Sunflower Girl

[browneyedmami.livejournal.com]

Title: Sunflower Girl
Author: browneyedmami
Fandom: Samurai Champloo
Genre: Romance
Characters/Pairings: Jin/Fuu
Summary: Jin settles himself into a tea shop, not thinking to look @ it's name or his waitress. When he gets up and tries to leave, someone calls his name. Who could it be?
Notes: Written for kensukete for fandom_stocking 2009.


When the three of us parted that day, it took all the strength I had not to turn around and follow her. After spending so much time with her in such close quarters, I had slowly begun to fall in love with her. The way she smiled, the way she would argue when Mugen would do something stupid, the way she would eat...it all eventually caught up to me, and I knew I was a fool to let her go. But I had to. I had an obligation to someone else. There was a woman on the other side of Japan waiting for my return. Even if I didn’t love her, I had to keep my word. So when I watched Fuu’s retreating form that day, I stared in the distance, and though I’ve never been much of a religious man, I said a silent prayer in hopes we would meet again one day.

Shino and I got along well enough, but it didn’t take a fool to realize we didn’t love each other…at least not enough to make it a permanent situation. So after a few months of trying, I gave her some money to help her get by until she could get back on her feet, and I left without looking back.

I wandered for days. Days turned into months, a months turned into a year. But then one day, I saw a singular sunflower in the ground and it reminded me of her. Smiling one of my rare smiles to myself, I continued on my journey. After almost another week of nothing, I found a tea shop, and decided to go in for something to drink and eat. I should have paid attention to the name.

I sat there tired, hungry and irritated. I had been traveling for over a year now and I still couldn’t find her. A woman came to me and asked for my order. I didn’t bother to look up at her and silently told her what I wanted. She nodded and left. She came back with my order, placed it in front of me and asked if I needed anything else. I told her no, and again she left me.

Once I had completed my meal, I tried to find a way to escape without paying the check. I silently rose from my seat, hoping to go unnoticed when a heard a small voice calling my name

“Jin”

I turned around and was faced with the waitress….but she wasn’t just a waitress. She was the girl I had been looking for.

I said nothing. She called my name again, and this time I responded with hers

“Fuu”

She smiled and ran towards me giving me a hug. I hesitantly wrapped my arms around her. She had certainly gotten curvier, but in a good way. When she looked up at me with that smile of hers though, I saw the same Fuu I had come to love.

“Jin. You weren’t trying to leave without paying were you?”

I didn’t respond only gave her my signature “Hn.”

She laughed and said

“That’s alright, I wasn’t going to make you pay anyway. I recognized you the instant you walked in. Had you not been so absorbed in your thoughts, you might have looked up at me and noticed me too.”

I smirked at her. I wasn’t going to tell her I’d been looking for her. She didn’t need to know that.

“Jin, I’ve missed you” she said softly.

I wanted to tell her that
I had missed her too, that I loved her, but when I opened my mouth to speak, no words came out.

She looked up at me and looked deeply into my eyes. She removed my glasses and said

“I know Jin. You don’t have to say it. But I know”

I looked at her in wonder. Slowly, I leaned down and kissed her. It was a short kiss, but I knew we would be sharing a lot more kisses in the future, so I didn’t worry about it.

When we broke the kiss, half the tea shop was looking at us. She blushed and I just stared at them all. Everyone wordlessly went back to their eating. She smiled up at me again and told me she would be closing her shop shortly. I went back to the table I had originally sat in, and waited. Once she closed and the inhabitants were all gone, she came to me, grabbed hold of my hand and walked out of the shop. In front of the door way, I kissed her yet again, only this time with more passion. After we separated for air, I looked up at the sign above the door which said

“Sunflower Tea Shop”

I had to laugh to myself. Had she not called my name I would have left that shop without ever knowing and probably would have never seen her again.

She grabbed my hand, and we walked silently into the night. I didn’t know where we were going, and I didn’t quite care. As long as I had my sunflower girl by my side, it didn’t matter.