(Author's Note: I love Jin Junior.)

CHAPTER TWENTY-SIX

Jin Junior twisted in his blanket.

"Shh, Jin Junior!" hissed Fuu at him.

Fuu shivered and hugged Jin Junior to her chest. Jin Junior was, of course, stolen. Small, pink, and relatively well-behaved, Fuu felt terrible that she'd dragged him out into the coldness of early morning. He was cute, too; she'd put a headband with a little bow on him, to pull back his ears. She'd wrapped him as well as she'd been able to, but she was sure he was still uncomfortable.

Jin Junior grunted.

"Shh," she said again. She hoped no one would notice that Jin Junior was a piglet.

"HEY!" she yelled as she approached the dojo, walking quickly against the cold and clinging to Jin Junior. "HE-E-EY!"

The only noise was muffled screaming and a sleepy bird hooting somewhere.

Fuu reached down. Holding Jin Junior awkwardly in one arm and groping with the other, she found a rock. She pulled back her arm and flung it at the nearest window, just as the screen slid aside and a samurai poked his head out.

"OW!" he yelped when the stone struck his forehead. His hands went up to rub the spot. "What do you think you're doing?"

"It's me, Fuu!" said Fuu. "Jin's, um, wife! And I have our baby!"

Jin Junior fretted in his blanket.

The samurai's eyes grew wide, and he ducked inside. No one had told him Jin had a child. It complicated issues immensely. He returned to the window a moment later with another samurai. "Okay…" he said grudgingly. "You can see him. Just to say good-bye. But you'd better hurry; he's sparring with someone in a few minutes."

"Thank you, thank you, thank you!" cried Fuu, squeezing Jin Junior so hard that he squealed indignantly. She made sure he was wrapped tightly before she hurried around to the front of the dojo. As she did, she heard a sound like waves inside, a murmur of voices. She hoped that wasn't Jin fighting.

"Come in," said the samurai grudgingly, pulling open the door. He leaned over, to try and see Jin Junior. Fuu hugged him protectively against her chest. He made a few sleepy grunting noises and then yawned audibly. "Follow me," said the samurai. Clutching Jin Junior, Fuu followed. She heard more shouts. The man turned around so suddenly she nearly plowed into him. "Wait here," he commanded.

Fuu stood in the empty hall for a while, looking around curiously. The building showed signs of being, until recently, uninhabited. It felt strange for Fuu to imagine Jin as a child, walking down these same empty halls.

Jin Junior oinked.

"Shh!" whispered Fuu. "Please, Jin Junior, don't oink."

Jin Junior snuffled.

"That's better."

Three samurai came walking towards Fuu. "You're Jin's wife?" asked one, bowing.

"Yes," lied Fuu. She smiled at him.

"You look awfully young."

"Why, thank you," said Fuu, her fake smile broadening. "So, can I see him?"

One of the samurai reached up and rubbed his neck uncomfortably. He looked at the one beside him, a man in a green kimono with long hair. The man in the green kimono sighed. "Yes… I suppose so. He's certainly not fighting…"

Fuu raised her eyebrows questioningly, but the samurai offered no explanation, other than to quickly introduce themselves; then they turned and led her down the hall. She was careful to keep Jin Junior facing her; she thought they might get suspicious if they noticed Jin Junior had a snout.

The man in the green kimono, Toshi, held open a screen for her. She stepped out into a courtyard and immediately found herself facing a group of samurai. They took one look at her and all started talking at once. Fuu felt overwhelmed; she had no idea the dojo had been so large. There were dozens of them—and they represented only a fraction of the students.

"Move it!" said Toshi rudely, shoving his fellows aside for Fuu.

"Jin!" she yelled, dashing across the courtyard to him. His head was bowed, but it jerked up when he heard her. His eyes were wide. He didn't look happy. But at least he didn't look entirely shocked to discover he had a wife and child. "Jin!" she repeated when she reached him, pressing their bodies together. Jin Junior snorted indignantly, and Fuu quickly pulled away. (Crushing their baby probably wouldn't make the samurai around them sympathetic.)

