I probably won't be able to post for the next week or so, because I'll be at a national vocational competition for my college. But, hopefully in that time, I'll get a couple of chapters wrote between lectures. Anyways, thanks again for all of the reviews.
PS - Please don't think I'm trying to make Mugen sound evil in this chapter. He's just really frustrated and crazzed.
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Chapter 3 - Why?
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Mugen crept through the forest in the direction that Fuu had walked. Just to be on the safe side, he'd decided to walk in super-sneaky-stealth mode. Plus, he loved sneaking up on Fuu and making it seem like it was her fault for not paying attention. He was so quiet, he startled a game bird from its nest just before he stepped on it. The animal fluttered out from under him in a frenzied panic, almost making him piss himself. Okay, he thought, too sneaky. He was too young to have a heart attack.
A few moments later, he heard a famiiar sound a short distance up ahead. Sounded like splashing water, he thought. Oooo . . . water. He quivered at the thought. It had been a while since he'd been this hot, and he didn't miss it one bit. Fuu's idea of a cold bath sounded very appealing right about now. He continued his advance on the noise.
Not too much later, he caught a glimpse of the reflection of the sun as it beamed through the canopy. But that wasn't the only thing he saw. Drapped over a low-hanging branch was a familiar pink kimono. Now he was really interested. He grinned wildly, dropping down to his hands and knees so he could sneak up a little better. Mugen crept up a little closer and was rewarded with the sight of Fuu with her back toward him. Wow, he thought. He couldn't remember ever seeing her with her hair let down before. Details, details, he told himself, creeping closer. He wasn't here to see hair. In his haste, he let down his guard against making noise on his approach, and the underbrush rustled at his feet.
'Great,' he scolded himself, ducking behind a tree. Now she'd probably yell for him and Jin to come to her rescue. He peered around the tree and was dumbstruck at what he saw. Apparently, yelling for them was the last thing on her mind. Fuu had stood up now, revealing (to his disappointment) her binded upper torso and dark brown hair that fell to her lower back, and in her hand was that damn tanto she always carried around. What suprised him though, was that she had taken a VERY convincing stance and looked like she was ready to strike at a split second's notice. He shook off the thought. She was probably just mimicing what she'd seen him and Jin do - kind of like what he'd caught her doing the night before.
But, after a few moments, he began to doubt his theory a little. Fuu hadn't moved. What the hell was she doing, he wondered. Then it dawned on him. She was listening. Mugen watched a little longer and saw her twirl the blade in her fingers anxiously. Damn! What in the world had gotten into her lately? Mugen had no idea how to even begin to answer that question, but he had to admit one thing. He kind of liked it whatever it was. 'Let's see how serious she really is,' he thought to himself, taking off his sandal and chucking it aways up stream so that it rattled the bushes a little. To his suprise and extreme excitement, she spun around and launched the tanto into the exact spot his sandal had landed.
The lean samurai felt his body temperature rise at the sight of the display. He hadn't seen a woman move that fast since . . . well, since that one time . . . with that one girl . . . at the brothel. What was her name again? Yatsuha? Something like that. He vaguely remembered something about being underground and something about conterfit money. But she'd been full of empty promises. But here was Fuu . . . Sweet, little, innocent . . . well not so innocent now, Fuu. Here was something he could work with.
She looked puzzled at first, then she seemed to pale. 'That's right,' he smirked, stealthily moving in. 'You went and fell for my trick, and now you're helpless against me.' Somewhere at the back of the line of his foggy thoughts a little voice was trying to warn him of something, but he didn't have time for it whatever it was. There she was - the girl he'd been looking for! His own adorable goddess of death and pain! She was quick and strong! And naked and wet! His brain had stopped working completely by this time, but he didn't care.
He leaped out of the bushes and into the water behind her. The cold water didn't even phase him, he'd worked himself up so badly. Mugen lunged forward, hearing her scream before he latched his arms around her and pulled her to him. Fuu struggled in his arms, and he reveled in the feeling of her wriggling form. 'OH YES!' his mind reeled. She was so strong! He liked STRONG women!
