springgreen: (Default)
[personal profile] springgreen
Spoilers: Spoils the entire series!
Disclaimer: Not mine, not for profit.
Notes: Thanks to [livejournal.com profile] rilina for the beta!

ETA: This was remixed for Remix Redux V! Read Moshi Moshi Mochi ("In the Pink" Blues Remix) by [livejournal.com profile] xsmoonshine!



When they all parted ways at the crossroad, Fuu believed for a good hour that eventually Mugen and Jin would go after her, if only to yell at her for tricking them. Something. Anything, really.

But they didn't. It took her over an hour to realize that she was going to make her journey alone. Eventually, she was grateful for that hour; it meant they couldn't make fun of how much she looked like Momo when she knelt by the side of the road to sob.

After her cry, she stood up, wiped her nose on her sleeve, and said, "Ne, Momo, we can do just fine without them! And this way, no one will steal my food." The thought of more food for her helped.

She resolutely nodded her head and marched on. She tried very hard not to think about how strange her footsteps sounded without the accompaniment of Jin's light step and Mugen's clunks.

The next town had a cute little mochi stand. Fuu didn't have much money, so she stood there, drooling. Luckily, the lady who ran the place was very nice. She offered Fuu a job after Fuu told her that she was quite an expert at mochi. She didn't really mention that she was only an expert at eating them, but she figured she was a fast learner. And by the time she had gotten down to reason #192, the lady looked very eager to hire her on.

She just sold mochi at first. The people in the town were very nice as well, and the mochi stand did pretty well. Fuu made sure to smile at everyone as she gave them their mochi, and she didn't even yell too much at the ugly guys who hit on her.

After a while, Fumiko-san even let her make mochi. Making mochi was almost as fun as eating mochi, though the first few times, she pounded the rice too hard and had to pick splinters out of the roof of her mouth.

That part wasn't as fun.

Mochi-pounding time was her "think of ways to piss off Jin and Mugen by showing them how great she was doing without them" time. Because hadn't they all said they'd meet again? And when they did, Fuu was going to make them sorry for just walking off and not looking back.

The mochi she made during "piss off Jin and Mugen" time were always the tastiest, probably because she pounded the rice so thoroughly.

Unfortunately, right after those times were the times she'd remember that one hug from Jin or Mugen's expression as he cut her loose. And then she'd remember how scared she had been when they had argued and gone off separately, how hurt she had been when Jin had left with Sara, how sad she had been when she had sailed off to the island without them.

All those other times, they had found her again. They had even come back from near death! And they couldn't ask around and make a lousy journey and find her and say hello?

The mochi she made during these times were oddly lumpy and strangely shaped.

One day, Fumiko-san said she was going to leave the store to Fuu. Fuu was so excited that she hugged Fumiko-san and Fumiko-san's husband and all the customers that day and gave everyone free mochi. She regretted the free mochi a bit after she tallied up the money.

While she liked Fumiko-san and Fumiko-san's husband and all her customers, she wished that she had someone else to celebrate with.

She petted Momo. At least Momo always stuck with her.

Momo ran off the next day.

Fuu kicked the wall, yelled at it, stubbed her toe, and somehow ended up with pink mochi, along with a purple toenail.

She glared at the purple toenail and blamed it for all her troubles, but the pink mochi were actually rather tasty. And they sold well.

Soon, people started asking her for more pink mochi. She wasn't sure how to make them at first, so she had quite a few purple toenails by the time she was done experimenting. In the end, she had beaten the pink mochi into submission, and so many people were buying her mochi that she actually had to hire help.

She hired nice young men for deliveries and nice young girls for the stand, and she told herself that this was much better than working with Mugen and Jin. Jin would have cooperated, but he would have messed up so badly that everything he touched would have to be redone. And Mugen would have just destroyed half her store or eaten all her mochi.

So she made mochi and talked to her customers and her workers, and life was good, even if it was a bit lonely at times.

Momo came back after a few months, and Fuu pretended to be mad at him. She wouldn't let him touch the pink mochi for several days, but eventually, he overpowered her with cuteness.

