It has been a looong time since I've written a story but inspiration finally hit me! Can you believe that there are no Mamushi and Juuzou fanfics? They are super adorable and I know I'm not the only that thinks that. Honestly, to me they are an otp even though they are like secondary secondary characters. I'm pretty happy with the way this turned out.

This is rated T for future chapters (I think. I haven't gotten them all written out yet but I think the stories will mature as they do)

EDIT: just made minor changes. does not change the story even a little. i just had to change it to make it sound better to me.

There were certain things you could say about Mamushi Houjou.

Mamushi Houjou was scary. Mamushi Houjou was cold. And most importantly, Mamushi Houjou definitely, without a doubt, could not stand one Juuzou Shima.

How much truth these statements held varied by the person you asked or simply by how Mamushi herself was feeling in a particular moment. There have even been several instances where these statements were proven to be incorrect altogether. Even the most important one. Especially the most important one.

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THE 7 TIMES MAMUSHI HOUJOU DID NOT HATE JUUZOU SHIMA (not really anyways)

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i.

Mamushi was at a crossroads. Well not really. Having two established paths in front of her would be much better than what the situation truly was. Which was that everywhere was a possible path. Should she turn left? Right? North? South? Northwest? Only the thick bush of forest surrounded her, leaving no indication as to how she could return to the temple.

In reality, Mamushi was lost. She was seven years old and lost. But not particularly scared. In fact, she was slightly pissed off that this was happening.

Her father and the other elders at the temple had warned her about wondering in the forest. She could still feel the warmth at the top of her head where her father had put his hand as he patted her and said, "Mamushi. Be a good girl and stay out of the forest. We don't want you getting lost, right?"

Of course Mamushi agreed. Getting lost in the forest sounded scary and unpleasant and if her dad told her not to, she would listen. That was before she saw him exiting the forest.

She had just been playing in the field at a distance where she could still see temple workers when she heard rustling noises and voices. Recognizing that voice, she hid behind a tree to see that smiling idiot Juuzou leave the forest with his big brother by his side. Mamushi clenched her teeth.

Juuzou was always such a pain. Because they were the same age, their parents paired them up for everything. They not only had to walk to school together but shared the same class. Everyone there knew they came from the same temple too so they were often grouped together by their peers as well. From the people around them it was always Go find Juuzou Mamushi! Go play with Juuzou! You two have to keep an eye out for each other! Isn't it great to be so close with someone your own age! You guys will be together forever! This is a relationship you'll appreciate when you're older! Blah blah blah blah blah.

Only seven and already the idea of being together forever annoyed Mamushi. Well, sort of. She certainly huffed and puffed when she heard people say that for the effect but really, what was forever to a seven year old? And it wasn't like she could picture a life without Juuzou Shima, no matter how gross that sounded. They had been together their whole lives, all seven years! Mamushi's first memory probably had to do with Juuzou in some way!

Mamushi hadn't always felt this way. Of course not. Crawling together, learning to walk together, napping together, playing together. They had had some good times. In fact, this phase of their relationship was only a recent development.

Because suddenly Juuzou was cool enough to hang out with his older brother and too cool to hang out with Mamushi. Suddenly, Juuzou thought girls had cooties. Suddenly, Mamushi's hair was perfect for pulling on. Suddenly, Juuzou was super popular among all of their classmates and Mamushi was the one with the scary eyes and cold personality.

Mamushi left the safety from behind the tree once she thought that Juuzou and his brother had left the field. She gave a cold hard look at the tall dense trees in front of her. If Juuzou was allowed in then so should Mamushi. He was in no way better than her in any shape or form.

"Too scared to go in?" she heard a familiar voice say behind her. She turned around to see Juuzou standing there with his arms crossed in all his stupid glory. He looked so smug.

"Y'know it's not so bad in there," he said walking closer. "I wasn't afraid at all. But I would understand if you were considering you're not as brave as me."

Mamushi almost hissed at him but instead she crossed her arms in turn and said "Oh, yeah? Who says that?"

