An Offer He Can't Refuse...

The two days passed and he met Fuu at her work early in the morning and walked with her to the hut. She looked cute, with a kerchief over her hair and the sleeves to a thin yellow kimono tied up to her shoulders. They walked behind her boss’s niece who was leading them to the hut. When they arrived both their jaws dropped open at the hulking building before them.

“It’s a little out of the way, but on the up side you don’t have to worry about noisy neighbors! Plus if you follow that creek right there it joins into a river so you can do washing. I think the building used to have a bathroom in it, but that’ll do for bathing now. There’s no one around for a few miles, this is all my uncle’s land so no one’ll spy on you. Oh, when you go into the house the first bed room should have a couple of futons and sheets and stuff in it. Well, I’d better be going. Ja ne!”

“Origato, Tsukiyo-chan! Ja ne!”

The young girl waved over her shoulder and jogged down the weed strewn path back to town.

“Hookay Fuu, I know I was a pirate an' all, but you can’t expect me to do much with this ship wreck.”

“Real funny Mugen.” She put a foot gingerly onto the steps leading to the house expecting them to give under her weight, but they held her up securely.

“Sato-san gave me the next two days off so we can work on the house. I had no idea it was this big. It must be an old farmhouse.”

“I couldn’t tell under all the muck.”

She grabbed his haori and pulled him into the house behind her.

“The floors and walls look stable, and the roof needs redone but looks like it’s held so far.”

She made her way into the bed room and pulled open the closet that held the bedding. She pulled out the first futon and groaned when a rat’s nest fell to the floor. The rest of the bedding came out after and she found one futon near the front of the cabinet that wasn’t chewed into and didn’t smell of mouse piss. Most of the covers were thrown out as well, but two summer weight ones where still whole and most of the sheets were intact.

“I guess we’ll be sharing a futon for a while. Go take this outside and beat the dust out of it and set it in the sun. I’ll go wash the sheets and covers. Good thing it’s so sunny.”

She folded the cloth and held it slightly away from her. Tying her kimono up around her legs she waded down the stream to the river.

Mugen sighed and stripped down to his loincloth to beat the futon. It was still early morning but the sun was beating down relentlessly overhead. He already had sweat coursing down his body and he hadn’t even started to work. After several minutes of beating the mattress dust finally stopped coming out. He bent to sniff it and was relieved when the expected smell of ammonia didn’t reach his nose. A little musty but not too bad. He gave it one last whack for good measure and looked up at the house. He really should go in and start clearing things out but… it would be much nicer to help Fuu at the river. He set his steel lined geta and clothing in the house then waded down the stream to join Fuu. When he got there he kinda wished he’d stayed in the house. Fuu was washing the sheets in the knee deep water, and she had pulled the edge of her kimono up a little higher. Everything below the bottom edge of her obi was bare. She was facing away from him, bent over with her legs spread for balance. Mugen’s eyes were locked to the dark pink flesh between her thighs. The sun glinted off the moisture on her pussy, and he could see tiny rivulets of river water glinting along her thighs as well as her patch of dark curls clinging together wetly. He was hard as rock. He stood watching her, and slowly a hand made it to his crotch. Taking himself in his fist, he stared at her as he began to pump. The fact that he was standing about twenty feet away from her, that he could see her every move and that if she turned around right now she would see him jerking off turned him on so much it was only about another minute before he came biting his lip to silence a grunt. He stroked his softening dick gently then tucked it back into his loincloth. He retraced his steps quietly up the stream and when he couldn’t see her anymore he called out.

“Oy! I’m done.”

Fuu debated for a split second as to whether or not she should leave her kimono and see if it got a reaction then blushed at the ridiculous thought and pulled it down.

“You can do the last set of sheets. I’ll go hang these up; when you’re done we’ll start on the house.”

He nodded, slightly disappointed that she wasn’t gonna stay with him then set to work rubbing the sheets into the water. When the last set was up to dry, he followed Fuu into the house as they set up the game plan.

“We’ll clean out the hearth and the bedroom today, while I cook dinner you go and see if there’s anything on the roof or the walls that needs patching. Okay?”

He nodded and they set to work dusting the ceilings and walls of the rooms then rolled up the old tatami and swept. Fuu dusted and swept once more while he cleared out the trash from the other rooms then they washed the bedroom from top to bottom. While it dried they swept out the other rooms then washed the floor around the hearth. They had found cooking supplies and some mismatched dishes in the other cabinets, and Fuu sent Mugen to wash them in the stream while she ran to town to get some food.

By the time he was done (he had taken a swim to clean off the sweat and grime) she was walking back to him along the path to the village. She made a pretty picture against the pink evening clouds, a bundle of food over her shoulder and her hand thrust into the air in greeting. He met her and hoisted the bag onto his own shoulder and walked with her back to the house.

“Go sweep off the side porch while I cook. It’s too late to check on the roof.”

When he came back she was kneeling on the edge of the platform around the fire stirring something in a pot. It smelled delicious. She heard him set down the broom in the entry and turned to smile at him. He stood and looked at her. To see her kneeling over his dinner and smiling up at him felt better than he liked to admit. He wasn’t one for attachments, but he admitted to himself he wasn’t gonna give this up anytime soon. His mind’s eye pictured her in the same position, a little thicker through the hips with a round stomach and rosy cheeks proclaiming her to be pregnant. He sighed. I can’t let it get that far. I’ll only hurt her. And she deserves so much better than me… Wait a minute; I’m acting like I even have a fuckin chance with her. She’s obsessed with Jin, not me. He looked about for something to do, then settled on laying the new tatami he’d bought courtesy of some inept pick pocket. He'd almost finished the last bedroom she called out to him to come eat.

She’d made a big pot of soba noodles, soup with dumplings, steamed fish and a vegetable stir fry. She even made tea.

“Wow. Where’d you learn to cook like this? It actually looks like it might be edible.”

She rolled her eyes at the barb but let it alone, figuring this was as close to a compliment she was likely to get.

“I picked it up at the teahouse. I figured I’d go all out tonight to celebrate the first night in our new house. Dig in!”

They ate from the pots around the fire, and before too long it was all gone. Mugen sat back with his hands folded over his full belly.

“Ah… all we need now's a little sake."

“Go wash the dishes and I’ll see what I can find.”

He looked at her with an eyebrow quirked then piled the dishes into the big rice pot. As he washed them he looked over his shoulder to see her taking in the futon and sheets. So this is domestic life, eh? He looked back up at the moon and thought to himself, maybe always being a traveler isn’t all that it’s cracked up to be. Maybe we can stay in this house, together, start a family. I can find work and buy the house from the old man. Maybe… maybe we could have a future together. Then he remembered the look on her face at Jin’s wedding, the sighs and fidgeting. A familiar mantle of disgust settled around his shoulders and he sneered at himself. Who am I kidding. Like she’d want anything to do with me. I’m just here to do the heavy lifting. I don’t belong here. I don’t belong anywhere. But then his hasty plan to retreat and never return was stopped short when she crouched beside him to help finish washing the dishes. A firefly flew past them and she held out her arm to it. The light glowed on her pale, smooth skin and he stopped his actions, freezing the moment into his mind. She was so beautiful, with her face turned up to see the firefly, her arm extended gracefully, the creamy silk of her throat glowing dully. She turned to him and smiled.

Maybe he would stay a little longer.