Destiny's Hand

Tough Choices

Mugen was surprised to see only Jin waiting for him at Takeshi's. He raised his eyebrow and asked, "Where's the boss man?"

"He had some business that detained him." Jin motioned for Mugen to sit with him. "Have you thought about how to proceed?"

"I say what I've been sayin, we go find the son of bitch and kill him." Mugen had considered the different possibilities, but he wouldn't consider letting Katashi bring the fight to them. He couldn't put Fuu's life at risk like that.

Jin shook his head, "I thought we made it clear that was not a possibility."

"Yeah cause you guys are lil chicken livers." Mugen thought they were acting like pussies. In the old days, Mugen would have taken care of this by himself no problem.

"Katashi has more influence than you understand and he has the Shogunate's ear. If his death is seen as an assassination, then an investigation will ensue which will bring them here. Instead of dealing with one vindictive bastard, we will have the army to contend with."

Mugen's mouth set in a hard line, he didn't like feeling backed into a corner.

"The only option is to lure Katashi here and take him by surprise."

"No." Mugen shook his head and got up from the table, he started pacing the room.

"We have one hand up on him and that's the element of surprise. He doesn't know we will be here."

Mugen was beyond agitated, "Then how come he hasn't come yet?"

"According to the account Katashi was told, you were killed on the island and during my battle with Kariya he defeated me. Despite this Fuu managed to survive and Kariya died. Putting the pieces together he assumes that Fuu was smart enough to kill his father and escape."

"He thinks Fuu is dangerous?" Mugen asked incredulously, for anyone to think that Fuu was a evil genius was hilarious.

"With good reason. You fought Kariya, I have never fought an adversary to equal him. So for Fuu to defeat him, it stands to reason he is cautious."

Mugen remembered the guy's fighting style well, he was astonished by him. "I see your point. That doesn't mean we have to put her in danger. Yesterday you gave me other options, why can't we use one of those?"

"This is the best chance we have. We have to make Katashi believe she is here alone and vulnerable. It is not my intent to put Fuu in danger."

Mugen believed Jin, but that didn't mean he was happy about it. "And if it was Shino instead of Fuu? Would this still be the only option?"

Jin took a deep breath, he had thought about that. He wanted to make sure he was making the right choice based on reason and not emotion. He knew the answer, "I would do what I had to do to protect her. This would be the best option regardless."

Mugen nodded, "If we're gonna make this dude think she's alone, then where will she really be?"

Jin had thought hard about that too. His first option was to keep her with Shino at his house, but then they would be defenseless. Takeshi had offered to harbor them, but Jin didn't want to get him more involved than he already was. "We have to get Shino and Fuu out of the area to a safe house. It's not safe for them to stay here, we have to get them as far away as possible."

"By themselves? You know Fuu, she's a dumbass. If we send them off alone she's gonna find trouble." Mugen would never agree to this, somehow things would go wrong like they always did with her.

"I have thought about that, we need to make sure that whoever we send with them can be trusted with their lives." Jin still didn't know who to send along for the job, in all honesty he didn't trust anyone besides himself and Mugen. "This is something that we need to speak with Takeshi about."

The men sat in silence contemplating, they both had something valuable at stake. They both looked up and nodded at each other. They knew what had to be done.

"What are we gonna say to the broads?" Mugen wasn't sure if they should say anything, how else was he gonna get that loud mouth to comply unless he knocked her out and dragged her there himself.

"Tomorrow Shino and I are coming to Fuu's. We can speak to them on the matter then."

"Are we gonna tell them the truth?" Mugen and Jin sat again in silence. They both knew that hiding things from these women was pointless, but they didn't want to pull them in anymore than they had to.

"I will tell them what we know." Jin would do the talking, he knew that Mugen would become angered and end up fighting with Fuu. That was no way to convince these women of their plan. Someone had to be cool-headed.

Both men walked out to the field opposite Takeshi's home, neither of them said what they were planning to do. They faced each other and unsheathed their swords. Mugen smiled smugly and went in for the attack. Jin met his blow. They continued sparing for the next few hours. Both needed to blow off steam.

At the end, both were panting heavily and sweating. The sun was close to setting and Mugen knew it was time to head back.

"Looks like you haven't lost it yet." He nudged Jin and turned heading for the tea house. Jin wasn't one for good-byes, so he turned in the opposite direction heading for his own home and Shino.

While walking home, Mugen thought about Fuu. He could feel his body itching to take her into his arms. He couldn't get the image of her beneath him out of his head. He wanted to make love to her every night. The thought of losing that stopped him in his tracks. He yelled out and punched a tree. His knuckles were bleeding, but he felt better. He hated waiting, he wanted to rip that guy apart. Using Fuu as bait for that bastard was tearing him up inside, but Jin was right. That angered him more, Jin was always right.