Author's Note: Hello, again! The story's getting somewhere, now - the gears of the plot are finally chugging into motion!
Warning: This is a very Mugen-based chapter. In other words, be prepared for much language and violence. I tried not to make it too graphic, but meh. -shrug-
Disclaimer: Yeah... I still own no part of "Samurai Champloo."
Vengeful Vagrant
Mugen swam through the dark and cold, with the strange feeling that he had been there before. The damp atmosphere was heavy around him, weighing down on his leaden limbs and dragging him farther from the light far above. He struggled to breach the heaviness, to free himself from this prison, and soon felt his mind open into clear, open coolness. With the coolness came pain, with the pain came realization, and with the realization came consciousness.
Mugen started awake, his eyes opening to darkness. His head still throbbed painfully, and when he made to rub it, he noticed his bonds. He was tied tightly, hand and foot, restricting all movement. Cursing darkly, he peered into the emptiness around him and recognized his own room at the inn. Strange... the last thing he remembered was eating dinner with Jin and Fuu -
JIN AND FUU! his mind suddenly yelled. Are they all right? Did they also... also... He paused in his train of thought; he didn't even know what had happened to him. Had he been poisoned? If only it weren't so dark, and he could move! Mugen let out a frustrated growl and struggled against his bonds, but his arms were still weak from being drugged. (He rightfully considered poison to be the blame of his current condition.)
My sword, he thought suddenly, and turned over onto his side. Luckily, his sword lay in its sheath right beside him. He inched up like a worm until he could reach the hilt, then carefully slid it free of its covering. Biting his tongue in concentration, he slit the bonds on his wrists, then sliced the rope around his ankles and was free.
Mugen jumped to his feet, sword poised defensively against whatever might be lurking in the dark, and immediately regretted it; his weary head let out a complaintive throb and he cried out in pain, gripping his temples.
"Shit!" he cursed under his breath, recovering slowly. He warily lifted his head again and looked around the dark room. It was completely empty except for the normal cot, dresser, and sheets. Mugen took one step and was at the door, pressing one ear against the paper: nothing.
Just in case, he slid the door open quietly and peeked out both ways before entering the hallway. His first destination: Jin's room.
The room was quiet and dark behind the closed door. Mugen contemplated knocking, but he finally decided that if he had been poisoned, they all had, and Jin wouldn't be able to answer the door anyway. So he kicked it in carelessly and entered the room, keeping a tight grip on the sword by his side. His eyes needed a second to adjust to the pitch darkness, but once they focused, he noticed that the room was empty.
"What the -?" he started, but stopped when he noticed the two piles of severed twine on the ground. He growled and kicked at the nearest string. "GOD DAMNIT, YOU BASTARD! WAITTA LEAVE WITHOUT ME!" he roared, but then he noticed a sheet of paper on the ground. It was the same one Jin had written to Fuu on that morning. Mugen picked it up, and decided literacy was a pretty handy thing:
Mugen - Meet me out back.
-----
It was dark outside the inn, and Mugen struggled to see his surroundings once he made it into the back alleyway.
"Jin?" he called hoarsely. Someone touched his shoulder and he jumped, his hand flying defensively to the hilt of his sword.
"Relax, it's just me," a familiar voice hissed. Mugen sighed and turned to face Jin in the darkness.
"Where's Fuu?" he asked.
"The assassin from before took her. Remember the bald man you fought with yesterday?" Jin asked quietly, his eyes scanning the alley for danger the whole time. Mugen growled and punched the wall suddenly, breathing heavily.
"I knew I should have killed him! DAMNIT!This is ALL MY FAULT!" he yelled. Jin glared at him calmly, completely unfazed by the sudden outburst.
"Don't give yourself so much credit. Someone has been after Fuu since we got here," he said softly. Mugen roared and kicked at a nearby barrel, sending it flying down the alley.
"But why? Why Fuu? Shouldn't people be after us? We're the ones who do all the killing!" he exclaimed, still seething.
"I know, Mugen, but you need to calm down. We shouldn't attract attention to ourselves," Jin scolded, throwing a nervous glance toward the end of the alleyway.
"I don't care if the whole fucking world knows we're here! Let them come, I'll kill everyone I have to until we get Fuu back!" Mugen barked. Jin frowned at his companion.