Two days later, Fuu heard the distinctive sound of metal-soled geta. She told herself not to get her hopes up, but she kept looking up anyway. Mugen's bushy hair was nowhere to be seen, and Fuu ruined two batches of mochi. She told herself that she was angry at herself and not at all disappointed.

She was sitting in the kitchen, throwing her shoe against the wall to make herself feel better, when a very familiar geta stepped right on her bare foot.

"Owwwwwww!" she screamed as she tried to stand up and kick the geta at the same time.

She bruised her toe and then fell down.

"M-M-Mugen?!"

"Oi," he said.

"Ow! That hurt!"

Then she couldn't think of anything to say, so she threw her other shoe at him.

"Ow!" he said. Fuu found this very satisfactory.

"What are you doing here? Where were you? Why did you step on my foot?" she asked.

"Bzuh?" said Mugen.

Fuu crossed her arms and glared at him, hopefully in a manner that threatened impending doom.

Mugen stared back at her.

She glared a little more.

Mugen shrugged. "Are you the one who makes the pink mochi?" he asked.

He sounded exactly the same. He looked exactly the same. He even (Fuu wrinkled her nose) smelled exactly the same. And he hadn't even come to see her, just her mochi!

"You can't have any!" said Fuu, and she marched off. She just barely avoided walking into a wall. She needed to work on her dramatic exits, but then, there hadn't been a need for them without Mugen and Jin.

She then ran back to her room and hugged her knees to her chest, completely confused. To make herself feel better, she ate a boxful of mochi. After a while, Mugen plopped down beside her and snatched the last white-bean-paste mochi from her hands. She elbowed him to show that she wasn't going to give up her mochi without a fight, but decided against getting up.

She was still trying to figure out what to do now that Mugen was here when she heard someone ordering a box of mochi in monotone.

"Jin?" She peeked through to the front of the shop.

His hair was longer, and he wasn't wearing glasses anymore, but it was still Jin.

"What are you doing here?" she asked.

Jin held up his box of mochi. "Buying mochi."

Fuu was extremely confused. She wasn't sure if she should be glad that Jin and Mugen were here. Part of her wanted to bash their heads together, part of her wanted to hug them both, and part of her wanted to make them buy even more of her mochi. She had her livelihood to think of.

So she said "Oh" and decided to do her normal, everyday things that involved rice-pounding and mochi-making and shop-keeping and didn't involve conflicted feelings having to do with two rather odd and incomprehensible ex-bodyguards.

Jin and Mugen both sat in front of the store and munched on their mochi instead of leaving.

She was still confused. If she really did some soul-searching, she would say she was hopeful and frightened and wary and happy and a whole mix of things that was difficult to sort out, but she didn't want to admit to any of that, particularly the hopeful. So she decided to remain confused.

Confusion was much easier than pinning your hopes up like butterflies and watching them slowly die.

When she closed shop, Mugen asked her where the brothels were, and Jin asked where he could look for work. She directed Mugen to a place infamous for its ugly women and sent Jin to a competitor's shop. She also told them to stop hanging out in front of her store; sales that day had dropped alarmingly. In their defense, no one had groped her either.

The next morning, Mugen was back. By the noises he was making, he was nursing a hangover, but since he bought more mochi, Fuu assumed he hadn't tried to sleep with any of the women and hadn't subsequently been robbed, pursued, beaten up, drugged, nearly assassinated or kicked in the crotch. Maybe Mugen had changed. Or maybe the women really were that ugly.

After she yelled at him a few times to sit in the back and stop scaring people away, he ended up in the kitchen.

Jin showed up a few hours later, at approximately the same time the bakery down the street burst into flame. Fuu decided not to say anything about the scorch marks on Jin's gi or the splinters in his hands, though she was incredibly curious as to how Jin managed to get splinters while baking.

She told him to go to the kitchen and not touch anything when the bakery's rather irate owner started pacing the streets.

Jin ended up helping her get a few things down from the shelves, and Mugen rudely shoved her aside while she was pounding rice, saying, "Wimp! Watch how a real man does it!"

He proceeded to break a few things, but the resulting mochi were so soft and chewy that Fuu didn't complain too much.

