Disclaimer: I do not own Samurai Champloo.

Well, this is it. The final chapter. It makes me sad but excited that I've finally completed one. Ok, well thanks to you all!


Heavenly Peace

For the next couple of years, Michiko's health had its ups and downs. For weeks she would be bedridden, unable to walk and hardly able to move. Then, she would suddenly feel better and could do things like she could before. But then she would pass out and she would become bedridden once more.

The result of Mugen and Fuu's little night of love was a baby boy they named Takashi. And after a year or so of off and on relationships, they finally tied the knot.

Jin, however, remained single, finding someone to love every now and then, but never getting too serious. Usually, he stayed behind and watched Takashi while Mugen and Fuu were busy.

And even though they settled down and put a hunt on the Sunflower Samurai for a while, life still continued to be happy for them all. Mugen and Jin still fought like cats and dogs, Fuu broke them up, and Michiko became engaged, her little crush on Jin fading away into a love that was more sister-to-brother.


Fuu chopped up the vegetables in an awkward way, her large, round belly making it that way. She sighed, wiping away sweat. She was due at any moment, and she was ready.

"Fuu?" Michiko stood, smiling. "You wouldn't mind if I went out on a walk with Saburo, would you?" Fuu turned and smiled, shaking her head.

"No, I wouldn't mind, not at all. Jin's here watching Takashi, so if anything happens, he'll be here." she put her hands on her hips. Michiko's face lit up and she hugged Fuu carefully.

"I'll be back before dinner, I promise!" she ran out the door. Today was one of her better days, of course, or else she wouldn't have been able to be this active. She stood outside, close to the tree where they usually met. Saburo ran up to her, smiling, arms out. He hugged her, and then she coughed.

"Are you sick again?" she shook her head, still coughing. "You should go back, Michiko."

"No, no, I'm all right. I only had something in my throat." she stood up straight and smoothed out her kimono.

"Well, ok, then." he still wasn't too sure, but he knew she would never agree with him to go back home. So he just wouldn't walk with her too far before turning around and bringing her back home. He had just come back from talking with Mugen, who was currently out help unloading goods. It didn't pay much, but it kept food on the table. But it was almost nightfall, and soon he would be on his way home.

"Saburo?" she said, her voice soft.

"Yeah?"

"If.. If I were to die right now... would you forget me like I was never here?"

His eyes widened. "Where do these words come from? Don't speak of your death, please. You're going to live a long, healthy life."

"Please, just answer the question." she was acting very out of character, and it worried Saburo.

He shook his head. "No, I could never forget you. I don't think I could marry someone else if you died."

She thought for a moment. "Well, when I do die, I want you to."

"What?" he stopped. "You want me to do what?"

"I want you to forget me and remarry when I die. I want you to be happy." she turned to him. She wasn't joking, he could tell by the look in her eyes. "Promise me you will."

At first, he wouldn't say anything, only stare at the ground. "If you don't, I won't be happy, either."

"All right then, fine. I promise that when you die I will remarry and forget you." of course, he would never be able to forget her, but he could remarry.


Mugen hefted the box up and carried it over to the warehouse. He repeated it many times, until finally sitting down to have a drink before he went home. Everyone else had left, and he was the only one. He let out a gasp of air, tired, ready to go home to his wife. He closed his eyes for a moment, and for a couple of minutes he fell asleep. Or, it seemed that long anyway.

"Mugen!" he heard his name being called from a distance. He opened his eyes, and Saburo was running toward him, a scared look on his face. "Mugen, hurry up, something's wrong with Michiko!"

"And you left her alone!" he and Saburo were now running at a rapid pace, faster than ever before.

"I didn't want to pick her up and hurt her! She just started to cough, and she said she was ok, but then she fell down and started to cough up blood!" they reached her in a matter of minutes, and there she lay on the ground on her side, a small pool of crimson weighing down the grass around her head.

Mugen dropped down and put her in his lap. "Michiko?" when she didn't answer, he looked up at Saburo, almost crying. "Go get a doctor." he nodded and spun around on his heel and sprung out into a run like before. Mugen didn't watch him leave but instead tried to get Michiko to open her eyes. After about five minutes of trying, her eyes flickered open, but only a little.

