Standing outside of a large brothel house, Shino and Fu try to gain entrance in order to determine Mugen's whereabouts.

Fu whispered," Shino! What are you getting us into?"

Shino," Don't worry, once we find Mugen it will be easy to escape."

Fu," What if my gut feeling is wrong? What if Mugen isn't' here?"

Shino," Then we should turn around and go immediately."

Fu," No! He's here, I feel it."

Shino," Well, if he's here and you're sure, then he's safe and we can go home."

Fu," Wait! Even if he is here, I need to know that he will return to help me find the samurai who smells of sunflowers."

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Shino," Sunflowers?"

Fu," Yeah, they're" But then their conversation was interrupted by the guard who had gone to fetch his boss. He led them inside the brothel to a large room in the far back corner of the building. Upon entering the room, the guard pushed the two females toward his boss and exited the room, closing the door in the process. Fu could see the shadow of the guard outside the door he just closed. Her palms began to get sweaty as she looked to Shino. Shino looked around the room to see dimly lit lanterns that revealed a large bed, a small eating area and a desk that faced the doorway. The owner of the brothel sat behind the desk running his fingers through his beard analyzing the appearance of the two women. He was pleased to see a young fresh looking girl looking for work at the brothel and even though the other women was not as young, her face was attractive and her curves were still in all the right places which probably meant she had not bore any children yet.

The brothel owner demanded," So, you two are looking for work at my establishment? What brings you here?"

Shino spoke," We have run away from our abusive husbands and have run out of money. We would like an opportunity to work here as waitresses. We have heard that you allow your clients to tip the waitresses."

Brothel owner," I have plenty of waitresses, what else are you willing to do for money?"

Fu began to tug at Shino's sleeve, but Shino ignored her and responded to the owner," We can provide a variety of entertainment including singing and dancing."

Brothel owner," This is not a showcase for Geisha's. I need women that can please men behind closed doors, this should be no surprise to you."

Shino," Please, let us perform for you and then you can make up your mind. We could even perform in your main lobby so you could see how your clients respond. If you truly feel that our entertainment offers no value to your establishment then you can kick us out."

Brothel owner," Fine, we could all use a good show, but if you two aren't able to provide us any decent entertainment then the only thing I will have left for you is to work upstairs. Guards, escort these ladies out to the stage in the lobby and don't let them out of your site. They will be living in this house from now on!"

Fu," But we're just here to entertain…"

Brothel owner," exactly…"

Guards entered and dragged Fu and Shino into a large room that had many doorways leading to other areas of the brothel. They commanded the musicians to get off the stage and then pushed the two women onto the small elevated platform. Shino looked to Fu and asked,

" can you sing?"

Fu," No way, what the hell are you thinking?"

Shino, a little panicked," Can you dance?"

Fu," Not really…"

Shino," Well you better learn fast if you don't want to "work upstairs"." She then leaned over to the musicians and after some discussion they began to play a sad, sexy song. A few beats later and a rich, colorful sound began emanating from Shino lips. Fu couldn't believe it, but Shino was singing and she had a great voice. It wasn't a traditionally beautiful soprano voice, but it was real and full of a beauty of its own. Fu stood there and watched in awe as Shino performed for the brothel owner and all the men lounging in the lobby. Then Fu realized she was supposed to be dancing, but what the hell was she supposed to do, she didn't know how to dance and she didn't have much room since the stage was so small. She felt Shino look in her direction, giving her a hard knowing look as if to say 'do something fast or we're dead'.

Fu began to move her arms and feet to the beat of the music, but she hardly felt as graceful and elegant as Shino sounded. When the song ended Fu was relieved just to be able to stop dancing, but the owner commanded them to continue and they had to oblige. During the course of her singing, Shino was scanning the crowd for Mugen, but was out of luck as she could not see him in the lobby. She began to worry when she realized that if Mugen was really not at this brothel then they could really get stuck here. She believed that Fu had honestly felt something when they reached the brothel. Gut feelings that strong weren't usually wrong, but if this was one of the wrong times, then they needed their own escape plan. How did she get herself involved in such an unlikely situation? Since she had been traveling on her own she always kept to herself, kept to the shadows to stay out of harms way, but here she was on display at a small town whorehouse practically already a prisoner to the brothel owner. It brought back some dark memories of her past and she felt her heart ache as she sang. So far the crowd seemed pleased with the performance and the owner had even left the room, but that wouldn't make a difference if at the end of the day they were still prisoners of the brothel.

