Disclaimer: I do not own the Samurai Champloo. But I can dream.
Yay! The sequel is finally here! Not that it took a long time for it to get started, but still. Anyway, I hope you like it!
Small Intentions
She sat up, the thin sheet of cloth used as a blanket slid down her stomach and landed on her lap. The warm night air called to her, pleading with her to go to it and embrace it.
And she did just that.
Standing, she made her way to the door. She glanced back at her mother, her belly large once more, sleeping next to her father. She held the looks of both of them, but more of her father's. She smiled at them. They argued a lot, but she still loved them.
Her feet stepped into the soft ground, the grass glittered with rain from just hours earlier. She loved the rain. The thunder, the crack in the sky from the lightening, the soothing sound of the rain hitting the roof. She adored it.
"Miyako!" the whisper was quiet, she almost didn't hear it. She went around the corner of the house, and there she saw Kenji. Kenji was her best friend, the son of Mr. Tanaka, the owner of the inn just a few a minutes away.
"Kenji, what are you doing here so late?" Miyako was happy to see him, but she tried to not let that show.
"Did you hear about the new people?" Kenji couldn't hide the excitement in his voice; he was smiling like an idiot.
"No, I didn't. What new people?"
"Well, I heard Father speaking to Mr. Watanabe, and Mr. Watanabe said he sold his shop. My father asked to who, and Mr. Watanabe said he sold it to some people who were just moving into this village! And I heard they were fairly wealthy!" Kenji cringed with unspeakable joy.
Miyako looked at him. But it wasn't just any look, it was her look. "You woke me up in the middle of the night just to tell me that some rich snobs are moving in?" well, he didn't actually wake her up, but that was beside the point. She rolled her eyes at him. Kenji didn't lose his excitement, however.
"But do you know what this means!" his eyes were wide now, and in the dark, it was sort of creepy.
"Now, Kenji, I don't know what it means. But I think you're gonna tell me." she crossed her arms.
"It means that they could buy our village and afford to make it nicer!"
"Our village is one of the best there is, Kenji. It doesn't really get much better than this, you know." her voice wasn't as harsh as it was before.
"Yeah, but..." he glanced down at the ground, his feelings hurt.
She smiled. "Kenji, I didn't mean to make you sad." she put a hand on his back. He was much taller than she, and a year older, but he still acted like he was younger. He was extremely sensitive, which often made him the object of ridicule to other boys his age. "I'm happy for you."
"Ok then!" he straightened up, his excitement returning as quickly as it had left. "I have to get going now, though; if Father knew I was out this late, he'd have a fit." they hugged, and off Kenji went.
By now, Miyako was about ankle-deep in mud. The corner of her nose turned up, making another one of her many faces. But she decided to ignore this, once again absorbed by the mystery of the night. The animals, the noises, she was intrigued by it all.
"Miyako?" Another voice spoke her name, soft and sleepy. She turned around. It was Cho, the youngest of them all for the time being. "What are you doing up so late at night?"
"Cho, you should go to sleep. Don't you want to get up early tomorrow to go shopping with Mama?"
"Yes, but I want to know why you are up. Every night you get up and come out here, but you don't do anything."
"You watch me?" Miyako was slightly angered by this. "For how long?"
"For about a month." She rubbed her eye with a small hand and yawned.
"Go back to bed, Cho." The little girl nodded and went back into the house. It was another hour before Miyako went to bed. She was sweaty and covered in mud. She had visited a grave, that of her aunt's; she had never met her, but from what her mother and father told her, she was a wonderful girl who died much too early. She deserved to live, and Miyako thought of it that way, too.
She wiped her feet off and crawled back under the thin blanket. She closed her eyes, and after fifteen or so minutes, she fell asleep.
The morning came much too early for the children, as it did every morning. Cho and Sumiko had left with Fuu, Mugen was at work and Takashi had left with his girlfriend to go do something, probably to go cause some problems for some people in town.
So only Miyako was left.
She was sitting outside under a tree, eating, when Kenji approached her. He plopped down on the ground next to her, a wide grin on his face. "Miyako!"
"What?" She didn't look at him, just kept staring straight ahead of her and eating.
"Guess what I have!"
"Um... a life?"
"Seriously! Guess what I have."
"Um... I give up. Tell me."
"This!" He shoved a necklace in front of her face. She stopped eating and stared at it, tracing it with her eyes.
"Oh, wow, it's beautiful! Where'd you get it?" She barely touched it with her fingertips, treating it as if it would break if she held it in her unworthy hands.
"I found it while I was working this morning." He let it drop into her hands. She turned it over in her palms, making sure what she saw was really what was in her hands.
"I wish I could have something beautiful." The chain was made out of fishing wire twined together, nothing expensive. But it held a gem, a gorgeous stone that sparkled when the sun hit it. It was a dark red color, the stone, with a beautiful gold decoration at the top so it could be hooked through the string.
"Well, you do." Kenji blushed a little bit. "When I saw it, I thought of you. So as soon as I was finished working, I ran straight here to give it to you." Her eyes widened. She was speechless. What could she say?
"K-Kenji, I couldn't – Do you know how much this is worth?" Kenji nodded, his blush growing deeper.
