The Meaning of Lupin

"What is Lupin to you, Inspector?"

Zenigata almost choked on the burger he was currently eating, so much so that he had to set it back down on the plate and immediately grab a glass he'd barely touched until now, downing the cold water in one gulp. Gasping for air for a moment, he then turned a surprised gaze towards the rookie officer. "What sort of question is that! He's a thief, a notorious criminal wanted the world over, that's who he is!"

"Easy, easy!" The younger man chuckled, holding his hands up apologetically between himself and the glowering face of his superior. "I didn't mean to step on any toes, sir. I'm just...curious. I know who Lupin is, heck, there's probably nobody on the force who doesn't. But what I don't understand is why catching him is so important to you."

"Of course it's important to me!" The inspector scowled, grabbing his burger and picking up where he left off with another big bite. "It's the duty of everyone in ICPO to give it their all when trying to catch their man, and there's not a fish in the sea bigger than Lupin the Third. So if you want to work under me, catching Lupin had better be the most important thing in the world for you too."

The rookie stared at the Inspector for a moment, as if trying to decide how to reply to this. Ultimately, he shrugged and smiled.

"It is a policeman's job to catch criminals, there's no question about that." The rookie said, picking up his own burger and taking another bite of it. "But with you it seems different. More personal, somehow. Why is that, exactly?"

Rather than answering immediately, Zenigata continued to chew on the last bite he'd taken. This hadn't been exactly what he'd had in mind when he'd invited the kid. He liked taking the rookie officers out for lunch when they'd been there for a couple of weeks, but usually they'd either clam up or shoot the breeze with him, not ask him difficult questions like that one. He was starting to wish he'd eaten alone, it wasn't like he was made of money in the first place. As he finished chewing and swallowed, he could feel the rookie's gaze burning a hole in the side of his skull still. He sighed. It was clear the kid wasn't going to let this go.

"If you must know, it is personal. I mean, how could it not be? Been chasing after Lupin and his pals for way too damn long for it not to be." Sometimes it felt like he'd been chasing him for nearly sixty years.

The rookie nodded. "That makes sense, I guess. So, is it just Lupin then? Do you not care about apprehending the rest of his crew?"

"Of course I care." Zenigata replied as he grabbed another burger off of the plate between them and promptly started gulping it down. "Pound for pound, each member of Lupin's crew is just as notorious as he is. Daisuke Jigen's sharpshooting skills are more lethal than any army of trained soldiers a country could have. Goemon Ishikawa's just as dangerous, especially with that Zantetsuken sword of his - I've seen that blade cut wings off of planes and slice cars in two with only one swing of his arm. And Fujiko Mine? Fujiko's lethal in ways that you can't even imagine." As Zenigata said this, a curious expression seemed to come over his face, his cheeks taking on a bit of crimson. Seeming to realize this, the Inspector promptly cleared his throat and poured himself another glass of water. "The fact of the matter is that it's exactly because of them that Lupin is as incredibly dangerous as he is. But don't take that to mean he's not a formidable foe all on his own. His mind is as cunning as his fingers are sticky, but it's that charisma of his that's the most dangerous. Someone like him was able to bring together a crew like that, and when you've got that much skill in one place, almost nothing is impossible."

The rookie laughed. "I'll take your word for it. Following Lupin all over the world for so long - you must have gotten into a lot of crazy situations over the years."

Zenigata too laughed in return. "Kid, you don't know the half of it." He smirked wryly, feeling a little more at ease now. "The things I've seen, why you wouldn't believe me if I told you." Aliens, vampires, the Loch Ness Monster, a time traveler - the amount of crazy things he'd come across while chasing Lupin could fill a book of it's own. Even discounting that and keeping his thoughts more rooted in the mundane, Zenigata couldn't easily count the number of times he'd almost died, and he couldn't keep track of how many times Lupin had seemed to be dead either.

The rookie looked at Zenigata with something akin to awe on his face, and looked for a moment as if he were going to ask for more details, but in the end he simply smiled and nodded his head. "I guess after putting you through all of that, it makes sense that you'd stop at nothing to capture Lupin. He is the rotten criminal who put you through all of that after all. You must really want to make him pay."