"Fuu!" hissed Jin in a low voice. "What are you doing here? I told you to leave."

"I can't!" she whispered back anxiously. "Not without you. I'm sorry, Jin. I can't go to Nagasaki without you."

"You have Mugen," snapped Jin softly. "My skills are of no more use."

"Forget your skills! I don't care about your skills! I care about you, Jin! You're my friend! Even if you never talk and only go 'hmm' and think I'm annoying and would rather flirt with Mugen, I don't care. I like you and I can't just leave you here to die."

Jin looked startled that Fuu cared about him—or that anyone cared about him. "Please tell me Mugen had the sense to stay away," he asked softly.

"No, he's here too," she whispered, casting an eye around. She found him immediately; he was staring at her with his mouth hanging open, his expression clearly asking, "You stole a baby?" Even Mugen had his limit, and stealing a baby was it.

Jin looked like he wanted to smack her. But instead, he said, "I'll miss you too, love." He said this because Koto had strode over, clearly annoyed that Fuu and Jin Junior had interrupted his little speech.

"You! Woman!" he barked.

"Yes?" asked Fuu as innocently as she could, cradling Jin Junior in the most heart-rendering way possible.

"Why are you here? We're in the middle of something! Who let this woman in?"

"I did," said Toshi, stepping forward. "Koto-san, they have a baby, I couldn't deny her from saying good-bye…"

"Tamasine, you fool!"

"I'm Toshi."

"MIYAZAKI-SAN!"

Heads turned. A geisha stumbled out of the crowd of samurai and into the empty courtyard. She made a beeline for Shenji.

"Rei?" asked Toshi.

"Who're you?" asked Shenji bluntly.

"It's me! Rini!" said Rei.

"Rini?" repeated Toshi.

"Rini?" echoed Shenji. "Who?"

"Rini! One of your maids!" said Rei. "Don't you remember me?" It was obvious from Shenji's blank look he didn't. "You have to come home," said Rini breathlessly. "Please—our town needs you."

Shenji cocked an eyebrow. "I have no idea what you're talking about," he said.

"The town! Where you live!" she cried. "The one you saved from depression? You gave all the money to the temple and everything?"

"What money?" asked Koto, turning to glare at Shenji, who was slowly sliding away.

"I don't know what she's talking about," said Shenji.

"I'm talking about our town! Our home!"

"Listen, Rini, or whatever your name is… I don't care about your town. I don't even know who you are. We're in the middle of something important, so please leave us be."

Rini looked like she'd been slapped in the face.

"What money, Shenji?" demanded Koto.

"The girl is crazy!" said Shenji quickly. "I didn't have any money when I left, you know that…"

"Then where did your big, fancy house come from?" asked Shamisen with sudden suspicion.

"The issue here isn't my house!" said Shenji. "It's about me and Jin, remember?"

Everyone remembered Jin. They turned just as Jin Junior decided he was sick of being held like a baby, and gave a massive, indignant, pig-like squeal, and twisted his body. He fell out of the blanket and plopped onto the ground still wearing his little headband.

"It's a pig!" cried Toshi.

"What—" began Koto. But he never finished. Meiyo yanked his katana out and spun around, cutting down the samurai next to him.

"TOSHI!" yelled several people.

He gaped a few times on the ground a few times, like a fish out of water, and managed to gasp his name—"Tamasine"—before closing his eyes with a final breath.

"Tamasine!" cried Toshi, pelting across the courtyard. Meiyo jumped away from the crowd, tripping over his hakama.

"Forget these!" he exclaimed, cutting them off with his own sword. He was wearing shorts underneath them; Shenji took one look at the gray shorts before he turned and went running.

"Shenji! You little traitor! Get back here!" screamed Koto, running after him. "This is all your doing, isn't it?"

Meanwhile, the crowd of samurai was swarming around Meiyo in a confused effort to stop him. Meiyo ducked a swing of a sword, landing on his hands, and swung his body around, tripping three of them at once. He hopped back up and kicked Shamisen squarely in the jaw, forgetting he was barefoot. Fortunately, the force of the kick was enough to knock him out, even without his geta.

