Samurai Champloo Fan Fiction ❯ Nenju ❯ XX. All that remains ( Chapter 20 )

[ X - Adult: No readers under 18. Contains Graphic Adult Themes/Extreme violence. ]

Disclaimer: I don’t own Samurai Champloo or any of its affiliated characters, which belong to Manglobe/Shimoigusa Champloos. Neither do I own the haiku of Matsuo Basho (translation by R.H. Blyth, this chapter).

A/N: A little fluffier than last chapter, but it’s Champloo; we need some comic relief and foreshadowing, no? There’ll be blood and violence — and not just that threatened by the readers! — galore soon, I promise. Brownie’s honor. (What? I never made it to Scouts. Something about children that recite oaths while dressed in paramilitary uniforms scares the hell out of me.)

And much love to everyone who reads, and everyone who reviews — you make me giggle like a schoolgirl, all. Tee hee!

Nenju


She was still sleeping when he gave up on trying to sleep and stood, stretching slightly in the hope that his muscles would unknot; her arm was flung out, bent at the elbow with the hand curled loosely. Her eyelids fluttered as she dreamed, and he turned, walking away from their clearing with the longsword slung in its customary position on his back. The ronin’s eyes were closed, too, but he knew the man had woken the moment he felt Mugen shift position on his mat.

The Ryukyuan moved quietly through the forest, following the path his nose laid out for him as shrill birds greeted the rising of the sun. Neither of the other two had mentioned it the night before, but he’d known it was there; he could taste it, curling at the back of his throat. He shucked his clothing the moment his feet touched sand, leaving it in a pile on the beach with the sword resting on top, before wading into the dark ocean.

He relished the stinging of the saltwater as it worked its way into his cuts and soaked the dried blood away. He submerged himself, the water slipping cool fingers through his hair, over his stomach, between his legs. Mugen dove deeper, coming up for air only when the burning in his lungs was too much; it was enough.

He floated on his back for a long moment before finally looking over at the ronin who sat calmly on the beach, his face dirty with bruising.

“Thinking about drowning me?”

“Not long,” Jin said, corners of his mouth curling up lightly.

Mugen chuckled. “Missed your chance, anyway.” He waded out of the shallows, wiping the water away from his face. The ronin held his clothes out to him and he grunted his thanks, using the red gi to dry his hair. “She still sleeping?”

Jin nodded. “How badly injured are you?”

Mugen passed a hand gingerly over his side. “Haven’t pissed any blood yet. Doesn’t hurt when I breathe, so probably nothing’s broken. Lucky for me you hit like a girl.”

The ronin snorted, but didn’t pursue it.

“Way I figure it, we’re pretty much even,” the Ryukyuan said as he slipped the white haori over his head. “Although — “ He finished tying the string at his waist that kept his chopped-off hakama from sliding off his hips and held out his hand, palm down.

Jin frowned at him. “ . . . no.”

“Come on, fair’s fair.” He wiggled the thumb in the ronin’s direction.

“No.”

“I bit you.”

“Yes, and it was revolting then as well.”

“Works pretty good in a fight,” Mugen told him, letting his hand drop back down to his side as he yawned, working the geta back onto his feet. “Surprises the hell out of people.”

“Hn.”

“So. You just come down here to see me naked?”

The ronin lifted one scornful eyebrow as he handed him the longsword. “ . . . no. I came to talk about the Christians.”

Mugen sat, stretching his legs out in front of him. “Yeah. Wanted to ask about that, but someone was trying to beat the shit out of me last night. You get to meet the other son?”

Jin nodded. “It’s him. The one you met isn’t capable of keeping anything that large from his mother, but the older one thinks he is — the most arrogant man I have met in a year’s time — and that makes him dangerous.”

“Some kind of deal at Shimabara with the shogun’s men to get them out, then.”

“I believe so, yes. He made it clear he was no Christian.” The ronin let out a long breath, considering. “That woman — it’s probably nothing. I’m imagining things.”

“What?” The Ryukyuan looked over, alert.

“Good intentions worry me a great deal.” The other man stood, flicking sand from his clothing. Mugen rolled to his feet fluidly; the cuts pulled and his bruises complained, but he could still move easily.

“So, what now?”

“We go on to Mihara,” Jin said. “They’ve done nothing to us. If something did happen at Shimabara, that’s between them and the Christians. If something does happen — “ he shrugged. “Then we’ll deal with it. In the meantime, it would be best to put them behind us. Did you learn anything from the girl?”

“Yatsuha?” Mugen said carefully. “Nothing much we can use. She’s still with the guy with the mole, and they’re still following us south.”

