Title: Misery Loves it's Company

Author: Beckzy

Disclaimer: I don't own Samurai Champloo or any of its characters.

Summary: Destiny, a many may say, has a way of kicking you in the ass. Sucks when two people are behind the blunt force of it, as well as the Shoguns and Yakuza. Guess you gotta let nature take its course…

AN: Well this is a story I just had to get out of my system… All the stories that I have been reading lately have just given me the inspiration… I know I haven't updated my other fics, but ill get around to them eventually.

Chapter One

Paranoia, Paranoia… Everybody's Comin' to get Me

Destiny, as many may say, has a way of kicking you in the ass, whether you like it or not. Some perceive it as a good fortune, but others perceive it as the inevitable fate that eventually leads to an inevitable demise. Anyway you wanna look at it… destiny sucks…

Blood seeped through the bandages that were loosely wrapped around the small girl's torso, leaving light stains on the thin, makeshift sheets. Beads of sweat poured from her head as she lied unconsciously through the care of the pale samurai she had come to find as an older, rather distant, brother.

A small fire burned in the middle of the hut, but darkness filled every corner that the light couldn't touch. Jin looked away from the fire as the girl coughed lightly; making it known to the night that she was finally wake. Through pained, hooded eyes she stained her neck to look over to Jin; his usual calm demeanor plastered all over his face, yet his eyes said everything.

"Mugen?" She asked; her voice hoarse and shaky as he looked back to the fire with no response. None was needed…

Three days earlier…

"It's the Shogunate."

Mugen lifted his head sharply, looking at the young girl; eyes narrowed suspiciously into slits. No… not this time. He had no obligation to help her. His debt had been repaid when he got the bitch to the smelly dude.

"How you know?"

"Its obvious!"

"Then why haven't they just got rid of your ass." Something was wrong. The yakuza weren't easily swayed by bull shitters, let alone did they take their time on a job they did decide to do. And sure, Fuu might have been a Christian's daughter, but if the Shoguns did want her dead, then they would have done it themselves.

"I…I don't know." Her eyes didn't meet Mugen's movements as he walked slowly out the room and back to them, but rather she kept her gaze concentrated on the dirty and stained floor. Nothing made sense… something was wrong…

Back to the basics…

"Hit me."

"Are you sure?"

"Yeah bitch, I said, hit me."

The boy's thin hand slowly flipped the card over, revealing a two of hearts.

"Stay."

Mugen flipped his covered card; 19… hell yeah…

"21." Angry at loosing for the forth time in a row, Mugen grabbed the boy's collar and shook him violently, a few cards falling out of his shirt; a hightail sign that he was cheating.

"You little shit!" The little troublemaker kicked him in the shin to get loose, succeeding; he ran way cards scattering every where as he stuck out his tongue.

"Get the hell back h-"

"I told you not to play… now what are we going to eat, uh? Sometimes, Mugen, you just d-"

"Shut the hell up."

It had only been two short weeks since the trio had split ways and four long days since Fuu and Mugen had found themselves again. I guess you could call it a silent agreement, but when they saw each other in Nagasaki, they walked into the same restaurant and both silently ate together. That was until the bill came and up popped the question about who was going to pay. In the end Fuu was left doing dishes and Mugen basking in the radiance of the local brothel; it wasn't that he didn't have any money to pay the bill, but he had much more useful means for it. A day later they both set out on a journey that quite possibly might have been their stupidest… they had no real destination.

Simply put, they were both yearning for company.

Fukuoka was their next stop.

"What is this stuff?" Fuu lifted the bottle slightly to her nose to take a whiff, leaving her nostrils slightly burning.

"Shochu." Mugen snatched the bottle back, taking a swig and letting the alcohol linger in his mouth before swallowing. "Want some?" he said looking at the blushing girl before wiping his mouth with the back of his hands.

"No." Fuu huffed crossing her arms over her chest and looking away a bit embarrassed with her ignorance.

After pick pocketing a few locals on the way into town and much vocal punishment from the ass pain about how 'those people worked very hard for their money', Mugen and Fuu were able to afford the night at a cheap inn and a small dinner. With the remaining ryo, Mugen brought a bottle of booze with plans to drink the rest of his night away until was well beyond jolly… and that was exactly what he did.

"Your loss…" He swallowed another shot and swished the bottle around looking at the remaining liquor splashing aimlessly within the glass. The little inn room became uncomfortably quiet for Fuu and oh so peaceful for Mugen…

"What do you think Jin's doing right now?" The randomness of the question sent Mugen through a fit of coughs as he choked on the alcohol.

"How should I know?" he said after regaining most of his breath.

"It was just a question!"

"Well you asked the wrong person!"

"You're such a jerk!"

"You're a bitch!"…

I bet you can guess how the rest of the night went. It was the uneventful days that left these two on edge, along with the unexplained reason of why they were, in fact, traveling together. Without Jin, the two were completely lost on how to act civilized… although one of the two had never been much of a refined fellow…

The sun had long vanished, flooding the room with darkness and Mugen had long passed out with the almost empty bottle tucked beneath his arm. Drool dripped from his bottom lip as he snored loudly, leaving Fuu wide awake and irritated. The block that the inn liked to call a bed, had dug cruelly into her back, making her opt to sleep on the floor with the dirt and bugs.

The booze that remained was looking rather tempting, especially because of the ruffian that was asleep in the corner so soundly. There was probably enough in there to put her out for the night, but Fuu refused to stoop so low as to conform to Mugen's way of getting to sleep… but the louder he snored, the more the juice called to her.

