Fandom: Samurai Champloo
Story Title: Bleed For You
Rating: R
Genre: Romance/Action
Warning(s): Violence, sex, profanity, a few AU-ish situations, Mugen being... well, Mugen. Also contains mild spoilers for those who haven't finished watching the series.
Pairing(s): Fuu/Mugen
Summary: 30 short looks at a relationship that is anything but peaceful and uncomplicated. In fact, with a love like this, who needs enemies?
Fuugen pretty much owns my soul :) They have such an interesting dynamic, and trying to get inside Mugen's head is loads of fun, albeit rather difficult. Most of the scenes in this fic are open to interpretation--- whether they happen during or after the series is up to the reader--- while the rest are just plain AU. They aren't arranged in any particular order, so it's best to treat each one as an individual stand-alone piece.
01.
"Mugen, let me see!"
"No!" He slaps her hand away. "It's nothing. Just a scratch."
He's quite sure the enemy sword has pierced something vital; it hurts like a motherfucker and he's getting dizzier with each passing moment. But he'd rather die than let Fuu see him thus weakened.
02.
His sharp words finally hit their mark, although she tries not to show it. Her muffled sobs keep him awake all night.
03.
Weak from loss of blood and aching all over, he can do nothing but stare as the blade arcs toward him. Time's up, oh, well, it was a shitty life---
Her eyes flash in his mind.
He dodges.
04.
Mugen lets Fuu hit him whenever she wants to; it's the only way he can atone for not being the kind of guy she deserves.
05.
Her fingernails rake his back, slicing through the cloud of pleasure enveloping his brain. He winces, and retaliates by thrusting harder.
06.
"You're gonna get me killed one day," he complains after yet another rescue, neglecting to add that, really, that would be the only meaningful kind of death.
07.
Fuu wonders why, out of all the people in the world, it had to be him. He hurts her more than anyone else does.
Maybe she's just weird. Maybe it's the hurting that feels so good.
08.
Her fingers gently run over the scars on his back, tracing, caressing, remembering, knowing, loving.
09.
It had been magic under the cold silver moon. But in broad, harsh daylight, she's black and bruised and can barely walk.
"This is your fault," she grumbles. "You didn't have to be so rough."
Quick as a flash, he scoops her up in his arms and carries her all the way to the next town.
10.
"Thank you for saving me," she says, beaming at him
It's so fucking unfair. Here he is, all sliced to ribbons, and yet the way she looks makes him feel like it was worth it. That damn smile of hers, it's going to put doctors out of business.
11.
"Hold still!"
"Ouch! Get away from me, you crazy bitch!"
"Just let me---"
"No! Leave me the hell alone!"
She kisses him, then smugly finishes bandaging his wounds while he sits in stunned silence.
12.
He has to tackle her to the ground to avoid the explosives chucked by their latest foe. She cries out as smooth skin scrapes hard stone.
He is filled with unholy, illogical rage as he advances on the enemy. You made me hurt her, you bastard.
13.
Sometimes, when the light hits her just right, he has to remind himself to breathe.
14.
He and Jin sit back, stomachs full to bursting, watching in utter amazement as Fuu gulps down bowl after bowl of steaming rice and beef.
"Her future husband will have a difficult time keeping her well-fed," Jin observes, casting a glance in Mugen's direction.
Mugen looks terrified.
15.
When he finally reaches the conclusion that he would carve his own heart out for her, he feels annoyed. Why can't he die for a chick with bigger boobs?
16.
"Oh, no, Mugen, you're bleeding."
At least you aren't.
17.
He swears when he sees the bruise on her forehead.
"Who did that to you?" I'll kill him. I'll rip him apart with my bare hands.
She grins sheepishly. "I fell down the stairs."
18.
He feels like the world's biggest schmuck when he kisses the scratch on her knee, but she stops whimpering, so he guesses that's all right.
19.
Fuu will never tell him in a million years… but when that boat went up in flames and sunk, something inside her did, too.
20.
He can't get it up with other women unless he thinks of her. It pisses him off.
21.
Her dark brown hair, released from its usual updo, frames her face, and her eyes are impossibly wide and her skin looks impossibly creamy, and he's not strong enough to fight this, so he mumbles, "Ah, to hell with it" and moves closer.
22.
When, at her insistence, he reluctantly tells the stories behind each scar, her heart breaks for him. He's too proud to shed tears, so she does the crying instead. He tells her she's acting like a twit, but grazes her cheek gently with his scarred knuckles, anyway.
23.
She washes his shirt after every battle, scrubbing with a fierce determination to get the stains out.
He's strangely touched by this. It's the most anyone's ever done for him.
24.
He watches her cling to the fish-faced samurai as if her very life depends on it. She's never held him like that. He wants to kill something.
25.
It was the sound of her voice that called him back from the darkness, just as he was about to let go. Her voice. That much he is certain of.
26.
He buries his fingers in her silky hair as she licks and sucks; the pleasure is almost too much to bear. It would be just like the bitch to kill him even as she gives him the best blowjob of his life. And--- ah---
"Damn it, Fuu, where the fuck did you learn that?"
27.
It was a long, hard fight. On the way back to the cabin, Mugen and Jin almost give up and just drop off to sleep in the middle of the road instead. When they finally make it, Fuu's lit a fire, cooked dinner and prepared makeshift beds, and if Mugen were any less of a man he would weep in relief.
She smiles at them, a small, tentative "welcome home" kind of smile. Battle fatigue, gratitude and something much scarier clouding his judgment, he stumbles over to where she's kneeling and, without further ado, throws himself on top of her. She shrieks as they fall to the floor.
"You jerk! Get off me!"
He rests his face in the crook of her neck, content to let her struggle and curse him. What would I do without you?
28.
He's accustomed to violence; expects it, in fact. Lives on it. Yet he hates the sight of her blood.
29.
"Hey, Jin."
"What is it?"
"Why is Mugen brawling with those drunkards?"
"I believe some of them made indecent remarks about wanting to bed you."
"… Oh."
30.
She dabs salve on the multiple cuts on his face, her touch gentle as a feather and strangely comforting. Her features are screwed up in concentration. She is beautiful in the candlelight.
"Always fighting," she mutters. It's not really a complaint--- more of a resigned acknowledgement of who he is.
He never knows what to say at times like these, when the world seems to be nothing but silence and shadows and just the two of them, although the fish-face sleeps quietly in the corner. So he grabs her hand and, for a fleeting moment, holds on to it like a lifeline before letting go.