Chapter Seven

"I'm hot," whined Leiko. "Take me over to the shade."

"Sure, Mom," said Mugen. Leiko was on his back, her arms draped over his head. Mugen didn't seem to mind being treated like a pack animal.

Jin cleared his throat and looked at Fuu.

"No!" she whispered loudly. "If you want to talk to Mugen, then you do it! I'm staying out of this one!"

"You know he won't listen to me!"

"No!" whispered Fuu stubbornly.

Mugen set Leiko down in some shade and then collapsed onto the ground, panting. "Man, it's hot, huh? What are you two lovebirds whispering about back there?"

"Nothing!" snapped Jin, bristling.

"Ahh, young love," sighed Leiko antagonistically. "Isn't it sweet? Do you have a special girl, Mugen?"

"Whoever I can find."

"When am I going to have grandkids?"

"Oh, God, please don't encourage him to procreate," moaned Jin, putting a hand over his face. Fuu crammed her fist into her mouth to keep from giggling at the absurdity of it. Jin, not as easily tickled, sat in the shade as far away from Leiko as he could get and kicked off his sandals rather violently.

For a moment there was peaceful silence. Somewhere, they could hear heavy footfalls; soldiers marching. Leiko tensed and raised her head, like a deer that had caught the scent of a predator.

"What is it, Mom?" asked Mugen.

"Uhh, Mugen, sweetheart… could you do mommy a big favor?"

"Huh? Sure. Anything. What is it?" asked Mugen anxiously. Jin rolled his eyes.

A block down, Fuu watched a few shogunate officials turn sharply, patrolling along the streets. They stopped a few stores down from Fuu and paused, apparently sizing up their party. They paused to huddle.

"…see, I was falsely accused…" Leiko was explaining hastily.

"Yeah. Falsely," said Jin sarcastically, forming quotation marks with his fingers.

"Don't worry, Mom," said Mugen quickly, already climbing to his feet. "I believe you. I'll take care of them." He made sure to kick Jin's thigh when he passed him.

One of the shogun officials strode over. Mugen stood in front of him, like a sneering brick wall. The officer looked him up and down, obviously not used to being so openly defied.

"Excuse me," he said in a deep voice. "I believe that woman is wanted for theft."

"Yeah? I don't think she is," said Mugen.

The man jerked back. "If you don't move, you could be arrested for harboring a criminal," he threatened.

"And if you don't butt out, you could be sliced into pieces," replied Mugen.

"How dare you threaten me!" The man pulled his sword. His accomplices pulled their own and rushed to aide him; by that time, Mugen had already killed the first one.

Leiko smirked. Jin rolled his eyes some more. "He's going to cause a scene and get a bunch of people after us," he mumbled darkly. Fuu covered her eyes and buried her face into Jin's lap as Mugen's sword cut through skin as effortlessly as if it were butter.

"Is it over?" she squealed over the shouts of Mugen and the men.

"Honey, it's just getting started!" said Leiko happily. "Go get 'em, son!"

Jin sighed and began trying to pry away Fuu, but he was unsuccessful; by the time Mugen had thrust his sword into the last gut, ripping out intestines like streamers, Jin had onto managed to get his hand tangled in one of Fuu's hair ornaments.

"It's over. Get up!" snapped Jin harshly.

"Here, Mom," said Mugen, bounding over eagerly with the officer's head. He tossed it to her, but was so excited he missed; the severed head plunked into the dirt next to Fuu, who wailed and buried her head into Jin's lap again.

"Great job, Mugen!" said Leiko eagerly. "You're really good. Better than I thought, actually. I'm so proud of you. Hey, Fuu, let me see that head!"

"Nuh-uh!" protested Fuu, shaking her head.

"Get off me!" hissed Jin.

"Let's go have some dinner to celebrate!" decided Leiko. "Mugen, dear, you have money, right?"

"Sure!" said Mugen, digging through the pockets of the dead men. "Plenty!"

"Great! Are you two sweethearts gonna stay here?"

