the gas. Ryo then watched in shock as the car turned about and began to zoom toward her. Ryo managed to swerve out of the way in time, but not without ramming into a forest of size-five Poland imported rebar, making it unlikely that the car would be making any more movement anytime soon. Tony's car didn't stop there, however. It shrieked and spun until it ran into a large stack of bricks, which tumbled onto the dash of the car.
"Oh my God! Odori!" Heiji yelled as he followed the already bolting Jordan out of the car and began to search through the bricks. Jordan pulled out the tiny frame of the samurai, and gave a sigh of relief as she began to cough. She was caked in white residue from the bricks that had managed to bust through the windshield.
"Get the man, too," Odori choked.
"What? Are you crazy?" Heiji yelped.
"He protected me from the blow," Odori explained. Heiji paused a moment, then nodded over to Ally, and the two pulled Tony out of the remnants of the car and Ally revived the surprised assassin.
"WOAH!" Tony sat up and wiped his mouth and spit at the ground. "Do I look like that kind of a guy? Do you see me in heels or somethin'?"
"Relax, I'm not going to buy you flowers or anything," Ally grumbled and rose. "For Christ's sakes, I'm a hockey player, not a football player!"
"Are you okay?" Jordan asked Odori quietly as he laid her down on the ground and examined what looked to be a sprained wrist.
"I've been better," Odori answered quickly, followed by a hiss of pain as Jordan rotated her wrist. "I will just put it on some ice."
"Come on," Ally lifted Tony up and walked him over to a pile of construction material, and sat him upon one of the boxes. "You're lucky I'm training for the Olympics right now… You weigh a ton for a shorter guy!"
"Crap, that's right, you're left wing for the Blackhawks, right?"
"You follow hockey?"
"Hell, yeah. I spent three years in Chicago!" Tony gave a small laugh, and clutched onto his chest in pain. "Yeow… Damn, I think I broke somethin', man."
"Well, maybe your amigo can look at it. Apparently he just delivered a baby," Fuji said as she hung up her cell phone and stepped over to Tony quickly popping one of the cough drops and inspecting the package label before it disappeared into her jacket.
"He… He what? Hector? Oh, that's funny," Tony said with a smile. "You serious? Hector. He's a mortician. He doesn't even know the right way to hold a babydoll, much less a baby."
"You're an auntie, Ryo-san!" Fuji said hoarsely.
"Yu—Yuki had her?" Ryo gulped and blinked, and then looked to Ally.
"I think this calls for a… A party, I guess," Ally said with a mutter.
Fuji turned to Tony and chuckled, "Only if Mister Perry agrees to let me buy him out… And Dori-chan and Jordan-chan agree to make-up…. And Ally-chan makes me soup when we get home."
"Shoot… I'm so sick of you all I'm to the point where I'd rather kill myself," Tony said tiredly. "Too damn many of you all… Might as well make a profit. No wonder your brother can't catch you. Although he puts up a hell of a fight… Got past me an' Hec and then picked up that woman and—"
"Woman?" Ryo repeated with a frown.
"That reporter," Fuji explained.
"Reporter? Nah, can't be the same," Tony shook his head. "He was callin' her 'Inspector'."
"Wha… Now that just doesn't add up," Fuji said with a frown. "Unless… Oh my GOD!... Ugh, Ari's never had it easy."
"Listen, I'd love to hear alllll about that, but I think I've got some internal bleeding going on," Tony said, clutching on to his stomach tighter.
"Called a cab," Heiji announced. "Well, a couple… I refuse to pay faire, though."
"I'm buying drinks!" Fuji shouted.
"Yeah, but will you be able to drink them?" Ryo wondered with a raised eyebrow as Fuji went into another coughing fit.
Later:
"Wow, no way to celebrate the birth of a new baby than buying two cases of rum…" Yukiko said with a roll of the eyes.
"Ya'll never lived 'til you had some North Carolina moonshine," said Hector with a smirk as he adjusted his mask and toasted to the new parents.
"Uh-uh… Yeah, feeling a little better… Yes, I'm staying away from the baby… Okay, thanks, Dad," Fuji muttered and hung up her cell phone. "Heiji-chan, take a look at your computer… Dad says you've got mail."
