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Tainted Time	By : InspectorZenigata Category: +G to L > Lupin III Views: 3647 -:- Recommendations : 0 -:- Currently Reading : 0
Disclaimer: I do not own Lupin III, nor any of the characters from it. I do not make any money from the writing of this story.

Chapter List
- 6
- 7
- 8
Chapter 7
What Friends Are For

Click Click Click....

They had been waiting for Lupin�s return for a week.

Click. Click. Click...

Goemon frowned, the insistent noise cutting into his long held private world.

Click Click Click...

It had taken a week, But Jigen's lighter had finally ran out of fluid. "Son of a friggin bitch! Light Damn you!" The gunman snarled to the unhelpful yellow now empty tube of plastic. But he refused to admit defeat, and attacked the metal roller again and again, Cigarette dangling from his down turned lips jumping with each frantic movement to produce fire.

Click. Click. Click....

The samurais fine eyebrows twitched with each attempted lighting, the ceaseless noise ruining all thoughts of meditating. Growling slightly, Goemon untucked his legs and stood, padding noiselessly towards Jigen. So lost was he in need for nicotine that even if Goemon had been a herd of emus, Jigen would of never noticed him.

A spark. A spark. Another damn useless spark. *hmm?* Raising a hidden eye to the shadow that suddenly fell around him, Jigen took in Goemon's lean form standing over him. "Yeah?" The single word question was asked without a spared glance. Back to the lighter and its refusal to live up to its name.

"If you do not cease that pointless noise.." Goemon let the sentence hang, allowing his friend to fill in the threat if he wanted or leave it open. Friends indeed they were, well, in truth, they were much more, but waiting for Lupin for such a length of time had pushed them both to the edge. There was only so much one can erase with meditating and nicotine. And with the lose of one came the loss of the other.

"You'll what? Quote some long dead guy that no one frigging cares about? Go sit back down and retreat into your little world again." Jigen snapped back, redoubling his efforts to bring some use out of the dead tool. "Come on you friggin piece of shit!"

Actions spoke louder then words, the old saying was true. And that was how Goemon spoke to Jigen. Without a single wasted movement, Goemon drew his sword and slashed about in front of Jigen�s face.

Eyes wide in shock, Jigen could only hope to not move into the way of the blade by staying perfectly still. But the motions were over before he had even finished the thought. Beside him, Goemon resheathed his sword and turned for the door. "I refuse to wait any longer. This is most pointless."

With the slamming of the door, the lighter fell into neat little slices. Joined right afterwards by the cigarette, they littered the rough wooden floor in a form of twisted confetti. "What the hell?!" Jigen grabbed at his beard as a few clumps of dark hair joined white and yellow chunks. "That son of a-"

Snarling, he jammed his hat down farther on his dark head and made to the door, intent on facing down Goemon for the affront to his facial hair. But the man was nowhere to be seen.

Fuming in impotent anger, Jigen stalked through the woods heading for the gas station he knew was a few miles off. That had not only been his only lighter, but he was out of liquor as well. And-

Ducking a low hanging limb, the gunman dug through his pockets, confirming his quest. That had been his last smoke that Goemon had reduced to mere shreds. "Damn it.." pushing his hands into his pockets, Jigen pressed on, avoiding mini gullies, fallen trees and the ever present raspberry plants that yearned to snag his expensive suit.

Lupin had been gone to long. Jigen knew it and was worried. But everyday he kept saying to himself, "One more day- Ill give him on more day." They had both come back to find a mussed and used bed and a note that told them nothing. What had happened?

Jigen had an idea of what had happened in that bed, hence his sudden desire to sleep on the floor, but he wasn�t sure. Something about it was off. Something about...."Something about it tells me there wasn�t a woman in the room." There. He had finally said it out loud. Granted, only the trees and a very confused squirrel heard him, but it was freeing to say it aloud, to speak his doubts.

Though not the playboy Lupin was, hell, not even as good with women as Goemon was, Jigen did know the soft scent of one. And nothing in that small hut, on that bed still warm from its occupants and activities said anything female. That was part of what worried him. If it was as he thought, was Lupin part of it under force?

Sighing, Jigen turned about, hoping to catch a glimpse of his sword-wielding pal making his way through the undergrowth. But no suck luck. Wherever it was the quiet man had gone, it wasn�t this way.

Parting the tress in front of him, Jigen was greeted with the same highway unknown to him Lupin had crossed days earlier, looking at the gas station that Lupin had started his hellish now in.

Crossing the street with much more ease then Lupin had, Jigen cast an eye over the door and its various stickers before pushing it open, the chiming of a bell announcing his entry.

A woman about his age he judged watched him from behind the counter. She was pale and drawn, as if sick or nervous to the point of madness. Following the signs, he made way to the booze. For the first time in days, a smile crawled across his face.

"Nice selection you got here." He complemented, receiving a fleeting courtesy smile from the brown haired woman. Vodka, Bourbon, Jack, hell, some Sake for Goemon. The man was easier to hang out with when he had a few shots of his drug of choice flowing through him. Gathering his goods, the gunman moved back to the front and sat the bottles on the counter with a clank.

