Samurai Champloo Fan Fiction ❯ Samurai Tango ❯ Murky Monster ( Chapter 1 )

Chapter 1

Murky Monster

 

Fuu stared out at the sea with a blank expression, her eyes still and almost lifeless. The view of swelling waters slowly rushing into the sandy beach and withdrawing came absent in her mind. Her thoughts were so deep at the moment visual focus somehow had been abandoned temporarily. Two days, two whole days without a single bite of food. Earlier that day, lightheadedness threatened her legs and kept trying to tip her brain over and asleep, but it was unsuccessful for the most part. Their endless venture down a narrow worn footpath of bare dirt through some dense woods had kept her going. They couldn't just stop right there, Jin would have but Mugen, stubborn and too forward on every subject insisted they keep going. Whatever energy supply he was running on she would have killed to know about.

 

He could keep going for days, she thought. Although given his nature and disposition, he most likely was just as washed over with hunger as she was and drug down no deeper than either her or Jin, to the point of roaring stomachs, dizziness, and lack of energy. Mugen wouldn't dare exploit himself if it meant he would be sitting on the same level as Fuu, so he didn't complain once. And although famine hung over them, the day had been very nice. The sun was out and the sky free of passing clouds, blameless blue. The air was warm and the occasional breeze cool to perfection. It was too nice for them to feel so lousy. And as if to go further to mock how nice the day was, they did not lay eyes on one town or village while traveling the long forest path. Nothing but more forest and more cool dirt road. They could tell that no one had traveled that path since it had rained last and maybe even longer, with no tracks of passing travelers from the past. Fuu could not pull her thoughts on anything else beside her hunger, and it was pointless to dwell on that since she was long past the phase of hopeless dwelling and complaining.

 

“No ryu, not a single coin of it and no town for miles. Looks like we're going to hafta do some fishing,” Mugen said out of nowhere. Sitting a few feet from her in the grass he laid sprawled out on his back staring up at the bland stretch of blue far above him. He turned his head to peer at Fuu, seeing she was still sitting with her knees drawn up to her chest and thin arms hugged around them with her chin caressed atop her two knees as they hardly touched. She looked solemn and lonely, and he was fond of that, probably the only thing worth being fond of about her, cause she was being quiet, had been since early afternoon when she finally shut up about going without food, and guessing from how badly she had been complaining, someone would have thought she was near death for starvation. His stomach he let do all the complaining and after while when it didn't get what it wanted, it too, shut up.

 

Fuu kept starring out, except this time her eyes took in the view ahead, a soft breeze surged in, stirring the grass and teasing loose wisps of their hair. “I don't have the energy,” she said softly.

 

“Then it looks like you ain't gonna eat,” he replied smugly and groaned forcing himself forward and up, now sitting up and able to see the ocean which continued on until it met the horizon. Instinctively he awaited an immediate rebuttal from Fuu. He only got a shrug, nearly confusing him. “Geez, are you that bad off,” he asked roughly.

 

“It's getting late, the sun's fixing to go down and it will be too dark to see where the fish are,” she said and finally turned to look at him.

 

“Keh, not if you're me,” he said proudly and got up to his feet looking around, “Hey! Where did four-eyes go?”

 

“Huh,” Fuu broke from her sitting to look around as well. “I, I don't know, he was here a moment ago . . . wasn't he?” Confusion laced her last words

 

“I don't know, but he better be doing something useful,” he said and sighed in annoyance. “He's probably off chasing rabbits with his teeth, dumb-ass,” he mumbled walking off and down the slope that led to the flat stretch of beach, the grass ending where the slope did and the sand began.

 

Fuu stood watching him go, the oncoming breezes shifting loose hair out of place and in effort to keep it out of her eyes she folded a lock behind her ear and managed to contain good speed chasing after Mugen as he neared the water's edge. He didn't look back to catch sight of her. Blue hills of swollen waves no higher than his shins gushed in and lazily washed back out, white foam trimming the waters edge. Without a word he kicked off his wooden clogs to the side where the waters wouldn't come up and steal them away and approached the cold waters. The sand felt good on his bare feet, gushing between his toes comfortably as he descended further into the water, distancing himself from the beach until he was sure he was in shallows deep enough to catch a passing fish, or rather, deep enough to where fish lived.

