[zapdragon555]

"Too little too late, huh boss?" the hatted inspector looked up from his hasty scribbling as he was addressed, his wide eyes peeking from beneath the brim of his hat. He tipped it back and smiled, something meant to be encouraging even if it just came off as a little goofy.

"Nonsense. We were hot on his trail! He couldn't have gone far, we just need to get a move on!" Zenigata chirped, and shoved his notebook into his pocket before dashing towards the haphazardly parked police car. The rookie assistant who'd been doing his best to keep up let out a winding sigh as he got into the car as well.

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"Sir... iffin ya don't mind me asking," the rookie muttered as he slid into the driver's seat. Zenigata continued writing down notes, though a quick glance told the rookie that it was likely no one but the inspector himself could decipher and read them. "Didn't the woman in the store say it was a lady that broke in and stole things?"

Zenigata let out a small laugh, shaking his head. "When you're dealing with a culprit like Lupin, you can't put anything past him. It wouldn't be the first time he's put on a costume to complete a heist, even something as fetching as that."

[zapdragon555]

"Fetching?" the rookie echoed him curiously, pulling out of the parking spot with a screech of tires, the siren blaring. How do you know he'd look fetching in it? the rookie wondered internally as a small, amused smile tugged his mouth.

Zenigata seemed to realize what he'd said a moment too late, his cheeks flushing with red. "Oh! You know... you know, the--the woman at the shop, she... well she described the culprit as beautiful, and uh... I'm just making an assumption--oh, make a left here, the shopkeep said--"

The rookie's hands gripped the wheel as he spun it to the left, and absently wondered how long it would take for that old police car's tires to wear out. "On it, sir."

[zapdragon555]

Back at the scene of the crime, two men were walking out of the shop with a particularly befuddled tilt to their brows--that is, one of their brows. The other man's brow was shaded by a low-riding hat that covered most of the top half of his head, but his mouth was clamped down around a cigarette in a pursed expression.

The lankier of the two swung around to lean against the wall of the shop, tapping his shoe on the pavement with a contemplative air to his movements. The tapping got faster, as his companion watched, until the tapping grew too rapid and the man let out a snarl. "Jigen. Gimme a smoke."

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Jigen, the more gloomy-looking of the two, fished a lighter and pack of cigarettes from his inner breast pocket. The ritual was performed in silence, carefully placing the cigarette in his companion's mouth before lighting the tip of it up.

As Lupin breathed out smoke from his lungs--and this thief was indeed none other than the world famous Lupin the Third--he seemed to relax, but only enough to finally work a proper scowl into his face. "Fuckin'... damn-it!" he groaned, thunking the back of his head back against brick wall with a sound that made Jigen wince. "I can't believe she beat us to the punch."

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"Really? You can't believe it?" Jigen's voice drawled out as he took his spot against the wall at Lupin's side. He blew out a cloud of smoke to meet Lupin's, his own cigarette a bit stale in his mouth. "That's sad, coming from you. Suspend your disbelief, pal, we got skinned six ways on this."

"Disbelief is a powerful thing. Keeps the world brighter. Y'know, in this case," Lupin muttered, the smoke feeling more sour in his lungs than anything else. Couldn't even enjoy a good smoke.

"You wanna try going after her?" Jigen asked after a suitable amount of silence. "It's not a big city. Port, though. Probably might be boarding a ship right about now."

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Lupin seemed to tense, the suggestion of a chase filling him with a certain amount of spunk, but then he sagged and sighed through his nose, waving a hand lackadaisically in the air. "Let her have her fun. She beat us fair and square."

Jigen bristled like a cat. "Damn it, Lupin! You're so moon-eyed over that gal that you can't get a lick of work done!"

"How can I keep from being moon-eyed, over a woman as radiant as a moon goddess?" Lupin sighed, letting a loose grin overtake his face that only made Jigen grumble louder.

"Absolutely disgraceful. The price tag on those damn eggs. Disgraceful..." Jigen muttered under his breath, taking a purposefully long drag on his cigarette, but didn't seem to pose any sort of argument.

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"Conviction in moderation, my friend," Lupin chided him, reaching over to brush dust from the brick wall away from Jigen's black jacket. "Only expend energy when necessary. We're getting old."

"I am. You're not," Jigen muttered, but seemed to relax at the friendly touch, moving away to straighten out his clothes and put his eyes on their getaway car. It still sat, pretty and yellow in the sun, on the other side of the street.

