Samurai Champloo Fan Fiction ❯ Samurai Juku no Ai ❯ Exasperating Episode ( Chapter 1 )

Author's Note: I decided to write both of my plots down, so welcome to the second one. I hope to finish both. ^___^ Please read & review!

 

Disclaimer: I no own Samurai Champloo. I not even have own Mugen. Pity, pity. :D

 

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Samurai Juku no Ai

 

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Chapter One

 

Exasperating Episode

 

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“I hope she'll be back before night,” Jin spoke, carrying wood for the fire inside. The usually stoic and taciturn samurai uncharacteristically voiced out his thoughts—much to his companion's annoyance.

 

“She needs to take care of herself,” Mugen replied grumpily while he stared at the ceiling, doing nothing at all.

 

“Hm.” Jin didn't think very differently, yet he was sick of Mugen's lazy-ass attitude and maybe—just maybe—he tried to kick off a little argument between the pirate and himself.

 

“Why don't you go and look for her if you're worried that much?” The man with the unruly hair furrowed one of his eyebrows and tried to reflect on a reason why he even thought about it.

 

Yes, he thought about why he thought and naturally, it confused him infinitely.

 

“Why don't you do that?” Jin smartly questioned back and Mugen obviously angered.

 

“Because I don't want to,” he snapped and crossed his arms and legs in front of him, sitting upright. “Why do you always send me, anyways? Back there, when that freak showed up, you sent me to save her scrawny ass. Why is it always me who has to do the no-fun things?”

 

“Wasn't it you they were looking for?” Verbally, Jin would beat the lunatic anytime.

 

“Yeah, but then you should have just said `it's your duty'”—Mugen imitated his companion, who raised one threatening eyebrow at him—“instead of saying `take care of Fuu.' Last I checked, I'm not responsible for her.”

 

“Are you not responsible for Fuu when she is taken hostage because of you?”

 

Mugen thought about this question, or rather, tried to understand it at all. Failing in the end, he snorted and stood up. “You still talk like a pussy.”

 

Ding! Ding! Ding! Jackpot! The winner of the `Who's smarter than Mugen'-contest: JIN. Congrats!

 

Once the vagrant was outside, he kicked a tree trunk in anger and howled in evident pain, hopping around on one foot while he held the other. He cursed the tree and the trunk—yes, both—and wrathfully walked into the forest. Drawing his sword from his back, he began attacking the trees in the forest, but because of its obvious advantage in quantity, Mugen decided that it was best if he just muttered curses under his breath.

 

After a few seconds of walking, he had the weird feeling that he was lost. Had he ever been this far into this forest? Mugen scratched his chin and listened carefully. If he wasn't wrong, he could hear water. Inching slowly closer to the sound, he suddenly stopped with an interested expression on his face.

 

There was the shallowest portion of a lake, and within the hip-high water stood a woman. Unfortunately, she had her back to him, but her slim shoulders and thin waist were enough to make him drool a bit of salvia from the corner of his mouth. Mugen hid behind a tree and watched how the woman's fingers ran through her wet, shoulder-long, thick, brown hair. Her moist skin glistened in an orange glow from the light of the late sun as droplets of water slowly ran down her spine.

 

The pirate's eyes fastened on the surface of the water, just where it hid the rest of her body, and he swallowed the moistness in his mouth when she slowly turned around. Once he could see her front he couldn't help drifting his gaze upwards across her flat stomach and—hey!

 

Mugen gave a little snort of disappointment when she wasn't as large-breasted as he had imagined her. But he didn't give a shit in the end. He had passed the border from being choosy to just being horny already when his brain had registered the nakedness of her. Besides, he still liked what he saw. Well-shaped, round and delicious-looking womanly material was right in front of his eyes and he had to suppress the urge to make kneading-movements with his hands.

 

Oh, yes, he blessed his lucky life!

 

He shifted his gaze to look at her face—and gasped involuntary. His jaw dropped and Mugen closed it with a clacking sound of his teeth. But his jaw dropped once more and whenever he tried to shut his mouth, his jaw would drop all over again. The reason for his lacking ability in physical motor function was that the woman in the water was no other than Fuu.

 

“Shit.” Deadpan. Well, after all, it was Fuu! The Fuu.

 

Mugen clamped a hand across his mouth in order not to scream at the sudden realization. He quickly pressed his back against the tree trunk and counted to ten, hoping that she hadn't seen him.

