The Eye of the Typhoon, a samurai champloo fanfic

Title: "The Eye of the Typhoon"

Fandom: Samurai Champloo

Author: Ariel the Tempest

Rating: T, for persistent mention of homosexual relationships and a few non-explicit sexual references, and a bloody murder with no graphic details.

Other warnings: Spoilers for essentially all mentions of Jin's past, and for Yukimaru's appearance and motivations in episodes 16 and 17. Serious angst, slight OOC for Jin as we see him in the series. (If you think about it he's a much different guy in the flashbacks, and the version seen here is pretty much IC by that standard.)

Summary: Why was Yukimaru so angry at Jin? One possible explanation involves what was said the night before his…sudden departure.

This is my first posting on ffDOTnet so I would really enjoy feedback, and constructive criticism is welcomed. The story is dedicated to Paula O'Keefe, owner of the AMALGAM Champloo fansite: my ever-eager beta-reader, my sounding board, and the best friend I ever made on the internet. Thank you, shimai, for all our long and geeky conversations.

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Hojo Yukimaru(1) liked to think of himself as a most patient young man, but he firmly believed that even the Enlightened One himself would have lost his composure after a week of forced celibacy while his boyfriend was in plain view across the dojo, demonstrating stances to the beginning students. And since, despite his many fine qualities, he was not the single greatest spiritual leader of this particular cosmic era, he certainly felt it within his rights to demand a little attention. To that purpose, Yuki was at the moment halfway undressed and sitting on the futon in his lover's bedroom—and thanking his lucky stars that Takeda Jin was the Master's chosen successor, and allowed the luxury of privacy. If they were both sleeping in the dormitories he'd have had to pounce on Jin walking across the courtyard, and drag him behind the stables for a literal roll in the hay.

And it wasn't just a matter of sexual frustration, either. Demonstrative Jin was not, but that only meant his moods were all the more intense since they lacked outlets for expression. Yukimaru had been around him long enough to know that something was going on, and it probably had to do with the strange comings and goings the Master had been involved in, and the hours Jin had spent closeted with him talking about kami-knows-what. Yuki knew quite well that he would never attain Jin's level of swordsmanship, would never be in the position of heir-apparent in any dojo, and considering the amount of time and effort his lover spent fulfilling his duties as such, he wasn't really all that disappointed. That didn't stop him from sometimes envying the respect Jin commandedbut only sometimes. At any rate, such an intense, hard-working boyfriend deserved a little stress-relief, ne?

Ah, and here was the man himself, to judge by the light tread in the hallway. The shoji(2) slid back, Jin stepped into the room, and the expression on his face made Yukimaru's grin take on a maniacally determined edge. There was a crease between the young man's eyebrows that normally only appeared when he was sparring, and the look in his eyes was one step short of frazzled. As much as Yuki needed to lose himself in his lover, Jin needed it more. He stretched himself out a bit more on the futon, wishing to high Heaven that his lover responded more to seduction, and said, "Fancy meeting you here."

Jin seemed to have divined his presence even before entering the bedroom. He gave him a dispirited once-over, and said, "Yuki…," in that gently disapproving tone guaranteed to make a rowdy novice blush. Damn it, he was not a novice anymore, and he was not going to spoken to like that!

"You've been so busy lately, love. I thought I would make it easier on both of us and not wait to be asked."

Jin paused, and Yuki thought he saw an instant's flicker of exasperation in the slate-grey eyes. He settled to the floor beside the futon, uncommonly wearily. "I wish I could be happier to see you, but...it's not a good night for this." Yuki shifted behind him, and began slowly kneading his shoulders through the fabric of his kimono, discreetly nudging him into a reclining position. It wasn't that uncommon for Jin to need to rest and refocus himself before they did anything, and he could wait that long, at least.

"Love, you're just tired. You work harder than five people. Can't I distract you for a little while?" He pressed his thumbs in under the base of Jin's skull, rubbed steadily down the long cords of his neck, which was as tight as his shoulders. No wonder he looked so wrought. He couldn't help feeling a twinge of concern…among other things.

"Please?"

"It's really not a good night."

