Chapter 19 Swathed in Snowfall
{Original Title: The Warmest Snow}
[A/N]: Owarimashita.
I received an anonymous message on Tumblr stating they didn't want Mugen and Fuu arguing as much this chapter. I was debating whether or not to put the ending to this in, so I hope you'll enjoy anonymous messenger. :3 It's a bit fluffy (though it could be counted as angst).
This chapter brings up events of the last episodes in singular lines in italics. Tried changing up my writing style for this chapter. It's gonna be OOC, hopefully not too OOC…Let me know what you think. (That's a Samurai Champloo track, "Let Me Know What You Think" by the amazing Nujabes).
Disclaimer: I do not own Samurai Champloo, Fuu, Mugen, Jin, Momo or any other Samurai Champloo character etc. This is kind of depressing to admit this, but the actual characters would have a better time owning themselves than me owning them…
Chapter 19 Swathed in Snowfall
Winter's first snow fell gently onto the ground, white flakes dancing upon their untimely descent. The sun's light is covered by dreary clouds nonetheless producing a beautiful atmosphere. Footprints he leaves behind are followed by a female leisurely inhaling the scentless air—not too chilly—no; perfect. Straight black hair whooshes against his back, while gyring just enough to view her gracious outline fully. One of the rare smiles forms on the forever stoic features. She runs up to him, intertwining her arm within his own, and leans her head upon his shoulder. They continue side by side through the dawn.
She's so happy to be here….be here with him, that tears are naturally preordained.
Her companion carries a parasol, red in color; a color he remembers well. Though a pat of her fingers insisted they not use it, letting the icy precipitation caress their cheeks dashed in touches of pink; another color memorized by heart.
"I wish the snow will never stop." murmurs the maiden into her lover's ear. Her steamy breaths indicate the frost enveloping them. The man, pale in complexion chuckles when she says this…because he remembers saying something similar some time ago.
"Oh I see…Once the rain stops, you'll leave." She whispers, avoiding his solemn stare to the windows of her prison, strafing showers of ceaseless rain being her only salvation to forget. Forget this life, her new life. This cage.
He responds simply.
"I hope that the rain…will never stop."
Adjusting the glasses by pushing them higher up the bridge of his nose, the samurai sees faintly the fogging caused by their temperate exhales. It however, doesn't feel cold enough to snow this day. Even still, he wonders why she wishes it will not reach an end. "Why, Shino-san?" The white stipples against the vapors of the sky further fall, speckling their dark hair in translucent silver.
Jin, the ronin can feel pressure apply to his arm. It is a silent plead for him to not leave again.
"Because then…I can cling to you like this." Affirmation of these confessing words is furthered by her hugging his side. "And you could just call me Shino. I've called you just Jin for so long now. There's no need for honorifics." She adds while giggling into her closed fist at his formality even after all he's done for her.
"Shino…" the name sounds soothing and perfect on Jin's pallid lips. A smile forms in accordance to the way he says it endearingly. They stop amidst their stroll. Her eyes look so gently up into his cold ones. She has this ability to warm them, making those darkened, azure pools finally soft and open to another human being. This gentle woman can do that…
…just asthey did.
Shino leans on her toes as far as they allow, kissing him tenderly.
His glasses end up nearly poking her eye. "Those glasses get in the way every time. But they suit you well, nonetheless."
At first, Jin didn't consider buying a new pair of spectacles; it wasn't as if he needed them in any regards for sight. The last pair had only been a way of concealing who he truly was, not only a disguise to run from the dojo students… but to create a false persona internally. Then came along Mugen and Fuu, who opened his heart to change.
More out of sheer sentimentality than replacement…Jin bought a new pair as a reminder of what the trio had endured and moved through and now, the glasses became much more than a mask to conceal someone running from a not so distant past. They werehis past and an official part of him; a remnant both Mugen and Fuu grew fond of in the year they'd spent together, once upon a time.
