Chapter 4: Ishin Denshin

Fuu opened her eyes to see a tattered canvas propped above her. Through the holes she could see patches of blue sky and clouds. She was lying under a makeshift tent with only three sides. Fuu's body ached all over and her mind refused to go back in time to recall how she came to be here. Scanning her surroundings as much as possible without causing any further pain she realized Momo wasn't with her. She let out a groan, but that made her hurt even more. How hurt was she?

"Nothing's broken," said a voice from above. Fuu saw no one. Were the spirits speaking to her? Then, as her vision cleared a little more, she noticed wrinkly, yellow eye peering at her through one of the holes in the fabric. She didn't even have the strength to scream, but before panic surged the face behind the canvas disappeared and reappeared next to her with speed her eyes couldn't follow.

"Now, now," said the old man, gently. His voice was kind. Fuu relaxed a little.

"You had fallen into the river at a great height. Good thing it was deep and you fell feet first, otherwise, you would have become fish food. Isn't that nice?" he laughed. The noise that came from his throat was more of a cackle. His identity as friend or foe again became uncertain. The man was not tall, and his head was nearly bald but for the spray of bright red hair that exploded on the sides. His other features were clearly Japanese, but the hair was a mystery.

"I'm Johnny," he volunteered. Fuu didn't know what to make of that name and so remained silent. "It's polite when someone offers you their name that you give them yours in exchange." He seemed a bit offended.

"I-I'm Fuu," she stuttered.

"Hello, I-I'm Fuu. Are you hungry? I caught some fish in the river," said the weird little man. "You can't have any though," he added as an afterthought. Without another word, he disappeared again.

"Maybe I've died and this is purgatory," she said wistfully as she drifted in and out of consciousness.

Fuu's consciousness streamed like an uncertain pulse. In flashes and clips she recalled how Jin had told her to run as he faced her assassin. In the mental recap, her heart again tightened with the sense of useless urgency. By the campfire, she could hear Mugen do battle with other assailants, cursing all the while and calling them rude names. The scene cut to when she lost sight of Momo, who had been leading her through the dense forest, and came to a clearing. That was where the path ended in a sheer drop down to who knew where. Behind her the samurai were approaching. In muffled recollection she thought they had said her name and even apologized for what they were about to do. One of them came at her, sword drawn and in an arc of steel, aimed to kill her. Fuu couldn't find her voice to scream, then or in her dream, but instantly and instinctively moved backwards only to find there was no more terra firma beneath her foot. In slow motion she saw the blade chop off a lock of hair, come within centimeters of her face, and then the cliff, the samurai and his blade suddenly became smaller and farther away as she fell and continued to fall. Not knowing what was below her, and still stubbornly refusing to die, Fuu pulled her tonto blade from its sheath secured in her obi and plunged the sharp end into the cliff face with both hands. The blade noticeably slowed her fall, though she was still falling fast, and it finally caught onto a cluster of rocks with a loud "clang." At that moment, Fuu lost her grip on her knife with the impact, but just before she started to fall again her other hand reached out to grasp anything, even straws. Her tonto slipped out of place and she watched it fall into the river below. The last thing she remembered was clinging onto some old roots for some time until they eventually gave way and she finally found it in her to scream.

When Fuu awoke again, she was puzzled to find that it was still daytime. The sun was cooler though, suggesting it was morning now, and she felt as though she had been sleeping for days. Suddenly, Momo came hopping into her shelter and perched atop her chest.

"Momo-san," said Fuu wearily. "Are you dead too?" The flying squirrel only looked at her intently with its large, dark eyes, as if trying to convey an understanding that Fuu couldn't grasp.

"I wonder how they guys are doing?" she asked the squirrel. "I hope they're all right." Her hazy thoughts contemplated whether anyone would find her body and hold a funeral service for her. Or would they bury her in an unmarked ditch? Would anyone even miss her? Mugen might make a toast to her memory and then move on and forget her. As an afterthought she concluded, "Jin will miss me if I'm dead."

Outside, she could smell the distinct scent of cooked and seasoned fish. It was enough to convince her to investigate. She sat up, surprisingly with only moderate aches and pains, and leaned over to peer beyond the flap of the three-sided tent. Johnny was still there, fishing along the banks of the river that she supposed he had fished her out of. He was deep in thought, and by the expression that she found almost soulful, Fuu concluded that he was not a lunatic after all and this was not purgatory. She decided to approach him.

Cautiously still, she edged off the straw mat she was laying on, and with the help of the wooden pole she got to her feet. A sudden, woozy feeling came over her, and like a wave hitting her with full force Fuu fell to her knees.

