They were joined together by a lie and lived through a magical adventure that changed all three of them in their own way. A year ago their journey ended, and the friends all chose separate paths to walk, alone. Now, with a year of lone journeying behind them, fate allows them to meet once more.

Will they realize that being together is what they really wanted all along? Or will they part again, this time maybe even for good? When the people you are talking about are Mugen, Fuu, and Jin, no one can predict the outcome…

***

Fuu wiped at her forehead with the back of her hand. Carrying these flower pots all over the town was hard work. She only had one employee, a girl who only worked a couple hours a day. Sometimes she wished she had some more employees to help her… or maybe two personal bodyguards.

A pang of pain hit Fuu as she once again found herself thinking about Mugen and Jin. Not a day went by that she didn't regret walking away from them that day a year ago. Not a moment went by since then that she didn't want to run back and throw herself into Mugen's arms, or Jin's, or both and just stay with them forever.

Ah, oh well. She could mope around later, there was still work to be done. Fuu walked back into her sunflower store and picked up the next delivery. She had to finish delivering these before noon so she could open the shop for walk in purchases.

While Fuu was keeping herself busy with work, Jin was trying a much more drastic technique to forget the loneliness he felt at the absence of his friends' presents. Dating.

Jin walked away from the café where he'd just met up with Rev, the girl he was dating. While Jin did really like Rev, he couldn't help but think of Fuu every time he embraced her, or think of Mugen whenever she talked about her older brother being a strong samurai.

No matter how hard he tried, he couldn't stop thinking about them, his friends. He couldn't stop missing them. Jin walked home, hoping that tomorrow's date with Rev would help his loneliness. She'd picked a really romantic spot to meet, in the sunflower store.

As Jin walked home thinking of Fuu and Mugen, Mugen sat at home thinking of Fuu and Jin. He thought about the way Fuu would always get herself into trouble, and how annoying she was. How Jin always looked at him funny like he was better then him, and how he was always so boring.

But then he also thought of how cute Fuu looked when she was flustered from him teasing her, or how fun it was to clash swords with Jin, how alive he felt when he was around both of them.

It's been a year since they parted, the slowest year of Mugen's life. Not a day, not an hour, not a second went by that he didn't long to once again feel that way, to feel so alive.

Plip. Plop. The rain began to beat down on him and woke him from his lonely trance. The man heaved a sigh and picked himself up off the ground, he had to get the fire wood he'd just chopped inside before it got water logged.

Mugen placed the wood in the storage shed and walked inside the dojo, "Yo, I'm done." He said, shaking his head in an attempt to dry his hair.

The master of the dojo appeared from the other room, smiling at him, "Ah, thank you very much Mugen-san. We are very grateful for your services here."

Mugen waved a hand to cut him off, "No problem Sensei, least I can do really since I'm living here for free."

The dojo master smiled warmly at him, "You know Rev and myself accept you as family here. You do not need to work for your stay."

"I do it because I want to, not because I feel the need to," Mugen replied with a shrug, "Hey speaking of Rev has she come home from work yet?"

"ONI-CHAN!!"

Mugen yelped as a small blonde figure burst through the door and threw her arms around his waist, tackling him down to the ground. Rev sat up and grinned down at him, "What did you do all day while I was gone oni-chan?"

"Oh very interesting story." Mugen muttered, pushing her off of his chest and sitting up, "First, I slept. Then, I ate. Then, I chopped half the wood. Slept again, woke up, chopped the rest, got tackled by you." Rev's smile widened and he couldn't help but smile back, "How was your day working at the sunflower shop?"

Rev stood up and hopped from foot to foot excitedly, "Oh it was great! The lady who owns it is really nice!"

Mugen stood up, smirking down at her, "I knew a girl once, who had an annoying obsession with sunflowers." Mugen's smile faded as he thought of Fuu feeding her flying squirrel, Momo-san, a sunflower seed. He could almost hear her voice saying 'I need to find the samurai that smells of sunflowers'.

That common goal had kept them together through that life changing journey. Mugen sometimes found himself wishing that they had never found the sunflower samurai, that they would stay together searching for him forever but never find him. So they would never have needed to part.

Rev must have seen the lonely longing in his eyes, because she put a hand on his shoulder and asked, "Do you miss her, oni-chan?"

Mugen closed his eyes, trying to think of how to answer that question. Did he miss her? What was it called when you never stopped thinking about someone, even at night in your dreams you're haunted by their face. When everything anyone does or says, or anything you look at reminds you of them. Was that missing someone?

The man patted his hand down on the girl's head, and she looked up into his warm, wavering eyes, "You, you remind me of her sometimes."

Rev blinked up at him, not thinking of that as a real answer to her question. But then Mugen took his hand off her head and pulled her into his arms, pressing her against his chest in a tight embrace.

He whispered, "You know I love you Rev."

Rev smiled into his shoulder, "I know." And that was answer enough for her. Whoever this sunflower girl was, Mugen loved her.

The more you get to know someone, the harder it gets to say goodbye. That's the thought that ran through Mugen's head as he let go of Rev and began walking to his room. He would never leave Rev and the Sensei. This was his new home. These people were his new family. While he'd always miss his best friends, these people would at least make it easier.

Right before he stepped into his room, Rev chimed in with, "Oh yeah, and I'm seeing this really great guy. I'm meeting him tomorrow again, I can't wait!"

The muscle above Mugen's eye began twitching, "You're doing what?"