Shino convinced him of this.
He had only worn the new pair in front of Shino once for fear that she could not recognize his reserved exterior without the trademark lens… That fear proved silly as soon as he witnessed the woman standing on a secluded bridge in the rain, the desolating fog hiding her teary, disbelieving stare. "Hello again, my unagi stand samurai." the once unfortunate female had specified when she looked calmly beside her to the samurai donned in a gray blue.
After the fateful individuals met again, she insisted he should continue to wear glasses: his last, cracked set having been lost to the ocean tides near a lonely island holding the finale of their short and sweet journey.
It came up in conversation as they sat and ate in comfortable silence one day, why he had tucked the lavish eyeglasses away after spending so much to purchase them. While it was true that he did not require his vision to be enhanced, Shino insisted they were befitting to his appearance. Without glasses…Jin didn't seem like…Jin.
He's worn glasses every day since then.
As for how life had treated the master-less samurai, he was pretty well off. There was some unfinished business to take care of, returning to Shino being a prime example. Some events occurred in which he had much money to spare, more than the three ever saved on their travels.
He could only wish the same happened for the wild man of dark scarlet and the compassionate woman of a light pink.
"Tell me again about your journeys. Tell me about those two you traveled with." Their fingers intertwine as the dark leafless tree lines whir by the road the heartfelt couple walks.
"Those two…They were the first people I could ever call friends." His words are always concise. Shino loves to hear them to try to piece everything together.
As the infamous trio had separated, Jin was the solitary individual to return to that crossroad overlooking picturesque scenery. His mind willed him to stray back steadily—eyes forward, pending their familiar bickering, voices laughing and waiting…for him— much to his surprise and maybe…disappointment, they weren't there. And it came to an unexpected and finalized realization that his two fellow travelers were serious about separating. There was not to be an after even though there was no reason to not be… Then again, there was no reason there should have been an after either. So he closed his eyes, smiled and rerouted back the way he was originally headed. Without the two.
They were the ones who didn't return to the crossroad.
Mugen and Fuu.
That day must have been almost a year and a half ago now.
The ronin always expected Fuu to have returned first, crying about how her two inconsiderate bodyguards already left without her, or took her "parting ways speech" seriously when really, it all was just another cruel joke… But he remembers quickly that the sunflower girl believed Mugen would always leave…she even confided that fear within the trusted samurai towards the end. On that lonely river bank, after their last campfire together was extinguished to dusty ash. Where she hugged him desperately, apologizing over who she'd rather choose to win if their duel was fated to be.
And she was right. Mugen never returned to look for her either. The man in gray had also anticipated the wild vagrant in red to pull Fuu back to him, to a place where he would no longer have to let her go anymore. After all…Jin always saw the way they'd fondly watched each other…like the times when the otherwasn't watching. Jin still ponders, not understanding why Mugen didn't refuse to leave her that day. He always came back; like that time in a lonely church where Fuu was bound by rope stinging her delicate skin. When she was no longer expecting to hear the clank of geta again.
And as stubborn as Mugen was, when Jin stated truly that Fuu was depending on Mugen to save her, the pirate left so fast to her rescue. "Take care of Fuu." was what he'd said to the ex-pirate back then.
So why? He doesn't understand why those two stubborn people had NOTbeen stubborn enough to refuseseparating.
Maybe their constant banter of hate filled words was a way of guising something…something that was…
…deeper than words.
He watched selfish, wild animals of people who couldn't stand one another begin to care for each other after all the hardships they'd undergone as a team. They grew extremely on their journey and assisted in each other's growth as well; this included Jin.
A lighthearted voice interrupts these contemplations of two he'd become fond of. "Say, whatever happened to your two traveling companions?" Shino enquires, reaching for a room in her dearest's heart she wishes she could understand just the same. Perhaps one day, the woman clad in a humble green would be blessed with formally meeting those whom the calm warrior cherishes. Jin honestly doesn't know where they are, or what had happened to them. His heart stirs briefly over this, inducing a memory on the idea that perhaps those two may have found each other after all.
