Disclaimer: I don't own Samurai Champloo, or its characters.

Marital Mishap

By: Orange Noel

Chapter One

A dense assembly of exhausted men stood in front of a small teahouse. After their long journey, they finally arrived on the shores of the small islet of Tsukuda-shima. A husky fellow with straight raven hair pulled into a low ponytail situated himself so he was surrounded by this cluster of tired young men.

"Men, now that we're settled here," The middle aged man began, in a throaty tone, "I'm afraid that we're hours ahead of schedule." The worn out group listened on to their captain, "We're going take a long break here." Pointing to the teahouse behind him, "Well, men, go on, you deserve a break!"

The group of men grinned and cheered for their captain as they proceeded to inside for a well deserved break, the first in many weeks. The captain's callous appearance contrasted heavily his cheery disposition as he watched them joyfully enter the small restaurant. Though, one man decided to approach him instead of following the others.

"What is it Kensuke?" The captain asked, as he eyed the younger man, who was not a worker, but his assistant in more formal matters.

"Captian Yajima, I was just wondering about that," He asked as he pointed to a large wooden crate which stood in the alleyway beside the small teahouse; the same crate that the captain's men carried off a cargo boat.

The burly man looked back, "Yes, I'm aware of it." He was very aware of that cargo indeed, for it was the reason for his long travel. Within the small cargo box there was a woman from a notoriously well known brothel in Beijing. For the past few weeks, he had been in charge of smuggling this woman overseas to Edo. He rubbed his chin, as he remembered the painstaking journey they had made: from China on a small spice import ship to Nagasak; from Nagasaki on a native trade ship of pottery to Edo. They were lucky enough that pottery ship was small enough to land at Tsukuda-shima to drop them off before it made its way to Shiba, where security was very tight.

"Then, shall I wait out here and watch out for it?" The young man asked, after a pregnant pause from his captain.

Bringing his attention to the matter at hand, he asked, "Qing Yuan (1), did she have anything to eat on the ship?"

Kensuke nodded, "Yes, before she changed in her more formal garments and was fashioned into her cargo box, she did have something to eat."

"Excellent, she should be alright until this evening, when she arrives at Aoyama's." He stated, "The boat ride to Aoyama's complex is just off the Sumida River, so taking the canals will get us there pretty quickly." Grinning when he heard his stomach growl, he rubbed it before saying, "Come on, let's go, I'm famished."

"But sir…?" Kensuke nodded towards the wooden box.

"I'm just heading in to get something that's quickly prepared, and have my meal outside to keep an eye on her. This is a pretty deserted area," After gesturing to the area they were in. "only a bunch of fisherman, so I doubt any trouble will arise until then." He answered

"Are you sure it's safe to leave her-"

"Kensuke," the older man interrupted. "I understand that you wish to do a good job, but in this alleyway, locked, and only left alone for a few minutes, I don't think anything will happen."

The younger man still looked unconvinced. "But just to be safe, we don't want the recipient to be upset, after all our efforts…"

The burly man rubbed his chin again, a trademark gesture of his as he considered what Kensuke suggested. Sighing, he raised his arms up in disbelief, "That Aoyama, he uses his wealth for the weirdest expenditures; I'm sure any native girl would be just as good as a choice." Scratching his head, "All this trouble for one girl, it'd be a shame to throw it all away." Shaking his head, "You're right, what am I thinking." The older man rubbed his forehead. "A small risk is still a risk. I'll just go inside get a quick order of tea to settle my stomach, will you bring out my meal when it's ready?"

"Of course." The younger man slightly bowed his head. "Might I add that it's very kind of you to let the other men rest."

"Well, they're the one's doing the physical labor…" He stated as he made his way to the front door.

Following him to the doorway he said, "I suppose you're right, but please allow me to join you on your watch."

The man paused, and turned to Kensuke, patting the younger boy on the back, "Why do you have to be so goddamn nice? You're just like your mother."

He pushed aside the curtains in the doorway and smiled, "I try, uncle." And they both disappeared into the tea house.

---

Sitting on a small barrel, 18 year old Fuu sat staring at the coast line of Tsukuda-shima. "Hmm, what to do with a day off…" The young woman murmured out loud, about they day off from working at the teahouse today. "I could visit Toshiro" She smiled brightly at the thought of her amusing friend, but then frowned when she remembered he was surely working his father's fishing boats at this time of day.

