Chapter 3: You make nightmares beautiful
"Ah, dammit." Mugen complained as he limped down the back alleyway. He used his sword as a cane to support himself up.
"Mugen! Mugen!" he heard someone call his name up ahead.
"Over here!" he shouted. He saw Fuu and Jin running over to him.
"What happened to you?" asked Fuu.
"One of her groupies jumped me." He said.
"Where's the money?" asked Jin examining that there was no money to be found.
Mugen gave Jin an irritated look.
"WHAT! You let them steal our money!" cried Fuu angrily. Mugen gave her the same look.
"Well if someone hadn't been more careful with the money then we wouldn't be in this shit!" Mugen argued back. Fuu restrained herself from knocking him upside the head.
"Do you have any left at all?" asked Jin. Fuu searched her kimono and pulled out one small brass coin, she frowned and said:
"It's not even enough for one of us." Fuu held her head low.
She noticed Mugen's leg, and the blood dripping from it. "Mugen your leg…it's bleeding." Her voice became softer. She sat on her knees and examined the wound.
"Some girl came out of nowhere I told you." He said.
Fuu quickly ripped off a piece of her kimono. "Stay still." She tied it tightly around his leg.
"Ah!" he whined. She stood up wiping her hands on her kimono.
"There, all done." She said cheerfully. "Feel any better?" she asked. He looked at his bandaged calf.
"Yeah Thanks." He said.
The three walked into the busier part of the village. Hoping they could find jobs or an inn.
"Please sir, we will work for it till we get enough money to get out of here." Fuu begged an innkeeper.
"Get out of here…I have no time for free-loaders." He said annoyed.
"Please sir…I promise we aren't free-loaders…I swear…we will find jobs and pay you when we have made enough money to get out of here." She implored.
The man turned back around to Fuu, he sighed.
"Fine, but you must stay in a little room…I have no larger rooms for non-paying customers.
"Fine you have a deal!" she shook his hand. A very small woman showed them to their room. She slid the door open and escorted them into a dark room. The room was very cramped.
"When he meant small he wasn't kidding." Joked Mugen.
"Have a goodnight." Said the old woman. Fuu took one corner, Jin took the other and Mugen sprawled himself out on a whole side.
"Ow! You kicked me." Fuu complained to Mugen.
"Sorry, your feet are too big." He said with a jerky smile.
"No their not! Your just ignorant!" She shouted back.
"Oh, good comeback." Mugen smirked. Jin lowered his head and drowned out their constant bickering. He thought of Noticki…
"I'm not a child…children shouldn't have to grow up at the age of 10. If it wasn't for the samurai, my sister and I might still have our parents."
Her words were branded on his mind. He closed his eyes and fell asleep. After at least 30 minutes of insults; Fuu had fallen asleep. Mugen sat up and thought of that woman. He felt something about her, something he had felt before. Thinking about it made his eyes droopy, he fell asleep.
: THE DREAM:"Say goodbye you piece of shit." A man with a large samurai sword stood over a bleeding and young Mugen. He picked himself up much as he could and spat on the man's clothes.
"Ah! You little piece of shit." The man drove the sword down…but missed him. Mugen dragged his small body to the edge of the cliff. The man ran to him with his sword. Mugen had no choice there was nowhere to run. He fell over the side dropping into the water below.
A young girl kicked up sand as she walked down the beach. She let the waves brush against her ankles. She wore a torn white and pink kimono. She walked farther down the beach and saw something up ahead on the sand. She saw soaking hair and tan skin. She ran up to the body. She turned him over…and pressed her ear up to his chest to hear a heart beat. Slowly his chest rose up then down. She sighed in relief. She looked at his blood soaked shirt. She ran her finger across the bloody material, and saw the slashes on his arms and on his stomach. The gash inn his head, filled her heart with sympathy.
"You poor thing." She said
His eyes opened slowly and his body ache as feeling rushed back to his skin. He heard humming from a tender child like voice. His eyes shifted over to a young girl sitting by a fire. She stirred something in a large black pot, the aroma filled Mugen's nose, and awoke his appetite. The young girl only looked 11 years old, he tried to sit himself up, but fell back down on the bed. He grunted as the pain shot up his back. The little girl gasped as she heard a growl.
"Sister! Sister! He's awake!" she cried. Mugen looked over to the doorway. He could hear two soft voices talking quietly to each other. Till footsteps walked slowly in…she was an angel to his eyes.
