Here we r yet again. Hope everyone liked the last chap and what not. "Addiction" hasn't been continued yet but I hope Kristyna beats off her writer's block and continues it, every time I re-read it; it always gets me off my ass and keeps me continuing my own fics. Ok, n.e.wayz, quick question for anybody who kno's the answer or is like a Japanese master or something like that. Why does Fuu tie her kimono in the front? If I'm not mistaken I'm pretty sure Japanese prostitutes did that, back in the day. Not geishas, but normal every day prostitutes, tied their obi in the front, for quote unquote 'easier access.' Yeah I kno Fuu's not a prostitute but I was just wondering why she ties her clothes in the front, or am I just confusin Japanese clothes all together? I was just curious. If u've got the answer I'd like to kno, I emailed the webmistriss of Agalam(however u spell), the owner of one of the most informative SC websites ever made, but either she didn't get it or she never emailed me back. Either way. Ok, here's the next chap, R&R and enjoy.
Much luv
The Deni Pie
T h e E l e c t r a C o m p l e x
there's no second chances
no time for romances, o-oh
no consequence weighing
her heart left decaying, o-oh
she's lost in her thinking
disguised by her drinking, o-oh
no regret or falling
no well wishers calling, o-oh
and when she sleeps I hope she's okay
but when she drinks she hits on you
and when she sleeps I know she's okay
'cause when she dreams she's someone new
the pain of desire
is quenched by the fire, o-oh
no inkling of caring
she's grief-stricken, staring, o-oh
no blood loss or feeling
as smoke hits the ceiling, o-oh
she sips down her sorrow
and prays "no tomorrow," o-oh
o-oh
and when she sleeps I hope she's okay
but when she drinks she hits on you
and when she sleeps I know she's okay
'cause when she dreams she's someone new
I love you, Alexander
we'll be together forever
it's all for love
it's all for . . .
and when she sleeps I hope she's okay
but when she drinks she hits on you
and when she sleeps I know she's okay
'cause when she dreams she's someone new, o-oh
no hearing her laughter
for in the hereafter, o-oh
he's handsome, well-spoken
her heart can't be broken, o-oh
o-oh, oh
o-oh, oh
goodnight, Alexander
goodnight
goodnight . . .
"Alexander the Burn Victim" – Scarling
She could hear them whispering something about taking her to a healer or finding her some medicine. It had been almost three months and her body simply didn't appear capable of holding anything down. She knew the yaro in the last forest looked different. Evidently that village had a different breed of the plant, and she was guessing either it was poisonous or she was allergic to this type. Before leaving, Fuu had stocked up on the ingredient that was so vital to her contraceptive drink just incase she was unable to find it again for a while. About a week after mixing it into her tea she began to get sick. It wasn't so bad at first, but as time went by it only got worse, and the whole never-having-anything-to-eat thing didn't help much either. She was slowing them down and Fuu knew it, but she had just finished throwing up, what felt like, a gallon of bile. They hadn't eaten anything in three days, and she was beginning to think maybe it wasn't the yaro and it might be that her stomach had simply stopped getting used to being fed and now rejected everything and anything that was available to put into it.
With a drive heave and a groan Fuu turned over onto her side, nuzzling her nose deeper into her arm, fighting off yet another wave of nausea. They had stopped earlier that day when she began her daily vomiting spree and had been at the same campsite ever since. There was guilt, of course, for holding them up, but she was just feeling so weak nowadays; she was always starving but whenever they finally got enough money to feed all three of them she would just throw it up. Mugen even threatened to stop feeding her altogether if she was just going to waste food like that.
After that night in the woods Fuu told him she no longer held him in obligation to her and would prefer it if he left. He had only laughed amusedly at her, and she guessed that was his way of saying he wasn't going anywhere. She was starting to get more and more frustrated with him. After that night he started growing more obvious with his attentions and would often leave her fuming and embarrassed. Mugen had taken the penchant for randomly pushing her, though since he never knew how to be careful or hold back, the pushes often landed her on the ground. He also took a liking to pulling at her hair. She supposed whenever he felt the inkling to do so he would just reach up and give her hair a good yank, and he was not a gentle man so her head was often brutally jarred by the assault. Worst of all he had developed a new habit of rapping his knuckled against her upper arm. Fuu would cry out at the attack, her hand darting up to rub away the hurt, and when she would glare accusingly at him he would simply smirk at her as if nothing was out of the ordinary. As if it were perfectly normal for her to have to favor her newly tenderized shoulder.
This new behavior was humiliating and had her constantly on edge. He was acting like an immature schoolboy with a crush! When he would become a little overzealous with his 'love taps', she would carefully whisper to Jin if he knew what was wrong with the barbarian. It was just to cover her tracks, and pretend she had no idea as to the cause of the pirates swinging temperament.
