(Author's Note: Thanks to everyone who leaves reviews! I'm so glad you're digging this… I think this is the best chapter I've written before, I sincerely believe Mugen is ticklish and would make a great Buddha. Thanks again!)

CHAPTER SIX

"Yeep," said Momo.

Jin's foot stopped half-way down to the ground. He peered around it. Directly under his foot was a squirrel, nose twitching.

"Momo!" exclaimed Jin. He dropped to his knees to look at the squirrel. "Where's Fuu?"

"Eee, yeep yeep," said Momo.

"What's that, Momo? Fuu fell down the old well?" asked Jin. He laughed at his own joke. Mugen gave him a good, solid kick.

"Oh, come on! That was a good one!" protested Jin, rubbing his side painfully.

"No, Jin, that was—hic—really stupid. And—hic—you're talking to a—hic—squirrel."

"Yeep!" said Momo indignantly.

Jin stood, brushed off his hakama, regathered his dignity, and said, "Let's follow it."

"Follow a—hic—squirrel? What, are you looking—hic—for peanuts or—hic—something?" asked Mugen cynically. Momo gave an angry "ee!" and nipped one of his toes.

"OW! Freakin' thing—hic—bit me!"

"Poor baby," muttered Jin sarcastically, already changing his path through the field to follow Momo. The squirrel scampered through the grass, taking them to the eastern door of the warehouse. When they got there, Momo stood on her hind legs and made a little squirrel gesture.

"We don't know what we're up against," said Jin. "So we're going to use the element of surprise."

"What'd you—hic—mean?"

"I mean… SURPRISE!" yelled Jin, jumping at Mugen. Mugen squeaked and fell backwards. Jin pointed and laughed. So did Momo.

Mugen picked himself up grumbling. "You're not—hic—as funny as—hic—you think you are," he said, pulling his sword from his back. He shook his hair from his eyes.

"Right. We're really going to use the element of surprise," said Jin gravely. "This warehouse is big enough to hold dozens… even hundreds of enemies. So we must keep absolutely quiet and not call attention to ourselves."

"Hic," said Mugen loudly.

Jin glared at him.

He forced down the next hiccup with a painful shudder.

"Good. Ready?"

"Ready," confirmed Mugen. He twitched at another violent hiccup.

Jin pushed opened the creaky door with one hand, peering around it furtively, his other hand clutching his sword. He nodded to Mugen. Momo scampered ahead, and the two samurai followed.

"Remember… be absolutely silent," whispered Jin.

"Hic," whispered Mugen as quietly as he could.

"SHH!"

Mugen clamped his lips together and shook again, treading as quietly as he could in his metal-soled geta. Unlike Jin, he wasn't very good at being stealthy. Jin slunk along the wall like a shadow. Mugen followed, tie-toeing ridiculously and twitching periodically.

"You stay here. I'm going to go investigate," whispered Jin, pulling Mugen into a small alcove. "If anyone comes by, for heavens' sake, don't call attention to yourself. Pretend you're a statue or something.

"A—hic—statue?" said Mugen. He raised his eyebrows.

"Or something!" hissed Jin. With that, he turned and swept away, following Momo.

Stupid Jin, thought Mugen while he stood in the alcove. Leaving me this stupid dusty warehouse. What a freak.

He looked around, bored. The warehouse had narrow halls with low ceilings. It was very dusty and very dark, because there were no windows. The doors were mostly closed, and drifts of trash heaped against them implied they hadn't been opened in some time. There were occasional, arched alcoves like the one Mugen was in, but most were empty. Except for one across from him, which held a very interesting suit of armor.

Mugen walked over to it and gave it an experimental tap. It went ding. He tapped it harder. It went clang. He looked around anxiously, but the hallway was deserted.

Mugen reached up and gave the armor a good, sharp tap on the head. The entire body crumbled to the ground in a massive, echoing crash. Mugen cringed as he listened to the resounding noise ring through the entire warehouse.

There was a moment of silence.

"Phew," said Mugen. The only thing the armor had upset was, apparently, the dust. Speaking of which… "Ah…ah…" Mugen scrunched up his nose, hiccupped and then said, "Ach-CHOO!"

Instantly, six people appeared.

"Did you hear that?" yelled one.

"Yeah, someone sneezed!"

The guards turned around, swords held up smartly, searching. Mugen had returned to his alcove and was wondering, desperately, what to do. His body shook with hiccups. The guards were approaching… if they passed the alcove, they'd see him…

He sat down, crossed his legs, put his hands in his lap, and puffed out his cheeks.

The guards walked by, still looking.

"Hey..." said one of them slowly, stopping and looking straight at Mugen. "Was that Buddha statue there earlier?"

The guard in front of him paused to study Mugen. "Yeah," he said finally. "That old thing has always been there. It's nothing."

"Oh." The guards started to walk away.

"Wait, Botan! Don't forget to rub his tummy for good luck!"

"Oh, right." Botan reached out to rub Mugen's stomach. Mugen's eyes filled with tears. He snorted, and finally squeaked out, "tee, hee."

"Wha—? It's alive!" yelled Botan, jerked back.

"Get him!" yelled three other guards.

"Hic!" exclaimed Mugen, drawing his sword. He jumped over a low swing, kicked off the wall, and ran his sword through the stomach of a guard. He jerked away from another swing and twirled around, severing the spinal cord of a second.

"Hic—hic—hic!" he said frantically. His sword met with a crash against another; it flew from his hand. He jumped onto his hands and twisted, kicking three of the guards across their faces with his metal-soled geta, cracking skulls and jaws on impact. He jumped back onto his feet nimbly, grabbed his sword from the ground, and turned to the last guard, Botan.

