7th Chapter

It was the peak of the night where men and women alike wonder the red light district to satisfy their lusting hunger, Mugen was one of those people. Getting some enough cash from mugging some poor schmucks, he immediately head out to the biggest and well known establishment in the whole red light district.

The establishment was a mixture of a modern building and ones similar to a brothel in Yoshiwara back in Edo Era. Coincidentally, the brothel was named 'Yoshiwara' too. At the front, women are in display, dressed in beautiful kimonos, faces painted colorfully and their hair decorated with ornaments studded in gold and gems. The whole building was painted with the color of blood red, enveloped with warm red lights.

It was an exquisite brothel. For the first timers, just from hearing the name of it makes them faint, imagining the price of a low-ranked prostitute but they have guessed wrong. The other secret that the Yoshiwara holds other than its flashy appearance, in and out, their prices are quite affordable, even for a person with low income (for Mugen too, if he mugged enough money). Just like the rule from the past centuries; as long as you have enough to pay for everything, you are welcomed.

Mugen always frequent Yoshiwara. For all the brothels he has gone into in the red-light district, Yoshiwara has the best girls they can provide. From the bottom to top, he has tasted them in no particular order. Head-to-toe, they are beautiful at fault, not to mention that they are amazing and satisfying when it comes to bed. They were so good at their job that it was like they've studied the 'Kama Sutra', cover to cover. He was always there that he is in good terms with the Okaa-san and gives him discounts. Though her age was evident, the Okaa-san is still beautiful and sexy enough to give Mugen a boner, sometimes he even wants Okaa-san to fuck him, on which she brushes off with; "You are still far behind and stupid in the arts of love making for you to bed me.". It usually end with him pouting and choosing for his next prey.

"That was one good session." he said in satisfaction as he scratched his crotch with a wide grin on his face.

Tonight, he scored two broad both with F cups and luscious and plump asses, even now he can still feel them in his palms and it felt good just from massaging them while they are on action with their tits bouncing in rhythm.

Mugen was about to go back to his home when he passed by the club where Fuu, which he refers to call with any insults regarding to her flat chest, works at. He fished in his pockets to see if he has enough money left for him to buy some booze to complete his night, and to annoy her in the process. He was about to enter inside, when he heard a loud thud coming from the dark alleyway beside the club.

At first, he doesn't give any fuck about it but it he changed his mind when he heard a familiar voice. It was faint but he knows whose voice was that. It was soon followed by a chill up his back.

Stupid washboard, he said to himself and dashed in the darkness that alleyway holds.

Through the darkness, he can still see the girl's frail body. She's unconscious but alive and in front of him is a figure of a man with a bat in his hands, ready to strike the unconscious girl on the ground.

All that this girl do is bring trouble, he complained in his mind.

Letting out a heavy sigh, Mugen unsheathed the sword he always carry and slashed the man's arm in a flash, making the separated limb and the bat he was holding flew and bounced off the wall. Blood sprayed from his body, staining Fuu a little bit as well. It took him more than one minute to notice his arm being cleanly cut off his body.

The man howled in pain and agony, the pain had only began to course up to his shoulders and the blood kept flowing without a sign of stopping. Mugen clicked his tongue at the sight of the blood spray that gotten to his own clothes, it was his only clothes he had for the week.

His howled pained gathered up a crowd at the both ends of the alleyway. It must because of the buzz that the music from the bar stopped. A woman, which Mugen assumed to be the manager of the bar, went out the back door and looked mortified at the sight of the man who have lost his limb, Mugen holding a sword covered with blood and seeing Fuu's unconscious figure sprayed with the same blood.

Not long after, the police have arrived, along with Jin. Someone has phoned the local precinct. They met eye-to-eye and the stoic man just sighed. The police have apprehended both Mugen and the one-armed man, making the thug yell both at the policeman who placed a pair of handcuffs on him and to Jin. The stoic man just sighed at sight of Mugen, struggling while he blurt some profane words but soon after his expression turned sour as he saw Fuu on the rough concrete.

He ran to her side and held her unconscious body with blood sprayed on her clothing. So that's why he sliced off that man's arm, he thought to himself. Carrying Fuu, he turned to one of his subordinates and told him of his conjecture. The policeman nod and walked away from him.

"Oh my god! Is that Fuu?! Is she alright?" the manager asked Jin and he nodded, reassuring her that she's only unconscious and still breathing. "That's good." she let out a sigh, "Why don't you place her on the bed inside for the mean time?"

Taking her out of this alleyway will just get attention from the media and they might follow them all the way to the hospital, he thought carefully in his mind. Jin looked at the girl's tired face and to the manager. "Thank you." he said in monotone and took her inside the staff room of the bar, following the manager.

