A meditation on Mugen and Jin's possible future development. Takes place towards the end of episode 26, so that should tell you something about what spoilers to expect. References to other parts of the series as well. Some serious mystical weirdness, and Jin acting OOC for a reason. Co-author credit (and loving dedication) to Mariphasa Hecatene, because this is essentially an expansion of a role-play we did over IM, and grateful beta credit to Dupidnagog, who basically read the thing a paragraph at a time as I churned it out. This will hopefully someday become the prelude to a much longer fic about the Champloo trio in old age. Oh, and if you're confused A)it means you're still sane and B) be sure to read the footnotes for help. Champloo does not belong to me, and I make no claim on it but love.
---------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
A week after their ridiculously indecisive Final Duel, Mugen and Jin had both clawed their way back to consciousness, but the three of them were stuck on the island until the ferry-man calmed down enough to take them back, or one of the villagers decided to a sacrifice a boat to get the ill omens gone. Fuu had promised her yojimbo new clothing as payment for their services, but was still only half-done, so Jin had taken an old spare kimono of her father's—which was at least an inch too short--and Mugen had spurned any offers of clothing, walking around topless and shameless as ever. And yet…not unchanged.
Something had happened in deep in Mugen's mind—maybe in even in his soul—during that week asleep, but he had no idea what and the uncertainty was making him restless. But rather than getting all angsty-introspective, he dealt with it by alternating talking and eating non-stop so there wasn't time to dwell. When Jin went outside to warm up in the sun, he trailed after the samurai, spouting off a soliloquy on sailing and the ocean.
"…and it talks like you do, yanno. The sea. Everything all formal and poem-y, and so damned circular you don't know what's heads or tails. Every time I drown, it's like hearing you talk about fish eyes." (1)
Jin flicked an eyebrow, the first overt sign he'd given of paying attention to the conversation, although Mugen had known perfectly well he was listening. "Really now?"
"Honest to god. Guess you're just Water through and through."
There was the flash of a smile that usually heralded somebody getting very dead very fast, and Jin said, "This bears further investigation." He turned toward the cliffs, deftly undoing the knot of his threadbare obi at the same time. Mugen's brain had barely enough time to register "Hey...WAIT!" as the other man moved towards the edge, stripping as he went--and speeding up, so that he hit the dive from a running start. And damned if he didn't look back over his shoulder to say, "See you at the bottom."
Of course the only possible response to a challenge like that was to cuss and follow suit. The trip down was long enough for him to wonder what the hell had been in that bowl of rice if he was getting existential dread and Jin was hyperactive. Then there was the shock of immersion, and he wasn't thinking about much besides the virtues of oxygen.
When he came to surface, shaking water and clumps of shaggy hair out of his eyes, Jin was clinging to a nearby rock--and grinning. "You're right. It does talk about fish eyes."
Mugen would have launched into another soliloquy (this one entitled, "Are you off your freakin' rocker, man?") had Fuu not at that very moment screamed from the clifftop, "Th' HELL are you two doing? Get back up here before I have a heart attack!"
Jin looked at Mugen and said, "Your turn to placate her," before slipping under the water…which was just peachy considering that he certainly had no idea what they were doing. He yelled up, "Jin's, um, communing with his origins, I think...or maybe he's finally cracked. Either way I better stick with him. Later."
Fuu gave a put-upon half-sigh half-shriek, but dropped the issue and headed back towards the cabin. As soon as she was out of sight Jin surfaced a few yards away and said, in a sing-song tone Mugen had never heard before, "You don't need to worry, I can't die here. Fire can kill me, steel can kill me, water can't"--he'd kinda come to that conclusion himself, after Jin walked away from the 40-foot step off the cliff, AND the similar drop off the broken bridge, AND the plunge off the pier--"and fire can't kill you. And she won't die by fire or water or steel." (2)
And out of all the craziness Jin had exhibited so far, that bit merited a squint, cos' the first two lines were reasonable guesses based on evidence--with the usual swirl of over-educated Zen samurai weirdness on top--but the last rang like out-and-out prophecy, and Jin'd never done anything quite like that before. Once or twice before he'd gotten a whiff of that could-be-kami, that frisson of strangeness his people associated with their shamans, from Jin. (3) It was back again, and stronger than ever—and yet it seemed almost too simple, even with the complication of Jin having been born in entirely the wrong place for that to happen. A third time he stopped his train of thought. Jin was in a very talkative mood—and what was coming out of his mouth was interesting, if illogical. So he leaned on the rock, and asked dead seriously, "That what you see?"
Jin laughed—a sound like a bamboo flute played off-key. "Aye, that's what I see. And you're wrong, Southerner. Your gods are talking, but not to me."
"I'm listening."
There was a voice in the back of his head suggesting that whatever kami-ness the samurai was carrying had been nudged further open by the evolution of his swordsmanship, or by the brush with death (and, unlike his own experience, it might have been Jin's first time passing that dark gate) but all his focus was on what Jin was going to say next.