Jin closed his eyes, the crease deepened, and Yuki sighed. So much for distractionon to frontal assault. He lunged into Jin, pushing him back onto the futon, and reaching for the knot of his obi, only to find himself inverted and pinned without even having seen the other man move.

"Yukimaru, for ONCE will you just take no for an answer?" He was downright startled. He'd expected more exasperation and either a sharp tone or capitulation, but not outright anger and physical violence. He made sure to keep his voice level and low as he said, "You're hurting me, Jin-nii(3)." Jin's eyes widened with the sudden realization of his loss of control, and he released his hold and stumbled back, breathing heavily and in slight disarray.

Yuki gazed up at him with intermingled lust, frustration, and confusion. "I'm alright—we both take worse in the dojo every day. It's you I'm worried about. If you don't want to make love, that's fine, but tell me why, and don't send me away like a little child!" He couldn't entirely keep the resentment out of his voice at the end. When teaching Jin was truly a sight to behold, and in ways that had nothing to do with physical beauty. He could discipline a child with a single glance, praise with a single smile. It was those smiles that had originally made Yuki's heart leap, but now—now, when he no longer had any secrets from Jin—the gently condescending affection of a teacher to a favorite student was not nearly enough.

"I only send you away like a child when you behave like one. If you want to prove your maturity, then take my word that there's nothing wrong and GO." Jin had turned his back on Yuki, and was standing pinching the bridge of his nose. Unlike Jin, Yuki still had living family—a whole clan's worth, back in Izu. He had been the only child of aging, slightly absent-minded parents, cosseted and spoiled, always treated a bit more like a favorite cat than a human child. Even when he came to the dojo, something about his childish face and delicate ego ensured that he was never really taken seriously. Jin was the first person to treat him as anything like an adult, and for that Yuki loved him more than all of his multifarious relations combined. Of course, that meant that having Jin speak down to him was worse than anyone else on earth. They had both kept each others' secrets before, so surely Jin's reluctance was not due to the fact that he thought Yuki would kiss and tell.

"Nothing wrong? You're wound tighter than a ship's cable!"

"It's not something I can talk about. Why can't you accept that?"

"Because I can't accept that I trust you with my life when you don't even trust me not to prattle about what bothering you!" They had had their disagreements before, but considering that most of them just involved some snappish comments and five minutes of awkward silence before one or other of them apologized, this was shaping up to be the most tumultuous yet.

"You're not the only one who expects me to keep my silence, younger brother. There are other people that I can't let down." There were exactly two people besides Yukimaru that Jin held allegiance to, and Yuki knew without having to be told that Jin's current agitation had nothing to do with Niwa-dono in far-off Aki. Then it was the Master's secrets Jin was keeping—as he suspected from the very beginning. For some reason, that made him see red like nothing else.

"He is my Master too, you know! I have every reason you do not to betray him, and I will NOT be treated some like common whore! If I'm anything more than just the man you sleep with you'll tell me what's going on!"

"When did this become about your vanity? If you had any real loyalty to me or to the Master you would have long since let this go and left me in peace. GO, before I do something else I regret!"

OH! That was absolutely the last straw! Questioning his loyalty to the Master was one thing, for Yuki had honestly never been that fond of Enshiro even before becoming involved with Jin, but questioning his loyalty to his lover was quite another. Jin's devotion to his duty was the single best reason Yuki had for being faithful to the Master. And he wasn't the one who had been neglectful, wasn't the one who refused to share what was on his mind, wasn't the one who was seemingly implying that he regretted their relationship, wasn't the one who refused to even try make things better! Somehow he found himself on his feet, fists clenched at his sides.

"I guess I don't mean anything to you then, I guess I'm just a convenience to you! You'll close yourself up with the Master all day, but you won't give even a sliver of the night to me! You love him, you don't love me!"

Jin had turned wearily to half-face him at the beginning of the tirade, but Yuki had had his eyes screwed shut and hadn't noticed. When he finished and opened his eyes to glare at the other man, he was stopped dead by the expression on Jin's face. The white was showing all around his eyes, they were opened so wide in shock. His ordinarily pale complexion had faded to something in the vicinity of wood ash. He was gulping as if it had suddenly become very difficult to breathe. And there were two very strange damp trails down his face.

Jin was…crying?

