Work Text:
Fuu only just faintly heard the muffled groans of the man behind her. At first, she thought she was imagining things, considering that he was so doped up that it was unlikely that he could feel his own throat, let alone make any sort of noise.
Then she heard it again.
Turning on her heel, momentarily forgetting about her current task, Fuu’s eyes locked onto the prone form of one pigheaded ex-pirate.
A brilliant smile graced the 16-year-olds features as she saw that he was opening his eyes, and she abandoned the task of tending to her masterpiece in order to confront the wild-haired vagabond.
“Mugen! You’re awake! Thank goodness, I had thought for a moment that I had killed you!” Fuu chirped, as she placed two hands on either side of Mugen’s face to lift up his head so he could look at her.
“You really shouldn’t scare me like that you stupid pig!” She added in teasingly, a tone of mock anger characterizing her voice, something she was sure the vagabond hadn’t picked up on.
Opening his eyes, Fuu’s breath caught when she caught a glimpse of his stormy grey irises. The same grey that turned blood red whenever he was caught in the heat of battle, grey that had stormed countless hideouts and brothels that Fuu had been held captive in.
Fuu loved those irises.
Mugen groaned once more as he blinked groggily. His eyes were glassy and unfocused, his pupils small, and he had difficulty controlling the muscles in his face to squint. The sun that was shining in his face was probably unpleasant.
Fuu took pity on him, moving him away from the stream of light that was beating down on him, it wouldn’t do for him to get a sunburn. An effort that was rather difficult for the small teen to accomplish, especially with Mugen’s dead weight hindering her.
“Wh-where am I?” He slurred, as his gaze narrowed in on Fuu’s face, taking in her soft features, and warm brown eyes.
He tried to move his head, and Fuu moved back to his face, holding it in her hands and helping him to look around.
The first thing he noticed as he looked around, was that they were in the ruined church where Fuu had been tied to one of the crosses by that Kariya fellow. It had been rather ironic to Fuu in particular, for reasons of which Kariya had been completely clueless about.
Second had been the state of the man behind Fuu, or fish face as Mugen liked to call him.
Jin was unconscious, chained to a cross similar to the one Fuu had been. He was stripped of all his clothes, save for a slip that covered his hips. The chains wrapped artfully around his body securing it to the cross, while his hands and feet were nailed to the cross with iron wedges. On his forehead was the symbol for his sword style, Mujushin Kenjustsu, etched so deeply into his skin that bone could be seen, there were six wide circles, one over his heart, one over his stomach, one on each of his limbs. Over half of his body starting from his feet and moving up until it was over halfway up his stomach were carefully etched sunflowers. His pale skin looked paler than usual, and a sheet of sweat gleaned over his sharp features, he was breathing in shallow pained gasps, so close to the cusp of death, yet being held thereby a sheer force of will and careful precision that was as exact as the cuts on his skin. The cuts were clean, and most of them were dry, scabbed over already with no sign of infection as if all the blood that was shed was used carefully, not allowed to be wasted until the very last cut.
Mugen’s eyes snapped wide open when he saw this, and the drug that had been introduced to his system seemed to be completely brushed off, as he jerked, a clanging noise echoing in the wrecked church drawing the ex-pirates attention to the fact that he was also chained to a cross, with nothing but a slip of cloth covering his crotch.
Panic wracked through Mugen, his muscles tensing, and his jaw clenching as he struggled to break free of the chains that held him to the cross. He had no recollection of how he had gotten there. Or rather, he remembered being ready to leave, having all of his wounds completely healed, and drinking tea, then nothing.
“Do you like it?” Fuu asked suddenly, snapping Mugen out of his confusion so briefly so that he could narrow his eyes at 'her' in confusion. She let Mugen’s head go, seeing as he suddenly had the strength to move his own head around, if the fact that he was trying to break free of the chains that restrained him were any indication.
“The fuck?! Where am I! What’re you doing just standing there you little bitch! Get me down!” Mugen growled, jerking around so much that the cross he was restrained against began to tip, causing Fuu to jump in alarm and grasp the cross so she could keep it from falling.
A grunt of effort could be heard from the small girl as she held the cross still, keeping it and the man chained to it, from falling.
“Well if you’re going to be like that, then I don’t think I will.” Fuu huffed, a bit hurt by the fact that he hadn’t even mentioned her work. Especially after she had worked for so long to make sure that it had looked as beautiful as it did. She had to admit that Jin’s skin was the perfect canvas. It was so pale and resilient, a perfect contrast to the dark crimson that came from the lines she left on his skin. So much better than any of the others.
