Heloo peeps, just so you guys know that next week I may not be able to write as much, but I'm gonna try to pre-write some stuff this weekend, so you all have a few chapters to satisfy your SC hormone. LOL
Chapter Thirty Nine: …Of Mizu
And suddenly the loud thud of a door being slamming open woke them up. Mugen had just closed his eyes, and Jin was finally drifting into sleep. Mizu sat up confused by the sudden noise. There were many muffled sounds of someone entering the next room. Jin adjusted himself and moved so that Fuu was sleeping on his chest. He put his ear to the wall to hear. The woman that was in there with her client was shoved out of the room, both still partly naked. Mugen could hear the fuss.
"You have to leave here at once!." The Mistress of the brothel whispered.
"This place needs to die! Where is my daughter!." The man angrily voiced. He was the young girls daughter, the girl who cried for her father to buy her for a night so she could sleep. The Yakuza guards finally ran up to apprehend the old man. He bit and kicked screaming for his daughter. But she never stepped forward.
"Uh? What's going on Jin?" Fuu asked waking up from all the noise. She looked up to him, his face stern and upset. His heart poured out for the man.
"I want my daughter! You can have my farm! I don't care, but give me my daughter back!" The man screamed fighting off the guards who tried to hold him down. No one could have known that he was so strong for a man who was in his 40's.
"Papa!" His daughter had ran out of the room, leaving her client after hearing her name being cried. She almost fainted from the happiness that surged over her body. Her father did have a heart, he came to save her. His eyes watered looking at his daughter. She looked older now.
"You, get back to your client!" The Mistress shouted grabbing her arm. The impact of the fathers hit forced her to fall down into the hall way; where she noticed that everyone was awake and watching.
"Don't you dare touch my daughter again!" He screamed. The guards were puzzled but leapt to kill him. He fought with his bare hands, his daughter's broken face encouraging him.
Jin's eyes became glassy. Mugen crawled out of the futon and went to the wall. He could hear the father, his will and courage to save his daughter. After 4 longs years, he had come for her. But the father was struggling, and Mugen could tell it. His voice was cracking and his pants for air were stronger.
"Mai! Run, run and get out of this town!" He screamed. His daughter, hesitated not wanting to leave her father. She was crying, begging for someone to help.
"We have to help her." Fuu quickly announced looking at Jin. But Jin's eyes were closed, for the greater good, he could not aid the man. She looked at Mugen, his expression gave her the answer.
"We can't." Mugen whispered back, disappointed. If Mai's father had just waited one more night, Mai could have walked home to him. Jin felt the curse rise in his belly, sitting there. Doing nothing was wrong, and he would feel the girls curse for the rest of his life; but for Shino, he couldn't.
"RUN MAI!" The father screamed yet again. He had some how forced a sword out of one of their hands and was now doing his best to slaughter everything in his way. Mai's heart tore as she cried no to her father.
"I came to save you Mai. I have done wrong to you, and I hope that you forgive me. There was not a day that went by that I didn't think of you. Not a day." He softly said to her when he had finished slicing all the guards. Their blood and sweat had fallen all over the man looking at his daughter.
"Please don't let my death be in vein. If you have forgiven me, you'll run away from here." He whispered smiling at her. Mai was taken back. She cried harder sharing a slow moment staring at her father. He was weak and tired, drenched in blood and pain. She could hear other guards storming into the brothel, they would soon arrive to kill her father.
"We have to help her! Jin…Mugen!" Fuu stressed. But there was nothing Jin or Mugen could do that would not make them suspect. The situation hit close to home. Her father had left her and her mother a long time ago. Abandoned them. He had also asked to be forgiven before he died. She never got a chance to tell him that she did. Her eyes watered listening to the silence, but the emotion screaming in her mind.
"Wait!" Screamed a familiar voice. Fuu, Jin and Mugen were all surprised with wide eyes and flopping mouths.