"Jin!" cried Fuu, grabbing his kimono sleeve and pulling both of them down as someone's backswing nearly hit him. "Let's go!"

"Get Jin!" yelled someone.

"You're not Meiyo!" yelled someone else. It was evident by Meiyo's fighting style he wasn't a student at all—no one was quite sure what he was, or what style he was using.

Someone swung at him; he yanked back, bending over backwards and using his momentum to give the samurai a kick in the gut. Behind him, Kohachiro (nose still bleeding from Jin's punch) rose. Meiyo—or, more appropriately, Mugen—slashed him across the back; he dropped to the ground, still alive, but spinal cord severed.

All order had vanished. Several people, led by Koto and Rini, were running after Shenji. Others were trying to find Jin, who was plastered to the ground next to Fuu. Still others were crowded around Mugen, locking swords with him and accidentally locking swords with each other.

"Come on!" screamed Fuu, tugging Jin. She was practically dragging him away.

"My swords," he said, tugging back.

"Forget your swords, Jin! Come on!" she yelled, turning. She screamed; Saiyu was charging toward them. He was less than a yard away when he tripped over Jin Junior, who was scurrying around squealing with terror.

Jin yanked away from Fuu and practically dived at the ground toward his swords. Mugen stepped over him as Toshi's blade came toward him; Jin stabbed upward, ripping open Toshi's hip and causing him to fall moments before he would have eviscerated Mugen.

"Hey, I thought you were giving up!" yelled Mugen with a maniacal laugh.

"I told you to leave!" yelled Jin in frustration. Mugen ducked a swing, yanked Jin to his feet, blocked a swing, and sliced through the neck of a man as easily as if it were butter.

"Come on!" He grabbed Jin's arm. Jin resisted; at the same time, almost casually, his arm whipped out to cut down a samurai who'd been accidentally pushed into his reach. The crowd had dispersed; ten were lying on the ground, and at least a dozen had gone after Shenji. A fair number had simply disappeared; as far as they were concerned, Jin armed with swords and at least one of their fellows a homicidal maniac was enough cause for apprehension to warrant running away. Those who remained saw Jin and Mugen with swords, and were unwillingly to approach them.

"That's right—stay back!" warned Mugen, brandishing his katana. "We're really worked up! We'll kill you without even thinking about it! You'd have to be crazy—Jin!"

"I'm not leaving," growled Jin.

"It's the least you can do after we risked our lives to come rescue you!" shouted Fuu on the other end of the courtyard. Jin Junior came nosing over to her warily.

"You're not leaving!" said one of the samurai worriedly. His name was Matsu—he was the same age as Jin, although his face was lined with permanent creases of worry.

"You wanna piece of this? Huh?" yelled Mugen, waving his bloody katana at them again. "Jin! You… big… dummy! You're coming with us whether you like it or not!"

"No, I'm not!"

Mugen's sword flashed over Jin's head. Jin automatically blocked it, but that's what Mugen had been planning on. With a twist of his wrist, he sent the sword flying out of Jin's hand, and before Jin could protest, Mugen grabbed him around the waist and threw him over his shoulder.

"LET ME GO!" yelled Jin indignantly.

"LET HIM GO!" yelled several samurai.

"Stay back! I'm telling you, I'm on the edge!" warned Mugen, having a difficult time waving his sword threateningly and gripping Jin. "Fuu! Come on!"

Fuu wrung her hands anxiously. Somehow, she hadn't planned their rescue as simply leaving in front of all these people. The only thing keeping them from attacking and overwhelming Mugen was pure intimidation; they were confused and unorganized, but it was only a matter of time before they realized they outnumbered him and charged. She scuttled across the courtyard with Jin Junior trotting on her heels, casting anxious glances at the crowd. She had enough sense to stoop down and grab Jin's sword from the dust before running up to Mugen.

"That's right! Keep your distance!" yelled Mugen, inching away. He and Fuu slipped out of the courtyard; Mugen turned and ran down the hall, clinging to an irate Jin. He, Jin, and Fuu ducked into the nearest room and slammed the screen shut. Footsteps followed them and stopped outside the door. It was one of the most bizarre situations Fuu had ever been in.