Fuu rubbed her stomach, trying to sooth away the bile bubbling within. Mugen's undeveloped and puerile attempts at flirting were not helping her recovery. Though she was glad she no longer had to stress herself over his roaming fingers. He had temporarily ceased any sexual advancement on her when she began vomiting. That was probably the only good thing the rotted yaro had so graciously bestowed upon her. For the most part, he left her alone at night, and she was grateful. In her state she couldn't even manage to take care of her own hormones, let alone those of someone else. With a painful grunt Fuu steadily rose into a sitting position. With the way they were going now, they would never find the Sunflower Samurai.
"You done yet, or do we have to sit on our asses a little longer?"
"Shut up. If you're so eager to go then go." She retorted but the illness took away the strength needed to fuel any anger. Cringing back the rising nausea, that now accompanied all acts of bodily motion, Fuu climbed to her feet. "Ok, we can go." She said, giving a confident nod. She could do it.
The men stood accordingly and resumed traveling in the directed path. Ok, she could certainly do this, no problem; her stomach on the other hand, had other ideas. Fuu clutched her midsection, determined not to slow them down any more than absolutely necessary. This was not absolutely necessary. Not yet anyway. Her mouth felt dry and sandy, breathing was becoming a bit more of a chore, and she felt so hot weak. They were going on four days with this hunger strike. The hunger strike being the total absence of food and money to buy it, not any sort of willingness to do so.
When was this going to end? It was roughly three months of nothing but starving, vomiting, headaches, back aches, thigh aches, hell, even her boob aches. She didn't even recognize her body anymore. The last week was, she hoped, the worst of it. It had been a gradual ascent into the state Fuu was currently in and she prayed the illness was peeking and would begin to fade soon. She panted as another wave of queasiness washed over her; she would sooner never have sex again than take anymore homemade contraceptive. When the pain first started Fuu thought Mugen had given it to her; hearing rumors of men or women becoming diseased after sleeping with someone. But the pirate looked in top condition. The bastard.
They had fasted for longer than this and she could usually stand it, well, she could continue walking anyway. But now she had no energy and the hunger pains complimented with an unsettled stomach made her tempted to ask the samurai or the completely non-sick jerk to simply put her out of her misery. Kami, take her now, no one was worth this much ache, not even her ass of a father.
Ok, it was official, she couldn't do this. "Stay here!" Fuu yipped, her hands shooting up to cover her mouth as she dashed into the forest.
She at least made it out of sight before turning around a tree and regurgitating any sort of fluid in her stomach. After a few minutes of prone dry heaving Fuu fell onto her side into an exhausted heap beside her new pool of vomit. She was glad she had told them to stay where they were; she hated anyone seeing her throw up. It was a disgusting act and always stunk to high heaven afterwards. That wasn't not exactly something she wanted anyone watching her do. But of course he hated it when anybody told him what to do, so when she felt a mixture of wood and toe nudge at her back she wasn't surprised. "G'way." She muttered, not bothering to open her eyes. Laying here and sleeping for the rest of her life next to the beautiful dump of bile was looking better and better.
"What the hell's wrong with you?"
The crunch of grass resounding in her ear told her that he was now squatting behind her looking over her side in her curled position. "Lemme 'lone." She slurred making a weak attempt at shrugging off the dirty hand that was turning her over.
"We haven't eaten in four fucking days. What the hell are you puking up?"
"I don't know, why don't you go ahead and sort through it." She snipped, giving him a pitiful glower beneath half closed lids. Why wouldn't he leave her alone for a few minutes, she was too drained to argue with him.
"Told you not to eat that plant shit." He grumbled.
"No you didn't. You didn't say a single thing about me taking the tea." Fuu closed her eyes again. If she was lucky she could be able to fall asleep even with this noise.
"We're closer to a village I think. Its not big, one of those backwater hell holes, but they should have some food if you can stop fucking wasting it."
Was this his way of showing concern? Because it was pretty crappy. "Fine! I'm up! Jeeze, just leave me alone." She groused, rolling up in an attempt to get to her feet, feeling Mugen's hand at her back helping to push her up.
The pirate glared at her, abruptly swiping his hand away at her bitching and letting the young girl plop back onto her butt with a painful 'oof!'
Giving an exasperated sigh she frowned up at him now that he was standing, arms crossed over his chest, looking down at her with an irritated look. With another swaying rock forward she managed to swing herself into a standing position and dust the dirt and grass from her clothes.
