Of Gunshots and Sorrow
Chapter 21
The Cards We're Dealt
AN:/
Moody1656: Sorry for the several year long delay. Honestly I was very close to not finishing this story simply because of the lack of time. All of your guys' amazing and encouraging, sometimes demanding, reviews really got me off my butt and writing again. Keep in mind, I did my best to have this chapter flow well with the rest of the story but after several years of writing classes my style may be different.
I hope you all enjoy this first part of the end. Almost done guys!
"What brings you here, business or pleasure?"
The trigger was ready to be pulled as soon as Mugen took a breath. This time he had more than enough bullets. He was carrying two guns, 6 sets of round, and his ace. He had a clear shot. Right between the eyes.
Mukuro was bursting with sadistic glee. Mugen wanted him to be in pain.
"Pleasure."
Mukuro's right arm went limp as soon as the bullet entered his shoulder. The gun he held clattered to the ground.
At the same time, Mugen dropped to the ground and was clipped across the cheek. His fingers were spread on the ground like a runner getting in position. Before Mukuro could react again he charged the man head first into the wall. He switched the safety back on. Mugen then let the gun spin around his hand and, with the butt of his gun, punched Mukuro's jaw.
Mukuro grabbed Mugen's hair and pulled his head back. Mugen watched Mukuro try to search blindly for his gun with his free and shaking hand. The floorboards, made of some sort of older wood, squished slightly when Mugen reached the same way and pushed his fingernails into the floor. He couldn't easily get away from Mukuro's grip on his hair. In a burst of creativity, Mugen gathered a pool of saliva in his mouth and spit into Mukuro's eyes. The man was stunned long enough for his grip to loosen. Mugen pulled himself away from Mukuro.
Before his rival could, Mugen grabbed Mukuro's gun. He heard a woman's faint scream at that moment. Mugen's abdomen shook but he refused to turn his eyes away from Mukuro. His teeth were now sore because he tightened his jaw. It wasn't Fuu screaming, he told himself. It had to be that blind chick downstairs with Fishface. Mugen asked in a forcibly calm voice, "Where is she?"
Mukuro slowly sat up. Both gun barrels were pointed at him, one directed right below his ribs and the other to his left knee.
"You really think it's that easy? You get me in the shoulder and all of a sudden I'm scared of you?" He laughed, low and airy. His face was in no way twisted in the way Mugen's victims normally looked before they died. The jacket he wore was getting darker along his right arm, but not quickly enough. Mukuro pulled his signature, triangle lined bandana off his head with his left hand. "I'm loyal to my wallet, Mugen. You know that."
The ex-gangster took the safety off his gun, the one pointed at Mukuro's knee. "Tell me and I'll kill you as soon as you say it."
"Otherwise you'll torture me." His voice was coated in disbelief and mocking.
One. Two. Three.
Four.
Five.
Five gunshots. Though Mugen didn't change his stance or his gaze. His mind was not in the fight. Those shots came from the same floor, not below. Though Mugen didn't know it, Mukuro also hesitated for a short beat. Mugen's grip on the guns tightened. He needed to get to her soon. He needed to save her again. He needed to yell at her. He needed to get to the right door. He needed to leave this room. He needed to end things with Mukuro.
Metal shone from Mukuro's side. The fight called for Mugen's attention again. The shine was longer. He pulled on the left trigger. He dropped the right gun—tried to guard himself. The warm feeling of plasma coating his hand hit him before the pain.
The floorboard creaked as Mukuro stood up.
Mugen lurched forward but didn't fall. He held onto the knife's hilt.
- - 21 - - 21 - -
Jin had yet to use his gun, but the blind woman had. She only had two more bullets left. The first two she spent trying to catch Mugen. He had managed to dodge the first completely and the second one left only a hole in the hood of his red hoodie. The third bullet slid right by Jin's right side. The fourth caught him in the left shoulder, closer to his neck. Her eyes were closed the whole time.
She was skilled. It made sense why she alone was the first line of defense.
Jin used the rubble left by the car crash, still shifting, to his advantage by using the cement and twisted metal of the car as a shield. Mugen owed him a new car.
The open passenger door revealed the black lab that followed the couple hiding in the back. Well, not exactly hiding, more like waiting. The lab looked perfectly relaxed despite the dangers a few feet away. He perked up slightly when he noticed Jin.
The pale man gave the black dog a pointed look. "Stay." He mouthed the words. The woman was blind but could still pinpoint everything in the room. He needed to be cautious about everything he did.
The dog laid down on the seat and dropped his head on his paws. It looked at the driver's seatbelt and then closed his eyes. Jin smiled slightly at the dog. He then turned his head slightly, making sure to breathe through his nose, and checked the wound on his shoulder. His neck wouldn't turn all the way. By looking through the corner of his eye, Jin could see blood start to dribble down his chest and arm. He was wearing a button up, flannel shirt. It was a simple blue, not plaid or patterned. The shirt was sticking to his skin.
The rubble was no longer shifting.