“I see.” They began the walk back to the clearing, and their inability to let sleeping girls lie.

“What happens with Fuu?”

There was the briefest pause, before the ronin replied, “That is her decision.”

“And if it’s me?”

“I would respect that.” The corner of Jin’s mouth twitched. “I might not even try to kill you, in that case.”

Mugen gave a snort of laughter. “Better start practicing, fish face.”

“And you. Sparring this morning?”

“Think I’m good for now.”

“Hn.”


“— that’s because you’re as stupid as you are ugly, Tatsu.” A slender man, pleasantly homely, came out of the low-roofed building, carrying a bowl. He wore his receding hair cropped short and bleached the color of straw, and Mugen saw the glint of rings in his ears; there appeared to be one in his nose as well. The Ryukyuan frowned. There was something familiar about the guy —

The man stopped at the sight of them, his eyes going wide. “Jin — ?”

“Kazunosuke,” Jin greeted him. “You are well?”

“It’s really you?” The blond clattered down the steps, bounding up to grin at the ronin. “What are you doing here — is this everything you have? — how long can you stay? Tatsu! Wash that ugly face of yours and get out here!”

“We — “ Jin began, only to be cut off by Kazunosuke; the blond was only missing a wagging tail to be complete, Mugen thought sardonically.

“You brought the squirrel girl with you!” The blond beamed at Fuu. “Do you still like dumplings? Oh, still so honey bunny.”

“She — “

”You brought another friend, too? Oh, awesome — “

Mugen looked up from the whirlwind (reluctantly; there was something peculiarly compelling about watching Jin trying to talk and being completely run over) at the sound of feet on the long veranda. A dark-haired replica of the blond stood there, scowling. “Kazu, what are you doing — “ The dark man squinted at Jin, stopping for his mouth to drop open slightly in surprise. “Big bro?”

“The squirrel girl, too, and their friend,” Kazunosuke said, pleased, rocking back on his heels as the other man came down the steps. Deftly, the dark man tugged Jin’s pack away, gesturing for them to follow him into what turned out to be a slightly shabby, but comfortable, home.

Mugen realized the blond was eyeing him, and gave him a sharklike grin designed to repel; the other man gasped, eyes widening. “It’s you!”

The Ryukyuan frowned. That generally wasn’t the response he was looking for —

“Tatsu! The mystery tagger!”

Mugen groaned inwardly. Oh yeah, Mihara was where those friends of Jin’s were.

“You write your story yet, boy?” The voice came from the darkened garden behind the school, that familiar strident rasp. Mugen heard the sound of liquid sloshing against the sides of a flask and smiled.

“Not yet. Sake kill you yet?” he called.
There was an amused grunt. “Not yet.”

There was enough light for him to pick his way through the untidy piles of manuscript and books out to the narrow balcony where his teacher was sitting. Mugen sat down, letting his legs dangle over the edge. Bundai passed the bottle over and he took a long pull.

“Wasn’t sure I’d see you here again,” the older man said companionably. “Actually, not sure I’m seeing you now.”

“Surprised to see this place is still standing,” the Ryukyuan told him.

“Have a place to stay?”

“Mihara, place called Gojuu Hall.”

“Ah. The Niwa delinquents,” Bundai said. “Is their grammar still so horrible?”

“Didn’t stick around to find out.”

“Mm. You come back to help me teach? As you can see,” the older man said dryly, waving at the weed-choked garden, “I am overrun with students.”

Mugen wiped the mouth of the flask off with his sleeve and returned it. “‘S a girl.”

Bundai made a noncommittal sound.

“And a guy.”

The older man raised his eyebrows.

“Not like that!”

“Well then, my good little second grader, he’s a friend?”

“Ain’t trying to kill him any more, so yeah — but there’s the girl,” Mugen answered.

“Mm.” Bundai handed the flask back. “You need this more than I do.”

The Ryukyuan gave him a sour look, but took it anyway.

“So. The girl,” the teacher invited. “Does this have to do with the companions who were with you before?”

Mugen nodded. “Same ones. Got her where she was going, but there was some trouble when we got there. Bad things happened to her she says aren’t my fault, but still sorta are — we all split up after the other guy and I got her out of trouble, but turns out we didn’t fix it, we just kinda put it off for a while.”

“Mm. I take it she wasn’t a problem back then.”

“Not that kind.” He laughed, the sound holding little humor to it. “She just used to be a pain in the ass. Now, she’s the pain in my ass.”

“So what are you doing about it?”

