Taking Care of You

By the Alternative Source

Disclaimer: I don't own anything when it comes to Samurai Champloo. Except my story of course. Lol.

Summary: Fuu gets seriously injured when she saves Mugen during an attack.

Chapter 5

'Bored.' That was the perfect word to describe how Fuu felt. 'Bored.'

It had been fifteen minutes ago that they had finished eating. And it was fifteen minutes ago that Mugen had said anything to her.

'Stupid idiot.' She looked at him and her eyes narrowed. She was sitting there bored out of her mind and he looked perfectly fine. If it wasn't for the slight whistling that he was doing she would have thought that he was asleep.

Fuu sighed hoping to get his attention. When he didn't move she sighed again a little harder. This time he twitched and Fuu smiled inside. She waited a couple seconds more to see if he got the hint but nothing happened. Setting a scowl on her face she sighed again a little harder.

Twitch

-Sigh-

TwitchTwitch

-Sigh-

TwitchTwitchTwitch

Fuu decided it was time for the big guns. She sighed and whimpered at the same time.

"WILL YOU STOP IT WITH THE FUCKING SIGHING!!" Mugen yelled as he sat up.

Fuu smiled innocently, "What do you mean?"

He pointed an accusing finger at her, "You know exactly what I mean!!"

She swatted his finger away with her right hand, "Ahhh, don't point at me. I'm bored."

"Bored?" he looked at her as if she was crazy, "Your sighing and shit because your bored?"

"Yes. Bored. I'm injured and immobile. I'm bored."

"Well, what the hell do you want me to do about it?"

"Entertain me," she stated quickly.

"Look, I'm not a trained animal."

"Never said you were. Just talk to me or something before I go out of my mind."

His eyes betrayed what he wanted to say at that moment. He said he would give whatever was happening between him and Fuu a chance but what he said sure as hell didn't portray that decision, "Look, I can be doing a million things besides sitting here and making sure that you don't bleed out to death in the middle of the day. But I'm stuck here so let's make the best out of it. You sit on your futon all nice and quiet while I relax on mine."

Fuu's eyes showed the sadness that was brought on by his statement immediately. Inside she was breaking, hurt, and she could feel tears welling up in her eyes.

'I can't believe he would say that…… Instead of spending time with me he probably wants to be off with some lady in one of the brothels that is probably conveniently by. Well, fine. He wants to act like an ass, FINE!!'

Blinking the tears away she gave him an indifferent look.

"Help me lie down," she said with no emotion in her voice before turning away and looking at the wall. She was tired and had enough of Mugen for the moment.

Mugen mentally punched himself in the face as he saw the look that Fuu had on her face. She was hurt and he was the cause of it. It was even worse when she set her face with no emotion and asked him to help her lie down.

'Shit, fucking shit.'

Mugen got on his knees and helped her lie down on the futon. As soon as he helped her lie down, she turned her head to the wall and stared at it for a couple seconds before closing her eyes. He sat down on his futon once again and for the first time in his life he wanted to take the words right back. He hadn't meant to say that he could be doing other things. It was just……..that he didn't think before opening his mouth. He never did.

He looked at her body and noticed that she wasn't asleep. Her body was too tense and her breathing was all wrong. His eyes opened wide as he saw her shoulder slightly move. Now he was sure that he was an ass. He had made her cry.

'Ok, what to do? Crying woman in my presence. And I'm the cause of the crying?'

And that's how they sat for minutes to come. Mugen sitting there staring at the back of Fuu's head wishing that he hadn't made her cry. And Fuu lying on her futon trying to control her emotions and be angry at Mugen but she couldn't. She was hurt by his words but after thinking it over she couldn't be angry with him. So she just laid there softly crying.

FIVE MINUTES PASSED AND NOTHING

TEN MINUTES PASSED AND NOTHING

FIFTEEN MINUTES PASSED AND NOTHING

"Ok, what do you want to talk about?"

Fuu turned her head in surprise towards the voice completely forgetting that her face was stained with tears.

"What?"

When he saw her tears he leaned forward and used his sleeve to gently wipe the tears off of her face. She looked into his eyes and saw an emotion that she had never seen before. Regret. When he finished wiping her face he sat back down on his futon and sat Indian style.

"I said what do you want to talk?"

She hesitated before saying, "I thought you said you had better things to do? Isn't there some lady out there in some brothel waiting for you?" She turned her head away from him and looked at the wall waiting for his answer.

Mugen sighed and leaning forward he got a hold of her chin in his hand and turned her towards him. Her eyes still expressed the hurt from his words. His grip on her chin was gently as he looked in her eyes.