Juuzou shrugged his shoulders in nonchalance though his face gave away the childish glee he was really feeling. "No one needs to. You're just always following your daddy around and listen to everything he says. You're such a good girl Mamushi. A daddy's girl," he sneered.

Mamushi's face flushed with heat. She had heard people say it before but it didn't sound the same way as when Juuzou said it. Normally she felt pride to hear people call her that but now it made her feel like a coward.

"Don't like it? Then go in and prove that you're not. My dad told me not to go in either but me and my big bro went in anyway," he bragged.

Mamushi let out a laugh. "Ha. There you go again. You're always talking about that stupid big bro of yours. My big bro did this, my big bro did that," she mimicked. "I bet if your big bro told you to go fetch, you'd go back and forth forever."

Finally the superior act dropped and Juuzou spluttered, face red. "H-hey! My big bro is not stupid! And he wouldn't do that! He likes hanging around with me!"

Mamushi scoffed. "Well if I'm a daddy's girl, you're the same with your brother!"

"Am not!" Juuzou yelled.

"Then let's just put this behind us! We both go into the forest. You without your brother and me against my father's wishes," Mamushi declared.

"Fine!"

With that they both marched their way to the edge of the forest. They paused a little at the threshold and caught each other's eye. Immediately they looked away indignantly and stubbornly took the first few steps inside.

The forest amazed Mamushi. Its thick tress somehow muted the outside world but inside the lush green scenery there were noises that could only be heard from inside. The sound of a babbling brook, the chirps of birds, and the quiet rustle of leaves surrounded her. Even the air was different, moister.

She was enjoying herself as they made their way deeper into the forest when she heard, "Uh, maybe we should turn back."

Having almost forgotten that Juuzou was with her, Mamushi turned to stare at him. "Why?"

"Well, uh. Well, this is as far as me and big bro went," he mumbled under his breath while looking at his shoes.

A sneaky grin made its way on to Mamushi's face. "I thought you were proving you could do things without your brother. If you turn back now you'll just prove I'm right."

Juuzou whipped his head up so fast that Mamushi thought that he would get whip lash. "Nuh uh! The deal is that I go into the forest without him and I did! You can't just change things!"

Mamushi was full on smiling now. "You can't stop the way I think and if you turn back I'll just always think of you as a – as a….brother's boy!"

Juuzou's eyes narrowed. "Fine! Whatever. Think of me as whatever you want! I don't care. I'm turning back." He didn't move as he looked expectantly at Mamushi.

Mamushi just crossed her arms and looked away. "Fine. Whatever. Do what you want. But I want to keep exploring."

Juuzou's mouth opened in shock. "U-uh…B-but…"

Mamushi just turned around again and started walking away from him.

"W-wait! You can't just go on your own!"

"Yes I can. Bye." She waved without looking back at him.

"Fine! Whatever!" She could hear him stomp away until his footsteps gradually disappeared.

Finally. Peace and quiet, Mamushi thought to herself.

Mamushi continued to explore for a while before thinking that it'd be best to go back before anyone realized that she had gone. She started heading down the way that she had thought she had gone through but soon she realized that she couldn't recognize her surroundings anymore. None of the trees looked familiar and she didn't have a clear enough sense of direction to know if she was moving closer to the temple or farther away.

Leaving her at her current crossroads. What to do. She could just stay where she was to make it easier for people to find her when they realized she was missing and started looking in the forest. Or maybe Juuzou had already gone and ratted her out. This wasn't a particularly great plan to Mamushi as she rather just get out of this forest without alarming anyone (or getting in trouble).

It didn't look like she was going to have much of a choice though as she noticed her darkening surroundings. There definitely wasn't much time left before someone noticed. She sighed and decided to find a good place to sit down and wait.

She didn't have to wait long before something happened. Nearby where she chose to sit, in the long grass and scattered leaves, there was a rustling sound. She couldn't see anything but whatever it was, it was making its way closer to her.

Hastily, she stood up but was not able to move away fast enough before fear made her freeze up. Peeking its head out of the grass and sticking its tongue out at Mamushi was a black and yellow patterned snake.

