Capture the Three

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“I really must compliment you on your cooking, sweetie,” Lupin praised as he took another spoonful, “What’s this called again?”

“It’s dragon gumbo,” Jean beamed as she passed another ladleful to Lupin, “It’s an old family recipe. It’s the spiciest thing in this corner of the states.”

Goemon only nibbled on his lunch, because of the sear amount of cherry peppers and other foreign spices the dish contained while Jigen denied himself the meal and drank a little scotch that Jean kept. At least the girl was a good host. Apparently Jigen and Goemon were still pissed off at Lupin for making so many mistakes this week.

“This was not like him but then again everyone has their bad week, however bad weeks plus pretty girls made it worse,” Jigen thought to himself and then glanced at a grandfather across the room, “We’ve been here for 15 minutes. We need to get moving.”

Goemon observed their southern belle-like hostess for a while and his curiosity got the better of him, “Jean-san, would is be alright if I asked you a question?”

Jean who was picking up the empty dishes looked up at the stoic samurai and nodded, “Of course ya can honey.”

“Why is a young lady such as yourself living alone in an area such as this?” Goemon concern flashed in his eyes, “This place is so isolated and it would take police quite some time to reach it.”

The perky blond cocked her head to the side and looked at the clock. Satisfied with the time she headed over to the kitchen doorway, “Do know you of the bolas spider?”

There was a moment of silence before Jean continued, “The reason I’m out here is similar to reasons of that certain creature. It produces scent droplets that attract male moths during mating season, but…” Her southern accent disappeared, “It looks like I only needed to lure one moth to bring his friends down with him.”

Two dull thuds could be heard after her words were spoken and Goemon sprang up and grabbed the hilt of his sword, “What did you do to them?”

“Drugged them, but you should worry about yourself cutie,” And as the words flowed past her lips Goemon could feel his muscles starting fail him.

“Muscles starting to give out?” Jean’s fingers touched her eyes gently removing a pair of contacts revealing her now gray eyes.

“You…” Goemon struggled to move towards the woman, but collapsed on the wooden floor promptly.

“Too easy,” Kiyumi squatted down on the floor and touched the partially paralyzed warrior’s cheek. “I was hoping you guys would figure me out before all this transcended.”

“I swear…yo..you…won’t succeed…” Darkness slowly crept into his mind dragging it into unconsciousness. Vision blurred letting his surroundings resemble that of foggy stained glass.

“We’ll see,” Kiyumi smiled warmly, “The actors in this play will show me what they are really capable of.”

“You won’t get away with this…I wo…”

Goemon passed out on the ground before he could finish his sentence. Just then a dark masked individual walked though the door faithful pet trotting behind. He looked at his sister with disapproval.

“You didn’t have to drug him too,” Kaito said softly, “I wanted him with a sound mind and body. This drug might cloud his judgment if he chooses to fight me.”

“I didn’t want the man ruining my décor! Do you know what his sword would’ve done to my beautiful wallpaper?” Kiyumi asked sarcastically while she waving her arms about, “Do you have any idea how long it took for me to set this place up?”

“Three days, twelve hours, and….” Kaito recited as he walked towards the samurai’s body.

“Dammit it! It was a joke. I swear sometimes I don’t know what to do with you,” She went over and ruffled the ninja’s unruly black hair. “Don’t worry. I didn’t give him much. His dosage was much lower than his partners. So, you better take him to the training grounds quick before he wakes up. Make sure he eats something and has plenty of fluids. Nilium dehydrates the body during the time of unconsciousness.”

The ninja sighed and rolled his eyes at the mention of the information. “I know sister, this is not the first time you used this drug.”

“I swear you are such a guy sometimes.”

Kaito raised an inquisitive brow, “I do not understand.”

“Bah I mean the male stereotype. I have to repeat everything I say, because apparently it goes through one ear and out the other,” Kiyumi went quickly to one of the desk and pulled out thick heavy cuffs and shackles.

“I suppose you are right. It is my nature I suppose,” Kaito looked down to find Kuro happily wagging his tail, “Kiyumi?”

“Mmhmm?” The cuffs snapped in place with a tiny metal clink, “What’s up?”

“Keep Kuro here.”

A whirlwind of blond hair whipped around and revealed the angry yet shocked face of the younger sister, “You sure? What if you get hurt?”

“He’ll only get in the way.” Kaito said trying to swiftly avoid the question.

“You know you’ll get hurt. You can be such a…”

“Kiyumi…” Behind his mask a trace of a smile formed and he threw his arm over her shoulders, “I will be fine. You sound like as the Americans say a mother hen. That’s supposed to be my job.” Gently he swerved her around so that she was now facing him, “Look at me.”

Hesitantly Kiyumi raised her head and looked at him with her eyes on the verge of spilling tears. Kaito wiped the corner of her eyes and tenderly said, “Nothing will happen to me. Now be a big girl and go tie up those men.”

Kiyumi grinned mischievously and punched Kaito’s arm lightly, “And you go have your little ‘need the prove myself’ fight.”

Kaito bent over and with a small grunt of discomfort threw the slumbering samurai over his wiry shoulders. Kiyumi stepped forward to offer her assistance to carry the man, but Kaito waved her back. Kuro also stopped in mid trot and started to whine. The ninja just shook his head and bent down to scratch the dog’s ear.

“I’ll be back soon you overgrown puppy,” Kaito said affectionately and headed towards the door, but took a pause, “You be careful. I wouldn’t underestimate these men especially Lupin.” Then walked out inaudibly despite the extra weight he was carrying.

