Disclaimer: I do not own Samurai Champloo

The Road Less Traveled

" Mugen! Wait for me! Jin, hurry up or your going to be left behind!" Fuu shouted as she ran towards the samurai in red ahead of her.

" Why won't you just leave me alone woman?" Mugen looked back and started to run away after he saw that Fuu was chasing her.

" Not again…" Jin said feeling a bit annoyed.

It was midday and the trio were coming in on a small village. But first they needed to get through this road full of greenery. All in all, the scenery was beautiful, but the two samurai and the female were too tired to notice. They were hungry, weary, sleepy, and dirty. They really needed a rest. The constant bickering between Fuu and Mugen was not helping.

Suddenly, the three travelers froze in midair to listen to the swishing sound coming their way. They then ducked as a boomerang quickly glided over their heads. Had they not dodged, they would all be dead at this point. They watched as the boomerang flew a little more and then circled around and flew out of sight ahead of them.

" Damn trees! Can't see nothing!" Mugen said angrily as he kicked a rock with his foot.

" Mugen!" Jin said seriously.

Mugen nodded at Jin signaling that they were both ready to fight.

" Hmmm? What's all this about? What was that boomerang for? Who threw it at us? And why are you two so serious all of a sudden? You better start explaining things misters or I'll-" Fuu didn't get to finish her sentence.

A ninja came out of no where, grabbed Fuu, put her over his shoulders, and started running away from the two samurai.

Mugen and Jin were about to chase her before another ninja appeared. " Hey! You don't have time to be looking elsewhere! You fight is with me!" In his right hand he held an orange bladed boomerang that had a diamond in the middle.

Jin and Mugen's Battle

" My name is Shinoro Fumi. I am here to end your life!" Fumi said as he got ready to fight.

" Enough talk, let's play!" Mugen said with a smile as he took out his sword from its sheath and charged at Fumi.

Mugen stuck downwards with his blade but Fumi used his boomerang to block the attack just in time. Fumi twisted his boomerang around so that Mugen was forced to let go of his sword. It landed five yards away from the two fighters. Mugen jumped back ready to fight without his sword.

Before anyone else could charge at him, Fumi threw his boomerang so hard that it was extremely fast cutting through the air as if there was no gravity. Mugen smiled and made a poor attempt to catch the boomerang in midair. But the orange flash was to fast and sharp that it sliced Mugen's palm open leaving a gash half an inch thick.

Mugen grasped his right hand as blood constantly leaked from his hand to the floor. There was now a puddle. Mugen cursed and squatted down clutching his wound in pain.

Jin's POV

Jin had other things to worry about than his ally getting hurt, the boomerang was now speeding towards him. He jumped up and avoided the boomerang. However, The boomerang circled around and followed Jin as he jumped back. Jin constantly dodge the orange weapon that followed him wherever he went. He did take a quick glance to see where Fumi was. He was engaged in a sword fight with Mugen.

- How is this possible? The boomerang is following me and Fumi isn't even glancing at it. How is he controlling it if he is using his time to fight Mugen. It's as if this boomerang has a will of it's own, as if this was magic….what if I take out that jewel in the middle of it? What would happen then?-

Normal POV

Mugen stopped clutching his hand and noticed that Fumi was a bit busy with controlling his boomerang. So he quickly and unnoticeably crept to his sword. Once he had it in his hands, he rushed toward Fumi for payback.

" DIE!" Mugen shouted as he again slashed toward his opponent downwards with is blade.

Fumi blocked his attack not with a boomerang but with a sword this time. A sword that he pulled out of its sheath that hung at Fumi's waist. " I'll defeat you both!" Fumi shouted as he jumped back and engaged in battle with Mugen…

Meanwhile With Fuu

" Let me go! Let me go you stupid person!" Fuu shouted as she pounded her tiny fists on the ninja's back. The ninja however, ignored her shouting and kept on running through the field.

Suddenly, a small stubby flying squirrel crawled out of Fuu's pink Kimono robe. " Momo-san, what can you do?" Fuu said. Apparently the fact that she had a squirrel inside her clothes was no surprise.

Momo, the squirrel, climbed up Fuu's back, and onto the ninja's ear, where it then chewed through the skin and onto the cartilage.

" AAAHHHHH!" The ninja screamed in pain and dropped Fuu on the floor where she then got up. Momo was already back in Fuu's robe even before Fuu had stood up.