 

“One, two… ten.” He turned to check once again but this woman was still Fuu—little, nagging, sunflower Fuu.

 

Mentally, he cursed, but still, he just couldn't make his eyes look away from her chest-high region. So Fuu really wasn't that flat-chested. She had, he admitted to himself, some curves on her body and the very same made him feel a strange stirring in his own lower regions. Mugen's breathing became a little faster when she slowly started to wade out of the water.

 

Shit, he needed a better hiding place. Quickly, but on silent toes, he jumped into the next bush and peeked through the branches, watching when she finally left the water. Fuu grabbed for a towel and began drying off her body, not caring to wrap it around her. She didn't know about Mugen after all. Bad for her. Good for Mugen.

 

Clueless, she squeezed the water from out of her hair with the cloth before she threw it down next to her. The vagrant bit his inner cheek, in order to not jump out of his hiding place and rape her when he realized that even a bugging brat like Fuu had something to offer. His eyes stared at the area beyond her lower abdomen, making him bite his cheek even harder, while Fuu was busy dressing herself in her kimono. With a last glance upon the small lake she smiled, pleased with her bath, and left.

 

Mugen let out the breath he was still holding and grasped a hand to his heart, gripping the fabric of his white shirt tightly between his fingers. He wasn't sure if he would die of a heart attack. He had just discovered Fuu and that wasn't even the weird part. Worse was that he wanted to discover more of Fuu!

 

But—this was Fuu.

 

The first question he couldn't answer was why.

 

The second question he had no idea how to answer was what was wrong with him, and the third question was again simply why.

 

But the last question was not why but WHY NOT, and strangely this question he could answer.

 

Why not?

 

Ten reasons why not leaving his fingers off Fuu:

 

1. Her cute, round ass.

2. Her smooth, sexy spine.

3. Her slender legs.

4. Her slim waist.

5. Her appealing, compact breasts.

6. The fact that she actually had breasts.

7. The fact that he wanted to touch them.

8. The fact that she was a woman.

9. The fact that Mugen was sure now she was indeed a woman.

10. Breasts for free.

 

Those were reasons enough, weren't they? Mugen contemplated as he tried to free himself from leaves once he had crawled from out of the bush. He dusted himself off and slowly went back to the shack they were sleeping in. On his way he couldn't ban the image of naked Fuu from out of his head. Maybe he should have taken a bath himself. The cool water would have soothed his desperation.

 

“Shit, how have I gotten into this?” he asked himself and groaned silently.

 

But he remembered perfectly well. People say the fates are cruel and Mugen knew it was true. He wasn't even halfway out of Nagasaki when he had heard her scream. She really could scream loud but he had decided to ignore it. Then he had heard her scream again and it had seemed like the scream would never stop. He had tried covering his ears and finally, after what seemed like an eternity, there had been silence.

 

But a thought had crossed his mind. Fuu had screamed and if Mugen had heard her scream, then Jin had probably heard it as well, and he had known the righteous ass-samurai would help her. It had sickened Mugen that Jin might prove that he was better than Mugen if Jin went after Fuu and rescued her. It had been frustrating!

 

The vagrant had emitted an annoyed yell and started to run.

 

He had been right. The girl had been in danger, and when Mugen had arrived, Jin had arrived as well. Both of them had killed the bastards trying to sell Fuu to yet another brothel and had decided that it would be better if they stuck together for the time being.

 

What the hell did “for the time being” mean? Until they were back in Edo? Mugen didn't even want to go back there, although it had been fun. The worst thing now was that he and Jin had come to a silent agreement. They had never talked about it, but they would leave her when she found the right man to be with for the rest of her life, one that would replace them in their job as bodyguards as well as one that would be a good husband.

 

Unluckily, Fuu wasn't very wise in her choice in men. Either they were psychos or artists or unsafe freaks. Besides, Mugen already had saved her a million times and more. Maybe he should just demand an adequate reward. Was that too much to ask?

 

He sighed.

 

“Shit,” he mumbled. Yes, he wanted her but she was still Fuu, the one that he saved, trusted and…loved maybe…kinda. There was, he knew, some kind of affection for her in his soul.

 

The girl always tended to his wounds, faithfully trusted him, and never betrayed him. Apart from the silent freak-ass ronin, she was the only family Mugen had ever known. He might act like an ass towards her verbally, but if he did physically, then he would certainly despise himself. He had killed men but he had never forced women to do anything they didn't want—except when he had paid them for it, but that was another story.