He kept his gun ready in his right hand and held the right side of the shirt's collar between his teeth so it wouldn't move as he unbuttoned the shirt with his left hand. He took a deep breath and held it as he moved his left arm out of the shirt. Cement pieces behind him moved.
One. Two.
Jin rushed forward to stand in front of the still open car door and wrapped the backside and entire left side of his shirt around his shoulder. With one painful tug he tied it tightly around the wound. He could hear the woman start to reload as he shot the hinges of the door. She shot the door right when Jin kicked it down.
They were both down two.
He could see the veins on his left arm as he struggled to hold the door with that arm alone. The shield was working so far. An added bonus was that the woman seemed confused. Jin couldn't help but smirk knowing he was right in guessing that the woman was using sound to find him.
Knowing the risk, Jin looked away from the woman to the ground. He looked for empty or clear space. Slowly, he took a few steps backward; away from the car and rubble.
He thought about his family, Shino and their children. They were all finally together just a few days ago. Flowers and jasmine tea. That's what their home smelled like. More than anything he wanted to smell that again, every day for the rest of his life. Jin would be sure to return home alive. He would return having helped the man who was, sadly, his best friend and the girl that everyone wanted to save.
-crrnkrrrrn-
One.
He stepped on a grainy spot of cement and she immediately shot his shield.
One.
He shot back. She let out a loud scream when he hit her foot.
One.
This time it clipped the edge of the window cracking the glass and hitting metal. The sound was similar to him stepping on the cement, except sharper and accompanied by the loud resounding sound of metal being pierced.
Jin was shocked by the sound her voice. "You're using part of the wreck as a shield?" she asked. Her voice was soft, calming despite the obvious pain that was behind it. It seemed like her main focus these last few moments wasn't killing him, rather it was figuring out what he had down over by the rubble.
He considered whether to respond. She already knew his location. "Yes."
Her eyebrows furrowed and the hand on her gun visibly relaxed. "You are a clever man."
The conversation was welcome. She seemed to be a hired hand, not completely invested in the matter at hand. Otherwise, she may have followed Mugen earlier, he figured. "Thank you," he said. "You are a clever woman."
"Thank you."
Though he knew it when he set himself up as her opponent, Jin now realized without a shadow of doubt that this woman would soon die. He shot her so easily not because she was a weak opponent, but because she can only act offensively not defensively from afar due to her blindness.
She looked to a little older than him. Something about her reminded him about Shino. He was filled with the urge to give this woman the opportunity to back out. He thought of Fuu at that moment. A girl that should have died ages ago but didn't. She didn't die because people didn't let her die. Mugen didn't let her die. He told Jin it wasn't because she looked like Hino from the start, he believed that even more now. "She's a kind girl in a bad situation. Don't let her die," Shino had said before he left to find the couple. He'd arrived only a few days after the two. Even though he didn't know her all too well yet, even Jin was determined to not let the troubled girl die—not because of Shino, or Mugen, or Hino, but because of her.
Without meaning to, Jin began to try to reason with the woman. "She doesn't deserve this." The woman's face turned guarded and cautious as he spoke. "Fuu." She looked confused. "That's her name."
"And mine is Sara." Her voice sounded offended. She frowned. "She won't die."
"No. It will be worse."
"Nobody deserves the cards they're dealt." She lifted her free hand to her face and tugged a bit of hair back behind her ear. "This is just a job. It's not my fault. I'm here because my children need me and I owe a debt."
They were both quiet for a moment weighing the cards they were dealt. It was clear one of them had to die. There was no reasoning or compromising.
"I have children as well," Sara's face contorted into a tight grimace. "I can understand why you would do this." She only seemed to gain more resolve. "However, if I am to see my own kids again and become the father they deserve," Jin switched the safety. "I cannot die here."
She nodded once in consent, "I feel the same way."
He slowly dropped the door to the ground. "A fair fight."
Hopefully Mugen was closer now. It would be terrible if at the end of this fight, Fuu was still lost. This may be his last fight.
- - 21 - - 21 - -
Mugen tried to not look at the dagger as he pulled it out with his right hand. He knew the blade just by its hilt. The metal was twisted, typical RyuKyu. "Fuck!" he said, struggling to pull the blade out in one quick motion.
The floorboards creaked with the inconsistent steps Mukuro took with his injured leg. He laughed as he walked. Mugen had already pulled the blade halfway out. He tried to aim Mukuro's gun at the asshole, but his left hand wasn't steady enough. The shot had to count.
He clipped him in the same shoulder as before making Mukuro stop and hiss in pain.
"Where is she?" Mugen repeated.
Mukuro stopped smiling at that point. Mugen could tell he was done playing games. "We could have done amazing things together, you know? We would have been kingpins if you would have just done what you were supposed to."
The blade was almost out. Mugen gasped and immediately after coughed. He could feel the blood down his chin. "I ain't just another hired hand," he said and spit the blood that had stayed in his mouth at Mukuro's feet.
