I hold no claim to the characters from this kick-ass Anime. Only Ryu, Liza, and Reiko are mine!

Chapter Three

In all sizes

"We have to do something about your size; seriously. How have you not blown away yet?"

Fuu gave a grumble. "Some of us aren't English like you are, Liza."

"Oh, that's just an excuse!" The blonde woman chuckled. "Reiko has more muscle than both of those men you're traveling with! Ryu is the only one that can rival her."

"But he can't rival you," Fuu reached up and poked the woman's arm; it felt like a rock. "I don't think anyone I know can."

"Well, its from using this," She rolled her shoulders, making the Naginata move a bit. "This is typically meant for male wielders but I wanted it anyway."

"Why is that?"

"The female ones were all too short for me."

Fuu hung her head. "I think everything woman-wise would be too small for you, Liza. You're a giant!"

The woman laughed happily. "I cannot deny that things are different over here but that shouldn't make you feel bad. Everyone has their own, likable qualities that others will notice. You just have to find them first." She leaned her head down to whisper in the other woman's ear. "If you need help finding your own, just let me know; I can take care of it."

Fuu felt her face growing red at the hot breath on her neck and jumped a bit away. "N-no thanks! I'm good!"

Liza's grin didn't seem to change as they continued to walk down the street. "So...how do you think the others are faring?"

Fuu had to calm her heart. She had witnessed Liza's...sexual tastes over the last week of traveling with her, she flirted with everything, but it was still embarrassing when it was placed on her. Liza even managed to get Jin embarrassed; before Reiko had ordered her to knock it off.

Reiko was the one that Fuu found herself most interested in. Silent, always glaring, there was rarely a smile on her face. She had caught sight of it once, though, when she and Liza excused themselves to a separate room for the night. Liza had made a comment about them having some fun and Reiko had been fighting her smile. Fuu found herself wondering of the two women actually...

"I'm not sure but hopefully they caught that little thief!"

"He stole the money yesterday," Liza replied. "He's probably spent it all, you know? We should just leave before the shogunate or whatever the police over here is called."

"But, without that money, we'll just starve!" Fuu replied. "I'm tired of going hungry!"

"You know, you could just ask me for money; as long as you pay me back."

Fuu tried not to flush under the suggestive look on Liza's face. "No thank you. I know exactly what you would like in return and I refuse."

Liza continued to grin. "You and I both know that Ryu won't let you starve; it's the other two that I'm more worried about."

At the mention of her adopted brother, Fuu glanced at Liza again. "Just...how did you guys meet Matsu?"

Liza's grin grew darker. "Reiko and I had been in a tight bind with the law about five years ago; we were almost captured before he jumped in and saved us. Imagine his surprise when he found out he wasn't just helping a set of women escape from the greedy hands of men. Since then he's been seen as our ally; poor thing. I almost feel sorry for him."

Fuu frowned. With that smile always on her face and her carefree attitude, you wouldn't expect Liza to be a murderer; she was nothing like Mugen, at least. Then again, this woman was known as one of the, albeit a terrible name, Terror Sisters. Ten years ago Norika Castle was slaughtered and burnt to the ground and the law were claiming that these two women did it. If they had then Liza had to have been only eight when that happened; Reiko only fourteen. Were the two of them truly capable of doing something as horrible as that?

Fuu shuddered. Liza's face as she shoved her Naginata blade through that officer's skull for trying to touch her in the last town was enough to stop her questions; there was no doubt in her mind that Liza would slaughter anything she wanted to. That evil grin had been on Liza's face like always, yes, but it was the look in those blue eyes of hers, they were deader than the loon that Reiko's held. It what made Fuu shake like she had at their first meeting.

To be honest, she was still wary of being alone with the other woman, waiting for her to do something that enraged the blonde who would have no second thoughts about leaving her as a body in the street, but Ryu had assured her that she wouldn't be touched. She wanted to believe him but she was going to refuse EVER being alone with this older woman again; anywhere.

Fuu's wallet of money, after winning in a gambling ring, had been stolen earlier that day and now the group had split up to look for it. Or, if it were to be said honestly, Fuu was searching while Liza laughed at her.

