No Holds Barred

Summary: Mugen finds himself tricked and forced into fighting various opponents for entertainment. Fight or die. Kill or be killed. Those are the rules, can you handle it? Post-series. Run away plot from my drabble series. Rating may go up.


A/N: Mugen's back-story will be told through memories, which he mostly dreams so it doesn't get in the way of the ass-kickery. This particular memory gets PRETTY DARK, since it is Mugen's childhood after all. Not exactly sunshine and rainbows. So just be warned, okay? Skip the italics if you don't want to read it.

Chapter 11: Shinigami


"Alright, boys." Hayato, the first-mate, clapped his hands and released the metaphorical leash that kept the rowdy youths in order. "You know the drill."

The night exploded with stampeding footsteps and loud cries of excitement as they disembarked the ship with Hell in their eyes. The sleepy coastal village woke with fright as their rooftops burned with hot flames. As the people ran, they quickly learned they had stepped out of the frying pan and into the fire. A horde of eager boys with malice in their smiles and lethal weapons in their hands lay in wait.

"Pocket anythin' extra worth sellin'." Mugen muttered to Koza. "We're gonna need money to travel after we escape."

Koza nodded, unable to hide her nerves. This was only their fifth week since the raid on Ryuukyuu that had forced Mugen, Mukuro, and Koza onto the pirate's ship. This was their second raid together, but she already knew she was not cut out for this kind of life.

"What are you two whisperin' about?" Mukuro demanded.

"Nothing." Koza replied instantly.

"I was just tellin' her to grab anythin' extra that we could sell for money once we escape." Mugen explained.

Mukuro's dark eyes narrowed at Koza. "You didn't say anythin' to me about this."

Mugen gave Koza a surprised look as the younger girl squirmed beneath both of their gazes.

"Get 'em, boys!" Hayato's command pierced the salty air and the band of pirates-in-training rushed forward with their weapons held high.

Mugen watched as Koza shoved her way through the mass of colliding bodies and head straight into the first home she found. It was the same as the last time – she would disappear to ransack homes before anybody else could, and would find her way back to the ship afterwards. She would never fight, and he didn't blame her. Koza was puny, even for a girl. Her size should have been the first hint that she wasn't the boy she pretended to be. That was why they needed to escape before she was discovered.

"Mugen!"

He turned to see Mukuro beckoning him, following Hayato into a hut that had miraculously managed to avoid the flames. The clatter of battle faded from his ears as he ran to catch up to his friend, curious as to what Hayato wanted with them.

"You're at the age, boys." Hayato explained, kicking down the door of the hut. "Where I shouldn't have to explain the more delicate spoils of war to you."

The two followed him inside the darkened home, eyes wide as they watched him yank a young girl outside by her hair. She shrieked as he dragged her through the sand and tossed her onto the ground. Her mother was dispatched with a quick flick of his sword, keeling over and spilling hot blood onto the sand before she could even cry for mercy.

Mugen eyed Mukuro with astonishment in his eyes – he'd always turned a blind eye to this sort of thing on Ryuukyuu – but there was no avoiding it when he had become an unknowing accomplice.

"Please let me go." The girl begged.

Hayato began to laugh. "Like it's as easy as batting those long lashes at us?"

She turned to Mukuro, bowing her head. "There are prettier girls here I can show you!"

Mukuro shoved her into the sand with his foot.

The girl's hand latched onto Mugen's ankle. "Please, sir."

He tore his foot away and turned around to leave, until he spotted a familiar flash of hair. He narrowed his eyes and cursed, frozen in his spot as Koza called his name. She was searching for him, probably to share the goods she'd managed to steal. He could feel Mukuro's heated glare on the back of his neck, and willed Koza to return to raiding houses.

"No, please! Stop!" The girl yelped from behind him.

"Shut her up, Mukuro!" Hayato warned, voice just loud enough to hear over the tearing of clothes.

Koza finally locked eyes with Mugen, smiling and trotting closer. Her gaze settled on the scene behind him, and he could see the gears in her mind turning; Mugen was standing guard for Mukuro's dastardly deed. He watched her face contort with horror and didn't try to stop her when she turned to run.

"Now you're hated." He could hear the smirk in Mukuro's voice as the girl beneath him whimpered. "Just like me."


Mugen stirred, slowly realizing that he had slept the entire day away again. Dinner was waiting, cold, in the corner of his cell when he finally sat up. His body felt completely healed, but being practically comatose for over a week was beginning to make his mind wander to memories he'd rather leave forgotten.

"Good evening, Dokuro-san." It was Satori, his neighbor on the right, who greeted him. "You missed an eventful day."

"Yeah?" He scoffed, snatching his tray and digging into his bowl of brown rice. "That Neko bitch lose a match?"

"Onibaba* is dead."

