Disclaimer: Fuu, Jin, and Mugen belong to the anime/manga Samurai Champloo. I have no rights to these characters, but the storyline and new characters are my own.
" Keep control of your emotions." Miko instructed Fuu as she slammed the dull edge of the blade against the tree and kept her focus. " Are you some samurai expert?" Fuu questioned, turning her face towards the female. " No, but I have trained with Ken when he was alive. He showed me some good pointers." – " Oh." Fuu had forgotten that her brother in law was a samurai expert. " Ken sounded like a great person." – " He was, he was always helping everyone in the village and he believed in second chances." Fuu nodded and put her blade to her side. " Do you think he would have given Kaza a second chance?" It was something she just wanted to know. " He would not. Some people don't deserve them and Kaza is in that fold."
While sitting in his room awaiting the day of the talent show, Mugen had found a new hobby. Prying open the piece of wall that he found was loose. Maybe someone else had this room before and found a way out or maybe it was just used for a trap to make the death of a prisoner a just cause, who knew? But Mugen didn't give a flying fuck. He wanted out of his hellhole and he wanted Kaza to feel the sweet taste of his own blood when Mugen drove his sword through his heart. He hoped Fuu and Jin found his sword and kept it, knowing Jin he wanted to make sure that Mugen had a weapon to kill him. Poor deluded Jin, did he think he had a chance in hell to get rid of him. He was undefeated except for Jin, Jin had gave him a real challenge and it was sort of an honor to have his greatest battle with his now ally. Looking towards the door to make sure no one was preparing to enter, he heard a sound and quickly moved a basket along the hole. Turning around and awaiting his visitor, a woman entered the room. She was dressed in fine garments and there was an obvious blank expression on her face. " Are you here to entertain me or something?" Mugen mused and the female shook her head. " I am here to free you." Quirking a brow, this house was getting stranger by the second.
" I can handle my own training for now, Miko." Fuu said in an irritated tone, Jin was already gone to find some information about Kaza's army and it was just Fuu and Miko at the hotel. Fuu did like Miko but she felt she was too much of a meddler than help. " I'm only trying to help." Miko protested. " You know when I ask for it. I'll be glad to accept it. But I can't concentrate if you keep telling me I'm doing every little thing wrong." – " I am sorry." And Fuu felt bad for just blowing her cool on a girl that just wanted vengeance for her sister. " I'm sorry too." Fuu added, looking down and sitting upon her bed. " I just don't know if I'll be able to fight well enough to keep Jin and Mugen alive. I learned some techniques when I was a child but nothing for real battle." – " You'll do fine." Miko assured her. " I wish I had your confidence in battle, but I'm not sure." – " If you keep relying on self doubt, you'll never get anywhere." Fuu turned to look at Miko and then looked towards the ground.
" He's got about twenty men on the Westside." An old merchant told Jin as he stood at his cart, this man also did not want Kaza in charge of his village. Kaza had taken his two daughters and made them servants in his household and from what he told Jin, he knew it wasn't simple servitude like carrying trays and cleaning clothes, it went beyond that. Frowning slightly after hearing the villagers tales, he knew that Kaza was something that needed to be exterminated. " Do you think you can get rid of him?" A woman questioned Jin as she looked through her basket of fish and then towards him. " I can't guarantee that. But I will try my best." – " I wish you luck." She said simply and with that Jin, left to go back to the Hotel.
" Why do you want to help me?" Mugen questioned standing up as the female walked towards him.
" Because it's too late for my escape but if I could just help one person to escape his wrath, it's worthwhile." – " Who are you?" The woman sighed and looked at the small mirror that was on her wall.
" I am Myori. Kaza's wife…" Her fingers moved along her ebony locks as she stared at the mirror. " His wife?" This guy was a nut job. He already had a wife, why did he want Fuu. " You don't mind that he's fucking other girls on the side?" Mugen questioned, folding his arms and Myori shook her head. " He can have all the women in the world, but I do not want him. I want freedom and he knows that's all I desire." – " So you're held here against your will?" She nodded and looked around incase one of his guards were near them. " Yes. To protect my family. My pride can be held at bay as long as they are safe. He has not harmed them since we were married and they all believe me to be dead." – " But why are you pretending to be dead?" This whole story was becoming more of a shitload than he could handle. " Because, it is better that they believed me dead fighting for a love that I lost than alive, giving into the man that destroyed my life." That was pretty deep and even Mugen was affected by it. He didn't understand the motives of love, he normally figured it was about finding a hot broad and getting the best fuck. But there were feelings involved and pain? He just couldn't grasp it. " We don't have long. I know his plans for your friend. And I don't want another woman to miss her chance on life for this monster." – " You're not kidding with the monster word." Myori smiled for a moment and nodded her head. " Yes, he is rather horrible. But he is my husband and if I shall not speak ill of him." – " No worries. I got enough ill speaking for both of us."
