Fuu made it a habit of sending Kurou out for errands and it got around town quickly that the old dojo was taking on students again.
Before they knew it Jin, Mugen, Fuu, and Shiroko had a dojo full of students. Most of them were kids from the street and none of them were of fine families. Amongst the villagers the rumors about the mysterious masters of the dojo were relentless. The most common ones were about their origins. Some of the rumors made Jin and Mugen long lost brothers who were reunited. Other rumors were more colorful and painted the two men as lovers. The most common one was that the sensei masters had been orphans themselves and wouldn't turn a homeless child away.
The daily work and tasks were soon lifted from Kurou's shoulders and each student did a portion of the work. Kurou admired both his sensei masters, each for different reasons. Mugen's fearless and passionate fighting style complimented Jin's more precise and disciplined teachings combined to create the perfect art.
The month had passed and Shiroko found her condition had changed. She told Jin that she was not pregnant any longer.
"What?" he said turning around. "What do you mean? Are you aright?"
"Yes, I'm fine" she lied. "I woke up this morning and…well…"
"Are you, fatigued at all?"
"It's not bad, really" she said very uncomfortable talking about her cycle with a man. "No different from any other month."
Jin tried to catch her eyes with his, but Shiroko kept them cast down and did her best to hide their sadness behind her thick lashes.
"You may return to your work, Shiroko" he said dismissing her.
"Jin?"
"Mm?"
"Do you still want to stay here?" she asked.
"I like teaching, but if you do not we don't have to stay" he said.
"No, I do. I would like to stay also. I will tell Fuu that she can rely on me more now that I…" she paused unsure of how to phrase the rest of it without making herself cry. "…now…that I am not in as delicate condition as I thought I was."
Jin's heart went out to Shiroko. He couldn't voice the comforting words he knew she deserved. He decided instead of botching their lovehe wouldremain silent.
That evening Shiroko and Fuu decided to surprise the men and all the new students with a treat for desert. As the two women approached they over heard the men inside talking. Mugen was telling the students about his adventures with Jin and their previous exploits. "There was that time you had all those ugly whores! HHahahahaha!"
One of the students leaned forward "Seriously, Sensei Jin? Is it true? Sensei Mugen, tell us!"
Another student blurted out "This sounds hot!"
Jin tried to intervene, conscious of the paper walls. "There are women here that we should respect. This story—"
Mugen ignored Jin and interrupted him saying "It was great! There was this one hot chick and like 3 other real dogs. I got the hot one and Jin here took the rest." All the men laughter and clamored for more.
Jin raised his voice and said "This conversation is not befitting of our rank. It will go no furth—"
Mugen, again, ignored him and continued the story. "Jin, like totally exhausted 'em all 'then threw out his back! HAHAHAHAHA! He may be quiet and shit, but damn ya can't fault his drive. HAHAHAHAHAHA!" Jin growled while all the men laughed.
There was a lull in the laughter and Shiroko, only hearing muffled words, decided it was a decent time to enter. Shiroko, on her knees, pushed the screen open. One of the students blurted out "Three whores, sensei Jin, how'd you afford that many?"
Shiroko saw stars upon hearing those words. She entered the room, placed the tray on the floor and closed the screen behind her. She then approached the table and served Jin the steaming sweet buns she prepared for him and his new students. She felt his eyes on her, but could not look at him. 'I never thought…I never conceived of Jin paying for a woman's' company…ever.'
Shiroko felt low and filthy. None of the students, nor Fuu or Mugen, knew of Shiroko's unwholesome past. Jin sat stone faced and said "Thank you, Shiroko for the sweet buns." He tried to catch her eye, but Shiroko just couldn't raise her lids to return his gaze. Fuu watched them as she served Mugen and the other students.
That night Shiroko sat in a square of moonlight in her and Jin's room. The moon was full and bright. She felt lonely. Jin entered the room behind her. He sad nothing but she knew it was him. He treaded quietly across the mats and knelt in the dark behind her. He rested his hands on his legs and waited patiently for her to some how signal to him how to take the hurt away.