And so, they settled into something that resembled a routine. Fuu ran the shop, Mugen pounded rice, and Jin made steadily-less-misshapen mochi. At least, those were their official duties. Unofficially, Fuu yelled at Mugen for getting into fights with everyone and throwing rice at them. She yelled at Jin to smile the few times he had to run the shop. She was so busy yelling and complaining that she forgot to be confused; they were Jin and Mugen and Fuu, and they had always been like this.

After a few weeks, Fuu finally thought to ask: "Where are you guys staying?"

Jin and Mugen looked at each other.

"At the brothel," said Mugen.

"The women give excellent massages," added Jin.

Fuu gaped at them. "But you're sort of working here now! People can't associate my shop with the red-light district."

She thought for a bit. "I know! You can stay with me and Momo-san!"

"Wouldn't that be even more scandalous?" asked Jin, even though he didn't really seem to care.

"Oh yeah." Fuu looked glumly at her toes.

Oh yeah, she thought. She still didn't know what they were doing here or how long they were staying.

They all stood there for a few seconds. Fuu watched Mugen scratch himself.

"So, how did you guys find me anyway?"

Mugen gave his back one last good scratch, then dug out a crumpled ball of paper.

Fuu very carefully uncrumpled it to find an old ad for her shop. "Fuu's delicious pink mochi!" it proclaimed. To her surprise, someone had circled "Fuu" instead of "delicious pink mochi" and scrawled a giant question mark next to it.

To her even greater surprise, Jin managed to produce an entire stack of papers, all carefully arranged and annotated. Jin's very neat handwriting had small notes like "Doesn't sound like Fuu" or "Could be her -- investigate." The last one was a small piece on her pink mochi, with the note "Must be Fuu" in the margins.

Mugen knocked Jin's papers to the side. "Hey! I looked too! I just didn't have time to write it all down. But I could if I wanted to."

"Ah," said Jin. "So you were already on your way when I found you?"

"That's right!"

Fuu promptly hugged both of them, even though she couldn't quite get her arms around both of them and their swords, and that shut them up. Jin awkwardly patted her on the back, like he had that other night, and Mugen just sort of mussed her hair. But she kept hugging them till she got real hugs right back, and finally, with some of Jin's hair in her mouth, with Mugen's bony arm around her shoulder, with the smell of Jin's clean cotton gi and Mugen's not-quite-washed self, finally, she was home in a way she hadn't been since her mother died.

"Are you staying, then?" Fuu asked as she stepped back.

"Hmmm," said Jin.

Mugen shrugged. "Not if I have to keep living in the stinking brothel."

"But where else? People will talk if you stay at my place!"

They all fell silent. Fuu didn't panic.

"We should bet on it!" said Mugen. "I'm sick of the brothel. I can't even have sex because they're so ugly."

"You can't have sex with me just because you're staying at my place!"

Mugen shot her a look. "Your chest is too flat anyway. But I want a warm bed with no fleas. Here."

He procured a coin. "Heads, we find somewhere else to stay. Tails, we get to move into your place."

Fuu looked at Jin. Jin looked at her. Fuu assumed that meant he was ok with the plan.

"Okay."

Mugen tossed the coin in the air, and they all watched as it somersaulted through the air. It landed with a small thunk.

Fuu leaned over, eager to see the result. Unfortunately, so did Jin and Mugen, all three heads meeting with a resounding crack. Fuu's eyes were watering from the pain, though if forced, she would admit that some of it was because the coin had landed heads up.

Jin picked up the coin. "Tails. I suppose it's settled then."

"Whoo!" Mugen yelped. "Clean beds! Hot baths!"

Fuu nearly protested over being lied to or being shoehorned into sharing her home with two men who would undoubtedly eat all her food and burn the place down, but she shut her mouth and followed them instead.

When they reached a crossroad, Fuu went straight ahead, and they both went with her.

(no subject)

Date: 2006-05-02 10:53 pm (UTC)
octopedingenue: (Default)
From: [personal profile] octopedingenue
This is so incredibly darling and has made my day and they went to look for her and gave her real hugs and pink mochi eeeeeeeeee!!!

