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Chapter Text

Arthur felt the hard bamboo wall hit against his head as he was thrown into the prison cell. It was an outdoor cell, and it was next to three similar cells also containing people. Those people happened to be the other members of the Van Der Lin gang, all getting into trouble within minutes upon landing at ashore. Arthur groaned, and cursed Bill for trying to immediately steal someone’s scroll, right after they got off the boat. He also cursed Dutch for not reading the signs more correctly, and landing them on the wrong boat, and the wrong two week trip across the ocean.

The gang had never meant to go to some random island off the coast of Japan, su-she-ma or something, they were trying to get to Tahiti like always. After finally acquiring enough to pay for over ten peoples ferrying fee, Dutch had loaded them all on a huge ship and assured everyone that the journey would be worth it. As if it wasn’t enough to be stuck with Micah’s bull shit for two weeks straight, they all had gotten sea sick plenty of times.

“Don’t worry so much Arthur,” Dutch had told him a week prior standing on the ship’s deck, “Once we get to Tahiti we’ll be set for life.” He had added to that statement by waving his hand out, as if displaying the sea to Arthur. “We can settle down, become mango farmers, and never have to worry about the law chasen’ us ever again…”

Arther scoffed at the idea now. Even though they were on another hemisphere, there were still laws, and they were still all criminals. Even though these people didn’t know of their past, they could see with their eyes that the gang weren’t exactly good people. He shot a glare through the bars at Bill, who was one cell over from him, and he held up his hands defensively.

“How was I supposed to know that paper was so special? I thought it would just be easy money…” He darted his eyes away, and shoved Dutch next to him. “Since someone didn’t bring any currency these people will actually take!”

“Ok, I’ll admit, it wasn’t the greatest plan to bring cash with us. Even if we made it to Tahiti,” Almost everyone glared at him for that, “We still wouldn’t be able to do anything with a twenty…. They clearly don’t have the same monetary system.”

Bill laughed coldly next to him, “Big words for someone who can’t read what’s on the side of a boat.” He was still pissed about two weeks ago, when he had asked why the boat’s name on the side was in a different language, and everyone had brushed him off. “The ‘Cherry Blossom freight?’ Very Tahitian.”

“Don’t worry too much about it Dutch,” Micah chimed in from yet another cell over, “You’ve gotten us out of worse than this, how bad can this really be?”

Dutch nodded sagely and hummed looking down at the guide book he’d nabbed from the boat owner. Arthur had flipped through it briefly, and it mainly had phrases and words that were useful for tourists. ‘Hello,’ ‘goodbye,’ ‘where’s the restroom?’ and more similar to that. He didn’t see how it was going to help them now.

A guard(?) walked by their cells, and ran a stick across them to make noise and get their attention. He said something to Dutch in what was probably Japanese, and Dutch frantically tried to translate from the book.

“Uh, ko-ne-chi-wa partner! Can you plea-su, let us out?” The pronunciation was more awful than if a horse had said it, and the guard only laughed quietly and shook his head. He very exaggeratedly pointed behind him, and all the gang turned their heads to see what was up.

Arthur had to crane his neck slightly to see past John’s head and the bars, but as he did, he saw a figure approaching. They were wearing dark armor with a very decadent headpiece. He was leading a horse beside him, also covered in armor, and carrying multiple bags on its sides. He looked more than important, and most people mulling around bowed at least slightly as he passed.

Dutch stood up and walked to the doors to greet the stranger, and almost spoke in another terrible imitation before the stranger spoke first.

“Don’t worry, I know English. I’m here to get you out. I hear that one of your companions stole something from a local monk?” He spoke well, but still had a slight accent. Dutch stammered in surprise before answering,

“Y-yes, Bill here took a scroll that was apparently much more important than he anticipated. But the rest of us are innocent!” He patted himself on the chest and nodded his head, “We feel it’s more than a little unfair that we’re stuck in here too.”

“Hey!” Bill’s outcry was noticed, but not acknowledged.

“I see. With some persuasion, I can get the rest of you out of here, if that’s what you’d like. Your friend may have to stay a day for stealing, but you’re correct. Only he should be punished.” The stranger relaxed his arm, which had been formerly resting on a sheath to what looked like a weird sword.

“That would be much appreciated sir.” Dutch did his best at a bow, but the stranger only motioned to the guard nearby, and he unlocked the door. Arthur, John, and Hosea walked out of their cell just as the others did. Arthur moved in front of the door right before Bill could try to sneak out.

“You heard what he said,” Arthur growled slightly, still mad at him, “You have to stay here for now.” Bill pouted, but sat back down on the cell floor anyways.

“Thank you again, sir. My name is Dutch Van Der Lin,” He stuck his hand out to shake, but the stranger clearly didn’t get the gesture.

“It’s not a problem, my name Jin of clan Saki. I am a Samurai here on Tsushima, if you need any more help, please don’t hesitate to ask.” He bowed politely as Dutch retracted his hand.

Arthur had to admit, this guy was pretty generous to a bunch of foreigners. He must have some pretty high morals to help them without even knowing them. Hosea stepped beside Dutch and placed a hand on his shoulder, lowering his voice,

“Dutch, it might be a good idea to ask about where we could stay? It’s getting late, and we can’t go back to the ship now…” Dutch nodded and turned back to the samurai before he left.

“Hey, do you know somewhere we can stay tonight? Like an inn or a hotel nearby?” The samurai looked back at him confusedly, and shook his head.

“There are no… ‘inns,’ but you can ask around. Someone may allow you to stay in their stables if you have good payment for them.”

“Ah, then can you point us in the direction of a stable? Preferably a big one.” He looked back at the gang, there were almost ten of them there, and that wasn’t counting Jack or the girls back at the dock who hadn’t gotten dragged over to the cells.

“I can try and help you find one, although you may be forced to split up.”

“That’s fine with us, we’ll be alright for a bit separated!” Dutche’s enthusiasm was not reflected in some of the other’s faces. “We’ll have to come back here tomorrow to get Bill anyhow, so we can split up for a little, ain’t that right?” He turned back to the others, and John was first to reply.

“Yeah, as long as my wife and son can bunk with me. They’re just over at the dock, so I can run grab em’ and come back.” He threw a thumb over his shoulder to emphasize.

“That shouldn’t be a problem, you may choose who you split off with.” The samurai nodded, and began to walk to the other side of the small village they were in. “I’ll ask around, and you can gather up the rest of your friends and meet back here.”

Arthur nodded, and followed John to the dock, and watched Dutch and Hosea follow the Samurai over his shoulder. It didn’t take long to gather up everyone that had been left behind and bring them to the village center. Mary was in the middle of chatting with John about a plan they might have to use when they got back to the center.

“If needed, we could set up camp too. I know we don’t have that many tents left, but there’s enough that we could…” Arthur agreed with this idea, but he didn’t exactly want to sleep on the ground tonight. When they met back up with the others the samurai, (Jin he said?) had taken off his helmet and put his horse somewhere.

“Good news gang! There are two large stables that will take us just for tonight, and we only have to split into two.” Dutch pointed at John and the girls, “You all will get the first stable, and me Arthur, Hosea and Micah get the other.” Arthur audibly sighed, but looked away when Micah shot him a glare.

“I will also be staying with you four,” Jin spoke up, “As I need somewhere to rest as well. Perhaps we can travel together tomorrow to find somewhere more permanent for you all.” His hair was tied up, but a few loose strands fell in front of his face. The wind made everyone shiver and notice the setting sun more.

“We should get going then?” John started walking, with the others following close behind. Arthur stayed near the back of the group, always vigilant despite the docile surroundings. Jin walked just in front of him, also surveying the area as they walked, with his hand poised on his sheath again.

When they reached the two separate stables, they all said small goodbyes before splitting up for the night. Arthur followed the others into the small straw building, and took in the candles and straw smell. Dutch and Hosea got comfortable in the far corner where no horse was tied up, and both rested their eyes. Micah took the other corner close to a well groomed dark grey horse, and threw his hat over his eyes to sleep.

Arthur watched Jin sit near the door, and take out his sheath to place it in front of him. He then sat back on his heels and closed his eyes, placing his hands carefully on his knees. Arthur looked at him suspiciously but walked over to the last corner of the room, next to a brown smaller horse, and sat down trying to get comfortable too. He sidled up against the wall, and patted the straw to flatten it slightly to lay on.

He lay half sitting up, and moved his hat down to cover his eyes slightly. He was still very suspicious of the Samurai, but he wasn’t paranoid. Arthur closed his eyes, and waited for sleep to take him, swearing that he could hear flute music before finally falling asleep much later.

Chapter Text

Jin had just been passing through when he heard about a group of foreigners who had gotten into trouble nearby. They were thieves, and American at that. If anything, he was curious at what they wanted, and maybe what they had. He was still a samurai of course, honor bound to help others, and perhaps they needed some help.

