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The crossroads and her first journey behind her, Fuu walked away from Ikitsuki Island until her feet blistered and her stomach's growl was a constant companion. When she finally reached a town big enough, Fuu counted her money, and had just enough for a steamed bun and some tea.
It was strange, not having to divide the bun into thirds.
"Excuse me," she said to the server once she'd inhaled the bun. "I'm looking for work."
That job lasted a week, until an ugly old man in a patched kimono grabbed her butt and Fuu tried to shove a yakitori skewer up his nose. She didn't actually succeed, so there was no reason for him to be so upset! She blamed Mugen and Jin for giving her bad habits.
Still, Fuu moved on before they could find someone to put her in jail, now that she couldn't rely on anyone to break her out of it.
A month later and in a new city, Fuu hurried down the street, about to be late for her first day as a dice roller at a gambling house. Around the corner, a man was shouting, "-- you stupid shitty weakling!"
She needed to go that way, or else double back and be even later to work. Fuu gathered her courage and poked her head around the building, only to see Mugen spitting with rage at a horned beetle dangling from a string. Mugen shook the squeaking beetle, and said, "Lose another fight, and I'm feeding you to a badger!"
Her heart fluttered. Having found her father and lost him the same day, Fuu had wondered if she was destined only to have brief relationships. "Mugen!"
Mugen froze, turning his head slowly. Once he saw Fuu, he stood up casually, and said, "Yo."
Fuu rushed forward and hugged him. She hugged him and hugged him. Eventually, Mugen scratched his head, and said, "What the hell are you doing?"
Fuu wiped away her tears with the back of her hand, and then punched him.
"Fuck off," Mugen said. He rubbed his shoulder.
Suddenly remembering her new job, Fuu gasped, "Oh, I'm late!"
She turned and ran. Mugen kept pace with her easily. "Where're we going?"
Fuu sniffed. "That's none of your business."
The leer on Mugen's face was terrifying. "Oh? Got yourself a job on your back, eh?"
Fuu punched him right in the nose. It made her hand ache and Mugen's nose bleed for several minutes, but it didn't stop him from following her into the gambling house and making a nuisance of himself.
To be honest, she'd missed that, along with the shape of Jin's quiet presence. But it was no time to be sentimental; she had work to do.
Fuu flung the dice so that they bounced off the ceiling, the wall, and a man's forehead before she trapped them under the pot. The crowd murmured. Her fancy technique was what got her the job in the first place.
"Place your bets!" Fuu shouted.
"Odds!"
"Evens!"
"The winner is..." Fuu said, lifting the pot. "Evens!"
"Cheater!" a bald man shouted, pointing his finger at Fuu when it turned up evens three times in a row, favoring the house.
"I'm not a cheater," Fuu shouted back. It was her first day at work. How dare he?
"The dice are rigged," baldy insisted.
"Hey, aren't you going to defend me?" Fuu demanded.
Mugen eyed her, his eyes at half mast and the string harnessing his horned beetle looped between his fingers. He yawned hugely. Perched on his head, Momo-san yawned too, then turned in a circle and went to sleep in Mugen's hair.
"I'll show you I'm not cheating!" Fuu said. She tossed the dice. They came up evens. She tossed them again. Evens. More evens. "Um."
"Get her!" somebody yelled.
Mugen grabbed her by the wrist and they ran for it. "Why'd you tell them you weren't cheating, you idiot?"
"I didn't know I was," Fuu growled. How did she always get into these situations? Her luck had brought her two stupid bodyguards, but nothing else.
They didn't stop running until they reached the forest. When Mugen let go of her, Fuu's wrist tingled. She yanked her kimono over her shoulder. The moon was full, and the night was warm. Azaleas were in bloom. It was almost romantic, or at least it was until Mugen pulled out his sword and started slashing at the brush for no reason Fuu could discern.
"So," Fuu said as they walked. "What have you been doing?"
Mugen shrugged. "Nothing."
His response infuriated and comforted her at the same time. Fuu waited for him to ask the question in return, but when he didn't, she said, "I've been working here and there. Men are so rude to a woman on her own! Just terrible. Anyway, I guess..."
"What?" Mugen said.
"I guess I've been lonely," she said, putting a hand over her heart. "I missed my friends."
"Hmph," Mugen said, looking away. As casually as possible, he asked, "Seen Four Eyes?"
Fuu shook her head. "No. Not yet."
They didn't find Jin in the next town, or the one after it. She thought they were in luck at the third, but it was just some long-haired guy in a blue kimono. Fuu threw up her hands in despair when Mugen threatened to kill him anyway. It wasn't until a month later that they began to hear rumors about a ronin who couldn't be killed.
"Did you see him, Obaa-san?" Fuu asked an old lady outside a textile shop.
"Very pale," she answered, then laughed into her sleeve. "Very pretty."
Mugen gagged. Fuu ignored his antics. "Do you know which way he went?"
The old woman pointed.
"Thank you, Obaa-san!" Fuu said, clasping the woman's hands, and then scampering off, only to return to grab Mugen, who was still gagging. Fuu asked travelers on the road, people at the next town, and they all said the ronin was tall, pale, had long hair, and didn't speak much.
They had to be on the right track this time.
"-- the one who killed the Hand of God," a man was saying to a group of people as Mugen and Fuu passed on the street eating dango.