"It isn't wise to get up in your condition. You haven't had any nourishment in four days," said Johnny, unmoving.

"Why can't I have any fish?" she asked sullenly.

"You can have fish now," he said cryptically.

"Huh?"

"You were barely conscious before, but now you're better. So you can have some fish now," he explained.

Fuu sighed and with her eyes measured the distance between the fire pit and her tent to be about four yards. She could barely stand up.

"Don't expect any more help from me. I already fished you out of the river. The rest is up to you," said her savior unsympathetically.

Fuu gave him a menacing look and proceeded to scoot her bottom along the pebbled floor until she could reach the fish. Without further ado she gobbled them up heartily.

"More," said Fuu, licking her fingers as she finished the last one.

"Huh?" asked her companion, turning and giving her a puzzled look. "There were five fish there…three of them were mine…"

"More," repeated Fuu, eyes blazing with hunger.

"Yes, yes," grumbled Johnny, taking more fish out of his basket and skewering them with a stick to prop over the fire. Over the course of the next two hours, Johnny caught and Fuu ate an additional thirty-seven fish from the river.

"Had I known that you liked fish so much I would have left you in there so you could reincarnate as one," complained Johnny, scratching his head in bewilderment. The skinny girl he had retrieved from the waters had become a puffy giant of sorts, rubbing her belly contentedly as she rolled around on the floor like a ball. Even her voice was a few octaves lower. He silently wondered if this was some sort of jutsu.

"Ho-ho-ho," she laughed as rolled around.

"So, my puffy acquaintance, how came you to be in the river?" he asked.

"I was forced," she said.

"Ah," he nodded.

"Two samurai chased me through the forest. When I got to a clearing the only way left to go was over a sheer cliff. I lost my footing and fell. I had a tanto with me…" she said, looking around and finding it missing.

"This?" he asked, retrieving it from his vest.

"Yes, that one!" Fuu exclaimed as he tossed it back to her. "It was my mother's so it has sentimental value."

"And the dice and Christian netsuke?" he asked.

"You know what the skull is?" she exclaimed incredulously.

"I've heard of things such as this."

"It was my father's. I don't know why I still keep it," said Fuu thoughtfully.

"You have a grudge against your father?" asked Johnny, somewhat sadly.

"I did. I told him off for ditching my mom and me for his foreign religion before he was killed. After that, I let it go," said Fuu.

"He was a man who died for his beliefs, then," ventured Johnny.

"And left his family to do it," sighed Fuu, no longer with resentment.

"Such is the way of modern samurai. Traditional duty and honor can be set aside," sighed Johnny. "But then again, are there any lords worth following?" He pondered the rhetorical question for a moment.

"How did you know he was a samurai?" asked Fuu cautiously.

"You don't look like the daughter of a peasant," he answered simply. "Nor do you act or speak like one. Because he didn't take his family with him, his actions suggest a man of leisure as opposed to a working man, who didn't want to involve his family in something dangerous."

"I guess."

"What about the dice?" he asked, truly curious.

Fuu let out a little laugh. She had never told anyone the story behind the dice. "When my mother was still alive and ill, we were desperate for money. So I snuck into the local gambling house to see how money was won. I stole some dice and I learned how to roll them by watching. I also learned how they cheated. So I took some of my mother's expensive hairpins and I had a stall in the street daring people to bet on them. Each bet was worth five ryo, which was cheap in comparison to the hairpins that cost at least fifty ryo each. I was really good at cho-han bakuchi and I made a killing that way until my mother found out and told me to stop. We had to sell the hairpins eventually, but that money didn't last long. Neither did my mother."

"Ah," smiled Johnny. He looked up at the sky and sighed. "Family is a precious thing. People should consider that more seriously." Fuu thought that he was rather sympathetic to her plight.

"I suppose your trip off the cliff had something to do with your father?" he asked.

"Yes."

"Well then, Fuu-san, let me teach you something that may one day save your life."

Fuu remained with the little hermit for the rest of the fortnight. As she headed for Nagasaki he grilled some fish and packed them in leaves "to go" for her. She bowed gratefully and watched him for a moment, stoically fishing in the same spot. Fuu was surprised to note that his expression was that of a learned man of status who had enough of society. She wondered who he was in his day and shrugged off her curiosity.

With Momo perched on her shoulder, she traveled to the nearest tea stand and offered to help the owner for a day in exchange for food. Thereafter, she convinced the owner's daughter to trade kimonos. Fuu, dressed in less conspicuous attire, made it into Nagasaki by late nightfall.