He dismounted his horse near the village entrance, and asked a local what had happened.

“A large group of Americans just landed here, and then stole a prayer scroll right off the boat!” They were clearly upset, but Jin knew many situations looked different from a different perspective. When he reached the place they had been held at, he interviewed one of the guards, who filled him in on the details.

“He was probably hoping to sell it, but we threw them all in just in case.” The guard nodded, and pointed behind him, “I don’t know why you want to get involved, their situation is below you my lord.” Jin sighed, and looked at the prisoners behind bamboo bars. No one was below him, not even the local wildlife.

“I’ll talk to them, maybe there was a misunderstanding? They can’t exactly explain themselves can they…” The guard shook his head at this, but lead Jin to the cells anyways.

Apparently, only one of them was guilty, and he would be staying overnight while the rest got to leave. They seemed lost, and Jin offered more help to them. He led who seemed to be the leaders to a stable across the village that he was planning on staying in.

“So, what brings you to Tsushima?” Jin asked to learn more about them.

“We… we weren’t actually planning on going here.” The older looking man answered, they hadn’t all been properly introduced yet. “We had meant to go to Tahiti, if you’ve heard of it? Dutch here,” He elbowed his companion gently, “Accidentally bought the wrong ferry tickets for us all, but-“

“-it’s too late now, so we may as well make the most of it!” Dutch cut him off, and seemed to be more optimistic about the whole situation.

“That’s a very admirable mindset to have.” Jin nodded as the walked, and relaxed his grip slightly. Although they were all strangers and foreigners, he didn’t see them as much of a threat.

“If you don’t mind me asking, where did you learn to speak English so well?” Dutch did seem genuinely curious.

“And is there anyone who could teach us Japanese?” The other one added.

“Ah, when I was young my mother had me take some classes since it was such a wide-spread language already. And I’m sure you will learn much Japanese from just being around people speaking it. It’s not particularly difficult to learn, so don’t’ fret.” Jin thought back to his mother, and all the things she had him learn that seemed unnecessary at the time.

“Well, thank you again for all your help. Really, we’d still be in jail without you.” The older looking one repeated the sentiment they both shared.

“It’s my pleasure, truly. It’s apart of the Samurai code to help others, no matter who they may be.” Jin bowed his head to the stable owners, and began to negotiate with them. In a short amount of time, the others met back up with them, and walked over to the stables for the night. Jin had taken off some of his heavier armor and helmet, wanting to relax a little from a long day’s journey. As he walked behind the group, following them back to the stables, he noticed a man that hadn’t caught his eye yet near the back too.

He had a messy beard, and was a little taller than Jin standing upright. His hair was cut much shorter than Jin’s, and it had the same rough quality as his expression. He had his hand over a holster of some kind, and walked with eyes darting to either side of the path. He was certainly a responsible man, if not paranoid.

When they reached the stables and split up, Jin followed Dutch and the other three into the second stable. He had already let his horse inside, and it was standing in a back corner quietly. It whinnied gently at his entrance, and he nodded at it before sitting down at the entrance. Jin took off his sword and lay it in front of him, partly for comfort and partly for respect. He was hoping to meditate before sleeping for the night, and maybe practicing on his flute some too.

He sat up straight, and meditated for a few minutes, letting himself destress from the day. Although he was in a stable with four strangers and one unknown horse, he felt more at peace than before. All the roadside bandits and mongols took it out of him, and he just wanted to rest his eyes and sleep. A little while later, he looked around the stable and saw that everyone was well enough asleep that he wouldn’t disturb anyone.

Jin took out his flute, and breathed deeply, before playing a few small notes. It filled the room gently, and the horses swayed their heads in appreciation. After finishing a song, he put it away and made a small pillow out of his excess cloth. He let his eyes fall slowly, and reflected on the day and his strange new companions. He was planning on traveling more, and would make true on his offer to travel with them if needed. But for now, he simply fell asleep under the candles and heavy breathing all around him.

Chapter Text

Arthur woke up the next morning with an ache in his neck.

‘Ugh, right. This whole situation.’

He sat up and surveyed the stable. Micah was still in the far corner, hunched over in a sleeping position that couldn’t be comfortable, his back bent sideways and his arm shoved under his neck. Dutch and Hosea were curled up against the wall on the corner perpendicular to Arthur, still both asleep.

He looked to the doorway, and saw the samurai laying on the floor with some sort of cushion underneath him. Arthur scoffed, half jealous of how comfortable he looked. Why didn’t he get a pillow? He stood up slowly, trying to stay inconspicuous in the early morning light. He placed his hat back on his head and adjusted it, while stretching his arms and legs out the best he could to relive some tension gained overnight.

He walked over to the stable door, and peeked out the window. The sun was still rising behind the mountains, but the whole village was illuminated in a hazy mist. It looked pretty peaceful, and he was glad to have this short amount of time to be alone with his thoughts. Arthur jumped slightly then, as he was deep in contemplation, to the samurai moving behind him. The man had evidently woken up, and Arthur tried to hide his disappointment from having the little quiet time he got taken away.

Jin (as was his name, even if it was weird) sat up slowly, and pulled his legs into a criss-cross sitting position. He stretched and looked up at Arthur,

“Ah, good morning. Was your sleep… satisfactory?” Jin took a moment to find the right word, always trying to be articulate in both languages.

“It was sleep, that’s for sure.” Arthur rolled his eyes, and focused back on the peaceful landscape. “Try to be quiet, I do not want to have to deal with any of those three for waken’ them.” He shoved his hands into his pockets, his knuckles grazing against the watch he carried in it.

“I will be quiet.” Jin nodded, and began fixing his hair. It had been loose before, but he undid it entirely and began to tie it back up tightly. Arthur couldn’t help but watch, even just from the corner of his eye. It seemed like a daily ritual this stranger partook in, something personal even. When he finished, Jin took hold of his sword, (that had been sitting on the floor in front of him, propped up by two small wooden planks) and re-sheathed it into his belt string.

Jin stood up carefully and steadily, and walked over to the horse that Micah had chosen to sleep by. It was a beautiful creature, grey and sleek, clearly well cared for. He pet the horse slightly, and made sure all the equipment strapped to it was secure. Arthur turned his back to the door, and looked over the sheer amount of equipment the samurai carried with him.

Sure, Arthur himself carried a lot too, he had huge pockets, but even this was a lot. Multiple swords of varying color and size, multiple bows and arrows, and sharp metal things that were round and sharp looking. Arthur had heard of samurai before, but he didn’t think anyone needed all that. He cleared his throat, and when Jin didn’t turn around, he coughed.

“Are you trying to get my attention?” Jin spoke with confusion and annoyance.

“What do you need all those… weapons for?” Arthur cut to the chase, being his usual blunt self. “I mean, how dangerous can this island be?” Jin scoffed at this.

“For the usual townsperson, it is not as treacherous as my gear would have you believe. The only real threats are bandits on the side of roads, and occasionally Mongols.” Jin patted his horse on the side and shook his head. “I am on a more dangerous path than any of you or your companions.”

Arthur raised an eyebrow, ‘What the hell is a mon-goal?’ But didn’t ask any further questions. It took a few minutes before the others woke up on their own, all yawning and looking around confusedly before remembering last night. It didn’t help that they were all slightly jet lagged, so their sleep was already off by an hour.

“Mhm, morning Arthur!” Dutch called from the opposte side of the stable, making Micah jump awake. “Get any sleep? I know this wasn’t exactly camp, but it has a roof don’t it?” He laughed, and Hosea sat up slowly beside him.

“I slept fine. Have you figured out where we’re going next then? You seem awfully happy.” Arthur leaned against the wall, smirking slightly at the old man’s attitude change.

“Ah, uh… no. But I’m not worried about it.” Dutch threw his arms behind his head leaning back on the wall. “I’ll come up with a plan, don’t even worry about it.” Hosea chuckled beside him, punching him gently in the arm,

“That’s the same thing you told me on the boat after I said it was the wrong one.” He stood up, brushing off his pants from the hay and dirt. Hosea reached his hand down, and Dutch took it to stand up.

“Hey, either way, we should get moving. I doubt we’ve made a good impression on the people liven’ here.” Dutch walked across the stable, waving his hand at Micah to get him to follow. All five of them left the stables soon after they’d all gotten up and exchanged the usual, ‘how did you sleep Morgan?’ ‘With your mother Bell.’ This only led to a small tussle before they were separated by Hosea.

When they made it outside, the village was still very peaceful. Arthur saw John standing outside the other stable door, walking over to them at the same time. He looked slightly worse for wear, (trying to sleep in a horse pen with a child is no easy feat) but waved politely to get their attentions.

