AN: Continuing on…sorry for the long delay…I have a 7 month old myself who is teething and crawling as of a week ago. Whew….
Summer came to it's peak and the unbearable heat and humidity was worsening by the day on the island. Mugen was beginning to walk to and fro around the hut now, and though he fell from time to time, only became angry and got up. Yuhana remembered these times somewhat from her brother, but at that time she had spent a lot of nights sleeping in the street, as her mother was too cross to have her in the house most days and nights as well.
Yuki, who lived beside Ikuno and came with her from time to time, had joined them in their day's chores again. Yuhana liked her a lot, she was a quiet and even tempered girl, if a little flighty. She was never certain what she had done to garner the punishment of exile, but she lived with a man named Maso, who had been exiled for murdering customer of the restaurant he ran back on the main island. He had been spared his life on the grounds that it was self defense, but Maso still had a short temper. He and Kenru seemed to get along relatively well.
"I wonder when I will have a child of my own." Yuki said dreamily, watching Mugen toddle around the small house.
"Be careful what you wish for, it's different when you have to feed one." Ikuno said, casting a sideways glance at the young girl. Yuhana wondered how she could manage her oblivious outlook on life, considering where they lived. Maso took good care of her, but "good care" was a loose term in the poor colony.
Yuhana silently agreed with Ikuno; Mugen was eating rice on his own now (he insisted) and made quite a mess at mealtimes. It was quite a chore to pick the rice up off the floor and wash it again and again from his endeavors. There was certainly no room to waste even a grain. She tried to help the small boy as much as she could, but he didn't take well to that either. She was amazed at times he didn't just take his wobbly little legs to the seaside and catch his own fish. It wouldn't have surprised her.
"Maso says he wants a son." Yuki said. "If his son ate as much as he did, we would run out of food for sure!" she laughed. Yuhana smiled politely at her. She constantly saw the same group of men going and coming from Maso's home, and it seemed as if they worked for him in some way, as they often brought him things like food and valuables. She had thought about mentioning to Kenru that perhaps he might work for Maso, but she hadn't seen enough of him lately to really speak with him.
A strange feeling welled up in Yuhana's chest again, and she began to cough forcefully. It had been like this for a few months now, something seemed to be trying to force it's way out of her lungs. It had gotten worse in the past few weeks with the peak of humidity. She always seemed to feel exhausted, but she brushed that aside as it was nothing new since Mugen was born. Sometimes at night, she burned and sweated, but she tried as well to chalk it up to the weather conditions. After she recovered, she looked to see Ikuno casting her a wary eye. Before she could say anything, Kenru appeared in the doorway.
"Alright, pack your shit up and clear out. I need a word with the old lady." he told them. "I'm hardly ever here, but every time I come back, your asses are always sitting around my house. I better not be feeding them, either." he warned, although he knew that Yuhana knew better. In his own way, he was half joking his wife's friends. They left with a silent smile, as they heard no real aggravation in his tone.
Mugen stood and stared up at the man, chewing on his chubby fingers. After a moment, he walked over to him and held up his arms. Kenru looked down at him and gave him an incredulous look. "Kid, you must be nuts." he said, shooing him away. "I ain't got time for all that right now." Yuhana handed him the small rag dog she had made for him, and he grabbed it and sat down to play.
"Somethin' I need to talk to you about." he said as he sat down with her. "If something ever happens to me," he started, drawing close, his voice low, "I have a stash on the island for you and the rat. There are directions to it buried under the left corner of the house if you ever need them, but don't touch them until you do." he told her. His face looked haggard and thin, and Yuhana was worried. He had always had a certain hard quality about his lean features, but now he was beginning to seem tired.
"I don't know what you do but I know it is…dangerous." she said. "That much is obvious. If something were to..happen to you, how would I know?" she asked.
"Don't I always come back?" he asked, his patience wearing. He never had enough to sustain a real conversation. "If I don't come back in six months every time I leave, do what you have to." he told her, getting up. Mugen came and crawled into his mother's lap then, leaning against her to fall asleep. Kenru looked down at him.
"When did he start that?" he asked, referring to his walking.
"A few weeks ago." Yuhana said tiredly. "Perhaps you can take him to the shore in the morning to play, if you're still around." she offered, desperate for a break to recover some strength. The feeling that was becoming so familiar came back, and she stifled another coughing fit.
"I ain't got time for that." he said, as if she had lost her mind. "What the hell's the matter with you anyway? You're clothes are starting to hang off you."
Yuhana looked down, not realizing that she had lost any weight, indeed she barely had any to lose before she became as thin as a bamboo cane. "I guess chasing Mugen has really run me ragged." she said, hoping she told the truth, although her intuition told her she was not.
"Have you ever thought about talking to Maso about working for him?" she asked as he started to walk away. "The men that come and go at his home seem to do well." she told him.
"I can't afford to leave what I'm doing now." he said, his tone turning dark.
"But if you could do better by working with Maso, why not just do that?" she asked "It seems less dangerous." she said.
"Look, none of this is your damn business." he said, getting angry. "I'd barely get two steps thru Maso's door before I was waylaid. I don't even know how many assholes I'd have to cut down before it was over, and Maso's shit ain't worth it." he told her. He reached down and cupped his hand under her chin and around her face. "I've spilled enough blood for you to take a bath in for the rest of your life." he growled, letting go.
"Why?" she half shouted. "Why did you ever come back? Why do you still? Why not leave us to starve?"
He turned and looked at her over his shoulder, the mat over the door half lifted in his hand. She didn't know how to read the look on his face; the closest thing she could read in it was sadness. She thought she would get a hand to her face for her defiance, but he only turned and left. She didn't know what to think.
"Why did you ever come back? Why do you still? Why not leave us to starve?" Kenru closed his eyes and growled to himself. Those were good questions. Why didn't he? They didn't mean anything to him, it was just a place to sleep and someone to share his bed and cook his food….and the kid…Kenru clenched his fist and cursed as he walked. He hated when he couldn't finish his thoughts the way he wanted.