Lupin III Fan Fiction ❯ Love among Thieves ❯ Chapter One ( Chapter 1 )

Love Among Thieves

 

By Namek Kaia

 

 

Disclaimer: I in no way, shape, or form own any part of Lupin the III. I merely use its characters for my shameless fangirl entertainment.

 

 

 

“Why did it have to be Spain?” Jigen grumbled to Goemon, both of them in clever disguises as they left the Museo del Prado. The grand statue of Diego Velázquez cast a stark shadow over his phony face, but Jigen paid the large sculpture no mind since he didn't recognize the Spanish man off-hand. He should have though… because Lupin planned to steal one of Velázquez's most famous paintings. The thought of it was much easier than the actual act. No one counted on it being so heavily guarded… not even Lupin.

 

“What's wrong with you?” Goemon inquired as he watched Jigen stuff his hands back into his khaki slacks. His companion looked ridiculous in the off-white three-piece suit. It wasn't the clothes as much as it was the wig and the faux face, making it appear as if Jigen had an afro of black curls and a face of a magazine model, full of defined angles and a cleft chin. He guessed he looked just as absurd in his disguise, but he thanked several deities that he hadn't had to go anywhere near a mirror. Given Jigen's distraught aura, Goemon managed to suppress the smile that tugged at the corners of his mouth. With as many times that they had had to be in disguise to pull off Lupin's schemes, Goemon supposed that they should have been used to this by now. As it was, he and Jigen still hated the disguises.

 

“Nothing,” Jigen replied, “I just don't like Spain.”

 

He didn't want to say more than that. The memories of what happened the last time they were in Spain resurfaced, and he tried hard to distract his mind.

 

“That was Barcelona. This is Madrid. Not all of Spain is the same,” Goemon offered.

 

“Spain is Spain,” Jigen shot back, turning left onto a sidewalk that would eventually lead to their hotel, albeit after lots and lots of walking, which gave him lots and lots of time to think. Obviously Jigen needed to think, or sulk, or whatever else he did when he was alone.

 

But just in case, Goemon felt he should ask anyway. “Share a taxi?”

 

“You go ahead,” Jigen replied without facing his counterpart and kept walking. “You can tell Lupin how pissed I am about this without me being there.” He didn't hear Goemon hail a taxi, or get in, or leave or anything of the sort, but he wasn't surprised to look back and find no one he recognized. It wasn't as if he had been paying attention. Ever since he had arrived in Spain, he hadn't paid much attention to anything at all.

 

Jigen walked slowly down the sidewalk, head down and hands still stuffed in his pockets, his mind on nothing around him. As he walked, he contemplated why he felt this bad just from being in the Spanish country again. Sure, the beautiful Spanish dancer - if she was really Spanish at all - had come on to him, raised his hopes, and then chewed up his fragile ego before spitting it back out, but he had known her for less than 48 hours. That couldn't be why he felt like nothing in the world was worth stealing anymore.

 

Maybe that was what plagued him. Perhaps the thrill of thievery no longer appealed to him. Had he become so immune to the adrenaline rushes? Was that it? No… that didn't explain why this… feeling - it could only be called a feeling - had overcome him all at once. Thieving was all he'd ever known. He'd been doing it for the better part of his life. Nothing would make him turn a new leaf on his way of life… not even a woman.

 

What was this feeling? Jigen couldn't quite put his finger on it. Perhaps this whole thing was about women after all. Doesn't every man need a woman every once in a while? Wasn't it abnormal that in face of a harem of women, all he felt was suspicious? Because he knew women would never cling to him like that? Lupin, maybe. Him, never. Something had to have been wrong if a woman wanted him, right? He had every right to be wary… right? After all, he had been right in the end, and that should count for something. Right?

 

Well he was not a homosexual. That was one thing he was sure of. He liked women, but none of them ever seemed worth his effort. He had to high of a standard set by someone that had left a burning brand on his heart. She always smelled like…

 

As if on cue, the smell of gourmet coffee drifted to him from a nearby café and he had to pause as a wave of nostalgia possessed him. His mask stretched along with the face beneath until he was almost smiling. For years, every time he smelled gourmet coffee, he thought of - He paused. All of that was in the past; a past he could never go back to, a past he should never have to think about ever again. There was no use thinking those thoughts anymore.