Seeing a small girl run while munching on a large red apple much to the discontent to an upset and hungry looking older boy, she murmured "I'm hungry" which was followed promptly by a large growling noise from her stomach. "Mmm, some nice dumplings made by Tomoko would make my day!" She smiled brightly remembering how the motherly old lady, who she worked for, cooked the best food on the island.

She walked lazily, as often as she could, so she could spend as much time as possible staring the beautiful horizon, which had little wooden boats dotting the dark blue ocean. She also admired some of the visible cargo, as it was being shipped off smaller boats onto the island, or as smaller boats waited for the larger ships to set sail from Shiba.

The ocean and ferry scene reminded her of her last adventure, with her two "useless" bodyguards, "Ha, and to think I used to fully believe that fate would always keep us together." Fuu murmured as she thought of both Mugen and Jin, while remember all the coincidences by fate that always brought them together.

"Three years and no sight of those guys…" Trailing off, she murmured once again, "I wonder what they're up to? Or how they've changed?" At the word 'change' she couldn't help but look at her ample bosom and grin cheekily at the fact of how much she changed physically, while her personality was the same as ever.

At the call of a seagull, she turned back to look at the sea. The sobriety of her thoughts returned when she contemplated that she didn't know whether to be glad to have gotten rid of that fate that always brought them together, or be sadden by the loss of it.

---

Looking out of the air hole she noticed she must be alone in the darken alleyway. The fair skinned beauty took out one of her hair pins and then reached out with her fingers for the lock of the box. Since the group had been constantly traveling with her on boats, they hadn't bothered with an extensive nor expensive lock system, finding it an unnecessary use of their budget. What they used to lock the cargo box she traveled in only onto and from boats (on the boats, she'd be hidden away elsewhere) was a simple metal lock, which required a master key that only the captain carried.

While picking the lock, she absently thought back to how she always had planned on escaping. She just never had a chance, since she was constantly on the sea, and jumping out wasn't an option she wanted to take. But the urge to escape was almost unbearable, and she even thought taking her own life would to escape was favorable, but decided to be patient and wait for the right opportunity.

The other brothel girls found her unusual because of her strong will against the business, but her ill proportioned adolescent appearance that allowed her to help in the kitchen. It wasn't until she fully blossomed into a beautiful woman that her boss truly noticed her potential. Since her father sold her to the brothel at a young age, he knew very well she was unspoiled, finding her the perfect candidate for his best customer overseas.

After fiddling with the metal lock some more, the young girl was finally able to hear a soft click. Once she heard a small clank as lock hit the dirt ground, she hesitantly lifted the case, hoping that no one was around to notice her escape. Seeing no one around, she anxiously open the lid some more.

The sun was strong on her eyes, and after they recovered somewhat, she was unable to spot anyone around. Thinking this was her only chance, she jumped up and ripped off her two outer layers of her kimono, for her plainer layer underneath, and then jumped out. She swiftly began to rip off her hair ornaments to let loose her hair, hoping to blend in with the locals by trying to look more peasantry.

It was her nervousness and fear that the instant she heard voices, she promptly made a run for it and left everything as is. She didn't even close the wooden crate, and left all her garments out in the open anything in the box. She knew that they would realize she was missing even if the clothes weren't laying all around, because they would surely notice the weight difference.

Leaving the site she proceeded towards the maze of alley ways, to find a suitable place to hide herself, hoping they wouldn't try a mass man hunt for her. The longer they spent on the island, the longer she'd need to keep in hiding and put off finding a temporary job to get funds for her to get off the island herself.

---

Another growling sound was heard, as the brown haired beauty was in a reverie of her traveling past . Deciding she saw enough of the coast line, and the fact her stomach was prompting her, she decided to go to her place of work for some lunch.

As she raised her eyes to look forward she saw a small twinkle at the entrance of an alleyway. Curiously, she walked up to it and to her surprised it was a small gold hair pin. She followed a trail of pins which had very intricate designs to a wooden box. Walking up, she saw a very pretty silk kimono, touching it gently, she admired the workmanship. She looked inside to see more silk, on the bottom of the box with many pillows. She bent forward slightly to get a better look at the wonderful artisan crafts, that someone with her waitressing position never saw.

A sharp bellow interrupted her trance, and she froze when a sudden thought just struck her: it must look like she was stealing, from what she now realized looked obviously like a cargo box. She tried raising her head to defend herself, but was shove roughly as two male hands pushed on her behind and into the box.