"Keep it, please." She smiled and put it around her neck. She admired it for a second, looked at Kenji, and hugged him around his neck, causing him to fall backwards, with her on top of him.
"Oh, Kenji! Thank you so much! You don't know how much this means to me!" She hugged him tighter, and he hugged her back.
She finally got off of him, enabling him to breathe. "I'm in a good mood now. You wanna go do something?" Kenji smiled.
"Sure, what do you want to do?"
"Well..."
After about three hours of running around everywhere, Miyako finally returned home just in time for dinner.
Fuu looked up when Miyako came in. "Where have you been, Miyako? I was worried."
"I was out with Kenji." She sat down and Fuu passed her some food. After a couple of minutes of silence, Sumiko spoke.
"Where's Daddy?" Fuu almost choked on her food. After swallowing and drinking enough tea to satisfy three or more people, she spoke.
"Daddy's... um... working... yeah, he had to work late tonight."
"He has to work late every night." Sumiko pouted.
"Um, yes, well, he's very busy these days. You know, he has to make a living. Now eat your food Sumiko." Fuu tried to change the subject. "So how was everyone's day?"
"What is Daddy working on?" Cho asked, her mouth full with so much food some flew out her mouth.
"Cho, Honey, don't talk with food in your mouth.."
"Yeah, what is Daddy doing?" the two littlest ones made a racket and Fuu's head began to throb. She was about to lose control of her nerves when Jin came in with his fiancé, Yamako.
"Oh, Jin, you're here." Fuu pushed herself up and went greet him and Yamako. "Jin, they're asking questions I can't answer." She whispered to him. Jin looked at the two squabbling children, they met his gaze and quickly hushed. They knew better than to get on Jin's bad side.
"Yamako, Jin, so nice to see you two again. Please, sit down and eat. There's plenty to go around." Fuu went to go get some more mats for the lovebirds.
Yamako was a very unlikely person for Jin to marry; she was very loud and outgoing, while Jin was his usual quiet self. Meeting with Yamako, one would think, would make him a bit more open, but it didn't. However, Jin seemed to have an affect on Yamako, since she settled down quite a bit after they meet.
It had begun to rain, and the night was dark with it's emotions. It was an hour after Jin and his fiancé had arrived when Mugen showed up. The children had already gone to bed, which was a good thing, since Mugen was covered in grit and mud.
"Mugen – "
"I'm fine. I'm gonna go wash up and change before I eat." Under Mugen's eyes were bags from his fatigue, he was sunburnt on his face and arms, and he was acting very different than what his usual attitude.
"Ok, Honey. If you need anything just call me." He nodded then disappeared in the room in the back of the house. Fuu sighed, obviously upset. Jin didn't say anything since he already knew what was wrong, but Yamako did.
"Fuu, what's the matter?" Yamako gave her a worried smile.
"Oh, nothing. Mugen... Well, he just hasn't been himself lately. He's been coming home stressed and always in a bad mood – not his usual bad mood, a worse one." She shook her head.
"It's probably because he's been working later than usual. With another baby on the way and all, he has to so he can keep all of you fed." Yamako reassured her. Fuu was still upset, however. She knew there had to be something else other than that; and she was determined to find out.
Mugen sank deeper and deeper into the warm water. Everything for him lately had been stressful. Even things he used to enjoy doing he really couldn't enjoy anymore. Would he make enough money to feed his family? Would he even make enough to keep his family clothed? Could he find another job to work if he didn't make enough? And if he couldn't find another job, how would he provide? These agonizing thoughts raced through his head. Then another though struck him: How would he pay the doctor for when Fuu's baby came?
He sat up straight in the water now, having soaked in it for thirty minutes he figured he was good and clean, so he stepped out and dried off and put on some ragged clothes to sleep in.
When he found Fuu, she was picking up everything the kids had left behind. "Fuu, stop that. I'll get it." She looked up at Mugen, smiling.
"Thank you." She kissed him on the cheek.
"Fuu, we need to talk." he grabbed her hands gently and squeezed them. "Fuu, I don't think we have enough money."
Fuu looked at him, confused. "What are you talking about? We have plenty of money and – "
"No, Fuu, that's not what I meant. We have enough money right now, but we don't have enough to last us on. But I can always find another job. I was just telling you so you wouldn't go on another shopping spree like you did today."
Fuu shook her head. "Mugen, you can't handle another job! You already work from sunup to a few hours past sundown!"
"I can handle it!"
"No, you can't." she thought for a minute. "It's settled then. I'll find a job somewhere, two if I have to. And I'll make Takashi and Miyako work too."
"Then who'll watch Sumiko and Cho?"
"I'll get Kenji to do it! He loves them and they love him. He'd do it for free."
"Alright then. But I don't want you working too hard." Mugen really didn't like the idea of her working at all since she was eight months pregnant, but he knew he couldn't stop her once she had her mind set on something.
I hope you like this first chapter, it was sorta rushed through. I tried to picture how Mugen would act if he was tired all the time with a pregnant wife, and it sort of came out like this. I figured since he was a little bit older (I'm guessing maybe late 20's, early 30's) that he would have matured a little, so there isn't gonna be much fighting between the two. There will be some, though. Well, please review! And don't be too harsh, please.