Fuu finally managed, somehow to turn herself around in her captor's arms. She froze, and time seemed to stop.
"MUGEN!" she screamed. He had the most wild distant look in his eyes that she'd ever seen. Mugen was not there mentally and probably hadn't even heard her. Suddenly she felt the presence of something in her hand for the first time since the begining of her panic. It was the sheath of her tanto. He could handle it, she reasoned after a split second of reasoning, then cracked him upside the head with it.
"OWWW!" he yelled releasing her so he could grab his injured head. That brought him out of it, she thought triumphantly, sinking into the water up to her neck. By now enough sediment at the bottom of the creek had been stirred up by their struggle that it hid her body from sight for the most part.
"Get out!" she yelled at him, supremely pissed off. She felt like crying, her emotions had been so riled up. First she'd been terrified, then she'd found out it was Mugen and for a brief moment she was far from scared or angry. But then reality kicked in and she was so mad, she got a headache.
Mugen rubbed his head. What happened? The last few minutes were foggy memories. Then he saw Fuu, up to her neck in muddy water. Her face was red, and it looked like there were tears forming in her eyes. Then it all came back to him. "Fuu?" he called sheepishly. "I am sooo sorry," he said, hearing a familiar 'shink' of metal being drawn out of a sheathe. Oh yeah . . . that was what his mind had been trying to warn him about.
"Get out," Jin said calmly, almost like he was sighing.
Fuu blinked in amazement. Not at the show of protectivness from Jin, but at what Mugen had said before being subdued. He'd said he was sorry, and if she didn't know better, it had really sounded and looked like he'd meant it. She watched as he got out of the pool. His hair hung limply around his face, and he had a far away look in his eyes. As he stood there on the shore in his dripping-wet pants that were slowly slipping down from the weight of the water and a trickle of blood from the impact of the sheathe slidding down his jaw, he looked defeated to her for the first time. Even on that night when she'd come to rescue them from a certain death at the hands of the local boss, he'd only shot him a snide remark, never giving any of them the satisfaction of looking beaten. She felt a teensy weensy bit sorry for him.
"Go," Jin said when Mugen looked at him. He pointed half-heartedly towards the trail. After watching him for a moment, he looked back at Fuu. "Are you hurt?"
"N . . no," she said, laughing nervously under Jin's unnerving gaze. He knodded, and turnned to follow the other samurai. "Jin," she called after him, and he stopped. "Don't be mad at him," she said, thinking about all that he'd seen. "I think I sort of . . . um . . . frustrated him a little."
Again Jin knodded, and continued to move on.
After both men were a safe distance away, Fuu moved out of her dirt cloud into clear water where she rewashed herself. Then she stepped out of the creek and proceeded to dress again. For some reason, she remembered how it felt being up against him, after she'd realized that it wasn't some random bandit. She'd felt the heat coming off of him, even in the cool water, and had felt her own temperature rise in response to his touch. She shook the thought away. Mugen was clearly nutty. What was she thinking?
As she finished straightening the bow of her obi, she realized that she couldn't help BUT think about it. After all, he was so damn sexy. Plus, now she knew that he thought she was attractive too. Fuu smiled, as she walked over to retreive her knife from the underbrush. She was a little suprised to find Mugen's sandal stuck to it. Wow, she was getting better, Fuu thought, pulling the tanto out of the shoe and inspecting the blade for any nicks. She didn't doubt that the metal it had been formed from had been folded many times during it's making, and it was sure to hold a razor sharp edge after much worse abuse.
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"So," Jin said, breaking the silence, "did you see them?"
"See what?" Mugen asked looking up at his companion. It kind of suprised him that Jin was actually talking to him.
"Nevermind."
Jin - of all people - couldn't possibly be talking to him about . . . "Hey, aren't you mad at me?"
The quiet samurai grunted. "Should I be. She wasn't hurt . . ."
"Well yeah, but . . ."
"Or upset," he added, with a barely noticable smirk.
