Just Another Day in the Life

A/N: I'm not entirely sure where I got the prompt for this one. If you recognize it, please let me know so I can give credit. I really am a horrible person – I forget to insert page breaks before uploading, forcing ffdotnet to inadvertently spam the hell out of my subscribers, and then I don't even have enough common sense to jot down where I get my prompts/quotes. Oi…what am I gonna do with myself?

Samurai Champloo – "Heart of a child" prompt

"What about the one in the pink?"

"Hmm…I dunno. She looks like she's twelve."

"So that's a no?"

"Nah, that's a make-sure-her-daddy-ain't-around-before-I-stick-my-tongue-down-her-throat!" The pair erupted with laughter and Mugen scowled. He knew Jin could hear them too, the bastard. He was just pretending not to. And there sat Fuu, shoveling food into her mouth. Completely oblivious. Dumbass.

"She's going for the shrimp tempura!"

"Look at her pretty little lips! I'd sure love to find out what lips like those could do to a man."

"I hear ya!"

More drunken laughter.

"Fuu, how 'bout you eat like a fuckin' human for once, huh?" Mugen snapped at the girl, who gave him a curious look in return.

"Screw you, Mugen." She snapped. "This is the first decent meal I've had in a long time and I plan to eat until I explode."

"Why? Ya plan on hibernatin' later?"

"Make fun all you want." She stuck her nose in the air. "All I know is, I'm going home satisfied."

"Yeah, baby!"

Fuu's eyebrows rose at the loud exclamation. Her eyes sought out the source, as did every other pair in the restaurant, until they settled on a highly intoxicated man at the bar. He was staring directly at Fuu, who in turn blushed and quickly returned to her food.

"Weirdo…" she mumbled, taking another bite of the shrimp.

"Yeah, take it all!" cried the heckler.

"He'll stop if you quit shovelin' food into that black hole you call a mouth."

Fuu ignored him. "Worry about yourself, Mugen. I don't need your help."

"Suit yourself…" he rolled his eyes. "But it's gettin' pretty fuckin' annoying."

"So do something about it."

"Hey, baby!" the heckler beckoned, waving at Fuu. She ignored him, proceeding onto the dumplings.

"He's callin' you."

"No he's not." Fuu insisted. "He must be waving at that woman at the table next to us."

"Fuu, that's an old lady…"

"Is it?" she turned. "Oh, shoot. I only caught a glimpse out of my peripheral."

"Baby! I'm calling you, baby!"

"If I ignore him, he will go away." She nodded resolutely, returning to her dinner.

"You have the heart of a child…" Jin noted, speaking for the first time that night. Fuu arched a brow at him, so he clarified. "You are naïve."

Mugen released a bark of laughter and she scowled at him.

"Screw the both of you!"

"Hey, baby, why you ignorin' me?"

She jumped. The heckler had moved from the bar to her side.

"Excuse me?"

"Let's go have some fun." He grabbed her hand. "You can cook me some of that food you love so much."

"Let go of me!" she tossed Mugen a frantic look.

The pirate shrugged. "You don't need my help, remember? I was told to worry about myself." He popped one of her dumplings into his mouth to exemplify this.

She turned to Jin, who appeared engrossed with a painting on the wall.

"Let's go, bitch!" the man gave a hard tug, causing Fuu to crash to the floor. The heckler and few other people, including Mugen, began laughing.

Fuu sat up and grasped her elbow, which was red with blood from her harsh landing. Tears brimmed her big, doe eyes from pain or embarrassment, Mugen was unsure. Probably both. She turned those pleading chocolate orbs his way, and in an instant he was on his feet with his sword drawn. Behind him, Jin equally stood, though his palm rested on his hilt.

"Alright, buddy." Mugen growled. "That's enough."

"Like hell it is." The heckler laughed, placing his foot on the crown of Fuu's head. The ex-waitress began to wail louder, making Mugen flinch.

"Last chance before I hack that foot off."

The heckler's buddy, clearly the more sober of the duo, quickly latched onto his shoulders and hauled him away. He insisted that the girl didn't even have big enough boobs and that he was just wasting his time, when he began to resist. After a moment, the owner of the restaurant appeared in order to kick out the 5 hell-raisers.

Fuu dried her eyes on the sleeve of her kimono and looked up at her two bodyguards. "Thanks, you guys."

"How is your elbow?" Jin questioned after nodding his curt "you're welcome."

Fuu rolled her sleeve back for them to inspect, since she couldn't get a proper angle on it.

"That'll be one nasty scab." Mugen noted. "But you'll live."

She sniffled away her last remaining tears and nodded.

"Wait…is that why you were cryin'?" Mugen suddenly turned to her. "'Cause you scraped your elbow?"

Fuu threw her nose in the air indignantly. "It hurt!"

A/N: Again, a pretty weak ending. And I dove headfirst into my most hated trope: whiny, baby, bitchy Fuu. Ugh. Crying after scraping her elbow? Seriously? No, really – What am I gonna do with myself?