Mugen watched her tidy herself, seemingly forgetting his presence. He half expected her to yell a few choice insults his way for that little stunt but she appeared to be too worn to put up much of a fight lately. She appeared to be too worn to do a lot of things lately. It was hard to take your sexual frustration out on a sick girl, plus they hadn't come across a brothel in a while. Life pretty much sucked as of late. "Hurry the hell up." He threw back at her walking ahead back towards the path, but he made the effort to slow his pace just enough to keep her within a few feet of him.
It was that damned tea of hers. She should fucking know better than to just ingest random nature crap. He wasn't sure exactly how much of it she had taken; he knew she had gathered some of it for supplies. Its poison was slow working and she hadn't gotten this bad until the last few weeks. Before that it had just looked like the stomach flu, now it was practically a disease. She was weak, needed constant rests, needed food like it was dying off the face of the earth, yet she only threw it up after shoving it down her throat, plus she started running on and off fevers.
Spying Jin through the next array of trees, he tossed a glance back at the staggering girl just to make sure she was still there before stepping towards the other male and continuing down the road. Fuu once again toddled behind them; he could hear her shallow breathing from the back. He knew Jin heard it too and wondered what his take on it was. The samurai had taken a look at the plant she'd been using in her tea and said he'd never seen it before. It wasn't surprising, since the plant was mostly used by brothel women or prostitutes for birth control. He said that he would keep the plant as a sample for the doctor when they found one. Mugen was eager to get to the next village, they had no money for medicine but that wouldn't be a problem. They were leaving the town as soon as possible so he wouldn't have to worry about stealing the stuff or killing the pharmacist.
"Perhaps we should get her some water."
He glimpsed lazily at the pale man, always had to be so fucking noble. "We're almost there. She can wait." Water wasn't going to cure this shit. She needed a fucking healer and the sooner they got there the sooner she would get better and the sooner he would start getting laid again.
"Hold-hold on, I need to rest." She rasped.
He abruptly rounded on her with a frustrated growl. "You just took a break! We're almost there damnit, now start moving your ass and maybe we'll get there sooner!" He was about to turn back around and ignore whatever screaming retort Fuu would shriek at his back when all of the sudden she stopped. Mugen stood there observing her carefully, Jin slowly turning around wondering what the hold up was. The pirate watched her freeze, her eyes blurring in and out of focus until they finally rolled back in her head and she keeled backwards.
Darting forward he caught her wrist and kept her from smashing her head onto the ground. Jin came rushing over to grab her other arm and hold her up.
"Don't look at me like that, I didn't fucking touch her!" Mugen snarled at the accusing frown the samurai was sending him.
"She is still breathing. I think she just passed out. We need to get her to a healer." He moved to pick her up but Mugen beat him to it.
Hefting her into his arms he made a dash for the nearby town, hearing the vague padding of feet behind him. He didn't mean for her to fucking faint! He just wanted to get the bitch to the nearest doctor, was that so fucking terrible? He couldn't stop the slight notions in his gut whispering to him, what if the plant was fatally poisonous? What if they had waited too long to get her some medicine and it was already tainting her blood? Shit! Quickly shaking himself of the thoughts he pumped his legs faster. Stupid girl……….
"Stop!"
He almost tripped over his own feet as he screeched to a halt. "What the hell are you waiting for?" He bellowed, turning to see Jin staring pointedly into the woods.
"Look!" The other man rejoined, pointing in a direction beyond him.
His eyes followed the hand past the trees. Behind the foliage barrier there was a clearing with what looked like a large hut of some sort. "What the hell is it?" He asked moving towards Jin.
"It looks like a shrine, or a convent maybe. It is closer than the village and there is a good chance they will know of a way to help her." He replied jogging into the field.
Mugen hurriedly followed him. There was a cobble stone path leading to a door, he wanted to simply break it down but instead allowed Jin to polity knock at the entrance.
"Is there something I can help you young men with?"
The two 'young men' veered around to find an old woman in priestess garb holding an array of potted flowers. She looked as though she'd been gardening before they disturbed her.
"Yes, we have a sick woman that is in need of help."
Looking from him to the motionless girl in Mugen's arms she seemed to consider something in her head. "Is this woman your wife?" She asked carefully.
"Yes." He answered calmly.
"What!" Mugen barked at him.
The old woman glanced at the pirate for a moment before going back to Jin. "Men are not allowed here." She stated gravely. "But, we cannot deny aid to a woman in dire need of it. You may come in. We will see what can be done." She relented, walking past them and opening the doors, leading them in.
They trailed closely behind, Mugen glowering at Jin out of the corner of his eyes. They passed several other women, of all ages and sizes, on their way. Twisting down a hallway their guide stopped at the first room on the right, sliding the door open without hesitation. Another woman with raven hair was praying inside.