“Are we heading out soon or staying?” John stood with them in between the stable buildings, and scratched the back of his head under his hat.

“We’re gonna head out, find another village and maybe find some work.” Dutch scratched his beard in contemplation, and leaned back on his heel. Hosea nodded along, and patted Arthur on the shoulder,

“Wherever we end up, we’ll make it work. Isn’t that right?” Arthur agreed, and they all gathered up their members who weren’t present. After a quick headcount, Jin rejoined them after acquiring his horse and gear and saddled up to leave. They all headed out of the village together, Jin riding at a slower pace so they could walk and still stay together. He even offered Jack to sit up with him if he got tired.

Arthur stayed near the back as they headed out, as usual, and couldn’t help but admire Jin’s consideration. They were still all strangers, but he tried to help them anyways. The gang had a long journey ahead of them apparently too, and offering a seat to the kid? It was just plain kind.

‘Who knows, maybe there could be something here.’

Arthur chuckled lowly to himself, ‘Mutual respect.’

Chapter Text

It had been a few days of travel now.

The whole gang was getting used to the situation, and they even remembered to turn around and grab Bill before they went too far. Jin was used to traveling in larger groups from his time with his father, fighting and camping with many other samurai. However, these people were nothing like any he’d ever met. There was a slight language barrier from time to time, but he got to know that they had traveled here from across the ocean.

He also learnt, by asking and through basic observation, that they weren’t the most upstanding group. Jin didn’t entirely mind it, he had his own honor of course, but wasn’t one to force his way of life on others. The only time is became relevant that his traveling companions weren’t all law abiding, is when they ran into a small camp of bandits on the road.

Jin was quick to take out his weapon, and defend his companions, but they were just as quick to draw their’s. Apparently more than half the gang carried some sort of long range loud weapon. Many were quite skilled as well, Arthur and Micha both had a quick draw and good aim, from much practice no doubt. Dutch wasn’t bad either, and Jin asked him after they dispatched the bandits, what their weapons were.

“Oh this here? It’s one of my revolvers, got it engraved with a nice design too.” He smiled, clearly proud of it. “Arthur over there’s carryn’ a cattleman, nothing special really.”

Jin nodded, still not slightly confused. “What is a revolver? Doesn’t that mean to spin?” Dutch opened his mouth, as if to speak, but then stopped himself and thought for a moment.

“Well, it’s this kind of… a gun right? And the barrel part does spin, but after you load the bullets.” He tried to explain the best he could, but half of the words that needed to be used were too new to Jin for him to really understand. He had heard of something similar that mongols used on occasion, a small close-range cannon, but this was much more different.

“Don’t bother, can’t you see you’re confusin’ him?” Arthur had been listening to their conversation while patching up some gear that had been damaged in the fight. “Just say it’s like a fast shooten bow, but smaller arrows.” Dutch was slightly offended at this, from the interruption or the simplistic description.

Surprisingly however, the description did make it a little easier for Jin to understand. He turned his attention to Arthur and asked another question that had been on his mind about theses guns.

“I see, and why are they so loud? When I release the string on my long bow, it does make a sound, but not as much as those do.” He motioned to Arthur’s revolver.

“Gunpowder.” Arthur replied easily, “It’s what pushes the bullet out by making a small explosion.” He lifted up his gun and opened the barrel part, revealing some bullets still in there. He pulled one out and showed off the back end of it to Jin. “This here is where the gunpowder is stored, so when I pull the trigger it gets hit and explodes out.”

Jin nodded, this time actually somewhat understanding the mechanics of it. After that, as they continued traveling through the forest path, he pondered those weapons. He had always been trained in the katana, naginatas, and bows. But these people knew a skill he had never heard of. It was quite interesting, learning of all these over-sea’s techniques and tools.
…..

The sun was setting soon, and Jin led his horse and the gang off the trail to a small clearing close to a river.

They all set up camp easily, as they were used to sleeping in the wilderness. The only two tents that weren’t as simple as the rest were Dutch and Hosea’s tent, and Arthur’s tent. They were both slightly larger, and taller with more of a roof that one could actually stand under. Jin set up for the night as well, which just included setting up a small blanket to sleep on next to his horse by the fire.

Everyone eventually got settled in for the night and sat around the campfire, chatting among themselves. Jin needed a little bit of time alone after all the traveling and talking, so he sat near the edge of camp, just listening to the conversations nearby. Jin listened then in amusement, when they began to sing. No music accompanied them, they hadn’t brought any instruments, but they were all singing together nonetheless.

I ain’t got no father,
I ain’t got no father,
I ain’t got no father-
To buy the clothes I wear

I’m a poor lonesome cowboy,
I’m a poor lonesome cowboy,
I’m a poor lonesome cowboy-
A long way from home

What interested him most was not that it was a good song, it was repetitive and many were out of tune, but that they all knew the lyrics. It took no time for them to all recognize the song and to join in singing, and he admired that. Jin wondered if it was due to their clear and close bond, as most of the gang treated each other like family in one way or another.

He didn’t interrupt their singing for a while, but just peacefully listened to the lyrics, humming along to himself when he learned the tune. (He wasn’t the only one humming along either, but he couldn’t place who he ended up harmonizing with.) It seemed it wasn’t going to be as tedious traveling with them as he’d thought.

Chapter Text

Arthur was tired of Dutches plans, but that wasn’t new.

What was new was the idea of robbing a large, surprisingly secure, mongol base. They had camped on a hill last night, and while out on a walk, apparently Dutch had seen a mongol camp a little ways down the mountain side.

“We’ll have the element of surprise, and the high ground!” Dutch said as convincingly as he could. Arthur only shook his head and grimaced.

“Dutch, I really don’t think we’re in a good position to stage a robbery right now. We don’t even know where we are technically, and we don’t have any place to escape to if things get tricky.” Arthur knew Dutch was over confident sometimes, but this was a new level. Sure they could fight off trail bandits if needed, but a whole camp of foreigners with weapons they’d never seen? No way.

“Arthur please, at least listen to my plan. I have it all figured out, don’t you worry about a thing!” Dutch sounded very enthusiastic about this, and it almost made Arthur consider reconsidering. Before he could respond however, Jin walked over and joined in.

“Were you talking about the Mongol camp just now?” Jin always spoke in a neutral tone, like he was keeping all his emotions under wraps. Arthur found it endearing and frustrating at the same time.

“Yeah… Dutch here was just telling me about his plan to raid the place.” He scoffed, and looked over at Dutch accusingly.

“Well actually, I was planning on striking their camp as well.” Jin said, very genuinely for the subject matter. “It would be a stealth mission, but I wouldn’t mind assistance.

“Wait, seriously?” Arthur turned to him with an incredulous look on his face. “Isn’t it really dangerous and also stupid to try and fight their numbers like this?” Jin shook his head and smiled very slightly.

“I wouldn’t be alone. I happen to know an old friend of mine is camping a two miles out. If we were to stage an attack on them, he would join us as well with some of his group.” Dutch raised an eyebrow at this, but it was more curious than skeptical.

“So you’re not only interested in the idea, and have friends to call on, and we’re planning on doing it anyways?” he sounded almost excited.

“Yes, and I feel as though my friend would also be interested. He’s been low on supplies, and mongols often carry more than they need.” Jin nodded, and Arthur scoffed.

“Ok, so what then? We set out tonight or do you need more time to get your ‘friends’ here?” He was a bit more than skeptical, and his pride was a bit wounded from Jin siding with Dutch. Not that he cared, but it wasn’t great to hear crazy ideas that you disagreed with validated and expanded upon by someone who you thought was reasonable.

“That’s the plan, yes. Would you be wanting to come along?” Jin seemed to not notice the slight venom in Arthur’s tone, and was sincere in his offer. Arthur sighed, but nodded anyways,

“Yeah fine. It’s not like I could let you two go and have all the fun without me, huh?” He chuckled lowly, and Jin nodded, almost smiling again.

“Then it’s decided. Let us meet back here around sundown.” He bowed his head slightly, and walked off with no further instruction or explanation. Arthur sighed under his breath, and was almost worried about what he’d just agreed to.
…

Arthur waited as patiently as he could for sundown, and eventually it came. The three converged again as they’d planned, and Jin brought along a fourth.

“This is the friend I mentioned, Ryuzo.” The man was wearing a large hat made of some type of grass or straw, and neither Arthur or Dutch had ever seen anything like it. He also seemed to know less English than Jin, so he would act as a sort of translator.

The four of them walked down the side of the mountain carefully, using the trees as supports for the steep terrain. Jin and Ryuzo led them since they knew more about these types of camps, and they knew where the possible entrances would be. Arthur had taken his revolver and a knife, unsure what type of fight this would end up being.