Mugen narrowed his eyes, bolted the rest of his dango, and then grabbed that man by the front of his kimono. "The Hand of God?"
"Y-yes," he said.
Fuu yanked on his kimono, too, and put on her scariest face. "Tell us more."
The poor man's eyes bugged out. "The one who killed Mariya Enshirou and Kariya Kagetoki. He --"
Mugen shook him. "We know who he is! Tell us where!"
"You know that one?" the man gasped. He went pale. Paler than Jin. He lifted one trembling arm and pointed west.
Fuu and Mugen dropped him and ran until they heard the clash of swords and a lot of people talking excitedly.
"What's going on?" Fuu asked a person at the farthest edge of the crowd.
The old man clucked his tongue. "It's the third challenger this week. Disgraceful."
There was a clang of metal and a collective gasp. Mugen and Fuu fought their way to the front only to see a dead body on the ground, and a crowd dispersing now that all the excitement was over.
Jin turned. The scar Sara-san had given him had faded, but there was a healing gash underneath it closer to his jaw, the skin an angry red around the scab.
"Hmph," Mugen said, poking at Jin's face. "Getting sloppy, dork?"
Jin went for his sword, but stopped once his thumb touched the hilt. "Yes." His face went soft as he smiled, and he eyed Mugen as though he knew Mugen would enjoy what he had to say next. "That one attacked while I was taking a piss."
Mugen laughed so hard that the dango he'd just eaten came back up, and he coughed and pounded his fist on the street. Fuu used the distraction to hug Jin and dampen his hakama with tears. She'd done it before, and it felt comfortable, like home. Squeaking, Momo-san crawled from her sleeve and hopped on top of her head in order to hug Jin's face.
"Pervert," Mugen muttered from somewhere close by. Under her cheek, Fuu felt Jin's chest rumble with silent laughter.
"Shithead," Jin responded.
"Idiot bodyguards," Fuu said happily. They were back together again. It was their destiny, she just knew it.
Fuu walked to the next town with Mugen and Jin, the two of them occasionally outpacing her, and it felt just like old times. Mugen leaned in and whispered something to Jin; they looked over their shoulders at her with opaque expressions.
She clenched her fists. Sometimes Fuu wondered if she'd liked it better when they were trying to kill each other every five minutes. Possibly because back then, Mugen was nearly the only one trying to kill Jin all day long. Sometimes they went a whole week without someone dying by the sword!
A man leapt from the trees and landed in the path. He pointed his sword at Jin. "The one who killed the Hand of God, I challenge you!"
Jin sighed. His shoulders slumped, but then he rallied and glared at Mugen. "Don't interfere."
Afraid, Fuu rushed forward to hold Mugen's hand. She needn't have bothered. The fight lasted less than a minute.
"Um, how often is this happening?" Fuu asked as Jin wiped his blade clean. Mugen kicked at the corpse with his shoe.
"Often," Jin said. "It appears that I stayed too long in this place."
Considering what she knew of Jin, Fuu figured that meant at least once a day every day, and possibly twice at breakfast. And Jin probably couldn't even afford breakfast! She hugged herself in worry.
"This is stupid," Mugen said. He leaned down to yell at the dead man. "Why aren't you challenging me, huh? I'm stronger than this dork."
When Jin glanced fondly at Mugen's antics, Fuu knew things were bad. She took a deep breath and decided that somebody needed to be the grown-up. She marched over to Mugen and Jin and grabbed their sleeves.
"We're finding the next town and getting something to eat," she said, dragging them behind her. She still had a few coins in her purse, after all. A mile later, there was a village, and Fuu pulled them into the closest restaurant. Fuu had been thinking over the situation the whole time, and once they'd ordered food, she had the second most brilliant idea of her short life.
"You should hire us as your bodyguards!" Fuu said.
Jin's eyebrow twitched so high on his forehead that Fuu thought it might never come back down. Very quietly, he said, "Ah."
"You have to sleep sometime," Fuu said. "Right, Mugen?"
Mugen just scowled, and then made a rude noise with his mouth. Fuu noticed that he wasn't saying no.
"I couldn't ask that of you," Jin said.
Fuu narrowed her eyes and poked at Jin's chest. "You couldn't ask that of your friends? Huh? Huh?"
"Leave the coward alone," Mugen said.
Jin went from sad to murderous in an instant. The server arrived with their food a moment later. And then a man ran into the restaurant with his sword out and sweat running down his forehead.
"The one who killed the Hand of God --"
"Fine, you're hired," Jin said.
"-- I challenge you!"
"All right!" Mugen said gleefully, then vaulted the table and plunged his sword into the challenger's chest. Blood spattered everywhere. Patrons screamed and scattered. Once Fuu would have trembled and shrieked along with them, but no longer. She was still afraid, but she refused to let it control her anymore.
"You know I can't afford to pay you," Jin said.
Fuu's mudfish stew had blood in it, but Mugen's yakisoba had survived unscathed, so Fuu stole it and said, "Hey, check his pockets. Looks like we're short on cash."
"Eh? When did you get so mercenary?" Mugen asked with a delighted grin. He slithered to her side and breathed into her ear, "I like it." Then he stole back his yakisoba.
When the restaurant manager finally crawled from his hiding place, they were asked to leave.