Mamushi tried to calm her breathing and remain very still but her heart pounded uncontrollably. Before either of them were able to make a move however, a piece of wood came flying and hit the snake right on its head.

"Come on!" a voice yelled before a grubby looking hand grabbed hers and pulled her flying after it.

She didn't need to look at the messy hair, the small stature, or the clothes to figure out who the person was. It was the hand. But looking at the dirty clammy fingers wrapped around hers wasn't necessary either. She could have her eyes closed and would still know this hand. It was a hand she had had held throughout her short life. It was the one her parents made her hold every time she crossed the street on the way to school. The one she had accidentally grabbed in fright during a thunder storm. The one who helped her up when she had fallen in a game of hide and seek. Whose else could it be but Juuzou's.

She held on even tighter as they ran without looking back, Juuzou leading the way. They ran until they made it to the field where the challenge had been declared not that long ago. The sun was setting now and the sky was lit orange. Juuzou, panting, kneeled down, too tired to stand, and ended up pulling Mamushi down with him, still holding hands.

Looking down while trying to catch his breath, Juuzou said, "You….are….such….an…..idiot…"

Mamushi, who was much less tired considering she hadn't run into the forest trying to quickly look for her and then run out like Juuzou had, rolled her eyes and scoffed. "That could have happened to anyone."

Before Juuzou could reply though their fathers showed up in the field. "There you two are! We've been looking for you guys everywhere," Yaozo said.

Uwabami narrowed his eyes once he saw Mamushi's stained dress and the tear in her leggings. "You two haven't been playing in the forest, have you?"

Mamushi and Juuzou shared a wide eyed look together. "Juuzou…" there was a warning in Yaozo's voice. "How many times have I told you to stop going in there? And now you took Mamushi?"

Suddenly Mamushi spoke up. "But he didn't! We were just playing around here when I tripped. Juuzou was just helping me up." Mamushi could feel Juuzou's eyes on her.

The fathers exchanged looks. "Fine then," Uwabami said. "Let's go get some dinner." However, before he fully dropped his guard he squinted at their clasped hands as they both got up from the ground.

He turned to Yaozo, "They were just playing around, right? Tag and hide and seek, right?"

Yaozo laughed. "They're just kids Uwabami. What are you thinking? That's not something we have to worry about."

"Of course, of course. I'm overreacting."

As Uwabami walked away, Yaozo muttered under his breath, "Yet anyways."

"What was that?"

"Oh, nothing, nothing. Hurry up kids!" Yaozo called out to the kids behind him as he matched his pace with Uwabami.

Mamushi and Juuzou finally let go of each other's hands to brush themselves off. They didn't say anything for a while before, "Thanks," Juuzou mumbled.

Mamushi looked at him. "I was just making it even. You helped me out and now I helped you out. So don't hold it over me."

Now it was Juuzou's turn to stare at her. "Of course I wouldn't have done that. Besides, I didn't do much. I mean, do you really think I would have just let you get bitten to death by a snake?"

He started walking to catch up with their fathers and Mamushi just stared at his retreating form. Mamushi wasn't even talking about that. She had been referring to the fact that he had come back to get her. And he did so without telling anyone and letting her mistake be publicly known. That included his big bro. But she knew that that was even less of a big deal to Juuzou then the snake.

Mamushi suddenly scrunched up her face. "Then what was he doing thanking me? I would have done it anyway. Did he think I wanted to get in trouble too?" she muttered under her breath as she ran to catch up. "Idiot."

So this was placed before the Blue Night incident which was said to have happened 16 years ago when Rin first started at school. I wrote Juuzou to be a little more bratty than the one we saw in the Kyoto arc just because he was a little kid and kids all go through that bratty phase and in my head he was a little more happy go lucky before the Blue Night and he became the new next head of the family. I would assume that losing his brother helped change him into becoming the responsible person we know and love.

Even if you don't favourite or review, by just following me you will keep me inspired! I want this out there pretty fast so expect quick(ish) updates!

P.S let me know if this looks weird or there are mistakes. the uploading thing they use on this website is seriously funky. It completely screwed up my original document