They stopped outside a wooden wall with a built in entrance for the mongols a few feet away. Jin turned back and gave a few non-verbal commands with hand gestures, that Arthur and Dutch could basically guess their meanings. He then nodded to Ryuzo, and they began the sneak attack, taking out the entrance guard with a swift coordinated motion.

Arthur’s eyes widened a bit, not just at the teamwork, but also at the skill and effectiveness. The guard fell quickly, and Ryuzo caught the body before it even made a sound. Jin turned back to Dutch and Arthur, and nodded them to follow. Arthur followed behind, and a small smile formed on his face. This might actually work out if these two were always this good.
…

The raid had gone well, better than well actually. They’d gotten all kinds of supplies and hadn’t been seen before most of them were already dead. The four walked back to their camp, laughing with each other as they hauled up bags and baskets of food and materials for later.

When they got back to the camp, everyone else was a bit surprised to see everything they’d gotten, and were ecstatic when they saw the food. It would mean less hunting and foraging, and more cooking and relaxing. Arthur set down the basket he’d been carrying next to the fire, and stood up straight, wincing slightly as he did.

The fighting had gone well, and none of them really got injured, but he’d somehow hit his leg on the side of a rock while sneaking away. It hurt like a bitch, but he wasn’t about to say anything. It was a time to celebrate a successful mission, drink and laugh and…

Jin walked over to him, and carefully patted him on the shoulder. He wasn’t wearing his helmet or most of his armor anymore, having taken it off to clean it.

“How are you feeling? Better?” Arthur looked at him confusedly, and narrowed his eyes slightly.

“Uh, yeah. I feel fine. Why do you ask?” He wasn’t sure what Jin could be referring to, but didn’t need any worry or pity from him.

“Earlier at the mongol camp, you hurt your leg didn’t you?” Arthur blinked at that, and opened his mouth to say something before closing it again. He was a bit dumbfounded that Jin had noticed that, he thought he’d hidden it well.

“What’re you… I don’t… yeah, I feel fine.” He looked away and pulled his shoulder away from Jin.

“You’re limping slightly, it’s alright.” Jin spoke slightly quieter, and Arthur frowned slightly. He didn’t know what was ‘alright,’ but he certainly didn’t want any concern from him. “We got medical supplies from the mongols as well, you can take some if you need.”

Arthur scoffed, not interested in wearing a cast or gauze around camp for a few days. “I’m fine, really. Don’t mention it.” He turned away and walked over to the others around the fire, waving over his shoulder at Jin. He was limping slightly, but really didn’t want to deal with it, and would rather get drunk and enjoy himself.

The rest of the night went by easily, and Arthur did end up drinking some. Him and Dutch told stories about the raid, and joked with John about how he didn’t get to come. They were going to tell more, but neither Jin or Ryuzo had stuck around for the partying so they couldn’t congratulate them on their success.

After a few hours, the chatter and laughter died down, and everyone began to turn in for the night. They all were in high spirits after the day, and headed to their tents to sleep for the night. Arthur stumbled to his tent alone, a bit tipsy and still hurting from earlier. He had forgotten about the injury, but as soon as he had to stand he felt it again.

He closed the tent behind him, and fell down onto his bedroll with a huff. He rolled over onto his back, and turned his head to the side, seeing something in the corner of his eye beside his bed. Arthur sat up on his elbow and reached over in the darkness to feel what it was, grabbing the small clump next to him.

He held it up closer to his face and squinted, realizing what it was from the soft texture. It was a small roll of binding gauze, one of the new ones from the camp. Since he was slightly tipsy, it took him a moment to figure out how it got into his tent, before it clicked. He rolled his eyes, and set the gauze back down, rolling over to face away from it.

He was slightly annoyed that Jin would ignore his request to drop the issue, and more annoyed at himself for feeling slightly grateful. It wasn’t smart to leave any injury untreated, even though it was small. This would just mean he wouldn’t have to make a show of it, or get help finding supplies for himself.

He sighed and rolled back over, sitting up and grabbing the gauze. Arthur almost didn’t take it out of spite, but knew that it wasn’t meant to mock him or anything stupid. Jin had put it in his tent just so he’d be able to get better, because he noticed Arthur needed it.

Arthur cursed slightly under his breath at the feeling of the gauze compressed around his leg, and lay back down, trying to fall asleep before he could dwell on what Jin’s gift made him feel other than annoyance.

Chapter Text

Jin woke up early that morning, wanting to get some alone time before anyone else got up.

He was pretty happy with how the last day had gone, and the supplies they were able to get from the Mongol camp. He was also happy that Ryuzo was willing to help them out, despite Jin traveling with a… more than odd group. Last night he’d actually been able to catch up with Ryuzo a bit while the others were drinking, and spent some well needed time with an old friend.

Ryuzo and the straw hats were doing better, and the daunting challenge of securing food for his troops was getting easier by the day. They had even set up a permanent camp nearby, and were farming their own food and supplies there. Jin was delighted upon hearing this news, and they spent the rest of the night exchanging stories from their time apart.

One of these stories happened to be about a certain thief that Jin was more than familiar with. Apparently, Yuna had been making her way down the island the same as Jin and the gang, just a few miles ahead, and pillaging most of the bandits she came across.

“She’s even gotten more skilled in fights since last I heard of her, and almost took me out before recognizing me from your tales.” Jin laughed at that, and nodded along.

“I don’t doubt that to be sure, that certainly sounds like the Yuna I know.”

Ryuzo sat back slightly against the tree, and finished his sake. “What about you then, Jin? Anything to tell me about these… cow-boys you’ve made friends with?” Jin put a hand up to his chin lightly, and sighed to himself,

“They’re more competent than one would expect, and certainly more lively. I’ve never met a group with more songs and bonds within themselves.” It was true too. After many days of travel in a completely strange land, none of them had lost their spirits or vigor. All of the gang were still singing and staying positive despite the situation they found themselves in.

It was very endearing if Jin was honest with himself, and even the slightly more brooding members didn’t hesitate to join in around the campfire when given the chance. He now sat outside of his tent, taking in the morning air and meditating comfortably. He enjoyed these small moments of quiet, for as endearing as the gang might be, they could also be noisier than he was often used to.

Speaking of, he heard some noises behind him, and instinctively tensed up slightly. He knew it probably wasn’t any danger, but had the muscle memory anyways.

“Hey,”

Jin turned to see who it was, and was glad to see that it was only Arthur. He also happened to notice that Arthur had a slightly suspicious lump under his pant leg, the same leg that got hurt yesterday.

“Good morning. Sleep well?” Jin wouldn’t pry, but was glad that Arthur took his gift without argue.

“I slept well enough for someone who drank a whole bottle on his own…” Arthur chuckled slightly, and rubbed the back of his head. For his seeming complaint, he didn’t look as hungover as Jin would expect.

Jin smiled a bit himself, and turned back around, “Last night must have been adequate then in enjoyment?”

Arthur rolled his eyes slightly, but tried to keep his tone even. He was actually very amused by the way Jin spoke in his correct but stiff English, but would never say that out loud, “More than ‘adequate’ for sure. That raid we did ended up being a good idea for once, just about everyone profited from it.”

A short, slightly awkward, silence followed that. Jin didn’t know why, but he was having a hard time figuring out what to say to that. ‘Thank you’ felt incorrect, since the raid wasn’t his idea, but nothing else was coming to his mind. It wasn’t like him to be left speechless, so he was a bit off guard as well.

“So… listen.” Arther spoke up again after a minute or two, “About last night.”

Jin turned to look back at Arthur over his shoulder, knowing what this may be about. He wasn’t entirely sure if his gift would be accepted, and for some time he debated going through with giving it at all. The whole gang was from an entirely different continent than him, and maybe it would be taken as a sign that he saw Arthur as weak, or something else…

“Thanks. You didn’t have to, and I don’t expect anything else like that, but… thank you.” Jin couldn’t see Arthur’s face very well, but from his tone, he sounded pretty genuine.

It took him a second to reply, (and although he didn’t know why) he had to clear his throat a bit before answering. “You’re welcome. Please, don’t feel obliged to reciprocate it.” Jin shifted slightly in his spot to meditate, finding it a bit less comfortable now.

Arthur cleared his throat as well behind him, and huffed slightly before beginning to leave. “Yeah, well… I won’t. See you later.” And with that, he walked off back to his tent, or maybe to the horses.

Jin was less concerned with that, and more concerned with the strange way he acted just now. It was very odd to say the least, and unbecoming of a Samurai such as himself. He turned back, and closed his eyes, deciding to reflect on it for a few minutes before anyone else woke up.

Just as he was about to begin, Jin heard some yawning coming from Dutch and Hosea’s tent. He sighed, and decided to think on it later instead.

Chapter Text

For once, John was trying to make a friend. If you could count a horse as a friend that is.