"Sachiko!" The older priestess commanded. Instantly the ebony haired girl looked up respectfully. "Fetch some water and warm it, then get me some cloths." She ordered, signaling for the men to follow her into the room.
The woman, apparently named Sachiko, obediently bolted out the door with a gracious "Hai, Basukyou-sama."
"Lay her down on the futon." She directed, making way for Mugen to lay Fuu down on the mattress at her feet. Basukyou sat beside her head, putting a hand to her forehead. She looked at them oddly when she noticed that the two men were still standing there. "You may wait by the entrance hall." She said.
"We're not going anywhere." Mugen spat.
The priestess frowned reproachfully. "I was not lying when I said men were not allowed here. You are fortunate I am bending these rules for you friend's wife. Now, if you want me to treat her, I suggest you wait by the entrance hall. I will come and get you when I have done all I can."
Jin gave a grateful bow before exiting the room, snagging the pirate and pulling him with him. The other man sputtered, aggressively pushing him off, but let himself be led out and back towards the entrance.
When the doors were closed behind them, Basukyou turned back to the sick girl in front of her. She did look rather ill. She was sweating and she felt a bit feverish, but that was probably from exerting herself too much. Pale, wrinkled, fingers went to the young girl's obi, carefully untying and parting her robes.
They had been waiting for over four hours and Mugen was becoming a little antsy. He didn't like shrines, or convents or whatever the hell it was that they were in. They always smelled so sterile and immaculate. Leaning against the wall near the window he took a glimpse at Jin, kneeling as deferentially as ever. He rolled his eyes, that stick was definitely lodged pretty deep up that ass. "So, why'd you say she was your wife?" He drawled.
Jin didn't open his eyes but Mugen knew he heard him. "That woman is a priestess. Fuu is a girl traveling alone with two men. She would be more likely to help her if she thought Fuu was respectably married."
Mugen gritted his teeth, turning back to the window. The soft patter down of sandaled feet on stone floor echoed off the walls, bringing his attention down the hall. Jin stood as the old woman made her way towards them, stopping a few feet in front of the samurai.
"I was unable to find anything wrong with your wife. She is not sick." She commented. "Half starved; but not sick." She said, giving Jin a critical frown.
"That is not possible, she started showing symptoms of illness not long after she began taking this." Jin replied taking the strange herb from within his robes and presenting it to her.
Taking the plant from him, she twisted it about in her hand, examining it with a contemplative furrow. "There is nothing remotely poisonous about this plant. It is a breed of yaro that lacks any sort of contraceptive qualities possessed by its cousin, but when brewed it secretes a fluid commonly used as a muscle relaxant. We use it for that very purpose here ourselves."
"What the hell are you talking about? Ever since she started taking that shit she's been puking her guts up!" Mugen bit.
Raising a thinning eyebrow, Basukyou glanced at him oddly. "Indeed, pregnant women often do."
If his jaw weren't attached to his skull it would have shattered to the floor right there, even Jin couldn't contain his shock. "What?" Mugen struggled out.
The priestess blinked at them both in confusion. "Your wife is with child. Did you not know?" She asked looking at the pale man.
Jin didn't answer, his mind still trying to process the stun. He gave his head a slight shake out of the daze before replying. "No, no I did not."
"Mmhmm. I see, perhaps that is why you have not been feeding her properly. A few of my charges are with her now seeing to that. I cannot imagine how this could have slipped past you. From what I can tell, she must be a few months along, at least. I am not sure if her fasting has hurt the child, but unless you desire a stillborn, I suggest you start feeding her as needed. She is not getting enough nutrition herself, let alone any for the baby."
"This……this is a lot to take in at the moment." He said pinching the bridge of his nose between his index and forefinger.
"Hai, of course. Would you like to see her now, maybe talk this over with her?" She offered.
"I would." Before leaving, Jin's eyes flickered to his left and he stopped, surprised to see the now empty space by the window.
His geta clad feet made loud clicking noises like hooves on stone as Mugen sprinted through the winding hallways rounding at the first corner. The heel of the wood slipped against the floor as he curved, almost sending him to the ground, but he regained his balance at the last second, easily recognizing the doors to the familiar room. Throwing the sliding doors to the side his chest met with something soft that obviously didn't have his balance and crashed down to the ground. His stared down impatiently at the sprawled girl splayed across the floor, rising up to rub at her sore backside. She obviously wasn't Fuu and he glanced at the futon, the sheets haphazardly flung back revealing a great deal of nothing inside. "What the hell is going on? Where's Fuu?" He barked at the woman climbing off the ground.
