"Four years today..." Fuu sighed to herself sorrowfully. She gradually checked off an empty space on a yin calendar, hanging before her on a wall inside the kitchen of the tea house.
"Fuu!" squeaked an annoyed voice from the eating area. A head peeked out through a screen door which separated the feasting zone from the kitchen. A young waiter; dressed in a tea house working kimono, looked frantically over at her in desperate need of help. "Fuu, please stop day dreaming and come help me with these customers!" the waiter exclaimed impatiently.
Fuu opened her eyes in surprise. For a split second, she had forgotten that she had taken this job at the tea house for the summer. She had forgotten that she was as a simple girl, all alone in the world. For a second she had forgotten that she no longer had two body guards constantly at her side. She had also failed to recall that she desperately needed this job, with the little money she had, and day dreaming about the past wasn't going to help her earn any money.
"Coming!" she finally cried, bustling out of the kitchen and into a huge crowd of hungry customers who were starving for food. "Great," she thought agitatedly. "This is going to take forever to get these orders done before I can eat something myself."
Rubbing her stomach hungrily, she walked over to a table seating two men. Forcing on a fake smile, she looked down at the two who were grunting and stuffing their noses into the menus. They both were extremely husky and out of shape. Piggish would have been the proper term.
"Can I take your order?" she inquired sweetly, swaying anxiously back and forth.
One man laid down his menu and focused up at her with a smug expression on his chubby face. He was unshaven and his black hair was thinning on the top of his head. He had at least 3 double chins that dribbled down his chest, which didn't make his tight brown haori any more flattering.
"Of course you can sweetheart. There aren't that many pretty girls like you in this town. Can I order one of you, with a side of dumplings?" the man snickered, slapping Fuu on the ass.
"Hey, you jerk! " Fuu growled angrily. She looked over to one of the waiters who was giving her a "Just please the customers " look. Sighing in defeat, "Just order off the stupid menu." she insisted, wrinkling her nose in disgust.
The man opposite his companion also put down his menu. He seemed to be an identical twin to his overweight accomplice; looks and all.
"Aww, come on sweetie." the other man whined in a gurgling voice. "We just want some fun." He grabbed Fuu's hand and pulled her close to his greasy face.
"Just one kiss and then we will do more later." the fat man pursed his fat lips out, smashing her right up to his fat body.
"Let. Go. Of Me!" Fuu shouted in discomfort, trying to wrench out of the man's grasp.
Suddenly a loud bang came from behind the three.
"Hey assholes, let go of the chick." a gruff man's voice threatened from the same direction of the bang.
The two men whipped their heads around to only see a wild haired guy, wearing a red loose jacket over a tan worn out t-shirt, with baggy pants and sandals. He stood confidently on a broken chair, with one hand scratching his brown scraggy hair, while the other one gripped onto something slung down his back.
When Fuu finally squirmed to catch a glance at the man, she felt her all of her body halt. Her jaw dropped down so low that she could barely utter out a single word.
"M..m..Mugen?"