Samurai Champloo: sometimes it rains
Pairing: Mugen/Jin/Fuu
Notes: written for afrai in the 2005 Yuletide Fic Exchange
Date: December 2005
sometimes it rains
by leah k
Afterwards, they blame it on the rain.
They were following the coast, endless expanses of craggy, rocky beaches and small villages that smelled like fish and rot. The rains rolled in when they were on a long stretch of beach between nowhere and nowhere, looking for a house on a cliff by an ocean, the latest in a serious of vague and mysterious tips about the whereabouts of the sunflower samurai.
Jin had looked up into a clear, cloudless blue sky and said, "it's going to rain."
Mugen had cocked his head in that weird way of his and said, "no fucking way, man, you're crazy."
Fuu tried to look where Jin was looking, tried to see the same strange invisible forces that Jin saw, and figured he was just lying to look cool. Nothing happened right away, but sure enough, twenty minutes later the sky was one huge black cloud and they were all soaked down to the skin and shivering like crazy.
Mugen glared at Jin, muttering "this is all your fault," under his breath. Jin just shrugged in that maybe-it-is-maybe-it-isn't way of his and kept walking.
Fuu, tired and hungry and miserable and wet on top of everything else, decided she'd had enough and declared that they were going to find a place to stay, inside, until the rain stopped. The only inside they could afford turned out to be a tiny shack on the edge of the beach, thrown together from rotted and gray-green wood. The whole thing looked like it was just waiting for a strong wind to knock it over, but it kept the rain off. Mostly.
The first day, Jin went out fishing in the morning, and they roasted what he caught over a fire in the corner of the shack, smoke drifting up and away through one of the bigger holes in the roof. Fuu tried to start a conversation about something, anything, about a dozen times, but nothing stuck. Jin said nothing more than "ah," "oh," or "hm," for five straight hours, and Mugen just sulked and growled any time Fuu even looked at him. Eventually, Fuu just gave up and they spent the rest of the day staring at the walls and twitching.
The second day, Fuu woke up to Jin and Mugen at each other's throats, again, Jin's sword at the base of Mugen's neck, Mugen's fingers jammed up Jin's nose and pushing Jin's head back at an unnatural angle. Fuu just cleared her throat and stamped her foot and they broke it off, Jin standing up politely and walking out of the shack, Mugen still cursing and squirming on the floor, wiping a trickle of blood away from the corner of his mouth.
Sometimes Fuu thought that she should have picked better bodyguards.
The third day, the rain got so bad nobody wanted to leave, even to go fishing, and the winds started howling unnaturally through the trees and over the cliffs. Mugen got more spooked than anybody, jumping at shadows, pacing in tiny manic circles back and forth around the shack. It quickly went from understandable to annoying to infuriating, even for Fuu, who obviously had the patience of a rock, having put up with Mugen for so long already.
"Look," she finally snapped, "look, it's not like there are monsters or anything out there. It's just the wind."
Mugen stopped pacing long enough to glare at her. He growled, "I'm not scared," but didn't sound like he even believed himself.
Jin looked up briefly, said, "it'll stop raining tomorrow," but Fuu still wasn't sure she believed him. It'd been raining for long enough that she felt like it'd been raining forever, like she'd never known what the world was like when it wasn't raining. It didn't seem like something that could just stop.
But it made Mugen stop pacing, at least, long enough to stalk over to Jin and ask, "you sure?" Jin nodded.
"Because you can suddenly predict the weather," Mugen said, and Jin nodded again, and then suddenly they were fighting.
Fuu sighed, and tried saying, "you two, oi, you two, break it up," but the wind got so loud she could barely even hear herself think. She shouted at them again, but they didn't hear her, and in the fading light, she could see Mugen kick Jin in the face, could see Jin throwing himself forward, trying to grab Mugen's wrists and pin his arms down.
Fuu walked closer to them, tried grabbing Jin around the shoulders to pull him off, but he was too fast, and she slipped in a pool of water and fell. Somehow they'd shifted around so that when she fell, she landed directly on top of Mugen, who let out a little whuff of breath and muttered "heavier than you look, girl." Jin had somehow ended up behind her and she was stuck between them, between their rain-damp clothing and sweat-damp skin. It maybe wouldn't have been so bad, they were warm, she was freezing, but they smelled terrible, and they were still glaring at each other and clutching weapons.