"That's what we were going to tell Basukyou-sama! The young lady all but flung herself out the window!" A different girl on the other side of the room answered.
"She what!"
It wasn't true! It wasn't true It wasn't true It wasn't true! How did this happen? Well, it was obvious how it happened, but, but, there was just no way! Fuu could feel her feet padding furiously against the grass as she ran as far away from that horrible place as fast as humanly possible. What did those idiots know! She wanted a second opinion! How did they know that she wasn't just sickly, or had caught some kind of worm inside her! A worm that made her stomach all big and hard! All were perfectly plausible explanations! They didn't have to automatically assume she was pregnant! That was just jumping to conclusions!
Tears dripped out of the corners of her eyes, the wind pushing them back into her hair. Her lungs were aching for air as she gasped and wheezed, and her thighs were beginning to complain with overuse. But it didn't matter. She still wasn't far enough away. The woman had no doubt told them by now. She couldn't let them see her like this. She couldn't let him see her like this. Her eyes could make out a river ahead of her just as she let out a yelp, her sandal catching a root and sending her careening forward, but luckily her hand caught the tree of the root and steadied herself. Right before she lurched forward and promptly vomited back all the food she had just eaten. Groaning she leaned onto the trunk for balance, a pale hand rising to wipe her mouth. Mugen was right she did waste good food.
---flashback---
At first the world around her was nothing but endless blurry smears and splashes of color, but slowly her eyes regained focus and could make out the small room she was in. Something soft was cradling her back, she could only guess it was a futon. Yep, it was a futon. Not a bad one at that. Fuu winced when the curtains were drawn away from a window letting the light jackhammer against her eyes, spurring an already irritable headache.
"Oh! You're finally awake!"
Slowly she moved to turn her head to the side to see other woman dressed in priestess robes. She had shining black hair and was kneeling pleasantly at her head.
"We brought you some food and water. You must be absolutely famished! Silly girl, you can't let yourself go hungry in your condition! And there is no need to worry, Basukyou-sama has gone to put your husband at ease." Another voice chided.
Reluctantly turning again she was able to catch sight of the curtain culprit. An older girl with long dark brown hair and dark eyes. The aroma of hot home cooked meals wafted under her nose making her mouth water insatiably. Carefully settling herself up on her elbows she looked around through squinted eyes. "Where am I?……….and what did you do to me?" She asked looking down at her open robes practically flaunting her nudity.
"We were going to take them all the way off but we did not want to move you. You were sweating so much we needed to cool you down before you overheated." The brunette explained coming to sit beside her companion, pouring water from the pitcher into a cup. "Drink this, its cool and will make you feel better. After, you must eat." She instructed sternly.
With an obedient nod of acknowledgment she hastily downed the entire cup, letting the rush of icy water fight the nauseating heat inside her belly. Smacking her lips in anticipation she randomly tossed aside the empty container and dove into the warm meals set before her. The other girls giggled nervously at her voracious appetite but patted her hair encouragingly even as she shoveled morsel for morsel down her throat, hardly tasting it.
"You really should not let yourself starve like that. It could hurt the baby, you know." The brunette scolded once more.
"What?" Fuu heard very little of the one sided conversation, the squashing sounds of wonderful chewing gloriously filling her ears.
"Yes, doesn't your husband provide for you?" The woman with the ebony locks questioned somewhat suspiciously.
"My what?" She asked, swiping the little bit of fish remains off her lips. A decent 90 of the food was thoroughly devoured, so she could at least spare a little attention to whatever it was they were chatting to her about.
The inky haired girl sighed sympathetically, idly running her hand in circles over Fuu's bare stomach. "I understand. When will men finally learn to take responsibility for their actions?" She asked her companion at her side as the brunette nodded in agreement. Fuu spared the hand currently caressing her stomach and odd look. What the hell was she doing? She knew her tummy wasn't exactly built like a washboard but she didn't have to tease her.
"Honestly, its simply careless, neglecting a young woman's needs when she's expecting, and a woman of her age! Its absolutely horrible!" The brown haired girl agreed.
"Expecting what? Are you talking about me?" Fuu inquired curiously. "Ano……and can you stop that?" She said picking up the dark tressed woman's hand and moving it away from her stomach.
The two women looked at her as though they had forgotten she was even there. "Oh gomen ne. This must be making you feel awful." The brunette apologized.
"Why would it make me fee awful?" What was wrong with these women?
Both seemed to ignore her questioned and began to fawn over her belly. Fuu gawked as the pawed and pressed their ear to her stomach. "Have you lost your mind!" She squawked.
"Have you decided on a name yet?" Came the brunette.
"Hai, what are you going to name it?" Added the raven-haired girl.
