Of Silk And Lace
Chapter Seven: I Want To Fool You All
"I heard you were almost murdered." Fuu gave Jin a prodding, agrivated glare as she sat in the chair next to his futon.
"What are you, some sort of psychic?" Fuu demanded, rubbing the sleep out of her eyes.
"How long ago was it, three days? Do you know why?" Jin asked, concerned for Fuu, who currently looked more like a wraith then the girl he had left at the crossroads.
"First, tell me how you know." Fuu demanded.
"That girl Kona you have taking care of me, she is somewhat of a gossip." Jin stated dryly. "She said you killed the man by ripping his head of with you bare hands, and then dragged it all the way home so everyone would know-"
"Thats crazy," Fuu said, rolling her eyes.
"I assumed as much, who saved you?"
"I don't need saving, " Fuu said, crossing her arms across her chest. "I simply stabbed him in the chest."
"Kona will be dissapointed her information is false."
"Hn, you seem to be getting better. Thats good, all the sooner you can leave." Fuu replied, trying to avoid this conversation at all costs.
"So who did it?"
"A bodyguard of ours, I'm not sure why. Perhaps he wanted more money, but it could always be a hit sent from the yakuza band, you know, the one whose boss you killed?"
Jin tensed, "I didn't mean to cause you trouble."
"So you run one of our most important clients through with you sword? Great for buisness Jin, honestly," Fuu nagged, her voice dripping with sarcasm.
"I apologize, but he was hurting you."
"So? What buisness is it of yours?"
"I-"
"Jin, you're just a distraction. I recommend you leave soon, I have alot on my mind," Fuu said, getting up to leave, seeing Erika in the hall.
"I can't leave."
"Yes you can, it's easy, just get up on those two, strong, freeloading legs of yours and walk out."
"I can't. Not when I know your life may be in danger due to me."
"I can take care of myself," Fuu growled, Erika was already gone.
"Fuu-"
"She's waiting, you know." She replied, turning away from him. Jin felt his chest clench at the blatant refrence, his head filling with unbidden images of swollen bellies, a woman gardening, the smell of squid roasting-
"No," he looked up at Fuu who was watching him over her shoulder, "she stopped waiting a long time ago."
"Well, those are the breaks aren't they," she replied, waving her hand in the air. Had the Fuu he known always been so cruel as this? Sure, she had a quick tounge every now and then, but this..
"Fuu," he called desperatley as she moved towards the door, "I have nowhere else to go."
"Then sweep the floors and wash the dishes with that loud mouth Kona, as long as you're here you may as well do something for room and board." Fuu snickered darkly, "Or I could always dress you up as a woman and-"
"Cleaning shall be fine." Jin stated firmly, "As long as I'll be close enough to watch you."
"Watch away," she said, leaving the room before calling "Kona will brief you at dawn tomorrow, I suggest you get to sleep early."
"Erika" Fuu shouted, walking down the halls, searching each room for the aging woman. "ERIKA, where is she?" The girls inside shook their heads, and Fuu moved on to the next room.
"Erika-" the sound of dry heaving reached Fuu's ears as she stuck her head in the next room. Mame had her head dipped into a bucket, her hair covering her face.
"Mame!" Fuu shrieked, running to her side. She lifted the girl's head out of the bucket to face her, brushing the hair out of her face. She was slick with sweat, and bits of mucus clung to her chin. Mame looked into Fuu's face and began to sob immediatley.
"I'm sick Kiyo." she said weakly between loud shaking sniffles, snot dripping from her nose.
"Sick?" Mame nodded and Fuu looked into the bucket to see a large amount of vomit caking it's sides and bottom. "For how long?"
Mame sobbed louder, "A week, maybe two."
"Have you been taking your-"
"Erika brings it to me every morning, I don't think-" The gears in Fuu's head began to turn, and something clicked. She jerked away from Mame, and she seized the bucket again, unleashing another wave of neusea into it, her body shaking.
"ERIKA!" Fuu screamed at the top of her lungs, lunging out the door, dashing through hall after hall. Fuu entered every room she could, tearing the place apart as she searched for any hiding spots the old woman could hide. Girls shrieked, rushing for the exit, when Fuu seized one of them by the collar.
"Where is Erika," she demanded, nearly lifting the girl off the ground.
"I don't know," she stammered, trying to pull herself free.
"Tell me where she is!"
"I saw her leave a little while ago," a girl said, poking her head in the room. Fuu seethed, releasing the girl in her arms, nearly knocking over the informant as she left the room.
Fuu stood outside, her head bobbed from the left, to the right, then back again. There was no way she could tell where the elderly woman had gone. She stomped her feet in frustration, cursing her with every dirty word she had ever learned from Mugen. Minutes passed. They fed themselves into an hour, and Fuu, worried about Mame, returned inside to her room.
There was no way of telling just how long she sat with her on the wooden floor, cradling her while she shook, from fear or sickeness, Fuu could not tell. All she could do was pet her, and try to reassure her that everything would be alright.
A girl ran up the stairs, panting as she slid open the door.
"She's here," she called breathlessly, staring at Fuu. No one had ever seen the new Mother angry. No one had ever recieved a beating from her. Some believed she wasn't capable of it. It just wasn't in her nature, but as Fuu rose, fists clenched, the girl at the door feared for Erika's life.
"What did she do?" she asked, staring at awe in Fuu as she walked past her, then Mame who laid on the floor, convulsing.
Fuu meant Erika at the door. Erika smilled sweetly, kicking off her sandals to lay in a heap by the door.
"Oh, Kiyo, I didn't think you'd be up this early."
"You're not so lucky." Fuu muttered between clenched teeth. Erika looked Fuu in the eyes, noticing just then the hate that Fuu was regarding her with.