Heiji gave a nod and opened the laptop and accessed his mail, taking another sip from the bottle as he waited for it to download.
"I never could understand how some people like that mess," Hector muttered, and turned to Tony. "It 'bout time we leave?"
"Yeah, the sooner we leave, the sooner we can dodge the cops who are inevitably on our asses now," Tony muttered, finished downing his sip and rose, picking up his mask at the table.
"Hey! ….Wow…." Heiji's jaw fell, and he scanned over the page, not quite sure what to make out.
"What's up? Bad?" Fuji asked.
"Bad," Heiji nodded. "Try a directory of big names in the underworld… Not discluding Jordan Lupin, Hector DeLeon or Tony Perry… Heh, so that's what you look like without the mask, Hector? Oh, instructional video!"
"What!" Hector, as well as the rest of the group, scurried over to the laptop, and watched the video that Lupin had sent his future son-in-law.
"And through this tracking process, in coming years, we will be able to quickly and quietly take care of these problems that arise," explained the stern faced security charge. "Perhaps this will even eventually lead to the ability for our bigger businesses to track their potential customers' thoughts, or even help our security officers in later years prevent potential threats.
"This is friggin' Orwell watchdog crap!" Fuji choked.
"Not much different from what's going on with your brother…" Heiji murmured. "F-Fuji, what are you doing?"
"Grabbing Yukiko's gun," Fuji answered calmly, checking the revolver of the weapon, loading it and stuffing an extra pack of bullets in her jacket, right beside the cough drops.
"You're going to kill someone?" Ryo choked.
"Nope, just scaring," Fuji replied.
"Isn't anyone going to stop her? Dori, where's Dori?" Heiji looked about the room to see both her and Jordan absent from the festivities.
"On the roof," Ryo replied. "Fuji, wait!"
"No one gets into my personal affairs, or my brother's," Fuji grumbled and stormed out.
"….Weird…" Yukiko murmured, and rocked her child gently back and forth. "What do you think got her in all a twist?"
"I don't think she wants the same things happened to Ari that happened to her…. That, or she's had way too much cough syrup. These people know everything. I don't know how, but they do," Heiji whispered as he opened another screen and read over the information from the disk, which Yukiko's mother had forwarded to him. On the screen, under Fuji's profile, it showed not one, but three instances of a miscarriage, as well as one dissolved marriage. He quickly exited out of this screen before anyone could catch this information, however.
Fuji, meanwhile, hopped into the rent-a-car, gun at her side, and began to search around the rainy Seattle streets for the one person who was out catching her.
And from the rooftop Odori and Jordan watched her take off as both sat in the cover of a set of patio furniture one of the regulars had set up for the rare rainy days.
"Dori…"
"No, I pushed you," Odori held up her hand and sighed. "It was wrong of me. I jumped into wanting a relationship because it has been so long since I've been in one."
"I can still be your friend though," Jordan said with a hopeful smile, laying a hand atop hers. Odori pulled away from him and looked downward at the concrete below.
"I'm not sure if I could handle something like just friendship," Odori admitted, and hung her head.
Jordan blinked a few times in surprise and reached forward to place a comforting hand on her shaking shoulders, but she stood and quickly repelled from any contact with him.
"Damn it, I can't be your friend if I'm in love with you! I did that once, I couldn't take doing that again! I'd rather kill myself than go through all of that again!" Odori shouted. "Just go, Jordan! Just go and make someone happy, please!"
"…Fine," he rose and grabbed his jacket, and faced her, with a frown upon his face. He bent downward and kissed her, leaving a stunned Odori behind as he climbed down the steps and disappeared.
"I just couldn't do that again," Odori murmured.
Across town:
"Eh, you sure you saw them go in here?" Leo loosened his tie and gulped at the foreboding neon sign that he and Charley stood in front of.
"Sure! Two guys in that much black leather in daylight? What else could it be?" asked Charley with a laugh and a smile.
"A biker club… A lot worse than a biker club…. Hey, um, I know you were engaged, but did you ever… I mean, do you know about stuff like—"
"Come on, it's worth checking out," Charley took him by the hand and led him into the club, nearly knocking him down as she pulled him into the darkened building.