As she rounded the first corner past the front entrance of the city she bumped into someone, suddenly. The two of them fell to the floor. The young man, without apologizing, hurried away. As Fuu brushed herself off, she noticed her pocket was considerably lighter.

"Damnit, not again!" she cried out in frustration, stomping a foot. With typhoon speed, Fuu chased after the guy who stole her coin purse. Since the streets were not crowded at this hour, Fuu easily marked her target as she rushed to catch him. The coin purse contained the rest of her money, including her savings, and she wasn't about to lose it. She called him several unkind names. Little by little, she came closer to him, when finally, as he slowed to turn a corner she full on tackled his legs. They both tumbled and crashed to the ground, sandals flying, in a puff of dust.

"Hey!" said the thief from under her. Fuu had managed to land on top of him, with her knee in his back. She tugged one of his arms towards her, until he cried out "Ojisan! Ojisan!" slapping an open palm against the ground in surrender.

"Go pinch someone else's purse, jerk. This is my hard earned money," said Fuu, taking her purse from his hand and whacking him over the head with it. She contemplated smacking him again but then she was interrupted.

"Fuu," said a voice from behind her. She turned to see Jin coming towards her. He helped her up.

"Hey! What's the big idea—" said the man on the floor but Jin whacked him unconscious with the butt of his sheath.

"Ah!" she exclaimed in surprise as he then, in one swift motion, wordlessly pulled her closer to him in a tight and surprisingly warm embrace. The color came to her face immediately.

"Um," she said, her face muffled against the sleeves of his doufuku. He released her and for the first time, Fuu thought she saw a smile cross his lips.

"We thought you were dead," he said calmly.

"Nah," she said shyly. "I seem to have more lives than cats."

"Your clothes…" he began, scanning the unfamiliar color and pattern.

"I exchanged them to be a little less conspicuous," said Fuu. She looked around the empty street. "Where's Mugen?" When she asked it, Jin's expression noticeably fell a little.

"We spent four days looking for you, and then decided that if you were still alive, you'd probably head for Nagasaki. We've been waiting and looking out for government spies, but also discreetly asking for your whereabouts. Otherwise we've just been waiting. I lost him a few hours ago when we passed the red light district," he said.

"Oh. How long were you guys going to wait for me?" she asked. He only shrugged.

"Mugen wanted to go hunt down Goroujuu for revenge, but I thought we should wait. Since we didn't find your body, I thought there might be a slim chance…." His voice trailed off, and he looked away. Fuu thought his expression looked something like embarrassment, which was a curious expression for Jin.

"Thanks," she said, stepping forward and wrapping her arms around him tightly. "For not giving up on me," she said quietly with her face in his chest. He smells sweet, like green bean paste, thought Fuu to herself. She inhaled deeply and the effect was dizzying. Almost immediately, she felt embarrassed to be sniffing him.

"Sorry," she apologized, starting to pull away. His arms resisted her and kept her close to him.

"It's okay…like this," was all he said. They stayed like that for a while under the moonlight.

Author's notes: Please R&R. Comments always welcome!

1. Ishin Denshin: truth passed between two hearts, without words—also part of the title to Episode 4 "Hellhounds for Hire." (Thanks to AMALGAM at /angelynx/comics/champloo-episode-guide.html for that translation)

2. I knew I wanted Johnny in this story because I kind of missed the little guy after Episode 21: Elegy of Entrapment. The possibility was iterated in a fan's comments on Wikipedia that Johnny was actually Miyamoto Musashi. As we all know, the Shimabara Rebellion took place in 1638 right before Nippon went all exclusionist by order of the Shogun (until Commodore Perry in 1853). Plausibly, Musashi could be living in the forests as a hermit around that time (to avoid people wanting to duel the "sword saint"). He is reported to have died in 1645. END OF HISTORY LESSON.

3. "Ojisan" means "uncle" -- a little joke for those of us who watch anime in Japanese.

4. A doufuku is the top part of Jin's attire, a half robe traditionally worn with a hakama bottom

5. I realized that I have very little of Mugen in this story. (I already warned you, Mugen fans!) But to avoid being pathetically Jin-biased, I'm contemplating writing a chapter that involves our two beloved ronin and the fourteen days that pass without Fuu-chan.

6. cho-han bakuchi is a gambling game of odds and evens. You wondered about the dice and how Fuu learned how to roll 'em in Episode 4: "Hellhounds for Hire," too, didn't you?

-Kero (7/30/08)