Dedication: To 3Jane, for her "Un-Birthday" Celebration.

Disclaimer: clear throat I do not own Samurai Champloo. If I did, they would never have made it to Nagasaki and Fuu would have been shut up in the way described a whole lot more often.. :D

They hadn't eaten in two days.

Granted, their stomachs made them more than aware of that fact but the young woman following behind them also wasn't helping things with her constant yammering about the groaning of her belly. The two men, so different in appearance and in manners, both shared a look and had the same thought, 'budda, anything to get her to shut the hell up'.

"...and just what kind of Yojimbo are you guys anyway! Letting a young girl starve! How can there be nothing to eat here! We're in a forest! There has to be a spring or something! Look at me! I'm wasting away! I'll be bones and not worth anything! Are you two even listening to me? That's just like you two, you never lis-..."

On and on and on. For miles and miles, until the one with the least patience, eyebrow twitching, cracked. He stopped in the middle of the path and turned to face his nemesis, "Will you just shut the fuck up already?!! You haven't shut up since we left the last town!! We're hungry too, but you haven't heard me or fish face bitchin' and moanin'!" Mugen snarled, stomping back towards her.

Fuu actually had the gall to look shocked for a moment before recovering and meeting him halfway, "Of COURSE I'm complaining! I'm hungry! And you guys haven't done anything useful on this journey yet besides kill people and let me get kidnapped! I'VE got the jobs! And I'VE made the money! The LEAST you guys can do is find us some food or SOMETHING!!"

Jin stood still and silent several feet ahead, listening to the drama play out behind him. Truthfully, this was nothing new. Mugen and Fuu arguing was as normal as rain falling from a cloudy sky, but for some reason today, be it his empty stomach or her constant complaining over the past two days, Jin felt something snap inside. He turned slowly and glanced at them coolly, watching them use their hands to make large gestures, Mugen tried covering her mouth, Fuu biting his hand when he did. Jin narrowed his eyes, he believed he knew how to shut her up.

Fuu looked up at Mugen satisfied as he yelped and shook his hand around from her bite. That'll teach HIM to try to put his hands on me! She suddenly felt someone right next to her and turned to see Jin standing there, regarding her...just what WAS that look? She waved her hand in front of his face, "Jin? You okay? You're spacing out on me.."

Jin continued to eye her for a moment before replying, Jin-style, "Hnnnnn.." He took off his glasses calmly and tucked them in a pocket, ignoring Mugen's cursing, turned a startled Fuu towards him by the shoulders. Again, she started speaking, "Are you sure you're okay? Because.. why did you take your glasses off? You never ta--" Jin leaned forward and pressed his lips to hers in mid speech. Her mouth was halfway open so he didn't resist the impulse to have a small taste of her mouth before pulling back.

Mugen was in shock, to put it mildly. There was fish face, the coldest of the cold, kissing that...that... His brain couldn't even wrap around it, then a thought surfaced that shouldn't have, Why the hell was it so damn hooooot... He walked closer to where they were and peered at the ronin eating her face when he abruptly pulled back with a thoughtful look and made that same damn noise again, "Hnnnnnn..."

Fuu was frozen with her mouth open, looking vaguely like a fish out of water. Jin kissed me. Jin KISSED me. JIN kissed ME, were the only thoughts going through her mind, until her mouth decided to start up...again, "Jin, why did you do that? All of a sudden you kiss me? I want an explanation!"

Jin cast a long-suffering look to Mugen, and, for once in the former pirate's life, it clicked. Mugen reached out and turned Fuu towards HIM and pulled her to him roughly, then kissed her just as rough as his touch.

Fuu felt like a rag doll in Mugen's grip, he kissed as wildly as he fought while Jin's kiss had been just as controlled and ...well precise. She brought her hands up to his elbow just as he broke the kiss and shoved her away hard, causing her to stumble and Jin catching her. She blinked at BOTH of them now, "ALRIGHT! JUST WHAT IS GOING ON?! Now BOTH of you have lost your minds? Has hunger turned you insane?! Have you been eating mushrooms without me knowing it?!!"

Mugen sent a look at Jin and Jin looked at him back coolly before speaking as if she wasn't, "It looks as if we shall have to try more drastic measures? Is that alright with you?"

Mugen grinned his maniacal convict's grin at his too serious partner, "Is it alright? Hell, when is it never alright with me, asshole. Speaking of 'assholes'..."

Jin made a movement with his hand to shut him up, "We'll work that out shortly," He turned to Fuu, who was still babbling about "insanity" and "drugs", "Fuu, Mugen and I wish to apologize for what just happened. Perhaps it was the hunger. Come, we shall go over here and look for something edible by these bushes?"

Fuu rolled her eyes and started towards the thicket, not paying heed to the masculine whispering behind her, "You guys are getting weirder and weirder. I swear, if I'm with you much longer I'm gonna get as nuts as you are.." She would have said much more, if she wasn't tackled from behind by an impatient and horny former resident from Ryukyu. Jin sighed and stepped over the hedges cautiously, undoing his daisho on the way...

Several hours later

It had still been two days since they had eaten.

But...all was silent now, the girl walking out in front, her two Yojimbo following behind her. Not completely silent, if one was to listen closely, one could hear some off-key humming from the girl as she picked brambles out of her hair. The rougher looking of the men wearing a large grin and letting his geta scrape along the ground, while the ronin in blue, if one would listen closely, let out a satisfied sigh every two or three steps.

Then, as quickly as it started, the silence was broken, "I still don't understand you two.. All of a sudden, WHAM! You're all over me! Did I suddenly become irresistible or something? You could speak up and answer you know.."

Both men turned and looked at each other, the Ryukyu native smirking and the ronin having an...uncharacteristic...small smile as they hurried to catch up to the babbling girl, looking to the sides for a thick string of bushes...

FIN

A/N: First Published Champloo story for me. Be gentle.