After the ninja stopped clutching his ear, he looked up at Fuu angrily.

Feeling threatened, Fuu pulled out her tanto and unsheathed it. " Stay back!" She warned. However, the ninja paid no attention to her words and slowly walked toward her.

After constant warnings, Fuu charged and rammed her small blade into the chest of the samurai. He groaned and fell to the ground lifeless.

Fuu, realizing what she had done, screamed and ran away from the corpse and back towards Mugen and Jin.

Jin and Mugen's Battle

The battle was over even before Fuu had got there.

Fumi was strong in sword fighting, he was powerful, but he lacked speed, and speed was the exact thing Mugen had.

Fumi slashed at Mugen's head horizontally. Mugen was quick enough to duck, just enough so that not even a single hair on his head was cut. He then whirled around so that he was facing away from his opponent where he rammed his sword into Fumi's belly.

Jin had just finished knocking the diamond off of the boomerang, where it then circled around to end Fumi's pain by decapitating him.

" Hn! Simple!" Mugen bragged as he took his sword out of the headless body and let it plunge to the ground.

Jin stayed silent. Fuu then rushed in and shouted, " Mugen! Jin! Where were you two? I had to take care of myself, I actually…killed someone…I….killed…………" Fuu stopped shouting and stared into open space as she reminisced over the memory of ending someone's life not too long ago.

" Let's go, we've got work to do. We've got to make it into town before sunset." Mugen said as he walked along the road casually as if nothing had happened.

" But, but, what about the body?" Fuu asked daring to glance at the carcass.

" Ahhh." Mugen said without a care.

" Leave it." Jin said a bit harshly as if it was a demand.

" Hmm…" Fuu pondered. She took her right index finger and touched her lip speculating. " Say, why do you think those people were after us?"

" Because," Jin said seriously. " There is a bounty on our heads."

" WHAT?" Fuu dropped her jaw in surprise.

" Hn! What did you think? Three wandering travelers killing wherever they go, every village they enter. That's why we take the road less traveled, that's why we go to small villages." Mugen stated.

" But…I didn't do anything!" Fuu shouted.

" I doesn't matter, you hang out with us, and that's all it takes, we're S-rank criminals that nobody can beat! Just let them send someone, I'll take them up and slice them up." Mugen said threateningly.

The trio continued along the road until they finally came to a small village where they entered and stayed the night. Unfortunately there was no more money for food, so they all were hungry that night.

-----

" Tell me old man or I swear I'll-" Mugen threatened the simple civilian as he held his sword at the man's throat.

" Alright, alright, I'll tell you. I last saw the man that smelled like sunflowers…he was headed toward…"

" 3, 2, 1,"

" OK, OK, OK, OK, OK! He was head toward, you know.."

Mugen leaned in closer to hear the man's voice which was now lowered to a whisper.

" The….the…fire country."

Mugen let go of him and in a split-second, the man was gone. " Fire country? Where's that?"

Jin was the first to speak after a long silence, " It's to the east of here. We can reach it in five days non stop if we go now."

" I'm not going that far!" Mugen said stubbornly as he crossed his arms.

" MUGEN!" Fuu shouted screaming loud for all to hear. " You made a promise and your not going to break it."

Mugen's POV

Mugen only grunted again to show that he was not going to go. Next thing he knew there was a rope tied around his waist, the rope was connected to Fuu's waist, and he was being dragged along a dirt road.

" What? Where the heck are we?" However he got no answer from Jin or Fuu.

Flashback

The trio woke up one by one to hear their stomachs grumbling at a piercing volume.

They each got up and got dressed ready to start their day looking for information. After hours of searching, Fuu finally found an old man that knew the whereabouts of the man that smelled like sunflowers. However, he did not want to say nothing. Which explains the reason for Mugen's usual behavior.

Six Days Later…

" Here we are, the Fire Country. Looks pretty nice. I wonder why the man was scared to even say the name." Fuu said.

" It's because," Jin started, " all the greatest ninja in all of the world, live here in this small part of Japan."

" Bring it on! I'll take em all!" Mugen shouted waving a fist through the air.

So the trio set out towards the setting sun, towards Konoha village.

Author's note: Plz review and in the next chapter they will meet. also i will try to extend the fight scenes as much as i can. thank you