I guess I'm gonna make this a series of one-shots now?

So I originally had a different opening to this, but it was lost along with my original hard drive when I sent in my computer for repairs because I'm an idiot who didn't back up her data beforehand. FML. At least I handwrote most of the rest of it so it wasn't a complete loss.

Inspired by roolph's cute sketch: tumbl r.com (slash) post (slash) 88645327032

Jin's enigmatic quote is by Martha Graham, which I guess fits with the anachronistic sense of the show.

I don't own Samurai Champloo. If I did there would have been at least 2 more seasons, just sayin'.

Sunburn

The sun shone brilliantly in the pale blue sky, and the ocean waves lapped against the shore. Even with the cool wind blowing off the water and swirling around the cliff face looming above the small cove, it promised to be a very warm day.

Fuu closed her eyes and lifted her face to the sun and sighed contentedly. Behind her, Jin stood as stoic as ever, with Mugen next to him, his hands behind his head and a blade of grass between his teeth.

They had stumbled upon this natural cove when Fuu had nearly tumbled over the cliff while looking for a spot in the forest to relieve herself. The trio found a narrow path winding down the cliff face and now stood on the sandy shore. Fuu breathed in the balmy air.

"We should camp here for the night!" she said brightly. She kicked off her zori and dug her toes in the sand.

"What? It's barely even midday!" Mugen said behind her, spitting the blade out the blade of grass. Fuu turned to face him and put her hands on her hips.

"We've been walking for three days straight, and I don't know about you guys but I'm exhausted!" She slumped her shoulders for effect. Mugen smirked and stretched his arms above his head.

"That's just because you're a weak little bitch."

Fuu opened her mouth to respond, but Jin broke his silence.

"The nearest village is another day's walk, but the only road passes over a small mountain." He folded his arms in his sleeves. "I agree with Fuu. We should stay here to rest and regain our strength."

Fuu smiled smugly at Mugen. "See? Two against one! You've been outnumbered." She clasped her hands behind her back and leaned forward. "Think of it as a mini vacation!" Mugen shrugged.

"Whatever," he said, shoving his hands in the pockets of his pants. Jin nodded, and Fuu beamed and clapped her hands together.

"Awesome! Okay, I'm going to go get some firewood and Mugen, you can fish for our lunch-"

"I wish to be the one to fish," Jin interrupted. Fuu paused in designating setting up camp, and she and Mugen turned to glance at the stoic samurai in disbelief. Mugen quirked a jagged brow.

"Uh, no offense, Four-Eyes, but you pretty much suck ass at fishing," he said. Fuu glared at him, and punched his shoulder, but Mugen ignored her.

Jin's eyes fixed on a rock jutting above the water, just wide enough to sit on, a few yards from the shoreline. The perfect spot to cast a line.

"Practice is a means of inviting the perfection desired," he said enigmatically. His eyes flashed to his two companions, and there was a look of steely determination in them that brooked no argument. Mugen and Fuu exchanged a look laced with doubt.

"Um, alright. I guess we'll leave you to it," said Fuu. "Me and Mugen will go get firewood, and maybe see if there are any berries or nuts to pick, too."

Jin nodded in acknowledgement, and Fuu grabbed Mugen's sleeve, tugging him back towards the path going up the cliff. He shrugged out of her grip and looked down at her, a frown on his rugged face.

"You do realize that by letting Four-Eyes do the fishing we probably won't get to eat today," he commented. Fuu's lips curled up in a half smile, and she shrugged. She checked to see if Jin was completely out of earshot before leaning over to whisper in Mugen's ear.

"Maybe some of these saltwater fish will take pity on him and sacrifice themselves. Or maybe they'll be dumber than freshwater fish and he'll actually be able to outwit them." She giggled at her own joke at the expense of her friend, and Mugen smirked.

"But maybe we should nab a squirrel or something," she added. "Just in case."

Thirty minutes later they had a rim of stones set in the sand, and a neat pile of logs ready to be set ablaze to cook Jin's promised catch. Jin was perched on his rock with his line in the water, Fuu was knee deep in the cool waves with her kimono hiked up, and Mugen rested against a driftwood log, his head tilted back and eyes closed. The sun continued its way across the sky, and the heat increased just enough to be uncomfortable. Soon, the two body guards and the young woman were sweating through their clothes.

Fuu tugged her kimono where it rested against her collarbone. Even with the water cooling her legs, the sun still beat down on her head and shoulders mercilessly. She sighed and made her way back to the fire pit, her wet feet gathering sand as she went. She plopped down next to Mugen with a huff.

