Wandering Hearts

Synopsis: Jin is once again wondering Japan, he thought he was waiting for Shino, he thought he knew what he wanted in life. He was wrong. It has been 5 years since their journey ended and now he is going out to find Fuu. While he travels in search of her he is being hunted by the men of his past.

Pairings: Jin/Shino is mentioned but this is a Jin/Fuu, Mugen/Yatsuha story(I love these two together. There will be rape later on I won't tell you which characters.
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He was wandering again, the ronin known as Jin. It had been two years since he had traveled with anyone and five years since he had traveled with the only people that had kept the loneliness at bay.

Fuu the young girl in search of a father that abandoned her and Mugen the pirate and his only equal. In the end he could never kill the brash undisciplined warrior and their feud had ended.

To this day he had not run into either of them again but, that did not stop him from thinking of them. Of picturing her grown, still wearing bright pink kimonos with a little flying squirrel peeking out of the front folds. He imagined her living in a small hut off the winnings of various eating contests. The notion was impossible of course but it still brought a small smile to his normally stoic face. Sometimes he would seriously ponder what happened to his loud ward. He wondered if she ever settled down and if so where? he had been many places over the years sometimes it felt like she traveled all of Japan and yet he never saw or heard of her. Did she leave Japan? Was she married? That last question always made him change his train of thought. The thought that she had found someone was unbearable to the samurai but he refused to dwell on why. For those thoughts did not matter since he could do nothing about it.

On the other hand he knew what his other companion was up to these days, Mugen was making quite a name for himself in Japan. The miscreant was a thorn in most of the law enforcements side around Japan. Everywhere he traveled Mugen had already been there, stirred up trouble and left. Although even he was laying low now, it has been awhile since he had come across a place that had put a bounty on Mugens head.

Of course there was one other time that he wasn't alone. Shino. After three years he traveled to her refuge and sought the woman he had helped free, the woman he had abandoned Fuu for. Their relationship bloomed as it should've been when they first met. They traveled to Edo together but when they reached there and she wanted to settle down. he had found he couldn't.

Maybe it was because he had been travelling for too long or maybe it was because the only time he had ever belonged was when he had no home. When he traveled with too loud rambunctious people with a penchant for getting into trouble.

He tried to stay with her, he honestly wanted to settle down, to have a place where he didn't have to scrounge for odd jobs just to get enough money to eat while he could. But each day he spent in the town, knowing this was his last destination he became more restless and agitated until he could no longer hide it from Shino.

"Do you remember the first day we met? At the fried eel stand?" Shino asked, when she found Jin meditating by the outskirts of Edo.

"Of course," he whispered.

"I taught you how to catch an eel, that eels are like women. If you try to hold onto a by force they will escape your grasp." She sat down next to him and didn't try to lean onto my should as she was accustomed.

He stared off into the slowly dwindling forest surrounding the area,

"I remember."

"I feel like that is what I have done to you Jin, but you are too honorable to escape," she looked up at him sadly. "So I release you."

His head snapped toward her, "what?" He stared at her in shock.

He left the next morning in a daze, unsure of what to do next.

Before he knew it he was wandering again, just as aimlessly as before. He thought once he paid penance of his own for three years and found Shino, that he would be able to rest. Yet now he was far away from Shino and she was married to a mild young shop owner in Edo with her first child on the way.

He was glad she had finally found peace and a man to appreciate her for the flower she was.

Now he was on the road to Nagasaki. Again. It seemed no matter which direction he turned his feet always turned back to Nagasaki at some point. He had to wonder why he continued to come here time and time again. The results were always the same, He would find his way to Nagasaki, stay a few days, contemplate continuing on to Iketske Island but never go.

This time would be different, he would return to where their journey ended, maybe he would find a clue as to wear she had gone. Was that what he was searching for? He would not allow himself to believe that his years of wandering were due to a small, loud, naive girl with a strong sense of duty.

He sighed at the train of thought and entered the tea house by the shore, turning his back on the cursed island. The small shop was bustling on this sunny day. Jin sat at a small table in the corner and waited for a server to come. Placing his swords next to him he looked up when a small girl dress in a light green kimono stopped at his table.

"Would you like a menu sir?" She asked, with a large smile on her face that reminded him of Fuu. She looked to be only 14 or so with her straw colored hair pulled into pigtails.

He looked up at her and watched her small lips turn into a small O of surprise before she ran off back to the kitchen. he watched her go, confused by her reaction. Perhaps their was a warrant out for his arrest, but he had not disturbed the town of Nagasaki for a long time and she didn't look fearful.