"What's-" There was a resounding crack as Fuu drove her fist into the older womans withered face, knocking her to the ground. "Y-you're crazy!" Erika exclaimed, clutching the offended cheek. Fuu bent over, heaving the older woman to her feet as girls gathered around to watch. Fuu lifted her hand in the air, holding her shoulder with the other, but Erika sunk what was left of her rotting teeth into Fuu's arm. Fuu yelped in pain, and tried to free her arm, but Erika was now holding it in place. Fuu aimed a well-placed kick to her stomach, and Erika fell backwards, bringing Fuu with her.
Rolling on top, Erika fumbled with Fuu's flailing limbs as she tried to grasp hold of another to sink her teeth in. Fuu seized hold of the sandals Erika had previously kicked off and brought it crashing against the older woman's head, knocking her off. Fuu held her down to against the floor and began flailing with the sandal, hitting her anywhere possiable. Erika began to scream, trying to block the heavy sandal from hitting her when suddenly a pair of strong hands seized Fuu around the waist and pulled her away.
Fuu began to struggle to get free, lusting after Erika's blood. She reached back and clawed whatever part she could reach of the person restraining her.
"Let me go, LET ME GO!"
"Fuu-"
"Let me go, god dammit, I'm going to kill her, I have to kill her!"
"Do you hear that?" Erika cried pitifully, trying to nurse her wounds. Blood dribbled out of her mouth, staining the carpets.
"How dare you," Fuu seized, "How dare you do such a thing to Mame!" She was clawing at the air, trying with all her might to reach her.
"Fuu," the voice behind her urged, and she spun around to assail it with her fists, "Fuu, calm down." Fuu felt her strenght ebb, and she fell against the solid body clutching her. She began to sob, twisting fabric in her fists.
"How dare she-" she mumbled into the cloth, her arm bleeding from where Erika bit her.
"She means to kill me because she knows I should be Mother," Erika cried, enraged. "I've done her no wrong, and she beats me."
"Done me no wrong, done me no wrong," Fuu shouted into the cloth, muffling her voice, she shifted, "Then what of Mame? Tell them what you've done to her! How dare you bring her into this, you selfish old hag!"
A few of the girls looked from Erika to Fuu, unsure who to believe.
"I didn't do anything!"
"LIAR," Fuu screeched, turning to point an accusing finger at Erika. "You replaced her contaceptive! You made her get pregnant!"
Several of the girls gasped. Getting pregnant could ruin girls in their line of work, and in some cases, kill them. Years of abuse to the body did not bode well for child bearing, and women never truly got their shape back after having a child. What customer would want to sleep with a Mother anyhow? Perhaps in a lower class whore house, but in this one such things were unheard of.
"I didn't." Erika insisted.
"I have the proof upstairs! In the false numbers. Mame is upstairs vomiting as we speak. You, you," Fuu felt herself growing angry again, and felt a hand wrap itself tighter around her waist. She was still exhausted, but she knew she had it in her to carve the woman on the floor a new face out of flesh and blood if she wanted. She heaved a sigh, knowing it wouldn't help Mame at all.
"You will go upstairs to you room, and will not be fed, and only leave it tonight for work. It will be this way until I decide what to do with you." Fuu stated, and motioned for her to be taken upstairs. Two girls rushed over to her, heaving her to her feet roughly, and lead her upstairs. The rest began to disperse.
Fuu collapsed against the body behind her, and tilted her head up.
"Jin, " she sighed, "I should have known it was you who got in the way. Why couldn't you just let me kill her?" She laughed bitterly. "Well, as long as your out of bed, you could atleast do something for me.."
"Hn?"
"Mame needs to go to a doctor." Fuu sighed, and looked at her bleeding arm. "I suppose I should as well. Would you mind coming with us? After all, I don't want Mame in danger, and I'm much to exhausted to fight off any attackers today."
"Hm," Jin replied, nodding. Fuu lead Jin upstairs to help her fetch Mame, several awed, shocked, and approving looks following her.
"It's about time she showed Erika whose boss," one girl whispered to another, "If I were Mother, I'd of done it alot earlier."
"Always calling her Kiyo."
"Never cleaning after herself."
"Avoiding work."
"Getting Mame PREGNANT," one gasped in awe, as if she just realized how bad it was, "hey, you don't think she did it to anyone else do you?" Suddenly all the girls were afraid they had also been included in Erika's plot for revenge, and began to fret, throwing her room angry glances every time they passed.
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The doctor quizzed Mame about her illness. Asked her several questions about when she passed blood last. Pressed her stomach, prodded it, and looked grimly at Fuu and Jin.
"I'm afraid that she is indeed pregnant."
"There's nothing you can do? No medicine?" Fuu asked, clutching Jin's shirt. He shook his head, and Fuu nearly fainted. Mame bit her upper lip, her face quivering, as if any moment she would break down and cry again. The doctor took Fuu's arm and lead her away from the others.
"She's an awfully little thing, I'm afraid for the child, and for her," he whispered, "I don't want to frighten her, stress will only make it worse, but I want you to make sure that she's well fed, and if there are any complications..well you know where to find me." He looked at her arm, then continued, loud enough for Jin and Mame to hear, "Well, you're going to need to keep it clean and wrapped, that's quite a nasty bite." He looked over his shoulder at Mame and Jin. "I'd hate to see what she did to the other gal." Jin tried to manage a smile, haunting images of Fuu viciously maiming an old woman with a sandal flashing before his eyes. Mame just squeaked, biting her upper lip harder.
The doctor took Fuu's arm and washed it under cold water, then wrapped it with a clean roll of white cloth.
"Remeber what I said." He told Fuu, looking at Mame as they left. Fuu nodded, and turned to catch up, taking Mame's arm in her own.
She would. And she'd make sure Erika paid for what she did.
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