"Geez, I didn't think it's be this hot today," she said, trying and failing to tie back her sleeves so her arms could get some air.

"You think this is hot?" the young man beside her asked. He lifted his head to look at her. "Compared to where I'm from this is practically normal." He leaned back and closed his eyes again.

Fuu was surprised to hear him mention his past so casually, especially after the incident with Koza and Mukuro where they betrayed him and he very nearly drowned. Life in the Ryukyus was a taboo subject even by normal standards, so Fuu wasn't sure how to reply without bringing to mind painful memories, both Mugen's and hers. Instead, she let her gaze wander over to Jin perched on his rock, and noticed he had removed his dark blue kimono due to the heat, and the pale skin of his back shone like a beacon. Fuu blushed and averted her eyes, embarrassed that she had been staring, and even more surprised that Jin had abandoned modesty.

Mugen opened his eyes to peek at the unusually silent girl next to him, and noticed the pink tinge to her cheeks. He reached out a tan finger to poke the soft flesh below her eye.

"Finally getting' some sun there, girlie?" he teased. She swatted his hand away and frowned at him. Lucky for her Mugen hadn't noticed Jin shirtless and made the connection between that and her embarrassed blush. Otherwise he would have made her life hell with the inevitable teasing.

Seeing he wasn't getting a rise out of her, Mugen gave up and looked out to sea, finally noticing Jin's bare back. The corners of his mouth quirked up.

"Looks like Four-Eyes has got the right idea!" he said, sitting up to shrug out of his red haori and gray stitched shirt. Fuu's eyes bugged out of their sockets as she tried to scoot away from the pirate on her butt.

"W-What are you doing?" she squeaked as Mugen's tanned torso became visible. He draped the garments over the log and resumed his previous sitting position.

"It's hot! What else do you expect me to do?" he huffed, running his fingers through the sweat soaked hair at his temples. Her eyes briefly lighted on his toned chest before she shook her head and averted her eyes with her hand.

"To at least maintain some decency! This isn't a brothel, you know!" she said vehemently. Mugen scoffed.

"It's not like there's anyone around to see us, for fuck's sake," he grumbled, settling against the log and stretching out his arms along the length of it. Fuu pouted, but her eyes kept glancing back at the rather delicious sight of Mugen's lithe upper body exposed to the sun. By now she was sweating profusely in her kimono, and not all of it was due to the sun. She tugged on her collar again.

"Just take your friggin' kimono off if you're so damn hot!" Mugen said, annoyed. "It's not like it's nothing we haven't seen already!" Fuu gawped at him.

"What the hell are you talking about?!" She instinctively brought her hands to her chest and angled her body away from him. Mugen smirked and gestured towards her chest.

"When you were the dice roller in that gamble between the two yakuza gangs a while back. You were practically naked from the waist up." His smirk stretched into a full-on wicked grin. "And let me tell you, those bindings don't really cover that much, do they?"

By now Fuu's face was bright red, and she ground her teeth.

"I had one sleeve off my shoulder! I had to improvise and play the part or they probably would've killed me!"

Mugen chuckled. "Eh, you're prob'ly right. Still no idea how you ended up there in the first place."

Fuu sighed. "Me neither, to be honest. Maybe it was fate."

Mugen said nothing, and looked over to Jin's perched figure. He hadn't moved at all since disrobing.

Looks like fish for lunch is a no-go, he thought, and he stood to slip his geta on his feet and pull his gray shirt on over his head. Fuu looked his way, curious.

"Where are you going?" she asked. He jerked a thumb towards the path leading up the cliff.

"Four-Eyes isn't doing his job, so I'm gonna nab us a rabbit or two to tide us over," he replied. Fuu watched him as he climbed the path and disappeared into the shade of the trees. She turned her gaze back to her pale companion on his rock, still as a statue. One corner of her mouth quirked up as she silently pitied the poor man.

I admire his determination, but even samurai must know when they're fighting a losing battle, she thought, chuckling. A breeze blew off the water, cooling her neck and face, but the heat was still uncomfortable. Fuu pursed her lips and checked to make sure Mugen wasn't returning yet. Jin's back was to her, so she shrugged off her sleeves and let the top half of her kimono hang down, held up by her obi.

Thank goodness I thought to wear bindings today, she thought, sighing as the cool ocean wind caressed her newly exposed skin. She looked over and saw Mugen's discarded red haori draped over the driftwood log, and an idea popped in her head. She reached over to grab it, then stood to move a few feet away from the log to an open patch of sand. She spread out the haori and lowered herself to lay on her stomach, her head pillowed by her arms. Her face was angled towards the water, and she watched as some seagulls soared above the waves a few dozen feet out to sea. The sun beat relentlessly down on her back, but she didn't mind now that she wasn't being stifled by her kimono. Her eyes began to droop, and before long the heat on her back and the sound of the waves lulled her to sleep.