"Remind me why we're doing this?" Tony asked Hector from inside the car.
"It all a matter 'a pride," Hector answered. "If she just gon' scare her for scarin's sake, that ain't gonna get nothin' done, right? So we 'talk' to her. Plus we still gettin' paid to do it all!"
"Remind me, if I ever have a kid, to let you nowhere near it," Tony made another turn and spotted Leo and Charley walking into the club. "Umm… Hec…. Are we sure that the money's this good?" Tony pointed up the sign, and Hector blinked a few times at the flashing yellow and pink. "That's a French word, ain't it? What's it mean?"
"I ain't sayin' cause I'mma gentleman," Hector answered.
"Aw, it is…. Aw, no…" Tony gave a laugh and placed his hand over his eyes. "How about after this we agree to never do government work again, all right?"
"Ya got it," Hector nodded, and clutched on tightly to his cane as he saw Fuji speed past them. "No wonder she get another to do th' drivin'."
"I'll call her, you go in and get that bitch," Tony announced as he pulled out his cell phone.
"What! Why me!"
"'Cause you do better with freaks," Tony answered. The Cajun rolled his eyes, stepped out, and walked into the club, and was immediately approached by a feminine looking male… Or vice versa… In mainly black and heavy makeup.
"Hey, what's your game, eh?" s/he asked with a smile.
"Today it's tryin' not to kill you kinna folks," Hector drew out his sword and held it up to the youth's neck, and pushed a few other similar looking people out of the way. "This shouldn't be too hard… It only 'bout two hundred people… They gonna clear out real soon and nice, yeah."
"THEY'RE IN A WHAT?" Fuji shrieked, and Tony gave a shudder, and moved the phone away from his ear.
"Yeah, I know… I sent Hector in. Hopefully he hasn't killed anyone yet," Tony muttered and glanced at the sign with a French obscenity and two flashing letters beneath it.
"I'll be right there. She better not have done anything to my brother!" Fuji growled and slammed down the phone.
"Damn glad it's that tech nerd and not me havin' to put up with her," Tony muttered and watched as she zoomed back to the site and ran out of her car.
"Let's hit it," Fuji ran into the club, her gun hidden and Tony following behind. Not like this would scare the already terrified patrons, however. Hector had already left his mark upon the establishment, and threw another chair out of the way and glanced about the room. "…Where'd you find him?"
"A bar in Texas. He was singing Mandy," Tony answered. "Hey, are you sure you're good enough to…"
"I'm fine. Never friggin' better. Let's just find him."
"Oh my God!" Charley hissed and drew Leo into a private room as she caught site of Hector. "He's going to kill us!"
"What? Inspector, just get your gun! He's one guy!" Leo laughed, and then heard a chair slam against the closed door. "A very scary guy… But just one guy!"
"I should've never taken this job!" Charley cried. "I… I… I'm going into a panic attack… Oh my God, I… I can't breathe!"
"Charley," Leo kneeled down to Charley's level, for she had curled herself into a small ball with her hands over her face. "Listen, we can take him! You're the best in—"
"No I'm not!" Charley shrieked. "There is no Charley Kosai! My name's Charley Kobayashi, I'm doing a undercover investigative report on you!"
"…Wha….? Oh, oh my God… I… I can't breath…." Leo hit the ground and placed a hand on his neck. "Inhaler… Quick!"
Charley nodded and passed him his inhaler, and Leo took a few deep breaths before laying down on the floor. "Are you better now?"
"No!" Leo sat up and took Charley by the shoulders. "Has the show been aired yet?"
"Yeah… Actually six episodes… It's… It's like a nightly thing," Charley answered sheepishly.
"At… At least not in France, right?"
"If you don't have satellite. I'm with Nippon TV."
"That crap channel?" Leo choked. "I'm Fox material!"
"Someone get this deranged hillbilly out of here!" a voice from the outside shrieked.
"We're going to have to think of something to get him off of our tales," Charley said worried, drawing back the frightened tears she had been shedding since she had run into the room.
"Um… Relax…" Leo looked about the room and shuddered at the pure sleaziness of it. "Okay, idea!" he pulled off his jacket and then his tie, and threw Charley down to the floor.
"OW! What! I thought you were gay!"