And suddenly there were two sea-gray eyes not three inches from his face, and a dark voice whispering, "You. Fire-worshipper. Dream-walker. Flint and steel and tinder. Sparks from the whetstone screaming to the sky. Tangible but infinite. Bestial but sacred. I see what you are, even if you don't."
Utterly flabbergasted, he threw himself backwards to get some sort of personal space back, and ended up swallowing a good bit of water in the process. Okay, there was a door in Jin's mind open off its hinges that hadn't been more than cracked ajar before.
Jin's expression of calm haughty superiority, had, comfortingly, not changed a bit—he demonstrated as much as he climbed up onto the rock, and sat with his long hair sticking to his shoulders like seaweed. "Now, oh-servant-of-the-southern-gods, what am I?"
"You? man, you're what you always were. The blue ghost of the river, whose real shape no one can see, cos it's too wrapped up in stories and legends. Snow and water and mist, other people's dreams and nightmares, that's the stuff you are." …did that really just come out of his mouth?
"Ah. Thank you." Jin was off the rock and back in his face again in a split second. "I was rather wondering."
"What did you just do! No way you can move that fast…I would know by now!"
"That is nothing compared to what you would do if you put your will to it."
"Quit fuckin' confusing me. I don't even know why I said what I just said. Am I gonna say more of it?" The weird thing was, he hadn't any doubt of it; Jin really was a blue ghost of water and mist. He knew it was true, even if he had no idea how he knew it, or why he suddenly said it. And the words Jin had used to describe him were working their way down through his subconscious, striking gongs as they went. What had been unsettling him all day was at the tip of his tongue and he still couldn't give a name to it…
"If you don't want your island gods raining misery on your shaggy head, I suppose so."
And Mugen's jaw dropped, because he got it.
"Of course, I'm gonna say more of it. And I won't have any idea what the hell I'm talking about until I go home and ask the noro to set me up." (4) The words were pouring off his tongue now; he started to chuckle and couldn't stop. "Dumbass dog I am, I was thinking you were the one that got opened up by going through the gate..."
Jin opened his eyes very wide, and he could see a new light in the back of them, wild and knowing. "Different gate."
"Shoulda known that too." He had to shake his head at himself, still highly amused. "And you? What d'you have to do now?"
"Find a Shingon bishop who can tell me what I saw." (5)
Fuu had, in the meantime, gathered up the clothes they left on the cliff top, and carried them down to the beach--and was berating them at high volume. Mugen smirked. "Oi. It's your turn now."
Jin bowed his head in acquiescence, and when he raised it again the new light was gone from his eyes. He still had that carefreeness to his movments as he swam to shore, but the minute he stepped onto dry land, he was the old Jin again: careful and curt in quieting Fuu, dressing in silence. Out of his element, Mugen thought, right literal. Water washes away what binds him. He had to get the both of us into the water to ask me what he was—and to be able to tell me what I am.
Mugen followed him into shore, and once Fuu had turned her back got three inches away just like Jin had done to him. For a moment they were back in that place where they could see the shape of each other's souls. "You're right. Not fire or water or steel. Nothing but her own heart'll ever kill that one."
"You're seeing with fishes' eyes now, shaman."
"Hmf. Me." But he wasn't really mocking it; he was thoughtful. His life had just made a--well, it was more appropriate in Jin's case, but-- a sea change. The future right then was a different one than he'd envisioned a year ago…or a week ago…or that morning. It was a little scary, truth be told, but mostly it was just invigorating. "Be interesting to see how we turn out...
...prophet."
----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Footnotes:
1) Reference to Johnny's, and then subsequently Jin's, cryptic advice from episode 21 about how a fish's eyes are in the water itself.
2) Reference to (and a considerable expansion on) a common fandom theory that Fuu is an Earth personality, Mugen is Fire, and Jin is Water--thus explaining their polar opposition.
3) Okinawan traditional religion centers on shamans (usually women, called noros , although some are male) who speak to the gods and the ancestors and carry out their will, arbitrate disputes, and can exert power over natural forces. The shamans are greatly respected and feared--and not to be messed with. One who is destined to serve the gods is usually more than a little strange (often what we would think of as mentally ill or gender-bending) and a child who's a bit off will often be watched for signs of shamanhood. Jin exhibits some of the signs, such as undefined and unconventional sexuality, and strong intuition.
4) The calling to become a shaman usually involves a period of strange dreams, uneasiness, and possibly physical suffering for the one being called, who must seek out one of the noro to be ordained. Resisting the call will lead to much greater suffering, such as an illness that will not go away until the will of the gods is accepted.
5) Shingon is the esoteric Buddhist sect that I attribute Jin to. While Mugen passed over to Nirai Kanai--the Okinawan otherworld, the upside-down island we saw in episode 14--Jin passed through the Buddhist gate into the otherworld, and saw the Wheel of Fate in motion--which is why he knows what can and can't kill the three of them.