"Lord, I apologize for the noise." The Mistress begged wiping the blood from her lips. She did not want to offend Mizu, he paid a high price and was clearly wealthy. He looked at Mai, walked up to her and saw the tears stain her face. For some reason, his heart sunk, the world around him faded. He felt her pain. He looked over to her father, he was breathing heavy and was clearly cut several times himself.
"How much to free her?" He asked in a soft whisper. Mai's eyes shot open as did her fathers. The Mistress was shocked. Her voice stuck in her throat.
Mugen, Jin and Fuu were equally perplexed. Nobody had expected that he would be the hero in this scene (neither did you guys LOL) .
"My Lord, she is still young, and of course I would like returning business from you….Shall I quote 230 shu." She smiled nervously. The price to save a prostitute was high, and Mai's was a long way from her father's farm debt. But the Mistress could tell that Mizu would pay any amount, yet she quoted very little. She smiled at Mizu. He looked deep into Mai's eyes. She was broken, tired and emotionally done. Her father was as well.
"Here, take whatever you need." He threw the Mistress his pouch full of money. The Mistress sadly took the pouch.
"That should cover their freedom." Mizu angrily looked over to the Mistress. She was shocked at first. She looked over to Mai and than to her father and than to the Yakuza men flooded into the brothel. She didn't want to, the worry of being killed herself; but somehow she had to.
"Go into my room, quick." Mizu exclaimed taking Mai by the arm and pushing her towards his room. He than helped the father into his room with the help of the mistress.
"Lord thank you for the money." She smiled sadly. It was a business transaction, and she had no intention of breaking her end. So when the Yakuza men arrived, she yelled at them claiming that Mai and her father had fled long ago. She scolded them and their incompetence and led them away from Mizu's room down to the first floor.
Mai had finally got to embrace her father. She cried softly into his chest. She had thought the worst things about her father for letting her go just so he could save his farm. She cursed him every night. Each time she saw him come to the brothel she thought that he was there to save her, to buy her back. And now, after 4 years, he finally saved her.
"Quick we need some water." Mizu asked. Fuu, Mugen and Jin were all too shocked to move at first, but snapped out of it. They helped the father on to the futon and tended to his wounds. Mai stayed close to her father, crying for him to be fine.
"Mai. You have grown up into a beautiful woman." He smiled at his daughter. Mizu looked at the man, the sincerity in his eyes. He was sorry for letting Mai see such things, to leave her alone for 4 years in a place where she had been taken by force. Mizu looked over to Mai desperately holding on to her father's hand, from her tears begging him to live.
"Young man. Thank you. Please..Please save my Mai." He pleaded in tears. Mai nodded and cried to him, begging him again to hold on. Fuu, Jin and Mugen had done all they could to stop the bleeding, and bandaged him in sheets; but his cuts were deep. Fuu's eyes watered up. It was painful to see this again, to see a father who truly loved his daughter die. She remembered her father's face, him lying there dying. He told her that he had thought about her everyday, and she believed him. No father could ever really abandon their daughters.
"Papa, please. Please stay." Mai begged softly clutching on to his clothes. He smiled at her, breathing deeply. He slowly brought up his hand to her face and cupped her cheek.
"My sweet bright Mai. You know why I picked that name for you?" His voice was cracking, his gasps for air more apparent; he was dying. Jin and Mugen closed their eyes, realizing that he was going to die soon.
"It means brightness. 4 years ago I took away that light from you. I brought it back today. I hope that you always smile…and shine brightly for me daughter, so that I can see you from the sky." He was crying like a child. Mai was in a fit of tears as well. For 4 years she thought poorly of him, cursed him and hated him for letting her go to a place like this. But tonight, after all that had happened, she forgave him in a heartbeat. It was her father.