What's a girl to do when she was deprived of her sleep and most of her morals?.. Steal a bottle of course…

After choking back sip of the tainted water, her insides instinctively wanted to hurl, but after a couple more gulps she was a happy little blob. It didn't take much to make her stupid with drunkenness and basically nothing at all to curl up into a little ball and hiccup herself to sleep.

It was just another day wasted and another bottle well spent.

Fukuoka was a giant town. The market place bumping and grinding with people buying and selling. Most of the city was made up of shit holes that lived on ratty grounds accompanied with brothels, rundown teahouses and stands. Many of the small bars had their groupies smoking herb and tobacco outside their doors with a bottle or a cup in their hand, throwing up gang signs to signify their territory. Many of the people who passed by either got death glares or decked for coming too close to their terrain.

"You got any money?" Mugen glanced up from his grumbling stomach to look for a place to eat.

"Hmm…" Fuu jumbled around in her kimono pulling out some lint and dirt. "No… nothing."

"Mmm… this is yummy." Dumpling after dumpling invaded Fuu's mouth as she sat across from Mugen who was immersed in his rice and nikujaga.

Despite the old teahouse owner constantly eyeing the couple up, the restaurant was rather quaint and calm. Mugen figured the old guy would probably pop a hip if he were to try and chase them when he figured out they weren't paying for the large and fancy pansy meals. Stuff like this wasn't cheap and they sure as hell didn't have any ryo for it.

Mugen lifted his cup high in the air as he continued stuffing his face full of food. The waitress quickly acknowledged his gesture but not before two very ugly men came in, making her drop the ceramic pitcher with a loud shatter. The place became eerily quiet, or should have if it hadn't been for the slurping and munching from the couple who looked like they were going to go at it for the last dumpling. The few customers in the restaurant watched cautiously as the men strolled defiantly to the pair that seemed to be so disrespectful and oblivious to their presence.

"Mowr!" Mugen lifted his cup once more as pieces of beef fell from his mouth.

"I'm stuffed." Fuu leaned back and patted her belly to show her gratitude towards her fullness. It was then that she noticed how deathly silent it had gotten and the two bony men coming towards them. Her face instantly dropped when she caught the faces of a few of the patrons giving her terrified and sympathetic looks. Why was it that they always, well at least 8 out of 10 times, seemed to find trouble in a teahouse? Was it not just for them to have a 'nice as it's going to get' kind of meal?

"You the Ryukyuan?" It was more of a statement than a question and it came from the first gangster to approach. He placed his arms on the table and leaned closer to the two as he grinned; tooth decay had obviously gotten the best of him. Mugen's eyes darted to the men and he flashed them a cocky smirk of his own to show his over confident "I-can-kick-your-ass" look.

"Depends who wants to know." The gangster immediately backed up and frowned while the other lanky man expression became stern as well; it appeared like it wasn't everyday that someone talked back to them.

"Seems like our boss wants t'have a word wit you." Mugen closed his eyes and rubbed his chin as if to look thoughtful, but mostly to piss them off. He stuck his finger between his tooth and flicked a piece of food onto the gangster and finally decided to answer him.

"Pay for this, an' I'll think 'bout it." The men looked down to the hundreds of plates and two pitchers crowding the table as the young girl across from the pirate yawned into her sleeve. If scowls could deepen, then the gangster's did and he sure as hell wasn't ruining his rep because of a turd who thought he could kick him in the ass and get away with it.

"Look you fuc-" The gangster with a tattooed fist up in anger stopped his advance as his partner punched him in the back of the head.

"Member what the boss said." Mugen had quickly gotten bored and since his meal was now going to be paid by the generous gentlemen at his side, why not enjoy it?

"More sake!"

"Where do you think your goin'?"

The meal had been a rather good one seeing as they didn't have to fight their way out of paying; not yet at least. Mugen had agreed to go along with the two gang men in hopes of acquiring some moolah and getting the little action in the form of blood, booze, and boobs. The men explain, in very vague detail, that their boss needed his 'employment' for something. Wasn't the first, and probably not the last, that Mugen would have to run a fools errand for the yakuza, he just wasn't expecting Fuu to tailgate.

"You can't just leave me here. Besides, don't you think it's a little fishy that they knew exactly where to find you?" Fuu whispered, stalking up to him as they left the restaurant.

"No."

There was a little voice in Mugen's head that believed it was a bad idea to bring the bitch along, and the got louder as he noticed one of the men looking at her with that glint in his eye. You know, the one that say, very clearly 'I could tap that ass'. Not to say he was jealous, never that, she was just not a whore for them to be looking at her in that manner.

In the few months that the trio had spent traveling, grew the unspoken understanding from both Jin and Mugen that they needed to protect Fuu, whether they liked it or not. No, Mugen didn't think of Fuu as a little sister; he'd fuck her if she had bigger tits. It was just second nature for him to feel apprehensive towards the bastard and to want to chop his balls off.

"Don't worry 'bout a thing buddy… your girlfriend's in safe hands." The same loud mouth gangster that seemed to like to do all the talking, wrapped an arm around Fuu's shoulder as he walked up next to them. Her instincts told her to puke as she flinched away from his bad breath and body odor. The man grinned at the irritated girl and swiveled his eyes back over to Mugen, only to see a large, scarred fist coming towards him. Too bad he couldn't properly defend himself before he was knocked out and bleeding heavily out of his nose; Fuu almost felt sorry for the poor scumbag… almost…

Mugen spat as the unconscious man as continued his trek and he closed his eyes in annoyance…

"She ain't my girlfriend."

I hope you enjoyed chapter one! I know there isn't any romance yet, but don't worry there will be soon. Just had to get the basics out of the way and introduce the story line, blah, blah, blah… Enough reviews and I will continue. Have a great day!