"Ooh, there's Reiko!" Liza instantly squealed. Grabbing Fuu's arm, she dragged the other woman towards the two that stood across the street.

Reiko stood there with her arms crossed, clearly annoyed as she tapped a foot on the ground, Jin not too far away talking to a few people about the young thief.

"Jin," Fuu was relieved to see the silent man. "Any luck?"

"None," The man sighed, shaking his head. "Hopefully Mugen and Ryu had had better luck."

"I doubt it," Reiko snorted. "Ryu couldn't find his way out of a hole in the ground."

"Hmm," Liza chuckled. "It looks like it'll be getting dark soon," She smiled at the older woman. "Wanna ditch these losers and go get a room?"

"What? A room!?" Fuu exclaimed. "You've got that much money on you?"

"But of course," Liza grinned. "You don't think we just leave the dead bodies where they fall do you? Maybe you guys should learn a thing or two from us. It'll save you problems in the future."

"Let's go, Elizabeth," Reiko turned, moving down the street without another glance.

"Wait! Can't you guys help us!?" Fuu cried.

"I told you the price, sweetheart," Liza winked at her. "So until you agree to my terms I'm afraid I can't help."

Fuu stomped her foot. "You're heartless."

"Murderer," She reminded her happily. She gave a grin at Jin then. "But if the Samurai wants to come I'd happily let him. I'd even treat him to dinner first."

Jin turned his face, trying to ignore the heat he could feel rising. "I'll pass."

Liza shrugged her shoulders. "Your loss." She happily skipped after the other woman. Fuu watched with a frown; it was awkward to see so tall of a blonde woman walking beside Reiko. She could use the other woman's head as an arm rest if she wanted to.

"They actually left us here with nothing." Fuu sighed, turning to the Ronin. "What do we do now?"

"We find Mugen and Ryu," Jin answered, turning his back to the other two women. "And hope they lucked out better than we did."

Liza glanced over her shoulder as Jin and Fuu went the opposite way. "So, I'm just going out on a limb here, but you saw the little thief, didn't you?"

"You and I both know the answer to that."

"Then why not tell them? You know Ryu will whine about us making him sleep outside again all day tomorrow. I thought that annoyed you."

"And I care why?"

'We could at least bring the girl with us. She's female, after all; and no where near strong enough to try and pull anything on us."

"With the way you've been hounding her then I seriously doubt she'd feel comfortable enough to sleep."

"True," Liza gripped her chin. "Maybe we could lure her with food."

"We're not luring her anywhere, Elizabeth." Reiko put an end to anymore talk of that.

Liza gave a sigh and just followed after the other woman in silence. The duo visited the bathhouse of the inn they were staying at and Liza was happily talking as Reiko red something by candlelight. Growing bored, Liza sat up.

"I'm going to go for a walk; wanna come?"

"No," Reiko didn't move her gaze from the pages. "If you run into officers again please try to hide instead of making a show out of it."

"Only because you asked."

Leaving her Naginata and knives in the corner, the English woman pulled her green Kimono back on, leaving her left shoulder off like always, and left with a grin on her face. She was going for a walk so she wouldn't need her weapon; she could do just enough damage with her hands so there was no need for her to be worried.

This town was extremely boring at night. As she walked along the streets, Liza was hoping to see some type of fighting or entertainment but there wasn't; there wasn't even a redlight district or a brothel here to entertain herself with.

~Maybe I should have just stayed with Reiko in the room,~ She sighed to herself, stopping in the street. ~Or I could just find some poor sap to-~ Her thoughts were cute off as a man walked out of a building ahead of her. Her grin returned.
"Oh, if it isn't the cute one,"

The man from their happy, little bunch turned to look at the woman, a grin spreading across his face at the sight of her. "I was wondering where you had disappeared off to. Matsu was afraid that you had run off on him again."

"I'm afraid that even if we did, somehow we would run into him over and over until we killed him off ourselves," She gave him another look. "It was Mugen, right? Don't tell me you're still trying to find that thief this late."

"That was the plan but the others have retired for the night. I came back in search of food."

Liza continued to smile. "Poor thing. You haven't eaten all day, have you? If you want, you can come join me; I was just in the mood for some dumplings and sake."