"No!" said Jin vehemently, finally prying Fuu off him. "I'm coming with you, because there are a few things I'd like to know!"


"What did you do?" growled Jin. Over lunch, he gave a violent jab of his chopsticks in Leiko's direction. Her eyes widened innocently.

"Nothing," she said. Then, quickly, she amended, "Nothing without good reason! Everything I stole, I stole out of necessity!"

Next to her, Mugen's defenses were going up. He eyed Jin warily, eating with unusual slowness, clearly ready to jump to Leiko's protection at a moment's notice.

"What happened?" demanded Jin harshly, with another jab of his food.

Leiko's eyes watered up.

"Hey, back off!" shouted Mugen.

"She's doing it on purpose!" yelled Jin.

Leiko placed a hand on Mugen's arm. "No, you have a right to know," she sniffled pathetically. "It's just… this is all very hard for me to talk about. I've had such a hard, hard life." She blew her nose on Mugen's sleeve.

Mugen was too incensed to care. He shot Jin daggers from his eyes. "You're making my mom cry," he growled.

Jin crossed his arms and sulked haughtily while Leiko regained her composure.

"Well," said Leiko, with surprising clarity, despite how she'd been on the verge of hyterics only seconds earlier. "It all started years ago. Are you going to finish that?"

"Take it," said Mugen quickly, shoving his meal toward her.

Between bites and crocodile tears, Leiko began to tell the story.

"I was in a little town, not much bigger than this one. It was a cold, biting winter, and I had just had all my possessions stolen from a man."

"Were you sleeping with him?" asked Jin abruptly.

"Hey!" yelled Mugen.

"Well, yes, I was," said Leiko. "He stole everything while I was asleep. In fact, I woke up with only his kimono around me. Nothing else in the world. And I was so cold."

She said it so poignantly that everyone present had a sharp mental image of Leiko, wrapped only in a man's kimono, standing on the street corner while snow drifted down around her. Fuu sniffed audibly and pushed her meal over to Leiko, who was nearly finished with Mugen's. Jin slouched in his chair.

"I noticed some clothes in the window of a house. These clothes, in fact. The skirt was much brighter, and it looked warmer than just having bare legs. So I stole it. I'm not proud of that—"

Jin snorted.

"—but I had to," finished Leiko, ignoring Jin.

"They're after you over a set of stolen clothes?" asked Fuu.

"That's so unfair!" said Mugen. "Fucking shogun, they never leave us alone!"

"Well, there might have been some diamonds in the pocket, but I swear I didn't know that when I stole it," said Leiko quickly.

"What!" shouted Jin, Mugen, and Fuu all at once.

"Diamonds. You know, little sparkly rocks," said Leiko in annoyance. She reached under her skirt and came up with a tiny pouch. She opened it and dumped several small, real diamonds on the table.

Mugen's eyes nearly popped out of his head. "You stole diamonds," he said in belief.

"There's… there's enough there to buy a castle," said Jin in awe, his eyes level with the table. He nudged a few of the jewels.

"No wonder they're after you," whispered Fuu in amazement.

"Yes," said Leiko, slipping her diamonds back under her skirt. "That's why I said it would be dangerous being with me. Although you obviously don't have any problems protecting yourself, Mugen."

"Wha… no. No, I'm okay," said Mugen, still dazed by the idea of his mother being in possession of diamonds. He shook his head out.

Jin followed suit, then suddenly shouted. "AH-HA! I knew it!"

Leiko jumped. "Knew what?"

"Those clothes! You stole those clothes! You're not from Ryuukuu at all!"

"Yes I am!" snapped Leiko. "I stole them on Ryuukuu!"

"And we're supposed to believe someone put diamonds in the pocket and then hung them in a window? Do you take us for fools? You're lying!"

"Don't call my mom a liar!" shouted Mugen, jumping up and pulling his sword. Jin was too agitated to continue being reasonable. He yanked out his out swords and, before the customers in the restaurant could even take cover, he and Mugen began fighting.

Leiko reached across the table and took Jin's food.