(no subject)

Date: 2006-05-03 05:46 am (UTC)
ext_6116: (Default)
From: [identity profile] springgreen.livejournal.com
Awwwwww, thank you! I'm so glad you liked it!

(I had pink mochi the first time I watched Samurai Champloo, so it made me happy to stick it in)

(no subject)

Date: 2006-05-03 01:52 am (UTC)
kate_nepveu: sleeping cat carved in brown wood (Default)
From: [personal profile] kate_nepveu
Okay, I have no idea how one would end up with pink mochi (I had to Google "mochi," so this is not surprising), but it's post-series reunion fic! With the boys looking for her, and "tails," and hugs and "Hmm" and a crossroad and!

It's adorable, in other words, and very them.

(no subject)

Date: 2006-05-03 05:47 am (UTC)
ext_6116: (Default)
From: [identity profile] springgreen.livejournal.com
I have no idea how she ended up with pink mochi either! I mean, I know they exist, because I've eaten them, and I figured they match her kimono and her dagger.

Thank you!

(no subject)

Date: 2006-05-10 09:18 pm (UTC)
From: [identity profile] rachelmanija.livejournal.com
Aww! The coin! The brothel! The other shop burning down! Mugen circling "Fuu¨rather than mochi!

Mt computer kept crashing whenever I tried to read this, but I am so happy to have fibnally gotten to it!

(no subject)

Date: 2006-05-12 06:18 am (UTC)
ext_6116: (Default)
From: [identity profile] springgreen.livejournal.com
Yay, I'm glad you liked it! I stuck in the white bean mochi for you ;).

(no subject)

Date: 2006-05-17 04:07 pm (UTC)
From: [identity profile] jamjar.livejournal.com
This is such a great fic. Perfectly in character and great post-series, just how I want it to be. Is it okay if I recommend this on my journal?

(no subject)

Date: 2006-05-17 05:15 pm (UTC)
ext_6116: (Default)
From: [identity profile] springgreen.livejournal.com
Awww, thank you! A rec is always a lovely thing, and I'm so glad you enjoyed it!

(no subject)

Date: 2006-05-19 04:27 am (UTC)
From: [identity profile] bibliokat.livejournal.com
Here from [livejournal.com profile] jamjar's rec. I love it! Especially Fuu sending Mugen to the ugly women and Jin to a rival's shop;)

(no subject)

Date: 2006-05-19 06:40 pm (UTC)
ext_6116: (Default)
From: [identity profile] springgreen.livejournal.com
Thank you! *snork* Fuu is very sneaky ;).

linksurfed on in...

Date: 2006-05-29 02:43 am (UTC)
From: [identity profile] tochira.livejournal.com
She directed Mugen to a place infamous for its ugly women

That line is totally awesome. XDDD (It also made me burst out laughing.) This almost felt like watching an episode, which is to say it was practically perfect.

Re: linksurfed on in...

Date: 2006-05-30 07:09 pm (UTC)
ext_6116: (Default)
From: [identity profile] springgreen.livejournal.com
Thank you so much! I figured Mugen should get more bad luck involving women ;).

I'm glad you liked it!

(no subject)

Date: 2007-01-08 11:24 am (UTC)
From: [identity profile] stalkerbunny.livejournal.com
Now, today is my "comment stories you read and loved but was too chicken to comment"-day, so...I hope I can somehow convey even somewhat why I adore this story so much (I'll try, anyway). First of all, Samurai Champloo is one of my favorite anime series ever (perhaps the only one I can say I like without being at all apologetic about it), and there are far too few fanfics, at least, GOOD fanfics written about it. Also, when it comes to pairings...it's one of those series where the story being about just two or one of the main characters never feels quite right for me (thought that's just because I'm weird like that...). And, even thought I like romance, and...other things (blush), a good story and good characterization beats that any day. I love re-union stories, because now matter how stylish the ending of the series was (it drew a neat circle, and I like circles), if I really thought they'd never meet again...Well, I'd be sad. Therefore, this story had everything I could want in a samurai champloo fic. It was just emotional enough to satisfy my mushy soft heart, and still be believable in this sharp edged series. Thank you, and I hope my point is visible through all the babble...:/

(no subject)

Date: 2007-01-08 07:12 pm (UTC)
ext_6116: (Default)
From: [identity profile] springgreen.livejournal.com
Aww thank you! I have a hard time with pairings among the trio as well, since it feels like one of them keeps being left out.