“What the hell girlie! We ain't got time to bicker at each other! Just look at fish face! He’s bleedin out! If we don’t get out of here soon the sick fuck that did this to him might come back!” Mugen shouted, completely oblivious to the hurt look that crossed Fuu’s face when he said the words “sick fuck.” She adjusted the cross staring at Mugen with her big brown eyes, and a pout present on her features.
“I’ll take it you don’t like it then?” She asked, staring into Mugen’s eyes as they narrowed at her in confusion.
“Like what?” He asked, confused, angry, and although he would never admit it, scared out of his mind. Whoever had done “that” to the Ronin must be one scary dude. The fact that he couldn’t even break free of the chains was also pretty telling as well. Someone who knew what they were doing had put them there. Although he was curious as to why Fuu wasn’t chained as well?
The brown haired teen sighed at Mugen’s response. Before she moved behind him and yanked a bit at the chains that were restraining him. He winced a little as she did such, but didn’t think much of it since he assumed she was just having issues getting the chains loose.
“Would ya hurry up girlie! We don’t know how much time we got!” Mugen hissed, frowning a little at the sound of wood being broken and chains dropping onto the ground.
Fuu rolled her eyes at the obliviousness of the vagabond, she was surprised at how stupid he was, how he wasn’t even questioning the fact that she hadn’t already cut Jin down. Or rather, she was fascinated with the vagabond overall. His propensity for trouble, his bloodlust, sword style, morals, and even the fact that he insisted that she was an ugly brat. But most of all, she was fascinated with his instincts, the fact that they were never wrong, they never led him into a situation that he wouldn’t come out of.
Until now that is.
“Shut up Mugen! If you would bother to use your eyes you would realize that we have all the time in the world.” Fuu huffed, having broken a bit of the wall so that she could loop the chains through it to better secure the cross so that it wouldn’t fall, before realizing how utterly annoying it was when the chains rattled and the wood of the cross knocked against the wall every two seconds because of Mugen’s constant struggling. It was rather annoying. She would have to find a nail to keep it still.
“Could you not move around so much, you’re making this much harder than it needs to be.” Fuu stated, her tone harsh, her annoyance hitching up a notch when the vagabond growled, and he jerked more forcefully than before.
“Whatever bitch! Just hurry up, I know the bastard’ll be back any minute, we don’t have any time to be yelling at each other like we normally do.” He huffed, once again, highlighting just how stupid he was, if only for the fact that he didn’t even recognize that said “sick fuck” was right behind him, securing the cross to the wall with a nail.
Griping a rock and slamming it over said nail, Fuu noticed with pleasant satisfaction how Mugen stilled.
“What was that?” He asked quietly, causing a grin to form on Fuu’s face.
“Nothing much, just securing the cross to the wall. You were squirming too much and it was making too much noise. Have I ever mentioned just how annoying you are?” Fuu stated, her tone biting, yet playful.
Mugen frowned at that comment, and he strained his neck to try and see what Fuu was doing.
“The fuck woman? You're supposed ta be gettin me down!” He hissed, despite the fact that his tone betrayed his confusion, or rather, his suspicion of the girl he had traveled with for the better part of 6 months.
“Really? And here I thought I was stringing you up? I mean, what’s the point of me putting you up there if I’m just going to let you down. Use your head idiot.” Fuu bit out, easily falling into the routine they had already established for themselves on their travels. Although, now the jig was really, and truly up. It was much more likely that he would stop joking with her now. Seeing as she was about to kill him.
Mugen’s mouth clamped shut at that last statement, and he stared at Fuu, eyebrows furrowed, and eyes questioning, as he opened his mouth to utter some of the dumbest words Fuu had ever heard from someone who was on her cross.
“What?”
Fuu took a deep breath at these words, a vein popping out of her temple. She moved in front of the ex-pirate, crossing her arms over her stomach and tapping her foot, a disapproving look being fixed in his direction.
“Did you honestly just say what I think you just said?” Fuu questioned, her tone dripping with sarcasm as she held back the flurry of comments meant to belittle and anger him. Rile him up like she normally did. Except this time, he couldn’t threaten to leave.
No.
No one ever left her.
Mugen simply stared at her after that, his mouth opening slightly, as he stared at her, slowly putting the pieces together. The expression on his face changing into one of absolute horror as the truth dawned upon him. As he suddenly came to the horrifying realization of Fuu’s betrayal, or rather, her true self.
“But what about the smelly guy? Did you find him?” He asked, as his eyes darted around the room, no doubt looking for some sort of escape, as he more discreetly began to wiggle at his binds.