"That's right, old man. Seven whole years my senior, biiiig whoop. I get back pains too, y'know," Lupin chattered on, and Jigen felt himself relax more. It was hard to be too angry when the sun was this warm, and the sound of the ocean could be distantly heard under the hum of the city.

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"Well," Jigen mused, drawing the cigarette away from his mouth and tossing it into a nearby wastebin, "if we're not chasing Fujiko's tail, whaddya wanna do? It's a nice city."

"Not a big city, though," Lupin echoed Jigen from before, which put a few more wrinkles in Jigen's brow.

"Are you gonna just be a brat, or are we gonna go find something to get drunk on," Jigen barked, and Lupin cackled, pushing off the wall and giving the other man's back a friendly slap.

"Now you're speaking my language. C'mon, I bet this place has some nice bars. I'm starved, too."

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Eventually they stumbled on a place selling seafood and pasta, which the two agreed well enough upon. As Jigen nursed a margarita, Lupin drummed his fingers on the side of a draft beer and watched the staticky television high above their heads. The audio was turned almost all the way down, but he could see the shop that was robbed, and an interview with the woman who owned it. She seemed pretty--seemed nice. Lupin was halfway glad they had let Fujiko do the dirty work.

"Lup. Order, man," Jigen elbowed him, drawing him out of his thoughts, and Lupin hurriedly picked up the menu and pretended to read it at light speed.

"Ohhh. Oh, let me uhhh... you know? Bring me the house special. I'm feelin' adventurous tonight."

[Wild Pet Found]

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Jigen affixed him with a questioning stare that was mostly obscured by the brim of his hat. "Clearly you're feeling adventurous," Jigen murmured, returning his lips to the salted rim of his drink. Lupin bristled slightly, realizing he hadn't even looked at the menu, nor the 'house special' that he'd just ordered.

"Why. What. What did I order," Lupin craned his neck to try to see if one of the customers to his right had a spare menu. No dice. Jigen just snickered behind him, a shit-eating grin plastered over his face. "Jigeeen, what did I doooo?" he whined, turning back to the gunman and clasping his hands in pleading.

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"Oh c'mon, be a brave boy. How scary can seafood pasta get?" Jigen jabbed him back, reaching up to grab the top of Lupin's head and force him back down into his seat. The last thing they needed was to make a scene, especially with the crime that just happened. They looked like they were out of town, and it was the truth.

"Have you SEEN what's in the ocean, Jigen?!"

Lupin managed to drown most of his panic in beer, and he was on his third by the time the food came out. As a well-practiced holder of liquor (though there was no liquor to be seen in this case), he was just silly enough to flirt with the waitress, and just silly enough to not notice the half-alive octopus that was placed in front of him. Jigen stared at it for a brief moment, then crossed himself, forehead to chest and across the shoulders.

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Lupin waved after the waitress with a dopey grin and fluttering fingers, then settled down in his seat to peer at his plate. His heart fell out of socket, and he let out a loud, undignified yelp, nearly jumping out of his seat and crawling into Jigen's lap to escape the writhing tentacles. "Jigeeeeeen!" he cried, pushing the plate with too much force. Jigen shouted in surprise, using one arm to stop Lupin's clingy onslaught, and the other to fly out and catch the plate before it went careening off the edge of the bar.

"Lupin, control yourself, man!" he barked, their combined noise effectively turning most of the heads of the nearby customers. Most of all, however, it attracted the attention of the man who had just entered the restaurant.

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Goemon Ishikawa XIII was hard pressed to find himself trifling with city business, but today, he had a duty to fulfill. He'd been walking through the city after a particularly difficult job, hungry and dehydrated, and the kindly woman who owned this restaurant had found him and given him food and drink. It was the least he could do to pick up ingredients for her; those safely deposited, he happened to overhear a certain familiar scream from inside the restaurant. Its slurred quality was even more familiar.

His back hurt from carrying such heavy bags such a great distance, but that elderly restaurant owner was far too frail to do it herself. And now, Lupin was disturbing the peace of her restaurant.

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Lupin's half-drunken caterwauling was promptly cut short by a blunt thunk of a sword butt to the back of his neck. He slumped slightly in his seat, shaking his head back and forth to clear it. "Shhhwuh?" he mumbled, turning to peer at the steely frown of the man behind him. "Goemonnnn?"

"You're too loud," Goemon muttered, and Jigen's face broke out in a genuine smile as he nodded to the newcomer.

"Hey, samurai. Didn't think we'd see you around these parts," he murmured with a fondness in his voice for the nickname. "Thanks for that. Lupin's afraid of his food."