Vol. 34 Trials of a Triplicate

-Mugen-

So a day and a half later I still had shit to show for my time other than an even emptier stomach then when I'd started. I had to remember that I had to give myself enough time to get back to the meeting spot too, shoulda given it longer than a week maybe. Oh well, fuck if I can change it now.

I went into the hole in the wall whorehouse and took a look around. Nothin much to look at as far as the girls went. Probably just local girls hired in to pay off debts and who had nothin else as far as skills. Out of a small crowd of old dudes came this woman who reminded me of a dog; too much hair and she smelled kinda funny. Her pushed in nose wrinkled when she smiled at me.

"Welcome handsome sir, what may I do for you today?" she practically yelled across the room.

I couldn't help the unfriendly look on my face, the lady just bugged me. "You can cut the bullshit," I sneered. "I ain't interested in buyin."

Her smile went away real quick after that. "Then what do you want?"

"Damn lady, no need to get all bitchy." I smiled at her and she looked a little scared. Good. "I'm looking for a girl."

She was confused. She glanced around at her whores and then at me; she didn't get that I wasn't talkin about them. Fuckin idiot. "There are a lot of girls here, I don't know what you mean."

I spat on the floor and shook my head. "Naw, I mean a specific girl. She's got real long hair…black. Eyes that are wider than usual too, and they're blue. Seen anybody like that around?"

The old hag shook her head. "Can't say that I have."

I turned and left without so much as a goodbye. She was goddamned useless. Just when I got to the corner though, some punk teenage kid caught up with me. He couldn'ta been more than fifteen.

"Hey!" he yelled. "You!" I stopped and let him get in front of me so he could talk and say what he had to say. "I know that woman you were talking about. She was here."

My eyebrows rose and for a second I was pretty fuckin proud of myself. "So where is she?"

The kid was nervous. "See…I was back in a city south from here, where I live, and she came in and needed a place to stay. My mom took her in and let her stay a night. The nest day she offered me some money if I could get a package to some chick over in Kyoto. I stopped here to…well, you know."

I held out my hand to the kid. I know what chick you're talkin about. Fuu, right?" The kid nodded and brought the package out. "You leave it with me, got it? I'm going to see her in a few days."

The kid gave it to me without even hesitating a second. "Whatever, I already got paid. Plus, it's not like she can do anything to me if it doesn't get there."

Huh? The little shit was about to leave before I caught his shoulder. "Whaddya mean?"

He shrugged. "She got arrested. Crimes against the country or something like that. They're going to execute her soon."

Oh fuck.

-Jin-

This was the must frustrating and fruitless quest I had ever been on. I was getting more and more impatient by the second and there was nothing I could do to fix it. If given the chance, I wouldn't take my choices back, for they showed my will toward honor and responsibility. When I thought about Tsukiko though, it made me want to amend my decision.

"Jin, we have to go back," Fuu near-pleaded with me. She knew I was disappointed that we hadn't found anything, but we had a schedule to keep. Mugen would be waiting and if we weren't there he might actually come to save us. He would be infuriated if we were not actually in any type of peril. He would say that he was cheated out of a decent fight.

I looked down at my petite traveling companion. "Alright Fuu, we can start heading back now. I know we aren't having much luck in this area."

She smiled at me sympathetically. "Maybe Mugen found something."

I nodded and we turned to head back toward the meeting spot to touch base with him. I hoped he had more luck than we did. Any clue would be better than what we came up with. Perhaps his knowledge and ability to blend into the seedier part of humanity might have given him an edge on us.

"How much trouble do you think he's gotten into over the last three and a half days without us there to keep him underfoot?" I asked Fuu teasingly.

She put her hands on her hips. "Probably more than a lot, but I'd like to not think about it, thank you."

"Police, yakuza, smugglers, robbers…" I counted each on my fingers. "The possibilities are innumerable."

"Oh ha, ha," Fuu mocked. "Now that we've acknowledged that…thing that we're not going to talk about you think you can tease me. I so did not see this coming." Her voice was so sarcastic it was like Mugen was speaking from inside her. How eerie. I made it a point to see which other mannerisms of Mugen's that she had picked up.

-Fuu-

He lied. He promised and he broke it. He wasn't there.

Mugen hadn't shown up at the meeting point the day we got there. We were on time and waited around for that idiot all day. I waited until the sun went down and long after. Jin came out to tell me to go to bed even. I told him I was going to wait because I was sure he was going to get here soon and I was going to kick him square in the skinny ass. He went to bed after that, no doubt feeling bad for me.

Mugen, that idiot. What did he get himself into? I knew that Jin and I had joked about it…but why did he have to go and actually do it? Now I was worried. I didn't know where he was and he was making me worried. I'd make sure and knock him a good one as soon as I made sure he was okay.

I was awakened by a gentle hand prodding my shoulder ever so slightly. I started even though I knew who it was. Jin. I fell asleep in front of the inn. I watched the road all night until I saw the sky start to lighten by the horizon. I think I fell asleep right after that.

"Is he back?" I asked with a yawn. I was pretty sure of the answer, but I thought I could give it a try. Jin shook his head. "What a jerk."

"Fuu, perhaps we should get on the road and start searching. The earlier we start, the less of a distance there will be between us. Mugen could still be traveling in the opposite direction. We'd need to leave now to have any hope of catching up."

I looked down at his feet and noticed that he already had both of our things placed and ready to go. Maybe he was worried too, and now I was here making him worry even more about me. I felt bad about it.

I got to my feet and stretched my arms over my head. "Yeah, I think you're right. So let's get going."

Jin gave me an evaluating look. "You're being very brave you know."

I smiled wryly back. "Funny, because I feel really scared."

--

(a/n: Ugh...I'm trying to find more writing time, but things keep going to hell. Sorry bout that. Okay, aside from that though...Um, more excitement in the next chapter; including thre return of Tsukiko, everyone getting reunited, and some violence. I predict it'll be a week or so till I have it out.)