By the way, I never did find out what was okay to put into an M rated story, but I've been seeing several stories with very graphic 'adult situations' and they don't seem to be getting any guff about it. So, I guess as long as I don't write a porno, I'm fine. ;)
IB
XXXXX I Just Can't XXXXX
Mugen fingered the empty socket in his mouth where only hours before a tooth had been. It had been one crazy day, he recalled leaning back against the wall of the small cabin that Kagemaru-san called home. He'd been kind enought to allow the three of them to stay there for the night. It was the least that he could do for the man that had supposedly saved Japan. Plus, he wouldn't be using it for a while anyway since he was recovering at the local doctor's house.
Fuu had tried to talk himself and Jin into staying there too, but both samurai had assured her that they were fine, even though they clearly weren't. Mugen's jaw throbbed painfully. The swelling had went down, giving him some releif and peace of mind. At least is wasn't broken. He hated broken bones, they forced him to slow down and calm his hectic lifestyle for too long. Of course, Mugen was rarely at the recieving end of a bone-breaking blow, so he didn't usually have anything to worry about.
Across the room from him, Jin lay on the floor staring at the rafters above. It hurt him to move, and Mugen knew it. But, the dark-haired samurai played it off well that he wasn't bothered by the screaming pain in his back. It gave Mugen a hint of cruel satisfaction though when he'd see him wince as he'd sit up or reposition himself. The Untouchable Jin was showing signs of being human for once.
The door slid open, and Fuu entered carrying a bucket of well water with both hands. She shot both of them a glare. "One of you could have at LEAST gotten the door for me!" she complained, but her expression quickly softened after looking at them for a moment. They looked damn near pitiful. Jin sat cross-legged, trying to slip into a more distant sate of mind, but she could tell the pain in his spine kept bringing him back. On his forehead she could see beads of sweat forming and his closed eyes would squint tightly and he would clench his teeth in pain from time to time. Half of Mugen's face was an extremely nasty looking blue and purple bruise and one eye still refused to open all the way because of the selling. If she hadn't known better, she would've felt sorry for them.
She looked away and sighed walking over to the simmering pot in the center of the room. The young woman sat the bucket down and lifted the lid, inspecting the contents. Steam rolled out at her and she removed it. "Alright Jin," she said picking up a large pair of wooden tongs, "The doctor said that you need 'moist heat,' and this is all I really know to do." She produced a wet towel from the pot, the steam curling off of it. The samurai arched an eyebrow at the sight. Fuu looked thoughtful. "I don't think he ment THIS hot," she concluded, setting it aside to cool. Jin sighed in relief.
"What about me?" Mugen asked, desperate for relief, but trying to sound irritated.
Fuu dunked a fresh towel in the bucket. "I guess we'll just have to keep it cold and see if the swelling goes down." She wrung it out and folded it. "Nothing really cold around here besides well water, so I guess we'll just have to make do."
Mugen took the offered cloth and put it on the side of his acheing face. It was cool, but he remembered the creek water being cooler somehow. There must have been a nearby spring, he reasoned. Thoughts of the spring brought back arousing memories and burning questions that he wanted answers to. But this wasn't the time or place. His stomach grumbled. He hadn't realized he was so hungry. His teeth throbbed at the thought of chewing.
Fuu looked over at him, hearing his stomach growl. It reminded her of how hungry she was. Jin was probably getting there too since they hadn't eaten all day. They still had very little money, so going to a resturant was out of the question. Maybe Kagemaru-san had something she could cook, Fuu thought, standing up and walking to where the food was stored. Hmm, there was enough to make some dumplings and rice, but she'd have to go get some meat. Hopefully the butcher was still open. It was close to dinner time after all.
"I'm going to go into town real quick," she said returning to the fire and putting fresh water into the pot to boil.
Mugen looked up from his thoughts. It would be nice to get out and get some air, he reasoned, watching her put her sandals back on and slide the door open. He stood up and followed her out.
"Are you sure you feel well enough?" she asked as he appeared behind her.