 

There was only one possibility to `have' Fuu the way he wanted her. She had to want him.

 

The next question popped up into Mugen's brain. Did she want him? That one was difficult to answer. She usually did not act very sexual towards him. She never offered herself to him; rather, she seemed quite revolted if he came even close. But still she cared a lot when he was injured.

 

“Damn,” he cursed and gritted his teeth.

 

There were so many questions and all the thinking gave him a headache.

 

To voice out his question would lead to talking and not just any talking, but unpleasant `senti-metal' talking. He had no patience for something like this. Sometimes actions spoke louder than words, anyway, he thought and nearly smiled.

 

He had a plan.

 

Approaching the shack, he saw that Jin had obviously managed to light a small fire inside the hut, and judging by the sound of the babbling voice, Fuu was back. That was good. But in order to fulfill his plan, he needed to get rid of the ronin for once.

 

“Patience, Mugen, patience,” he told himself, standing in front of the door that suddenly opened.

 

“Mugen.” The girl quirked a suspicious eyebrow. “Are you talking to yourself?”

 

One corner of his mouth drifted upwards and he showed a toothy grin as visions of her naked body clouded his mind and made him obviously deaf. Whatever she was saying he didn't hear it.

 

“Mugen? Mugen!” Quickly, she became annoyed with the pirate not answering her at all (and his slimy smirk was very creepy, by the way). “Idiot!”

 

Fuu disappeared inside the shack, shaking her head.

 

“What's wrong?” Jin knew it was probably just one of their usual arguments, but just to be sure, he asked. He was aware that the girl often was worried about their friend even though he annoyed her most of the time great deal.

 

“Oh…Mugen is being weird again,” she told him, shrugging and kneeling down in front of the fire.

 

“Weird?” An eyebrow rose on the samurai's face with mistrust.

 

“Yeah, I think he's finally snapped,” she said, holding her hand at the side of her mouth as if to block Mugen from hearing, knowing he was just outside the cottage. “He was grinning at me like a lunatic.”

 

“Mh.” To Jin there was no question about that one—Mugen was a lunatic but usually one that didn't grin at Fuu. Not if she wasn't in an embarrassing situation, for that matter. But he mentally shrugged. One never knew with Mugen. He might have just eaten some wild berries again.

 

Said pirate took a deep breath, ready for the kill—not literally, of course. He knew what he wanted, and he knew how to check if `it' wanted him, too. With a little patience and some luck, he soon would have some sunflower-fun.

 

He snickered at his verbal masterpiece of how to call doing it with Fuu.

 

But he was still standing in front of the house, and he absolutely had no clue why. Was he hesitating? He shook his head at the idea and rubbed his sweaty hands. Hey, he wasn't nervous, was he? But shit, he was! This wasn't just any woman he tried to bed. This was one he actually liked more than just a bit. Okay, this sounded odd. As if he was in love with her?! He wasn't. But what was he?

 

The feeling in his heart told him of great affection, devotion, and care.

 

Not love.

 

“Great. Now I've got a headache,” he mumbled and stomped his foot on the ground, finally gathering the courage to enter. And so he did.

 

“Did you hear that?” Fuu whispered to Jin. “He's talking to himself again.”

 

Mugen narrowed his eyes at her and was about to give her an earful,[Author ID1: at Thu May 4 15:04:00 2006 ] when suddenly visions of Fuu without her clothes flashed in front of his eyes, and he began to grin involuntarily.

 

“And now he's grinning again,” she told Jin, who nodded. “Creepy, isn't it?”

 

“Very,” the glasses-wearing man replied, nodding.

 

Well, maybe this would prove more difficult to Mugen than anything else he had ever done in his life. Affection was one thing, but desperation was the other, and somewhere on the way there he had lost his brain. To give a short summary: he had no clue what he actually came for, what he wanted, or what he did at all.

 

Slouching down on the ground, he turned and tried to gather some brain to form his plan anew.

 

Fuu looked at Jin with a worried expression. Either Mugen had gone insane or was sick, but both were giving her an unpleasant feeling in the pit of her stomach. She sighed and lay down to rest. Jin followed soon after, having an attentive ear—his eyes were closed, after all—on the pirate.

 

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End of chapter one.

 

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A/N: Not much so far, but I hope you still like it. Please leave a little review for me to gain the motivation to continue! Thx. It'll become more interesting soon.