"Hey," the words fought their way from his heaving chest. "Jin, hey, Jin," Mugen folded onto the damp, grassy bank, finding the shoulder he was searching for but not the strength to seize it.
He let his head fall because he couldn't hold it up and he forgot to care that it would only mean more mud.
The taste of silt and somebody's blood bubbled in his nerves and forced his eyes open to the muggy pools shadowed by his face. Breath was coming back, what didn't leak out through the cuts on the way to his lungs.
"Hey," his struggle to clear the sod barrier dislodged a swarm of young rice plants that washed against a mass so recently a body. Mugen's stiff fingers clamped tightly on the tattered navy arm and he shook it with all the force his muscles could muster. "Jin," he swallowed with effort and winced at the taste. A tender spot his skull throbbed. He turned and hacked rosy phlegm into the rice water that was fouled by the corpses anyway. He needed a response.
With the absolutely last deposit of energy, he braced both hands on the motionless ronin and pulled his dead weight over, dragging himself closer in the process. A soft splash embraced Jin as he fell to his back, Mugen partially on top of him, panting hoarsely.
He studied the gray-pink gash inches away from where his cheek rested on Jin's chest and his mind stayed completely blank.
He forced himself to lift his head and reach both hands to grasp the cold neck or loose hair or tepid jaw. The body quaked as Mugen shifted his weight and Jin coughed hard before opening his eyes with difficulty and trying to understand the sight above him.
"Hey," Mugen slid a hand jerkily across the damp forehead, too tired to check the pull that brought his lips to the exposed brow. "Hey, baby, hey," he kept up the shaky stroking as if it might encourage some acknowledgement if he continued their contact.
"I…" his mind somehow worked out the meaning of the sounds, completely oblivious to the gurgling cry of an unfortunate foe leaving the battle field. "I'm still alive…" Jin tensed beneath him, fighting against the ragged cough that returned despite his efforts.
He needed to sit up; they both knew it somewhere in the ever clouding state of consciousness.
It couldn't be done.
Tears pooled at the corners of his eyes from sinus irritation and joined the rivulets of water from Mugen's hands in the trickle down his cheeks. Jin scowled and trembled in short bursts, finally bringing the cough under control. He stared hard into Mugen's dim gaze, determined to make sense.
"I'm…alive," he blinked a drip out of his eyelashes, terse frown in place, "because you… haven't… killed me."
Mugen looked dumbly at him and nodded. "Okay," he swallowed, "okay."
He slowly let himself collapse on the slim chest.
"Okay."