He wonders how they are silently, but doesn't begin to fear that they aren't alive. People like that after all, just don't die. It's no secret that he misses their company.
'Take care of Fuu, Mugen.'
So he answers her question on what happened to them in his most characteristic way, a way Mugen and Fuu would have nodded quietly to before pressing onward to their next destination.
"…Hmm…"
"Excuse me, there's a woman I'm looking for….Her name is Shino." All morning, Fuu had been tiresomely trying to gather information on their elusive friend by figuring out where one of his few acquaintances resided. Perhaps that woman from the brothel knew of their four-eyed companion? The duo hitched a ride from a carriage in Hikone leading straight to Nagoya which proved no time at all. (They'd actually slipped onto the hay covered wagon, which kept them warm until they were discovered and…booted off.) From thereon, they walked to Hamamatsu station. As of now, Fuu was interrogating the owner of a resident eel stand slow on business from the sudden snowfall.
"Shino-san? That woman used to run the dry-goods cleaners shop. About…let's see, wow. A while ago! Don't mean to gossip but, her husband sold her into prostitution after accumulating gambling debt. I heard she went to a divorce temple…But I guess something happened to the husband. He died which nullified their marriage so she left early on her three year sentence."
"Her husband died?"
"Yeah. Killed, actually. Some say the gambling house he owed debt to finally got him since Shino was in a divorce temple and couldn't pay for the expenses with brothel work. Others say his own wife hired someone to kill him so she could leave the divorce temple early. Or maybe it was just some guy who didn't like him."
"And Shino? Where did she go after she was freed?"
He continued, seeing how desperate she was for clues. "Word on the street is she's traveling with some ronin now. Funny, it's the same guy who worked for me a couple of years back. I guess he came back for her. Fell in love maybe."
Her eyes lit up. "That's them! That's Jin and Shino! Do you know where he is now?"
"I think the two of them are heading towards cities in the west. Not sure which one, maybe Osaka?"
'They got together after all. Huh.'
Something in Fuu made her want to smile and cry at the same time…maybe because she never had anyone return her own affections? No, she wasn't going to think about something ridiculous like that; for now, she should be every bit happy for Jin!
The man dressed snuggly in a hanten over his regular kimono-wear looked taken aback by what the brunette wore since she lacked proper winter wear of any kind to provide a shield of warmth from winter's treachery. Right before Fuu could leave, her stomach created a voice of its own, angrily shouting in protest for food.
"Hungry? This is an eel stand, you know."
"I…I have no money." She replied in a humble way, lowering her head and looking up at him.
"Umm…I can cook you some eel if you'd like. No business anyway so it'll be on me. I'm bored sitting her waiting for someone to stop by." The man indeed felt sorry for her, scratching his cheek while debating within himself if a girl of her stature would eat little.
…Mugen, whom had seen nonexistent during their conversation seemed to appear from thin air, taking a seat beside Fuu to eat every piece of food in sight. "Don't mind if I do."
"Uh wait, that was just for…her…Ah, whatever." Mugen and Fuu watched in wonder as the man skillfully prepared the unagi—slicing through them, charring the meat over the embers, then inserting the skewers and dipping them into the delectable sauce— before setting it down on a clay platter. "I hope you two enjoy."
They tore into the seafood, done in seconds… "Can you make more?"
Then after that serving…
"Damn, this is good. Make some more."
The eel stand proprieter began to feel drops of sweat forming on his brow….
"More please?"
Their appetites…were a force to be reckoned with.
As they finished their more or less rude pillaging of all the chow, the inconsiderate wanderer got up, leaving Fuu no choice but to tag along. "Thank you so much sir, for everything! Mugen, chotto!"
The eel stand manager sighed severely before alighting an unexpected, but true smile when the pretty traveler ran after her friend.