"That's…. A gray area…" Leo cleared his throat. "You see, I'm in love with a man, but—It doesn't matter, just go along with it!"
"O-okay," Charley sputtered and placed her arms about Leo's neck as he bent in and kissed her.
"Now let's try this one!" Hector kicked open yet another door, and sent yet another couple running for their lives.
"Wow… I thought this gun would make me scary, but they're all running from him… I thought sad goth people liked The Nightmare Before Christmas…" Fuji said with confusion.
"Yeah, but not when he's got a sword," Tony answered, following calmly behind his partner. Hector opened one door, glanced at the couple in there a moment, and shook his head in disgust. Tony continued down the line, but Fuji stopped, and gaped at the sight.
"A-Ari?" she squeaked.
Leo looked up, and lost all of the color in his face. He sat up so quickly he didn't realize he was sitting on Charley until she delivered a swift punch to his shoulder.
"I… This isn't what it looks like," Leo buttoned his shirt and rose, and helped Charley to rise off of the ground.
"What the hell?" Fuji blinked and looked Leo up and down, too stunned to do what she had originally intended to do to Charley.
"There she is…" Tony said as he walked back into the room. Hector stepped in, over the mess he had made, and grabbed onto one of her hands roughly.
'"We'll show you what you get when you play with fire, yeah," Hector muttered.
"Wait! Fuji, you're going to let them take her?" Leo shrieked.
"Yeah, yeah I am," Fuji replied with a crazed nod. "Do you have any idea who she is?"
"Yeah, Charley Kobayashi," Leo sighed. "Television news anchor."
"That, and we're thinking a government spy," Fuji continued.
"What!" Leo and Charley yelped in unison.
"I… I'm a lot of things, b-but I'm not a spy!" Charley yelped. "Could you please let go? You're hurting me!"
"Listen, Mister…. Creepy skeleton man…" Leo began. "I believe her…"
"Well good for you," Hector snapped.
Leo paused and moment, began to turn his back, but quickly turned around and knocked Hector's feet from underneath him. He then grabbed onto Charley and pulled her out of the club. "Come on, let's go! They look like they want to kill you! Charley, what'd you do!"
"I didn't do anything with the government, I swear!"
"Well, you lied about a lot of other things apparently," Leo said quietly, ducking into an alley and holding onto her until he saw the two assassins leave, and then watched as Fuji stood outside of the club and pulled out her cell phone. Apparently it was not a very good call, for she slammed her phone and stormed off to her car, the appearance of a rainfall not helping her in the least.
"Looks like we're safe now," Charley said in a low voice.
"Here," Leo pulled off his jacket and then placed it over Charley's shoulders as they stepped out of the alley. "Guess we can't go back to the hotel… I'm thinking Fuji's in the kind of mood where she'll start shooting and ask questions later."
"What… Why are you being so nice to me? I mean, I…"
"You're a lady, and I treat you with respect…" Leo shoved his hands in his pockets and looked downward at the ground. "…What am I going to tell Max? How am I going to explain everything to Fuji?"
"Well, I…" Charley bit her lip and drew the purple blazer around her shoulders tighter. "Could we go somewhere warmer? I think I have an idea… I'll start my very long apology by buying you coffee, Mr. Lupin."
"That sounds good," Leo nodded, and followed her into a nearby coffee shop.
Later:
"So, that's why you did it?" Leo finished his second cup and then finished his doughnut.
"It was that or lose my job," Charley said quietly. "I never got into this job to hurt people, really. I'm starting to think I would've been better off going into nursing, like my mother wanted me to."
"Well, it seems like you got into the whole thing to help people, so maybe it's not too late…"
"Oh, like use my powers for good, like a superhero… Or how you did, right?"
"Um, well, yeah," Leo rose and looked out at the still raining and now darkened city in front of them. "We'll think of a plan tonight. We should find somewhere to stay until then."
"I'll pay."
"No, you don't have to. Really… You know better than anyone what kind of a family I come from, so you should know that money isn't an issue."
"It's part of my making up for everything I did," Charley answered, and quickly spied a man selling umbrellas outside in a small kiosk. She ran out and returned with an umbrella, which, much to Leo's dismay, wore the smiling face of Mankii-chan upon it. He gave a roll of the eyes and stepped out into the rainy night, holding in umbrella for Charley, which he was taught was the most polite thing to do.