"Between me and you. I would rather be sitting here with you than being out there with some girl that won't care what my name is after we're done because she doesn't care. Ok?"

Fuu just looked at him in complete shock. He was apologizing. Sure he didn't just come out and say, "Fuu I'm sorry." But this apology was better. She came back to reality when she felt him run his thumb over her lower lip. It was the closest that they had ever been and both of them were enjoying it.

"Ok?" he asked again.

"Yeah," Fuu said shyly. Mugen pulled back his hand and sat down on his futon. Instantly she missed his touch. It was warm and gentle. Completely opposite of Mugen. But she missed it nonetheless. When she looked at his face he had an expectant look on his face. He was waiting for her.

She smiled as she realized that he was actually serious. Tapping her chin she thought for a second what they could talk about. It was going to be difficult and she knew it. But she had to start it somewhere.

"What's your favorite color?"

"Color?" he scratched his chin as he thought, "I guess red. Yours?"

"Pink."

"Who would have guessed," he stated. Fuu laughed and smacked his knee.

"It's a nice color."

"Sure…….." he said with a small smirk on his face.

She laughed again, "Tell me something about yourself that no one knows."

"What are you trying to do? Trying to get info out of me so you can use my weakness against me, girlie."

Fuu could see the playful look in his eyes and decided to play right along with it, "Of course."

"Well…….Ummmm…………I got one. When I was younger I was scared of………..ldy bgs."

Mugen had mumbled the last two words in a small attempt to not answer her question. Fuu's face scrunched up in thought as she tried to figure out what he had said.

"What did you say?"

"Ldy bgs."

She had heard what he said but she decided to mess with him a little, "You have to speak up."

"LADY BUGS!! When I was younger I was afraid of lady bugs!! Are you happy now?"

"Very……Now why don't you ask me something?"

"Aww come on Fuu."

"Don't come on Fuu, me. You agreed to a conversation and a conversation is not a one sided thing. So ask!"

He put his hands up in defense when she yelled the last part, "Ok, ok."

Fuu watched him for a couple of seconds as she saw him search his brain for a question. She focused on his face and she realized how she had come to love someone like Mugen. Sure he was a tough cookie on the inside but he was different on the inside. She was sure of it. And if he didn't care for her then why would he still rescue her no matter what and risk his life for her.

As she watched him he suddenly cleared his throat and she looked up.

'He's picked the question he wants.'

"Why did you jump in front of me?" he stated with a serious look on his face. He had picked the perfect question.

She bit her lip for a second before answering, "Because I know that you would have done the same for me." He looked down at the floor. He wasn't looking for that sort of answer. He looked up when she continued, "And…… I didn't want to see you get hurt."

He looked up and she could tell that she had said the right thing. He raised his eyebrow and decided to push her a little. She could tell.

Sighing she spoke again, "Because I care about you."

There it was. She had put it out there that she cared about him and all he could do was look at her with those intense eyes. When he didn't say anything for a couple seconds she decided to break the silence when he interrupted her.

"You care about me? The dirty stinky pirate?"

"I don't care about a dirty stinky pirate. I care about you," He chuckled when she corrected him, "Ok. Now my turn. Why did you ask me that?"

She watched as his eyes focused on her and he answered quickly and honestly, "Because I wanted to see why you would be crazy enough to get hurt saving me. It hasn't happened before and I was just wondering. Don't read into it too much."

Fuu noticed that he was going back into his hard shell, "Don't do that. Don't get all mad."

"What are you talking about?"

"Every single time we talk about something serious you put yourself back into your hard shell. Just stop. I can't hurt you. I can barely move."

When he stayed quiet she knew that she had won. Mugen had never been one to admit that he was wrong. She smiled at Mugen and she could actually see a small smile tugging the edges of his lips. Out of nowhere Fuu yawned.

'Damn.' Fuu rubbed her eyes with her right hand. 'All this talking must have tired me out. I'm not completely healed so I guess I would get tired more quickly.'

"You tired now?"

"Yeah. Guess my body is tired."

Mugen snorted, "Yeah."

She turned her head towards him as her eyes got droopy, "You gonna be here when I wake up."

He grinned, "I'll be here. Don't worry."

She smiled as her eyes closed. She could feel sleep tugging at her and she felt safe knowing that Mugen would be watching over her, "You sure you don't have anything else to do."

She felt fingers brush away the hair from her face. She leaned towards the hand slightly.

"I promise I'll be here when you wake up Fuu."

And with that Fuu fell into a peaceful sleep knowing that the scruffy pirate that she loved was watching over her while she slept.

To be continued…………

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