Zenigata's face, which had been looking increasingly more relaxed, suddenly took on a stern facade once more. "Make him pay? We're officers of the law, rookie, we don't make people pay - that's what courts and jails are for. It's our job to bring crooks like Lupin and his friends to justice, nothing more, nothing less. What kind of sentence they get, that's between them, their lawyers, and the judge and jury."

"Right, of course." The rookie said, seeming to fidget a bit. "But, I mean...after everything they've put you through, surely you want them to get the harshest sentence possible? Throw the book at them, give them the chair and bury them under the jail, that sort of thing, right?"

The look on the Inspector's face showed plainly how displeased he was to hear such a thing assumed of him. "Kid...if you keep talking like that, I'm going to punch you."

The rookie's eyes grew wide in shock. "Sir?"

"The Lupin gang are a lot of things. They're devious as can be, and you never know when or where they'll strike next. They'll take your seat right out from under you if you're not careful, and while you're falling ass-first onto the floor wondering what just happened, they'll make off with your wallet too." Zenigata brandished his finger dramatically in the young officer's face, as if to make his point as clear as possible. "They're conmen and crooks, and someday I'm going to be the one to take each and every one of them in, but they're not evil. They don't deserve to die just because they've made terrible life choices. At the end of the day..."

Zenigata trailed off, seemingly caught in his own realization for a moment. The rookie tilted his head in confusion. "At the end of the day?"

Zenigata lowered his hand. "At the end of the day, I believe there's good in them too." He'd seen them leave too many good situations in their pursuit of ill-gotten gains to think otherwise, even if sometimes that hadn't been their intention at all. There were many far worse than them that Zenigata himself had apprehended only because of Lupin's involvement. He sighed, resigning himself to admitting it. "Although I wouldn't trust any of them as far as I could throw them, I would still trust them with my life. Especially Lupin."

The rookie's jaw dropped. For a moment, there was only an awkward silence between the two men. Then, the rookie laughed. "Geez, Inspector. I don't really know what to say. At first you talked about them like they were the worst criminals the world had ever seen, but then you say you'd go so far as to trust them with your life? You almost make them sound like they're your friends."

Zenigata stared at the plate, which still had a few more burgers left on it. Taking one of them, he began eating once more. "Friends, huh?" It sounded crazy. Completely nuts, in fact. And yet, when he really stopped and thought about it...

Koichi Zenigata had lost and given up a lot in his life. He'd left Japan far more often than he'd ever imagined, he'd lost loves and left behind family, all in the pursuit of Lupin. But when you really got down to it...he enjoyed it. He enjoyed the hunt. He liked trying to outwit that thief, and as infuriating as it was every time it happened, he even enjoyed when Lupin outwitted him, because it meant that he was going to have to do even better himself next time. They challenged each other. Without Lupin, Zenigata had to admit, he wouldn't be the person he was today. His life would be infinitely more boring.

If a person makes your life more full, makes every day feel better because they're in it...wouldn't you call that a friend?

"Maybe he is my friend, in a way." Zenigata confessed under his breath.

Then, he quickly glared at the rookie. "If you tell anyone I said that, I'll deny it."

The rookie chuckled and shrugged. "My lips are sealed."

Seeming satisfied with Zenigata's answer, the rookie stood up and started to leave. "Leaving already?" The Inspector asked, gesturing to the plate. "There's still a few burgers left. You aren't full already are you?"

"Thanks, but I'll pass. I hate to eat and run anyway." The rookie said simply.

"Suit yourself." Zenigata said, grabbing another burger and taking a big bite out of it.

"I got what I came for anyway. Maybe next time I'll treat you to lunch instead, Pops."

For the second time, Zenigata almost choked on his burger. He forced a large lump of food down his throat by sheer force of will, gasping for air again afterwards as he whirled around in his chair. The rookie, who had already gotten further away from him than seemed humanly possible in such a short amount of time, was grinning at him and waving farewell.

That grin. That same damned grin, every time.

"Lupin...you bastard!"

Grabbing his handcuffs from his side, Zenigata leapt from his chair in hot pursuit, all while the waiter was yelling at him to pay his bill. Despite this, Zenigata found himself suppressing a grin.

The chase was on once again.