"You were raised in France, weren't you?" Charley asked with a chuckle.
"What, did you get that from out interview, too?"
"It's just that," Charley chuckled and put a hand to her mouth, "that sharing an umbrella is a form of affection in Japan."
"….I just knew I should've spent more summers over there," a red-faced Leo sighed. "Is this hotel all right?"
"It's perfect," Charley smiled and stepped in, not noting Leo's concerned expression at the familiar yellow car parked out front.
"It can't be the Romeo… That thing's pink… And Fuji was driving a gray car…" Leo muttered as he placed who it might below to.
Jordan, meanwhile, nearly fell off of his stool in the bar as he saw his half-brother walk into the hotel with the attractive woman close at his side, "….He's cheating? With that reporter? Oh, the fun never stops…"
"Leo?" Charley returned with the hotel key and looked down at the shiny metal nervously.
"What's up?" Leo looked about the hotel to see if there was anyone he knew, and breathed a false sigh of relief, not realizing that Jordan was hidden behind a beam in the bar, or that Jordan was currently pulling on a mask and dosing himself with the rest of his alcohol.
Charley reached up on her toes and kissed Leo briefly, and smiled, "Thanks again… I meant what I said, about if you weren't a father."
"Well, I, urm…" Leo loosened his tie and walked up the stairs to the first floor of the hotel. "It's probably all of the coffee talking, ehehe…."
"'Scuse me, buddy… You here with yer wife…? hic…" a drunkard rested his arms upon Leo's shoulders and smiled widely at him. "She's real pretty…"
"Yeah, so stay away from her," Leo said in a rare showing of his spine.
"You got it, Buddy," Jordan patted Leo on the back, and stumbled off and purposefully falling down the flight of stairs which he had run up. "Ouch… I think I broke my ass bone!"
"…That was weird…" Charley said in a whisper.
"Well, strange people aren't a new thing here. This is where Nirvana came from," Leo scratched the back of his neck, barely missing the tracking device Jordan had tagged him with before his tumble. Charley gave a solemn nod, and the two continued up another flight of stairs to their room.
Jordan had retreated to his room, and was listening intently to the duo when his cell phone rang. He cringed, half-expecting it to be Odori, and frowned as he watched Fuji's phone number pop up.
"Hello? I'm a little busy here…"
"Switching from one girl to the next so soon? Tsk, tsk… Poor Dori-chan…" Fuji said in her hoarse tone.
"Shut up… I'm listening to Ari, for your information. I think he and that reporter are a little more than just buddies."
"Really, now? You'll have to keep me updated on that one. I'd hate to knock the crap out of my brother for acting stupid once again, but I'd do it in a heartbeat."
"You're just looking for an excuse to beat up on him… Hurry up and talk, they're starting to talk, too."
"Heiji managed to trace back those files."
"Aaaandddd?"
"They originated from Interpol," Fuji explained. "They were running some underground database, and their ultimate goal is to get rid of 'problems' like you, me… Even dad and Avery!"
"Woah, wait, a baby?"
"They're taking no chances here. Don't got thinking it's the whole agency… This is one specific branch. I'm not even sure if most of the main players of the ICPO are aware of its existence."
"So Interpol's had a plan to kill us."
"Bingo," Fuji replied. "I sent a few available friends to go lead out the head honcho of this operation, and Heiji's setting up a live TV feed to it, to catch him in the act."
"And let me guess. You're going to let Odori loose on me and I'm going to be the decoy."
"Not exactly. I need you to bring 'Inspector Kosai' to the airport, and get her on the next flight out. These guys are meeting with their boss in the early morning."
"How do you know all this?"
"Zenigata-sama…" Fuji replied innocently. "A little slip here, a little begging here… And the old man pulled the strings like he was tuning a violin."
"You just mixed a metaphor with a simile, you realize that, right?"
"…How'd you know I was drinking…?"
"N-nevermind. I'll have them on the first flight out of here and to U.S. ICPO headquarters, but you owe me… Hey, how'd you know that I knew where they were, Fuji? Fuji? Hello? Damn it…" he hung up his phone, tossed aside his earpiece and after a little flirting with the hotel clerk he was able to find out exactly what room Charley and Leo were located.