"Stranger, if I may burden you with a dying father's request. I leave you her, please take care of my daughter." He smiled at Mizu, he could already tell that he was a good young man. He didn't ask or want to know why he was in the brothel, but could tell he was not there to defile a woman. Mizu was surprised that he asked him that. Fuu, Mugen and Jin all stared at him as he accepted the father's request. He looked at Mai nodding her head disagreeing.
"Forgive this horrible man Mai. You are my daughter…and I love you Mai." He whispered. Fuu gasped noticing that his eyes were rolling back, his breathing fading. Mai cried softly in pain.
"Papa, I love you. Please papa don't leave me again!" She screamed as she felt her father's hand fall down to her leg. His eyes closed, his breath gone; his heart stopped. Mai's head fell down on his chest sobbing gently. She clung on to him, hoping that her tears would some how bring him back. Fuu closed her eyes unable to hold back her own tears. Mugen didn't like feeling bad, but he commended the father for making up for his actions. Jin closed his eyes and gave the father a small prayer and promise for a proper burial. Mizu didn't know what to think, but knew that Mai was his responsibility.
"Mizu-sama.?" Asked Satoru, Mizu's right hand man as he crept in silently. Mizu stood up to still looking down to Mai's dead father.
"What happened?" Satoru asked looking at the young girl crying on her father's dead body.
"Something that should never have happened." Mizu softly whispered to Satoru. The room faded into the darkness, leaving Mai still crying for her father to return.
Yet another night stained with blood. What would the morning light bring?
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"Lord, please if the Yakuza find out-"
"They won't." Mizu quickly interrupted. He was determined to get Mai's father's body out of the brothel and to a proper place for burial. Jin, Mugen and Fuu stuck close to Mizu as he argued the woman down to agreeing. She finally did.
She carefully snuck down stairs while the guards had fallen asleep and led Mizu and his men out with Mai's father's body. Mai walked down slowly behind and said her small goodbye as her father disappeared. Her mind was exhausted, she had not cried this much in a long time. How did this all happen, she thought to herself. Fuu walked to her and smiled giving her a small hug. Mai tried to smile, and though she was happy that her father had come to rescue her, she did not want him to die. Mizu came up to the mistress after seeing Satoru and his men easily sneak out of sight. The morning fog was thick and gave them shelter.
"There is another thing." He said to the mistress who really didn't want to help them any further. Her husband who was responsible for taking care of the brothel was murdered when the Yakuza found out that he had let many girls escape to the sanctuary Island. Since than she had been taking care of the brothel.
"Please I don't want to meet with the same fate." She wept. Everyone was so wrapped up in their own problems they didn't notice how old she had become. Jin had recalled seeing her when he first visited this brothel to buy Shino.
"To die a proper person is not your concern? These women are suffering in this place, dying each day slowly. Men are touching them, forcing them. They don't have a right? Is this place their fate, is the torture their destiny?" He shouted at the mistress. Mizu did not know where this rage was coming from. But each time he looked at Mai, hurt consumed his heart and all he wanted to do was make her safe. It was something he didn't recognize or understand. Mugen and Jin remained silent for a long time. They had no right to say much to the mistress, because they had come to places like this to buy woman. Jin looked deep into Mizu's eyes, there he was again; the same mature honorable man that would peek out every now and than. But this time, he was different. He was convicted to his words, he sounded like a knowledgeable leader.
"Alright…I will help you…" She softly said. She had faced a similar life when she was young. Her father and brother sold her to pay back their gambling debt in her old village. She was brought to a near by town to prostitute and dance for men as they drank. When the night deepened, she would be sold off to men. She cried so much the first time. Her small young body was torn, her innocence stripped away in a quick moment. They defiled her, abused her day in and day out. She had become accustomed to that life, and finally married the owner of the brothel. But as her husband grew older, he started to change. He realized the injustice of what he was selling. They had a daughter, lost her to rape and murder by thugs. After that, they just didn't care; but her husband started to care again. He tried to help them escape to the Island Sanctuary, to imprison them there for 3 years so that after that; they could live. But the Yakuza found out of his treachery and killed him in front of her. Cutting off his arm and throwing it to her as a threat. She cried a lot that night.
