(Author's Note: I'll keep it short and sweet. First, pulling down the lower eyelid and showing that red part of the eye is the Japanese equivalent to the middle finger. Also, the word "uke" is used to describe the submissive role in a shougen ai relationship. I found this out by running a web search after Far Strider used that word in a review. I had no idea I was writing shougen ai, but I guess you learn something new every day. The dominant role is called the "seme." Sorry for the abrupt ending... this is part 1 of a three or four part piece within the story.)

(Author's Note, Pt. 2: I wasn't happy with these chapters to begin with, and after checking out the reviews I decided it was high time for me to rewrite them. Some parts are totally unchanged, others are altered dramatically. It's about the same concept but I'm trying to get Fuu in-character. Gah, it's hard, I swear she's the same as my ex-girlfriend, who was like borderline abusive… but enough of my personal problems! Here's the rewrite!) (Oh, yes, and apologies to Shenji… because I took your nickname in this chapter, as well as your regular name. Now both are soiled! Bwa-ha-ha-ha-ha!)

CHAPTER EIGHTEEN

"Ugghhh," said Mugen. He opened his eyes. He felt like he was in water. Everything was swimming, that was for sure. It was blurry and foggy and sounded far away, and he felt a crushing pressure, like tons of water just pushing down on his chest and stomach.

"Shh, Mugen. You're hurt."

He squinted. "Fuu?"

"Yeah. It's me. You'll be okay."

He raised his hand feebly and groped for her, but there were so many Fuus swimming around in front of him that it took him a long time to grab the right one.

"What happened?"

"You nearly drowned."

Drowned? wondered Mugen. He hadn't drowned. He had been fighting. It was fuzzy but… he remember four people… two in blue, one in red, one in gray… a garden… something with Jin…

"How…?"

"You were fighting with some samurai," said Fuu. Her voice sounded funny. "You were hit across the back of your head and you fell in a koi pond."

Mugen almost laughed, but it hurt. Of all the things to happen… he could feel cuts and bruises all over his body, but his worst injury wasn't from the samurai at all, it was from fish. Knocked unconscious, and left for the fish. It was crazy.

"Just hold still okay?"

He felt her tightening something across his arm. He tried to raise his head to see it, but aborted his attempt after a searing pain went streaking through his forehead. He moaned. "Is it bad?"

"Yeah. Your arm's cut pretty deep. And I think some ribs might be cracked. I'm not really sure."

"Eh. Not the first time," said Mugen feebly. "Where's Jin? What happened to him?"

There was a long, long pause. Mugen wondered if he'd fallen asleep. He couldn't tell… it felt like he was floating.

"He went with the samurai."

Mugen felt confused. He tried to sit up; his head seared again. "Those guys who wanted to kill him? Why did he go with them?"

"He didn't get to decide. He was out cold."

"And you let them take him!" cried Mugen. He struggled half-way into a sitting position before white-hot pain blinded him and he flopped down with a little cry.

"Well, I didn't have a choice!" said Fuu shrilly. "I was trying to get water out of your lungs at the time, I couldn't really save your life and go after five samurai at the same time, okay!"

Mugen just groaned. "He's dead, isn't he?"

"No," said Fuu sharply, giving Mugen's arm an angry tug. Mugen cried out again. He didn't like having other people work on him; he'd always tended to his wounds himself. It somehow hurt more when someone else did it.

"Who won?" asked Mugen.

"Go to sleep, Mugen," commanded Fuu coldly.

"Who did they decide won? Jin won, right? He knocked Shenji out before they came."

"It doesn't matter who won."

"They can't say Shenji won… because he had their help…"

"Just sleep, Mugen."

"Hey. HEY!"

Fuu and Mugen turned around and raised their hands to shield their eyes from the sun. They were on the road out of town. Neither one had spoken to the other since the previous night. Breakfast had been fast and silent; fast because they had to leave quickly, and silent because neither felt much like talking. They left morosely, Mugen occasionally wincing and bringing up an arm to shield his upper stomach. As Fuu suspected, some of his ribs were cracked, although, luckily, none had punctured any major internal organs.

Their silent walk out of town was interrupted with loud shouts from behind them. Running down the road towards them was Rini.

