The house felt so empty. The sun had at last become so bright he could no longer ignore it, and from that very moment he had felt it.

Empty.

Mugen scratched his jaw as he yawned, stumbling into the main room and a sea of suspended dust particles caught in the pools of light pouring through the open windows.

Things were sure fucked up if he was beginning to sense emptiness.

There was a small scrap of something - probably a food wrapping - lying on the table, as he expected. Rubbing a thoughtful finger along his much less sparse than he remembered stubble. A note, in painfully neat and purposefully large characters:

Mugen: Out of rice again. No breakfast? I think not.

A smirk interfered with his methodic massaging at the last sentence. There was a special humor in the laconic language that he was sure only he could comprehend.

Morning trip to market is well worth not starving. Sure you agree.

He turned the paper over as indicated by an arrow that belied the true sloppiness of the writer's usual scrawl, smile still holding the corners of his lips aloft.

Don't burn down the house.

He rolled his eyes.

Also- take Neko-san outside this time. I will be very angry if you forget.

Mugen scowled at this last addition, but gave up feigning anger given the physical lack of his opponent as well as the redeeming conclusion.

Your Jin

Also- if you remember, I will wash today.

- Jin

After re-reading it several times, more out of a need to wake up than out of a lack of understanding, Mugen returned the note to its place on the tabletop. He brought his arms over his head in a stretch, inhaling.

It was a pretty nice morning.

He released the held breath as he let his limbs fall and prowled back whence he came.

"Neko, neko, neko!"

Jin shook his head gently in an attempt to clear his bangs from his line of vision and instinctively made to push up his recently lost glasses with a slender digit, stopping himself with a small mental reprimand.

As it turned out, they had been missing quite a few items the ronin found essential to a healthy and well-balanced diet- He stopped himself, brows furrowing and then evening to their usual angle of indention.

There was nothing wrong with this train of thought, he concluded, shifting the morning's purchases to save the unagi with an untimely encounter with the stone path that led out of town. It was merely an adjustment, a peculiar and unexpected adjustment, but a simple adjustment all the same. How strange, he reflected, that it was he, Jin, who was plodding down the road with an armful of groceries and not Fuu, who had always seemed indisputably destined to join the realm of housewives and was in fact now living life on the road in the exact manner Jin had predicted he himself would.

Then again, he made no attempt to pretend he understood the workings of the world.

And walking down the road with an armful of groceries was not at all a bad place to be.

He jostled the unagi into a more secure position again and shouldered his slipping kimono back into place as best he could.

The house was not too far off.

Dark eyes lifted from the path for the briefest possible interval in order to make an evaluation of the sky. Very good. Mugen would most definitely be up by now.

Mugen.

That was an unforeseen factor in the state of current events as well. Whether it was because they had both independently decided that the best way to ensure no one or nothing else would get the chance to take the other's life was to stick together, or because they really had nothing better to do and decided to give the civilian life a chance just for kicks, or even simply because the sex was that good (this was definitely a component in Jin's decision making, though he'd fight Kagetoki again ten thousand before he let the vagrant know), they had wound up here. Living together on the outskirts of a small village around Nagasaki, eking out a bizarre existence as veritable mercenaries.

It had all been a chain of misunderstandings and coincidences: rolls of the die of fate. He had come to firmly believe that those die were loaded, but had yet to decide whether or not it was in his favor.

Either way, Jin had chanced upon the shack sometime shortly after the trio had parted ways; seen it over the roll of the slight hill he was currently mounting, slumped with a strange sort of jaunty pride atop a gentle slope. He might have passed the place entirely, however, had he not heard a feline yowl and been unexplainably compelled to investigate. One thing led to another, and by nightfall he was settled in with the slate colored cat he judiciously appelled Neko-san and was prepared to get a good night's rest in the stable and remarkably unperturbed shelter.

Of course, such a peaceful and uneventful evening was not so easily obtained for Jin. His repose was interrupted by the door being flung open and none other than Fuu, gagged and bound as she so often had been throughout their travels, along with another young woman were tossed to the floor. Their captors, however, did not follow but remained outside instead, preoccupied, Jin surmised as he was freeing the momentary damsels in distress by the source of a singular war cry:

"Give me back my money, you assholes!"

It did not take Jin long to piece together a plausible story- some bandits had robbed the insufferable vagrant and coincidentally picked up the danger-prone Fuu who had probably been in the company of the hapless third party female- yet another variation on an all too familiar theme. Needless to say it did not take more than the element of surprise and a few simple swipes of the katana to remedy the situation and earn Mugen's wrath for taking his kill. No further dialog had been necessary to provoke a fight between the ronin and the vagabond, but the eager to meet blades were not even granted one pass before a mob of men barreled in between them and into the house while a bespectacled middle-aged man threw himself at Mugen's feet and began warbling praises.

Jin heaved a sigh of checked relief as the very yard in which his recollections were set at last came into view. When all was said and done, the young female in tow had been revealed to be the daughter of the local officiary; she had been on her way home from a neighboring town when she met Fuu and offered to put her up at her father's home for as long as necessary after hearing Fuu's synopsis of recent events. The duo never made it home, however, because an unruly gang of bandits who had recently been plaguing the country sides by pretending to be checkpoint officers had taken them hostage, aware of the young woman's status. It jus so happened that Mugen had recently fallen victim to their checkpoint act and would have been none the wiser if he hadn't overheard one of the gang members boasting under the influence of libation shortly after. Never one for subtlety, he had immediately given chase and had apparently caught up with them on the same hill Jin was currently mounting. The shack, it turned out, had been one of their local hideouts, thus explaining its exceptional structural state.