"I hurt my face, not my feet," he said irritably, rolling his eyes.
Fuu shrugged and started walking toward the village with Mugen in tow. "Where are we going?" he asked after a few moments of silent walking. Fuu looked up at him, shaken from her thoughts by his voice.
"To the butcher," she said, realizing what he'd said.
"You mean you're going to cook?" he asked. "Do you even know how!" It seemed strange, but in all the time that he'd known her, it had never dawned on him that Fuu might know how to do something as womanly as cooking. Well, there were the times that they all cooked over a campfire, but that didn't count, especially since he'd been the one to show them how to do it.
"Mugen," she said with a dead-pan expression, "you met me when I was working in a resturant."
"Oh yeah," he remembered. Feeling kind of stupid, he decided to shut up for once.
XXXXX
The village market place was suprisingly busy for that time of the evening. Women, with their children following closely, bustled from booth to booth, preparing for the evening meal. The warm glow of firelight and freindly laughter welcomed those in the street to come into the crowded resturants. Fuu sighed inwardly remembering her hometown.
Even with their meager pocket change, Fuu felt she had done very well. She'd managed to buy a handfull of slender green onions and a head of cabbage. At the meat vendor, she had made Mugen stay back so he couldn't 'ruin her act' she'd said. From a distance, he had watched as she -almost too easily- played the part of a poor pitiful girl who hadn't realized she didn't have enough money. At first the lean samurai had thought it was a retarded idea, but was stunned when Fuu flashed the butcher a shy and feminine smile that she'd never used on him and Jin. The older man behind the stand had melted, finally using the excuse that the meat would be bad by tomorrow anyways. Mugen didn't know if even he could've said no to that.
The past few days, he'd learned quiet a few of Fuu's secrets. Hopefully, in the near future, he'd learn quite a few more. Mugen smirked crookedly at the thought of what other secrets and talents Fuu might have. Before he knew it, he'd slipped into a daydream about a few of them.
"Mugen . . . Mugen! MUGEN!" He blinked. Fuu stood before him, on the verge of being pissed. "Welcome back," she said, arching an eyebrow. "What were you thinking about?"
Mugen stetched magnificently, trying to look casual and hide the fact that he'd been thinking about her. "Oh, just wondering if there was any sort of red light district in a place like this," he said scratching his head and wincing when he accidentally brushed up against his sore cheek.
Fuu's face turnned an angry pink, and he could've swore the vein on her forehead was doing a little dance for him. To his suprise, she didn't say anything, only fummed for a second before turnning away from him and starting the walk back to the cabin. He smiled at her antics. It was so easy to tell that she had a crush on him and Jin. She just got jealous so easy. He smiled to himself and followed after her.
The pair made their way back up the hill toward the edge of town. Mugen hung back aways so he could watch Fuu and think without interuption. She carried herself different here, he noticed. Fuu kept her back straight and her face forward. When she was around him and Jin, she seemed more relaxed, like there was no one to impress. Fuu had probably only reasoned that her efforts were wasted on the two samurai. Of course, he thought, neither of them had given her any reason to believe otherwise. Maybe it was part of her act to cover up her skills too, Mugen thought, looking at the ground. Maybe she was extra sloppy in her stature around them, just in case they might've picked up on the little things that could've given her away.
Fuu stopped and looked back at him to make sure he was still behind her. She didn't know why he was being so slow tonight. Usually, Mugen would've been charging ahead and yelling back at her to hurry up. Something was bothering him. Maybe he had a headache from his sore jaw. Or maybe, Fuu thought, he was thinking about the day before. She really wished that he wouldn't dwell on it. After all, she'd never tell him anything he wanted to know if things went as planned. She quickly looked away from him before he saw that she was looking at him to the beautiful scene behind him. The sun had sunken about half way below the horizon of the ocean, and it glittered on the water. She sighed, watching it slowly sink as she waited for him to catch up.
