Chapter Two: The Stone That Skims The Water

Fuu grimaced a little as Miss Suzuku paced up and down the formation of servants in the lower hallway tapping her wooden fan against her hand. The expression on their proprietor's face was livid. None of the servants dared speak out first in their own defense of either not having anything to do with it, or of being unable to foresee such an event and thereby being not at fault. In the background, laborers were hastily trying to repair the sliding door and paper screens so unceremoniously destroyed by Mugen's airborne body. Mugen and his fellow guest were discreetly escorted out of the Inn after paying their bill plus a little extra for the damage.

"Do we run a brothel?" asked Miss Suzuku through clenched teeth. She stopped in front of Fuu, who looked her directly in the eye. Miss Suzuku turned to Rin and demanded answer.

"DO WE??"

"No Miss," replied Rin quietly, unable to meet that heated gaze and resignedly staring at her own feet.

"Then tell me why," began their proprietor, taking her fan and lifting Fuu's chin with it as if to get a better look at her made up appearance, "we can take any untrained common girl from the streets to serve our customers? What kind of reputation are we trying to make here?" The comparison between Fuu's involvement in this debacle and a common brothel did not go unnoticed by Fuu, who clenched her fists quietly, nor Jin, who had just opened the sliding door to step out into the hall. Fuu's eyes met his and she could tell he was not pleased with the proprietor for insulting his friend, but her expression implored him not to make a fuss about it.

"Only brothels have this sort of ruckus going on in the night," sighed Miss Suzuku, taking her fan and pointing it to the servant who started it all.

"You are in charge of the lower servants of this floor tonight. WHY are we so shorthanded that we need the lower servants to help?" she demanded.

"One of our serving girls sprained her foot. One of the cooks slipped in the hall on a daikon, and injured others in the process. The other lower servants are helping in the kitchen and Fuu is the only one good looking enough to help us here," he responded quietly. The proprietor snarled at Fuu, "Good looking? Don't make me laugh."

"WHO left the radish in the hall?!" She glared at Fuu once more. By her tone, Fuu was clear that she was about to be handed her final pay even without having to answer. She was a little disappointed, not because she would miss anyone here, but because this job was good enough to provide room and board with an ocean view.

It also held sentimental value, since it was so close to the little landmass off shore that was Ikisuki-shima, the place where her father had died. Fuu did not miss her father, but the sentimentality came from her own coming-of-age story where she traveled nearly all of Nippon in the span of almost a year with two of the most powerful ronin in the country as her bodyguards in search of him. If she ever retold the story to others, they would be amazed that all she paid them was European sponge cake in the end.

Though she didn't get to beat her father as she had intended to for leaving his family behind to follow a foreign religion, at that point she realized that her journey was ended and she was supposed to live her own life, and let go of the past. But she came back to Nagasaki even at the end of the other journeys she had taken alone because this was the place where she began a life for herself, taking with her the memory of a fond farewell with two very good friends who supported her up to that point.

Without a word, Fuu took off the wig and handed it to Rin, still holding Miss Suzku's gaze. A smile touched the corner of her lips as she told a suddenly surprised proprietor with much gumption that she'd be waiting at the front door for Miss Suzuku to calculate her last pay. Fuu nodded a silent goodbye to her comrades and left the hallway.

Back outside under the starry night sky Fuu looked up to the twinkling heavens to contemplate what she would do next as she held a small satchel containing her final pay in her hand. With a knapsack over her shoulder containing her only worldly possessions of a diary noting all the delicious foods she had eaten in her travels, nuts for Momo, a hairpin that belonged to her mother, dried sunflower seeds from Ikisuki-shima, her money she had saved these past few years and some flint for campfires she took one step forward towards and uncertain future. She wondered if she would run into the fortuneteller who might be kind enough to give her another hint.

Back inside, Jin headed back to the room where Shino was still waiting for him when he saw men with katanas walking towards him and the exit. He stepped aside into the shadows unnoticed. Judging by the distinguishing marks on their clothing, they were high ranking samurai who worked for the Shogun. Though Jin had no quarrel with them, and they probably wouldn't recognize him, he had no intention of sharing the same hallway space with them.

"Ah, what a good meal," said one of the samurai, patting his belly contentedly. Another was shifting the position of his katana and wakizashi to make more room for his bloated stomach.

"Keiichi, do you think we can stop by the red light district, or does Councilor Goroujuu want us to start work immediately?" asked a third samurai, trailing behind.

"Gods Soujirou, is that the only thing you can think about? We're still missing our fourth member. Sei, did you see where he went?" asked Keiichi.

"The outhouse?" suggested Sei.

"Whatever. We'll wait for him outside. I can't believe Councilor Goroujuu wants us to hunt down a little girl," sighed Soujirou as he picked his teeth.

"She's not just any girl, she's the daughter of an outlaw who by order of the Shogunate was to have his entire family killed with him. Since the wife is already dead, that leaves only the daughter," explained Keiichi.

"Isn't this just a waste of time?" asked Soujirou.

