Content

Cap'n Coree

Disclaimer: I do not own Samurai Champloo or anything thus related.

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Jin had left the warmth of the fire and wandered in to the deep abyss of the forest to seek the sanctuary that only isolation can bring. The rain was slapping against the ground like nervous fingers tapping upon the swelling belly of Mother Earth. Jin carried no umbrella. Having made his way an adequate way away from the camp, he sat himself down on the wet earth, the ground sinking to cradle him as if it were a cushion. Jin slipped off his glasses and set them carefully down next to him. Jin shook his head in an attempt to get the wet hair off of his face and sucked in a heavy dose of clean air, nothing like the air that hung like oppressive drapes at thier chosen camp, clouded with the air of thier strangled, yet still sizzling fire, and Mugens body odor. You'd think the rain would wash away his stench, but it just made him smell more like a wet dog that rolled in something unpleasant. Methodically filling and emptying his lungs with the clean forest air, Jin began to sink into a calming, welcoming meditation. He felt himself being drawn, as if by a string, into a deep, solitary abyss, where everything would sink away but his own thoughts, and the constant beat of the rain against his shoulders, lulling him deeper into himself.

...the constant beat of rain upon his shoulders...

The rain had stopped hammering itself against him, and Jin opened his eyes. Just a foot infront of him the rain hammered on, beating against the earth with passionate fury, but it had altogether stopped falling upon himself. Jin puzzled for a moment over this, before catching sight of a pink sleeve drooping down, slightly extended over his head. The sleeve, was of course, attached to a hand, which clutched an umbrella over Jin's already soaking frame. That arm was, of course, attached to an eager to please Fuu, who during hisshort meditation had slipped herself by his defenses and sat herself next to him. Jin tried not to let his irritation show on his face, Fuu was a sensitive girl and prone to hissy fits when hurt.

"Hi Jin!" she chirped, beaming at him,"you're going to catch a cold if you stay out here without an umbrella!"

"Hnn." Fuu shifted slightly, looking rather uncomftorable.'Perhaps she'll leave.' Jin thought, hopeful. It wasn't that he didn't like Fuu, or found her as irritating as Mugen did, it was just the fact that traveling with two utterly childish companions wore on one's nerves. A man needed his solitude once awhile. But Jin could tell Fuu wanted to say something. She often found it hard to talk to Jin, he was an imposing figure, and his silence often made her afraid to speak her mind. Finally, her face screwed up into a look of childish determination, she broached the subject..

"Jin," she said, shiffting the umbrella, " when was the happiest time of your life?" Fuu had been working up to confessing that this, this whimsical journey, had been the best time of her life thus far. She wanted to confess that everyday had felt like a new adventure. She had been dying to talk to someone about it. This desire ripping her apart from within that these days would never cease to be, never fade into just exciting tales, and fanciful memories. She had entertained the idea of talking about it with Mugen, but she was afraid he'd just laugh at her, or even worse, think she was coming on to him. She didn't expect Jin to answer, but rather, work herself into a nice rant about how happy his, thier, company made her. But Jin did answer.In a Jin-ish way.

"There has never been a time of my life that has been untouched by turmoil or sorrow," Jin replied, "so I cannot answer that question accurately." Fuu frowned, her plan ruined, and further dismay piled atop disappointment by her friends unsatisfactory, and disheartening reply.

"So you're telling me you've never been happy?" Fuu asked, awed in a sad sort of way.

"No, I'm not saying that I haven't been happy, I'm just saying that happiness comes with the heavy cost of sadness."

"But you have to be happy sometimes," Fuu said, nodding to herself.

"Not always. I prefer to be merely content. Contention is harder to shake than happiness, and when it does falter, it doesn't carry the same disappointment." Fuu huffed. Fuu puffed. Fuu couldn't see how contention could ever measure up to pure joy. Contention was fine, but it gotboring. Fuu supposed contention would suit someone like Jin however, but still, that didn't mean she was going to accept it.

"Sorrow and happiness may walk hand in hand, " Fuu said, trying to word it the way Jin would, so he might better understand, "but we need them both to make life intresting. Life is like a bitter glass of sake," Fuu thought briefly of the drunk Mugen she left alone at the campsite, passed out by the dying fire, "the happy, and the sad times, help us swallow it a bit easier." Jin just nodded and stared at the battering rain pouring down infront of him. " I'm happy here. So happy it is hard to explain. This venture has been the best time of my life. Here with you." Fuu let out a small giggle, "Heck, even here with Mugen. I mean sure...I've been kidnapped, beaten, even harrassed by my own bodyguard, an alarming amount of times, but the good still out numbers the moments of sheer terror and pain...I suppose." Fuu sighed, finally letting that off her chest and looked to Jin, hoping for praise, or anything really. Still, he sat, as unmovable as stone. Fuu squirmed, not sure if she should dismiss herself or not, but the rain was drumming, and the wind was whistling, and altogether it was a rather calming tune. Fuu, not stopping to think about her actions, rested her head against Jin's shoulder.

Several minutes passed, and she sat with him, sneaking careful glances to his face, which was carefully aloof.

"Jin, are you content now?" Fuu asked, breaking the silence.

Jin thought for a moment. "No," he said, wrapping his arm around Fuu's waist, "No, right now, I'm happy."

and the rain drummed on...

"Jin.."

"Yes Fuu?" Jin asked, hoping it wasn't an off the wall question that would utterly ruin this moment..

"I think I'm sitting on your glasses..."

"...Oh...Fuu.."

End.