After tucking in the girl on the bed, Jin quickly returned to the scene. Upon his return, one of his subordinates handed him an empty and used syringe that they found in the one-armed's person. "It seems like some kind of drug, maybe a liquid sleeping drug. I'll send it to the lab to have it examine as soon as possible.".

Jin patted his shoulder as an expression of his gratitude and walk to Mugen, who just finished answering the police with inappropriate slurs. "We're going to properly question you at the precinct but you'll be released immediately."

"Huh?"

"Standard procedure." Jin said without looking at him.

The bespectacled man was jotting down something on his notebook. He knows that the man in front of him is pissed and irritated.

"Just this once, stay by her side." he said to Mugen, still not bothering to look at him.

Mugen clicked his tongue and glared at him, "Who said that I'm goin' to babysit that flat chick?"

"I did because if you don't..." he narrowed the distance between them and whispered something that none of the other policemen can hear. The wild-haired man just widened his eyes and clicked his tongue in annoyance for the second time. The stoic man walked out of the alleyway with a proud look on his face, despite the flood of flashes of cameras and roaring voices of the reporters, trying to get information what has occurred. One by one, the police followed him and paramedics pulling the bed where the handicapped man lies, mildly bleeding.

It was already past five o'clock in the morning and the girl is still sleeping, with no signs or intention of ever waking up. Mugen was getting annoyed by this.

"Standard procedure my ass. That questioning took hours."

He muttered a curse under his breath, hoping that it'll reach the annoying bespectacled man that made him babysit Fuu.

It sucked for him. Not only he has to talk to some old coots back in the police bow, he stayed up all night looking after a girl. His back is aching from just sitting on a very rickety chair and his eyes are drooping, demanding for sleep while the girl is so comfortable on the bed. He already had an idea to get on the same bed as her and take a quick nap but the manager of the bar kept checking on Fuu and she's constantly sending deadly glares to him as if she knows what he has in his mind.

Damn broads.

"Here." the manager's voice caught his attention and looked away from the sleeping girl. She placed the tray she was holding on the kotatsu in between the bed and the chair that Mugen is sitting on. The manager prepared some breakfast for him. It was a simple one; eggs, spam and a bowl of rice accompanied with a cup of hot black coffee.

"Eat some breakfast. Sorry this is all I could provide for now, the bar closed just a few minutes ago and I just finished cleaning up the bar."

The food was okay in his opinion, Mugen just have the problem with his drink. He glared at the black liquid inside, "What the hell? Only coffee? You could have given me a bottle of beer or any booze available." he hissed at her.

"What are you? Some kind of an idiot?" she spat out, her irritation hinted in her voice. "There's no way that I'm going to let you drink alcohol as you are staying beside Fuu. Just drink what I gave you and shut up."

Mugen gritted his teeth and started to eat his breakfast, and drank his coffee in disdain. The coffee was bitter as ever, the same as he is right now for having to drink the black liquid instead of drinking beer.

He was starting to enjoy the food that was given to him when the girl suddenly spoke in her sleep. "I'm...just going to...stay here...forever."

Alarmed by what Fuu has said, the manager rushed to her bed and shook her body, "Hey Fuu! Wake up." She shook the girl many times but Fuu won't wake up no matter how many times she called for her name, it didn't reach Fuu.

Mugen clicked his tongue and hissed. He walked to her bed, each of his footsteps are heavy. Irritated, he screamed right next to her ears. "The fuck you're saying girlie?! What do you mean 'stay here forever'?!"

The lack of response made him yell right at her ear again. Still, no response from her. For the third time, he yelled in her ears again, in hope of this could wake her up. As he yelled, a solid punch landed on his face and he fell on his ass on the ground.

It was Fuu. She's finally awake. She's sitting up and her face is red in anger but still awake. Mugen thought it was manager who punched him but after seeing Fuu's red knuckles, he confirmed it was her. "You asshole! Don't scream at my ear! Do you know how much it hurts?!"

"You dumb broad!" He stood up and glared at her, "You talk about pain, look at what you've done! You punched me right in my face!"

She laughed for a split second but returned to normal immediately. "To be honest, I was expecting you to dodge my fist." She looked at her knuckles, "No wonder it's red." Fuu laughed again but suddenly she felt her body being heavy, the same feeling she got when her whole body was numb. She slowly lied down on the bed didn't move a muscle after that. The drug is still present in her system. The girl predicted that it'll take a whole 24 hours before the drug worn out.

He just eyed her suspiciously as the girl's face contort in worry and fear. "Hey, 'da hell where your sassiness went?"

