Of Gunshots and Sorrow
Chapter 16
Doppelgangers, Beer, and Secrets
AN:/
Moody1656: I am typing this up right after I published the last chapter, just so you guys know. So here we go! On with the story!
Mugen rolled his eyes as Momo ran ahead of him when the dog figured out they were only a block from the vacant ex-coffee house he convinced Fuu to stay in. Once he rounded the corner that would lead him to the building he saw two men walking in his direction with scowls painted on their greasy faces and a bat each in a hand.
He glared at them, but seeing no blood on them and no scrawny girl near them he ignored the two and kept going toward the door of the vacant shop. His dog was already scratching the door.
Pushing it open, he kept his senses on high alert. The place was empty. The dog ran around everywhere, confused.
He was going to kill her if she wasn't already dead. "Where the hell is she?"
There was a noise from the wooden stage at the far end of the place. He heard her before he saw her, "Oh, you're back!"
Mugen waited as she crawled out of the small door from the bottom of the stage. "Anyways, I found some place for us ta go in a bit. Kinda cheap so even your fat ass will..." Another head came out from the stage, Fuu was reaching out a hand to try to help whoever or whatever was there to get out.
Almost as if she read his mind, Fuu started to explain; "I know I'm supposed to lay low but she came running in here looking close to dead so I hid her."
One look at the girl, once she pulled herself out from the stage, and Mugen knew he wouldn't jump her bones. She was pretty plain looking, even more than Fuu. Black short hair, pale, brown eyes with dark circles, and kinda flat.
He plopped down on the ground to sit down, and leaned back on his palms. "So about lunch, I managed to—"
Before he could react her shoe smacked his nose, "What's wrong with you? Be polite, you asshole!"
The other girl looked at them silently with a small smile. Fuu glared at Mugen, stuck out her tongue, and then turned to face the girl she just saved. "Sorry, my name's Fuu Kasumi."
"I'm Yuri," the young woman greeted.
"Nice to meet you." Fuu smiled, and gestured offhandedly at Mugen; "That's Mugen." He answered with a clearly annoyed grunt, wanting to leave and get a bite to eat. "Are you okay? Why were those guys after you?"
"It's kind of a long story," Yuri answered discreetly.
"Good, she can hear it when we're eating." Mugen dismissed the idea of staying for another minute by standing up and whistling at Momo to follow him.
Fuu frowned at him but followed suit, giving the mysterious girl an apologetic smile. "Would you like to join us?"
-16- -16- -16-
Mugen, as usual, was busy stuffing his face while Fuu, as usual, was trying to be polite and talked to Yuri. The girl shifted uncomfortably as she tried to start her story; "My dad got into some debt from gambling. When the sharks came to him to pay up he didn't have anything left, he lost everything. They threatened to kill him and then they started to say they would tell the media that he went to loan sharks and even started to steal money from the city government. He works in the financial office of the city government so he started to worry.
"Somehow they found out he had a daughter and I ended up being traded for their silence." Fuu's eyes widened and even Mugen slowed down his eating. "I have to marry the loan shark boss, but I just couldn't bring myself to go through with it. So, I ran away."
He groaned internally, Seriously, why am I always stuck with all these fucking girls that have daddy issues? These two are like fuckin' twins.
Fuu looked over at him with a slightly pleading look. We have to help her.
Mugen glared at her, almost as if reading her mind. No fucking way.
Please, she let her eyes well up with tears.
His glare deepened, No.
But she's in trouble, we have to help!
I already took in a stray dog and you. There's no way I'm going to let another crybaby girl follow us around everywhere. I'm fucking done being the good guy, His eyebrows knit together and his teeth clenched. No way in hell am I gonna let some sad look change my mind.
She glared back at him, Asshole. She glanced over at the silent girl and smirked at him.
Don't you fucking dare!
"You can stay with us, if you want!" Fuu offered kindly.
Mugen sank in his chair and rolled his eyes. "Bitch," he grabbed his plate and shoveled the rest of his food in his mouth.
She ignored him and kept talking, "Well, come with us. We're travelers. Mugen is used to your kind of situation, so it wouldn't be a problem for us to just help you get to another city."
"Like hell it wouldn't be a problem!" He snapped, tired of being used like some bodyguard for hire. He glared at both girls, "We don't even know the first thing about this girl, and she doesn't know shit about us."