I'm really glad you liked this!

(no subject)

Date: 2007-01-29 10:58 am (UTC)
From: [identity profile] princess-dexter.livejournal.com
Wow, what an excellent story! This is up there among the best Champloo fics I've read, and your lovely, natural Fuu-voice is just beautiful to behold. I really enjoyed the little moments of humour you put in, and the fact the guys deliberately sought her out was a heartwarming round up to the time she spent finding herself.

Great writing and a wonderful fic - going into the mems.

(no subject)

Date: 2007-01-30 08:24 am (UTC)
ext_6116: (Default)
From: [identity profile] springgreen.livejournal.com
Oh, thank you so much! I'm really glad that the Fuu-voice worked in particular.

I'm glad you enjoyed it ^_^.

(no subject)

Date: 2007-03-04 03:55 am (UTC)
ext_3548: (Default)
From: [identity profile] shayheyred.livejournal.com
I just now discovered this story, and it's charming and perfect in tone and character and funny and touching, and absolutely, undeniably them. I'm in love with them all over again. Beautifully done.

(no subject)

Date: 2007-03-05 10:35 pm (UTC)
ext_6116: (Default)
From: [identity profile] springgreen.livejournal.com
Oh, thank you so much! I'm glad you liked it!

(no subject)

Date: 2007-05-01 09:27 am (UTC)
From: [identity profile] i-am-zan.livejournal.com
here by way of xsmoonshine's moshi moshi mochi.

I loved how they are both heartwarming stories, same but different and both really wonderful to read.

So much to love about it, but the end sums it all up, that they ARE Jin, Mugen and Fuu. *memories*

(no subject)

Date: 2007-05-01 05:14 pm (UTC)
ext_6116: (Default)
From: [identity profile] springgreen.livejournal.com
Oh, thank you! I'm really glad you liked it!

(no subject)

Date: 2007-06-04 11:37 pm (UTC)
From: [identity profile] insipid-paragon.livejournal.com
Here by way of [livejournal.com profile] princess_dexter. I'm trying really hard not to flail, because you know, I'm a mature woman capable of speaking and all, but damn, this is just fabulous.

And I get to that point and have no idea what else to say and am terribly tempted to resort to flailing.

Just. I. This story gives me Samurai Champloo resolution. And I've needed it for a long time. And I've read post-series fic, but somehow they often felt lacking in some way. But I think this one does it for me, and it's all for your management of Fuu, who is so, so human. She can be sad and angry at the same time. She can be determined and a little helpless at the same time. She can be successful and proud and still a little wistful at the same time. And she can be hopelessly happy about having those crazy, useless men back in her life and still...No, that's all she needs to be about that. ;D

Really, yes, I just thoroughly enjoyed this piece. Thank you for sharing it! Am off now to read the remix.

(no subject)

Date: 2007-06-05 04:46 pm (UTC)
ext_6116: (Default)
From: [identity profile] springgreen.livejournal.com
Hi! Thank you so much!!

I had to write this for the same reasons -- I got to the end of Samurai Champloo, and while I loved the open-endedness of it, another part of me also had to know that the three of them would find each other again. And not just that, but that it would be Mugen and Jin looking for Fuu, since it would be a nice inversion of Fuu keeping them all together through the entire series.

Also, I just love Fuu to pieces, for all the reasons that you mention!

Again, thanks so much for the feedback!

(no subject)

Date: 2008-04-23 10:22 pm (UTC)
From: [identity profile] spikeyboots.livejournal.com
This is just lovely - and not merely because of how much I like mochi.

Fuu's voice is wonderful, and Mugen and Jin are so endearingly them. I adore the ending. *sigh* I love Champloo.

Awesome fic.

(no subject)

Date: 2008-04-24 06:29 pm (UTC)
ext_6116: (Default)
From: [identity profile] springgreen.livejournal.com
Aww, thank you! I love Champloo too, especially the three of them together.

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