The author does not own any aspect of Samurai Champloo and is making no profit from this work of fan fiction
Special thanks to my lovely and talented Beta-reader, Tawnybmw!
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Afterwards, Fuu liked to pretend that they had met by accident, "by fate," as Jin might say, as if they had bumped into each other in the middle of a crowded marketplace. In fact, she had set out to find them quite deliberately, with the same persistence that had led to her miraculously locate the Samurai Sunflower based almost entirely on olfactory evidence.
Her husband was dead after less than a year of marriage; Fuu had liked being married, but she found that she liked being single, too. Hideki had been a fine man, decent, upstanding; not a Samurai, not a thief; an ordinary fish-seller, with a nice house and an aged, crotchety mother. Both mother and son were gone now, and within two weeks of burying them Fuu was long gone too, slipping out from the village with nothing but the clothes she was wearing.
Yellow fever, said the doctors. Fate, said Fuu.
She went to Kanagawa first, because Jin was an honorable man, and because Mugen was completely unpredictable. It would be no good to go around asking people about the Pirate who Smelled Like Hogs, as this was not a useful distinction.
Yes, he had been there, they told her. Yes, he had taken her with him. No, they did not know where they were going. West, maybe.
Fuu had not expected it to be easy; Jin was always careful. She went West.
People talked to her, because she was sweet and pretty; people who would have turned away from men with swords were ready enough to tell her about the pale, serious man and his gentle wife. She varied the story as she travelled. "My father," she said, "We were supposed to meet at the border crossing, but I was late." In Atsugi it was, "My brother. Our parents are dead and I'm all alone in the world until I find him." In Tokaido, "My cheating, no-good lousy husband. He left me and our three sweet babies for our neighbor's wife." Sorry, Jin, she apologized mentally. But sometimes she needed the right touch of outrage to loosen someone's tongue.
Oh, that one, they said. He was here, weeks ago. Days ago. Just the other day.
Fuu gained on them quickly because people offered her rides on the back of their carts, or in the front seat of their wagons. She realized that she could have found her father a lot quicker without those two schmucks holding her down. Bodyguards! She didn't need bodyguards as long as there were nice old couples with room in their vehicles. Then one nice old man tried to grab her ass and Fuu realized she needed to find Jin quickly, before she ended up in another brothel.
"Strange looking man," nodded the innkeeper in the nearest town. "I don't blame you for trying to find him, my dear. If that was my sister, I'd want to check on her, too."
"Are they nearby?" asked Fuu hopefully.
"Nearby? They're upstairs! Took my best room for the night, where that man got his money I don't want to know."
The next morning, Fuu was waiting in the marketplace for three hours until they finally happened by.
A/N: OK, I know that Kanagawa had a different name in the Edo period, but to be honest, historical accuracy is not exactly my thing. Let's just assume I'm taking the same liberties with the truth that the series is known for . . . Anyway, that's where I'm assuming Jin left Shino in Episode 11.