"It's a matter of saving face for the Councilor. If he can't take care of one girl, how do you think the Shogun will see him? It's been three years since Kariya failed and all traces of the girl and her two ronin side-kicks were lost," sighed Sei. "We have a long road ahead of us."

"That's what he's paying us for," shrugged Soujirou.

"If the Divine Hand couldn't finish them off, what chances do we have?" said Kei. "I'd rather chase foreigners than an elusive little girl. It's easier since gaijin stand out so much and more fun."

"Well isn't that the catch then?" asked Soujirou. "She and her companions probably split up after that so now we're looking for a little girl who carries a flying rat in her bosom, who may or may not still be in Kyushu, who is known to wander around a lot."

"I wonder if I did something to offend the Councilor…" said Keiichi thinking of the long stretch of time that loomed before him in connection to what was possibly a wild goose chase.

"Well, at least we have him," said Kei, referring to their missing counterpart. "He's known to be just as good as Kariya, though a little old, and twice as clever so they say. He may be the one to sink this stone that skims the water."

"He's too old for me to ever have seen him in action," sighed Soujirou. "Doesn't the fact that he's taking this long to take a dump suggest he's just an old dotard?"

"Maybe it's constipation?" suggested Kei as the three turned the corner and exited the building.

Jin remained where he stood for a moment, contemplating his next move. That Fuu needed to be warned was clear, but what he was going to do afterwards was not. He returned to the room with an odd expression on his face.

"What's wrong, Jin?" asked Shino.

"I've heard some news that I think I should share with my friends," he replied thoughtfully. Shino knew, as Jin had told her once, that he had only two friends in the world. These two had traveled with him on some quest that he would not elaborate further upon, and who despite their brief acquaintance, were dear to him. Shino also had a brief acquaintance with Fuu and Mugen when she was running from her husband with Jin's help. They paid his way to see her at the brothel, came to help Jin when they knew he was unarmed and in trouble, and did so without Jin's asking or elaboration on what he was doing. Such was the meaning behind true friendship, Shino mused, something she had never experienced in her life. Jin was fortunate in this respect, and she knew that he was about to leave, this time without any promises between them.

"You should help your friends if they are in trouble," she said quietly.

"But—" he began.

"I'm free of my husband now, thanks to you, so I can start anew. Though I would love your companionship, I don't need your protection," Shino replied. He paused for a moment, contemplating her face. This was the face of the woman he had once thought of throwing away everything for and watching over forever. Gentle, loyal and kind, Shino was the pinnacle of what he used to think of as an ideal woman. Despite the fact that she was only two years his senior, her maturity seemed limitless. That was of course before he nearly confessed to that lively girl five years his junior and bound to him by friendship, whose face without his conscious knowledge slowly slipped into place as his new ideal.

He got up to retrieve his sword and wakizashi and before leaving, he looked back once more. "What will you do?" he asked.

Shino smiled impishly. "I think a position at this Inn may have just opened."

After a warm embrace and polite well wishes for Shino, Jin exited the inn followed by the polite "thank you" and "please come again" of the door greeters of the front entrance. He blinked to adjust his eyes to the dark street. There in front of him was the familiar figure in a pink kimono walking away from the inn.

"Fuu," he called out. She turned around and an expression of shock came to her face.

"What are you following me for?" she asked.

"I'm not following you. I need to tell you something," he caught up with her and they started walking away together. "You're being hunted by the Shogunate."

"What?" she asked incredulously, nearly tripping. Fuu thought back to her three peaceful years traveling alone and no one with a sword had ever approached her.

"I heard men talking at the Inn. Someone knows you're still alive and one particular Councilor is still interested in hunting you down," he said matter-of-factly. That he could take and reiterate this information so calmly rattled her.

"So what am I supposed to do about it?" asked Fuu, scratching her head in frustration. "I'm unemployed right now and my traveling money is limited. I can't just run forever."

"We'll protect you," he responded simply.

"Who's 'we'?" she asked. He nodded his head indicating to his right. Fuu heard a groan and looked over to see a huddle mass on the side of the avenue. It appeared to be a man. She went over and kicked him. Mugen rolled over on his back, still groaning, with drool running down one side of his mouth and snoring.

"Isn't this how he ended up last time he met up with Miss Yatsuha?" said Fuu slightly exasperated, pinching the bridge of her nose with her fingers, and feeling the onset of a headache. Jin just looked at the passed out Mugen thoughtfully.

"Well," sighed Fuu. "I guess we can't just leave him here." Jin nodded and went in search of a wheelbarrow. Momo took the opportunity to peek out from Fuu's bosom and crawled up to perch on her shoulder to look around for the source of the offending stench of liquor.

"Here we go again, Momo-san."

Author's note: After my Sam-Puru Marathon I concluded that these three really need another adventure. I wonder how many die-hard Champloo fans are still out there? The reception to this story may be limited, and not everyone may recall all the people I'm resurrecting, but I really wanted some old characters like Yatsuha and Shino to come back to resolve their attachment to Mugen and Jin. I want to bring back my favorite characters from the series, so stay tuned!

P.s. Don't ask about my fascination with constipation.

-Kero (7/27/08)