Fuu shrugged at that last comment, as she turned away, moving over in front of Jin to pick up the tanto that she had dropped when she realized that Mugen had awoken.
She never usually had more than one at a time. Simply having Mugen there was different, to say the least. Although she wasn’t complaining, she enjoyed the fact that she would have an audience. Someone besides herself to see the work which she so painstakingly created.
“I found him ages ago. The first bodyguard I had was much more efficient than the two of you. He got me here in a matter of three months. Impressive to say the least. But then again, he was always bragging about how he could hide a body without anyone ever knowing he had even passed through town." Fuu snorted at this. "Honestly he was a lot more annoying than you Mugen." She stated, her tone happy as she smirked back at the Vagabond.
“But for all of his big talk he 'was' pretty good at hiding bodies. I even took a few pointers from him when I had to hide his and my father’s bodies! I had to dodge quite a few village children that night.” Fuu sighed happily at this comment as if recalling fond memories.
She wondered idly about why she was so happy to share one of the most liberating moments of her life with a pirate she’d chosen for her cross, but she shrugged it off instead and began cleaning the blade of her tanto carefully. This was a side of her that no one ever really thought she was capable of. She wasn’t normally like this. So forthcoming, so meticulous, so “sure” about herself.
“First?” Mugen stuttered, disbelieving, shocked, and Fuu could sense just by the heat on her back, extremely pissed.
“Yes. The first.” She purred moving her blade back up to the ronin’s skin, finishing off the last sunflower, and backing away to see what else needed to be etched into his skin.
The intense stare of the pirate only served to amuse Fuu, as she let out an exclamation and moved to carve bamboo into his skin. A homage to Shino, the whore Jin had set free.
Of course, Mugen was still reeling from the revelation, and Fuu could practically hear him trying to sort everything out in his head.
It wasn’t until Fuu had finished carving bamboo into Jin’s skin that Mugen finally spoke again.
“So it was all a lie?” He choked out, his tone seething with confusion, sadness, and anger. It was amazing really, coming from a pirate that always put up a front. Her cross always had that effect on people like him, making carefully constructed fronts crumble in the face of her betrayal.
Fuu laughed at his words. “It wasn’t all a lie Mugen.” She chuckled, turning back to look at him with affection in her eyes, a twisted affection. “I did need your help in getting here.” Fuu sighed, moving behind Jin, and adjusting his body enough so that she got a good look at the man’s back.
“If you didn’t notice, I kept on getting kidnapped and sent to brothels.” Fuu stated, positioning her tanto at the base of Jin’s neck digging into his flesh and pulling the tanto down as she tore open his back to get a glimpse at his spine. She grunted at the effort of ripping Jins back open, not even flinching as blood spurted out and covered her front.
Mugen’s flinch wasn’t so much for the blood that splattered all over Fuu, more as it was for the bloodcurdling scream that was wrenched from Jin. The ronin who had previously been unconscious, sleeping, woke up for only a moment before his scream became a garbled mess as blood spewed from his mouth. Mugen’s eyes widened, he’d seen, and done terrible things, but this…
“I admit that this journey was one of the most eventful, and a few times I thought that it would be the last one I ever took. With the assassins, the kidnapping, and the struggle to keep you both from LEAVING!” Fuu’s demeanor changed and she began to dig inside of Jin, searching for something. Her face had twisted in ugly anger and any warmth that had been in her eyes previously vanished as she dug around through the mess of organs blood and bones to reach Jin's heart. She grinned maniacally at Jin's screams as her hand clamped over the still beating heart and tightened her grip. More blood streamed out of Jin's mouth as he started convulsing, and his back arched as Fuu struggled slightly to pull said heart from his back. Before a final burst of strength revealed the crimson red of Jin's heart held tightly in Fuu's hand.
Mugen’s vision swam as he fought back intense nausea. He couldn’t see what Fuu had in her hands, he only saw blurs, and red pooled around the two figures. He couldn’t look away, he couldn’t help but witness something that even he, a bloodthirsty, war-crazed, MURDERER couldn’t stomach.
He heard the telltale sound of someone vomiting, before he realized that it was him.
Fuu’s laughter caused chills to run down Mugens spine, fish face was dead, and unless he got out of this situation, so was he.
Mugen's retching only served to solidify a decision in Fuu’s mind. A hard look settled across her face as she strode purposefully over to Mugen, she held up Jin's heart to Mugen's face, before dropping it with a wet smacking sound in favor of taking his face in her blood-soaked hands, and forcing him to look at Jin’s mangled, bloody, and unmistakably dead form.