Her hair was raven black and her skin was a milky pale but soft. Her piercing bright brown eyes rattled his spine. She smiled at him, but he just starred back at her.
"Hi, you've been asleep for awhile." Her voice was soft and motherly, something he had not heard in a while.
"W-Where Am I?" he struggled to say.
"On the outskirts of Juhira village," she sat down next to him. "I found you on the beach barely breathing…and soaked in blood." She said in a concerned voice.
She smiled to him when he said nothing. "I brought to my house, and my sister and I bandaged you up." She said still smiling. Mugen looked at his stomach and saw bloody bandages wrapped around him. He thought back for a second and remembered running from a store after he stole some food and few coins.
"What happened to you?" she asked.
"I-I can't remember." He lied. She had given him somewhere to stay, and bandaged him…he didn't want to upset her.
"What is your name?" she asked.
"Mugen." He said quietly.
"Oh, My name is…wake up Mugen!" the girl cried. Mugen gave her a confused look,
"Huh?" he said, again she said.
"MUGEN WAKE UP!"
END DREAMHe jumped when he felt cold bony fingers twist his ear.
He shot his eyes wide opened, Fuu's screeching voice pierced his peaceful dream.
"Come on! Time to find a job." She said.
The three woke to a early sunrise and already the streets were filled with people.
"Okay let's go find us some work." Said Fuu cheerfully, but then realized those two already left her side. "Ugh! Men."
Fuu walked into a small restaurant. The smell of food tickled her nose.
"May I help you?" a young woman asked. She was a little chunky but seemed real nice.
"Yes I was wondering…do you have any job openings right now?" asked Fuu.
"Well we could use a few more hands around here." Said the girl "Hmmm…why not." Said the young girl. Fuu bowed her head
"Thank you so much, when can I start?" asked Fuu. Just then a man yelled across the room.
"Hey lady! Get my order!" The girl smiled and said,
"How about now?" and handed Fuu the tray.
Jin slowly walked down the busy roads knocking into people as he passed. He bumped into a man holding a large vase.
"Whoa! WWWHHHHOOOOAAAA!" The man dropped the vase, smashing it into pieces. Jin stopped to apologize.
"I'm sorry friend." Jin said. The man was scrawny and wore a red and white kimono…he was sort of feminine.
"Ah! My art…my beautiful art!" he cried over the broken pieces. "You're going to pay for that!" said the man sticking out his hand as if waiting for money.
"I'm sorry, but I don't have any money right now." Jin replied calmly.
"Then you'll work for it, in my pottery shop." He said looking Jin up and down.
Jin sighed and followed the man.
Mugen walked lazily down the road passing a brothel. Women hung out the side.
"Hey there wanna have some fun?" one skinny woman said stopping Mugen in his tracks. She stroked his cheek.
"Sorry ladies but I'm broke." He said as he smiled a perverted smile. The woman stopped stroking his face and turned away from him to more men walking by.
"Man." Said Mugen sadly. He walked further along the road. He stopped in front of a apple stand. The man was turned around, and Mugen reached for a bright red apple…but then a small child like hand rose from under the table and took the apple that Mugen had gone for.
"Huh?" he watched as the sly hand came back up and stole two more apples without anyone noticing.
From the shadows of under the table a small boy came from under the table. His ragged red shirt and dirty face sent a red flag up in Mugen's head.
"Hey, remember me?" Mugen said in low chilling voice. The boy turned back around slowly. His eyes filled with fear as he laid his eyes on the man's twisted smile.
"AAAAAAHHHHHH!" he squealed as ran away from Mugen.
"Hey! Get back here!" he shouted to Tomio. Mugen ran quickly after him, never taking an eye off of his red shirt.
"I'll get you!" he shouted. The boy turned a sharp corner and ran past a pottery shop…Jin sat outside the pottery shop waiting for customers when he heard a scream run past him.
"AAAAAAAAHHHHHHHHH!" Jin watched as the boy ran passed him…Jin recognized the boy. The one who stole the money.
"What was all that racket?" asked the pottery man, he placed a hand on Jin's shoulder squeezing it.
"A child I know, I need to see what's wrong with him." Jin was bad at lying. Luckily for him the man fell for it.
"Go ahead and take care of him, he's scaring business." Said the man letting go of Jin's shoulder. Jin shook his head as the man walked back into the store.
He got up and walked calmly down the road where people where staring in the awe.
When Jin walked into the road he was suddenly struck by something moving very fast, with a flash of red striking him Jin was shot to the ground.
To be continued…
Hope ya like the third chapter more coming soon