Pride and indignation went abruptly by the roadside. Jin was crying…and he was the one who had caused it. Just by being cranky and careless, he could do that. Obviously, there had been something that strained him before this, but that hadn't brought him to tears—those were all Yuki's handiwork. Oh, Amitabha(4). How was he ever worthy of belonging to Jin if he could cause such pain so easily? All of a sudden Yuki was enfolding himself around Jin, pulling them both down to sit on the futon, settling Jin's head against his shoulder. All that mattered right now was that Jin needed him like never before, and now that he saw that herds of wild horses couldn't drive him away.

It was so easy to forget that Jin, who never flinched in battle and could kick the crap out of every swordsman from here to Kyoto, was an orphan. Easy, unless you'd seen the way he reacted to the thought of losing someone he loved, or unless you were his lover and acquainted with the way he clung to your body when he thought you were asleep. Those were the times when he was, first and foremost, a child who'd never had anyone to call his own. Jin wrapped hands around Yuki's shoulders as if afraid they would suddenly melt from his grasp.

"Oh, by all the saints, I apologize. It was so stupid of me to push you; more than stupid to doubt you. Please don't make me go, not while you're so upset. I can't stand to see you like this—it makes me angry that they ask so much of you."

Jin shivered slightly in his arms. When he spoke, his voice was low and very tired. "I forgive you, now and always, Yukimaru. In a way, I'm glad you make me angry, and sad, and jealous, and all the rest. The Master used to tell me that my strength had no meaning, that I fought only for myself—that's never the case with you around. You force me to care about things; you don't let me weave my webs alone in my head. You're fresh and lively and persistent as a kitsune in heat(5), and I don't want to see any of that marred." There was something in his voice at the end that seemed less like exhaustion or frustration and more like…fear. And anything that could make Jin not just tense but outright scared was seriously bad news.

Yuki gently slid his hands up Jin's back, and resumed the neck rub he had attempted earlier, this time with a bit more success in relaxing the tense muscles. The action had the advantage of gaining him a few moments in which to weigh his words as Jin settled more deeply into his shoulder. He had cut to the bone once already, and was now trying very hard to be circumspect. "You're scared, Jin-nii, and you don't ever get scared for your own sake. Is the Master in trouble? Am I in trouble with him for diverting your attention?"

Jin bit his lip, torn between the desire to reveal and the need to keep his word. "I had a…disagreement with someone important. There could be repercussions. They could try to remove me from the dojo, maybe more." He paused for rather a long while. Yuki stroked his neck encouragingly. "If it happens, I will deal with it. But they could try to do the same to you."

Now they were getting somewhere. Yuki still had so clue whatsoever what the "disagreement" was about, or who was involved, but at least he knew what the source of Jin's anxiety was. "And that's why you've been avoiding me for the past week and tried to throw me out tonight. Love, I'm not totally incapable of defending myself—but if it will make you feel better, I'll go back to the dormitory. If I'm surrounded by all the other students I'll certainly be safe for the night. But there are two things I want you to promise me: first, that when I leave you'll stop worrying and try to get some sleep, and second, that you'll tell me as soon as the coast is clear. Is that fair?"

Jin gave a watery sort of chuckle. "Quite." He pulled back from Yuki, who pretended not to notice when he swiped his sleeve over his cheekbones. Yuki rose, picked up the gi and hakama that lay neatly folded in the corner, and began to put them on. "I know you've been…frustrated…this week, and I'm sorry to leave you unsatisfied."

"Considering how worn out you are, I think the Clouds and the Rain(6) are pretty much out of the question either way." Jin's eyes widened slightly, questioning whether the slur on his sexual prowess was intentional. Yuki knelt down in front of the futon, and pulled him in for gentle kiss. "So go to sleep, and next time we'll make sure you're ready for me." Jin smiled, recognizing the sideways apology for the unexpected intrusion. They kissed again, managing to convey deep affection but avoid being too stimulating so as to avoid another wrestling match.

Yuki managed to make it out the door, turn and give Jin a smile, and shut it behind him again before the shakes got the better of him. He went outside in hopes that the fresh air would help restore his composure.