He blinked, mind still fuzzy with sleep. "Who?"

"An older fighter." Satori supplied. "She's been here longer than I have."

"Hm." He grunted his condolences and dropped more niboshi into his miso broth. "Never met her."

"She did it by her own hand."

He looked at the bald man through the corner of his eye, thoughts beginning to whirl. "How'd she get a weapon?" And did she have any more hidden away that were currently up for grabs?

"She snatched a tanto off one of the guards and slit her own throat right there in front of him."

The thought of taking one's own life had always boggled Mugen's mind. It seemed like a waste to him – if you had enough energy to kill yourself, why not use it against your opponent? If he kills you instead, then at least you went out flipping life the bird, right?

Mugen shook his head and dug into his rice bowl. He was thinking too much lately. All this time spent cooped up was making him pensive and stoic – all he needed was a pair of glasses and a ponytail.

"Goddammit." He was doing it again!

He was in the process of draining his miso broth when he heard a gaggle of voices echo down the cavernous corridor.

"The fight is over early."

Mugen turned to Satori curiously, wondering what fight he was talking about. Was that why everybody else had disappeared?

"Good evening, Dokuro-san." Hone smiled warmly as she and her brother entered his cell.

Kumo gave his greeting with a minimal nod of the head.

"How are you feeling today?"

Mugen rolled his eyes. Didn't she already ask him that about a hundred times yesterday?

"Fine." He replied, stormy orbs catching sight of Neko's bruised nose as she passed his cell. "Fine enough to start fightin' again."

Neko narrowed her eyes at him hatefully and Mugen held her glare. It was like a stray cat threatening a mongrel. Sure, the cat would put up one helluva fight and would undoubtedly draw blood from the dog. But eventually the swift feline would tire, and the mutt would be there ready for round two. By that time, the dog's appetite would have doubled and its patience would have halved; sealing the cat's fate. It was just nature.

Hone raised her brows in mild surprise at Mugen. "I can see that."

Mugen couldn't resist his automatic smirk. Something about the way Hone failed to sugarcoat her disgust with him made him feel all warm and fuzzy inside.

"I thought you wanted to escape this place."

"No reason why I should be bored in the meantime." He snapped.

"I'm not quite sure what that means." She stated slowly. "But if it involves Neko, I'm certain it's a bad idea."

Kumo chuckled in agreement. "You wouldn't have been bored watching tonight's fighter." He eyed his sister's slight scowl and deemed it safe enough to continue. "You shoulda seen her! She's undefeated. The only other one to go undefeated is Sis, so she's a little upset right now."

"I am not." She snapped. "Quit putting words in my mouth! I'm glad for her – it's not easy to keep your focus when the entire arena is catcalling you."

Mugen cocked a brow. So his original diagnosis of the toned woman was correct – Hone had never been stripped down during any of her matches. Though his body was beginning to grow antsy the more time he spent here, his instincts were still spot-on.

"Where's the new chick?" He wanted to know.

Kumo and Hone looked around the cellblock and shrugged.

"Beats me." Kumo replied. "But they named her Shinigami, because defeat was swift and imminent."

"Quit quoting Announcer." Hone rubbed her temples and stood up. "I feel a headache coming. Please excuse me." She bowed to Mugen, which elicited an arched brow of confusion from the pirate. "Goodnight."

"What's her deal?"

Kumo shrugged and sprawled his gangly limbs on the floor. Now that his sister was gone, he finally had enough room to stretch out.

"New Girl is after Sis's title." He supplied. "She was never good with competition. Even when we were kids, she refused to lose." He sighed heavily. "Sometimes I think she was born in the wrong gender."

Mugen frowned in thought. "With her body, who could tell the difference?"


A/N: Not a whole lot going on here, other than the arrival of a new fighter, which will turn out to be pretty damn important, mind you! I also have a whole history for Mugen, but you'll really only be seeing bits & pieces of it here & there through his memories and dreams. And speaking of, most of it will be his Ryuukyuu-life rather than his time spent on the journey with Fuu & Jin since we all already know all there is to know about that journey. Plus, it's always a lot of fun to speculate on the horror that was Mugen's childhood! (Or maybe that's just me...?) O.O Eep, secret's out! See you in chapter 12! (Fighting starts again next chapter, check the teaser for teaser-y goodness)

*Onibaba: an old lady that eats humans or unborn babies; "oni" is demon and "baba" is hag, so I guess you could call her a witch – y'know, the traditional scary kind that your parents used to threaten you with when you didn't behave ;)


Preview ch.12:

The student drew the two sai from his obi and walked to meet Mugen in the center of the arena.

"Class get out early today, kid?"

"Mock me all you want." He growled. "We'll see who laughs last when I carve a permanent smile into your corpse."

Mugen smirked.