Though her body is too stiff to move, Fuu gave her best to glare at him and speak, "You dolt. My body has gone numb, can't you see? I can't even feel my back. That man injected some kind of drug in me just to kill me."

He scratched his stomach, "Even for being injected with a numbing drug or what kind of shit that man has injected you with, you sure are still talkative." he looked at the ceiling. "So that is what that syringe they found for." he said.

Epiphany strikes Fuu, "What are you doing here anyway?" she asked him.

Mugen smirked, "Is that the way to thank the one who saved your flat ass from the brink of death?" he said playfully to her.

"S-saved?" she said nervously.

That was the second time she was saved by the rough ruffian. Even now, she can't believe that the man with her in the room she's at saved her when she is just a complete stranger for him. He hasn't known her for a short time but he managed to drag her out of the dangerous she was thrown into.

The manager heaved out a relieved sigh, "I'm glad that you're okay Fuu." she looked at her wristwatch, "But I'm sorry Fuu, I can't stay that long, I need to check something important and buy some stuff. I'll get back as soon as I can."

Fuu gave her a smile, "Later."

The room was once again quiet the moment her manager left. The girl looked at him, sighed and looked at the ceiling again, "I really am cursed." she said.

"What?" Mugen replied as he rubbed his throbbing face. "Ta' hell does that mean?"

She did not answer him back. She was too tired to tell Mugen that ever since she and him met, her life is always in topsy turvy, and to add insult to that, whenever they cross paths, something bad happens.

Fuu just kept staring on the ceiling, contemplating on the past hectic events that has happened to her. All she could hear at the room she's in is the sound of the cluttering utensils against the porcelain plate, it seemed to her that Mugen has returned back to his seat and to gobble up the remains of his food before being punched in the face, somehow it amazed her. Although after being punched square in the face, he still ate his food with vigor (but somehow begrudgingly), not even wincing with the pain he felt. She understands why.

Mugen always gets into fight, maybe even a fight to the death, that much is evident whenever she sees him at the precinct. Blood stained his almost ragged clothing, unknown if it came from him or to the one he had beaten to the pulp, a palette of bruises decorated his body, head-to-toe and blood can be seen at the side of his mouth but for some reason, it didn't bother to him at all.

I guess that was one of the reasons why I got curious about him, she said in her mind.

Has Mugen lived like this for a long time? If so, why he kept continue on doing such thing up until now?

For the umpteenth time, a sigh escaped from her lips but a soft and tired one. Thinking about questions that she will never know the answers to it is giving her a headache and makes her head heavier at the same time.

For now, I'll let things go as what they are right now. She made a mental note to herself before drifting into sleep again.

The man looked up from the mug that contained his bitter coffee and focused his attention to Fuu as he hear her breathing pattern steadied and relaxed. She finally went to sleep again. He studied her face. She looked so peaceful and unguarded.

How can she sleep like that when she knows that she's with a man and a man like him no less? He thought to himself.

The girl was fully aware of who he is. Of how brutish he is and what he is capable to do and yet Fuu just silently slept again. He suddenly remembered the first time they've met.

It was in the precinct where Jin is stationed. The way she looked at him and her reaction was completely different from most of the girls in her age he'd met.

Fuu was calm and looked at him as if he's just the same with the people she regularly meets on a daily basis. Even when he groped at her, she didn't cry instead she got angry but there were no tears in her eyes, it was pure rage. He kind of expecting it from her to cry, just to see if she's the same as the girls he come contact with, but the girl kept surprising Mugen.

She just complained on why he slashed the man who tried to stab her that one time he actually used the sword he always carries. It mystified him as to why the hell he used it to save a girl he barely knows.

He stared at the girl as she sleeps with a stiff position but had an expression of a child. Her bangs disheveled, covering her eye and touching her pursed thin and chapped lips. She's really different from all the others. She's pure at some extent that Mugen can't explain himself, but there's really something that makes the girl pure.

"Fuck." Mugen muttered as his breath made a ripple in his black coffee. "'Ta hell wit' this. I shouldn't be babysitting with some dumb broad."

"Then you can go."


Been a while... Yeah I say that a lot. Sorry if the POV turned to 3rd person, don't worry it'll switch back to Fuu's later. Also... I'll be doing some 3rd person POV in later chapters. Also also, I changed the cover art for this fanfic to make it suitable for its theme which is a Future AU one. ...and yes I drew that shit just to make a new cover for other SC fanfics with same the same theme... if you want to see the full art of it. here's the link: /dd3scs2

I'M ALSO TAKING ART COMMISSIONS BTW

Before I go, I wanna say thanks to Chinadollsoldier for following this fanfic and to Winry1129 for adding this to their favorites~ Thanks for the support guys~! See yah~~

Date of Revision: 11/14/2022