She glared back at him, "You didn't know anything about me but you still—"
"You were dying." Mugen hissed, he could be heartless but he wasn't a monster. "And you know that there were other reasons why I took you in. Multiple fuckin' reasons that were all about me." He turned to the other girl, "Helping people isn't in my nature."
Fuu sighed and slumped in her seat, "It really isn't."
Yuri laughed awkwardly, "No, don't worry about me. I have things under control. I'm getting on a train tomorrow. I know that in the Bible it says to honor your father and mother, but I'm not going to encourage his sinful actions."
Mugen and Fuu's face scrunched up, looking at the girl inquisitively. "You're Christian?" Fuu asked.
"Yes, my family used to go to church all the time before our old pastor moved South with his family." She explained. "Now, it's just me."
Fuu smiled, "I haven't been to a church in years." She looked at Yuri with a small smile, "My dad used to be a priest."
"Your old man was a priest?" Mugen exclaimed standing up quickly.
Fuu glared, "Yeah, so what?"
"You sure as hell don't act like a priest's daughter!" He continued to shout, ignoring the stares the group of three were attracting. "'Sides how the hell did you learn to fight? Cause you did not pick it up from just watchin' me take out the guys after ya!"
She ignored the fact that statement could cause the people dining around them to get the wrong idea, and instead rolled her eyes and crossed her arms, "He was a cop before he became a priest. So he made me take kickboxing for awhile for self-defense."
"Where the hell was all that self-defense all this time?" He was angry now.
Fuu wasn't going to have it though and continued to respond calmly, "Well I'm sorry that they were all twice as large as me and carrying guns. Besides I never quite got the chance to defend myself when you went around risking your own life all the time before I got the chance to stick up for myself."
"How is this my fault?"
"I never said it was now sit down, you dumb ass. You're causing a scene." She was now trying very hard to stay calm.
He looked around and noticed the stares for the first time, "The hell are all o' you lookin' at?"
They all quietly turned back to their meals. Fuu rolled her eyes and Yuri's widened at the information Mugen revealed through his shouting. "My dad used to preach around this area actually, before he passed away," Fuu said returning to the previous topic on hand.
"Oh, I'm sorry," Yuri answered, "What was his name?"
"Seizou Kasumi."
Mugen groaned at all the talking going on, "Man, you guys are boring." He glared at Fuu, "You're even worse when you're around other girls."
"I think he actually gave a sermon at my church before," She said in contemplation.
He grabbed a handful of Fuu's food and stood up. He was done with girl talk, besides the mutt was outside starving. Fuu glared at him but knew he was going back, "We'll catch up in a while."
"Whatever."` With that as a goodbye Mugen walked away. The little bell at the door rang, marking his final departure. As soon as Momo saw his master exit the diner he stood up, wagging his tail in excitement, and barked at him. Mugen's dark eyes narrowed on the mutt, clearly annoyed by the stupid thing's insistence on always barking.
He dropped two pieces of chicken in front of the dog, who eagerly started eating, before wiping his hands off on his jeans and began his walk in the direction of their temporary home.
- 16 - - 16 - - 16 -
Mugen kept his eyes well trained on the gun in his hands as he cleaned it up and did some routine maintenance. The door to the old shop shot open snapping his attention up. He eyes narrowed dangerously as he quickly put the gun back together in a few seconds as he waited to see who the intruder was.
It was that chick from earlier. He rolled his eyes and slowly dismantled the gun again. "Where is she?" he asked with little interest. Clearly, he was upset at seeing her. It just meant Fuu convinced her to accompany them.
"She was taken away!" The girl's small voice shook as she spoke, Mugen's eyes widened as he snapped his head back up to her.
"What?" he hissed.
For the first time he noticed there were tears trailing down her face, "I-I don't know what happened! We were walking and then some guys came out of nowhere and grabbed her! I'm sorry! I didn't know what to do, I-I was so confused—I-I didn't know...I'm sorry..."
Mugen sighed, those stupid lackeys of her dad were clearly back. He whistled getting Momo to stand up and follow him to the door. Right before he left he turned around to face the girl, "I don't care what she said earlier, if you can't handle a situation like this, I don't want you around."