 

Guiltless cold gray eyes scanned the waters cautiously, taking note to any sudden movement that might displace it's self from the murky white-blue sand at the bottom. His sight turned and roved carefully as he loomed above, ready handed with arms in quick-draw position. Fuu watched him holding her tongue impatiently. If he caught a fish right off, she knew she was going to jump into the air, whooping and carrying on like an idiot. She would be saved from dying through the night as her stomach tried to consume its self, or so her conscious believed. And if he did get a catch, he would share, stubbornly, but he would. For a while he only watched, and then time slowly crept on by, he was seeing nothing and going further out proved no help either. There was no fish near here, either that or staying clear of him. The water was clear up to his chest now and he could feel the waves surging against him, forcing him to sway in rhythm to keep his balance.

 

Near insane with the pulse to go out to him and see if she might be luckier, Fuu quietly waded out and when she was knee-deep Mugen happened to catch sight of her through the corner of his eye as he had turned ever so slowly. He snarled and clenched his teeth, “Idiot! Get out of the water, your going to scare them away!”

 

“And you're not?”

 

“Just do what I tell you already,” he snapped viciously and watched her turn back for the shore. Suddenly movement and color caught his eye. He whipped his head down to see a wall of gray blur whir a couple of yards away. The flash of excitement turned to horror and his heart stopped, “What tha- Fuck! Fuck! What the fuck is that!?” he yelped treading as fast as possible back to the shore, tossing up waves of water as he splashed to the beach not looking back.

 

Fuu watched the whole scene wide-eyed and screaming over and over, “What! Mugen! What, Tell me! What!” By the time he got to her she was in panic as much as he was. She clutched at his gi's sleeve furiously, demanding answers.

 

“Damn it, Let go ya'crazy bitch,” he panted out and jerked his arm away. He turned to look back at the waters, seeing if the `thing' was able to be seen from where he now was and it wasn't. “I never . . . Fuck! That thing was huge!”

 

“What thing,” she asked flexing her fingers delicately and shook off the pain left from her nails being jerked from his gi, completely forgotten of it.

 

He looked at her and then back to the waters and then her again, unsettled. “I don't know, I don't think I wanna go back out there, whatever it was, it was big enough to eat you.”

 

“Your exaggerating,” she smugly replied.

 

“Tch, fine then, you don't believe me, then you go out there.”

 

“I'm not going out there if what-ever-it-was scared you away!”

 

“Didn't scare me!”

 

“Oh yeah, that's why were you squealing like a little girl.” Fuu folded her arms eyeing him challengingly.

 

Mugen swiftly came at her and lowered his face to hers and gazed at her cold and tense, “I wouldn't be gett'n on my nerves or I will toss you out there.”

 

“Like you could,” she mumbled and tossed her face to her shoulder.

 

“Hmph, oh yeah?” Grunting he reached for her and grabbed her up by her waist, lifting her into him. Fuu gave a muffled scream, her face buried in his chest as he lifted her up walking ankle-deep into the water. When she heard his feet splashing she instantly began going into a motionless fit, berating him with her jerky movement and whaled a horrible scream as she felt him lift her higher and felt his arms flexing to prepare to toss her.

 

“Ah, Mugen, please, please don't do it, Please!” she squealed horrifically.

 

Smirking evilly he still held her up and tittered an awful laugh of satisfaction and with that he lowered her and walked off. “I wouldn't do that anyhow, then that thing would really want to eat me for letting it get your bad tastes in its mouth.”

 

Fuu was quiet, filled with relief.

 

“What did you see,” came Jin's cool voice. He stood at the end of the slope looking at them blandly. Both Mugen and Fuu perked up and looked in his direction.

 

“Just where the hell was you at,” Mugen challenged hotly.

 

“I killed a couple of rabbits,” he replied simply and the evidence of his work lay slung over his shoulder and down his backside, with only four back paws drawn together in a worn tether poking above his left shoulder to show for it.

 

Mugen did not hesitate to break out in an amused cackle, “What did I tell you, huh Fuu, huh?”

 

Fuu's hands were already clasped palm to palm, a wide grin on her face. “Great job Jin! I'll help you clean them.”