Mugen looked up at her just in time to see her look away. He would've dwelled more on the thought if he hadn't seen something else. Behind her in the crowd, a man about his age was making his way toward them, bumping into people casually and unneccesarily. Mugen hastened his step to get to Fuu before he did, thinking back to the times when Fuu had been pickpocketed or kidnapped on their journey and hadn't done a damn thing about it just so she could keep them from finding out. Either she'd figured she could've gotten herself out of the situation on her own if they didn't come for her, or she really did trust the two of them with her life.
He grabbed her left hand and pulled her around so he was between her and the pickpocket. "Mugen! What are you doing!" she yelled, more suprised than angry at him. She tried to pull away, but he held on tightly. The man made the move to bump into him, and Mugen felt the hand go into his pocket. Mugen smiled, not only because he knew that he didn't have a coin to his name, but because he'd taken the liberty of dipping into the other man's pocket in the process. He was pleasantly suprised to find that the pickpocket had been very busy this evening. Fuu finally yanked her hand out of his grasp, causing him to bump into the man as he was depositing the hefty sum of money into his pocket.
"Hey!" the man yelled at him, spinning Mugen around to face him. Mugen flashed the pickpocket a take-no-shit scowl as he grabbed him by the shirt and pulled him to where the man could hear him whisper.
"Listen here, you little bastard," he growled, "I've watched you pick off of everyone on this street, and I'd be fucking happy to let every one of them know what happened to their money and kick your ass right here and now for their viewing pleasure. Or, you can keep moving and make up for your loss without making a scene."
The man huffed, pushing himself away from the intimidating samurai. "You better remember this, Asshole," he muttered, pointing a finger threateningly at Mugen.
"I don't think I can," Mugen said, grabbing it and breaking it at the knuckle, making the pickpocket fall to his knees screaming in pain. "You'd better come remind me later," he added with a crooked smirk.
He looked down at Fuu, who was dumbstruck by the scene. She looked up at him, feeling his hand on her shoulder, pushing her forward. "Mugen?" she stammered. "What happened?"
"Nothing," he said, producing the handful of coins he'd lifted from his pocket and handing them to her. "I just pickpocketed a pickpocket."
Fuu thought about saying something, but decided against it. He'd just funded the next few days of their journey, if they spent it sparingly, and she wasn't about to complain.
"Fuu," he said. She looked up from putting the money into her coin purse. "You don't have to act like a clumsy moron around me anymore," Mugen said after a few silent moments.
Fuu's face went beat-red. "That WASN'T what I was trying to act like!" she said firmly
"So, you're saying that that part just comes natural?" he asked, getting a slap across the face. At least, she'd taken the care not to hit him on the side that was bruised. Somewhere in the back of his mind, he wondered if she even held back when she did stuff like that. He smiled a little, even though the slap had stirred up the throbbing on the other side of his face.
"No I wasn't!"
They continued up the hill in tense silence. The crowd had dwindled and there were only a few villagers remaining on the streets. The sun had sank all the way below the horizon, leaving the only the orange glow of twilight to light the way. Fuu looked up at her companion. He always looked less 'course' in this light. His eyes looked softer, and the gaunt angular bones in his cheeks didn't stand out so much.
"What would it take to make you fight?" he asked, after a long silence.
"Eh?" Fuu was stirred from her thoughts.
"I want to see it, Fuu," he stated, looking down at her again. She was looking at her feet, and even in the waning light, he could see the blush on her cheeks. Fuu really didn't like talking about it.
"Mugen . . ." she murmered, looking up at him with a defeated look on her face. "Please don't ask me about that. I am ashamed of it," she said, "No one was ever ment to see it."
Mugen could feel it now. It was practically radiating off of her, and he felt compelled to comfort her. He put his hand on her shoulder and stopped her, gently turnning her to face him. The criminal and animal inside of him somehow wanted her more because of it, but the human side of him, the part of him that he sometimes forgot was there, felt for her.