Her eyes widened, before they closed in realization. She nodded, "I'm sorry." Regaining her composure she opened her eyes and followed him out the door, "Let's go."
- 16 - - 16 - - 16 -
Luckily for them, Momo managed to understand Fuu was in danger so he tracked her scent and led them just outside of an underground casino. Mugen paused, he doubted this was her step-father's doing. "They were after you." He hissed lowly.
Yuri silently panicked and felt guilt overwhelm her. This was all her fault.
Briefly the thought of exchanging this stupid girl for the one he wanted teased his mind. "Get out of here," he warned. Fuu would be pissed if she got captured as well. "I'll deal with everything here. Just start leaving. Don't look back, and don't talk to anyone. Even if ya know them."
"But, Fuu—"
He was fed up and turned an icy glare toward her, she froze on the spot. "Go," he growled, barely holding himself back from doing something out of his control.
- 16 - - 16 - - 16 -
Fuu stared at her capturer with a bored glare. He looked like a freak, the guy clearly had some work done. She never thought men in towns like this would ever get botox, much less an obvious nose job. Plus he kept running his mouth like an idiot. Honestly, he was the least intimidating guy she had ever been caught by. Well, who was in charge of getting her caught.
She rolled her neck, slightly stiff, as she watched him with mild interest as he kept talking about divine power and right—some stupid stuff. She had found out he was a holy man, but not so much considering he had an underground casino. Did she mention the casino was literally under his church? Yeah, this guy was a whack job.
If her dad would have ever had the chance to meet this moron he'd have been insulted and ashamed that such as man would consider himself a follower of Christ. He'd go on to quote some verse then say solemnly how sad it made him to see hypocritical Christians. She would probably scoff and say that out of all the hypocritical Christians she'd ever met the guy in front of her was clearly royalty.
"And furthermore, how could you possibly confuse a flower with this-this-this troll!" He just insulted her, the dick! He was currently berating his cronies for getting the wrong girl.
She knew once Mugen found out he'd be so mad these idiots would all be dead before midnight. Yuri too if he didn't control himself. For the record, she was not angry at Yuri at all. No hard feelings whatsoever. It wasn't her fault. She couldn't have known.
Fuu sighed, I get kidnapped way too often. I'm not even angry at those bosos. The two meat heads who had grabbed her were trying to explain their mistake away but it wasn't flying with the big boss man so far.
"Hey, asshole, can I get some water or something?" She asked from her tied up position on the floor.
Fake nose looked at her angrily and started to shake, his cross moving around on his chest. "You—"
"Here," one of the big guys said bringing a glass to her lips gently, rolling his eyes as his boss started to yell at him about interrupting and going against his orders. "We're already in enough trouble by kidnapping this girl, we shouldn't do anything to upset her."
His boss stayed quiet for a few seconds before he finally consented, "Fine."
"Besides, she looks pretty scared." Meat-head number 1, she decided to call him, added.
She rolled her eyes but kept drinking, she was really parched. This just confirmed her previous thoughts, this was the best kidnapping she'd had so far. Then again, compared to the other crap she'd been put through it was obvious why her current situation was paradise.
The glass was suddenly tilted up quickly when a loud bang hit the door of the backroom she was currently being hid in. This resulted in the glass slamming harshly against her teeth before consequently spilling the remainder of the water all over her shirt. It was one of her favorites too.
Stupid Mugen. He always had to show up during the most inopportune times.
Just as she expected Mugen came into the room seething, with the bar tender at his feet. So he threw someone against the door, that's what that noise was.
"Who the hell are you?" The oh-so-holy-man snapped.
Mugen just picked up the unconscious bartender by the shirt collar and threw him at meat-head number 2 and the yelling priest. Effectively knocking these two unconscious. He turned to the last guy and in front of Fuu and his scowl somehow deepened. Fuu got shivers going down her spine; he looked angrier than she'd seen him in quite some time.
Meat-head number 1 seemed to get the hint and moved away from Fuu before leaving the room in a half-run. Slate eyes followed him out.
Fuu bowed her head, the last thing she wanted to see was that frightening look on the ex-drug dealer's face. She already knew the drill. He'd start yelling at her for trusting Yuri then go on to complain about her always getting kidnapped.