"You!" she yelled, skidding to a stop a few yards away. "Your samurai killed Miyazaki-san!"

"Your precious Miyazaki-san is low-life scum," said Mugen. "And Jin's not anyone's samurai! He's a ronin!" He said the last part so violently that Fuu took a step to the side, just in case he decided he needed to hit something.

"How dare you talk about Miyazaki-san like that! He saved this town!"

"He hurt my friend," replied Mugen coldly. Fuu thought it was strange to hear him refer to Jin as his friend.

"Your friend just sentenced this entire village to death!"

"Better dead than living under that creep, if you want my opinion," said Mugen scathingly.

"I don't want your opinion!" yelled Rini. Mugen ignored her; he turned and began walking back up the road. Rini scuttled after them. "HEY!" she yelled. "COME BACK HERE! You've got to fix this!"

"Sod off," said Mugen.

"NO! I saw what happened! I saw your samurai kill my master!"

"He didn't kill him!" snapped Fuu. "If you'd have stayed, you would have seen him get up. He left willing with the rest of them."

"And he's not our samurai! He's a ronin!"

"Then I want you to bring him back!" yelled Rini shrilly, stomping the ground and bringing up a cloud of dust. Her kimono was yellow with orange swans on it; the brown settled on it in patches. Her face had turned bright red; her hair was coming out of its neat tie, and surrounding her face in brown. She looked like an autumn tree.

"Well, too bad," snapped Mugen.

"You can't just leave us here!" cried Rini. Her soft, round face was so pleading that Fuu would have hugged her, if they'd been on better terms. But she didn't think Rini was her friend anymore; Rini's eyes were wide and shining with tears of anger, and she was glaring at Fuu with utmost loathing. Fuu had betrayed her. "Where are you going, anyways?" she asked. "What's so important? Nothing, that's what! You're just cowards, leaving our village to die, after you chased away Miyazaki-san!"

It was a rhetorical question, but both Fuu and Mugen had a compulsive need to answer. Fuu said, "We're going to Nagasaki." At the same time, Mugen growled, "I'm going to Kisarazu."

"What?" demanded Fuu, wheeling around to look at Mugen. "Where?"

"Kisarazu," repeated Mugen, who was already walking, stiffly, up the hill and into the vast expanse of fields that stretched out before them.

"Kisarazu?" cried Fuu. "Where the hell is that? Why are you going there? What about the Sunflower Samurai? What's so great about—" She stopped dead in her tracks. "That's where Jin's dojo is, isn't it!"

"Yeah," said Mugen.

"Mugen!"

"They said they're taking him to the dojo. And the dojo is in Kisarazu," said Mugen. "So I'm going to Kisarazu."

"To take on an entire group of the best, most pissed-off samurai in the world?" asked Fuu, hoping Mugen would realize how crazy it was.

"Yep."

"Jin's probably already dead!"

"Nope. They'll be traveling slow. There's six of them, including Jin, who can't walk very fast. I'll beat them there. We'll think of a plan on the way."

"A plan? Mugen! It's impossible!"

Mugen just glanced over his shoulder. "Look, Fuu. We get on each other's nerves. The only reason I stuck around was because of Jin. I don't really care about your Sunflower Samurai. I'm going to Kisarazu to rescue Jin. He's my best friend."

"You wanted to kill each other!" screamed Fuu to the sky. Her voice echoed over the fields and the town. Several workers in the fields looked up.

"Well," said Mugen, who was rapidly becoming a speck in the distance, "I can't have them kill Jin before me, then, can I?"

Fuu ran after him and grabbed his arm. Rini ran after Fuu and grabbed his other arm.

"I'm coming with you!" said Rini forcefully, grabbing fistfuls of Mugen's coat and Fuu's kimono.

"You can't go to Kisarazu!" wailed Fuu. She pushed her heels into the road; Mugen struggled forward, dragging her along. "I don't even know where that is!"

"It's across the bay from Edo," said Rini.

"Mugen!" begged Fuu. "We just came from Edo!"

"I… need… Jin," grunted Mugen, who was having difficultly walking, with all of his injuries and two girls hanging off him.

