The Dance of Spring Flowers

A/N: I\'m going to introduce another OC. She\'s evil too! ^-^



Breakfast the next morning was...weird. Very weird. Jin sat across from Mugen, eating eggs with cheese and as usual, Fuu and the Ryu-Kyuian were eating Oniwakamaru out of house and home. Strangely, Julian had managed to save some of the ham and rolls from the previous night for breakfast. Jin picked at his food and kept an eye on Mugen, which didn\'t go unnoticed.

\"So asshole, are ya gonna tell me what you\'re staring at, or am I going to have to come and get that eye?\" Mugen taunted, bits of egg around his mouth. Jin raised his eyebrow even higher at Mugen.

\'Two can play this game...\'

\"Why don\'t you come over here and try something? You might like what happens.\" Fuu coughed and choked on her water and Julian placed a roll in his mouth to keep from laughing. Mugen dropped a piece of bread that was headed for his mouth. Jin gave him a sweet smile and calmly finished his egg and roll before bowing to be excused to go on a walk.

Mugen gulped down his food and told everyone that he would see them later as he chased after Jin, long thin brown legs working overtime to find where the ronin went. Mugen found Jin by the riverbank, sitting on a rock. The samurai\'s eyes were closed and his hair was down and blowing in the wind. His head was turned toward the forest on the other side of the bank. Mugen\'s breath caught in his throat. Never in any of his dreams did Jin look as beautiful as he did at that moment. It was strange, seeing that ghostly white skin and that raven hair blowing against that tender neck...

\"Spectatcular,\" Mugen whispered. The whisper wasn\'t low enough. Jin cocked his head to the side and opened his eyes, looking at Mugen. The gaze seemed to penetrate the rogue samurai and he stood there, unable to move. Both sets of eyes locked and Mugen swallowed, nervous for one of the first times in his life. Jin stared at Mugen with an expressionless look on his face. The night before\'s actions had confused him, but it also confirmed some things. Something changed that night in the brothel. He and Mugen had locked eyes while he was dressed as a woman, and something seemed to click on Mugen\'s face. He knew all along that Jin was crossdressing, yet the look he gave Jin was one of...of...

\'Hunger.\'

It was the same look that Mugen was giving him now, a look that made Jin\'s usually strong legs somewhat weak. Jin had never experienced being with a man or a woman, but had gotten plenty of offers from both. In fact, while Mugen was fighting with Oniwaka, a strange assassin tried to hit on him in the hot spring! That assassin was ugly and also tried to kill him, so he definitely was not getting any.

\"I heard you last night.\" That was all that needed to be said. Mugen crossed over the sandy bank and eagerly gathered Jin into his arms and kissed him fevorently. Mugen rained kisses over Jin\'s face, ackwardly grabbing at the thick locks of black hair. Jin smiled and moaned at the feeling of Mugen all over him. Soon, his gi was opened, and Mugen was leaning down to take the leaky member into his mouth. Jin\'s eyes rolled back as he happily dug his fingers into Mugen\'s hair and cooed his name.

\"Mugen...Mugen...Mugen...MUGEN! WAKE YOUR ASS UP!\"

The samurai\'s eyes popped open as a blurry vision of Fuu filled his sight. The girl had been shaking his for the past few minutes, disturbed at the tent-like intrusion that was visible through the thin sheets. Sitting up and looking around, he frowned for a moment when he saw that Jin was gone and his bed made up.

\"Aren\'t you hungry? Come out and eat, we have eggs and cheese!\" Fuu exclaimed excitedly, clapping her hands. Mugen looked at her, and looked down at his erection, which was quickly fading away. \"Sure why not,\" He grumbled, angry that his dream was just a dream. When he walked out to the eating area, Jin looked up at him and gazed into his eyes. Almost as if it were a superhuman power, Jin had the amazing ability to see right into you, or right through you. Mugen swallowed and sat down across from Jin at the dining cloth. Julian smiled at Mugen and passed him some rolls and the egg and cheese. Fuu had already eaten all the ham, but Mugen was not very hungry. Jin\'s eyes never left the Ryu-Kyuian until Mugen couldn\'t stand it anymore.

