Behind the Glass

Are You Happy Now?

The next morning when Fuu woke, Jin had already left. He'd be back, she knew. When he'd be back, she didn't know. Mugen was still asleep and sprawled out on the floor.

She sighed and got up to start a bath. When she got in, she thought how he'd probably be mad when he woke up. She saw how he looked at her when he thought she was asleep. Mad and concerned. Which means when he woke, he would act mad. Mugen is so different from Jin.

Jin can be sweet and funny when he wants to. And he can be smart, unlike Mugen. Like yesterday, for example. It was sweet of him to run after her after she left the restaurant in tears. It was funny when he caught up and didn't know how to comfort her. It was smart to not question her further about her past until she was ready to talk about it. Mugen on the other hand... was just stupid. Funny sometimes, yes. She'd give him that. But right when he woke up he'd be asking her about yesterday and Fuu knew it. Stupid... dumb... Samurai!

The skin on her clenched fists were starting to prune and Fuu realized she'd been in the bath for a while. She got out, got dressed and when she went to open the door she heard a big, unmelodious yawn. Mugen was awake.

Mugen woke on a hard floor, rolled over, yawned, and felt groggy as hell. He lifted himself up and kicked his futon in the corner. Deciding to take a bath since nobody was around, he headed for the bathroom. Right when he went to open the door, it was flung in his face.

"Ow, damn it! Who the hell-- Fuu? Oh, you're here. Why the hell are you trying to murder me!"

"Sorry Mugen," was all she said as she walked passed him and went to sit on her futon and dry her hair. Mugen stared at her. She sounded half dead. Was the thing about yesterday that serious? She did refer to it as "that incident" so it probably was. He shook it off for now and decided to take that bath. Most likely, he needed it. When he finished up, Jin had returned and was sitting across from Fuu. They sat in silence and stared into thin air.

"Alright, what the hell is going on here? Somebody tell me, God dammit! Is this really how you want to spend our reunion? Sitting alone. That doesn't sound like much of a reunion."

"Mugen, calm down." Jin told him.

"Hey, don't tell me to calm down when I'm not even calmed up! I just want to know why you two are so depressed. Yeah, I get that shit has happened in the past five years that we all don't want to talk about. But if that's what it takes, and I can't believe I'm saying this, let's freakin' talk."

"You want... to know, right? What happened to the man I was talking about yesterday? I can tell you're dying to know. Is that why you want to 'talk'?"

"Well, yeah. As I said yesterday, I'm curious. And also, you look like its killing you. What the hell happened?"

Fuu sighed, defeated. She would have to tell them sooner or later.

"It happened a week ago. The night before what was supposed to be our wedding. His name was Yamada Kaishi and he was a wealthy man. Handsome and... I said all this yesterday. But that night when I went to say good night to him, I found him in his room and... there was blood. Everywhere I looked there was blood. Splattered over the walls, like whoever did it set it up to haunt me. And it does, every night. Kaishi was stripped and... pinned to the wall... By dull knives." Fuu paused to regain composure, but couldn't completely. A few stray tears fell down her face, but her voice stayed strong and quiet. "Dull knives. That means he was tortured. They shoved those things through his arms slowly until he bled to death. I don't know who, I don't know why... All I know is he's gone."

Both Samurai didn't move. Fuu tried to contain her sobs and eventually did.

"Yeah. That's my story. Are you happy now, Mugen?"

"No. Not at all." He didn't look her in the eye.

"A week ago today, Fuu?" Jin asked.

"Yeah, why?"

"That's when you decided to contact us to have this reunion. Is there something you're not telling us? Is there someone after you or after something you have of Kaishi's?"

"No! I didn't ask you here for protection. I just... I had no one else to turn to. You two are the first people I thought of. You're the closest I've ever come to family since mine died. I'm sorry I didn't tell you right away but I'm not hiding anything and I'm not in danger. I just needed to see you, Mugen and Jin."

"That makes sense. I guess. You should have told me right away instead of putting on an act." Mugen told her. She looked at him like he grew a brain, or an extra arm, or something else equally rare.

"Why?" She asked him.

"Because!" He answered.

"Mugen, you don't care. I wouldn't want you pretending you did until Jin showed up. It would have been awkward."

"Hate to be the bearer of obvious news, but it was awkward anyway."

"Yeah, Mugen. That was your fault. I wasn't ready for you to act nice!"

"Mugen acted nice?" Jin asked.

"I know, hard to believe seeing him now, isn't it? Now he's just an idiot again!"

"I'm a what?"

"BAKA!"

"Calm down, you two."

Mugen and Fuu continued to scream insults and profanities at each other until Jin couldn't take it anymore. Sure, he could have stopped them or even joined in. He was very smart and could throw out retorts almost as fast as he could pull a sword on an enemy, but he had the silent and mysterious image to uphold. Besides, the yelling and arguing had broken the strange vibe in the air and Fuu looked more lively than ever. Jin decided to take a walk and leave the two to yell it out. Would he be back? Yes. When would he be back, though? Nobody knew.

To be continued...

Will you look at that. It was longer. :D Sorry for anyone offended by the death scene. It was a little gruesome, I guess. But better reading about it then seeing it, right? ...o.O