"M-Mugen?" her voice was barely audible. Faintly smiling, she grabbed his hand weakly. This wasn't the same grasp she used to have two years earlier, no, it was a grasp of a little girl.

"Michiko, it'll be all right, just hold on a little longer, Saburo has gone to get you a doctor." Michiko shook her head.

"Mugen... I want you to know... that I'll always love you, all of you... Please tell them that..." her eyes started to shut again.

"Michiko, no! Don't talk like that. You're gonna live! Michiko!" he shook her a little, but not hard.

"I love you..." she whispered, still smiling, before her head rolled to the side and her hand went limp. Mugen shook her a couple more times, crying by now, but not sobbing. Silent tears dripped from his face onto hers. He held her tight, in a hug. Then he remembered that dream, the dream he had long ago, the dream that he had almost forgotten about.

"I love you..."

His eyes went wide. He thought he knew the meaning of the dream, but it seems like it meant something else. Now he knew... He would meet a strange girl, and then he would begin to love her, and then she would die in his arms, taking her piece of his heart with him.

Once again, he lifted his head. He heard his name. It was Saburo again. He stopped when he was in front of him, gasping from breath.

"Mugen, I went to find the doctor... but when I got there, they said he was out... at your house... because Fuu went into labor..." Mugen stood quickly, Michiko in his arms. He gave her body to Saburo.

"Saburo, you know what to do. She always liked the forest behind our house. Burry her there and mark it with her name." he knew Michiko would understand why he himself didn't burry her.

He ran to his home at the same rapid pace as before. When he arrived, he could hear her screaming from outside the house. He walked in just on time, since Jin was having to take his place. As soon as Mugen went to Fuu's side and held her hand, Jin tried to leave, but Fuu wouldn't let go.

"Push!" the doctor told her.

"I am pushing, dammit!" she hissed. "Mugen, you son of a bitch! I'm never letting you touch me again! You, you did this to me! And Jin, you bastard, you let him do this to me!" her face was purple, and so was their hand. But then, one big push, the sound of crying, and a release of held breath signaled that the baby was finally born.

"It's a girl!" he smiled, cleaned it off and handed it to Mugen. Mugen seemed afraid of the baby, holding the fragile little being in his arms gently.

About ten minutes later, the doctor left. Now it was Jin's turn to hold the baby. He held it, more carefully and awkwardly than Mugen had. Fuu slept, smiling.


Later that night, when Fuu woke up Mugen told her what had happened to Michiko. Fuu cried, and Mugen held her close. She wiped the tears away, her head under his chin, her hand on his chest, in his lap. "I was thinking... maybe we could name the baby after Michiko." Mugen nodded.

"What did you have in mind?" his voice was gentle, not like before, when they weren't married.

"I was thinking Miyako."

"It's beautiful."

"You think so?" Mugen nodded, holding her closer to him. "Tomorrow we'll visit her grave and show her who she's named after."

They went to sleep that night, a deep sleep. But tonight, Mugen did not dream.

The next morning, they woke and visited her grave. They showed the grave to Miyako, then Fuu, Takashi and Miyako left. Mugen wanted to stay behind a little longer.

He sat there, rethinking old times they had shared, laughing, crying and just talking to her, hoping she would hear. When he stood to leave, a warm breeze passed by. When it did, he swore he heard a voice, a familiar voice. It was only the tiniest of sounds, a small whisper carried by the wind. I might have been just that, but he truly believed he heard her.

"I love you..."

Ok, so this was finished a lot faster than I expected. It makes me sad to see it finished. Well, I hope you liked it. I'm planning on a sequel, too, so watch out for it. Thank you all who reviewed! You really helped bunches. And I bet you're wondering why I said "Miyako" as her name and not "Michiko." Well, it has two syllables in this name that was in Michiko's name (I thought it would be kinda dumb to name her Michiko, too). I really made this name up, "Mi" meaning beautiful, "ya" meaning rain, and "ko" meaning child. The first two syllables I'm not exactly sure about, but all the names I've seen for girls with "ko" at the end have "child" in the meaning at then end also, so I just put two and two together. So in a way it's like naming her after Michiko, but still having a name of her own at the same time, sorta.I suppose that's all I have to say, so again I hope you all enjoyed it and that it turned out good.