It became plain as day the further they walked, the more Fuu wanted (forced) Mugen to listen to her. "Hey, at least come with me to buy a haori or something to put over this flimsy kimono! If I'm this cold now, I'm going to freeze later!"
Fuu was ranting.
"You know, you don't have to ignore me because I say I'm cold. You're probably just as cold with those shorts on and you don't want to say anything! Mugennnnn!"
Again.
You can bet he wasn't in the mood for listening, especially since it felt much too warm to snow, they were broke as all hell and he reeeeallly needed to get laid right now. No one would witness Mugen complaining, not once! On he moped, dragging geta through the slush stacking without breaks or pauses. Then he thought of something…a conniving plan to get the whining brunette back for all the complaining he thoroughly failed to tune out.
"Come on, you jackass! Speak to m-"
"Eh?" She made an innocent yelp after realizing Mugen stopped in his tracks affront of where she followed. It appeared he bent to pick something up, who knows what…and she couldn't see over the sloping shoulders. Fuu squeaked the second time when Mugen appeared right in front of her, towering over her. "Hey, how about you…" He leaned down for a second, as if wanting her to listen in on what he was saying, (trying really hard to keep a solemn façade).
She couldn't help but mentally flip as the girlish heart within escalated its volume or the little butterflies creeped into her gut. Fuu cursed all these sudden feelings, using her logic that it was nothing and Mugen was…what was Mugen going to do anyway? 'Why's he so close? Why's he staring like that?!'
"…chill for a bit."
When the innocent and much too trusting woman felt the soppy ice slide down her bare skin, it became obvious why he'd stopped.
At the rear of her kimono collar, it was opened by lightning fast handwork…and a frosty lump of snow got dumped down the exposed skin of her back. "EYAHHH" He—the evil son of a bitch— retreated quickly to a safe distance while Fuu squirmed outrageously in a fit of pure hysteria from the now freezing clothes. The temperature wasn't incredibly low so the snow kind of….slid down repulsively like cold worms wriggling to be free. Ugh… And her obi was secured on her waist so the snow stagnated at the bottom instead of escaping all the way to the back of her calves...
Mugen was practically dying of laughter; and she wished he would, the bastard!
"YOU JERK!" Oh, she so planned to get that asshole back tenfold. The sleet-like snow was cold, giving her shivers as much as the frozen liquid in her attire but she was far too infuriated by the inconsiderate jerk to notice. Mugen felt something wet crash into his back.
As he turned around, another flew directly into his face, catching him flawlessly by surprise.
His dubious glare visible after the snow slipped off his stubble having chin was absolutely worth it. "Little bitch!" There Fuu stood arrogantly, one hand on her feminine hip and the other nonchalantly tossing a snowball up to land back into her hand. "Well if you're so offended, come and get me then! I bet you can't, you're too slow!"
"Bet you I can!"
She should've known not to taunt a man whose killed people. A few strides later, Mugen already caught up to her for the second time with a tackle, knocking her off balance for her to tumble straight into an accumulated pile of snow. Mugen was about to celebrate his victory when Fuu seized his arm, pulling him right down with her.
She threw more into his face while he began scooping piles of snow, pouring it over her head. It was so…childish. But neither wanted to finish the cheerful activity. Neither could contain their laughter, and neither had laughed in such a way in so long… This feeling…was nothing short of warm in her chest alone, made her head feel all dizzy inside. They whipped the icy orbs relentlessly at each other, egging the other on with every successful shot; especially to the face.
After some time, Fuu gave in first to the onslaughts of snow throwing in which Mugen proved to be a pro.
"Guess I win." Mugen smirked in pride, sprawling his legs out carelessly.