He dropped to his knees in front of her and removed her bindings carefully, he didn't want her to be bruised again. Instead of going off on her he shocked her by asking, "They didn't do anything to 'ya, right?"
She finally looked up at him and noticed he was concentrated on cutting the ropes around her wrists, arms and waist, and her ankles. "No. They were actually nicer than most of the other guys." It felt weird actually voicing her thoughts.
He chuckled, "Good, I wasn't prepared to kill anyone tonight."
As he continued she went ahead and asked what she had been wondering for some time, "Where's Yuri?"
He shrugged, "Told her to leave."
"Did she?"
"Better have." He hissed.
Fuu grinned at that. Once her bindings were free she rubbed her wrists, more out of habit than anything, and stood up with Mugen. "Soooo," She began with the same grin on her face. "You were worried about me, huh?"
Mugen smirked, leaving her side when they returned to the now vacant casino. "I said it before, I've done way to much to let you die now." She rolled her eyes and sat down on a stool, Momo suddenly appeared by her side whining.
He was pushing his wet nose against her ankle. She idly pet his head while Mugen began packing bottles of whatever he could into his backpack. Clearly, he thought it was time to leave again. She smiled as he went about stealing like it was nothing. Usually, she'd yell at him but an illegal underground casino beneath a church was kind of begging to be punished in some way. "That's just you in denial," Fuu quipped, trying to ignore the fact that Momo was still whining.
Mugen moved on to the cash register and pulled out about $600 from the compartment and shoved the tip jar into his backpack too. "Nah," he answered.
Momo was getting even more impatient and grabbed her pants' leg in his mouth tugging. "Momo!" She snapped, shocked by the dog's reaction. Usually, he only acted like that with Mugen.
Mugen peaked over the bar, still trying to find anything else to take, and checked on the dog. "I think he wants to show you somethin'."
Fuu wasn't about to argue about how that sounded ridiculous, and that Momo was not smart enough to communicate like that but decided to humor both males in the room and followed the black lab out the front door.
She saw someone running across the street first and was about to call out to them to play it safe when she felt something beneath her feet. Looking down she found an envelope addressed to her.
She picked it up gently, wondering who it was from until she recognized the handwriting. "Hey." Carefully, Fuu folded the envelope in half and tucked it into her front pocket. "What did he want?"
She turned to see Mugen drinking a beer, she guessed he wanted to save the good stuff for later, and shrugged. "Maybe, he just wants to leave." With a nod Mugen just drank some more. "By the way where's my backpack?" She noticed that his gaze was suddenly trained on her in the way it usually when he was going to kiss her. Fuu bit her bottom lip, nervously, "Mugen?"
Just as she predicted, he leaned down and captured her lips in a soft and tantalizing kiss. She sunk into it, knowing she had definitely missed this kind of contact with him. Even though it was a soft kiss, it still left her with that same sense of desire his ravenous ones did. In a husky tone he whispered, "I'm not in denial."
With that he moved back and took another swig of beer before walking down the street in what he guessed was West. Fuu watched him go, still in a state of bliss, until Momo barked and raced after the oddly not-brutish man.
That's when she realized why he most likely did that for, "You jerk! You left my stuff behind, didn't you?" His boisterous laughter at her sudden revelation was enough to confirm her suspicions. "Bastard!"
AN:/
Moody1656: I liked it!
Mugen: I've seen better.
Fuu: Why do I always have to get kidnapped.
Moody1656: You attract creeps?
Fuu: Hey!
Preview for Next Chapter:
His feet dragged to a stop.
Fuu blinked quickly and yawned. She scratched her cheek before looking at his face. He was looking at a house with dark narrowed eyes. "Mugen? Is everything ok?"
He shrugged and turned back to face the road before moving forward again. "Yeah. Just smelled some meat. I'm fucking starving."
Fuu nodded, "Yeah me too." As she and Momo continued following his lead, hopefully to a McDonald's or something, a sign showing the city's name finally came into view.
Moody1656: By the way, I know I'm always trying to justify my delays and stuff, but to be perfectly honest I went through three drafts for this chapter before I was happy. I'm just trying to bring the best that I can to the plate for you guys.
Mugen: In other words, enjoy and review.
Fuu; According to her she actually tries hard.
Mugen: She's a liar.
Moody1656: Hey!