However now, she could repent for the deeds she did. She could still be forgiven and allowed into paradise, if she helped the group to free all the women. She remembered back to the night, her first night as a whore. She was laying there naked and alone after a man had taken her virginity by force. The horror and pain that stung all over. The mistress became angry with herself for forgetting such a pain.
"I will not let them have any more…" She angrily said. Her passive confusion and fear were now gone. She was determined and willing to die to save them all. Mizu thanked her and looked back at Mai. She was staring back at him. His heart skipped a beat.
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"Oh dear." The mistress exclaimed quietly when she learned that Mugen and Jin were indeed men. Mai was surprised as well. Something about the way Mugen's expression became made her want to laugh. He was getting annoyed and uncomfortable as the mistress leaned over to grope his fake breasts.
"Oy!" He snorted pushing her hand away. A sweat drop fell down the back of Jin's head, he didn't want to be next.
"Gomen. It's just that it's surprising for samurai's to do such things." She smiled. She had to give the men great credit. They were true to their code, even if it meant utter destruction of their ego's. Mugen cringed watching her face light up with a small giggle.
"But how are you planning to get all of them out of here?" Mai asked. Mizu was seated beside her, and he could smell her soft fragrance. She smelled nice, and was really pretty. He had to keep reminding himself who he was really in love with by gawking at Fuu. She was stuck to Mugen like glue, even though he was a total mess. He was confused. He didn't know what his heart was telling him.
"We can't wait another night. Too much has happened, so we will need to attack tonight." Jin said sternly. He sat like a man, like he always did. But he made sure to keep his kimono in check. Mugen however sat like a man with one leg up revealing his shorts underneath. He didn't want to play girl anymore and readily agreed to attack.
"Already?" Mizu asked a bit worried they were bringing this on too fast. Mugen snorted.
"We have to, there's no telling when the Yakuza will again attack the temple, and we have to make sure that doesn't happen. " Jin answered. Mizu nodded and agreed. He didn't seem childish anymore, in those clothes of a Lord, he looked mature and strong.
"I want to help. Please let me help." Mai interrupted. Fuu looked at her, her eyes watering. She admired how strong Mai was, braving so many horrible things. Mai didn't want her father's death to be in vein, he had come to save her; and she would save him. Mizu stared at her, not knowing what to say to her.
"Alright." Mugen said looking at Jin for confirmation. Jin nodded.
"It's settled. Here's what we do." Jin sternly said. Too much was going on, and they needed a solid plan to stick by in order to make things go smoothly. Mizu leaned in to hear Jin as he started.
"Are you sure you want to be involved?" Jin asked Mai a final time. He stared at her with those cold stormy eyes. He could only hope that she thought this through.
"When you act out of emotion, mistakes can be-"
"I won't make a mistake. My father's death…I won't." Mai leaned in, her tears dry and tired. She was determined to do this for her father. Jin nodded. Mugen looked down to Fuu who held on to his kimono sleeve tightly. He realized that this probably brought back a lot of memories, of her own father; of her own revenge. It was different for her though, her father wasn't able to come back for her; or she would be killed.
"Mistress, we will need men's clothing." Jin said with a sweat drop on the side of his forehead.
"Are you going to change back into men's clothing?" Fuu asked wondering why he was changing the plan. She worried that they would get caught if Mugen and Jin did. Mugen was happy to hear that and encouraged Jin.
"No it's for you and Mai…" Jin said, his eye brow twitching uncontrollably. Mugen sat back and looked at Fuu confused. Mai, Mizu and the Mistress all exchanged puzzled glances before leaning in to hear the rest of his plan.
Well guys, how'd you like that? Who would have guessed that Mizu would be the hero, or that he would find Mai. LOL What crazy things will happen next… tune in next time. )