Samurai Champloo is owned by Ganeon, etc. I make no profit from this work.

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"Oww!"

Annoyed that she had to interrupt her journey for such a stupid reason, especially after having made good time so far, Fuu hobbled over to and then steadied herself with one hand on the trunk of the nearest tree, a stout old maple. Slowly, gingerly, she rolled her foot around her ankle joint, testing through the growing soreness for any sharper pain. Softly cursing the distraction that caused her to stumble into the divot in the first place, namely, one wayward raccoon-dog that had leaped across the road just in front of her, she moved errant strands of hair from her face as she looked about to get her bearings. Glancing up at the waning sun, she considered now just how far she had traveled to get to where she was, in this place, at this moment.

Seven miles.

That was as far as she had gotten when the nagging voice in the back of her head finally won out. It had been silent for the first few miles of her solo journey. But then that voice began to whisper to her what it knew to be true, and her heart, hearing that muted plea, added its enthusiastic agreement. Softly at first, then with more and more urgency, as it found hope still alive, it pulled her in the direction directly opposite the one her logical mind adamantly demanded she not abandon. She had even stopped to get a bite to eat, to give herself time to reason with... herself. The grilled squid should have tasted delicious, but it's so hard to enjoy a meal when one can actually hear one's own heart pounding away. She thanked the proprietor, then, leaving her meal half-eaten. When was the last time that had happened?

The episode with her father was over now, and she had finally made her peace with that one. However, the emotional impact of the events leading up to that resolution had been great. Her mind a whirlwind of activity then, her judgment had been severely affected when they had reached that crossroad, and parted ways with each other.

What had she been thinking?

They were fire and water, those two, and she had somehow become the vessel, the beaker, the kettle that separated them, that kept them from evaporating the one or extinguishing the other. Although barely able to be in their presence at first, she had eventually found the inner truths that each had held close to his breast, and her understanding and patience grew with each day they spent together. She had become the medium that allowed them to synergize the volatile, in the case of Mugen, and simmering, in the case of Jin, energies to the extent that they could finally work together to overcome the deadly sequence of events that had threatened to kill them all.

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While not as windy as it had been, the temperature was still a bit cool to her liking. Since her mother had died, she had to learn to travel alone, but she still didn't enjoy it. Traveling at night was even worse for her, and she did it as little as possible. A full moon was making itself known as the last strands of sunlight gave up their ghosts. She sighed as she reminisced about her erstwhile bodyguards, and how she had grown familiar with, and even comforted by, their presence.

By her estimate, she was maybe another two miles or so from the crossroad, plus or minus a half-mile, as she was still not a great judge of distance. Reaching down to rub at the soreness, she then tested the foot, placing an increasing amount of weight on it. It wasn't too bad, she thought, so she shifted until she was standing on it, and, lifting her other foot, determined that the pain was relatively minor; she would continue. A bit more carefully, as well as slowly, but she needed to get back there, because if one or the other of those two had come to the same conclusion as she had, and had made the journey back, then she didn't want for them to give up and leave.

Without her.

She realized that she had developed feelings for both men. The raucous, uncouth hard-head who scratched his ass in public, and the low key, soft spoken gentleman whose emotions were bound up as if a spider had captured his heart and now spun its cocoon about it, both had touched her deeply. She was confused, because, well, how could she love two men at the same time? If, by the slimmest chance, either of them came back to that spot, to see if she had come back…

Those feelings had given her enough rope, seven miles worth, to see that her truth, her future had to include one of them.

But which one?

The creatures of the night croaked out their symphony as she stopped to adjust her kimono more tightly about herself. It was getting even cooler, and she was thankful that Momo gave her some of his warmth, such as it was. She checked on him then, nestled comfortably within her bosom, his eyes black marbles that stared back at her, almost as if he could look into her and read her thoughts.

"Eep?"

"We've got a bit more distance to go, Momo. I really don't know why I'm doing this. Both of those guys are probably miles away from here by now. Stuck in their own worlds, it probably never registered to either of them that a young girl traveling alone could possibly find herself in trouble. Some bodyguards, those jerks."

Momo made little flying squirrel noises; these seemed to help her with the loneliness, which had been growing as soon as she knew she had to turn around and go back.

She passed other way-farers on the road, most recently a group of Buddhist monks heading in the opposite direction, lanterns waving, somehow reminding her of an undulating dragon, the display usually seen at festivals. Although she had no money, they blessed her, each of them as he passed, and she bowed her thanks in return. She watched them depart until the last of them turned the corner in the road, disappearing. Fuu then took a deep breath, then continued her journey with renewed vigor, buoyed by the blessings she had just received.

Presently, the road cleared the forest, and she could see the cross-road up ahead. She picked up her pace, eyes now searching frantically for any sign of those two, or even a sign that they had been there and moved on.

Nothing.

Her heart fell, but she chided herself.

"Of course they wouldn't be coming back. They never gave me any indication…"

She looked for as far as the eye could see in the direction Jin had gone, then down the path Mugen had taken. She waded into the waist-high grass toward the only tree in the vicinity.

"Momo, climb up into that tree and see if you can spot either of those two heading this way."

"Eep."

How the squirrel was able to understand her she had never figured out, but she was glad to have him as a traveling companion. He leaped from her hand to the tree, then scurried up the trunk until he was about twenty-five feet high and began his lookout. Fuu was bone-tired from all the walking, so she sat, making herself as comfortable as she could on grass she flattened down with her feet.

'Another grass mattress. Oh well...'

She could stay out of sight yet still check out any passers-by from at least a bit of a hiding place behind the grass stalks. Young women shouldn't travel alone at night; her mother's lecturing voice was echoing in her head now. Fallen samurai, various and sundry criminals, and others of low repute traveled at night, looking to take advantage of whatever situation they came upon. That might be true, but this was important. One or the other of her former bodyguards, no, her friends, could be on his way right now to see if she had come back. Or perhaps both of them. Would they finally express their feelings to her?

Would they fight over her?

Her stomach lamented the remains of the lunch she had left behind, and it reminded her, loudly. It would have to wait its turn, as this was something she had to know. It was quiet now, almost eerily so, as if the forest creatures all went to bed at the same time. She laughed softly at that idea, even as she found it hard to keep her own eyes open.

'Mugen. Jin. Where are you?'

Her last thought before nestling her head on her folded arms, and she was out in minutes.

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A/N: Who returns, if anyone?