"You need Jin!" echoed Fuu. "You didn't even like Jin before! You wanted to kill Jin! You can't go to Kisarazu! You guys aren't friends! You're casual fuck buddies! I'm not going all the way back to Edo just to rescue your stupid uke boy-toy!"

Mugen stopped so abruptly, Fun teetered forward on her heels, accidentally let go of Mugen's clothes, and fell flat on her back. Rini darted away to avoid the fall, and watched from a safe distance as Fuu scrambled to her feet, pulse racing. Mugen turned around and glared at her. She knew without his glare that she'd crossed the line. She'd known it even while she was speaking. But she'd had to say it; it had been on the tip of her tongue for days.

"I'm sorry, Mugen," she said quietly.

"Don't you ever call Jin that," he said in a dangerously soft voice. "If you even think that ever again, I'll kill you. I swear it, Fuu. I'll slit your throat."

Fuu's mouth went dry. Mugen wasn't kidding.

"Mugen… I'm sorry. I love Jin as much as you…" Mugen's glare intensified. Fuu realized what she'd said. "Not in the same way, I mean… Not that I'm saying you two are… um… Never mind. Listen, Mugen, I do love Jin. But you're talking about… going all the way to a town that we're not really sure where it is, and trying to rescue him from a bunch of people who's only goal in life is to kill him. And besides, you're already hurt, and Jin might already be dead."

"So you're saying you don't want to rescue Jin? You're saying you want him to die?"

"Fine by me," muttered Rini. Mugen and Fuu ignored her.

"No, Mugen… I'm just saying… I'm not sure it's possible. And I don't want you to die too…"

"Yeah? And that's how you're going to defend calling Jin a stupid uke boy-toy?" Mugen's hand trailed, subconsciously, to his shoulder. He cracked his neck.

"No… I'm sorry, Mugen, that was completely uncalled for. It's just…" She stopped.

"Just what? Huh? You think Jin is just some common whore who happens to be able to wield a sword?"

"No," said Fuu quietly.

"You think Jin is just some sad, corrupted little person because of what happened?"

"No."

"You think Jin's just some—"

"I don't think Jin is any of that!" cried Fuu. "You're putting words in my mouth! You're not listening, just like always! I do love Jin, okay? I don't want Jin to die!"

Mugen stared at her a moment. "You love Jin!" he said triumphantly. "That's what this is about! You've got a little crush and you're jealous—"

"Even if I do like Jin—" said Fuu, who was steadily turning bright red, "I think it's really selfish of you to get him involved in a relationship after knowing what happened to him—"

"What? Are you saying I'm taking advantage of him?"

"Well, it's sort of insensitive! Especially now, when he's seeing Shenji again—"

"Jin doesn't need protection! If he was uncomfortable he would have said—"

"Maybe he feels uncomfortable about saying he feels uncomfortable! You know he doesn't like admitting—"

"HEY!" shouted Rini. Fuu and Mugen had been so busy arguing they'd forgotten about her entirely. They turned and saw her standing with her arms crossed, glaring at them and somehow very intimidating despite her height (five feet). "I don't know what's going on…" she began. "I don't know what you're talking about or what any of this has to do with Miyazaki-san. But you chased him away and I want you to bring him back. And we're not getting anywhere by standing around yelling at each other."

"She's right," said Fuu quickly. She took the sleeve of Mugen's jacket.

"Yeah? So, you coming?"

"Just to make sure you don't get killed," mumbled Fuu.

"Good. I need all the help I can get…"

"I'll help you," Rini said with sudden, fervent feeling. "I'll help you get your samurai back, if you help me get my samurai back."

"I'm not helping you with anything," said Mugen rudely. "They're both going to Kisarazu, so if you want Shenji back, we'll be taking the same roads. But I'm not helping you at all. That Shenji guy, he's a monster."

"He is not!" said Rini shrilly. "What did he ever do to your samurai, huh? What's so horrible about him, anyways?"

"His name," growled Mugen, "is Jin. He's not my samurai."

"Fine! What did he ever do to Jin?"

Mugen was silent.

"I thought so," muttered Rini, crossing her arms and following Mugen in angry silence. Fuu gave her an apologetic look, but she turned away and refused to look at either of them.