\"Hey trout face! What the shit are you lookin at? You must want me to come over and get one of those eyeballs of yours!\"

Jin chuckled uncharacteristically. Mugen\'s facade was grandiose at best, and Jin thought that if the samurai thing didn\'t pan out for Mugen that he would have a permanent place in a Kabuki theater. He placed his cup of water down and stood. \"Had you not been looking at me, you wouldn\'t have known who or what I was looking at. So it appears as if my eye isn\'t the only one that wanders, ne?\" Jin bowed slightly and walked outside to heartily laugh alone. He knew what Mugen was doing and wanted to exploit him as long as possible.

Fuu stabbed Mugen painfully with her chopstick. \"How many times do I have to tell you not to upset him while we are eating?! He\'s skinny enough. If he dies before we find the sunflower samurai I\'ll-\" Mugen turned and glared at Fuu. \"You know if we were alone, I\'d be strangling you right now, right?\" Fuu gave him a chastising look and Mugen nodded, showing he was serious about what he said.

\"It\'s not nice to threaten people\'s lives.\" They both looked over at Julian, who was clearing the breakfast dishes. He looked at the two guests and clicked his tongue. They were all so uncivillized, even the quiet and seemingly distinguished ronin. They were street vagabonds, drifters, shysters, embezzelers....

And he was jealous of them.

~~~~~~~~~~~

Jin sat on the rock by the river and watched the fish swim downstream. Those fish seemed so free, not bound by responsibility or social creed. Thoughts of the previous night replayed in his head, the fantasy of if Mugen had come to him instead of handling his own need. Jin had been with numerous women, but never found the experience pleasureable. It was more of him having sex with them to be accepted by his peers, to minimize any scrutiny or judgement that may be passed on him. The offers from men came in by the bucketfuls, but there was one man he was interested in. The only man he could never manage to kill. It was a turn on to have someone who was worthy of a true fight, not just a few flicks of the katana.

He picked up a few smooth pebbles and skipped them across the river, something he had not done since he was a very small child. He stared at the beauty of the forest, the mountains in the distance and the sun corrusgating off the water and felt extremely full and emotional. Jin had been alone in his own world for many years. Traveling with Fuu and Mugen opened up his eyes as to how dark and lonely he was. He and Mugen both used fighting as an excuse to be around each other, and even when they attempted to separate they came back together. Fate was pushing their noses together, and the only honorable thing to do was succumb to whatever was attempting to happen.

Jin heard a pebble fall behind him and quickly unsheathed his katana and swung it behind him. \"Yeah, piss on you too.\" He relaxed slightly when Mugen\'s unmistakeable voice introduced itself to the silence of the forest.

\"What, may I ask, are you doing here?\" Jin asked, still facing the river. Mugen walked around and faced Jin, forcing the ronin to look at him.

\"You saw me last night, didn\'t you shithead? Or atleast heard me.\"

Jin had never been a good liar. \"Um..y-yes, I heard you sleeping.\"

Mugen snorted. He had been caught red handed (or white handed) and wanted to know how Jin felt. \"Yeah, but you know I was playing pocket dice before I went off to Nod. And you also heard me call your name. Didn\'t you?\" Mugen pressed, almost making Jin feel guilty.

\"Yes, you are correct. I heard you. I assumed you were killing me in a dream and got off on it.\" Jin smirked evilly and then laughed in Mugen\'s face. That wasn\'t the reaction the rogue wanted. Mugen spun on his heel to walk off when a white arm on his shoulder stopped him.

\"Forgive my laughter...It\'s my way of diffusing an uncomfortable situation.\" Jin\'s words were not helping Mugen. He shrugged off the ronin\'s hand and spat in the river. \"So I make you uncomfortable now??\"

Jin sighed. Mugen was sensitive and seemed unable to be placated. So he did the only thing logical to his mind. He grabbed Mugen and when the man turned his head in confusion Jin closed his eyes and placed his lips roughly over Mugen\'s.

Time stopped for both of them, and for Fuu and Julian, who were watching from a tree not far away.

~~~~~~~~~

\"So how are your friends doing?\" Alvina asked a few minutes later when Fuu and Julian returned. The little girl seemed whiter than usual and Julian had a sheepish look on his face. She knew that her brother was an honorable man and would not have taken Fuu to the woods to have his way with her. The other two samurai were involved, whether they wanted to admit to it or not. Being semi-blind seemed to actually give her enhanced vision to see things that people with normal eyesight missed. It was how she could see Onikwakamaru for the beautiful being he was, despite his outer shell. She knew him before and after she lost her vision, and loved him the same both times.