"You killed someone." It was a statement more than a question. Tears burnned in her eyes, and she hung her head even lower. She wanted to just run away. Run away from Mugen. Run away from Jin. She even wished she could run away from herself. Fuu felt Mugen's rough hand on her cheek, gently making her look up at him. Why did it take so much pain on her part for him to act so tender, she wondered.
"He was going to kill my mother," she explained.
Mugen sighed, pulling her to him for a half-hearted, one-armed hug. "Then you had to do it," he said, starting to walk again with her under his arm. "There is no shame in that." Fuu looked up at him. For once, Mugen looked thoughtful. "Killing doesn't make you any less of a person, it just makes you a different person. It's when you start to NOT feel guilty or ashamed of it that you start to become less of a person," he said, his smiled fading a little..
Funny how Fuu had never thought Mugen had a brain in his head, but if someone would've asked her tonight, she'd have swore he was wise beyond his years. "Thank you," she said, leaning into him a little, letting herself indulge for once. Then she pulled away from him, not wanting to tease herself with any stupid ideas. Mugen watched, a little hurt, as she walked on ahead of him. He understood that the opposite sex was a complex creature, and someone like him had no chance of ever understanding everything there was to know about them, but Fuu took the cake. Mugen knew that she was attracted to him. He could see it sometimes in the way she looked at him or the way she got jealous when he went to the brothel. But why could he not get her to act on it.
The path they followed ran into the woods where the houses were more sparse. By now, night had fallen, and the moon was their only light to walk by. Fuu couldn't stop thinking about how warm and firm his body had felt under his shirt. 'Good greif,' she thought to herself, 'I'm going to loose my mind before this whole thing is over if he keeps this up.' Maybe Mama could close her eyes just for one night, Fuu joked to herself with a sigh. One night to do what she wanted with him. One night to have Mugen all to herself. She burnned at her core at the thought of it. But what would she do with him if she had him in that situation? Fuu didn't know anything about that sort of thing aside from the little tidbits of whisperings she'd heard at the brothels she'd been kidnapped and taken to. She'd probably put him to sleep compared to some of the women he'd been with.
A rustle not too far away from them in the undergrowth of the forest caught her attention. It didn't sound like an animal, too clumsy. She thought about hanging back and letting Mugen take care of it, but on second thought, why not take a brake from the act like he'd suggested. Not kill anyone, she reasoned, just vent a little frustration. Fuu grabbed the handle of ther tanto and pulled it out. Her hand was sweating already at the anticipation.
Mugen had stopped already, hearing the approaching footsteps. His hand had been poised over the handle of his sword when he'd heard something else. There was a gentle shink ahead of him. He took a second to look away from the spot the thing in the woods would come from and looked up the path at Fuu. Her knife was drawn to his suprise and excitement. So, she'd heard it to, he thought, satisfied. Plus, she felt like pulling her own weight for the first time. The lean samurai smiled, making a note on his mental checklist to leave one or two for her so he could watch.
Just as Mugen expected, the man from earlier in the evening sprung from the bushes holding his hand and screaming. "There he is! Kill him!" Five others, weilding whatever weapon that they'd found on the trip up quickly emerged from the bushes after him.
"Oi," he smiled, pulling his sword out, "I forgot already," he taunted as he releived the first attacker of his left hand with one swift and fluid motion. The man fell to the ground screaming as the blood pooled beneath him. The next came charging up stupidly; what had happened to his freind probably hand't even regestered in his mind yet. He slashed at Mugen with the rusty sword he'd brought. The samurai looked genuinely bored. He hopped backwards out of the way of the first advance. A dodge here, a backflip there, he thought to himself, going down the checklist he'd made minutes before. At this rate, he wouldn't even get his heart rate up, he thought, leaping over his attacker and landing behind him. The man had turnned around just in time to see the flash of Mugen's sword as he returned it to his side. It hadn't even occured to him that his legs didn't work anymore, until he collapsed to the ground, feeling warm blood oozing from the neat gash across his lower back.