"No." He said with a serious look. "You were my second in command. Just like I'm Hisoka's now and, unlike you, I'm gonna use that to ride my way to the top." Mukuro shook his head in disappointment, a motion that made Mugen automatically bare his teeth like an animal. "You let a sad pair of eyes and tits keep you leashed like a dog. I'm living my life to the fullest, Mugen." He grabbed the hilt just as Mugen finally got the blade all the way out. His face was right in front of Mugen's now. Both men struggling against the other to have control of the dagger. "You're not using yours; just die." The tip of the dagger went back into the wound. "You wanna know where she is?" he asked getting even closer.
"Fuck you," Mugen said, spitting blood as he did so. The dagger shook from both men's fighting, opening the wound more. It wasn't hitting anything anything important, but if Mukuro got control he could easily slice into Mugen's stomach. If Mugen didn't die bleeding out, he'd die from that.
The idiot hadn't thought to grab the gun near their feet. They both wanted to torture the other, Mugen knew that, but the gun was right there. So was the other one in his left hand, dangling right next to Mugen's left knee. He glanced at the shoulder he'd hit. The bullet had hit the edge of Mukuro's clavicle. The asshole could only use one arm.
"You wanna know where she is?" Mukuro said in a low tone, menacing but conspiring. "That cunt is probably getting her face sliced up by Hisoka." Mugen's blood was coating both of their hands at this point. The blade was half way in again. "After I kill you, we're all gonna get the hell outta here. Probably set up shop somewhere new like the US. I hear those fucking Yankees have even more addicts than we do."
Two choices presented themselves with so much pain and so little energy. Mugen could focus most of his energy on getting the dagger out of his body, hopefully get it in Mukuro, and then slowly kill him. Or Mugen could focus on getting his left hand to shoot Mukuro in the heart and let the dagger go all the way back in—a quick, easy, vengeance-less kill.
The smell of expensive tobacco and sweat met Mugen's nose when he moved closer. He knew he had to make a choice quickly. Mukuro could tell that his ex-partner was getting more and more frustrated. In his mind, it would be easy enough to kill Mugen when his mind was focused on saving that stupid girl.
Mukuro laughed in Mugen's ear darkly, "And once that dumb bastard leaves the house…" He found more pleasure as Mugen's body turned rigid. "At least I won't kill the girl this time."
"Bas—tard…" He twisted his wrist expertly and shot Mukuro in the chest twice. The dagger went all the way through.
He kept his grip on the hilt as Mukuro's body fell so the blade wouldn't move. Once he was on the ground Mugen pulled the dagger out again. Ignoring the anger that was building at his revenge being taken away, he went to work. He reloaded Mukuro's gun, hid that behind his back and reloaded the gun he'd dropped. Mukuro had two more rounds so Mugen was back to six rounds, plus three loaded guns, Mukuro's dagger, and his own. As an added measure, he took Mukuro's headband and used it to press on his wound to stop the bleeding for a bit.
She's close. He suddenly felt very hot and ready to take on whatever fucking army would try to stand in his way. Maybe it was a good thing he didn't get to take out all his anger on Mukuro. Now he had someone to take everything out on.
- - 21 - - 21 - -
Hisoka had tied Fuu's feet together so she wouldn't get in the way again. Her hands were also tied in behind her at the wrists, her backpack hung heavily at the middle. The top loop was threaded by the plastic tie before the tie was used to cuff her hands. A convenience for their departure, Hisoka had said before setting her by one of the warehouses beams. The seven remaining men were to circle Hisoka for protection, but two of them were closer to the front door, dragging the three dead bodies behind them. Two sharp gunshots and the following silence—no insults, no screaming, and no sounds of fighting—made the two men run quickly back to the circle.
She was shaking. Fuu couldn't help the fact that she was crying. She wanted to believe that Mugen would make it out of every trap her step-father set up before that room. But even if he could get past all those people and Mukuro, there were eight more people ready to kill him in this room.
"Not a word." Hisoka warned her even though he spoke out to the room, never shaking his gaze from the door.
There was a thud on the door. The men all let loose and shot the door. They were all afraid. Good, she thought.
"Idiots!" Hisoka shouted. "Don't waste bullets." The men all straightened up. "This isn't a demon, it's just another ordinary man."
The metal door began to slowly creak open.
Men die, demons don't. He had to live.
"You're wrong," she said.
AN:/
Moody1656: Let me know what you guys think! Next chapter will start with the end of Jin and Sara's battle and have the culminating moment of the story: Hisoka and Mugen's fight!
I will be adding the next chapter promptly, currently a fourth of the way through, and then there will be an epilogue.
Send me what your favorite moments have been so far and what you hope to see in the story's end.
Quick preview:
"Fuu! Shut up!" He snapped at her. To him she looked terrified, even more now that he yelled at her. In truth, she was shocked that this may be the first time he used her name. Never before in his life had he been so determined to save another person. He always thought that people who felt this way were doomed to die if they were focused on saving someone else. Mugen, though, he knew he would live. If only to make sure she would never have to fight to stay alive again. "Have a little faith in me, will ya?"
Please review :)