"Mother"

By alukahnicapot

Part one of three

A/N: This is chapter one of a three part series I have been thinking about for the last few months, but have not had the time to sit down and write. I hope you enjoy this. Dedicated to SweetE/Mugenchick/Erin. I hope you like this, hon.

Disclaimer: I don't own Samurai Champloo or any of the characters. I'm not even sure if I own the 'original' characters you will come across in this story.

Chapter One: Forever

I turned my head just the slightest bit. The tears were already dry upon my cheeks, but the sounds of him screaming brought fresh ones forth. I quickly blinked them back, hoping he would understand what I was silently singing to him in my mind, in my heart.

This is how you stand up to them, even when they have you in a corner, I told him with my mind. And this is how you say goodbye without shedding a tear, I said with my heart. Slowly, I turned away from him and toward the gun men before me. Even in a lawless Hell, the law's hand reached for me. I smirked.

"Do you have any last words before we kill you," the leader said as though bored. This was nothing for him, and I knew it. He knew I knew it. How many mothers had he killed, just like this? How many sons and daughters had he made orphans with a single word? Those shit colored eyes did not even meet mine as I raised my head.

There was a wall behind me. My hands and feet were bound with strong ropes, and I knew I would never be able to escape. So. I had to continue the lesson without movement. "Yeah," I snapped. "I do." Again, I turned my head to my son, screaming in another woman's arms. "Be strong, little one. No matter how much blood soaks your path, don't ever give in to the bastards that will try to kill you, to put you down and take everything from you." I squeezed my eyes shut against his tears, and wished I could do the same to my ears. My heart was breaking, shattering and falling into dust in my chest. All of that pain for someone so young...

Part of me hated myself for bringing him into this world, this hell hole.

I turned back to the firing squad, and spit at their feet. "There," I snapped. "Now hurry up and fucking shoot me."

It was summer when my bleeding stopped. Not even the tiniest bit of red soiled the inside of my thighs. Something was wrong. I had always been regular. Even after I had waited for the course of the moon, it did not grace me.

The firing squad raised their ill-made guns and pointed for my chest. Everything else stilled on that small patch of earth. The wind slowed to nothingness. Birds ceased to sing. The world was standing still...

Save for a tiny bundle with crying eyes and messy hair. He reached for me from over the woman's arms- I did not even know who she was, probably just someone the Law Dogs had handed him over to. It looked like she had a son, perhaps a year older than my own. He sat at her feet and watched me with disinterested eyes, as though watching a play unfold before him. I hated those eyes, and prayed that my son would never know this little bastard.

The father would not show himself. On this island, one did not need to account for the seeds sown so carelessly in my fields. There was no honor to be had. Surely, the only thing concerning him was the price of another mouth to feed.

He left me, and I never saw him again.

I closed my eyes again. My heart was beating in a race throughout my body. In my brain, in my arms and in my legs, even in my mouth. I was unable to rid myself of that fast, frightened heartbeat. Be strong, be strong. This was the last moment of my life.

Even if I would never see him again, I had to be strong so my strength would find him. My child…I knew it was the only thing I could give him. Even though I had cursed him with life, I wished to bless him with courage, with strength, and with eternity.

I was gasping and he was crying and the women were yelling and everything made a noise; everything felt alive. We held each other with weak hands- his new at life and mine tired at gripping- as I closed my eyes and named him in a breath's whisper before succumbing to my aching body.

He slept against me, finally calming down. We were silent for the rest of the night, and in the morning I had a new reason to continue to live.

Over my rapid heart I could hear my son screaming out for me. Slowly, I opened my eyes as the men's fingers tightened on their triggers. It was then that I heard it.

"Mama!"

A baby's cry, loud and harsh in the silence of this before-death world. I grinned as the bullets ripped through me. It was proof, I thought as the world grew dim. My shredded body hit the ground as I writhed and thrashed without control. Blood dripped from my flesh, but still I smiled.

His first word was the last one I would ever hear.

As the light faded, as my body froze up and relaxed, as my breath left my body, I smiled.

Mugen will be strong.