Mugen dumped Jin unceremoniously onto the floor. "Okay, what's with you?" he demanded, pointing at Jin with his sword.

"I told you not to come here," said Jin.

"Do we have to talk about this now?" asked Fuu, dancing frantically on the spot as she watched the silhouettes of the samurai on the others side of the screen. Already she was hearing a few people say, "There's only a few of them…"

"Fine," mumbled Mugen, crossing the room and sliding open a window.

"Why are we always going out windows? I'm not going out a window! Mugen, I'm sick of going out windows."

"We're not going out the window," said Mugen casually.

"Then why did you open the screen?"

Mugen ignored her. He grabbed Jin (who protested with a yell) and stuffed him indecorously out the window. Fuu winced when she heard Jin's body land on a roof below them.

Both she and Mugen poked their heads out in time to see Jin slide down the roof and fall into a large rain barrel. He surfaced, sopping wet and sputtering with rage.

"Jin!" yelled Mugen. "I—" he hesitated a split second because of Fuu, then yelled, "I love you." He yanked Fuu's head back in and slammed the screen shut before Jin could yell back.

"What about us?" demanded Fuu.

"We're the distraction," said Mugen in a low voice. "And I'm really sorry, Fuu." He grabbed her so suddenly she didn't have time to stop him. She yelled; he had one arm around her neck, and with the other, was pointing a sword directly at her throat.

"Let up!" she cried, trying to tug him off her.

"LISTEN UP!" yelled Mugen through the screen. "I've got the girl hostage and if I'm not out of here by noon, I'm gonna slit her throat!"

"What?" yelled Fuu. "You're not really going to slit my throat, right, Mugen? Mugen? Oh my God! Let me go!"

He squeezed her tighter and she shut up, still trying to pry Mugen's arm off her neck.

In the hall, she could hear the samurai discussing the situation in frantic, hushed voices. Finally, one called through the screen, "Why should we care if the girl dies, anyway?"

"Because if I kill her and then kill myself, you'll never know where Jin went to," said Mugen triumphantly. "Yeah, that's right! We know exactly where he's going! We've been with him nearly a week and he told us everything!"

There was more murmuring. "Mu-gen!" whined Fuu. "You're really hurting me!"

"Would you shut up already?"

"I didn't agree to be a hostage!" whined Fuu, beginning to contemplate kicking Mugen in the shins. She was scared that he'd accidentally stab her if she tried, though.

"Why should we believe you know where he's going?" asked one of the samurai. "And why should we believe you'll tell us if we let you go? You're obviously on his side. Besides, there are already people on the streets looking for him. He won't escape anyways."

"Do you want me to kill this chick or not?" asked Mugen, running out of answers and patience. While the samurai outside were debating what the next plan would be (to charge and kill Mugen and Fuu; to let Mugen kill Fuu; to rescue Fuu before killing her and Mugen), Mugen inched over to the window, dragging Fuu.

"You're choking me!" she cried.

"I thought I told you to shut up."

"You're the worst Buddhist I've ever met!"

"I'm still learning!" Almost casually, Mugen spared a glance out the window to see if Jin had left. He was so startled his grip on Fuu loosened. "Oh, shit…"

"What? What is it?" asked Fuu anxiously, trying to see out the window without being poked in the throat with Mugen's knife.

"He's gone."

"That's great!"

"The barrel's gone too."

It took moment Fuu a moment to realize what Mugen meant. Then she had an awful image of Jin somehow closed up inside a barrelful of water, suffocating, his last thoughts of their bungled rescue.

Weighed down by his sopping kimono, Jin had tried to heave himself out of the barrel. It wasn't the first time in his life he'd been convinced the world was against him; he was sore, bleeding, wet, without his swords, and had just been thrown out a window by his only friend.

Contemplating this, it seemed obvious what he should do: find Mugen, smack him across the face, and then return to the dojo for the punishment he rightfully deserved. How could so many people be wrong? They were right; he was a murderer—an abomination. Whatever he received, he deserved.

But first he had to get out of the water.

