Chapter 10

When Leiko got shoved into the cell with Fuu and Mugen, Mugen immediately jumped up to greet her.

"Mom!" he cried anxiously. "Are you okay? Did they hurt you? If they hurt you I'll kill them! I'll bust open their skulls! I swear!"

"Mugen," said Leiko grouchily. "Please don't volunteer to help me anymore, okay? I'm down a bag of diamonds thanks to you."

Mugen's shoulders slouched. "Geez," he mumbled. "You had a whole freakin' army after you. I tried."

"Hmph," said Leiko angrily, sitting on the slimy stone floor.

Fuu was pretty sure they were in some kind of basement, because the cell they were in had a very dinstinctive, underground-type sliminess to it. According to Mugen, half of whose face had swelled up from his earlier fight, the slime felt really good on bruises, but Fuu hadn't yet tried it herself.

"You'd think they never had anyone accidentally steal diamons before, the way they reacted," grumbled Leiko after a moment.

"Yeah," agreed Mugen immediately.

"I mean… geez… if you leave a pair of clothes just lying on a table right next to an open window, someone's probably going to steal it, right?" asked Leiko.

"Definitely," said Mugen.

"Hey, wait!" cried Fuu slowly, turning to look at Leiko. "I thought the clothes were hanging in the window! Not lying on a table!"

"Er… did I say hanging? Well… yes… yes, they were hanging over a table. That's what I said."

"No it's not! Mugen!" cried Fuu, turning. Mugen was lying on the sticky floor, one leg crossed over the other, rubbing a cut on his arm.

"Huh? I wasn't listening."

"I think Jin was right about you!" hissed Fuu. "You really are just a con artist!"

"Hey! Leave her alone!" yelled Mugen, jumping up.

"HEY! All three of you, knock it off! Mugen! Fuu! Kana!" yelled the guard.

"Her name's Leiko!" Mugen yelled back.

"Kana!" yelled Fuu and the guard.

"Leiko!"

"Kana!" The guard, a short, pudgy, squinty-eyed man, came stomping over to the door of their cell. "I don't know where you got this Leiko nonsense, but her name is Kana!"

"Actually, it is Leiko,"said Leiko. "Here, let me show you my tattoo." She walked over to the bars, stuck out her arm, pulled up her sleeve… and proceeded to punch the guard in the throat. With a choking noise. He fell to his knees. Leiko wasted no time in grabbing the keys, undoing the lock on their cell, and slipping out. She closed the door behind her before grabbing the guard's sword and hitting him over the head with it.

"Go mom!" cried Mugen.

"Hey!" said Fuu, rattling the cell door. "You locked up back in! Leiko!"

"Shut up," snapped Leiko. "You're being too loud. You'll call other guards here."

"Shut up!" echoed Mugen, clamping a hand over Fuu's mouth while Leiko, kneeling over the guard's body, riffled through his pockets.

"Well," said Leiko, cramming money into her pockets. "See ya!"

"Wait!" cried Mugen. "The keys!"

"The keys? Oh, yes, the keys. I'm sorry, sweetheart, you'd just slow me down," said Leiko, tossing the keys onto the nearest table, far from Mugen and Fuu's reach.

"Mom!" cried Mugen, letting go of Fuu.

"You lousy double-crossing, no-good Ryuukuuian!" yelled Fuu.

"Actually," said Leiko, "I've never been to Ryuukuu. Sorry. Well… bye!"

With that, she turned and dashed away. Mugen stared for a moment, blinking. Then, slowly, he sat down cross-legged right where he was.

"Mugen?" asked Fuu hesitantly.

"She… that… she wasn't my mom?" Mugen's brow furrowed. "But… how… she… that can't be possible. She… she liked me."

"Oh, Mugen," said Fuu quietly, kneeling next to him. "I like you, and I'm not your mom."

"But I thought—" Mugen shook his head and scratched his hair

"I think maybe… you just really, really wanted her to be your mom," said Fuu quietly, reaching out to touch Mugen's arm. He yanked away.

"Don't touch me! Just leave me alone, okay?"

"Okay," said Fuu, retreating to the back of the cell.


"Mugen?" asked Fuu about ten minutes later. "Will you please stop feeling sorry for yourself and help me try to pick this lock?"

"What's the point?" said Mugen, lying with his chin on his hands, staring gloomily through the cell bars.

"Come on, Mugen," pleaded Fuu, rattling one of her hair ornaments inside the lock, trying to pick it unsuccessfully. "She was a con artist. She's probably tricked lots of people."

"I should've known better."

"Mugen," begged Fuu, as she heard her hair ornament breaking inside the lock. Momo peeked out of her sleeve, then scampered down her kimono and through the cell bars. Fuu forgot all about the lock and dropped to her knees. "Momo!" she hissed. "Come back! Don't you go away, too! Momo!"

"I can't believe Jin was right," said Mugen morosely.

"Momo!" called Fuu desperately. She froze as she heard footsteps approaching. "Oh, no!" She jumped up, grabbed her hair ornament from the lock, and hurried to the back of the cell. There was nothing she could do about the guard lying in front of the bars. They were going to be in huge trouble.

Mugen just sighed.

The footsteps echoed against the slimy stone walls. Fuu covered her eyes and peeked through them. Another guard hurried briskly over to the fallen one. He knelt and pressed two fingers against the man's neck, then turned and looked into the cell. Fuu squeezed her eyes shut.

"How did you kill him?" asked a very familiar voice.

Fuu's eyes snapped over. She looked up at the guard. He pulled off his helmet and shook out a mane of black hair.

"Jin? But—how—where—Jin!" cried Fuu, jumping up. She ran to the bars and tried to hug him through them.

"I think this is yours,"said Jin, holding up a chittering Momo. Fuu grabbed her and crammed the squirrel back into her kimono, then kissed Jin. He immediately turned red and pulled away coughing.

"Aw, gross," whined Mugen, getting heavily to his feet. "You guys just can't put a lid on it, can you?"

"The keys are over there!" said Fuu hurriedly, pointing through the bars at the guard's table, across from their cell. "Leiko—I mean, Kana—she got out and she left us here! But—but how did you get here, Jin?"

"I was following you ever since you were captured," muttered Jin, concentrating on finding the right key on the ring. "I'd have come sooner, but I had to find a guard whose clothes would fit me."

"Why'd you come to rescue us?" asked Mugen suspiciously.

Jin unlocked the cell and pulled open the door. "I don't know. Perhaps I felt sorry for you." Mugen's eyes narrowed, but all was forgiven was Jin handed voer hs sword and metal-soled geta. "Shall we?" he asked.

Fuu grabbed his arm earnestly in reply. Mugen, however, looked back into the cell with what was almost a look of longing.