 

Jigen visibly shook out of his head all thoughts of things that had been and forced his feet into motion. Once again, his mind surrendered to contemplation, and he barely noticed when a young woman left the café and bumped directly into him. Somehow however, he heard a whisper a few moments later that stopped him in mid-step.

 

“Jigen?”

 

For a moment, he let that one word linger in his head. He would know that soft, angelic voice even if her were blind, deaf, and dumb. But no… it wasn't her, couldn't possibly be her. There was no way. People did not just materialize from nostalgic thoughts. What he had heard was just his mind messing with his senses. Almost instantly, he set himself up for the disappointment of a lifetime.

 

But as he turned in the direction of a voice he was sure that had been purely imagined, Jigen was faced with the most drop-dead gorgeous redhead he had ever laid his eyes on. The blue sundress she wore hugged her every curve and matched her eyes so perfectly that it made them shine even brighter than he remembered. The over-sized blue hat also matched the dress and created a large shadow over her face. But when her eyes had locked onto his, he had only noticed the hat in afterthought. Finally, Jigen realized that she was holding something, and he found himself unsurprised to see his wallet open in her hands, which she had lifted when they bumped into each other.

 

Old habits really did die hard.

 

The fact that he didn't notice until that moment that his wallet had been missing should have confirmed that it was really her. Still, he couldn't make himself believe it.

 

“Karina?”

 

At the sound of his voice, her expression changed from one of shock to one of relief, and tears swam in her bright, beautiful, ice blue eyes. “Daisuke Jigen?”

 

She didn't wait for his reply, and before he could so much as open his mouth, she launched herself at him and hugged him like he just told her he had six months to live. And his pride be damned, he forced his hands from his pockets and returned the firm hug. For a moment, he allowed himself to believe that all this was actually happening and something foreign lodged itself in his throat. She seemed to have the same reaction, because neither of them spoke as they embraced in the middle of the sidewalk outside the small café.

 

Finally, and with much hesitation, she pushed away from him and stared at his chest. “Is it really you? Tell me that I'm not making all this up.”

 

This time, he really did allow himself a smirk. “It's me… in the flesh,” he said. At her confused look, he remembered his ridiculous face. “Well, in disguise anyway.”

 

At that, she smiled a smile that he had come to miss in all the years she had been gone from his life and then wrapped her arms around him again. “Oh, Jigen,” she murmured into his shirt. “I've missed you so much. I didn't think that I'd ever find you.” Again, she looked up into his face and smiled.

 

“So you could sock me in the jaw, beat me to a pulp, and make me die a slow death, just like you promised?” he shot back, all his memories about that day so many years ago coming back to him at last. Not that he had ever forgotten the words of venom she had spat at him the last time he had seen her, but time had a way of making you forget things that you didn't want to remember anymore.

 

Karina flinched as if he'd actually hit her in the face. Her smile faded and her eyes avoided his. “I'm… I'm sorry about that. I guess I've got a lot to tell you,” she replied and took his hand in hers. “Come back to my room with me.”

 

He hesitated at her request and rolled his choices over in his head. One the one hand, the same fate as his last encounter in Spain could lie in his wake and this woman could merely be trying to set him up by using his past as an obvious weakness. He could say no, forget about his past altogether, and yell at Lupin until he turned blue in the face.

 

On the other hand, he could catch up with the most wonderful woman he had ever known and find out why she had finally come to change her mind about him… not to mention the reason why she was here and not in an American correctional facility. If he gave her up now, he would probably have to swear off women for good. No one could compare to Hinote Karina. No one.

 

“Sure,” he finally said and followed her back the way he had come. “Why the hell not?”

 

Jigen had decided that he could yell at Lupin later. This was one woman he dared not deny. One could only imagine what sort of hell that would bring.