"But—but Buddha is kind and gentle!" said Botan quaveringly.

"I'm not—hic—Buddha, you moron," said Mugen. He slit Botan's throat, wiped his sword on his jacket's sleeve, sheathed the sword, and began dragging bodies under their arms, forming a heap in the alcove.

He'd just finished when Jin returned. He leaned against the wall nonchalantly, examining his nails and trying to look cool, even though he was hiccupping quietly.

"Mugen!" hissed Jin. "Why is there a stack of dead bodies there?" He pointed.

"Those? Those were—hic—there when we got here. Hic. Remember?" asked Mugen with wide-eyed innocence.

"I told you not to start anything!" snapped Jin. "Why do you always have to start something? You're hopeless!"

"Hic—hic—hic—jerk," Mugen managed to gasp out. He swallowed a few hiccups and asked, "Did you—hic—find anything?"

"I discovered quite a lot, actually," said Jin primly. "Fuu is being held upstairs, and she's not very heavily guarded. Also, I found the kitchen." He held up several empty skewers.

"Aww, hic, man! You ate without me?"

"Shrimp," confirmed Jin.

"And you didn't—hic—get me any?" whined Mugen.

"I'll admit, it was a little shellfish," said Jin.

Crickets chirped. Momo slapped her forehead and groaned.

"Just show me where Fuu is so we can get out of here."

Jin and Momo led the way through several sharp turns, kicking up dust everywhere they went. They went up a dark, steep stairwell and came to a narrow hall. They walked about halfway down it before they heard footsteps. They ducked into a doorway and watched more people passing through a crack.

"Hic," murmured Mugen. Jin gave him a harsh warning glare and hissed, "Quiet!"

Mugen put a hand over his mouth, but another hiccup escaped. The two guards stopped.

"You hear something?"

"I think so…"

Jin clamped his hands over Mugen's. The two knelt, frozen. The guards didn't move either.

"It was probably nothing."

"Yeah."

They began walking again. Mugen and Jin both relaxed

"HIC!" yelped Mugen.

"It's him!" yelled the two guards, whipping around as Mugen and Jin burst from their hiding place.

"Yeah, it's—hic—me, alright!" exclaimed Mugen, twitching as he drew his sword.

"What's wrong with you?"

"I have the—hic—I have the—hic—I have—hic—hic—hic—hic—hic—Jin!"

"He has hiccups," said Jin calmly.

The two guards exchanged looks, then charged.

"You can't—hic—touch me, you freakin'—hic—hic—hic!" yelled Mugen, darting away from the sword that flashed at him, only inches from cutting his flesh. Momo scrambled up the leg of Jin's guard and laid her furry body firmly over his eyes. The guard yelled and staggered; Jin ran his sword through his midsection, and then turned to helped Mugen, who was hiccupping so hard that his aim was rather off.

"I didn't—hic—need your—hic—help," said Mugen grudgingly, after Jin slashed the man across the chest and split open his head like a melon.

"Of course not," said Jin soothingly.

"Yeep," said Momo, gesturing frantically toward a door to their left. Mugen and Jin both turned toward it, then looked at each other.

"Well… this is—hic—it."

"Wait," said Jin. "There's people in there. Lots of people." He lowered his voice. "I've formulated a plan."

"Oh, no… hic."

"I'll cause a distraction and draw them away. You go in, untie Fuu, and escape."

"Why can't I—hic—create the distract—hic—tion?" asked Mugen.

"Because you have hiccups."

"Stupid hiccups."

"Just wait here. Pretend you're a statue again or something." With that, Jin swept away. Mugen stood against the wall, shifting feet uncomfortably.

"So… Momo… how 'bout them—hic—Dolphins?"

"Yee," said Momo, shrugging.

There was a shout and a lot of crashing from downstairs. The door behind which Fuu was tied up flew open and a stream of people poured out. Mugen sat still and waited for them to pass.

"Hey… look… it's Buddha!" exclaimed one, pointing. He reached for Mugen's stomach.

Mugen snatched his hand. "Rub my—hic—stomach, and you can forget—hic—about ever achieving nirvana!" he warned. He let go and froze again.

The guard gaped and looked around. "Hey… did anyone else…?" He shook his head and hurried after the rest, looking confused.

Mugen jumped up and ran into the room. Fuu was sitting tied up in the middle of it, a bag over her head. Mugen ran over and yanked the bag from her head.

"Oh, Jin—" she began. Then she jerked back in surprise. "You?"

"Oh, shut up!" griped Mugen. "Hic. The pretty-boy is downstairs, creating—hic—a distraction." He tugged at the knots binding Fuu's wrists. The ropes fell to the floor; he yanked her to her feet roughly and began dragging her across the room. Momo disappeared into her kimono once more.

"Hurry—hic—up!" he said, pushing her down the hall.

"I'm going, I'm going!" she said anxiously. "Mugen, it's a trap! They wanted you to come here! There are two, Akio and Asa, they want revenge—"

"Oh, yeah," mused Mugen. "He's the guy who hated my Spice Girls ring tone

"Um, Mugen, why…?"

"Never—hic—mind! We've got to help Jin!" They raced down the hall, where they could hear loud sounds coming from a door at the end.

Just as they reached it, they heard a loud murmur of angry voices, rising like a wave.

"Oh, no! We're too late!" cried Fuu. Mugen grabbed the handle and yanked open the door. His and Fuu's mouths dropped open at what they saw…

(Author's Note: Don't you just HATE cliff-hangers? I sure do. But it was getting long. Leave reviews and I'll post the last chapter up. Mua-ha-ha.)