"Room service," Jordan jiggled opened door and gaped as he made out the two figures in the darkened room. Leo pulled away from Charley, and the two shared a moment of silence as Charley backed away from the person she had kissed only moments before and busied herself about the room.
"…Fuji needs you," said Jordan in his regular voice, dropping the heavy accent he had used when posing as room service. "She, um, needs you on the first flight out of here."
"Yeah," Leo nodded and finished buttoning his shirt, and winced as Jordan slowly closed the door behind them.
The following day in Paris:
"Hey! Aw, crap!" Dako hit the cable box and plopped back on the couch, frustrated with the sudden static on the television screen.
"Don't curse!" Max called from the kitchen, walking out wearing a Mankii-chan apron and with a bowl of biscuit mix under one arm and Avery underneath the other. "And you two are grounded, so you shouldn't be watching television anyway! You know your punishment… Pick a language book from your Papa's collection and memorize the numbers one to a hundred from in that language."
"Ichi, ni, san, yon, go, ryo," Jared began.
"Sept, huit, neuf, dix, onze, douze," Dako finished, and seated herself beside her brother. The phone began to ring, and Max heaved a sigh and ran back into the kitchen to answer it.
"Hey, Aunt Fuji!" Dako shouted as Fuji's image appeared on the television.
"Hello!" Fuji waved to the camera and smiled widely, "This thing on? Okay, cool… Well, we've got a very special presentation this morning from Nippon Japan Television's Charley Kobayashi… Since Ms. Kobayashi isn't the most fluent in English, the report will be translated by Interpol Inspector Leonard Lupin!"
"Yeah, yeah… Okay, Mom, channel…" Max did not have time to finish his sentence. As he saw Leo's image on the television, next to the reporter, he dropped the telephone into the batter and stood with his mouth ajar. Avery reached over, dug out a handful of the batter, and smashed it first on himself and then over Max's chest.
"Charley Kobayashi reporting in what appears to be the biggest government scandal since Watergate," Leo translated for the young woman who stood on the sidewalk out front of the Interpol offices. There were several men in suits in the background being drug away screaming and shouting obscenities, while Charley attempted to not appear nervous in front of the camera.
"Woah, look, a guy with a skull mask, and a guy dressed like a ninja!" Jared pointed to Hector and Tony, who in the background stepped into their car quietly after politely refusing a good-sized envelope from a surprised Fuji.
"Shut it!" Dako hissed, slapping Jared on the shoulder.
"Wow… Leo really landed it…" Max muttered, and seated himself beside the children, his face still stone with shock. Avery continued to play with the batter, smiled and threw a large clump of the dough at Jared, who paid no attention to this.
Valentine's Day, New York:
"So we're not going?" Toshiro rocked back and forth in the chair with the baby sleeping in his arms while Yukiko gave a small nod from the bed.
"Maybe if I'm feeling up to it by then… He's not playing for four days," Yukiko rolled over and yawned. "That plane ride took it out of me… Could you imagine trying to fly to Spain? With a newborn?"
"We'll just watch it on the television, worse comes to worse… I know Fuji was understanding to our situation, but I still think she's upset we won't be there to help her out with it."
"Yeah, and…. I think she's kinda jealous, too," Yukiko said with a small sigh, and reached over and stroked her daughter's hair gently. "She's an airhead, but she loves kids. Am I crazy or do I think she wants one of her own?"
"There's always adoption," Toshiro said with a small sigh, and rose and placed the baby in her crib. He then walked over to Yukiko and lied down beside her. "Happy Valentine's Day, Yuki…"
"…Damn, after her crying all night, I'm not even really feeling like doing it anymore, are you?"
"For once in my life, not really," Toshiro answered with a small sigh. "I think I'm genuinely getting old. I don't even think I can get my pants off right now."
"Wow, that's a first from you, too," Yukiko chuckled, and nudged him. "Eh, we'll make up for it next year."
"Double?"
"I can't even think about double right now," Yukiko moaned and then laughed. "Unless it's a double scoop of ice cream. Now go to sleep."
"Yes, ma'am…"