"And now I'm even more cold." revealed her grumble, but she wasn't any less happy that they got to hang out like this. She pulled her knees to her chest, hopefully to hiding that huge smile from Mugen's perception
"Lemme' see." Fuu reeled waaaaay back as the bad mannered male grabbed hold of her hand against her incessant gripes. How she could possibly begin to complain about being cold, he doesn't know considering how her warmth surged into his hand. "Your hand ain't even that cold. We're low on cash too, I'm pretty positive it's gonna be only a little chilly this year." All those words weren't heard by Fuu, who was tied up with the realization that Mugen was holding her hand. "Maybe if we travel south after Nagoya, it'll be somewhat warmer." he persisted on.
Shards of daylight slipped through the heavy cloud cover, bathing the snow in glowing rays of light. Mugen reached his other hand to brush off the snow on her head. Taking a strand of loose wet hair dangling in her face, he slipped it behind her ear with the same unoccupied hand. She gave him a questioning stare. Then he brought his palm to her head and tousled her hair all over again, kind of made her feel like a kid. Their faces were so close; the breathy wisps of hot air released from their mouths could be felt on both their frozen faces.
Fuu's cheeks burned in rosy shades at their close proximity and the way he had so nonchalantly fixed her locks. Heat erupted inside her, and that was strange…But she didn't want him to let go, not by any means. So she let him examine her closely, and continue holding her hand. The blushing young woman also allowed him to pull her up on her tired feet before they eventually got too close, an action not in his nature. She didn't dare complain.
Fuu then does something she knows she'll regret later. Instead of letting go of his palm still holding her own, she squeezes tighter.
Holding his hand was strictly off limits. He even said within the company of the child Kokoro that he wasn't a "holding hands type of guy". Why out of all the women in the world would he choose, let alone allow Fuu to hold his hand? Part of her more rational brain knows she's not supposed to get this close to a man like him; that getting closer will end up condemning her all the more by the end.
But she might not be freezinglater and she's freezing rightnow and his hand is in hers and its warm and there she wants it to stay….and…
The bewildered expression he gives back wounds her…Not enough to push her away though; she's definitely too physically cold to let go.
"Thanks. That was really fun." she says, and Mugen sort of shrugs off what she's doing over what she said and actually DOESN'T move to pull away from her clamp on his fingers.
She knows that eventually, sooner than later, in hardly any time at all, Mugen WILL ease out of her grasp. And it willhurt a lot because once again, she's not supposed to get close to something this warm. Eventually it'll begin to burn her. Fuu knows this. But…
At least for right now, in this single and short moment holding his hand, she wouldn't feel so friggin' cold.
~To Be Continued~
[A/N]: KYAH! Slight fluff XP The ending changed its past tense to present tense on purpose…kinda artistic(?)
The Samurai Champloo track Deeper than Words was referenced.
Me: So Jinny, how would you describe the relationship between Mugen and Fuu?
Jin: Hmm…
Shino: He doesn't very talk much.
Me: Yeah….we discovered this after the first few episodes. Okay, can you please use more than one syllable?
Jin: Mugen and Fuu's relationship…Idiotic.
Me: Idiotic…That's three syllables…*takes notes* Good good, anything else?
Jin: Violent. Temperamental. Bipolar.
Me: Would you say they…may in fact have something deeper than friendship?
Jin: If you could call their relationship friendship in any regards then….Hmm…
Me: YOU BASTARD! I NEED A DIRECT ANSWER! *Starts throttling Jin*
*Somewhere else far, far away*
Mugen: My left ear's ringin' bad.
Fuu: Me too! …Doesn't that mean someone's talking bad about us?
The story is still…pretty far from over.
I've ruined a mystery element the show always had….how it's never really known who the samurai who smells of sunflowers was for a while or where he was. Mugen and Fuu don't really know if Jin's alive or not yet, or where he's headed and what he's doing. So, I guess I tried to keep the mystery for them as valid as possible… (Making excuses for myself).
Review if you're confused on some details, liked it, got feedback, or anything. I love them ;3 and thanks to everyone who followed me on Tumblr!
End of Chapter 19