They had been traveling as a group for a while now, but didn’t have nearly as many horses as John was used to. Back home they all had their own horses, and some people had multiple horses, so just the two was new to say the least. Currently they had Jin’s horse, who he affectionately called Kage, and a new addition they had scored from the mongol camp a few days ago.

This horse was the one he was trying to befriend at the moment, but it seemed to not be working as well as he’d hoped. No one else had claimed it yet, and he wanted to get a horse for himself so Jack and Abigail would have something to ride on if they got tired. It was a foolproof plan, and he never had an issue with horses before, so he couldn’t fathom why the horse didn’t like him now.

There was the fact that he only spoke English and the horse was used to Mongolian, or the fact that he looked strange, or the fact that he was trying to woo the horse by shoving old hay in his face, but he honestly couldn’t think of a reason it didn’t like him. And the hay wasn’t even that old, he’d gotten it specifically for this horse!

“Come on, be a good horsie and let me try to ride you?” He tried to speak in a friendly soft tone, but sounded more desperate than anything. Along with that, the horse could seemingly smell desperation, and only snorted and turned its head in response.

John frowned and stepped back, but was used to the disappointment at this point. He dropped the hay at his feet, and sighed, scratching the back of his head a bit as he thought. It wasn’t the only horse they would get, he was sure of that at least. And it wasn’t a very special horse either, but…

It was special to him. Arthur and Dutch had gone and gotten this horse on their own, and if he would be the one to tame it he could get in some good reputation with Jin too. Although he wouldn’t say it to anyone but Abigail, he really wanted to impress Jin somehow. He was a cool samurai, and so honorable and skilled too.

He had to keep trying, at least until the end of the day. John nodded to himself, rationalizing it as he kneeled down to pick up the hay again, determined now. However, before he could try to get the horse again, he heard footsteps approach behind him.

“Hey, John. Busy?” It was Arthur, unexpected but not unwelcomed. Maybe he could even offer advice?

“Ugh, not really. Just… trying to feed the new horse.” John turned to Arthur, dusting off his pants slightly and leaving the hay on the ground. Arthur tilted his head to the side, and looked from John, to the horse, to the ground where the clear signs of failure laid.

He smirked, “Yeah, and how’s that gone?” Arthur asked as he took a step or two closer. John rolled his eyes at the remark, and crossed his arms, now annoyed with the horse and Arthur.

“Not great. I doubt you’re here to do more than laugh at me then?” John pursed his lips and let out a breath in frustration as Arthur picked up the hay he had just discarded. He stood back up and looked back at John before shaking his head,

“Nah, I thought I could give you some pointers.” Arthur still had a smug smirk on his face, and to John’s dismay, turned to the horse. He held out the hay at the horse’s mouth level, but at a more correct distance then what John had been doing earlier. Even worse than that, the horse actually turned back to look at Arthur, and wasn’t looking at him with disgust.

The next thing John had to watch was Arthur feeding the horse easily, since it seemed all animals liked him immediately. That was one of the reasons John hadn’t asked for his help, he knew the horse would just end up being Arthur’s instead. But it was too late now, so all John could do was sigh and frown, seeing how quickly the horse finished the stale hay when it was from Arthur.

“You make it look easy, you know…” John huffed over at the pair, and Arthur just shook his head.

“You make it look hard.” He reached up and carefully stroked the horse’s head, and his smirk turned a bit more genuine. He really was good with animals, and John couldn’t really blame him for being good at something.

“What are you going to name it then?” John knew it wasn’t going to be his now, Arthur had basically waltzed in and taken it from under his nose, but he wanted to know the name at least.

“What are you talking about?” Arthur turned to him, and brushed his hands off on his lower jacket, smiling sneakily. “It’s not my horse, it’s yours.” John was too surprised to speak, and more than a little suspicious. He wasn’t about to argue either though,

“…Alright. I don’t get why, but I’ll take it.” John spoke a bit hesitantly, but was more sure as he thought it over. “I think I’ll name her… Clara. Tha-“ Arthur put a hand up before he could finish, and cut him off,

“Don’t thank me, don’t even mention it.” And with that, he turned and left. John was mainly confused by the whole encounter, but wasn’t going to look a gift horse in the mouth. He still wasn’t sure if Clara actually liked him, but he was going to take Arthur’s non-verbal advice of how to actually get her on his good side.

Maybe, if he kept his mouth shut, the other’s would actually think he tamed this horse on his own. Hell, he could even actually get in some reputation with Jin.
…

The truth was that Arthur didn’t need a horse, and he didn’t need John moping around about not getting one. Really, it was a double favor giving the horse away. He also knew they would find more horses on the way, and could get one when he needed it.

Along with that, he had noticed how ‘Clara’ and Jin’s horse had gotten along immediately, and knew that John wanted to get to know Jin. So he figured if their horses were always around, then John would have some chances to chat up Jin. Arthur wasn’t particularly one for chatting, so it’d be better if that wasn’t him.

He also knew, on top of everything else, that John’s new horse wasn’t a female horse. On their way back from the Mongol camp, he was near the back, and saw as Dutch led the horse back that it was very much male. He didn’t want to be riding it one day and have that image go through his head.

Arthur grimaced walking back to the campfire, hoping John would enjoy it more than he could.

Chapter Text

It had been getting late as they rode further into the forest.

Arthur wasn’t particularly worried, but he knew that before the sun set they would have to find somewhere to set up camp again. It wasn’t that it was impossible to travel at night, he had done it plenty of times before back home, it was just that this wasn’t home. Neither him nor any of the other members of the gang (besides Jin) knew this place, and they certainly didn’t know where any bandits liked to hide out yet.

The horses they had gotten were traveling at the back and front of the group, Jin on his at the front leading the way, and John on his near the back, keeping an eye on everyone, and chatting lightly with Jack riding with him. Arthur had been mostly quiet today, keeping to himself as to not stir any trouble or get into conversations he would be stuck in for another hour.

On the road, who you were with was who you were with, and you’d be stuck with them the whole time you traveled. It was better to either be on good terms, or not speak at all. He was currently walking near the front, not fully behind Jin’s horse, but not right beside it either.

Jin was paying attention to the trail himself, seemingly scouting out camping sites the same as Arthur. That was one thing he had noticed, a little after Jin joined them, they had a surprising amount in common with each other. Of course, each of their native languages were different, and they came from entirely different places, but they weren’t very different themselves.

Dutch had asked Jin at one point how old he was, and he had said he was 32, and Arthur himself was 35. They also were both always very alert, and quiet most of the time unless prompted or pulled into talking. Jin was of course more polite when it came to talking, but they both valued honor and skill.

He hadn’t noticed at first, but as Arthur thought about it, they also were both highly skilled in their preferred weapon, and in hand-to-hand combat when needed. He hadn’t seen much of Jin’s fighting skill without his sword of course, but he had seen him up early in the mornings sometimes practicing on trees or in the air.

It’s not that Arthur had been staring of course! And it wasn’t stalking… it was more a vested interest he had in their less-strange-than-first-seemed companion. It’s not that Jin wasn’t similar like that too, as he had often seen him out of the corner of his eye watching him make coffee, or helping clean up camp. He thought it was a little creepy, but he also knew that he could come off as rude looking when resting his face and concentrating on something. (Mainly Abigail told him this.)

Arthur had been lost in his thoughts for a bit too long however, as he didn’t notice Jin slowing down his horse right away, and walked up further beside him before realizing, and stopping himself. This did mean he was now standing right beside Jin as he spoke to the others, and he didn’t know how to feel about it.

“I think we should branch off here, I see a clearing out right that we could use for camp.” Jin’s accent still came through, but was very clear in his words and pronunciation.

Dutch and Hosea nodded, also walking near the front, and motioned everyone to follow along.

“Alright, I was just getting tired of walking too,” Dutch joked as they walked off the trail. All the others followed suit, and both men on horses had to dismount slightly into the forest from the trees becoming dense much lower down than usual. It cast more shadows at the campsite as well, but was a good canopy to hide from any people passing by.

After some time traveling now, the gang had figured out a way for them all to pitch in somewhat setting up camp. Dutch made sure everything was put in the best spots, Hosea directed who would go where tents wise. John, Arthur, and Bill did the main lifting of tents and bags to set up, while Jack helped where he could with the smaller things. Micah was usually left to tie up the horses, and Abigail started on dinner, or checking through the supplies.

Jin had all his own equipment, so he just set up his own, then came back to see if help was needed elsewhere. Tonight, it seemed that Arthur was having an especially difficult time untying some of the knots used to wrap up one of the tents, so he couldn’t even set it up yet. Jin, ever observant, walked over to him and looked at what he was already so frustrated with.

“Do you need some assistance?”

Arthur was in the middle of swearing under his breath, but stopped himself, turning his glare at Jin instead.