A light kick to her ribs woke Fuu, and she opened her eyes to find herself on her back, having rolled off the red haori and now on the bare sand. The sun was not quite overhead anymore. A smirking Mugen stood above her with his arms crossed. He nudged her again, to her irritation.

"Wake up, or I'm gonna eat your rabbit," he said. Out of the corner of her eye she saw a fire blazing with several sticks skewered with meat propped up around it.

"No fish?" she asked, blinking up at the pirate, who looked like he was trying to contain the laughter in his eyes.

"Four-Eyes is completely hopeless. He's been sitting on that rock for over 2 hours and hasn't had a nibble." Mugen sniggered before reaching down to grab his haori and moving to seat himself by the fire. He picked up one of the blackened skewers and bit into it, but the smile never left his face. Fuu wondered what he was so amused about, but her stomach growled as the smell wafted over to her. She tried to sit up, but a painful pulling sensation on her skin made her gasp softly. She looked down and saw the red skin of her chest above her bindings, and quickly moved to cover herself with her kimono. The skin of her arms and shoulders protested, though, and she groaned as she stopped with one sleeve halfway on. The redness was spread across her chest, neck and shoulders, and any time she moved her skin would pull tightly and painfully.

"Ow, ow, ow, ow, owww," she groaned, still struggling to pull on her sleeves. Mugen's chuckle made her whip her head around to glare at him, but the pain of moving the skin on her neck made her wince.

"What the hell are you laughing at?" she demanded. Mugen's mouth morphed into a cocky grin that made her want to throttle him.

"Looks like you got a little too much sun, girlie," he chuckled. She pouted, but even doing that made her face ache.

"You could've woken me up earlier, you know!" she said, giving up on pulling on her kimono and resigning herself to Mugen's inevitable teasing about the size of her chest.

"Yeah, I could have." Mugen grinned wickedly. She flipped him the bird, but he ignored her, turning his attention back to his skewer. A shadow fell across her, and she turned to see Jin standing behind her, and she bit back a groan from the pain of moving. The normally pale skin of his face, back, and shoulders was now tinged red like hers, and the reserved expression he usually wore was noticeably dejected. Mugen looked up from eating and nearly choked on the meat when he saw Jin. He swallowed quickly before bursting out laughing, slapping his knee with his free hand. Fuu ignored him and smiled pityingly up at Jin.

"Sorry you didn't catch any fish, Jin," she said sincerely, as Mugen cackled in the background. Jin's eyebrow twitched as he sighed.

"I've accepted that I do not have the skills to be a fisherman," he said, moving around her to make his way to the fire. She noticed how he winced when he moved, and she could honestly sympathize with him at that moment. Fuu stood and followed him to the fire, every movement of her arms and shoulders making her wince. She settled down next to Jin, and across the fire Mugen was still struggling to control his mirth. Both Jin and Fuu fixed him with a piercing glare, but this only made Mugen laugh harder.

"How come you aren't as red as us right now?" Fuu demanded, extremely annoyed. Mugen wiped away a tear as his laughter subsided, which made Fuu's lip curl in irritation.

"Because I'm not some pansy ass delicate little flower like you two," he said, chuckling as he bit into the meat of his skewer. Fuu huffed but said nothing as she and Jin reached for their own skewers, and both tried not to move too much while eating. When they were finally done, and Mugen had calmed down enough to finish his own meat, they tossed their empty skewers into the fire. Mugen laid down on his side with his hand propping up his head and scratched his stomach. Jin and Fuu, however, couldn't move too much without it being painful. Fuu groaned as she tried once again to pull on her kimono.

"Why does it hurt so much to move?" she complained. Mugen tched as he dug in his ear with his pinky finger.

"Just wait 'til tomorrow, then you'll really feel it. With a sunburn like that you're gonna feel that ache for a couple days," he said. Jin quirked a brow.

"Sunburn?" he asked, as though testing out the word in his mouth. Mugen frowned at him.

"Don't tell me you guys have never gotten a sunburn before?" he asked, sitting up and pointing back and forth between Fuu and Jin. The two in question frowned and shook their heads in unison. Mugen barked out a laugh and slapped his knee again.

"Oh, man, this is too fuckin' priceless!" he said gleefully. "Looks like the Ryukyus got one up on you sorry bitches!"

I originally wanted this to be a short one-shot, but I'm probably gonna have to continue this with a part two. We'll see :)