The evening had been disturbing on so many different levels that he couldn't even decide which one to worry about first. There was the big threat that had Jin upset, but he really couldn't get worked up about that now, partly because he suspected that his lover was thinking about eight steps down the road, and any trouble on that front would likely be awhile away, unexpected, and beyond his control. Mental notation to listen very carefully to the dojo gossip—on the offchance that he might hear something useful—and put it out of his mind. And then there was the perennial issue of Jin overworking himself. It hadn't happened in anything like the way he'd intended, but surely there had been at least a little catharsis amid all the bickering tonight. Anyway, nothing more could be done tonight, so that wasn't worth worrying about either. There was also the issue of his misplaced mistrust of Jin, and the potential damage that he'd done to their relationship, but he needed to get some remove from the night's potent emotions before he could trust any conclusions he came to about them. He would also need rational processes not clouded by sleep and neglected arousal—but THOSE two disturbances he could do something about. After a quick sidetrip behind the stables (So it was a roll in the hay after all—just solo.) Yuki returned to the dormitory, pointedly ignoring the whispers and snickers about his arrival.

One of fifth-levels(7) actually had the audacity to ask him where he'd been, and he answered with the first thing that came into his head. He couldn't deny having been with Jin, because there was bound to be someone who saw him going to the room, but he also wasn't about to say that he'd had a row with his boyfriend and been tossed out on his ear. "I was playing shougi with Takeda-san." (It was true enough—playing chess was what Yuki was always reminded of in his attempts to get inside Jin's head.)

The reply emboldened one of the turd's little friends to get into the act too. "My, my. That must have been a rather short game. Did you win?"

Yuki spun around and gave the entire assembled company an impressively disdainful glare. "It was draw; we called it off." He stalked over to his own (oh so very cold and lonely) cot, and lay down musing on the logistics of dipping the fifth-level in boiling pitch, or vivisecting him. Such meditations were sufficiently pleasant and soothing that it didn't take him terribly long to fall asleep, even as thoughts of Jin danced alluringly and alarmingly through his head.

Midnight; moonlight through rice paper. Friction of a footstep on tatami causes the slightest of noises; dark eyes fly open; threat is perceived. Hands move invisibly quick; swords flash and clash. Battle is lost—and won. Light on a familiar face; terrible moment of recognition. Voice like an open wound whispers, "Shishou."

It was early morning—Yuki could tell without opening his eyes by the decibel and number of the whispers—but something was different this morning. The whispers lacked the giggly and grumpy undertones typical of young males in the wee hours; they were too solemn. Still half asleep, he tried to figure out what they were saying.

"Unimaginable…did you see?...Takeda-san's bedroom… drenched in blood!"

It was rather a good thing that Yuki did not sleep in the nude, because he was out of bed and running across the courtyard to Jin's room before the last boy had even finished speaking. Not that he would have particularly cared if he were streaking in front of the entire dojo, because the obvious conclusion was that whatever had had Jin so tied in knots the night before had come to horrible, violent fruition far sooner than expected. The dread of what he might find was so strong that it felt like he'd been struck in the stomach, but it didn't prevent him from shoving his way through the shocked and tittering crowd with force he'd never known he possessed, until….

Ulp.

They hadn't been joking about the room being drenched in blood. Yuki's already-stressed stomach gave a lurch, and he put a shaking hand over his mouth and nose to block the smell. His mind was blank with horror. He dragged his eyes from the huge dark stain on the floor, and made his way carefully around the edge to crouch next to the stiff, still body. It was the first time he'd got a good a look at it.

It was not Jin. There was a spilt second of incredible euphoric relief before he realized it was the Master.

The Master had been in Jin's room last night—after Jin had thrown Yuki out. To judge from the gore-spattered under-kimono left crumpled by the body, the shredded bedding, and the fact that neither Jin nor his swords were anywhere to be seen, it had been Jin who killed him.

Yuki's mind unblanked itself rather abruptly, and started throwing bits and pieces of the last week, and particularly last night, at him, a hideous pattern emerging. Jin had wanted him out of the room—badly. The given reason was that he was too tired to make love and worried about Yuki's safety. But it could just have easily been because someone else was coming that night, and he would be in the way. When he had asked if it was the Master that was the source of Jin's anxiety, Jin had replied that he had had a disagreement with "someone important"—but had never actually denied it was the Master. He had, as had been pointed out in the course of their argument, been ignoring Yuki and spending an inordinate amount of time with the Master. He had become very angry when Yuki did not obey him immediately.