" Did you get any good information?" Miko questioned Jin immediately and Jin nodded. " He has a lot of men. More than I suspected. But they are all spread out and from what I've heard from the townspeople, some have been forced into servitude. Man and Woman alike." Fuu frowned for a moment, she couldn't believe that someone could be so horrible, stripping young men and women from their families just to serve him and boost his already over inflated ego? " So some people will revolt if given the right incentive?" Fuu questioned and Jin merely shrugged. " Only if Kaza is killed. If he's not, there's no reason to revolt and risk the deaths of their loved ones." – " Killing Kaza will not be an easy task. He is a very skilled samurai." Jin looked towards Fuu and then to Miko. " I have seen him fight against Mugen, he is quite talented. But even the greatest of fighters can be stopped with the right strategy." At that moment, Fuu blushed with nerves. She knew she had no strategy in mind to take on Kaza or even his guards, but she knew that Jin was already ahead of her on thinking of the plot. " The talent show is tomorrow. We will infiltrate and find Mugen." –
" That's sounds like a plan." Miko said and smiled at Jin, Jin returned a small smile and that caused a scowl from Fuu.
" I must be going." Myori said at last, after telling Mugen her plans on helping him to escape. Leaving the room, she stopped at the door and smiled for a moment. " I hope this works." Mugen nodded and watched Myori close the door behind herself. He wasn't sure if her plan would work, but what other options he had? Digging a hole through that wall would take more time and he wasn't about to stay in this hellhole. But her plan might have some substance. Folding his arms, he wondered if he could take Myori with him. She didn't deserve to be this nut job's captive wife. He knew she deserved better, and he also knew that he wasn't better so thoughts of romance quickly escaped his mind. She couldn't get caught up with his lifestyle, he was living for the next day and he had no real plans on love and family. He never really had it growing up, so why should he deserve any now? Resting his head against the wall, a voice interrupted his train of thoughts. " I see you have the look of a man torn apart." Turning around and knowing his voice immediately. " Kaza." – " The one and only. I know you have met my wife." Mugen smirked and looked at him. " Why the fuck do you want Fuu if you already have a wife?" – " Those are my reasons and not yours. You'll be gone anyway." Mugen frowned. " Like hell I will."
" I think I'm going to take a breather for a moment." Miko said, standing up from the floor and walking inside. " Me too. I'll be back." Jin told Fuu as she nodded and watched them both leave. She wasn't stupid, but why was she so jealous. She wasn't dating Jin and she had no type of claim on him? It sometimes irked her that Mugen and Jin treated her like she wasn't worthy of a man's affections, well it wasn't that serious. But she would have liked a compliment once in a while. Closing her eyes, she replayed her previous movements in her mind.
Miko turned around to look at Jin as he stood next to her by the pond. " What brings you out here?" She questioned. " Nature…" He said, remembering when Fuu spoke about the world around herself. He didn't take time to notice nature too much only when it suited him in survival. " You love her don't you?" Miko questioned, looking towards the water. " What?" She smiled and looked at Jin. " I can see it in your eyes, It was the same look that Ken held for Myori and I see it again with you and Fuu." Jin couldn't believe she was accusing him of being in love with Fuu, and Fuu having returned these supposed feelings. He couldn't deny he had something special with her, a strong connection that had bonded so quickly. But it couldn't be love, she was just his friend. He loved her as a friend and nothing more. " Why are you denying your feelings?" Miko questioned. " I don't want to lose her." He said simply. " What do you mean?" Taking in a breath, he decided to just let it out to someone who wouldn't hold it against him. " I don't want to have the pain of losing another person that I love again. I have lost too much in my life and to just have something with Fuu and it not work out." Meaning, his final battle with Mugen, what if Mugen managed to win? He would be dead, and Fuu would never find happiness with another. He didn't want her to hurt because of the choices that he made. " You are afraid you will be killed?" – " Killed or anything. I don't want her to mourn me as a lover. To think about a future that we might not have." Myori nodded but at that moment, Fuu was standing behind them and she had heard every word he said.