Only one man had ran past Mugen to Fuu. She was slightly relieved and slightly upset. First of all, at least she only had to fight one of them, but she shouldn't have had to fight any. Who would ever attack a girl! 'The nerve of some people,' she thought, readying herself. The man swung at her, and she deflected it effortlessly. There was no way she could bring a sword to a hault like Jin and Mugen could. Maybe against a female of her own build, but not against a man. She just didn't have the upper body strength. But, relying in her speed to smack the strike out of the air was nothing.
After a few more strikes that led to no results her attacker must've realized that he might be up against more than a defensless woman with a knife and some dumb luck. Fuu smiled at the nervous look on his face. That just pissed him off more and he charged at her again lashing out with his sword. Fuu did a petite little backflip to dodge it. She was pretty acrobatic. It was nothing compared to what Mugen could do,and she had no where near his flexibility, but it was enough to handle most adversaries. A pang of pain in her shoulder reminded her she was out of practice, but this guy was slow - REAL slow. It took nothing to avoid him. Fuu gracefully twisted out of the way of a very sloppy chop he made at her. At this rate, she thought, she'd hardly have to fight at all. Maybe she could just wear the fight out of him.
The last two that had been poised to attack Mugen looked doubtful now. He'd give them a chance, he thought, waiting for them to make their move. The pickpocket had the same look of doubt of his face now. What had he gotten himself into? "D . . . don't just stand there!" he screamed, backing away toward the underbrush he'd come from. "Do something!"
With that, the last two looked at each other and lept at their target. Mugen grinned wildly, charging at them. "Wrong choice!" he announced, bringing his sword up in one smooth slash. The two men barely had the time to gurggle in regret before they hit the ground dead. Mugen shook the blood off of his sword and sheathed it as he turnned to face the pickpocket. It didn't suprise him to see that he'd chose not to hang around. The sound of clanking metal brought his mind out of the mild adrenalin rush, and he looked for his companion. What he saw made him hard almost instantly. His little Death Goddess was actually enjoying herself as she tired out the last of their attackers, and she was absolutely beautiful as she did it.
He leaned up against a tree and watched as she practically danced circles around the miserable looking man. "Hey," he shouted, making both of them stop and look at him. "All your freinds are gone," he said motioning with his head toward the four dead bodies and where the ring leader of this whole escapade had been, "I'm thinking maybe you should give up." Mugen drew his sword and took a menacing stance, and the man all but stumbled over his own feet trying to get away. After he'd dissappeared from sight, Mugen looked back at Fuu. She was breathing deep, he noted. It had been a while since she'd done this, he thought. Fuu looked back at him from the spot where her attacker had vanished into the night.
He was still in his fighting stance and grinning like he was insane. As soon as she made eye contact with him, he charged at her. "Mugen . . . ?" was all she had time to get out before he slashed his sword down at her. 'HE'S NUTS!' she thought, barely able to deflect it and roll out of the way of his almost instant second attack. Fuu scrambled to get back on her feet. She could feel him coming up behind her fast. At the last possible split second she turnned around and swiped his advancing blow out of harm's way. CLANG CLANG CLANG Her arms were getting numb from the vibrations, and with every strike he made she had to take a step back from the force of it. There was no time to duck or roll out of the way, and there sure as hell wasn't enought time or room to counter any attacks he made. He was just too damn fast. All she could do was keep parrying his attacks and pray that she didn't miss. Fuu was at the limits of her fighting abilities, and what made her even more uneasy was that she knew Mugen was barely warming up.
After a few intense moments of tedious and trying deflecting she felt something hard a her back. Mugen had guided her to a tree. She could feel the roughness of the bark under her kimono. She'd have been dead at the first blow if that had been what he'd wanted, but he'd toyed with her up until this point. What in the world he was up to, she had no idea, but surely he'd stop soon. To her horror, he didn't stop. In fact, once she was up against the tree, he knocked the tanto out of her hand with a suprisingly powerful blow and raised his sword for what appeared to be the terminating blow.