"But Mugen -"
"Don't you say it. I don't care. I'm gonna find Fuu, damnit, and I'm gonna kill whatever bastards did this to her, and anyone else who stands in my way! And that includes you, four-eyes, so you can either help or get the fuck outta my way!" Mugen roared. Jin opened his mouth to say something, but no words came out. Mugen growled and shoved past him, then sprinted out of the alley, disappearing into the night. Jin watched him go helplessly, unsure of what to do, then sighed and left the alleyway, as well, but in the opposite direction of Mugen.
-----
It took about a half-mile for Mugen to calm down enough for him to feel bad about screaming at Jin. He stopped running and glanced behind him, expecting to see the bespectacled samurai just a few houses away, but he was nowhere in sight; the road behind him was completely deserted. He contemplated returning to find the ronin, and maybe apologize, but that really wasn't his style. It made him uncomfortable just thinking about it.
"Damn," he cursed, stuffing his hands in his pockets and turning away from the empty street behind him. Mugen wasn't usually one to brood, but tonight definitely called for some thinking on his part. He really did feel guilty about not killing that bald guy. If Mugen had known that he would eventually come back to hurt Fuu, he would have chased the bastard down and finished it the day before.
Fuu... poor Fuu, getting caught up in all this. As much as Mugen pretended that he didn't like her, the girl had started to grow on him lately and he felt himself becoming more and more protective. Hell, just the day before, when he had seen those thugs harassing her, it had taken everything he had not to slice them all into ribbons right there. And when he had thought she and Jin were dead... he didn't even want to remember the thoughts that had come to his head on that occasion.
Mugen hadn't even noticed how far he had walked from the inn, nor had he been paying attention to where he was going. He was snapped back to himself, however, at the sound of a sword being unsheathed to his left. He immediately grabbed his own and brandished it toward the shadows menacingly.
"Who's there?" he demanded, cursing the darkness that so hindered his vision. A voice chuckled humorlessly.
"Impressive. I thought the dosage I gave you would have kept you out for longer than a couple hours," the voice said. Mugen felt a familiar rage begin to boil in the pit of his stomach.
"You poisoned me and Jin?" he demanded, his voice low with fury.
"Is that the samurai's name? I didn't catch it... pity our most recent meeting had to be cut so short. I wish I could have fought him on different terms - he was quite talented, I must say. However, if I had fought him fairly, I surely would have perished." Mugen growled; the voice was taunting him, and it was moving. Now it came from behind his back.
"You fought Jin? When?" Mugen asked, now growing desperate; he still couldn't see where the voice was coming from, and it was beginning to unnerve him.
"A few minutes ago." Mugen's heart jolted somewhere near his Adam's apple; if this man had just fought Jin, and now he was here... that meant...
Mugen gulped.
"Where is he now?"
"That doesn't matter. He's dead." Mugen's eyes widened in horror and his insides clenched. His sword hand was beginning to shake.
"You - you're lying," he stammered. It can't be. I just talked to him. He can't be dead. He's not. I have to kill him!
"I'm afraid not," the voice said, now somewhere off to Mugen's right. "I know this must be hard for you to absorb, so I'll just make this quick." Then suddenly a sword flashed right before Mugen's nose; he leapt back just in time, but not before he noted the blood already on the blade. And with that quick glimpse of proof, Mugen found the perfect way to unleash his anguish.
He could see the assassin now. The one who took first Fuu, then Jin. The only real friends Mugen had had in a very long time.
Mugen saw him.
And then he killed him.
It wasn't a clean kill, but a slow, painful one. Mugen wanted the killer to feel all the agony that was coursing through his own veins. First he took the assassin's hands with one swipe, then his feet, from the ankles down. The man was already begging for mercy, but Mugen wouldn't hear it; pure, unadulterated rage was rushing through his veins, and there wasn't the least bit of pity - or even humanity - in his eyes as he skillfully took the assassin's tongue, then both of his eyes. Out of pure malice, he finally took the killer's manhood, and stepped away, watching his victim bleed and writhe on the ground.
"That was for Fuu," he growled, then stepped forward and rested his sword right beside the wretched man's throat.
"And this," he muttered, "is for Jin." One swift blow, and the head fell away from the twitching body. Blood splattered Mugen's shirt and face and arms, but he didn't wipe it off. His sword was completely coated in the scarlet liquid, but he left it naked in his hands.
He lifted his eyes to the starry sky above and let out a feral, animal-like roar that would have made any late-night listeners shudder.
Author's Note: Poor Mugen... Comments, comments, comments!