He had nearly pushed himself out, when he fell back. For a moment he rested at the bottom of the water and contemplated just breathing, ending his life right then and there, without worrying about fights or family feuds or honor systems or anything else.

Then everything went dark.

"Where are you sending this thing again?" asked one shopkeeper, leaning on the lid of the barrel as the other began nailing it down.

"Little town up north. Some restaurant buys it. I tell them it's natural spring water."

"Do you hear that?"

Both looked down. From inside the barrel came a series of loud bangs.

"Damn. Sounds like another rat fell in," said one.

"Forget it. He'll be dead by the time we get this thing there."

"Won't they be upset if there's a rat in it?"

"Naw. The guy who owns the restaurant doesn't even look at the stuff. Some other guy takes it all in, and he probably cares less than I do. Help me lift this, will you?"

The two crouched and heaved the large container between them; it sloshed and banged.

"Geez. This must be one hell of a rat," grunted one.

"I saw one the size of a cat yesterday."

"Sure, they get huge…"

The two shopkeepers began carrying the barrel from under the eves of the street and across it, to a cart already stacked with a few rain barrels from other shops. As they were crossing the road, a group of samurai raced past.

"HEY!" yelled one. "Have you seen a man in a blue kimono, with glasses?"

"Nope," said one shopkeeper, adjusting his grip to wipe his sweaty face. "No one's up this early."

"Besides," said the other one, "I think we'd notice if we saw a samurai in glasses."

The two chortled, and the disgusted samurai ran away, separating when they came to a crossroads.

"Urrgg," grunted the two shopkeepers, pushing the barrel onto the cart. From inside came more insistent bangs.

"Aww, shut up and die, rat!" said one, hammering the outside of the barrel with his fist in reply.

"Don't look now, buddy," said the other, shielding his eyes from the sun and pointing to the roof across the road, "but it looks like something fell down on your roof. There's some tiles missing."

"Damn!" exclaimed the first. "Come on, let's get it patched now, before the customers come in."

They crossed the road, and the cart with the barrels pulled away.

"We'll willing to negotiate!"

"About time!" cried Fuu gratefully.

She and Mugen had been holed up in the room for hours, and it was nearly noon. Mugen was sitting against the window ledge, one arm still around Fuu's neck, forcing her to sit in his lap. He was bored; she was terrified.

"We want to know exactly where Jin's going and what he's doing first."

"No way! You let us go, and then we'll tell you where he is!"

"No deal!"

"Fine, I'll just kill her then!"

Fuu heard the samurai grumbling. A few thought Fuu rightly deserved it, after bringing a pig into their dojo; others said she was clearly only a confused child and ought to be pitied.

"What if we let you go to the entrance hall, and you told us there, and then left the dojo?" asked one samurai, sounding disgruntled that they were compromising.

"What'd you think?" whispered Mugen.

"Just say yes!"

"Yeah, okay, I agree to that!" yelled Mugen right in Fuu's ear. She cringed. "But I want Sho to promise us you'll let us go!"

"Who's Sho?" demanded Fuu.

"Sho's a samurai I met," whispered Mugen. "He took the precept I did, you know, about swearing and lying and stuff. So his word is good."

"But how do you know he won't break the precept?"

Mugen looked disgusted. "Fuu, please," he said patronizingly.

"But aren't you breaking your precept right now? You know, lying about saying you'll kill me?"

"I'm not lying."

Fuu wasn't sure if Mugen was joking or not. He didn't look like he was joking.

Outside, she heard the samurai muttering frantically, and finally, a new voice said, "Okay, okay. We promise to let you go on the condition that you tell us everything you know about Jin's location."

"You and your stupid precept," muttered one of the other samurai.

Feeling sick with apprehension, Fuu was guided (or, rather, pushed) by Mugen out of the room and the two shuffled down to the dojo's entrance hall, surrounded by samurai. Mugen kept the blade of his sword on Fuu's throat the whole time. He accidentally nicked her when they had to go down a flight of stairs; Fuu felt ready to pass out by the time they made it downstairs.

Immediately, several samurai rooted themselves firmly between the door, and Mugen and Fuu.

"We had a deal," one reminded them.