"Name who!" Where the hell was she? Had those jerks just waited until she passed out so that they could throw her in some nuthouse?
Both priestesses burst out into high-pitched giggles. "Your baby, silly." Answered the darker girl.
"I don't have a baby, what are you talking about!"
The women went into another tirade of feminine laughter, all four hands now roaming over Fuu's swollen stomach.
"Well naturally not as of yet. I think you may have another four to six months." Said the brunette giving Fuu's belly a gentle poke.
The girls were oblivious to the drain of all color from her face. "I-I don't understand…" She stammered.
"What is not to understand?" The raven locked woman chuckled. "What did you think this was? Muscle?" She laughed tapping at Fuu's stomach. "Now you just relax and I will tell Basukyou-sama you are awake?" She informed, moving to her feet.
But even in her state, Fuu was faster. Hurriedly shoving the other female out of the way she darted for the window, all but tripping out of the opening in her escape.
---end flashback---
Fuu looked down at the remains of the only meal she had eaten in days now dripping down her front. Her body felt numb and useless, sliding down the tree, dropping her into an odorous mass at the base of the trunk. Her hands worked weakly but determinedly at her obi, eventually untying it from her kimono and letting her robes drape open at her sides. Without anything but her arms to keep it to her frame, the cloth dropped to hang at the crooks of her arms, weighed down by the regurgitated goods.
When you have never seen the bare physical changes of a pregnant woman it is rather difficult to tell if you have become one yourself. It was like seeing her body for the first time, even though these transformations had gradually taken place over the months. Now she actually knew what they were and what they meant. Fuu hadn't known what to think when they started happening. It was all so slow and accompanied the arrival of her illness she was only lead to believe that the sickness was the cause. Maybe it was some unheard of disease and these were the symptoms.
As if of their own accord, her fingers went to the unfamiliar little bulge that had taken over her belly. They traced the roundness of it like a foreign object she had never seen before. She wasn't stupid. She was well aware of how girls became pregnant; but the way her mother described it to her was so different from how it actually happened that she had never really related the two scenarios. When Fuu was six, she asked her where babies come from and her mother had said that when a woman gets married, and she and her husband love each other very much, the husband plants his seed in his wife's womb and there a baby grows, and after a long time, when her stomach has grown nice and big, the baby comes out and is born. That whole setting involved marriage, love, and actually trying to make a child.
Shrugging off the rest of her clothes Fuu picked them up and pattered over to the river, not even checking to see if it was too cold or the current too strong, she treaded in, taking her soiled kimono in with her to wash. The water was absolutely frigid, as expected and the current just about knocked her down, but her mind was in such a whizzing, and whirling tumble of everything that she barely noticed and continued until the water came to her waist. With goose pimples peppering her skin she dipped her clothing in and began to scrub away the mess.
Obviously Fuu grew to learn that any time sex is involved a baby can be created, but her mother's words of how it happened were simply tattooed onto the back of her mind. How was she to associate what she and Mugen did with the wonderful life her mother predicted she would have? She did not love Mugen, they were not married, she was never trying to get pregnant; pretty much the only task in that equation they had done right was the whole seed planting thing.
Her hands fisted in the watery fabric, she couldn't look down at her swimming kimono without seeing her enlarged stomach. This was not what she wanted. She was only fifteen! She didn't even like babies, or the entire kid population in general! All they did was cry, pull hair, and poop! She wanted it gone! She wanted it gone! She wanted it gone! Her nose sniffled pitifully and Fuu began to weep, her naked shoulders trembling, her arms clenching the soaked kimono to her stomach as if to hide her abomination from the world. "Go away." She whimpered miserably, her ears would probably recognize those crunching steps forever.
But of course he never did what anyone told him. There was a brief shuffling of clothes, and she tightened her grip on her robes like a protective shield. And then his bare chest was against her back. An arm, tanned deep, invaded her vision as it looped around her shoulders, the other laying on her right side. She was so short he could easily look over her head without any effort at all, and that was probably was he was doing. Fuu sniffed the snot back into her nose, not wanting it to dribble down her upper lip making her look like a child after a hissy fit.
"So, what? You think I wouldn't find out eventually?" His tone was layered with accusation.
"I…..I didn't know." She murmured.
Insults regarding how dumb she was were anticipated, snide remarks about her childish ignorance were probable, rude slurs concerning her idiocy were predictable, any sort of hurtful slight about her blatant stupidity were expected; but not the tightening of the bronzed arm around her shoulders. Not the increased pressure of his chest against her back as he brought her closer to him. That was completely unpredicted. The hand at her side snaked around snagging the clothing she was so rigidly clinging to, and promptly took it away from her, tossing it carelessly onto the river bank. Fuu pursed her lips, trying to pummel the sob building in her throat, her arms crossing over her belly as though to hid it from his view. This had to be some bizarre nightmare, and she would wake up from it soon if she just clenched her eyes shut and kept telling herself it wasn't real.
