Grace
Grace, pure and simple. Sometimes Mugen is jealous of it.
He scratches his chin and leans back against the tree trunk, feeling the bark rub against his bare skin. He watches the man across the small lake, nearly a speck in the distance, swing his sword, practicing his stance, and Mugen thinks once more of that graceful ronin and the unsettling silence. Often, Mugen remembers that he would observe the pale man from the corner of his eye, wondering how the ronin could possibly remain so. . .collected.
He smirks a half smile to himself, eyes still following the man in the distance as he leaps and bounds. That word is on his mind again. He thinks of it every time he thinks of that pale and regal man. And he is jealous.
Perhaps, he thinks, it is foolish to be jealous of a man five yeas into your past. A man you have not held in your eyesight since the day the two of you parted. A man that really has no more than you do. But yet he is jealous. He is not envious of the way that the ronin wields his sword—he has no reason to think of the man's skills in past tense—but jealous of his personification. Kindness and serenity have never been Mugen's forte.
Yawning widely, he shakes his train of thought. He stands and gathers his shirt and jacket, slinging his sword over his shoulder, and he scolds himself for drinking the earlier alcohol. He blames it for his deep, senseless thinking.
Grace. Collectivity. Silence. Class.
Jin.
As he walks the pathway through the forest, Mugen makes his way towards the ocean, where he will stow away on the first docked ship he sees, and head for Edo. He hopes for once that things might go smoothly, because it is getting late and he must admit that he is rather tired. But if things don't pass peacefully, he will have no problem taking the ship as his own. It will only take a few swipes of his sword. The bodies will spew as he moves.
And it is moments like those, when he dances with blades, Mugen thinks that he and Jin are not quite so different after all.
Grace. Tranquility. Passion. Refined.
Recklessness. Chaos. Passion. Untamed.
Distinguished. Infinity.
Grace.