Written for comment_fic on livejournal
Mugen gulped the snacks down and chewed with his mouth open, while Jin tried not to roll his eyes. It was the first time since their mission had been completed that Mugen had deigned to visit him, and there was no use adding even more tension with a comment on table manners.
After all, it was still possible that Mugen was there to try to kill him.
Jin understood. It was hard to ignore, the intense drive that was more than curiosity, the need to know who was truly better.
Whether discipline or chaos is a greater force in the universe. Whether respect for tradition and authority would prevail.
But really, it was just about which man could win in a fight.
Jin knew that it was strange - this need to be the greatest, to prove one's excellence to oneself, was wholly intertwined with his sense of honor and duty and the heritage of samurai; and yet, it was something that uncouth thugs felt exactly the same about. It was these hidden threads that sometimes made Jin have second thoughts about his warrior codes.
But Mugen had not yet given any indication that he was here for battle. Though, knowing Mugen, he would probably try to get a free meal before challenging someone to a fight to the death.
But as Mugen chomped loudly on the vegetables that Jin had brought to the table - after Mugen finished all the meat for the week - Jin saw a small item float delicately from the opening in Mugen's shirt.
A flower petal. It was the new trend for lovers, for men to leave flower petals in their shirt to give them a sweet aroma.
And Jin knew then why Mugen had come to him.
He smiled at Mugen, which made Mugen confused, then paranoid that he was being laughed at, and then enraged all in the course of a second.
But Jin just reached up to undo the tie in the back of his head, and let flow down a soft waterfall of dark hair. He leaned back and kept smiling, getting Mugen to look up and down Jin's body, and to know that there was no need to deny anything. Soon Mugen's hands were pulling at Jin's clothing, his mouth gliding along the jut of Jin's shoulder, face half-covered amid Jin's hair. And Jin knew then that they were starting a new rivalry, a new kind of contest to learn who might have power over the other. But this kind of battle, no matter the outcome, would have two victors.