" Are you going to tell me about your plans for Fuu, as you said. It's not like I'll be here to stop them I just want to know." Kaza smiled and shrugged his shoulders. " I want Fuu as another wife to replace Myori." – " Replace? You act like she's some malfunctioning toy or something." Moving his head to the side, he raised a hand and laughed. " Well she is. She is not a good wife, she does not love me and her passion to escape me has long since died. She is comfortable in her rut, and that does not please me." – " So you want your wife to want to get away from you?" Kaza nodded. " Like I said in our earlier conversation. I enjoy a good catch. It's not fun when my prey allows itself to be caught, where's the adventure? The exhilaration, the thrill." – " You're more fucked up than I imagined." Mugen said simply and Kaza laughed again. " I do hope I'm going to be analyzed by a common vagrant." – " I may be a vagrant, but I'm not whacked out samurai with a small dick that wants to hold women hostage." At this comment, Kaza had lost his pleasurable demeanor. " Small dick?" He questioned. " Where it hangs is what I say. Deal with it." – " I don't deal with anything." Now it was Mugen's turn to laugh, walking towards an unarmed Kaza he smiled and got face to face with him. " You're a coward, Kaza. You have all this money and all these dickhead's at your disposal. But you still insist on kidnapping women and making them your love slave. Do the women turn away and laugh when you show them your dick? Do they point and ask where's the rest of it. Is that why you started your campaign on taking women as your hostage?" Kaza stared back at Mugen and smirked. " So you must be the ladies man." He said through gritted teeth. " Well, no lady has run from me yet. Unless I'm telling her to back the fuck off." Kaza nodded and moved his fingers along his chin. " Well you worry about the whores that you deal with, since that is all you will be accustomed to. No fine woman will want a vagrant at their side. Look at you, you are filthy, uneducated, and rude. You make a mockery of a samurai with your unauthorized skills and swordplay." Mugen nodded, yes. He wasn't a real samurai, he wasn't an honorable samurai. " I might not a samurai in your eyes. But I am in mine. Just give my sword and I'll give your last rites."
Turning around, Fuu hurried back to her hotel room. Was Jin serious, did he love her? Her fingers fluttered along her hair in nervous rhythm as she pondered the situation. Yes, she did feel something for Jin. When she had first met him and their journey started. He did seem like the spoil sport sometimes, but he was a good person and he always aimed to protect her. No matter what. But she couldn't find love with a samurai whose only goal after their adventure was to kill Mugen. Sure, she wasn't friends with Mugen in a best friend sense. But Mugen was her friend, even though he didn't like to admit it. How would that affect him on their journey if she and Jin decided to give in to their love? She needed them both to finish this quest.
" So you're going to just let her slip away like that?" – " Why are you so concerned with my love life?" Jin questioned, Miko came in so suddenly and with such vital information. Now that he was thinking, he wondered how exactly did she find them both. " And how did you know we needed help in dealing with Kaza?" Miko's eyes widened as she frowned slightly. " Clever one aren't you?" – " What?" Putting her hand in the folds of her kimono, she moved out a long blade and held it towards Jin. " I am Miko, Myori's sister and Kaza's spy." This was getting too freaky now. " What? Spy?" Jin immediately relinquished his own sword and held it towards Miko. " But I thought you wanted to honor your sister's memory." – " Her memory has been honored enough. It is my time for glory." Pacing each other, Miko smiled a bit. " All my life it was Myori this and Myori that. No one cared about my needs, and my wants. She was the main focus of the family. And I grew sick of it. I was a better fighter, I was a better cook, I was the better in everything but the main thing that Myori had that I didn't .Was a heart. Oh, she was beautiful but she had heart. She was kind to everyone. Why should I have wasted my time on idiotic people when I could achieve power and status?" Jin couldn't believe his ears. " Why are you after us?" – " Very simple. You aim to stop my boss. I knew Mugen was with you two. And I knew I would have to intercept you before you could reach him. Mainly you." – " Me?" It was all so clear now, Jin was the better fighter out of himself and Fuu. Myori was aiming to kill him and take Fuu to Kaza. " You'll never take Fuu." He said as Miko laughed.
" Oh, when you are dead. You will no choice in the matter. Let's fight." Jin nodded and dashed towards her. " Let's!" Running at one another, each of them raised their sword as metal upon metal collided.