But most of all, he had not cried until Yuki had accused him of loving the Master more. It had been a low blow on Yuki's part, but Jin had reacted as if it hit too close to home, and the suddenly become concerned about losing him—something he had obviously not been worried about when he called Yuki immature and overeager.

It was like the first time looking up at the night sky after learning the constellations: patterns suddenly resolved themselves where before had been only chaos. Except that astronomy usually didn't make him feel like Jin had taken his sword and neatly, elegantly, sterilely cut his chest open and taken out his heart.

What he had said was true—Jin didn't love him, he loved the Master. The fact that he'd essentially disemboweled the Master made no difference to Yuki—so they'd had a fight, and it had gone too far. Jin had still cared about the man enough to give him priority over his student-boyfriend. The details were irrelevant at this point. All that mattered to Yuki was that he had given Jin his heart, and the gift had not been returned. Pain turned into grief turned into cold, hard rage.

As deadly anger blossomed inside him, he became aware of the conversation going on amongst the assembled crowd. "What's the Hojo brat doing? This doesn't concern him. You dunce! He was Takeda's lover! Tscha, bit of shock for him, ne? Should have known better than to mess with that one, though. Always was a bit on the cruel side. It's fine and dandy to say that now, but the Master's DEAD, in case you hadn't noticed, and Takeda's nowhere to be found. Something's going to have be done to avenge the death. And it falls to us to do it. Shit, I hate cleaning up other people's messes."

Yuki stood up, hands clenched at his sides. His fingernails were about to break the skin of his palms. "That's fine," he said, "Because you won't have to."

Though he had spoken quietly, there was an edge to his voice that made everyone in the room fall silent and stare. "You won't have to avenge the Master. None of you are worthy to so much as touch Takeda-san. No one here deserves to kill him more than I do. I will find him, and I will defeat him, and I will slit his throat." He turned and stalked silently to the door, catching the eye of the fifth-level who had taunted him the night before. "Send a message to my family in Izu. Tell them I'm leaving the dojo, and I won't be coming home again. Do you understand me?" The boy nodded fearfully and Yuki stalked on.

He had thought last night that everything had been resolved between himself and Jin, that the argument and the tension had passed over like a brief squall, leaving clear skies in its wake. It seemed he had sorely misjudged—it was no squall, but a hundred-year typhoon that disturbed the peace of their relationship, and the relative happiness (though he had been anything but at the time) of last night had been merely the one placid moment in the midst of the screaming rains, with so much more tumult still left to come. It had, it seemed, been only the eye of the typhoon.

(1) I'm aware that neither Jin nor Yukimaru has a specified last name. Hojo and Takeda were names of real samurai clans who used the crests that Yuki and Jin respectively wear. The Hojo family actually did control the Izu province at this time, so it's not unreasonable that Yuki would be from there. (If you want to verify this for yourself, go to samurai-archivesDOTcom and check out their list of family crests and map of feudal domains.) I'm also aware that Jin wears the same crest as Enshiro, so it could be a dojo symbol, but I suspect the reason he was placed in that particular dojo to begin with is that Enshiro is a distant relation, and therefore entitled to wear the same crest.

(2) Sliding rice paper and wood door.

(3) Literally, "older brother Jin". Samurai homosexual relationships had fixed uke and seme roles determined by age. (The elder of the two was always the seme.) The participants were referred to, and sometimes referred to themselves as, older and younger brothers. Yeah, it's a little on the incestuous side, but it's strangely cute at the same time.

(4) The Buddha of Infinite Light, a Mahayana deity very popular in Japan, and often portrayed as an intercessor.

(5) Fox spirits are said to be alluring, randy, and insatiable. Draw your own conclusions on what Jin's implying about Yuki.

(6) The Clouds and the Rain is a traditional Japanese euphemism for the male orgasm.

(7) I have no idea how rankings worked in an Edo Period fencing dojo—they don't seem to do the belt thing like hand-to-hand martial arts. For the sake of the story, I will simply assume they have numbered levels of some sort, if only for the sake of grouping the younger students into classes for training.