“Hmph,” Kiyumi kneeled down to pet the black hound, “I think he worries too, neh Kuro?”

Kuro barked back as if he understood.

“Then again I guess I worry a little too much also.”

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“Ah…my frikken head, feels like I’ve been hit by a tank again.” Jigen groaned and moved his hand to hold his head only to find then cuffed, “What the?”

A dull light bulb illuminated the space he was currently contained in. The dirt floor of the unfinished basement felt slightly damp against his exposed skin and was starting to creep its way through the material of his pants. The smell of dew was heavy in the air and Jigen thought he felt a bug crawl across his hands.

“God why me? On second thought I probably know why”

“Hmm Fujiko…”

“Lupin wake up,” The gunman hissed using both his shackled feet to kick the thief awake.

“Ah Jigen-chan what the hell was that for?” Lupin struggled to bring his hands to his front side but found them locked in place behind his back.

“Look around,” Jigen grumbled as he continued to struggle with the cuffs, “We’re definitely not in Kansas anymore.”

“Eh?” Lupin took in his surrounds, “Huh guess you’re right…”

“This is your fault you know!”

“Glad to see you boys woke up,” A light airy voice said. “At 7 hours I was about to poke guys with a fork to see if you were tender enough.”

Now without her makeup and contacts stood a woman with an aura of confidence, she had long semi-curly hair that stopped just above her shoulders and gray eyes with flicks of amber. Her face could be described as angular with high cheekbones. Her navy blue jacket and black skirt molded her hourglass figure perfectly.

“Ms. Hamamoto I presume?” Lupin asked looking at their captor who was standing in the cellar doorway.

She licked her naturally pink lips before she spoke. “Yes, that would be me,” Kiyumi walked down the old cement block stairs with the grace of a ballerina her high black heels clicking with every step she took.

“Where’s Goemon?” Jigen inquired in a low threatening tone.

“Kaito is taking care of him,” The woman smiled her pearly whites showing, “And please refrain from using that tone with me. You are in no position to threaten me.”

“If I may assume,” Lupin inquired, “I presume the challenge with Goemon was a distraction to get something else.”

“Actually, the challenge made towards your friend is as real as the color of my hair…”

“I may have to check that later one,” Lupin smirked as he continued to try to fiddle with his cuffs.

“Sorry but in actuality you’re not my type,” She bent down, patted Lupin’s head, and then said in a valley girl voice, “But like oh my God if you give me a ride in that car ya might have a chance.”

Lupin looked crestfallen, “And I had a pretty nice dinner planned out for both of your dusguises, but back to business. Why kidnap us?”

“Our client wanted the diamond so I kidnap you, she gets her diamond, and Kaito gets his fight,” Kiyumi shrugged, “and I get a little pocket change.”

“Then why go through all this trouble for ‘pocket change’?” Jigen asked. “You can…”

“It’s all for Kaito, isn’t it?” Lupin answered interrupting Jigen’s rant, “Well unless you plan on double crossing your boss.”

“A Hamamoto never breaks a contract unless given reason to,” Kiyumi tired of standing, she sat on the stairs, and lit a clove cigarette, “Since you guys will be here for a while and Kuro doesn’t talk back most of the time, I’ll talk to you.”

“Oh gee this is an honor really,” The gun man said sarcastically.

Kiyumi shrugged again, “If you’re worried about your friend then you shouldn’t be. Kaito didn’t want a fight to the death.”

“I still can’t see how a woman…”

The gun mistress stood up suddenly and drew her gun. Jigen eyes widened for a fraction of a second. Even if he dodged the first shot he had no way of getting out of the line of fire of the next one.

“I’m so screwed. I was I supposed to know that this bitch was this sensitive?” Jigen thought frantically. The shot was fired.

“How the hell am I still alive at point blank?”

There was silence. Another shot was not fired. In confusion he looked behind him and in the dim light he made out the small creature that was gunned down.

“Not bad…” Lupin commented offhandedly, “0.11 seconds…you’re almost as fast as Jigen.”

“Meh I hate mice,” Kiyumi sat back down and took a long drag before continuing, “Believe or not, not all women are traitorous.” Just then a cell phone began to play Shut Down by the Beach Boys.

“Excuse me while I take this call.” Kiyumi dug around in her pocket took out a black slider phone. “Oi Yuki-chan what’s up?” After a few seconds of silence Kiyumi smiled evilly and nodded, “I figured that would happen…very well…you know what to do.”

The blonde rose up and headed up the stairs, “Something I need to take care of. I’ll be back later.”

After Kiyumi left Jigen rested his head against the hard brick wall and glowered, “How the hell are we getting of here? We just had to let that bitch tinker with our car. We just had to have our car breakdown. We just had to frikken accept this bitch’s invitation for lunch. Are you even listening to me?”

“Uh huh,” The master thief nodded absently.

“You let 16 million slip out of our hands!”

“We’ll get it back trust me.” Lupin murmured as he scooted over inch by inch to the center of the room.

“What are you mumbling about back there?”

There was a small metal clink and Jigen found himself free of his metal prisons. Jigen looked questioningly at Lupin as he begun to work on his own shackles.

“That Kiyumi is a good shot, but she should learn to keep her hair accessories in order,” Lupin said as he held up an off white bobby pin.

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“Ugh…my head.”

“I am happy that you have awoken, Ishikawa-san.”