Mugen woke up from his nap to the noise of clapping coming from another part of the building. He rolled over to see the young girl he had rented for the afternoon sitting at her dresser, brushing her hair. He got up from the bed only missing his shirt. Living with that happy family and all the children running around had driven him crazy. He had tried sleeping with the prostitute that sat before him thinking that would clear his mind, but something wasn't right. He couldn't get himself to follow through with his original intention and ended up finishing a large bottle of sake with the unfamiliar girl instead and falling asleep in her room at the brothel. As he continued listening to the noise coming from elsewhere in the house, he realized it was music, a performance perhaps and decided to check it out. After he put his shirt back on, he had to assure the prostitute that he was perfectly happy with the way the afternoon turned out and that he wouldn't complain about her to her boss. She was so scared to get in trouble with the owner of the brothel that she even tried to show some oral gratitude before Mugen left the room. He finally made his way down the stairs and the music finally became clear to him. He followed the melodic sound to the lobby and just as he entered the room he saw Jin entering the room from the opposite side. They stood still looking at one another.

Mugen smirked and as he approached Jin he said," So you finally decided to have your urges satisfied? Thank god, I was beginning to think you were gay or something."

Jin didn't respond, instead he turned to face the performers on stage. The sound of the singer's voice was alluring and hypnotic. He had come to this part of town to help Fu look for Mugen, not realizing that Shino had accompanied Fu in her search. 'Foolish Fu, why are you always getting yourself into these situations where you need to be rescued' thought Jin to himself. As he turned to face the stage he had to fight letting his jaw drop as he saw Shino singing a deep, emotional song and Fu moving around on stage placing her body in all sorts of contorted positions. He would've been entranced by Shino's singing as all the other men in the lobby were, but the site of Fu attempting to dance was hilarious, even to a stoic man like Jin, so much so that he turned his face away to keep from laughing.

Mugen finally turned to face the stage as well. His jaw dropped to the floor when he saw Shino singing that beautiful sultry melody, but then almost immediately rolled on his side from laughing so hard when he saw Fu making some sort of gyrations on stage. 'Was she trying to dance?' thought Mugen to himself. Mugen's laughter began to irritate some of the other men that were trying to enjoy Shino's singing and they began to shout at Mugen.

Men, "Hey, why don't you shut up so we can listen to the music!"

Mugen, "Hey, how would you like me to shove my fist down your throat to stop your stupid bitching!"

Some of the men began to crowd around Mugen, but all Mugen did was crack his neck in his classic nonchalant 'who gives a fuck' style. Jin began to move toward the stage now that there was a distraction for the guards to deal with. When he reached the side of the stage Fu had stopped her erratic dancing.

Fu," Jin! I can't believe you're here, I'm so glad. Please help us get out of here!"

Jin," Quickly, the guards are busy dealing with the ruckus Mugen has caused. We'll slip out the back door."

Shino was begging the musicians to continue playing their instruments so that their escape would go unnoticed, but they were too scared to be punished by the brothel owner and called some guards over. Jin was forced to unsheathe his sword and the fighting began. Shino grabbed Fu's arm and they ran towards the exit as Jin fought off the onslaught of guards with concise slices of his sword. Meanwhile Mugen was caught in the middle of a confused and rioted mess. He had already taken down the two guards that had attempted to subdue him and was about to move on to the men who had told him to shut up, but he had noticed Fu run past him towards the exit. Feeling an uncontrollable urge to protect her, Mugen left the mob of men for the brothel guards to deal with and ran after Fu.

The four escapees raced through the streets looking for a place to hide. They had not made it out of that disreputable area of town when Mugen grabbed Fu's wrist and pulled her into an alley behind a restaurant. There were several large woven baskets and they each jumped into one to hide. Shino and Jin hid in another alley not far away, but there were no baskets for them to hide in and when Shino heard the guard's voices approaching, she panicked. They heard footsteps approaching and Jin was about to unsheathe his sword, but Shino had quickly wrapped her arms around his neck and pressed her lips to his. The guards walked by the alley only to see what appeared to be a street whore pleasing her client in a back alley and moved on. After it was clear that the guards had left, Shino pulled away from Jin. She temporarily lost her footing as her knees seemed to give out from under her. Jin caught her and helped her stand properly again.

Stepping away Shino said," Please don't misinterpret my actions. It was only to mislead the guards."

Jin, blushing slightly and not able to look Shino in the eye, said," …We should make sure Fu and Mugen are safe."

They snuck out of the alley and quickly found Fu and Mugen. The four discreetly made their way back to the family compound, happy to have escaped that part of town. When they arrived at the compound, they found Ryuu and Ryuuji chatting and drinking sake. It might have appeared superficially that the two brothers were simply enjoying a quiet late night drink, but everyone in that room knew there was explaining to do.