Thanks for all the reviews. Much appreciated!

LOL! Yesh! Cliffhangers are fun. I guess I'll answer this one quickly for you.

Chapter Three: Magnetized

Slain, by your zirconium smile
I was slain by your olivine eyes
Slain, I was lying in piles
Hoping shovels would cast me
Furnaces burn everlasting
Black tattoos of you onto me
Furnaces burn everlasting
Black tattoos

Jin and Mugen gaped at Fuu. Fuu, no longer a child, but now has a child? Their little minds were trying to wrap themselves around that concept, and in the meantime, Lee stepped through the back door. The tall man studied the two men in the corner (looking lost, oh so lost) and decided if Fuu was smiling at them, then everything was fine.

Kiyoko launched herself at her uncle Lee and he bent over to pick the small child up. She looked positively miniscule in his large scarred hands, but she'd never known the violence those hands had dealt out, and Lee would spend his life making sure she'd never know any kind of violence. "Fuu?"

Fuu turned from where she was silently laughing (and spinning lies in her head), and turned to Lee. "Oh. Um, if you want you can take her down to the washroom and get her ready for her bath. I'm sure she smells like..." Fuu pretended to sniff the air. "...fish!" A pretend look of disgust. "Ewwww!"

Kiyoko giggled and burrowed deeper into Lee's chest. With a brief throw in the air, Lee laid her over his shoulder, causing more giggles, and walked down the hall. Fuu smiled at the familiar sight. Then, with a wave of her hand, she moved Jin and Mugen out of her way and started to stir up the almost burnt fried rice.

Jin spoke first. "So...you're a mother?"

"Went through the whole eight months."

"I thought pregnant chicks went nine months?" Mugen asked, having thrown himself into a kitchen chair.

"She came early."

"How old is Kiyoko?"

Hesitation. "Almost two."

Jin did the math in his head, and concluded that Fuu had gotten pregnant after they'd separated, so he wouldn't have to kill Mugen after all. He turned to communicate this to Mugen, who doubtless was feeling fear at the thought of Jin's sword prowess. Mugen didn't know how to do math.

"When did you get pregnant, by who, and where is he?" Mugen asked, not one for subtlety.

Fuu laughed to cover her hesitation, and quickly thought. "I got pregnant by a sailor about five months after we split up. You don't need to hunt him down, he's long dead."

"You've been alone all this time?" Jin asked, surreptitiously smacking the shit out of Mugen.

"I had help."

"The large man?"

"His name is Lee."

"Are you sure he didn't get you pregnant?"

This time Fuu smacked the shit of Mugen. He was starting to remember why he'd always had a headache around these two. "Lee is a good friend. He and I aren't that way."

"I bet he wants to be that way."

"Fuck you, Mugen. Not all guys think like that."

Mugen made a disbelieving noise.

"Momma said bad word," Kiyoko explained as she walked in all fresh and clean in her pink towel. Fuu had spent a week's pay on that towel, but it'd been worth it. Her baby loved the color pink.

Fuu went to pick her up, not wanting her feet to get dirty on the floor just after her bath, but Kiyoko already knew who she wanted to hold her. Toddling along, with a big grin on her face, and her brown eyes sparkling, Kiyoko put her hands up to the stiff standing form of Jin and asked, "Up?"

Jin didn't know what to do. He'd never held a child before. What if he squeezed too hard and bruised her? What if he dropped her? What if she cut herself on his sword? In the end, the decision was taken from him, as Kiyoko started to climb up him and he had to bend over and pick her up.

Kiyoko put her slightly chubby arms around his skinny little neck and stared at him. It was slightly unnerving. "Who you?"

"My name is Jin."

"Gene?"

"Jin."

"Jean?"

"Close enough."

"You long hair."

"Yes."

"Like mommy?"

Jin took in the long brown hair that Fuu now wore loose. It went all the way to the bottom of her back. "Not as long."

"You girl like mommy?"

Mugen laughed long and hard at that, earning a glare from Jin. Mugen stood and reached over to take the small girl from Jin. "Yes, he's a girl like your mommy."

Mugen slipped Kiyoko onto his hip with the ease of a man who'd done it before. Fuu asked what she and Jin were both thinking. "You've held children before?"

"I did have four younger siblings before I left. I usually got stuck with the shitty diapers and crying brats."

Kiyoko widened her eyes theatrically. "You say bad word?"

Mugen smiled evilly and nodded. Kiyoko smacked him in the mouth. "No bad word."

Mugen was shocked, but mildly amused. Jin actually laughed out loud. Fuu smiled and started to doll out the food, which were a bit smaller portions than usual, since Jin and Mugen were here. She then put the four plates on the table and called out that dinner was ready.

She took Kiyoko from Mugen and put her in the special-made chair that Lee had bought her for feeding her daughter, and sat to share her food with her. Jin and Mugen took two other seats and dived into their food like they hadn't eaten in days, which they might not have if they were traveling. It was something they were used to, though.

Lee stepped into the kitchen whilst toweling dry the small fuzz he had on in head. He'd once had the typical top knot of a samurai, but had removed it several years ago. Fuu had never been able to get the story out of him. Not that she hadn't tried. She had. Very hard. Damn you, curiosity. Damn you mysterious attraction to all things samurai.

Lee started to take his seat, on the right of Fuu, when Kiyoko let up a scream. Lee immediately was at her side, cooing at her. "What's wrong, Kiki?"

"I left Birdie at creek! I not mean to!" Fuu knew immediately what she meant. For Kiyoko's second birthday Fuu had given her a small toy swan. It was plush and soft, but inside the hard beak was a music box. When you opened the beak, a soft melody drifted out. Kiki took it everywhere.

Lee smiled at the girl. "I'll get it."

Fuu objected. "Dinner just started. At least wait until after dinner."

Lee shook his head. "It's fine. I'll get it now before it gets too dark." With a brief kiss on Kiyoko's forehead, he left the kitchen for the small enclave where he and Kiki fished some days. Fuu sighed, and went to put his plate into the oven.

"Are you and he involved or something?" Mugen asked around a mouthful of food.

"No. He's just a good friend. He takes care of Kiyoko when I'm working. When his wife kicks him out, he comes and stays in the spare room."

Mugen and Jin both took some satisfaction from the fact that Lee wasn't a threat to them and Fuu...not that there was a them and Fuu. No sirree. Nothing of the sort.

"If you two don't have anywhere else to say, you can have the spare room, if you'd like." Fuu explained as she finished feeding Kiyoko. Jin and Mugen both took note that she didn't eat a lot of what she had on her plate, but rather fed Kiyoko. The love in her eyes was clear for the girl. Fuu was a mother. How the hell had that happened? Where was the young girl with a sharp tongue but a light in her eyes? When had she been replaced by this woman with an entire life that didn't include them?

I'll give y'all a clue as to what's going on next chapter...there's a little fact in here...a little discrepancy...that Jin won't know the details of, but will know what lied about.