With all the dignity and composure she could pull together from her strange and awkward position, she hissed, "knock it off," and Mugen had the decency to look at least a little sheepish.
The weird thing that happened, the thing that afterwards nobody was really able to explain, was that even after Jin and Mugen stopped fighting and put down their swords, nobody moved. They just laid there, squished together on the dirty floor of the broken-down hut, Mugen sprawled in that reckless way of his with Fuu on top of him and Jin on top of her. And maybe they were all twitchy and restless from being stuck in a one-room shack for three days, and maybe they were all a little crazy to begin with, but it just seemed like the right thing to do at the time.
Fuu said, "I, um," and Mugen said, "oh, I don't even care," and then kissed her. And suddenly it was like someone had lit a fire in her, lighting up all the dark spaces where she shoved thoughts she wasn't supposed to have, things she couldn't think of in the light of day. She could feel Mugen squirming beneath her, working his body steadily between her legs, and it felt good, it felt right
Jin muttered, "easy," in her ear, and it sent shivers down her spine. "Easy." She could feel him behind her, his hands wrapping around her waist to rest on the curve of her stomach.
There was something in the space between the drops of water hitting the floor in staccato drips. Something in the sound of the branches thrashing, the wind howling past the tree-tops. It made her crazy, a little bit. She'd been restless for hours, for days and days, but she could feel her body relaxing, tension easing from her bones with every touch. Easy, she thought, and it was.
The next morning, Fuu woke up in a tangle of limbs with the sun shining bright in her eyes. Mugen woke up groggy, but smiling. Jin just nodded in that weird, knowing way of his, and nobody said anything.
Later, even if Fuu thought she maybe had something to say... well, the rain was gone. It just wouldn't have been the same.
A good friend of mine used to say, "This is a very simple game. You throw the ball, you catch the ball, you hit the ball. Sometimes you win. Sometimes you lose. Sometimes, it rains." Think about that for a while. - Bull Durham.
Notes: written for afrai in the 2005 Yuletide Fic Exchange
Date: December 2005
sometimes it rains
by leah k
Afterwards, they blame it on the rain.
They were following the coast, endless expanses of craggy, rocky beaches and small villages that smelled like fish and rot. The rains rolled in when they were on a long stretch of beach between nowhere and nowhere, looking for a house on a cliff by an ocean, the latest in a serious of vague and mysterious tips about the whereabouts of the sunflower samurai.
Jin had looked up into a clear, cloudless blue sky and said, "it's going to rain."
Mugen had cocked his head in that weird way of his and said, "no fucking way, man, you're crazy."
Fuu tried to look where Jin was looking, tried to see the same strange invisible forces that Jin saw, and figured he was just lying to look cool. Nothing happened right away, but sure enough, twenty minutes later the sky was one huge black cloud and they were all soaked down to the skin and shivering like crazy.
Mugen glared at Jin, muttering "this is all your fault," under his breath. Jin just shrugged in that maybe-it-is-maybe-it-isn't way of his and kept walking.
Fuu, tired and hungry and miserable and wet on top of everything else, decided she'd had enough and declared that they were going to find a place to stay, inside, until the rain stopped. The only inside they could afford turned out to be a tiny shack on the edge of the beach, thrown together from rotted and gray-green wood. The whole thing looked like it was just waiting for a strong wind to knock it over, but it kept the rain off. Mostly.
The first day, Jin went out fishing in the morning, and they roasted what he caught over a fire in the corner of the shack, smoke drifting up and away through one of the bigger holes in the roof. Fuu tried to start a conversation about something, anything, about a dozen times, but nothing stuck. Jin said nothing more than "ah," "oh," or "hm," for five straight hours, and Mugen just sulked and growled any time Fuu even looked at him. Eventually, Fuu just gave up and they spent the rest of the day staring at the walls and twitching.