In gratitude for the disposal of the assailants as well as for the rescue of his daughter, the town officiary offered Mugen, Jin, and Fuu the cottage and associated property with the added request that they work as sort of village guards as the town really lacked any formally trained police force and had only the small band of volunteers accompanying him. Jin had been prepared to turn the man down, as had been Mugen, he was positive, but the final part of the deal turned out to be not only a none-too shabby paycheck, but also a pre-paid budget on all purchases made in the town market.

At last, Jin reached the top of the mild slope he'd stood on that night and opened the short gate with his back in order to protect his load, courtesy of the bargain that had sealed his current fate. Neko-san took him by surprise, trotting up with a salutary meow in order to deliver affectionate collisions of furry head and slim ankles.

Jin paused, recollections evaporating abruptly.

Mugen had let the cat out. Just like he'd asked.

The only release of absolute delight and pleasure was in the speed of the steps that brought him to the door, and even then there were very few, if any, people still among the living who would have caught this expression of well-checked emotion.

"Mugen."

The statement sounded quieter than he had intended in the furniture-less expanse, but was as successful as he'd hoped in bringing out his housemate. Mugen stood in the doorway between the two rooms and they studied each other for a few beats: Mugen, hair exceptionally disheveled, apparently awoken from a nap, Jin looking expectant but uncertain of what to do now that the requested person was present.

The vagrant solved the silence by letting a smirk slide across his long lips and then propel him across the living space. He improvised with a kiss on the jaw that made Jin stiffen.

"Hey, baby."

"Hm."

He stepped back and eyed the laconic ronin curiously.

Jin weighed the significance of this greeting.

"I'm hungry." Mugen remarked flatly, trying to keep the conversation moving towards concrete results.

Jin decided to not read too much into it.

"Hm."

He took the few steps necessary to reach the corner of the house dedicated to meal preparation and began arranging his ingredients.

Mugen let his eyes linger on the navy back for a few more moments, forming his own evaluation of events, and then went to lean in the open doorframe, looking out to the bright sky over bright land. He listened to Jin carefully locating one of his many simple recipes from the old woman at the produce stand.

His cooking still had a ways to go.

He waited a few seconds for Jin to get started, well aware of the intense level of concentration called for by the task, but finally decided to spill his news sooner rather than later.

"Talk to anyone in town?"

"Mm. No. I listened to the men who smoke by Baa-san's shop though. There's trouble on the road again."

"A new group, eyeh?"

"I thought so too. But now I think perhaps it's that textile clan from the south again."

"Eh. They're sure some desperate bastards…"

"You were sleeping?"

"Eyeh?"

"You were sleeping, yes?"

"Oh, yeah, yeah, yeah," he waved the air, as if batting down the inquiry. "Yeah, I was… still not sure what to do with myself all day…"

"I know."

He cut a glance back to the kneeling ronin on the off chance there would be some physical manifestation of clarification on the latest mysterious comment, but the hunched shoulders remained silent on the issue.

They'd gotten off topic. He tried again.

"Fuu headed south, right?"

"East, I think."

"Oh. She tell you where she was going?"

"No. You?"

"Ha! Fuck no! All I know is what she told both of us that night we found this place…"

Jin froze for the slightest increment of time, but recovered seamlessly, struggling to cut the unagi correctly.

This was the day, he was sure. It would come out right today.

"That she wasn't going to settle down yet and all that… something about 'discovering myself' or whatever crap it was…"

"What are you trying to say, Mugen."

Mugen felt his neck turn against his bidding to take in the source of the question turned demand. No one could suck the thirst for knowledge out of a question like Jin. He turned his mild fear into aloofness.

"Exactly what I'm saying, jackass…"

"Hf."

Jin did not seem to be fooled so he plowed on for the sake of his own self-image, saying lightly, "We got a letter from her today… that chick's punky brother ran it up while you were out."

"Oh."

Mugen whirled at this completely colorless response to his shocking announcement, but his ire was only temporary. A laugh leaked through the sneer of disbelief.

"Couldn't even pretend to be surprised, eyh?"

"I am surprised."

"Eyh!"

"What did it say?"

"Said she's coming back soon. Just to pass by, she said, but she's got some big news apparently-"

"Oh!"

"What's wrong?"

Mugen took a step closer instinctively but then stopped himself, unsure if this emergency was one he had a place intervening in or not.

Jin was slumped over his cutting boards, exuding despair to the highest degree. Mugen took another cautious step- Jin stood suddenly and had crossed the room before his unsettled companion could react.

"Jin!" Mugen sprang to life as soon as the ronin crossed the threshold. They nearly collided as the bespectacled mystery on legs ducked back into the house to grab his hat from its place on the wall.

Dark eyes met dark eyes: one pair incredulous and the other stony in order to conceal intense embarrassment.

Jin looked away at last and placed his straw sun-shield atop his glossy head.

"I noticed Neko-san was out. I'll be washing the dishes as promised."

Speechless, Mugen watched his stoic samurai make record time reaching the gate. A pale hand forced the old, worn wood to open, but then paused.

Maybe he should re-examine. Better to read too deeply and find nothing than to skim and miss so much.

Besides, it was only fair to return the favor.

The sun was so bright it could be playing tricks on the face beneath the golden brim, but Mugen swore he saw the distress and self-admonishment he'd spotted before in Jin's stern and delicate features as he turned and explained in a clear but strained voice, "I forgot the rice."

Author's Note: Crime Number One? Don't forget the one thing you went to the store for, Jin! XD

Holla anything you got to me in a review, mkay? Hope you enjoyed! Also, if you catch any inaccuracies involving their appearances from the ending of the series (ex. JIN HAZ NO GLASSEZ PLZ???!!?) please tell me...I started writing this before actually seeing the end of the series. -stupid smile- I think I caught most of it, but still...help a sistah out. ;3

-bows-

-S