He saw the girl peek out of the kitchen but she ducked back into the kitchen when she met his eyes. He was about to leave when she came back out with an older girl behind her, they came up to his table with looks of wonder in their eyes.

The younger girl peeked out from behind the older woman that was probably her older sister. "Sorry about before, I was surprised is all."

"Huh?"

"It's just," the older girl leaned in closer, inspecting him.

"You're him aren't you?"

The younger one popped out, "you're Jin." She exclaimed.

"How do you know me?" he asked. He felt hope build inside him, this was why he was here.

The younger one giggled, "Fuu of course, I'm Miyuki and this is my sister Kaya."

It was too much to hope for, "where is she?"

Miyuki smile faded and she sat down across from him, Kaya leaned against the table her brown eyes looked down into his dark ones.

"You're too late," Kaya said.

"What the hell took you so long?" Miyuki grumbled.

"Miyuki watch you're language," Kaya said.

"Sorry," the girl in green grumbled. "But still it's been five years and now you show up?"

"I am here now," he said softly.

"Tch, yeah you're here now," Miyuki said and glared at him, "but she isn't."

"She left two months ago," Kaya said.

"She left to look for you," Miyuki said pointing a finger at him as she glared at him.

He wanted to groan, how many times had he come to Nagasaki? "Damn it." He never travelled in this far, he always stayed away from the coast. he had been reluctant to look at the island where so much had happened. "I am such a fool."

"Damn right you are."

"Miyuki," Kaya scolded. "So what are you going to do now? You did come here looking for her didn't you?" She leaned in, staring down at him, their noses a mere breath away from each other.

Was he? He closed his eyes and sighed, it was time to be honest with himself. "Where did she go?"

"I knew it," Miyuki beamed.

"She went east,"Kaya said.

"Hn, that's a little vague don't you think?"

Miyuki blushed, "well she said she knew you would be east, she said you don't visit the west much so she said she would start in the east." She rested her chin in one hand and looked at him thoughtfully. "She said she would start in Edo where they were having an eating contest."

"Come to think of it," Kaya said. "That is in a week."

"You'll never make it there in time," Miyuki cried out dramatically.

Jin sighed at the girls dramatics, "where will she go next?" He didn't want to go to Edo and ask around about Fuu. If word got back to Shino she would confront him and he was not ready for that.

"She said if she didn't here anything about you there she would go to a place where you guys met the sons of a man you're indebted too." Kaya said.

"That doesn't make any sense, she would pass by there on the way to Edo, why would she back track after going so far?" Jin said.

Kaya shrugged, "does Fuu ever truly make sense?"

He smiled, "I suppose not." It didn't matter he would meet her at Goju Hall, there was enough time to get down there in time. One thing troubled him though, "who is travelling with her?"

"Huh?" Miyuki and Kaya looked at each other.

Kaya chuckled behind her hand and Miyuki soon joined in.

"Sorry, it's just she's been training for a long time now," Kaya said. "A local samurai has been teaching her how to defend herself."

"She always told us stories about how she would get kidnapped and have to wait around for 'those two bozos' to come and rescue her. She decided a long time ago that she wouldn't be helpless ever again." Miyuki said.

"I see," she didn't need them anymore? So then why was she searching for him? "I have one more question."

"Huh?" Miyuki said, "what's that?"

He opened his mouth but no sound came out, the most important question and he didn't want to ask it.

"You want to know why don't you?" His eyes shot up to meet Kayas' knowing gaze. "We won't tell you that. You'll just have to ask her when you find her." She stood up straight and motioned for Miyuki to do the same. "We need to get back to work, what would you like to order?"

"Dumplings, miso and sake please."

The girls nodded simultaneously and disappeared into the kitchen. jin sat in contemplation while he waited for his meal. Fuu was out there searching for him, tomorrow he will leave for Goju Hall and begin his search again for the girl that frequented his thoughts.
The question was, when he found her, would he finally be able to rest?

A man strolled up to Jins table and folded his arms in front of him, "yo."

Jin looked up at the man, his eyes widened as he took in the messy black hair, the red islander shirt and tattoos on his wrists and ankles. "You."

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So that's the first chapter, I don't know if anyone will read this people don't seem to have any interest in animes once they are taken off of Adult Swim. I apologize if I butcher town names at the moment I don't have a steady internet connection so it is hard to look it up. I will try to be as accurate as possible.