Vol. 17 Sunshine Revelations

-Mugen-

Two days later and those two were still limping and movin' all stiffly. I think they were milking it. They did walk all the way to the temple and then to the next village as soon as we had got them. Tsuki made sure we picked up our money on our way out of the gardens. We had walked almost all night and morning until we had come to a tiny fishing village. An old lady had offered for us to stay with her as long as we helped around the house. She lived on the edge of the village, it was like a minute's walk to the beach. When we weren't doin' chores or sleeping, we spent our time there. That was where we were sitting now, watching the waves beat onto the shore. It reminded me of home back in the Ryukyu's. I guess the world was givin' us a break for once, because it was actually warm today.

Me and Jin were sitting together on a driftwood log. We had been talking about what we were going to do now that we knew the government was after us still. We knew we weren't going to have an easy time with the Shogunate this time, not that it was a fuckin' picnic last time. But this time they had gotten two of us and almost off-ed them, that was too close. I went to ask Jin what he thought about where we should head next, but he was looking over at Fuu and Tsuki. They were sitting in the sand making necklaces out of shells. Tsuki was using Jin's old sharpening stone to file the shells into little squares and triangles. They were laughing and actin' like kids. It was better to see them like that then what they looked like on the night we went on our little rescue mission.

"What exactly are you lookin' at over there, huh four-eyes?" I asked.

"Nothing," he said, slowly turning away and giving his attention to me.

"Well, they way you were starin', I don't believe you. Is it Tsuki or Fuu?"

"Mugen, why do you assume everything is about trying to sleep with women?" he asked, irritated.

So the truth came out. "I never said anything about sleeping with 'em. I just asked which one caught your eye. But now I know what you're really thinkin'."

He shook his head and stared back out to the ocean. He wasn't going to tell me who it was. Jin wasn't really the type. The last woman he had been into was Shino, and she wasn't an option for another two and a half years. So which one did he have the hotts for; our annoying little friend Fuu that we had grown to care for, or new hottie Tsukiko who was all mysterious and angsty?

"Hey guys!" Fuu called, running over to us. We looked up as she stopped. "Look at this new shell necklace. Tsuki taught me how to do it. What do you think?"

"Nice," we both mumbled. Jin glances out of the corner of his eyes over at Tsuki. So it was her, I shoulda known. I stood up and stretched. "I think that I'm going to go talk to the newest member of the dream team." Jin gave me a death stare from behind his glasses.

"Okay…" Fuu said suspiciously. "Just don't try anything. She's hurt, but she'll still kick your butt." Yeah right.

I ambled up to her. She didn't look up from her work. She just kept carefully filing the edges.

"You wanna talk?" I asked her. She shrugged so I sat down. She handed me the stone and a few pieces of shell. I looked at the stuff in my hands then to her.

"If we're going to talk you can at least make yourself useful."

I started rounding the edges on a white piece. "I used ta do this all the time when I was a little kid."

"I'll bet you were a little nightmare," she chuckled. "So was I. My father practically had a heart attack every week. One day it was jumping off the bridge into the river, the next it was trying to find new things to blow up with home-made gunpowder bombs."

"My parents weren't in the picture a lot." She glanced up, her eyes met mine. "So what happened with you and Jin in that prison cell?" Not exactly easing into the topic, but I wasn't an easing-in kind of guy.

"Nothing," she said a little to fast.

"Whatever dude."

"Why do you ask? Did Jin say something?"

She was nervous. Somethin' had happened, but what? I handed her the piece I had just finished and she started using a needle-thing to make a hole in the middle of it. I had to play it cool if I was goin' to find anything out. The breeze blew my hair as I thought of my next question.

"Why would he have said something if nothing happened?" I questioned coolly. Her eyebrows went up and a smile pulled at one corner of her mouth. She knew she had been caught, or she was thinkin' of an excuse.

"I think you are trying to trick me." She was on to me. She pushed her hair over her shoulder and went back to work.

"I was just tryin' to figure out if you secretly liked Jin or something. You two have been different since you got out of there."

"Me secretly liking Jin?..." She waited for a few seconds. "Sort of like how you secretly love Fuu?"

"What!?!" I cried. This I did not see that coming. She had turned this on me. Not only that, she was totally off. "Psh, yeah right. I can't stand that noisy little brat."

"Yet, you give her such special attention. Remember, Fuu and I talk a lot. I know all of your guys' stories. Between the name calling and the saving, how did you not expect me to see it? And to prove it, I'm half British and everybody knows that we are the masters of repressed emotion." She rolled her eyes. "Plus, you are totally obvious. You act like a little boy with a crush, always picking on her."

"You're fuckin' crazy!" I shouted, getting defensive. It made me sound guilty.

She had the biggest grin that I think I'd ever seen on her face. That bitch. That sneaky, ninja bitch. How in the hell did she do that? There was no way in hell that I loved Fuu. I cared about her. Just because I saved her all of the time and risked my life for hers on a semi-regular basis didn't mean nothin'. Yeah, nothin'.

"Mmm-hmm…." she hummed all doubtfully.

"You were just tryin' to change the subject. I had you cornered and you tried to get me," I pointed out. I thought I had won this time.

"Like you're doing now? Why can't you just admit it Mugen? You can't fight it." She picked up her stuff and got to her feet with a wince. Her bruised face was still healing. It was in the yellow around the edges stage. "There have been only three men that I have loved Mugen, and all of them are dead. My advice, get your girl while she's still there for you to chase."

She started back to Jin and Fuu. I just stared, so confused about what she had just done. She messed with my head. What in the hell was I supposed to do now? She wasn't going to say anything to Fuu and Jin was she? Uh oh. I got up and ran over to them, not wanting to miss anything she said.

(a/n: Next part takes place during Mugen and Tsukiko's conversation, comprende?)

-Fuu-

I watched Mugen sit down in the sand next to Tsuki. I wondered what he wanted to talk to her about. Jin was watching them carefully. I sat next to him, burying my feet in the warm grains of sand. I was sort of worried about Jin, he was being even more quiet than usual, if possible. Maybe they had done something really bad to him back there. I had to ask.

"Jin, are you okay?"

"Why do you ask?" he countered.

"Uh…well, you just seem…more withdrawn since you got out of that prison," I said unsurely. I didn't know how Jin was going to react. "I just wanted to know if you were alright or not."

"I'm fine."

"You're lying."

He didn't answer. He looked over to Tsuki and Mugen and the back to me. He was frowning slightly, making me sure that he was lying about him being fine. I had spent enough time with Jin to know his expressions. "I need to go somewhere Fuu, and I don't know if I can bring you three with me."

"What?" I questioned. Fear pulsed through me at the thought of us being broken up again. Did he magically forget what had just happened to him and Tsuki? What was so important that he couldn't take us along? "Where do you have to go?"

"I need to go see Shino."

(a/n: I wasn't sure if I should have gone this way until I thought of what I was going to write next. All I have to say is...get ready, this is going to get way more hectic. Sorry for the long wait, I haven't been feelin' so hot. I was a little better today, so I came and put up the next part. Please tell me what you think, that means R&R!!!)