Fuu came over to Alvina and began to play with the long red hair, which was the secret code for \'I\'ll tell you everything later.\' Alvina hummed and strung multi-colored beads on a bracelet, which she presented to Oniwaka. The ogre grunted and handed her a flower, which she accepted, batting her gray eyes. Fuu chuckled, for they were the sweetest couple she had ever seen.

\'Except for Mugen and Jin.\'

Julian walked over to Fuu and placed a hand on her shoulder. \"May we chat for a bit, Fuu?\" She loved Julian\'s Brittish accent, although he didn\'t talk very often. He was more of a smiler and nodder than speaker. Fuu wrapped a thin arm around Alvina\'s neck and gave her a brief squeeze before taking Julian\'s arm to stroll over the grounds. They walked around the house, through the garden and by the hot spring.

\"You said you wanted to chat, Julian. If you want to discuss what we saw earlier, it\'s none of our business. It\'s between them if-\" Fuu was silenced by a gentle kiss on the cheek. Julian blushed and looked away with a smile on his face.

\"I am sorry. I\'ve wanted to do that ever since I pointed my gun at you.\" Fuu giggled and took Julian\'s hand. She had also had idle thoughts of kisses and hugs, but nothing as sordid as Mugen and Jin\'s thoughts of one another. \"I am glad the two samurai are together. I worried that they were in pursuit of you. And I didn\'t want to have to kill anyone.\" Fuu and Julian roared in laughter. She cuddled up to him and he inhaled the sweet smell of her hair and sighed. He hadn\'t felt this content since...

\'Fabienne...\'

He shook his head and rubbed his eyes, trying to get the image of his past lover out of his mind. She had no right to be there, especially after what she did to Alvina. He felt immense guilt for even accepting a shred of happiness that Fuu could have offered, and felt rotten for still loving Fabienne. He pulled away from Fuu and ran back to the house full speed, leaving Fuu underneath the cherry blossom tree confused. Fuu sat down slowly and picked up a cherry blossom petal, rubbing the silk between her fingers. She frowned and dropped the crumpled flower and walked back to the house, to ask Alvina what was wrong with her brother.

~~~~~~~~~

Jin opened his eyes and looked at Mugen, their lips seemingly glued together. He tried to pull away, but Mugen wrapped his arms around the ronin and pulled him closer, slipping his tongue in Jin\'s mouth. Jin moaned and fell into the kiss, the heat surrounding them scorching. Mugen finally withdrew when he noticed Jin getting paler from lack of air. Jin\'s chest heaved as he leaned against the rock he was sitting on earlier. Mugen watched him, enamored. He wasn\'t the type to be emotional, but Jin brought out qualities in him that he never even knew he posessed.

\"I can\'t believe I just did that,\" Jin whispered, touching his lips. For someone who prided himself on restraint, he had taken a massive step. Mugen also looked surprised and a bit sad as well.

\"Look, if you think you made a mistake, then we can act like this shit never even happened.\" Mugen looked down at the river, knowing he\'d rather kill Jin then watch him walk away. Jin tentatively reached for Mugen and pulled him into a hug.

\"No...I\'m glad that this happened. Before you came out here, I was contemplating how empty my life was. Seeing Alvina and Oniwaka make me sad. I figured no one would ever love me. That I wasn\'t worth loving.\" Jin felt a tear slip down his eye as Mugen pulled his hair free and rubbed his scalp. \"I\'m glad last night happened. I\'m glad that you want me and that we dont have to fight anymore.\" Mugen grinned wickedly and put Jin in a headlock.

\"Who said we didn\'t have to fight anymore?\" Mugen and Jin began tousling by the riverbank, feeling more free than either of them had in a long time. They both stared at each other for a moment, feelings swirling around within them. Mugen took Jin by a thin wrist and led him into the woods, to a secluded area. Jin smiled as Mugen tugged him through the woods. Maybe he would finally get lucky with the man he desired so.


>Duh...next chap is a lemon. And Fabienne will be discussed. *smile*