Title: The Blue Yonder – My Home Is Here and With You

Chapter 7


She blinks and he remains, so she decides to test his name on her tongue.

"Mugen?"

He answers with her own name. He offers it as a statement of certainty, not the unsure waver that she had uttered. She is searching for something more solid to share when Jin interrupts her thoughts. She can barely understand him over the loud drum of her heartbeat.

"Ma, I found this guy by the river. He's hurt pretty bad."

She nods and watches as Jin's observant nature catches up. He swings his head between her and Mugen and lets his eyes fall into assessing slits.

"Your name's Mugen?"

He squints harder at the man before redirecting a confused look back to her.

"Do you know him?"

"Um…"

"Ma, huh?"

This time there is uncertainty in Mugen's voice when he addresses her. A quiet, searching kind of question that leaves her unsteady. She ignores it and throws back a question of her own.

"You're hurt?"

"Nothing too bad. Just the usual."

They both turn to Jin at the sound of his snort.

"He's lying! He's got a huge cut, and it's all gross and infected."

She shifts her gaze from Jin to Mugen in question and has to hold back an eye roll when Mugen simply shrugs in response.

"Let's go inside and have a look."

She comforts herself with the fact that her last statement comes out as such and tries to ignore the sudden clamminess of her palms. She is not the girl she once was, and she will not let Mugen's presence make her uneasy or unsure.

0.0

Mugen follows Fuu into the small dwelling with little regard for his surroundings. Instead he finds himself hyper focused on Fuu. He watches as she moves with a practiced ease and directs Jin to assist her.

She settles Mugen on cushion beside a worn table and kneels as she begins to lift his shirt. He finds himself wishing he had bathed with more care when he stepped into the river earlier. He knows he is in trouble when a sharp gasp slips from her pink lips.

"Mugen!"

He can't focus overly much on Fuu's rage because he already knew she was gonna be pissed about the wound, but he does smirk at Jin's reemergence. At the sound of Fuu's ire, the boy had come running. Apparently Fuu is used to the boy's hovering because she does not react to the small, grubby hand on her shoulder.

"Take off your shirt you, idiot! This infection would have killed a normal person."

He ignores the suggestion that he is abnormal and removes his shirt. Jin's eyes land where he places his sword, but the boy makes no comment. Fuu uses a firm hand to push him down into a reclined position and shifts closer. Jin remains at Fuu's side.

It seems his wound is serious enough to merit Fuu's full attention, so Mugen takes the opportunity to let his gaze wander over her form. He searches this woman's face for the girl who was once his companion. He sees her there, but he sees much has changed too.

He feels a thousand questions swarm within him, but, for reasons beyond his understanding, he fights his nature and holds his tongue. Instead, he decides to focus on the feel of Fuu's hands on his body. She is as gentle as ever, but he is sure her hands move with a determination that was absent from previous healing sessions.

0.0

She can feel Mugen's gaze, but she chooses to ignore it. His infection is worrisome, and she does not feel prepared to entertain any questions. She has not quite regained her footing since his arrival. She feels Jin shift at her side and knows immediately that the silence will not hold. Jin is observant and patient, but she knows he will not let his earlier question go unanswered.

He waits for her to settle into her work before he asks his first question. She is sure he does this in the hope that she will be too distracted with Mugen's injury to pay him any mind.

"So, how do you know my mom?"

She pointedly ignores Mugen's unspoken question and continues to work on his wound. She is somewhat interested to hear how he will frame his response. Will he describe their past companionship with irritation or fondness?

"We travelled together once, a few years ago."

The response it a bit plain for her liking, and Jin does not seem satisfied either.

"Where'd you go?"

"All over."

"Why?"

Mugen pauses for a moment before giving his response, and Fuu has to bite back a smile. It is clear that Mugen does not quite know how to talk to children, especially not one so adult in his questioning.

"We were looking for someone."

"Who?"

"A samurai who smelled of sunflowers."

"Sunflowers?"

Fuu feels Jin turn his gaze towards her and she feels the question there, but it must be something he wants to pursue in private because he turns back to Mugen.

"Is that your sword?"

"Yea."

"Do you kill people with it?"

"Jin!"

"All the time."

"Mugen!"

At least they both do her the curtesy of looking apologetic. She is just thinking she should end Jin's questioning when he inches a bit closer to Mugen and offers one more query.

"Why do you have these weird lines?"

She does not want to hear Mugen's response to that particular question, so she decides to end this introduction.

"Jin, it is getting late. Walk down the path and see if Granny needs help."

0.0

Mugen watches as the boy slumps down and leans into Fuu. He runs a hand back and forth across the cord of her obi as he nods in acknowledgement of her request. The small boy climbs back to his feet before kissing Fuu's cheek and sending a warning sort of look at Mugen where he is currently stretched across the floor.

Mugen would be amused at the boy's audacity except for the fact that he does not doubt the small child would do absolutely anything in the defense of Fuu. As the boy walks out the door, Mugen's swarm of questions start to collapse into single bothersome thought. If Fuu is the kid's mother, who is his father?

A sharp pinch pulls Mugen from his thoughts and back to Fuu where she works. He is not ready to ask that question, so he poses another.

"Jin? Really?"

He feels rewarded when Fuu's lips quirk into a small smile. She does not pause in her work as she offers a response to his disgruntled demand.

"As a baby, he was calm and sweet. The name seemed to fit."

Privately, Mugen does not think he would describe the Jin of their acquaintance as sweet, but then he does know Fuu to be somewhat mental.

Mugen is not too proud to admit that a sourness settles in his stomach at the obvious affection Fuu expresses when she talks about her little Jin. The Fuu who tends him is his, but this Fuu is also someone else's. It frustrates him that there is so much he does not know about the woman beside him.