"What about the others?"Mugen asked her.

She gave him another of her grins before turning to head off down the street. "What about the others?"

Mugen mimicked her grin before beginning to follow her. In all honesty, he had been wanting to catch Liza on her own since meeting her but Reiko had placed herself in his way every chance she got. Now that the other woman wasn't here, though, this was his chance.

"So, tell me," Liza began after they were seated and ordered. They had settled in a small restaurant close to the inn that she and Reiko were staying at. There weren't many people around, signaling that closing time was soon. "Just how is it that you ended up traveling with the little girl and the Ronin?"

"Pure, bad luck," Mugen replied, sipping at the sake before him. "I tried ditching them but we ended back up together again."

"Sounds like us, don't it?" She snickered. "Fate works in funny ways, don't you agree?"

"If you want to call it that."

"What else is there to call it?"

"Stupidity?" He offered.

"Hmm."

Mugen stared at her for a moment as their food was set before them. "What's and English woman doing here in Japan? You attract a lot of attention; just like that dutch guy."

"That would be my mother's fault," she answered around the dumplings she had placed in her mouth. "Fell in love with a samurai after my father died and dragged us over here to be with him. Don't remember much about either of them, really. Don't care too, either."

"Is that so," He took another drink. "Ever thought about going back."

"Not once," She replied. "And even if I did, I have my face all over the ports to make sure that I don't get out of the country. I'd have to slaughter countless people to get out and I refuse to deal with useless things like that."

"Speaking of which...that castle that guy was talking about...just what did you two do to it?"

As an answer, Liza moved to take a seat beside Mugen, refilling his sake glass, pressing their shoulders together.

"Why waste time talking about trivial things about that? I heard through the vine that you used to be a pirate. What was life on the sea like?"

Mugen knew that she was just trying to change the subject but he let it drop. Besides, it wasn't often that he had a woman this close to him this willingly, after all. Why let it go to waste by trying to figure out why she and her companion destroyed an entire castle?

"This is such a change of pace," Liza smiled, feeding Mugen the last dumpling on the table nearly an hour later. "Reiko's not that talkative and I have an impression that Ryu is gay. You truly are more entertaining that I thought you'd be."

"Than you thought, huh?" He grinned. "It doesn't have to stop here, you know?"

"And just what do you have in mind?"

His answer was a smooth look from the corner of his eyes. Setting his glass down, he turned his body to face her sliding a finger up her bare arm to her shoulder. She shuddered, rolling her shoulder back slightly.

"Oh?" Mugen gave her a grin. "I didn't take you for the ticklish type."

Liza gave him a seductive smile. "The best surprises can come in all sizes."

"I suppose they can," He murmured before pressing his lips against her neck now, giving little nips along her exposed skin. "I normally don't like surprises, but I think I can handle this one."

Letting his left hand travel down her body, he couldn't help but grin as she grabbed his shirt when his hand entered the parting of her kimono and found her left leg. Her grip tightened on his arm as his hand traveled up further; her skin was so smooth. Liza's free hand laced itself through Mugen's hair, pulling his lips down to catch them in a kiss. With a grin, he licked her lips, asking for entrance as his hand teasingly went higher up her leg, his other hand pulling her harder and harder against himself.

"Elizabeth."

The cold, deadly voice broke the moment. The English woman pulled back instantly, separating herself from the man as she fixed the bottom of her kimono. Mugen glanced behind them and found Reiko standing there with a furious look on her face. He did a double-take. Reiko's hair was down, falling to her waist in dark waves; she definitely looked better like that.

"Too bad," Liza gave Mugen's arm another squeeze. "Mother calls; we'll have to finish this next time, sweetheart."

"Too bad," Mugen replied as her warmth left him. "It was just getting good."

"Hmm," She stared at him for a moment before dropping a pouch on the table and turning to join Reiko. The older woman would have set Mugen on fire with just her gaze if she were able to.

Mugen watched as the two women left the building before sighing and downing the rest of the sake in his cup. He was so close. Now how was he supposed to-

Looking at the pouch Liza had dropped, he dumped it out; sake almost came out of his nose at the sight of all the gold coins that came pouring out.

"Holy shit!"

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