Fuming in indignation that someone violated her, she scrambled to raise her head from the corner of the box, but it provided to be more cumbersome when the same man dropped the beautiful silk hanging partly out of the box, right on top of her. The garments and herself twisted into a tangled mess; a mess that prevented her from screaming.

The captain shut the box quickly. In his state of panic, he didn't even notice the different garment the young woman wore, but subconsciously assumed that it was she was wearing underneath all her layers of clothing. Cursing to himself, he was grateful that the older lady, who had flirtatiously offered to fixed him his tea, hadn't offer any more complimentary desserts to him (the cause of his delay) because he would have missed her escaping. He crouched down into one of the air holes and spoke as calmly as he could. His personality was for the most part good natured but this situation had caused him tremendous stress.

"Qing Yuan… You should know better than attempt to escape." The captain, the leader of the delivery spoke in a foreign sounding Mandarin to whom he thought was Qing Yuan.

He was interrupted by Kensuke who came onto the scene, speaking in Japanese. "Sir, is everything…" He trailed off when he saw his red faced uncle and boss. "Captain?"

The young girl in the box confused by the captain had automatically responded with a "Wha-"

She didn't make it past the first syllable before the commander slapped the box hard to silence her. He replied quickly in Japanese "Quiet down, do you want people to catch you and go to jail for being an illegal immigrant?" He gasped, obviously not keeping note of the language he spoke rapidly.

When Kensuke gave him an odd look, he turned towards the silent box and murmured the same message, this time in Mandarin.

She was confused what he said when he spoke her language, but even more so when he spoke a foreign language she never heard before, so she kept quiet, trying to internally take it all in. It wasn't until another voice had allowed her to understand fully, the situation she got herself in.

Kensuke felt sorry for the girl, "Why don't you tell her she'll be there soon, and she'll be relatively free to do what she wishes, and she'll be extremely well off" he suggested.

The captain nodded, and repeated the same message in Mandarin, hoping she'd hold off making a fuss anymore. This extensive trip was tiring on all of them.

Fuu kept silent out of her confusion, she was irritated that she was violated in such a way, and that she was being kept prisoner. She was about to scream in fury, that she was no slave woman, as she heard a hoarse voice call out.

Captain Yajima called the break fairly short, saying that it was best to arrive and wait for Aoyama's men, and not be interrupted. The group half hardily agreed. The men assembled to pick up the cargo box from the alleyway, which frightened the confused Fuu, who had no idea what was going on. She peaked out one of the air holes, and saw that they were headed towards the river. She again took in a breath to let her go, but all the shuffling caused her to be unstable. With the instability of the boat, and the labor's hands she felt a large jolt before she whacked her head hard against the lid of the crate, and landed in an unceremoniously position in her cramped enclosure.

To be continued.

(1) I don't know much Chinese but found this name from: http/ www. 20000 names .com/ female chinese names .htm. It means clear spring.

Historical Notes

During this time in Edo, roughly 1675, there's the main port of Shiba, where most boats importing goods docked (I'm assuming visitors, as well). Across the bay, there's an island called Tsukuda-shima, where smaller boats would dock as they waited for the larger ones to leave Shiba. On this little islet, there were many tea houses, and it was where many fishermen worked. By this little island, it was close by to some canals which lead downtown into the city (where the fictional Aoyama lives). I'm not sure if the method I wrote is really correct, but it seems most discreet to me, especially since they're smuggling a woman into the country (and I don't know how legal that was back then).

(all historical info was taken from: http/ www. us-japan .org/ edomatsu/)

Author Notes

This is my first Samurai Champloo fic, so pardon the OOC-ness and stuff. I'm a big MuFuu fan, and I've finally planned out a good enough (even if it is kidna redundant) plot to write. If this chapter goes well enough (and it will get better fast) I'll continue writing and posting this story on my grammar, which is my major writing fault. And the heavy use of contractions, I use them too much, that the longer forms seem unnatural to me now.

Hopefully the historical references made sense, and I got them correct… I'm not claiming to be a history major (the only history I study is art history), so please don't flame me if you know more than me, but please correct my mistakes (that goes for grammar too, but if it's specific, message me).

Lastly, I would like to apologize to people reading my other (non-SC) stories, I wrote this late last year, and only now decided to post it up (with some light editing). I'm not dead, but trying to catch up with my writing and art projects, and passing my 2nd semester… Updates will come soon enough.