The second day, Fuu woke up to Jin and Mugen at each other's throats, again, Jin's sword at the base of Mugen's neck, Mugen's fingers jammed up Jin's nose and pushing Jin's head back at an unnatural angle. Fuu just cleared her throat and stamped her foot and they broke it off, Jin standing up politely and walking out of the shack, Mugen still cursing and squirming on the floor, wiping a trickle of blood away from the corner of his mouth.
Sometimes Fuu thought that she should have picked better bodyguards.
The third day, the rain got so bad nobody wanted to leave, even to go fishing, and the winds started howling unnaturally through the trees and over the cliffs. Mugen got more spooked than anybody, jumping at shadows, pacing in tiny manic circles back and forth around the shack. It quickly went from understandable to annoying to infuriating, even for Fuu, who obviously had the patience of a rock, having put up with Mugen for so long already.
"Look," she finally snapped, "look, it's not like there are monsters or anything out there. It's just the wind."
Mugen stopped pacing long enough to glare at her. He growled, "I'm not scared," but didn't sound like he even believed himself.
Jin looked up briefly, said, "it'll stop raining tomorrow," but Fuu still wasn't sure she believed him. It'd been raining for long enough that she felt like it'd been raining forever, like she'd never known what the world was like when it wasn't raining. It didn't seem like something that could just stop.
But it made Mugen stop pacing, at least, long enough to stalk over to Jin and ask, "you sure?" Jin nodded.
"Because you can suddenly predict the weather," Mugen said, and Jin nodded again, and then suddenly they were fighting.
Fuu sighed, and tried saying, "you two, oi, you two, break it up," but the wind got so loud she could barely even hear herself think. She shouted at them again, but they didn't hear her, and in the fading light, she could see Mugen kick Jin in the face, could see Jin throwing himself forward, trying to grab Mugen's wrists and pin his arms down.
Fuu walked closer to them, tried grabbing Jin around the shoulders to pull him off, but he was too fast, and she slipped in a pool of water and fell. Somehow they'd shifted around so that when she fell, she landed directly on top of Mugen, who let out a little whuff of breath and muttered "heavier than you look, girl." Jin had somehow ended up behind her and she was stuck between them, between their rain-damp clothing and sweat-damp skin. It maybe wouldn't have been so bad, they were warm, she was freezing, but they smelled terrible, and they were still glaring at each other and clutching weapons.
With all the dignity and composure she could pull together from her strange and awkward position, she hissed, "knock it off," and Mugen had the decency to look at least a little sheepish.
The weird thing that happened, the thing that afterwards nobody was really able to explain, was that even after Jin and Mugen stopped fighting and put down their swords, nobody moved. They just laid there, squished together on the dirty floor of the broken-down hut, Mugen sprawled in that reckless way of his with Fuu on top of him and Jin on top of her. And maybe they were all twitchy and restless from being stuck in a one-room shack for three days, and maybe they were all a little crazy to begin with, but it just seemed like the right thing to do at the time.
Fuu said, "I, um," and Mugen said, "oh, I don't even care," and then kissed her. And suddenly it was like someone had lit a fire in her, lighting up all the dark spaces where she shoved thoughts she wasn't supposed to have, things she couldn't think of in the light of day. She could feel Mugen squirming beneath her, working his body steadily between her legs, and it felt good, it felt right
Jin muttered, "easy," in her ear, and it sent shivers down her spine. "Easy." She could feel him behind her, his hands wrapping around her waist to rest on the curve of her stomach.
There was something in the space between the drops of water hitting the floor in staccato drips. Something in the sound of the branches thrashing, the wind howling past the tree-tops. It made her crazy, a little bit. She'd been restless for hours, for days and days, but she could feel her body relaxing, tension easing from her bones with every touch. Easy, she thought, and it was.
The next morning, Fuu woke up in a tangle of limbs with the sun shining bright in her eyes. Mugen woke up groggy, but smiling. Jin just nodded in that weird, knowing way of his, and nobody said anything.
Later, even if Fuu thought she maybe had something to say... well, the rain was gone. It just wouldn't have been the same.
A good friend of mine used to say, "This is a very simple game. You throw the ball, you catch the ball, you hit the ball. Sometimes you win. Sometimes you lose. Sometimes, it rains." Think about that for a while. - Bull Durham.