A/N To everyone who was reading my old Samurai Champloo fic "Mirror", sorry, but I ended up deleting it. It wasn't going anywhere, and it was meant to be only a oneshot in the first place. So, to make up for it, I decided to write this story called "Espada" (it means "sword" in Spanish and "ten blades" in Japanese}, which is a modernized Fuugenesque drama/romance. Again, I'm sorry for ditching "Mirror", but it really was just dragging on and on. So on that note, please enjoy "Espada". R&R!

Chapter 1: Selfish

Jin was woken up by a frantic knocking at his door, pounding through his studio apartment and making him jolt upwards, nearly falling off of his couch in the living room. Bewildered, he reached over to the coffee table and snatched up his glasses, fumbling to get them on correctly. He glanced at his wristwatch and raised a brow at the time. 11:30 PM.

Confused, he got up and shuffled over to the door, dressed in comfortable blue pants and a loose white long-sleeve shirt. Muttering to himself as to who could be pounding on his door like a maniac at this time of night, he opened the door to find a distressed-looking Fuu, tears streaming down her face. She was soaked from the rain falling outside, but she didn't seem to care about that at the moment.

"Jin! Have you seen Mugen?" she asked, her brown hair messy and disheveled. She looked barely put together in a pink and black sweatshirt and ripped up jeans & Converse-style sneakers.

Jin blinked and immediately realized what she was talking about. "He left for the airport about 20 minutes ago...I'm assuming you need a ride?"

Fuu nodded quickly before bursting into tears again. She slumped into Jin's chest, surprising him. He let her stay there, wondering if it were possible to even fathom what she was feeling at that very second.

"He's leaving...I can't believe he's leaving..."she mumbled into Jin's shoulder between sobs.

"I don't think that he's gone yet. If we hurry, you may be able to see him." Jin gently removed himself from Fuu's grasp and hurried around his apartment, getting dressed and looking for his car keys. Fuu sniffled and walked over to the couch, plopping down and resting her face into her hands in defeat. She was out of tears for the moment; all she could do was wait for Jin and listen to the rain tapping against the roof outside. She reached for the silver locket that hung around her neck and read the words inscribed on it: Eternity isn't enough. She treasured that locket more than any of her other possessions-it was a gift from Mugen for her 17th birthday last year. To this day, she never knew how he could afford a locket made of pure silver, but she didn't really care about how he got it, but the simple fact that he could do something so thoughtful. For her, no less...

"Let's go."

Fuu spun around and saw Jin at the door, dressed in jeans and a black leather jacket. He was holding his keys in one hand, the door in the other.

Fuu jumped up, nearly tripping over her own feet, and hurriedly ran over to Jin. As the door shut behind them, she could only hope that they weren't too late.

…...

Impatiently, Mugen stood in line at the exit gates, looking at his watch. 11:35. 'Damn,' he thought. 'I'm not gonna get there anywhere near on time at this rate...' Exasperated, he ran a hand through his thick crop of unruly dark hair.

'Fuu's gonna hate me for this,' he thought with a sigh. He gazed absentmindedly out the window and became entranced by the rainfall outside, giving the night an air of beauty and enigmatic aura. He always enjoyed the rain to some degree-it was appealing to him in some strange way. He remembered how Fuu would always tell him how she thought that scenes in movies where people kissed in the rain was so romantic, and how he'd always laugh to himself at her way of finding cliches to be so astounding. They were so different in so many ways, and yet similar as well.

He hated himself for letting her end up falling for him. He was an assassin, a killer for hire for Christ's sake. Either she was just plain stupid for falling for him, or he was a monster for letting her do so. Hell, maybe both. All things considered though, he loved her so much, and frankly, it pissed him off that he let this girl-a girl, no less-weasel her way into his heart and tear it up into shreds with her childish love for him. It was stupid, he thought. But then again, love itself was pretty stupid in its own way.

"Sir, may I help you?"

Mugen was broken out of his trance at the ticket woman asked for his ticket and passport. He reached in his coat pocket and pulled out a ticket for New York City from Tokyo, along with his passport, which of course had fake credentials. The woman allowed him to pass once everything was cleared. He mumbled a halfhearted thanks to her as he whipped up his hood and headed out to catch his plane, when he heard something in the distance that nearly made his heart stop.

"Mugen!"

He recognized Fuu's small voice sounding from afar, though he couldn't exactly pinpoint from where. He momentarily pulled down his hood and looked back, but all he saw was a vast sea of people whom he never saw before in his life. Irritated, he shut his eyes and clenched his teeth, figuring that he was just imagining things. Hesitantly, he trekked out to catch his plane, being greeted by the roaring of the planes turbines. Part of him thought he was just losing it and missing her already. But even as he boarded the plane and took his seat at the window, a small force in his heart was nagging at him, urging him to go back and check for Fuu one last time before voyaging across the globe to assassinate his target in New York. He sighed, thinking that he really was just imagining things as the pilot made his announcements. He was leaving, that was it, and hopefully he'd return someday, that was it.

"Maybe I am just crazy," he muttered as the plane began its departure.

…...

Fuu stopped running and felt her entire body slump, as if a balloon was being deflated of helium. Her chocolate eyes sparkled with freshly formed tears as Jin caught up with her, realizing the stark reality of what just happened. They didn't make it. And this was it. It was over.

Jin looked down at Fuu as he deliberated on what to say. There really wasn't much that could be done to make Fuu even indifferent, let alone consolable. His mouth was clasped in a tight thin line as a sigh escaped through his nose. Fuu's face was cast down as her eyes focused on the floor, trying to keep from going into sheer hysteria as a lone tear rolled down her cheek, sparking like a diamond ad it hit the ground.

"...Fuu-"

"He didn't even stop."

Jin blinked at Fuu, trying to comprehend what she just said. Mugen was in love with Fuu-in fact, he even confided in Jin his plans to marry her as soon as he left the hitman business. If he knew that Fuu was here, looking for him no less, why would he just leave her here to wallow in her misery as he traveled God knows where?

When Fuu looked up at Jin, Jin could swear that he could feel a surge of pain and empathy surge through his heart and course through his entire body upon seeing her face. Her normally bright brown eyes were a dull, lifeless mud shade, her face went from its usual rose tone to a deathly pale, almost gray, and she looked like she was dying on the inside. The diamond tears continued to cascade down her face and drop, each as heart-wrenching as the last.

"He didn't stop. I called him, and he didn't even stop." Her voice was so monotonous and bleak that Jin felt the urge to take her to a doctor and see what was wrong with her. It was as if a piece of her heart had departed and left on that plane as well. Usually, he would think of some comforting words to say to her, but at this point, there wasn't really anything that could be said or done to help her, aside from Mugen magically returning at that very second, which was definitely not possible.

"Look...you can stay with Shino if you like," Jin said quietly, Fuu didn't say a word, just gave the slightest of nods at his statement, her gaze focused intently at the gates, as if she was waiting for Mugen to return at that moment once more. She could feel herself falling in a tumultuous sea of hopeless indifference, fear, rage, and sadness that was indescribable at this point. It was as if she was drowning, feeling her soul slip away in the crashing waves of the sea, lost to wherever the ocean would carry her.

She was gone with no return in sight.