Sunflower Fuu

I do not own Samurai Champloo. (Even though that kinda rhymes.)

Wow. Um. Please don't be angry with me? I know, I know, it's been a long wait. But for a while, I just kinda lost interest in this fic. But. But. I'm back. Don't worry.

It seemed to take years for the imposing ninja to attack the two samurai, but eventually it did happen. Glinting kunai shot from the leaves, seemingly coming from everywhere at once. Although both formidable warriors tried their best to defend themselves from the on-slaught, Mugen and Jin both could feel sharp tips nipping their arms and legs. It was soon very obvious that the kunais were not going to let up anytime soon, and already both men's clothes were in tatters, blood flowing in rivulets from the wounds they had acquired.

"We need to find this bastard and cut his damned head off before we get cut to ribbons," came Mugen's exasperated voice to the left of Jin, trying his best to beat down the swift kunai with his sword.

Jin's replied with a nod, before he shot of into the trees, expertly maneuvering through the leafy branches and snagging twigs. He was free from the grasp of the kunai for the moment, but Mugen was not so lucky.

Still trapped in the clearing with the knives coming on even stronger, he was fighting himself just to keep awake. A hard thump sounded as the butt of a kunai dug into the pressure point at the base of Mugen's spine, pushing him to his knees. As he dropped, his vision began to swim as his fingers crawled sluggishly towards the handle of his sword before darkness engulfed him.

"Damn you, Fuu…"

Jin hissed in disapproval as Mugen dropped, turning to jump and retrieve the hefty body from being beaten up even more before stopping himself. Why bother to save him, when the person assaulting them would most likely decide to take Mugen back to whomever was his boss? It would be much easier just to track him, and perhaps this was the same man who took Fuu. Settling back into the nook of the tree, he waited with bated patience as the kunais slowly began to stop…

Fuu

Fuu was currently being wakened to the gruff and brash sounds of the guardsman, and the insistent cawing of a cock. Groaning with annoyance, she made to roll over on her side before a sharp pain split through her low abdomen. It seemed that she had been sleeping on a rather sharp rock for her short night, and it had dug into her abdomen since then, leaving with her a small discolored bruise.

Slapping a hand across her forehead, she steadily sat up, supporting herself with aching arms. Turning towards a busy Rukia, she asked, "What's going on?"

"The day's begun. We ain't moving out until tomorrow, but we've got to care for his highness." Her voice was a brisk sneer.

"Oh…" She sighed as the events of the past few days began to circulate through my head. "D'you need me to do anything?" Fuu was feeling less than helpful, but she doubted that anyone in this camp would stand for laziness. Might as well have Rukia think she doesn't mind work than scorn her for avoiding it.

"Why don't'chya go on over and feed the dogs? They look half starved already," Rukia heaved a hefty bag of dripping raw meat into Fuu's hands, laughing at her look of disgust. "Mm-hmm, I know. Those dogs are the pride and joy of Tark, the man running this show, so they get better food than even we do." A grim look of annoyance shadowed Rukia's face as she pushed Fuu gently towards the dogs.

"Alright, alright, I'll feed the stinkin' dogs…" Fuu grumbled; she would have been happy getting stuck scouring pots, not feeding pampered hunting dogs food she could very well eat.

"Heree, doggy doggies, heeree, doggy doggies!" She cooed with mock brightness and the dogs surrounded her, snuffling and sniffling. "Want your chowy chow? Hm? Chow chow time?"

The dogs whined and gurgled in a yes, wriggling lithe bodies and wagging skinny, whip tails. Their sharp little claws caught on Fuu's kimono before she steadily opened the bag and flung it into the open, laughing as the dogs toppled over themselves to get to the meat.

Brushing her hands off with a look of utmost satisfaction crossing her cheeks, she trotted back to Rukia who was standing in a small semi-circle with all the other women of the camp.

"…well isn't he just a cutie…"

"Kinda scruffy, but I like them like that…"

"…He looks like he could give a girl a good time!"

"What's going on, Rukia?" Fuu inquired of her friend, pressing through bodies towards the front.

"They brought in a new captive, a man," Rukia said in fascination, following Fuu. "Pretty hot by the sound of it,"

Fuu grinned and shook her head, just as she reached the edge.

"MUGEN!" Fuu shrieked, her voice raising to the level to break glass. "Are you kidding me! You're finally here! Finally!" Her surprised voice changed to one of utmost enthusiasm, smiling happily at Mugen and actually flinging her arms around him, she was able to do so since no guards were present.

The group of women began to grumble and roll their eyes, whilst a few giggled happily. Rukia waited patiently by the side.

"Will ya shut your trap, woman?" Mugen greeted, but couldn't help but keep a foolish grin form appearing on his face. Hesitantly putting his arms around her, he hugged her closely to his chest in a sudden bout of emotion.

"Me an' Jin have been searching high and low through this stupid forest for you, before we got ambushed by some ninja guy who wouldn't stop throwing his knives at us. Jin got away in the trees, but they got me," He glowered, shrugging his shoulders and pushing Fuu back a little.

"Ya look like you've been through hell."

Fuu shrieked again, her face changing from an ecstatic one to an indignant one.

"Whaddya mean I look like I've been through hell! I have been through hell, what with Hir- Holy hell! Hiro! I totally forgot about him, he'll be looking for me!"

"No chance," Mugen replied coolly, leaning against a tree and stretching his arms out above him. "Me an' Jin met him a while back, and let's just say we were angry enough to deliver him to the afterlife…" Grinning, Mugen slowly closed his right eye, his left eye peering through to Fuu.

"By the way, watch out for Jin. He should be around here, somewhere…"

Fuu sighed as her so-called savior drifted of into dream-land, leaning up from her crouching position into a standing one. "That lazy bum bastard right there was Mugen, one of my traveling companions before all this stuff happened to me."

Rukia quirked an eyebrow and smiled, shrugging her shoulders. "You bette hope that Jin man is more reliable than this one, you're gonna need it if you're gonna kill Yani and Tark." Drifting away, she blew a kiss to Fuu, "See ya later, hun," and she was gone into the campsite.

"Jin…you better be out there…"

Jin

Jin panted slightly as he reached the camp he had been trailing from the ninja. He had disposed of the troublesome ninja after he had delivered Mugen, and was currently sitting in a tree watching Fuu speak to a young woman around her age.

'So, this is a bondage camp…from the looks of it, Fuu's okay and hasn't been touched. We got here rather on time,' Jin mused to himself, really caring less what the camp was, more concerned with the welfare of the woman he had decided to save.

Sighing, he grunted as his behind dug into a protruding twig. Wriggling, he calculated the number of guards and men in the camp, not including that damn wolf. He had admitted to himself that that wolf was going to be a problem, it was a cunningly malicious animal.

'Playing the knight in shining armor can be so troublesome at times…'