“Son of a- No I’m fine! I can take care of this, go help someone else…” He knew Jin was only trying to help, but couldn’t help but feel a little pitied. He had also scraped his hand on the rough rope, and wasn’t in a great mood. He waved his hand dismissively, and tilted his other so he could get some other angle on the difficult knot.

Jin raised an eyebrow at him, but took a step back, seeing he wasn’t wanting any help even if he needed it. “Alright, if you’re sure.” He waited a moment more, and watched Arthur continue to struggle with the rope.

“…Dammit!” Arthur exclaimed in almost no time after saying he didn’t need help. He then dropped the whole tent roll back onto the ground, and crossed his arms, more than frustrated. “Fine! You try to do it then, go ahead!” The words came out a bit sharper than he would usually intend, but he wasn’t paying attention to his tone right now.

Jin didn’t outwardly change his expression, and only kneeled down to pick it back up, standing it up in front of him to try to untie the knot. His brow furrowed after a second of fiddling, seemingly running into the same issue as Arthur had, but he didn’t get overly frustrated, and only tried again.

Arthur didn’t turn to leave either, as he normally would, but watched as Jin carefully found where each of the thick threads led, and pulled accordingly. In little time after he had figured out the structure, Jin skillfully pulled the knot loose, and handed the whole tent roll back to Arthur. He took it back begrudgingly, and rolled his eyes.

Jin didn’t wait for a thank you, knowing he wouldn’t get one right now, and only slightly bent his head,

“You’re welcome.” He didn’t smile entirely, but had an amused air about him. Jin then walked off, probably seeing someone else he could help. Arthur was then left with an undone knot, frustration from being one upped, and… something else.

Was he impressed? No. Was he mad? No… was he still thinking about how Jin had skillfully undone the knot, somehow so skilled with his sword and this…?

He didn’t want to think about that any more either.

Chapter Text

Jin was currently brushing his horse, a ritual he always enjoyed.

It was relaxing, and slow and methodical, so he could just clear his thoughts and focus on it. His horse didn’t need this much attention of course, it was well trained and well groomed. But the small moments of quiet alone time was almost like a second meditation for Jin.

He was in the middle of brushing through his horses mane carefully with one of the brushes he had borrowed a long time ago from his uncle. He ran his hand carefully through to check for any tangles, before running through with the brush to smooth it out.

He was also glad that he was tall enough to not need a stool or bench to stand on. His horse was a large elegant creature, and being able to reach its head had been an issue in his youth. Jin still remembered his first lessons in horse care, he was so much smaller then that he had to sit on the horse to actually reach the mane and back.

Back then it was a different horse, and his steed now would always kneel down if needed, but it was not. So he continued to work methodically, and peacefully, while taking in the afternoon breeze.

“Jin!” A call from some paces behind him. Jin sighed, and turned around. It was Dutch, followed by a slightly agitated one who’s name he never remembered.

“Jin, you ain’t busy right? Help us out here would’ya with a bet…” Dutch walked up to him, entirely ignorant to the fact that Jin was in fact very busy. He only crossed his arms and nodded, ever polite to his sometimes frustrating companions.

“A bet?” Jin kept the exasperation out of his voice, and only questioned their intentions.

“Yeah, you see,” Dutch turned to the man beside him. He was a bit shorter than Jin, and had an unkempt beard. “Us two’ve made a bet. We’re trying to guess weather you prefer your sword or bow-“

The other man cut in, “I say the bow, obviously. You’re always cleaning it, and picking up arrows for it.” Dutch rolled his eyes at that.

“He’s a samurai, the sword is the obvious answer.”

Jin didn’t want to answer for either now. The real truth was that he preferred neither, he was equally skilled in both, using them both as needed. Jin furrowed his brow slightly, and looked away, now feeling even more exasperated at their antics. He sighed quietly, and brought up all the honor he could as to not send them away disappointed.

“Well, the thing is…” Jin wasn’t able to finish this though unfortunately, as a frustrated shout came from behind all three of them.

“You idiots, that’s like asking if you prefer a revolver or a shotgun. They aren’t the same at all.” It seemed already like the shout came from someone already pestered by their silly bet, and who was fed up with their questions and ignorance.

“Hey!” The man beside Dutch turned and yelled back at who interrupted. “Like you care-“

The owner of the interruption then strode up to them, and crossed his arms at the two other gang members. It was Arthur, of course it was. He was just as tall as Jin, wearing a hat with his hair tied back today. He had some dirt on his hands, but it was normal for setting up and taking down tents all the time.

Jin was almost relived that he didn’t have to answer now, but he didn’t want a fight either. It seemed that Arthur and the man were already opposed, having a history he guessed. He took a step back, also not wanting to be apart of whatever rivalry or hatred they had for each other.

“Would you two stop pestering the only person who actually knows where we’re going?” Arthur looked at the both of them, Dutch and his rival, disapprovingly. He looked just as Jin felt, but held it back much less than Jin did. Or tried to sometimes.

“It was just a bet Arthur, nothing serious…” Dutch looked a little insulted now, but his tone suggested that he knew he was in the wrong.

“A bet. So how much money did you bet on him then?” Arthur pointed at Jin, and although he didn’t look at him, it was enough to get the two of them to fall silent.

Dutch grimaced and glanced away before turning back slowly, “…Ten bucks…” The other man scoffed and looked away, clearly not happy that their apparent gambling had been outed.

Arthur shook his head and twisted his face in disappointment. “I’d say I can’t believe you, but I can.” Dutch sighed and began to walk away sadly, and the other man walked away in a huff, and glared at Arthur as he went.

Arthur watched after them, arms still crossed as him and Jin were left by his horse still. Jin wanted to say something to thank him, but from experience, he was pretty sure Arthur would brush him off. It was an issue he was often facing despite their similarities. They had very different personalities, although they had a lot in common, and it meant they were sometimes opposed when it came to opinions.

While he thought about it, and was about to turn back to his horse, Arthur spoke up with a still frustrated tone.

“Well? We’re even now, and no ‘thank you’?” Jin looked at him, slightly confused.

“Oh, yes. Thank you, I do appreciate the help.” He knew he could’ve handled it on his own, but he was more than happy to not have to disappoint two people at once.

“Good.” Arthur scoffed, and turned, walking away without another word. Jin was left now confused, and endeared. As much as Jin was getting used to Arthur’s hard-headedness, it seemed, at least to him, Arthur was getting used to Jin’s generosity.

He was relived to get back to his horse as well, since he had been interrupted in the middle of brushing through its mane. Jin turned, and held up his brush again, going through the same motions as before. Running his hand through the dark brown hair, and brushing through afterwards.

For once however, there was something that these motions reminded him of. It was interesting to him, and since he had nothing else to think about, he was able to think on it individually. The mane, thick and dark and well groomed, looked just like something else that caught his eye before.

Arthur’s hair had been tied up, and brushed for once. He’d never thought about it before, but Jin imagined that running his hand through a mane felt similar to… running his hand through human hair? Maybe, a specific human’s hair, also dark brown, and taken care of well enough.

Jin furrowed his brows, pausing in brushing, to his horses displeasure. It neighed once, wondering what was taking him so long, as Jin was standing beside it. He was currently not brushing his horse, but in fact, reeling with a new thought.

Running his hand through Arthur Morgan’s hair.

Chapter Text

For dinner that night, Arthur had gone out and caught a deer.

It wasn’t too hard, Arthur was a good shot, and he was a good hunter overall. Plus with all the supplies they’d already gathered, they would only need one deer to feed everyone. It would be a bit of a sparse meal, but a warm meal in the end. That was better than nothing out here.

When he returned to their current camp, the deer was over his shoulders, most of its back hanging behind him. Arthur had also recently recovered entirely from his minor leg injury, so he had no difficulty bringing it in. He also left no opportunity for Jin to swoop in and try to help him again.

Rationally he knew it came from a place of him being a good person, honorable or something, but it was really starting to get on his nerves that every time he was having trouble Jin just got in the way and fixed it for him. It felt like he was trying to show him up or something, and Arthur did like whatever it made him feel every time Jin tried to help.

Arthur had just set the deer down to start butchering it, when he noticed his hands were filthy. He would have to clean them later, but before dinner, or Mary Beth would have a fit about “hygiene” or something. He would also need to find somewhere to clean them, since they weren’t camping as close to a river as they would have liked to.

It was a whole argument, but the end result was they would rather be safe from ambush than closer to running water. The nearest river wasn’t even too far away, but by now the sun was already setting, so Arthur probably wouldn’t have time to butcher the deer and wash up before both needed to be done.