Mugen was silent. Both of them knew about Fuu's "secret" feelings towards them, and both had brushed it off as just a young girl's crush. But, after seeing her that afternoon . . . all tense and from the looks and feel of it, quiet capable of inflicting some serious pain, Mugen thought that maybe, they'd misjudged her. But if she'd wanted their attention, why had she always acted like such a helpless buffoon when she was in trouble. It was almost like . . . she didn't want them to know. Again, he asked himself why, but he could think of no logical explination.
They reached the path a little while later and sat down to wait for Fuu. Mugen sighed. It was so miserably hot that his skin had already dried and his pants were getting there fast. Feeling the sun starting to burn his skin a little, he decided that it might be a good idea to put his white shirt back on at least. After pulling it on, he noticed a big red smear on the side of the collar. He gently fingered the side of his head and inspected his hand. He hadn't even realized that he was bleeding.
"So," Jin spoke, "What DID Fuu do to get you so hot and bothered?"
Mugen smiled, feeling a brief heat, unrelated to the sun, wash over him again at the memory. "Bah," he grumbled, quickly turning his smirk into grimmace, "We just need to get to a town soon," he said, playing it off as uncaringly as he could manage. "I'm just starting to go a little stir crazy, I think."
Why let Jin in on his new-found secret? Who knew? Maybe Jin was into that sort of thing too. He had been attracted to Sera, though not as obvious about it as Mugen had been. No, he decided, he could keep Fuu's secret. After all, she HAD gone through all that trouble to keep it from them to begin with, he reasoned. Why let all of that hard work and very good acting go to waste?
He leaned back on his arms as before and closed his eyes, figuring it would be best to get as much relaxation in before they had to start walking again. Damn, that water had felt good. He groaned inwardly as the relentless memories associated with the creek bubbled back to the surface of his thoughts. Fuu had seemed . . . well, beautiful to him at that moment. But what had been so different about her appearence? Nothing really, he deduced.
His thoughts drifted to another time, not too long ago when Fuu had been captured and held at the brothel. He had the opportunity then to be free of his debt. All that he'd had to do then was walk away - walk away and forget about her. But he hadn't been able to. That nagging, guilty feeling in the back of his mind wouldn't let him. So, frustrated with himself, he'd gone back to save her.
Now, after seeing Fuu in this new light, maybe, he thought, it hadn't been guilt that had made him go back. Perhaps he'd felt something for her before he'd even realized it. Well, whatever had happened, it was going to be a while, he guessed, before Fuu would let down that proud and stubborn defense that she'd build up.
Fuu emerged from the woods. "Ready!" she announced as cheerily as she could. She tossed his sandal into his lap. "You forgot this, Mugen," she said.
He looked up at her casually to see if he could read her face. She didn't look mad, and he KNEW the look she got when she was mad. He'd seen it several times during their journey, almost on a daily basis. The thing was was that he didn't reckognize the emotion associated with the expression she had now. It looked almost sad.
Even though he didn't show it, he felt bad. He looked away from her before he said something stupid. "Well," he said hopping to his feet in one quick and fluid motion, "I'm ready to get started again."
"Yes," Jin said, "We sould reach the fishing village in a couple more hours."
Fuu knodded, watching the two men start walking. She sighed. Maybe she should have said something. But what could she have said? He was back to the Mugen she knew before this whole business. Oh well, she thought, Mother wouldn't have liked the idea anyways.
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Three hours later, the trio still hadn't seen any sign of the village, and their stomachs agreed unanimously that it was time for something to eat.
Momo-san emerged from Fuu's sleave and sailed up to Mugen where he perched on his shoulder.
"Eh?" Mugen stopped to look at the hitch hiker. "Hey, what's up with you?"
"He's hungry," Fuu informed him, "And you were the last person to feed him."
"Go away," Mugen said, trying to shoo Momo away, but the squirrel didn't budge. "I don't have anything! If I did I'd have eaten it by now!"
Fuu stiffled a giggle watching as the normally cool and laid-back swordsman began to chase after Momo-san as he darted back and forth between his shoulders. At last the chase ended with Momo on top of Mugen's head. Mugen, defeated for now, growled irritably. Fuu couldn't take it anymore. She burst with laughter at the two's antics, tears springing to her eyes it was so funny.