She said nothing, and hung her head. Jin continued to wait uncomfortably with his guilt. 'Should I say something? What could I say to fix this? I cannot take away the past' he thought.
Shiroko could feel his eyes on her. 'What does he want from me? I guess there's one thing I can do to please him. The one thing all men seem to want from me.' Shiroko began to untie her obi.
Jin did not advance, but stayed where he was. Jin thought of her as a little girl and then of when they first reunited. 'I don't often think of our time apart. She has been through so much and I barely acknowledge the hardships she faced. I suppose it was easier for me to look away, or ignore it.'
She pulled off the shoulder of her kimono then felt his hand on her bare skin. Shiroko thought 'Was Jin, also this type of man? I would never have guessed it.'
"No" he said. She turned to him and looked into his sad eyes. "You don't have to do this."
Shiroko said "That's why, isn't it?"
"Why what?"
"Why you don't want me to mother your children. You don't want a whore to be their mother."
"That has nothing to do with it." Shiroko cocked her head in a questioning manner. "The students."
Shiroko was confused, but said nothing. 'The students? What does that group of misfits have to do with anything?'
Then he said "My peers, not these kids." Shiroko still was not following him. "The other students of Enshiro Moriya. They have come to get their revenge, you know this."
It was true. Shiroko bared witness to a couple of duels since she married Jin. Jin had killed his master and the other students appeared one after the other in order to gain revenge for their master. One after the other they all fell. "They have come for me and will not stop coming. I don't want to leave you alone with a child, nor put a child's life in danger. I think it is best if we avoid the situation, and live with our own happiness."
Shiroko felt devastated. "No, children?" she asked.
"No children" confirmed Jin. Shiroko could not hide her disappointment. Jin wrapped his arms around her and planted a kiss on her forehead. He stroked her cheek and said "It will be alright. You will see."
"What kind of wife can I be if I cannot give you a son, a child?" she said feeling the emptiness she already felt consuming more of her heart.
"You can be the kind of wife that surprises me with desert." This made Shiroko smile. Jin touched her chin and guided her face to his. "They were delicious."
As Jin and Shiroko murmured to each other in one room Fuu and Mugen bickered in the lamp light in the next room over.
"You really shouldn't say things like that Mugen! It's not polite."
"Whattya jabbering about?" said Mugen.
"Shiroko's a lady. Talking about how her husband tuckered out a bunch of prostitutes probably doesn't sit well with her. Jin's probably in the doghouse right about now."
In the next room over Jin was sliding the kimono off Shiroko's back and returning her giddy smile with one of his own.
Mugen said "Whatever, if he didn't want anyone knowing he shoudln'ta done it. What does it matter away, it was like freaking years ago."
"It matters to her!" shrieked Fuu.
Shiroko let out a high pitched sigh in the dark as Jin planted kisses at the base of her neck.
Fuu complained "Maybe it's offensive to me too, huh! Ever think of that, Mugen?"
"No" he said honestly.
"How can you be so mean to me?" said Fuu.
"I ain't bein' mean, just honest. You ever think 'bout how mean you are to me?"
Shiroko lay down on her back and welcomed Jin with her arms.
"What are you talking about?" said Fuu. "I am never mean to you! I clean and cook and do the laundry and take care of all the needs of you and now your stinky students too! You're all filthy disgusting pigs!"
"You've got a home now, with food and stupid cloth for yer clothes and stuff" said Mugen. "As for cleaning and all that shit, that's what women do, ain't it? Don't like it, then leave."
Fuu growled with discontent and aggravation. "FINE! If you men can't respect us then Shiroko and I'll share a room and you guys can swap stories all night!"
Fuu stood up and walked up to the screen dividing their rooms. Shiroko let out a quiet, but telling sound and Fuu backed away from the screen now reconsidering her argument.
She turned around and found Mugen staring at her. He smirked and raised an eyebrow. "If she's half as angry with Jin as you are with me I can't wait for the punishment."
If Fuu had her shoes on she would have thrown them at him. Instead she crossed her arms and steamed. Mugen laughed at her stubbornness and blew out the light. "Heh heh heh" laughed Mugen in the darkness.