Deciding that he would just deal with it as it came he ignored her pathetic attempts to shoo him away and shed off his clothes. He was at a loss of what to do to make her crying stop, he wasn't one of those empathetic men that magically knew how to dodge every swing of a woman's mood. Well, she would stop eventually; right now he had the strangest urge to see the proof of what the uptight hag had told them.
He was appreciating her short stature more and more these days. Once the drenched kimono was thrown aside, Mugen pulled her closer to him, peering over her head down to her swollen belly. It wasn't huge, still in its early stages, it sort of looked like an enormous mosquito bite if you just looked at it the right way. She was not that hard to find. If she was as frantic as those useless girls made her out to be then she couldn't really plan any sort of escape route, and would most likely just run straightforward until she wore herself out. She hadn't gotten too far, but he had found her crying and was once again reminded of Kohza's bullshit advice. He had 'just been there' for her before, and that had gotten him two hair accessories pressed to the ball of his throat.
She felt tense and he could tell her little tear damn was ready to break again. From all the time he had spent with her he had come to one conclusion: Fuu was the worst example of woman the Gods ever made. Probably the worst overall female the Gods ever made. Women were supposed to be soft and affectionate, Fuu was not. Women were supposed to lovingly submit to their men, Fuu did not. Women were made to have babies and from what he gathered delighted in doing so, and now, apparently, Fuu did not. Even though he's grateful that she's not, he think she would probably be happier if she were born a man. She enjoyed sex like a man, maybe not always sex with him in particular, but she did enjoy it. She could be dominant and controlling like a man. And could be violently aggressive like a man when provoked. But still, that's a road he would rather not dwell on.
His height practically made him curl over her, his chin easily spanning the top of her head, curving over it to touch the very tip of her forehead. It rested there, letting him study the sight before him. The same hand that had stolen her clothes now curiously came up to lay itself on her belly. Something of him was growing inside there. Right in her womb both of their blood was mixing and combining to create a piece of both of them. It was a hell of a strange thing to wrap his mind around, the fact that yesterday he was fucking around, never knowing a mother, father, or any siblings, and now, all of the sudden he had a family all his own. He had a kid, and he had the mother of that kid, bitchy as she may be.
And possibly the biggest upside to this was that now she couldn't go panting after Jin. Or anyone else for that matter. A snide grin lifted the corner of his lips. He couldn't have done better had he just tattooed "Property of Mugen" on her forehead. The good thing about pregnant women was that they couldn't go anywhere. They were dependent. And that was the thing that would keep Fuu where she was.
"Don't touch it!" She snapped, shoving herself away from him and his inspecting hand. Her back stayed to him, her shoulders hunched and arms still firmly wrapped over her stomach, it looked like she was attempting to curl into herself.
Mugen made an exasperated noise. He supposed he couldn't expect her to keep her mouth shut forever. "What the hell's your problem?" He griped irritably.
At that she whirled around, gawking incredulously at him. "M-my-my what? My problem? What's my problem!" She stuttered.
After watching him just stand there, arms crossed over his chest with a sort of annoyed expectancy she furiously flung her arms out like a crane readying itself for flight. "Are you blind! Or just stupid!"
He threw her exposed and bulging stomach a lazy glance before returning his gaze to meet her unbelieving eyes. "Okay, so you're knocked up. Women get knocked up, that's what they do." He stated, idly scratching the side of his neck.
She forgot to put her arms down since her brain simply wasn't capable of processing his words. "K-knocked up?" She childishly parroted. "Knocked up! ARE YOU RETARDED!"
His lips bent into a frown, what the hell was wrong with her? "I don't get you. You're mom's dead, you have no idea where the hell your dad is, and now you have a brand spanking new family and you're pissed about it?"
Her arms dropped flaccidly from their spread position. He thought this insanity was a family? "This is not my family!" She bit out, yanking her finger out to point at her belly. "This is you finding another way to screw me over!" Fuu screamed, her fingers itching to strangle him.
His eyes rolled at her over-dramatics. "Don't fucking flatter yourself." He sneered.