"Hey!" Mugen shouted looking back at her. "Don't encourage it."
Fuu couldn't help herself, though. It had just been too damned cute.
"Enough!" Mugen said, shaking his head. "Argh! If I get you something to eat, will you go away." You're ruining my image, he thought inwardly.
"Eee," was Momo-san's only response as he twitched.
With that, Mugen veered off the path and into the forest again. Fuu caught up to were they had entered the forest, and Jin walked back to join her. It was time for a break anyway. They watched as the squirrel-infested samurai sulked into the trees, looking for any fruit or nut bearing variety. After a moment or two, he stopped, and they watched as he drew his sword and leaped into the air. The sun glinted off of the blade as he slashed the air and put it back into it's sheathe in one quick motion. He picked something up off the ground and started back. Fuu could see Momo darting all over his torso, anxiously.
When he reached the path, he handed Fuu a branch of small black and red berries. Momo-san immediately made his way back to her shoulder where she held the branch as he ate his fill. "You didn't get any for us?"
"They're mulberries," he said like it was a chore explaining things to idiots. "They don't have any flavor, and they don't fill you up worth a shit. I want some real food."
"I concur," Jin added, standing up. "The village shouldn't be too far now. I smell smoke."
The three continued on for a while longer. Before the village came into view, Mugen slowed his pace, allowing Fuu to catch up, but not wanting to look like he was waiting.
They walked shoulder to shoulder for a few moments before she broke the silence. "How's your head?" she asked, refering to the injury she'd inflicted.
"Sore," he grumbled, not taking his eyes off of the path.
"Let me see it," Fuu said, placing her small hand on his arm. "It might need . . ."
"I'll live," he said, half-heartedly brushing her hand away out of habit, but then finding that he missed it's presence when it was gone.
"Fuu," he said, looking down at her and watching as Momo continued to pick the branch clean. She looked back up at him, smiling politely. "I don't say this often," he said, "but I'm sorry."
Fuu's smile faded slightly but didn't vanish as she looked down so see that Momo-san had finished. "Mugen . . ." she almost wispered.
"Why didn't you tell us?" he asked, looking up to see if Jin was listening in.
Fuu sighed, dropping the stick. "You wouldn't understand," she said, "Could you please just forget that you ever saw it?"
Mugen blinked. She HAD been trying to hide it from them. "Fuu," he said, placing a rough and calloused hand on her shoulder. He felt her flinch at the feeling. "I don't think I could ever forget what I saw, even if I wanted to. I need to know. Why?"
What was she supposed to say? She'd never thought ahead enough to plan for something like this happening. "I . . . I want to live peacefully," she said at last.
"So, you were afraid that we'd try to fight you?" he asked, scratching his head disbelievingly.
"No, it's not that. It's just . . . well, I can't really think of a way to explain it," she said. Fuu didn't want to have to explain it at all. "I don't want to talk about it right now, okay," she said, getting frustrated. "I never thought that you and Jin would find out."
He sighed, putting his hands on the back of his head and stretching. "I didn't tell Jin," he said, looking at her again. Her face softened at those words. Fuu looked as if a weight had been lifted off her shoulders.
"Really?"
Mugen knodded.
"Th . . . thank you, Mugen," she wispered.
"How about we make a deal," he said. He just had to know, and this way, she wouldn't feel like she had to worry about Jin. "How about after we find the sunflower samurai and all go our seperate ways, you and I meet, and you can explain it then?"
Fuu weighed her options. Somehow, she didn't believe Mugen was going to let her off the hook, but if everything went as planned, she would be able to lose him and never have to tell him at all. Even if she did have to tell him anyway, this way she would have some time to think out an explanation.
"Okay."
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In case someone hasn't caught on yet. My story is sort of happening between episodes 22 and 23. So, sometime before I post chapter four, go watch 23, the one about baseball, because chapter four is going to start off right as that episode is ending.