Underground Champloo
Chapter One: Miss Fuu
"You got something you wanna say, bitch?" the angry voice of a teenager resonated through the halls. He was standing over the form of a cowering boy picking up spilled papers from the floor.
"No, I'm sorry to have offended you…" The younger boy stammered helplessly.
"That's right. Just because you're in the student council, doesn't mean that you can boss me around!" The teenager picked up the boy by the scruff of his neck, and smiled through his dirty blonde locks.
The crowd surrounding the pair in the halls gasped, waiting for the first blow. The older student were more used to incidents like these, so the crows was comprised mostly of first and second years. The older students and other fighters simply hurried by too occupied with other pressing matters.
The blonde bully raised his hand, formed a fist and-
"Drop him!" A high voice full of confidence and authority sounded behind him in the crowd.
It was a voice the crowd recognized, and some of them scattered. A young girl stood in the space that they had created. She was short, about 5'4'', with brown hair and bangs scattered messily about her face, the rest tucked under a pink yarn-knitted beanie. Her sleeveless baby doll dress was a darker shade of pink with black buttons on either strap. Underneath was a white tee with mid length sleeves, on her legs was a pair of pink thigh length golf socks, her hands had pink wool knitted open fingered gloves and her shoes were black knee high lace up boots. To top it all off, around her neck she had a chocker with one of her classic symbols, a flower.
Despite her pink, young and innocent appearance, everyone around her seemed to be afraid of her sudden appearance.
She squinted her large brown eyes at him. "Well?" She asked.
The boy still hadn't put down his victim. He squinted his eyes at her in turn, but in confusion at her defiance of him.
The boy in his hands gasped, "Fuu!"
Suddenly his assailant understood. He dropped the boy and spun around to face Fuu.
"I don't recognize you, so you must be new around here." Fuu began. "Save your aggression for the ring." She warned him.
The smaller boy picked up his papers and dashed away through the crowd.
"Your Fuu? Huh, funny, your not what I expected."
She took a step closer. "You got something you wanna say?" Fuu asked with hands on hips.
"No!" He raised his hands and looked around in the crowd nervously. "No, I'm sorry Miss Fuu." He raced away down the hall, all the while looking around and behind him.
Fuu sniffed and turned on her heels, making the chains on the corner of her skirt jingle. What a way to spend her lunch hour, she thought.
Everyone around school knew who Fuu was. Everyone knew what she did, and to stay on her good side. She was one of the most feared, respected, and revered girls around. But it wasn't for her fighting skills; it was for the people she knew.
"Hey, you!" A gruff voice sounded to her left.
Fuu turned her head, "Oh, hey Mugen." She smiled and hurried over to him.
Mugen was leaning casually against a row of lockers when she approuched. He was probably the only person that could get away with talking to her the way he did. Mugen could talk to any student the way he wanted really, considering his reputation. Because of that reputation, he was one of the main reasons for Fuu's hierarchy.
"So, am I on for tonight?" He asked.
"Yup, at nine." she chimed.
"Good, I'm itching for a fight." Mugen flexed his scrawny arm.
Despite his scrawny appearance, Mugen was a top ranked fighter in the underground. Fighting was the only thing he cared about, obvious from his unshaven chin, messy hair, and tattered attire of khaki cargo pants, black Adida's, dirty white long-sleeved tee and red stuffed high neck vest.
He had his own fighting style, his weapon of choice being a sword. That wasn't uncommon, but his skill without formal training was. Everything he knew was based off experience on the streets.
"What about Jin?" He asked.
"Jin will be entered into a different tournament starting in a few days. So to answer your question, you wont be fighting him." Fuu smiled, reading his mind perfectly.
"Damb you girl…"
"Any way, I need to tell him about it, so lets go." She started toward the cafeteria, expecting Mugen to follow.
"Why do I have to go?" Mugen whined.
"Because I also need food, and you're going to pay for it." She said innocently without changing her expression.
Mugen growled but followed.
Fuu's relationship with the two fighters was originally business based. The two had fallen into debt with Fuu, after her paying thema large favor. Jin and Mugen had agreed to pay thier debt by keeping Fuu as their manager in the Underground Champloo, despite their hate for each other. She was money smart, cute, a good liar, and manipulative. She was perfect to be their manager for the underground. She booked their fights, tournaments, handled the financials and talked to other fighter's people. Fuu is what they call a Boss. Besides Jin and Mugen she did business with a few other fighters on a less strict basis. No one messed with Fuu unless they wanted to mess with her fighters.
Despite this, Fuu had to make sure that she had one of her fighters with her at all times when dealing with other Bosses, because most of the other Bosses were fighters themselves. Fuu had no fighting skills of her own, and her cute and delicate appearance did nothing to mislead anyone.
The three had grown to have a relationship beyond the ring. The two boys had grown to consider each other close friends, even though they were still prone to vicious fights and frequent arguments. They both respected Fuu even if they didn't show it, but also liked her as a person and friend. Even without physical strength, Fuu had been their to get them out of scrapes, simply because she cared, more times than anyone knew. Most other Bosses would let their fighters learn their lessons the hard way. Fuu was too kind hearted for that.
They found Jin in the cafeteria line buying lunch. He looked rather meek, standing there with his long black hair and glasses. Unlike Mugen, Jin cared about his appearance. His hair was pulled neatly into a low ponytail, and his face was clean-shaven. His blue button down collared shirt was ironed with clean jeans and shined leather brown fashion tennis shoes.
"Hi, Jin!" She greeted with a warm smile.
"Hey." Mugen nodded.
"Hello, Fuu." He looked down at her.
Fuu was now holding his arm. "Hey, what looks good?" She asked, grabbing a tray and casually cutting in line in front of Jin.
"Aren't you going to eat?" Jin looked at Mugen.
"I can't afford to now that I'm paying for little Miss Bottomless Pit!" Mugen accused.
"Oh don't worry;" Fuu assured with a laugh, "Ill share!"
The three continued down the line and sat at an empty round folding table. Fuu explained to each the conditions and regulations of their up coming fights.
"Sounds easy enough." Jin said between bites.
"Yeah, some quick cash!" Mugen exclaimed.
"Well, I'm glad your excited, because your first fight is tonight, remember? And its mixed art."
"That just makes it more fun."
"Meet at my place?" Asked Mugen.
"Yup." Nodded Fuu, "From their we'll take a taxi."
"I'll be there." Assured Jin.
Authors Note: Let me know how you like it and give me a review. A few more chapters are due before I consider contnuing or not.
Thanks for reading.