R&R

Hey so here's the next oneshot! Thank you to anyone who has decided to follow or favorite these series of one shots!

Well here it goes!

Oneshot 2: Counting Scars

by: AshAnime

"Eep!"

Lighting flashed brightly against the crooked window panes of a shack just outside Edo. Droplets of rain slipped through the many holes in the roof and plunked into various cracked bowls that cluttered the floor. It wasn't the most ideal place to stay, but for three hungry and wary travelers, it was heaven.

"Ah! Mugen!" Fuu pressed her pale hands even tighter against her ears. Her heart leapt into her throat every time a thunderous lightning bolt shook the weak boards their tiny shack was made of. She was used to small thunder storms and heavy rain, but not a storm like this. It felt like the world was ending.

"What?" grumbled Mugen, his voice hazy with sleep. Fuu honestly couldn't understand how any human being could sleep through a storm like this. But she soon realized that when it came to Mugen, Human never really did apply.

"I'm scared," Fuu whispered, her voice wavering on every syllable. She had no one else to reach out to but the lazy pirate sprawled out on the other side of the small shack. Jin had went into town a few hours ago to see if he could buy them some food with the little money they had. He was hold up there because of the storm, and Fuu just wished he'd return already.

Jin knew how to comfort her. Mugen on the other hand…

"And what the hell am I supposed to do about it?" he slurred, only further confirming Fuu's opinion of him. Why did she think, for even one second, that Mugen would suddenly turn into some compassionate and caring samurai?

"Just forget it," she sighed, backing even further into the corner she had squeezed herself into. Her hands came off her ears for one second to fix her kimono when another rumble of thunder shook the ground and walls. Fuu closed her eyes tight and suppressed the shriek that sat in her throat.

"Did you wet yourself yet?" she heard from the other side of the shack.

"Shut up Mugen!" she yelled at him. Her eyes opened for a brief second just as lightening lit up the tiny room. Mugen lay on his back, his tired eyes closed to the world around him. How could he be so calm? So relaxed? "Just tell me how you do it."

This seemed to have caught the Ryukyu pirate's attention. "Do what?"

"Just lay there with this massive storm going on around us?!"

Fuu could here Mugen grumble a few things under his breath before answering. "This aint nothing compared to what I've been through."

And Fuu knew Mugen was telling the truth because he had grown up at sea. There were probably tons and tons of storms that needed to be sailed through in order to get their loot. No pirate was going to give up the goods for a measly storm.

"Any advice?"

Mugen snorted. "Miss High-and-Mighty wants advice from me?"

"I am not high and mighty!" Fuu retorted.

"Whatever, just try counting or something."

Fuu blinked and removed her hands from her ears. Staying huddled up in that position wasn't going to help her. If she could still hear Mugen that meant she could still hear the storm. Although it had passed over them a few minutes ago, the thunder still caused the bowls of water to vibrate.

"Ok… I guess I can try that."

Mugen grunted with finality and tried to drift back to sleep as Fuu began counting. She got to 20 before another wave of thunder ripped through her. "It's ok," she told her herself. "Just start again."

And so she did. Fuu was able to overlook a lot of the thunder for a while but no matter how hard she tried her body still shook with fright. She even tried counting down from one hundred but that didn't work either.

Then she remembered. Of course nothing was working because through the years only one person could ever get her through a bad storm.

And that person was her mother.

"It's not working Mugen," she whined, balling her tiny fists. "I wish I could fall asleep as easy as you! I'm going to be so tired tomorrow!"

"So will I if you don't shut up!"

Fuu glared at him through the dark. "Anymore advice?"

"Let me get my damn sleep."

Fuu hit her fist against the rotting wood floor. "If Jin were here he'd know what to do!"

"Then wait for the dumbass. I told him a storm was coming!"

"Jin isn't dumb!" Fuu protested, struggling with her words. "He's… smart and caring! Unlike you!"

"Wake me up when yer done bitching." Mugen shifted on to his side, away from a fuming Fuu.

"Ugh!" she screamed in frustration, just as a lightening bolt cracked across the sky. "Eep!"

The sound of rain pelting against the shack was all that could be heard for a while.

"Mugen?" Fuu tried for the last time, her voice weak and desperate.

"Try counting something," Mugen told her, his voice loosing some of its edge. "Instead of just counting… count something."

"Like what?"

A loud sigh could be heard from Mugen's end. "I don't know. Anything."

"There isn't really much of anything to count," Fuu pointed out.

The shack grew really quiet and for a second Fuu thought Mugen had fallen asleep. "Mu-?"

"You can count my scars… if you want."

Fuu digested what he was telling her and nodded her head. She quietly crawled over to where Mugen laid and wondered how she was supposed to count his scars in the dark. "I guess I'll count the ones on your hand," she told him, and before Mugen could even say anything, he felt her soft hands grabbing his.

"Wha-?"

"It's too dark," Fuu answered, laying on her back a foot away from Mugen, still holding unto his hand. She let it rest comfortably on her stomach as her small fingers ran along his tan skin. Her cold flesh slid along every single scar, and Mugen found himself being lulled off to sleep by her touch.

"Wow it's actually working," Fuu murmured, her voice soft and relieved. "Your probably even better than Mom, Mugen."

Mugen snorted, already half asleep. "I aint a lady."

"No," Fuu giggled, "You're definitely not."

Her hand reached the scar that ran straight across his palm. She remembered him leaving that night, to go fight the street killer. There was a part of her that really wondered if he'd return, and now she realized just how silly that thought was.

"Hurt like a bitch," Mugen spoke up, noticing the way Fuu continued to run her fingers across that scar only.

"I'm sure it did," she murmured, sounding sleepy. "Goodnight Mugen."

"Whatever," he mumbled back. He didn't want to tell Fuu that she helped get rid of the Crow Men. That even though it seemed like it was so easy for him to fall asleep every night it honestly wasn't. That a women taught him about the counting thing when he was younger and he couldn't remember if it was his mother or not.

That having her there next to him was what finally allowed him to go to sleep.

Mugen didn't pull his hand away once Fuu fell asleep. It was kind of weird to be physically touching a girl he had not or had not tried to have sex with, but it was peaceful none the less. In fact he found himself curling his long fingers around hers and falling asleep with them there.

And that's how Jin found them.

So what do you think?! I have a slight idea of what the next oneshot's going to be about=)

Review please:)

Mugen: What the hell was that?!

AshAnime: What do you mean, Mugen?

Mugen: That whole 'Review please:)' crap! You got to fucking want it!

AshAnime: *Sweatdrop* I don't know wha-

Mugen: ALL YOU BITCHES OUT THERE BETTER REVIEW OR ELSE!

AshAnime: Mugen you cant talk to my readers like that! They wont come back!

Mugen: *grumbles under his breath* See if I care.

AshAnime: Well I do! Sorry about that guys, please excuse Mugen's fowl language and Review if you want.