"Oh shut up" spat Fuu as she felt his arms around her and gave into him.
More time passed and Shiroko and Fuu became better friends. They spent most of their days together and talked endlessly about everything from the past to the present. Shiroko successfully avoided telling Fuu about her time in the brothel, but suspected Fuu knew more than she was letting on.
Neither of the two women had children of their own, but enjoyed taking care of the students. They were all ages, younger than their masters, and all different shapes and sizes.
One morning Shiroko was helping Fuu carry some pales of water from the well. Shiroko suddenly stopped and ran off to the bushes. Fuu heard her vomit. "SHIROKO!" she ran over and asked "Are you okay?"
Shiroko looked a bit pale and took a seat on the ground "Oh, my! I…I don't know what came over me."
"Come on inside. I can get the water. You've been pretty worn out lately, don't think I haven't noticed!" scolded Fuu.
Shiroko sat down in the eating area and Fuu served her some tea. "It's still pretty hot you'll want to wait a minute."
"Okay" said Shiroko.
"What do you think it is? Do you think it might be a baby?" asked Fuu.
"No. The phases of the moon continue on" said Shiroko with a little sadness.
"I see" said Fuu. "You should rest then. We can't have you getting any sicker."
"I'm sorry Fuu, I wanted to be more help, but I guess—"
"Don't be silly! I can get Kurou to help me" said Fuu.
"He's been training a lot more these days. Jin say's he's getting quite good" said Shrioko eager to talk about something other than the breakfast she just lost.
"Yeah? Then I can ask one of the younger students to help out" said Fuu.
One afternoon while Shiroko was trying to rest and recover from her mysterious illness, one of the younger students was sent to town to buy some paper for one of the doors. Shiroko was perplexed by her illness, as was Jin. It mimicked morning sickness, but she was still getting her period, albeit lighter than before. Aside from the one student sent to the store for paper, Fuu sent another student to fetch a doctor.
After the student Fuu sent made it to the store and bought the paper he decided to take a shortcut back to the dojo.
The fair skinned gangly boy jogged through the alley and found his path was blocked by some shady looking characters at the other end. The boy heard sensei Jin's voice in his mind 'It is best to avid unnecessary conflicts.' The boy turned back the way he came and found other men had blocked that end of the alley as well. Sensei Mugen's words came to him 'Don't hold back when you got the chance to kick major ass!'
The boy leaned his paper against the side of the building and tried to prepare himself for the fight.
Mistress Fuu often took pity on the boy, because he was one of the smallest. One afternoon after he had been picked on by older students Mistress Fuu told him 'Hey kid, since your' small you've got to surprise them'. The boy crouched down close to the ground and dug his fingers into the dirt.
When the gang of men were close to him he grabbed two handfuls of dirt and tossed them up at the men's faces.
In these few split seconds of surprise and confusing the boy kicked a few shins and bolted out of the alley. He sped around the corner and bounced off the belly of a large muscular man. The boy fell back and found himself in the grip of this large man's right hand.
"You think you're smart, don't you little brat? Who taught you that little trick, hum?" said the man.
The kid squirmed and said "None of yer business!"
The man looked at the boy and noticed the clothing he wore. "Champloo? What the hell is that?"
"My Sensei Jin and Sensei Mugen came up with it!" snapped the boy eager to talk about the men who he thought were great and glorious samurai.
"Mugen and Jin?" said the man. "What kind of ridiculous names are those? Jin….Jin…"
"The names of my masters are most honorable and proud! Scum like you aren't even fit to say them!"
"Hmf." The large man thought a moment. "Mugen, Jin…Jin…Does your master wear glasses?"
"Huh?"
"I would like to meet this master of yours." The boy wriggled out of the man's hand and ran away. The big broad man smirked and told one of his cronies from the alley to follow the kid." The gang stealthily followed the child back to the dojo and kept a close watch over the dojo.
Author's Note: What, no reviews? At all? That's pretty heartless! I didn't think the story stunk that bad. Ouch. I'll continue to post the chappies. I'll just wipe my tears and continue to type away.