"This is all your fault! You're the one that complicated things! You're the one that cut everything off! So I left you alone! That what you seemed to want! You knew about Jin and you constantly teased me about him but don't forget, it was you that told me to leave you alone and just go to him instead!" Angry tears flumed down her face as she pointed accusingly at him. "I took your advice and pretended this never happened! I stopped coming to you! I stopped taking the stupid Yaro-" Her voice abruptly cut off, her hand falling bonelessly to her side, and Mugen raised an eyebrow at the suspension of her tirade. She blinked astonishingly, her eyes taking on the glaze of someone just realizing something horrible. "The yaro, you knew I stopped taking it……." She said in some sort of morbid awe. "You knew what it was for, you knew I hadn't been taking it. You knew and you didn't care….." Almost instantly, rage flooded into her eyes, her hands balling and clenching at her sides. "You knew and you didn't care!" She snarled lunging at him, Mugen jolted almost too surprised to catch her wrists, her fingers bent into claws going for his face. "You did this on purpose, didn't you! You bastard you did this on purpose!" She screamed grappling with the calloused hands gripping her own.
"What the hell are you talking about! I didn't do shit!" He growled back pushing her nails away from his face.
"You liar! You didn't care about me! All you wanted was a stupid one up on Jin!" She hissed increasing her thrashing.
Giving up on thrusting her away he did the opposite and yanked her arms behind him, driving her hard into his chest. "You think I thought this was worth it! I'd rather get rammed in the ass by a fucking elephant than put up with your shit!" He shouted in her face.
He had yelled at her before, but for some reason she looked surprised this time. Like the wind had been ripped, completely, from her sails. She looked at him through wide and watery eyes; her lip trembling and her nose sniffling the mucus with pathetic little snorting sounds back into her nostrils. Mugen groaned, his head rolling back in aggravation. "Damnit, don't do that." But as usually she never listened to him and carefully bent her chin to her chest and began to cry quietly. He sighed, dropping his arms from behind him, letting them dangle at his sides, his hands still clutching her wrists. "Shit, why are you crying, now?" He looked down at her but was only able to see the top of her head.
Why the hell wasn't there anyone to tell him how to handle this? He wondered if Jin knew how to make a girl stop bawling. He laughed indignantly through his nose, it didn't matter anyway, there wasn't a snowball's chance in hell that he would ask that bastard for advice about Fuu. Why couldn't they just have sex? That always made him feel better….
"I don't want to be pregnant anymore." She sniveled, her shoulders shaking. "I'm done, I'm pretty much scared out of my mind, it can stop now." She said this like it was some sort of punishment, and in a way it most likely was for her.
"I don't think that's how it works." He replied awkwardly. Why couldn't she just be squealing, jumping up and down, and begging for baby gifts like every other pregnant woman in the world? Why did she have to be so fucking difficult about everything? Finally she looked up at him, and her eyes were big and wet. He was suddenly reminded of how old she really was and how she must see all this. She sniffed, swallowing saliva back into her sore throat; her eyes seemed to beseech him, to beg him for something.
"M-maybe they're wrong. They could be, ya know?" Her voice was high from the crying and she sounded so small.
Mugen had honestly never wanted to be somebody else. Most other people were weak little pussies anyway and that was the last thing he wanted to be. No he wasn't some honorable fucking samurai on a white horse with a shining glamorous sword, and he had always been just fine with that. But for once, right now, he did wish he could be somebody else. Somebody who knew the right things to say to her to make her stop looking at him like that, some magical thing to say to make her stare at him with the same shy devotion, with the same absolute adoration that he would catch her glancing at Jin with. He wanted to be somebody who knew how to get her to stop looking at him like he was the sole reason for every complication, every problem in her life. But he wasn't that man and he never would be. He didn't know the right things to tell her, the things she probably wanted to her, but he did know the truth. "They're not." He said and watched her hopeful little face crumble into what could only be described as agony.
His eyes fixed themselves straight ahead, rigidly on some point on the tree covered horizon as her forehead sunk against his chest. Her small body quaking as she sobbed against him. His face was a firm mask of nothing. He wasn't trained in the art of gentle touches and soothing words, this was a battle he didn't know how to fight. His hands gave her wrists a controlled squeeze, not wanting to hurt her but wanting her to know that he was 'there' just like that bitch Kohza had told him girls needed to know. He could feel water trail through the crevices of his muscles as she wept defeatedly.
Well he had her now. This creature growing in her belly would forever tie her to him whether she liked it or not. He was happy, he really was. He had beaten her. He had spoiled her for her precious Jin, had thoroughly smeared himself all over her to the point that she could never wash him away. The fight was over, he had won, and he was waiting for the familiar feelings of utter pride and satisfaction to sweep over him like they always had. Like he knew they would. They would come eventually. They really would…………………
Woah! Did anybody see that coming? Just curious, for some reason some reviewers r just fucking psychic about these things. So Fuu's got a bunny in the oven it seems, woop woop. Well, u kno the drill, R&R.
Much luv
The Deni Pie