"Yeah, yeah, I know," grumbled Mugen. He took a deep breath. "Well, we were on our way to Nagasaki," he began.

For a moment, Fuu had to stare at him in horror, thinking he was going to tell them everything.

"…we met up with Jin by accident. He was lost. He's on his way to Kashiwazaki. He's going to hop on a ship to Europe and get out of here."

"European ships can't go to Kashiwazaki," said one of the samurai suspiciously.

"Sure, they can't legally," said Mugen. "But some do anyways. He told us he was getting on one of the illegal ones, since no one could track him then. Going aboard a ship in Nagasaki would leave records, get it? So we were all going north when this whole thing started, and he was going to split up with us and go west to Kishiwazaki at the next crossroads."

"Hmm," said one of the samurai. For a long thing, he studied Mugen, who stared back defiantly and gripped Fuu savagely. Finally, the samurai nodded, and grudgingly, he and his fellows let Mugen and Fuu pass into the sunlight and the fresh outdoor air.

"Let me go!" cried Fuu.

"Not until I'm sure we're safe," said Mugen, dragging Fuu down the street with a knife still at her throat. People were stopping and turning to stare.

"You asshole! You're hurting me! Let me go!" cried Fuu, wrestling with Mugen's arm. "You lied back there! You're such a hypocritical jerk! I hate you!"

"Uh-oh," said Mugen, spotting a city guard walking toward them. (He'd probably heard from someone that a girl was being dragged down the street with a knife at her throat.)

Mugen dipped Fuu down; the knife vanished; and when the guard passed them, trying to see what was going on, all he saw were two young lovers kissing passionately.

When he'd disappeared, Mugen let Fuu go. She crashed to the ground, where she managed to kick Mugen's shin.

"GROSS, MUGEN!" she yelled, wiping her mouth.

"I didn't like it very much either, for your information!" shouted Mugen as Fuu climbed to her feet. She punched him square in the jaw and slapped his cheek. He grabbed her wrist and looked for a moment like he would snap it. Then he let go.

"You didn't have to slap me," he said plaintively, rubbing his cheek. "I'm just trying to get us out of here."

"You threatened to kill me!" cried Fuu.

"Aw, come on."

Fuu didn't think that was a very adequate apology; she was in a huff the rest of the day, and refused to look at or talk to Mugen at all.

As they started on the road out of the city, Fuu heard her name. She turned around and saw Rini running toward them, carrying something.

"Hi!" gasped Rini breathlessly, stopping to pant at the ground, still holding a package.

The package oinked.

"Jin Junior!" exclaimed Fuu.

"I thought you might want all this stuff back," panted Rini, thrusting an armful of pig at Fuu.

Fuu took Jin Junior; a book fell out of the blanket. "Jin's journal!"

"It was lying around and… well… I don't know, it looked important." Rini shrugged.

"Did you read it?" asked Fuu.

"I can't read."

"Why'd you come after us?" asked Mugen suspiciously. "I thought you wanted to go after your precious Miyazaki-san."

"You were right about him," confessed Rini, sounding depressed. "I don't want to talk about it right now. Let's just go."

"What'd you mean, let's go? Who said you could come with us?"

Rini crossed her arms and shook a strand of hair out of her face irritably. "I live north. You're on the north road. I'm coming this way anyway, and since I brought you your pig and your book back, the least you can do is be nice to me."

"Fine," snapped Mugen.

They resumed walking, everyone slightly mad at each other. Fuu distracted herself by unwrapping Jin Junior, who she let go on the ground, hoping he'd find his own way home. But he followed Fuu and the others at a same distant, occasionally pausing to root around along the side of the road and then trotting quickly after them to keep up.

Fuu had to force herself not to say "I told you so" to Rini or to point out that the money Shenji had been pumping into the economy of Rini's town was clearly stolen.

"So…" she began, hoping to ease the tense situation, "do you know where Jin is? Seriously?"

Mugen shrugged. "North."

"How do you know that?"

"I just know. Jin went north."

"How do we even know he escaped?" asked Rini.

Mugen shrugged again. "I just know. Trust me."