Title: Enemies of the Heart (working title)

Author: Neldluva

Fandom: Samurai Champloo

Rating: R

Pairing: Jin/Mugen

Warnings: yaoi, naughty language, liberties taken with the show's timeline, PWP-ish, ANGST

Disclaimer: I own nothing. It all belongs to those who created Samurai Champloo ... and made it so delightfully slashy. The only person I own is Kumiko, and her story is mine as well.

Summary: Our trio gives their thoughts on the addition of a new member to their group. Written in POV.

Mugen

I don't like the girl. And it isn't like Jin said, it isn't just 'cause she beat me – she didn't even beat me! I just looked away for a bit and she kicked at me. It wasn't even fair.

I guess it threw me off guard that she looked so much like Jin. They had the same fucking eyes, and hers didn't even have the glasses to separate her gaze from me. She was tall for a girl, not that much shorter than me. Her hair was longer than Jin's and her face was just a little rounder, but other than that, fuck, they could have been twins. And she really did look like a boy in those clothes. Either she had tiny tits or she strapped them down tight.

She didn't like me either, and that just made me dislike her more. What have I ever done to her? She was the one that had kicked me! She sometimes just gets this look in her eyes like I'm mud on her geta, or like I'm a dog that needs beating or something. The only thing that keeps me from beating her up at times like that are Jin's threat that he'd fight me, or, worse, not fuck me anymore. Stupid girl.

The worst part of it was that, because she looked so much like Jin, I had the hots for her. Fuck, I've always liked tough girls. If I didn't dislike her so much, and if she wasn't Jin's sister, she'd be right up my alley. Sometimes I start wondering what size those tits actually are, and I have to go dunk my head in water or beat something up or fuck Jin to stop thinking about it.

Stupid girl. Why did she have to find us? We were getting along just fine until she showed up. I still don't trust her. She wasn't telling the whole truth that night when she spilled that story to Jin, I know it. I have to find out what's up with her. She's got me all thrown off, and I hate that.

Jin

Kumiko. After all this time, my little Kumiko is returned to me. I thought I had left her behind forever when I left the dojo, though I suppose I should have known better. We have never been able to be apart long. I should have known she would come after me.

She has changed, though. She is not the bright-eyed young girl that I remember. There is a haunted look in her eyes that had never been there before. She has lost weight and grown taller. She is a woman now. She looks like our mother, or at least she looks like the vague memory I have of our mother. It feels so unfair to me that my beautiful young sister should have had to endure such pain.

I want to kill our brother for marrying her off so thoughtlessly! I had heard from Yuki of his uncle Rinji, who was indeed old and mean, as well as a minion of the shogunate. Shoichi had betrayed our family deeper than he knew. Our parents would not have approved of his choices. And Kumiko had to pay the consequences. My poor sister, at the mercy of such a cruel man. I wanted to kill him as well.

It upset me that she didn't seem to get along with Mugen, nor he with her. In fact, I suspect that they would be at each other's throats if it wasn't for me and my threats. Kumiko has always had a hot temper, and she doesn't take kindly to Mugen's regard for me. She told me, once, in private, that she thought he was an evil dog and that I shouldn't waste my time with him. I hadn't been able to reply to that.

As for Mugen, I know he doesn't trust her. I don't understand why he doesn't trust her, but I am willing to listen to what he has to say on the subject. Mugen's instincts have come in handy before, though perhaps the situation with Sara would have been better solved if we had collaborated on our plans. So when he says he has a strange feeling about her, I don't disregard him. I agree, even, that it is odd that she should find me now, of all times, but I will not question fate. I am grateful that she is no longer with Hojo Rinji or stuck in a brothel, and of course I am glad to see her again. I just hope that she will get along with Mugen and Fuu.

Fuu

I don't know what to make of Kumiko. I don't like her too much, I can tell you that, though it is nice to have some female company for once. She's a lot like Jin was at first, all stuck up and silent, so she isn't exactly friendly female company. But at least that's better than nothing, right?

It was weird to share a room with her. I tried to be nice and quiet so I didn't disturb her, but because it was so quiet I could hear every little sniffle she made. I didn't know her well enough to go comfort her like I would have otherwise, and she had hurt me with what she said about my quest being silly, so I wasn't feeling friendly either. I just tucked myself into bed and fell asleep.

She started to open up after a few days, and with that I wasn't so afraid to talk to her. Sometimes, she tells me funny stories about Jin as a kid or about the boys in the dojo. She certainly smiles a lot more than Jin did. And it is sort of nice to have someone who pays attention to me, unlike the boys who just try to ignore me as much as they can, I think.

That's one other problem with Kumiko … as soon as she joined us, they stopped paying attention to me. She got Mugen flustered, so he's spending all of his time trying to figure her out, or maybe trying to get in her kimono. It's difficult to tell. And Jin is so happy to see her, I guess, that he forgets that there's another girl here he's supposed to be protecting. Some bodyguards. It wasn't like they paid a lot of attention to me before, but at least I wasn't invisible. As it is now, it would probably take a week for them to figure out if I'd been kidnapped.

I'm with Mugen. I don't trust her completely. And it isn't just because she doesn't think my quest is important. She just popped up out of nowhere. People don't do that unless they're looking for you. But I can't tell anything about her! She's all closed off like Jin was. I hope she doesn't plan to take Jin away from me, though, that's all I can say. I know that would just tear Mugen up, and I can't imagine going on without the both of them, especially if Mugen is going to be all sulky and mopey without Jin. I'm not a very tough girl, but I won't let her get away with that, no matter how nice she is to me.