 

“What is he laughing about, what did he tell you,” Jin asked calmly, clearly concerned.

 

Making way past Mugen she went to Jin, reaching out to take his catch off his shoulder and he let her helping. “Oh nothing, he's an idiot.”

 

“Hmmm, I speculate an idea,” he replied.

 

“Well don't worry about it,” she said carefully hoisting the limp animals off his shoulder with his hands holding most their weight. Lifting them, Fuu took her hands back and observed the animals, “These are pretty big, how did you catch them?”

 

“I smoked their burrow out and trapped them,” he answered in his always-even-toned-voice that was overly calm and lacking enthusiasm. Albeit he had killed the poor creatures, Fuu would be more than happy to help clean and serve them up. She watched Jin take the animals weight back over his shoulder holding onto the tether that laced them tightly in his left hand and carried on with slow patience to the beach, pausing right where the tide gushed in and squat down, sitting both rabbits in the sand. Fuu was right behind him the whole way and Jin found her squatted before him taking out the tanto blade she had with the fashionably pink scabbard.

 

The metal of the thin blade rasped a smooth grating sound as it was unsheathed and she quickly, and as Jin thought: skillfully cut the tether and positioned the rabbit so it lay with it's limbs sprawled out on it's backside, leaving the other rabbit to Jin who worked somehow even faster and more gracefully as he delicately cut the belly of the creature from neck to genitals and carefully took out the unnecessary organs and such and did away with the hide. Fuu was a few minutes behind him when she finished and gave the animal back to Jin who washed them in the water.

 

Mugen since had found himself nice little upraised hill in the sand to sit back and relax against with ankles crossed and arms folded behind his head, eying them with a gaunt expression of happy laziness. “I'll leave the housework to the ladies,” he commented smugly and eased back further. His company paid him nor his tongue any attention as they finished the rabbits, returning to the slope and up into the grassy field that extended some distance where the forest walled off the horizon, carrying on both west and east for miles parallel to the beach and the ocean beyond it.

 

Jin was quick handed in everything. He set up the fire, with Fuu's help, quickly returned from the edge of the forest with two narrow and nearly straight sticks long enough to center through the rabbits long length and pitch into the ground, so the heat of the fire cooked them with the occasional licking of flames at the juicy meat that glistened heavenly soon enough, their mouths watered at the very sight of a droplet of melted fat beading off one of the rabbits. Jin's framed eyes peered at the meal dully, tediously watching and anxiously waiting as much as Fuu. Stoic in nature, he kept his lips pursed and tongue still for the most part until Fuu stole the silence with light conversation, her soft voice grabbing at him.

 

“He's asleep isn't he,” she asked incredulously, amazed for some reason Mugen could just doze off on the sandy beach. Jin lifted his chin peering down over the slope to observe this for himself. He concluded the vagrant was, or otherwise would have made one of his snide comments by now. And for good reasons this relieved them both, for their stomachs sake and calms sake. “I can't believe him, what a dope,”

 

Jin peered back at the flames. “Hhn, dope. He was probably no doubt more tired than you or I.”

 

“Why's that?”

 

“Because, when we were in that last town, he happened to do more work then even me-“

 

”Shocking!” Fuu cut in an exaggerated and bored way, a little annoyed that Jin would actually be presumptuous enough to get the idea that Mugen, that rat of all rats would do more work than Jin. Yeah right! I know he spent that gold already!

 

Jin since, gently closed his mouth and observed her delicately to convey he was being honest.

 

“Oh come on, you know he didn't earn that gold, stealing isn't hard work when your as good at it as he his.”

 

“No, actually he took up a short round for a couple of days at musashi stand, how else do you think we could afford that room in the inn there?”

 

“You were working too, weren't you?” Her eyes gaped open at him, unsure and trying to speculate his answer which wasn't forth coming and that led her to assume that, No, he had not been working, and that the leftover ryu they started with when they got to that town paid for the meal they ate and the rest on some brothel whore Jin entertained himself with for

two days. That didn't seem at all like him, but where else could he have been at night. Men did not make leave only at night to go work or roll-some-dice, not that late, and he wasn't the sort to make drunk bouts casual. As loose-lipped as Fuu may have been most of the time, she said nothing, the air between them already thick as both knew what the other did.