Though he was busy with gathering more lighters then a normal person would need, the gunman�s well-trained eye still took in everything about the woman serving him. She was restless, her blonde tinted brown hair hung in listless hanks and dark circles were present under her eyes. She was a beauty. Even Jigen could tell that, but she had let herself go as of late. Something had changed in her world as of late.

"Give me 3 cartons of Pall Malls please." Slipping out his wallet as she turned to fulfill his request, Jigen dug through it for his money. Where the hell was it? If that damn monkey had taken his money again with never filled plans to replace it later... "Lupin, I swear to friggin god..."

There was a gasp and he looked up in time to watch his cartons of smokes slide across the floor. The woman had turned paler yet, but this time hope shone in her eyes in place of the dull defeat he had noticed earlier. "You know Lupin?"

Her shaking hands reached out and took his before Jigen had a chance to pull them away. Was this a trap? A setup? Never one to play Judas, Jigen bit the bullet and nodded, dark eyes darting back and forth under his hats brim, watching for the trouble he was sure was about to start.

"Sir, I�m sorry, your credit card has been rejected. Please follow me." She said loudly, as if acting for some unseen crowd. Confused and a little freaked out, he yanked his hands out of her cool grip. "Credit card?" Had she snapped, gone into the world of madness he had thought she might be on the edge of?

Dropping her head low, eyes to the counter, she spoke. "If you want to help Lupin, you have to trust me." Soft, the words were hard to hear when muffled by her hair. Fear spiked in Jigen�s heart. What had she done with Lupin? Had a woman lured him in again? "So this way Sir." She smiled brightly to him, and opened a door behind the counter, ushering him in.

The moment the door clicked into place, Jigen had his gun drawn on her. "Where the hell is Lupin and what did you do to him, you bitch?!" He paced about her, pressing forward as she struggled to speak. Nudging her to a chair with the barrel of his Combat Magnum, Jigen repeated the query. "Where the hell is my friend?!"

Marge felt herself falling away. The stress of waiting for the man she knew as Zenigata to heal so Lupin could break free was breaking her down. Joe has his doubts about her. He was watching her all the time now. Had cameras installed n her store, random people dropping in. But this man... this man who pointed his gun at her could save her from the crushing hell her life had become. And save Lupin.

"I had to bring you in here. It�s not safe to talk out there." She explained, words rushed and frantic as the gunman watched her with angry eyes, eyes that seemed all the more hateful from their hidden gaze under his black fedora.
"The Cult of Gala~Balagal has him and someone else. The other mans name is Zenigata."

Pops? Why would they have Pops too? What good would having the old cop do them? More then likely, he had been on Lupin�s trail when the cult got him and they were forced to take the Inspector too to keep him quiet. Poor old guy. Jigen wouldn�t have been surprised if they had killed him already. What use was he?

"I�m part of that cult." The gun, which had not lessened its cold gaze at her, some how became even more threatening at her confession. "Please!" she begged, trying to fight back the tears of pure emotional exhaustion that moved through her. "I offered to help him get free if he would help me get free as well. But he won�t go! He refuses to leave! He said he could of left at anytime, but he�s still there!"

The desperation and fear in her words spoke more then she did. This woman was telling the truth, as odd as it was. Why would Lupin still be there? Not saying anything himself, Jigen sat slowly into a nearby chair, aim never leaving the woman, waiting for her to finish her story.

"He said he would help me, if I found out how Zenigata was doing. I don�t know what their relationship is, but he mentioned that he cared about the man then he should. And that care is killing him. He won�t leave. And everyday they inflect more pain on him in an attempt to make him tell where the stolen Idol is. He won�t talk."

Marge sobbed, unable to hold it back anymore. She had been there, yesterday for the "session". Henry had insisted she show up and watch. It had been awful, the screams of pain, the blood, the twisted grins of those torturing the thief. But he refused to give. They had pressed on until he passed out.

He knew Pops meant a lot to Lupin, but why would he allow himself to suffer so much for the man? Hell, Lupin had let Pops go down in a plane, set adrift on the ocean! The list went on and on. Everything short of killing the man. For the first time since the confession began, Jigen spoke, his mind already coming to terms for why Lupin was still there. But he hadn�t said it to himself yet. "Why doesn�t he just tell them where it is?" Jigen knew where it was. He had helped Lupin hide it.

"He won�t leave with that other man, and Zenigata is still too weak to walk. He told me to tell Lupin he was dead. But I couldn�t do it. I just couldn�t say something that I knew would hurt him like that."

Jigen sighed. Something had happened between Lupin and Pops. And now Lupin was willing to be put through hell to protect the old cop. "If I find out you were lying at any point in time, I friggin swear-" He growled, swiftly moving out the door. Looking as pissed someone whom had his credit card denied.

One hand holding his threadbare hat to his head, Jigen ran. Across the deserted street, through the darkening woods. Ignoring the brambles that tore at his blazer, that snagged his dark pants.

"GOEMON! GET YOUR FRIGGIN ASS OUT HERE!" He roared to the woods. "LUPINS IN TROUBLE!"
- 6
- 7
- 8
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Tainted Time