Everyone had agreed Jin's swords were far too nice to leave in the village. It was true that carrying them was a risk; after all, Jin could somehow get his hands on them. But the samurai just couldn't abandon Jin's swords. There was actually a bit of a fight over them. In the end, Kohachiro took one, and Shenji took the other.

"This is going to take forever," grumbled Saiyu. He was at the lead of their little procession. Kohachiro followed closely over his shoulder. Then came Shamisen, who was holding the rope which bound Jin's hands. Jin was plodding miserably after them, with Shenji beside him and Koto hovering closely behind him. (Shamisen had wanted to carry one of Jin's swords, but eventually decided he'd rather have the honor of dragging their catch along. Although he did propose that they formally gamble the two swords off among themselves once they'd reached the dojo.)

"What's another few days or weeks, after all the time we've waited?" asked Shamisen happily. All four (or five, if one chooses to include Shenji) were in an upbeat mood. "Besides, we need time to get all the rest together. There's a lot of people who have been waiting for this day." (He directed the last sentence over his shoulder, to Jin, who gave no indication that he'd heard.)

"Never thought it'd be you, though, Shenj," said Koto, taking a few swift steps over to him and slapping his back. ("Shenj" was a nickname he'd earned at the dojo; he'd never liked it, but wasn't going to complain.)

"I felt just as wronged as you did," said Shenji humbly.

Koto and Kohachiro scoffed.

"No, truly!" insisted Shenji. "But there was nothing to be gained by staying."

"You left because you're a coward," said Kohachiro flatly.

"Who wasn't scared? We were children."

"We weren't so young."

"Never mind," interrupted Saiyu. "That's all behind us now. The important thing is that Shenji has helped us find Jin and should be pardoned."

"Hmph," said Koto. "Well, I never liked you before Master Enshirou-san was killed, anyways."

"I didn't like you either!" replied Shenji defensively.

"Both of you, stop acting like boys!"

Koto and Shenji glared at each other. When Saiyu turned away, Shenji stuck his tongue out. Koto pulled down his lower eyelid in reply.

"Shall we stop for a few hours?" asked Saiyu after a moment of silence.

"I don't want to stop," said Koto.

"We'll have to stop sometime. And some of us have injuries." He didn't give names, but everyone knew he was talking about Kohachiro, including Kohachiro himself. He felt obligated to say something to refute this statement.

"I'm not tired," he said.

"I'm tired," said Saiyu gently.

"What if someone is tailing us?" asked Koto.

"Who could possibly be tailing us?"

"That guy in the red coat," said Shenji immediately.

"Fat chance," muttered Shamisen. "I defeated him."

"With our help!"

"Did you see the way he moved?" asked Shamisen. "That was incredible, really."

"He was good," agreed Saiyu.

"Did you kill him?" asked Jin abruptly.

"What? No. I don't think so," said Shamisen. "A couple more minutes and I could have…"

"With our help," muttered Saiyu quietly.

"I was just getting used to his style," said Shamisen hotly, embarrassed that a street fighter had been able to present such a threat to him. "If I'd been given more time I would have been able to kill him without you…"

"He's the only man I've been unable to kill," said Jin, again abruptly. All five samurai fell silent. In their minds, Jin—miserable, limping, tired Jin—was still a legend. Mugen was immediately more respected.

They walked in silent for at least another hour before Saiyu said, "Are we resting, or not?"

"Yes," said Shenji immediately. Just as quickly, Koto said, "No."

"I'll do whatever you want," said Kohachiro, who was rubbing his shoulder in a painful way, sweat beading on his forward.

"Shamisen?" asked Saiyu. He looked at Shamisen with a piercing look that clearly said he'd better say they were stopping, or he'd be in trouble.

Shamisen cleared his throat. "I don't think he'll make it much longer," he said, referring to Jin, whose limp was presenting a serious problem to their travel.

"Then we'll stop," said Saiyu firmly. Even though the four weren't likely to admit it, all were exhausted, having stayed up the previous night making their way towards Shenji's; the fight with Mugen and the excitement of finally finding Jin had sapped the last of their energy. They were quick to leave the road and settle down; all except Jin, who gave no indication he'd heard at all, and didn't follow until Kohachiro gave an impatient tug at the rope binding his wrists in front of him.