Jin and Fuu walked down the one narrow street of the village by the sea, disquieted by the silence. It was like a ghost village. "It looks like Mukuro and his men have killed everyone here," said Jin quietly. He stopped in front of a small house in somewhat better repair than any they had seen so far. Motioning Fuu to wait, he ducked inside to check it out, then beckoned her to enter.
Fuu came in and sat down against the wall. "What about the women and children?"
"They would have been the first to die," said Jin tonelessly. "He probably forced the men to fight each other to the death and recruited the survivors."
"I don't want to stay here," Fuu whimpered.
The samurai grimaced. "Neither do I. We should leave in the morning."
A shadow crossed the light and they looked up to see Mugen leaning on the doorjamb. "I'm taking the job."
Fuu gasped. "Mugen, no!"
"We need the cash," he said harshly.
"We can manage. We always have." The girl looked helplessly at the samurai. "Jin, tell him he doesn't have to do this."
Jin's mouth thinned disapprovingly. "I suppose he tried to provoke you and you fell for it."
Mugen stared at his two companions, thinking of how he and Mukuro took horses to the sea cliff and raced them to the edge, the first one drawing on the rein being the loser. Only they both went flat out, sending the horses over the edge and catching at the cliff before they hit the water. They climbed back up, Mukuro laughing about how he and Mugen were cursed men with nowhere to run. Seeing him like that, Mugen knew there was no way Mukuro was ever going to let them go, but maybe if he got what he wanted….The Ryukyuan suddenly thought he could tell Jin and Fuu how matters really stood. Maybe they would see a way out he hadn't thought of? He shook his head angrily-he had always handled his own problems. Maybe this one was a little tougher because he actually had to take other people's lives into account, but he could deal with it. "I just changed my mind, that's all."
Jin's face closed. "As you wish."
The Ryukyuan snarled, "Don't think you guys are going to change my mind either!" He stalked off, ignoring the sound of Fuu chasing after him, crying out his name.