He shrugged. “I make sure she’s got something to eat, safe place to sleep, keep her from drowning, that kind of stuff. Sometimes we argue.”

“. . . hm. And the other one . . . he was ronin, I think?”

“Yeah. He talks to her.” The Ryukyuan frowned. “Tells her stories, which is weird. Went with her to see an old woman.”

“Tells her stories? What kind?”

“Some kind of crap about a dude named Genji, gave me the shits.”

“I see.”

“So . . . what?”

The older man sucked his teeth thoughtfully. “You’re planting rocks and expecting rice to come up,” he said. “Meanwhile, your friend the good farmer is out there tending his fields. Smart — he’ll get the girl, while you’re still standing around trying to figure out why you’re hungry.”

“Thanks. Real helpful.”

Bundai grunted. “You going to do something about it, or are you just going to cry to me like a little girl?”

Mugen’s head snapped around. “What did you say?”

“You’ve got a problem that you can solve, but you aren’t.”

“What the hell am I supposed to be doing?”

Bundai smacked him over the ear with a meaty-sounding thwap! that knocked him to the side. “Learning!”

“Mwah?”
There was an aggrieved sigh, then: “You want something, but what you’re doing isn’t getting you any closer to your goal. The other man who wants the same thing is doing something that is. Now, would it be better to keep on as you have been, or to do what works?”

“I ain’t telling her stories.” Mugen sat up, rubbing his ear. “That’s stupid. I don’t know any stories anyway.”

“It’s not the stories that are important, it’s that you’re telling them. Pay attention.” Bundai frowned, as a thought struck him. “You haven’t tried talking to her, have you? Other than the arguing?”

“Eh.” The Ryukyuan shrugged. “Other than the arguing?”

The teacher gave a sardonic chuckle, and lay back. “Not sure who my sympathies are for here, you or the girl. Go talk to her. Now get lost; I’m tired and the building is spinning.”

Okay. He bounced lightly from foot to foot, stretching his arms over his head as he surreptitiously watched her. It’s just Fuu. You’re bigger, faster and stronger, Mugen told himself, dropping his hands to his sides and flexing the fingers. You talk to her all the time. It’ll be easy.

He cleared his throat, and she looked up from the brightly colored carp in the Gojuu Hall pond. “All right if I sit?”

“Sure.” She shifted over on the steps to make room for him. “You’re talking to me?”

“Why not?”He settled one step lower than hers — talking to her would probably be easier if he wasn’t thinking about her expression, he decided.

There was a pause, then: “Last night? Jin? Wanted to kill you?”

“Eh. It’s happened before, no big deal.” He cracked his knuckles impatiently. If she would just shut up so they could talk —

“Mugen.” Her voice was picking up that edge that told him he was skating close to the limits of her temper. “I heard you. You ‘got there first’?”

“Mm. You heard that?”

“Mmhmm.” She was quiet a moment, then as he was opening his mouth to speak, said, “Half of me wants to tell you I’m sorry I didn’t know what you were doing, and the other half wants to kick you for being such a dope about it.”
He cocked his head to the side. “Which one’s winning?”

Fuu chuckled. “The ‘I’m sorry’ half, but don’t push it.”

“Hn.” Mugen leaned back, his elbows on her step. “‘S all right. It was coming for a while.”

“What?”

“Things were . . . different in Kasumi,” he said.

“Already?”

He nodded.

She leaned down and gave him the most exasperated look. “Then why didn’t you say something then?” He could see that little vein in her forehead, which —

For all that Bundai usually knew what he was talking about, this talking to her seemed to be not working out as planned. “I’m saying something now, all right?” he snapped. “And, shut up already, woman. I’m trying to talk to you!”

— and hey, that really seemed not to work.

At all, considering that growling noise she was making.

“Oh?” she asked sweetly, hectic red gathering in her cheeks. “Because trying isn’t working out all that well, is it? First, there’s trying not to scare me, and now there’s trying to talk to me. Could you please let me know the next time you try anything, so I can tell when you’re about to make an ass of yourself?”

“Look. Bitch,” he bit out, angry himself. If this was what a guy got for making an effort — “This is what you want, right?”

“What?” Her face screwed into a frown.

“I know Jin talks to you.”

“That’s what this is about? Jin?” Groaning, she thumped her head against a post. “Why you even — you ever stop to think that maybe instead of talking at me, you could just let me know what you’re thinking?”

Mugen blinked. “What?”

“This is confusing, you know? Especially considering I don’t have anything worth seeing,” she said and smiled. “Can we not do this now?”

“Tell me when you make up your mind, all right?”

“Yeah.”