It also didn’t take him too long to decide to sacrifice his cleanliness, and just wipe off his hands on some rag before eating and suffer a lecture instead of walking for a half hour to the river and back.
…

After butchering the deer, wrapping up the unused parts of it, and setting the skin aside for treating later, Arthur got up and brought the meat over to the fire to start cooking. The sun was very low on the horizon now, and it was definitely too late to wash up. So he just handed the meat over to Hosea, and stood back, trying to find something to try and wipe his hands off on that didn’t need too much effort.

He had a washcloth in his tent, but getting a bunch of blood on it seemed counter productive when he didn’t know what the next time he would wash it would be. He could ask for a spare from someone, but that seemed like a stupid reason to ask for something. Just as he was pondering giving up entirely, and eating with his bear dirty hands, Jin walked by holding what looked to be a bucket with a lid on it.

It looked like it had water in it, at least from the way it swayed slightly, and was large enough to hold more than enough for just drinking. Arthur watched silently as Jin walked over to a slightly more secluded tree area, and sat down. Now, some would call Arthur following him and watching him, “creepy,” but Arthur would call it “tactfully observing.”

Jin set down the bucket beside him, and a type of basin in front on him. He sat down on his knees, and poured some water into the basin, along with setting a washcloth in it to soak. Jin also took off his armor, mainly the arm and leg plates since he’d already taken off his helmet, and his chest piece.

This was when Arthur actually realized that this was a little weird to be spying on, but he couldn’t leave now without making some sound and alerting Jin (who apparently always had the senses of a hawk, as Arthur had learned). Jin then untied his hair, letting it fall on his shoulders, and brushed it out a little before re-tying it a bit tighter.

Jin washed his face with the now soaked washcloth, and packed up all his things just as orderly as Arthur would expect. It seemed, from a guesstimation, that this was some sort of pre-dinner ritual Jin did(?). It was at least some sort of ritual, or Jin was just always this orderly and neat all the time.

Both were slightly confusing, and one was… honorable? Respectful? Some word that Arthur didn’t want to use out of spite, but knew was probably accurate. Jin did return to the main camp area, all his things wrapped up nicely, and probably returned to put them away in his small tent.

He unknowingly left Arthur to think, and feel a bit bad for spying. His main thoughts went along the lines of,

‘Jin’s a bit weird.’ ‘I didn’t know he had a bucket of water lying around, I need to get one of those.’ ‘He un-does and re-does his hair? I thought it was always like that.’ ‘His hair is longer than I thought it was…’

And he had some thoughts that he shut down immediately. When Arthur returned to the camp, and sat down with the others for the dinner he had caught and butchered, he was a little bit lost in those thoughts. It had been coming for a long while now, all the weird feelings that felt like a tugging in his chest, that he would have to get to eventually.

The worst part, and he meant worst, was that he did have to get to them. The tugging kept coming back, and he wasn’t able to just push it away like most of his emotional issues. It was much more recent, and active, and he knew why. It somehow had to do with Jin, and there was only one emotion he could think of that was the cause of this.

From Jin helping him constantly, to being good with a sword and bow, and knowing how to do things Arthur didn’t, and being so prepared and honorable… there could only be one emotion.

Jealously. Yes, Arthur was certain. He was jealous of Jin.

Chapter Text

Jin coming to terms with possibly romantic feelings was not how he wanted to spend his night.

He was hoping to get some sword practice in, or maybe even some flute practice. Instead, he was forcing himself to look at all the interactions he had with Arthur, and really think about those implications. Specifically why he was constantly looking out for Arthur, or helping him so much, or wanting to be around him just casually.

Of course, Jin was a very considerate and helpful person. Whenever he saw someone in need, he helped them. He also tried to look out for his friends, and the gang and he had gotten closer over the month or so they had been traveling together. It wasn’t crazy either to want to hang out with a friend that you were close with, him and Ryuzo spent time chatting whenever they had the time…

But it was all just building up, and specifically with Arthur. The new thoughts that weren’t as casual were also adding to his feelings. Wanting to brush his hands through anyone’s hair but his own was already something intimate, and finding Arthur more than impressive in many skills wasn’t just friendly admiration.

It was obvious then that Jin was a little out of it that night as he walked through camp. He was going to wash up before dinner as he always did, and was too lost in his own thoughts to tell anyone where he was going or why. It wouldn’t take long, but he normally at least waved.

Jin walked through the forest behind their camp, and found a small clearing to set up his basin and water. He always used this time to reflect a little bit from the day, and since he was already so stuck in his own thoughts, he let his mind wander more as he took off his armor.

He tried to let himself relax, but just couldn’t. As he brushed out his hair, he still thought about Arthur. Why him? Out of all the people he had met in his life, why the cowboy who would be leaving the first chance he got? Sure, he was skilled. Sure, he was smart and light on his feet. Sure, he was handsome and had a very nice accent. But was any of that worth it?

Jin then thought to himself as he washed his face, was what worth it? And worth what?

Even if this ended up in him deciding that he felt romantic attraction to Arthur Morgan, he had no way of knowing that his feelings were reciprocated. In fact, there was a very high chance that they weren’t. Not only had he probably been raised very differently, he may also be taken.

Jin had no way of knowing if Arthur just had someone back in America waiting for him, or if when he confessed his attraction, that he would be shut down.

Jin packed up his things, and came to a very unfortunate solution. Even if these feelings were very real, and very much romantic, there wasn’t anything he could do about it. It wouldn’t be wise to confess, or even reveal these feelings yet. If he was able to again meet one of his closer friends, he would be able to talk it out possibly, but for now there was only one course of action.

He would just have to pretend they weren’t there, and keep going. Keep helping everyone in the gang equally, and keep his distance so nothing would be obvious. He didn’t really want to go through with this plan, but if he did anything else, he would surly be met with disappointment and or heartbreak.

So Jin walked back to camp, put his things away, and sat nearby the fire to eat with the others. He forced himself to be in the moment, and eat the nice cooked food the gang had made all by themselves. It was deer meat, and he couldn’t help but notice it was very well prepared.

Chapter Text

Arthur Morgan was one crazy bastard, now more than usual.

You see, he was taking a three on one fight with men who couldn’t understand his taunts. So as he ducked, dodged, and attempted to punch his opponents, he was slightly disappointed that they weren’t even getting his jokes.

Most people would get their asses beat by now, three on one isn’t the best scenario to fight in, but Arthur had a lot more experience in this type of thing than most people. He had fought gangs before, and street bandits trying to take his money or horse. He had sometimes taken on sheriffs and their helpers after he did something a little less than legal.

It wasn’t a big deal, the punches and kicks were second nature to him. When he got sliced across the arm with a small throwing weapon, he didn’t think twice about it. Even after he got back to camp and bandaged himself up, nothing looked or felt out of the ordinary.

It was a day later, when he was trying to clean his handgun, that he started feeling a type of strange twinge in his arm. He had bandaged it right after he got back, he even cleaned it. So Arthur went to the only person he knew who might know about this sort of thing, medicine that was,

“Hosea,”

“Yes?” He turned to face Arthur, nodding up to him from where he sat

“I need your help with something that’s bugging me.” Arthur followed Hosea’s gesture, and sat beside him.

“What might that be? Weapons, horses, fighting,”

“Close to fightn’, I guess.” Arthur rolled up his sleeve, and took off the bandage partially that he put on only a day before. There was some blood crusted onto it, but it had mostly healed up. The wound itself… didn’t look that great.

It was unnaturally red around the actual original cut, and had some discolored yellow skin around the edges. Arthur hadn’t ever seen anything like it before himself, so he was hoping for some extra advice from someone more experienced.

“Ah, this is interesting…” Hosea looked over the cut carefully, squinting as he did so, “It looks familiar for sure, but I’ve never seen something exactly like this.”Arthur nodded slowly, but he didn’t actually have an idea of what it meant.

“So? What is it?” He asked, with some impatience in his tone. Hosea pursed his lips, looking back to face Arthur with a grim expression.

“…I think it might just be poison.”

…

Arthur did not want to tell anyone about this. Word spread too fast though, and half the gang knew before sundown. Everyone was worried over him in one way or another, either showing it too much, or not enough and just being creepy. The only one who didn’t care was Micah, and Arthur was more than happy to not have his pity.

It wasn’t as big of a deal as they all made it, he was fine. The cut was small, and it was barely itchy, he would be fine. Arthur was perfectly healthy beside that too, still in great health and fine spirits. If everyone would stop doting over him, and let him figure this out himself, that would be great.

One person who wasn’t doting over him was Jin, but he wasn’t acting much different than usual. For the past few days, he hadn’t been acting exactly the same anyway, but it didn’t have to do with Arthur’s injury. Jin had been walking away more often, and brooding alone instead of jointing them all for dinner. He didn’t think too much of it though.

Arthur assumed it was some strange Samurai thing he didn’t get, so he didn’t ask.