"MUGEN!" she screamed, shrinking down the tree as far away from him as she could and closing her eyes.
Silence. For what felt like an eternity there was pure silence. Even the wildlife of the forest seemed to be holding it's breath. Was she dead? Fuu was hesitant about opening her eyes, but after another few moments, she couldn't take the suspense anymore. She slowly opened one eye.
Mugen was face to face with her, and before she could open the other eye from the shock of his closeness, he grabbed her around her waist and pulled her up with him as he stood to his full height, leaving her feet dangling. Fuu gasped as he pressed her back against the tree and pinned her to it with his own body as he leaned in so that he was nose to nose with her. Fuu's world had tilted on it's axis and her head was still swiming from the fight, but the feeling of his breath on her lips and the look in his hooded dark eyes made her body feel like it was on fire. The forbidden place between her legs felt wet, and it felt like every cell in her body was screaming to be with him.
If she had been able to put two thoughts together long enough to remember her name, she might've resisted him, but when he slowly closed the gap between them, closing his eyes in the process, her body was in control when she tipped her head forward to complete the motion. Their lips met softly, and for a few unforgettable moments it stayed that way - soft and gentle. She could feel his heart racing in his chest that was pressed against her. She knew hers had to have been beating just as fast from the exertion she'd put out during the fight, but Fuu knew his couldn't have been from such a small scuffle.
Mugen relished in the feeling of her body's rising temperature. She wanted him; he could almost smell it on her. He wanted her too. Fuck, did he want her! His mind reeled at the sensation of her finishing the kiss. He deepened it, opening his lips to taste her. She was hesitant at first, but as soon as he felt her lips part slightly, he pressed his lips into her's hard enough to push her head back against the tree again. Mugen felt Fuu's chest hitch a little in a gasp, but she didn't resist him. His tounge darted into her small mouth and tangled with hers, which seemed almost unsure of itself. He smiled to himself. She'd never been this far, he thought. He was more than happy to coax her into learning how this sort of thing was done.
Fuu was slowly coming back to reality, but she was still far from caring about her current situation. Slowly and almost cautiously, she raised her hands up to his elbows. As the kiss deepened, she felt her way up the taunt and powerful muscles of his arms up to his shoulders where she wrapped her arms loosely around his neck and tangled her fingers in his suprisingly soft mess of hair.
He pulled away from their kiss and breathed deep before leaning back in to whisper heatedly into her ear. "I want you," he said huskily, lowering her back to the ground so that his hands were free to slip down the soft material over her thighs and slowly pull it up inch by inch past her knees towards the center of the heat her body was making. She felt a hardness being pressed against her stomach and was about to act on her initial thoughts on what to do when her conscience came screaming back to life.
"N . . . no," she stammered, squirmming out from between him and the tree. "I . . . I can't," she said, quickly gathering herself and what little dignity she felt like she had left. Hastily and halfheartedly, she straightened out her kimono while murmmering over and over. "I can't. I just can't."
Mugen was too dumbstruck to fight her or argue with her or scream at her. All he could do was stare as she quickly, checked herself over and fumbled over and over with her nervous and shakey hands. It was dark now, but he could still tell that she was blushing furiously and refused to look at him. Mugen heard her sniffle a little, trying to hide her crying as she quickly put back on the sandals that had fallen off when he'd picked her up. Before he had time to stop her and ask what was wrong, she'd grabbed up her knife and was running back up towards Kagemaru-san's cabin - back to the safety of Jin.
He just stood there and watched her go. What was she doing to him? Did she even realize she was doing it? Everything about her screamed that she wanted him, but she just wouldn't do anything. Sure, he could tell she was a virgin, but there was something deeper there than just the fear of losing that. He just knew it. Maybe when his mind stopped reeling and his jaw stopped throbbing, he'd sit down and figure it out.
XXXXX
Little bit of lemonade there at the end. Hopefully there'll be some good stuff soon.
Anyways, like I said, give me a while before you start giving me reviews about where I'm at. Keep reading and keep reviewing.
IB