It was a quiet evening. The twilight was fading into darkness, and the three sat in silence around the glow of a fire. To any onlooker, the scene would seem serene; but take a closer look, and one would understand how silence can be louder than screaming.

Jin finished his meager meal, as his meals always were even when food was plentiful, and rose gracefully to his feet. He set off into the forest in the direction of the river without a word to his companions. One watched his retreat, without even realizing that she was doing it, and the other watched her watch him, seething in the ever-present silence.

"You're always watching him."

Fuu seemed to have forgotten that she was not alone. She snapped her attention away from the forest. "So?"

"So why don't you ever watch me?"

She was getting frustrated with the direction this conversation was taking. "How do you know I don't watch you? Maybe I only watch when you're not looking."

Mugen was staring at her. "I can feel it when your eyes on me. It doesn't happen much."

His stare made her want to squirm. They usually kept silent about this particular subject. It was easier to ignore when it wasn't staring you in the face. "I don't need to watch you. I already know exactly what you're doing – drinking, fucking, or fighting, pick one of the three."

Mugen's frown deepened and his eyes flashed. He reached out and tugged on the ties of her kimono, but she shrugged out of his reach. "No. I don't feel like it tonight."

"Why?"

Fuu huffed in annoyance. "Because you're getting on my nerves! Just leave me alone, okay? Jin could be coming back any minute."

Mugen scowled and pulled his hands away. He rose and retreated to the other side of the fire. The silence was tangible. The calm before the tempest.

Mugen broke.

"He doesn't love you, you know. He'll never love you."

Fuu clenched her teeth. "You don't know anything."

"He's cold and silent and you'll never be good enough for him. He'll turn you away, reject you without hesitation."

Fuu squeezed her eyes shut. "Shut up, Mugen."

"You know he doesn't love you! You know it! He can never love you because you're stupid!"

She jumped up and clasped her hands over her ears. "SHUT UP, SHUT UP, SHUT UP!"

Mugen jumped to his feet and well and grabbed her by the shoulders. He wanted to shake her, to slap her, to cause her just as much pain as she caused him. But his words, he knew, did enough.

"You're stupid, Fuu! And I'm stupid, too! I'm the one who's here beside you! I'm the one who always goes after you! I fight for you!" The words were flowing like torrential rain, forceful and unstoppable. "You're stupid! You're stupid and I'm stupid, and that makes us the same."

He dropped her and she collapsed, a heap of tears and broken dreams.

"We're the same. He doesn't love you because you're not good enough for him. But he doesn't see what I see. He doesn't see that you're…everything. And that makes you too good for him." Mugen turned his back on her. "I see you, Fuu. You've always been good enough for me."

He left her there beside the fire, shrouded in the silence of the solitary. She found its pureness to be just as oppressive.

So she broke it with the sound of her weeping.