“Look at him Mugen.” She commanded harshly, holding his face so that he was faced with the art she’d created. She calmed down significantly and the grin on her face contrasted perfectly with the terror on Mugen’s. “You tried so hard to convince yourself that you’re a hardened criminal, a murderer. Yet you can’t even begin to appreciate the beauty of what I’ve just done.“ She whispered, letting Mugen’s face go. “I thought that maybe you were the one.” Fuu stated sadly, looking at Mugen mournfully. “I thought that you would be the one to stay.” She said, with such finality that Mugen knew that this was his key to breaking free.
Mugen’s shock, his terror, subsided slowly and was replaced by a sudden and staunch determination. The same determination that had pulled him through everything that had kept him alive for so long. His eye hardened and the horror that was Jin’s desecrated body became nothing as he came to a realization that just made him laugh.
Fuu had long since turned away, having retrieved the heart and 'playing' with it as if she were a child with a new toy, and when he started laughing, Fuu’s looked back at him questioningly, the heart forgotten as she set it down in favor of picking up a teacup filled with a suspicious liquid, no doubt the one that she'd used to knock him and fish face out.
“What’s so funny?” She asked, her tone bristling, sensing that something was wrong.
“You’re going around chopping people up, because daddy left you!?” Mugen howled, his sides beginning to hurt a little as his laughter filled the destroyed church.
Fuu’s eyebrows twitched at this and she stomped over to him with a familiar pout stuck on her face. One that Mugen had seen often.
The blood on Fuu had crusted over, and the suspicious teacup that was in her hands was thrust into his face. “Shut your big mouth and drink this Mugen.” She pouted still glaring at him, but not indulging him in their usual banter. Of course she didn’t expect Mugen to actually drink it, but a small part of her hoped that he would catch on to the small mercy that she was extending to him and drink it. She for once wasn't reveling in the idea of having him feel all of the pain she was about to inflict upon him.
So when Mugen stopped laughing and instead fixed Fuu with a stubborn glare and blatantly refused, of course she got a little flustered.
“Just drink it you damn pig!!!” She said, moving to pinch Mugen’s nose closed and shove the clear liquid into his mouth. The ensuing struggle accomplished two things. A.) The drugged water was knocked to the ground and B.) Mugen’s right arm freed itself and was around Fuu’s neck.
Fuu’s gasp was a very small reward for Mugen’s efforts. He had her, and there was no way that she was getting out of there alive. No matter what they had been through, and whatever feeling Mugen had managed to develop for the small girl vanished as soon as she tore out Jin’s heart. Fuu had realized this the moment she saw his hand break free.
“You were the only one I was tempted to keep.” She suddenly gasped out, causing Mugen to lighten his grip a little.
“What?” He asked his tone cold, but still curious. Had Fuu been anyone else he would have snapped their neck without a second thought, but here Mugen was, willing to hear out Fuu’s last words.
“You were the only one I was tempted to keep.” She clarified, before continuing. “You were the only one I was tempted to trust not to leave once you found out the truth.” She shifted uncomfortably, but kept talking. “But when you and Jin fought, when your swords broke at the same time, I knew that you’d never be able to stay. You’d never be able to understand the urges, the need that I suffer constantly.”
Mugens eyebrows furrowed at this, he didn’t quite understand, but he let her go on anyways.
“You came the closest, but the bloodlust you suffer from isn’t anywhere close to the kind I crave.” Fuu laughed. “You’ve slaughtered entire villages, and killed more people than I could in a lifetime. But you could never plan any of it, could never be able to wait around for me to pick a swordsman and bring him back for you, only so I could ask you to hold back, and let me use him as my canvas.” Fuu’s voice seemed distant, as if she was talking about some twisted fairytale ending, and even though she was batshit insane, she was still somehow naïve enough to believe in "happy endings."
“Strong swordsmen, "especially" the strongest swordsmen, are never very patient.” She joked, before sighing to herself.
Even with all that she was telling him, Mugen still had one question he had to ask before he ended her life.
“Why?” He choked out, a rare emotion straining his voice.
Fuu seemed to stop at this question, thinking for a moment, before answering.
“I need to.” She said, before shaking her head and uttering the last words that she would ever speak.
“I find strong swordsmen, I save strong swordsmen, I get to know strong swordsmen, and then I kill those strong swordsmen before they can leave me like my father did.”
Mugen released his breath, shaking his head. “I always fall for the psychos it would seem.”
And with that Fuu was no more.