Two years in the making

Mugen growled angrily as he closed the door to his room behind him. Coincidently the room directly next to Fuu’s. He growled again throwing his gi into a corner of the room sharply. How the hell did she know what to say to make it so he couldn’t reply? Any sort of reply to that comment to defend himself would make him look like he cared for her, and any reply that wasn’t in that category would make it so he never saw Fuu again. He probably should have taken the second route. That was what was better for the girl any way, but he didn’t want to. He had already had enough crap from his mind the last time they separated. He wasn’t about to do that again.



Mugen slammed back open his door and wandered off to find the hot spring that Jin had mentioned earlier. As much as he hated baths, hot water sounded good right about now. Even though he had already bathed once today.



He finally managed to find it, along with a stack of little towels and soap. A note was lying on top of the pile.



‘Mugen remember to bathe while you’re in my house.



-Jin’



Ha ha ha. Very funny fish face. Damn jerk had to go and leave a little reminder. You leave notes to your wife, not Mugen.



Mugen grabbed the thing and tore it up before tossing the remnants into the air. Much better. Mugen yanked off his hakama pants and pulled off his shirt before sliding into the water. Instantly he relaxed, but his mind began to wander onto what all Fuu had said to him.



*Flashback*



Mugen trudged into the house slowly, but once he realized Fuu was there his pace returned to normal, though maybe a little bit more aggressive to the flooring than the usual strut. He grabbed the door to her room and slammed the sliding door open, expecting to see a surprised Fuu. Nope. He got angry Fuu. In a second everything he was planning to say ran through his mind. Of course what he was going to ask, or at the least terrorize her about was why the hell was she marrying the guy if she didn’t love him. So fucking what if no one in that town would other than him. Go to another one! Marry me instead!



His confusion at that last sentence that went through his mind gave her the opening to start snapping at him.



“Mugen, I don’t give a damn about your opinion on this. I need a husband. I want someone who loves me. I want someone who can take care of me. I deserve that! I deserve to have someone who can go out and get the food for dinner after work!”



Then she stood up and started walking towards him like she was going to slap him, maybe hurl a shoe at him, which would be just like her. But that wasn’t what he got.



“I’ve had no one that has cared about my safety since Jin except Katsu! Two years Mugen! Let me have at least a little happiness at this point! Once I’m married I won’t ever need the protection of some JERK like YOU!”



Mugen felt his entire face go limp, jaw slack and everything. How could she say that? He had narrowed in on a couple key statements. The one that basically said that Jin was the only person worried about her safety during that stupid sunflower journey, and the one where she said after she got married she wouldn’t need protection, she wouldn’t need him. And the fact she had called him a ‘jerk’ (lame ass insult, he could come up with about forty better ones) told him that she didn’t want him around.



He finally closed his mouth sharply with a snap that practically made his teeth vibrate and stomped off. What was he supposed to say to that?



*End Flashback*



Alrighty then.



One: He had cared a whole hell of a lot about her safety. He had practically died doing so. He still had the scars on his cheek and a couple on his torso from that stupid scythe. Oh and let’s not forget the lovely bullet hole scar along with the others. He had put down his sword for her. He never did that. Mugen had fought even though he was practically half dead as it was. He fucking swam practically all the way to the damn island because that stupid boat tipping over. He didn’t have to do that. He didn’t have to almost die for the girly but he did. He thought he was dead for a few minutes there!



Two: Who the hell was she to say that she didn’t need him around? How many times had she been kidnapped? How many times had some guy wanted to rape her or sell her or… well any of that crap!?! Too many times to count. She sure as hell needed him, even if she didn’t want him. And he was not a jerk… Ok maybe he was, but he hated it when she called him that. It made him feel like he was insulting someone who wasn’t old enough to retort back. And she sure as hell knew how to.



Three: Well he couldn’t think of a three right now but it would probably come to him later.



Mugen grabbed the soap bar and dunked it into the water before grabbing a scrub brush near by the towels and taking out his aggression on his own skin. Rubbing his skin raw with the brush and the soap was making his frustration go away slowly. He did pause momentarily to smell the soap though. It wasn’t Jin’s. He was pretty sure it wasn’t Shino’s. And it sure wasn’t Fuu’s. She like that flowery stuff. This stuff smelled like cinnamon. Mugen raised his eyebrow. Fish face bought him soap. Funny gift bastard. Real funny. Mugen decided to ignore the fact fish face had bought him soap until he was out of the stupid bath.



Mugen held his breath and dunked his head under water before scrubbing out his scraggly hair, pulling at the strands in the process. By the time he got out of the bath his skin was a raw looking red. He shook off whatever water he could, similar in a way that a dog would, and then grabbed a towel to get rid of the rest. He proceeded to stretch slowly and then wrapped the towel around his waist before entering the hallway back to his room, clothes under his arm.



He didn’t make it that far before he bumped into something standing in the dark hallway.



“Eep! Mugen? What are you doing?” of course it had to be Fuu. Just add on the fact that she was staring at him funny.



“What does it look like I’m doing? I can walk down the hall if I want to.” He snapped angrily. She was the last person he wanted to run into right now. He had just taken his frustrations out on his skin, what did she have to go and make him want to hurt something again for? And to top it off she was still staring at him with that weird look on her face.



“What!?!” Mugen growled at her frustrated. “Spit it out!”



Mugen wasn’t totally prepared for the blush that went across her cheeks.



“You smell good.”



And then she was gone down the hall in the direction he had come from, closing the door to the bath behind her.