What was weirder than all of this was when Jin up and left. The gang was trying to find ways to help Arthur through natural medicine, or random plants, and normally Jin would be their go-to since he lived here. But the very day after everyone found out, Jin just saddled up and left their camp with little to no warning or reason.

Arthur didn’t care as much as Dutch, who was very offended, and wouldn’t ask Jin why if he came back. Arthur was still feeling some mixed feelings toward Jin, and if he wasn’t around that was all the better. He wouldn’t have to rub shoulders with some guy who thought he was better than everyone else.

…

Three more days had passed, the gang was no closer to finding a cure, and Arthur had gotten way worse. It seemed to be an exponential worsening of the poison, first more skin discoloration, then coughing, then a fever. Arthur was bedridden by the others faster than he could object, and was being taken care of by mainly Abigail and Mary.

He hated it for multiple reasons.

He hated being sick, he hated getting taken care of, and he hated not being allowed out of the “sick tent” as the less immature members called it. He especially hated the fact that Jin wasn’t back yet. Who did he think he was? Leaving without as much as a note and taking one of the only horses they had?

It was strangely one of the things he was thinking about as he was half-asleep with a high fever. Obviously, Arthur wasn’t about to contemplate why he was thinking what right now. His thoughts were too hazy to think of much other than whatever floated across his consciouses.

“Arthur? Are you awake?” Abigail shook him gently, holding his good shoulder. The poison had spread up his arm too, it looked just as bad as it was.

“…Mhm?” Technically he was awake, his eyes still closed. Arthur could slightly see the light come through the open tent door, but he didn’t bother to try and see who it was.

There was some exchanging of words he couldn’t make out, but he felt someone kneel down beside his cot, and take his arm. It wasn’t what he expected in the least, but he didn’t pull away either. Arthur turned his head slightly and opened his eyes to see who it was, who was rolling up his sleeve, and patting it gently with a damp cloth.

He squinted in the dim tent light, and tried to focus his eyes on the figure. Whoever it was, they were skilled, and had medicine. That’s what they were applying to his arm, a cool and slightly viscous liquid that felt good. It wasn’t anything immediate, but felt good against his skin.

Arthur just closed his eyes again, it didn’t matter who it was, he was just going to get better from them.

“Th…thanks,” He mumbled quietly, and a bit incoherently, “I owe you…”

The mystery person paused in treating his arm for a moment, and nodded to himself before continuing.

Neither Arthur nor Abigail saw Jin hide a smile of course, he was good at hiding it. Jin knew Arthur had probably fallen asleep, and wouldn’t remember most of this from his state, but he appreciated it. That’s basically all he could have now, little words, glances, and smiles. It was all he would let himself have at least.

Chapter Text

When Jin heard that Arthur had gotten poisoned, he wasted no time to saddle up, and head out.

It wasn’t polite, nor was it smart, but he wanted to do this. Needed to do this. He told himself it was friendly, but in his heart he knew he wouldn’t do this for anyone else. Immediately get ready and leave to find an antidote with no warning? That wasn’t the most platonic gesture.

Jin also knew that poison was fast, but not faster than Kage (his horse). He rode through multiple forests, jumped over streams, and navigated perfectly over cliff sides just how Jin needed him to. It was almost as if he could sense his riders anxiety too.

When Jin found who he was looking for, it had already been a day and a half. Not too late of course, but much longer than he wanted to take getting medicine. The trading was easy, Jin always kept some money on him in case of emergencies, and this was certainly an emergency.

His crush, I mean riding companion, was probably dying. So obviously the second he got the medicine he jumped back onto his horse and headed back to camp. By the time he actually got back to camp, he looked almost as bad as Arthur did, sleep deprived and almost starved, he was a bit of an idiot when it came to caring about people.

Putting others needs first was honorable, sure, but not always healthy.

Jin didn’t think about that though as he made his way to the tent Arthur was in, and practically threw the door open to give him the antidote to the poison. He spoke briefly with Abigail, the one looking after him, and quickly sat down beside Arthur to administer the antidote.

“Do you need help?” Abigail asked softly, but Jin shook his head,

“It’s fine, I’ve done this before.” He had.

Jin rolled up Arthur’s sleeve, and refrained from being too hasty as to hurt him any more. He got a cloth to soak in the medicine, and applied it to the injury. His hand had stopped shaking, but his heart was still beating unnecessarily fast. Jin tried to remember that he would have to work on that later.

He watched as Arthur opened his eyes slightly to look up at him, and Jin met his gaze, seeing how conscious he really was.

“Th-thanks…” Arthur spoke quietly, but Jin was listening. He could even feel himself smile faintly hearing Arthur speak at all, it was a good sign that he wasn’t too far gone for the medicine to work entirely. “I owe you…”

Jin nodded, and finished up with the medicine, letting his heart beat settle back to normal, and wrapping up the leftover supplies. He stood and left the tent, exchanging a few more words with Abigail as she thanked him as well. Jin walked back to his tent, to his horse, and mentally shouted at himself for doing all this.

Helping a friend was one thing, but he and Arthur weren’t even friends. He just had it way too bad for Arthur, and he now knew this. ‘Perhaps it would be the best course of action to leave…’ he pondered to himself, but even the thought of leaving hurt slightly.

He was stuck, unable to do anything about these feelings one way or another. Jin couldn’t get rid of them, nor could he act on them. And these grandiose shows of commitment were not helping him hide anything. So what could he do?
…

The recovery period for Arthur was shitty to say the least.

He was still bed-ridden for at least two days, he was told, meaning they couldn’t move camp for even longer. He never asked who got medicine, and he didn’t really care. He was getting better, his arm looked less sickly, and he didn’t feel like he was on the brink of death anymore.

The gang wasn’t any better though, still pestering him if he was alright almost every waking hour. Some people had gotten over it, knowing he would be fine now. For once, Arthur was glad Jin was being such a wallflower, keeping his distance and staying quiet about it all.

John however was so, so annoying.

“Could you give me some space?” Arthur complained as he shoved John away for the hundredth time.

“I thought you were going to die!” John protested, and he genuinely had thought Arthur would die.

“You really think poison would be the thing to kill me?” He grumbled, “I’m not going down unless it’s in a fight, idiot.”

John huffed, and sat back, actually keeping his hands to himself. He glared at Arthur, and Arthur glared right back.

“I can’t believe you got poisoned in the first place. How does that even just happen?”

Arthur rolled his eyes, “I told you, I got cut by some weird shaped knife, and it spread from there.” He crossed his arms, and didn’t flinch when it hurt.

“Whatever. You’re so lucky we found medicine,” John looked away, but he was secretly glad Arthur was fine. They had always been close in the gang, and if he ever got around to it, Arthur would be his best man at his wedding. But he wasn’t about to say anything that sappy either.

“Yeah, ‘we.’” Arthur smirked slightly, “I’m sure everyone in the gang banded together to get off their asses and find some medicine local to this island, to cure a poison local to this island.” It was John’s turn to roll his eyes,

“We didn’t find it, Jin found it.” For some reason this made Arthur pause. “He left right after you got sick, and suddenly came back with medicine out of no where. No one even asked him to.”

Most of them in the gang just found Jin to be more honorable from this, and actually trustworthy. They did trust him of course, it had been over a month of traveling together, but this just solidified their view of him in their mind. Arthur was just now hearing of this, and… he felt weird about it.

“Arthur?” John noticed that Arthur had spaced out slightly, and leaned in a bit to get his attention. He pushed John away by the face in return.

“Yeah, yeah, I’m here. Stay away, remember?” He glared slightly at John, but there wasn’t as much annoyance behind it anymore. His mind was racing, and maybe it was a lingering side effect of the poison, or from just being tired, but he could swear…

He could swear that just the thought of Jin helping him again, only for the reason that he needed it, was good feeling?

Jin didn’t need respect, or trust, or reputation. He didn’t even spread the word that he helped, didn’t tell Arthur that he was the one to help him, he just did.

And it made his chest feel tight and weird, and for once he couldn’t ignore the pile of coincidences in his mind. What feelings were they, and why were they all directed at Jin?

Chapter Text

Hosea was getting real tired of the antics going on around him.

John was still acting like a little boy, getting all flustered around the woman he had a child with. Micah was still tolerable, at best, picking fights when he was bored instead of getting a hobby. Dutch, and God bless him, was so overly optimistic about their situation it was almost suffocating.

Arthur seemed to recently have issues too, zoning out constantly, and slipping up when he was needed. It was difficult to get his attention and keep it nowadays, and it would be a liability if he didn’t figure it out and keep it together.

Even Jin, the man who had earned his respect and trust, was acting stranger than usual. He was pacing around more, and sulking every time they weren’t on the road.

Most would say Jin was just being himself, normal and quiet, but Hosea knew. That wasn’t just standoffishness, that was longing and pouting about something.

All he had to do was find out what.
…
John was doing his daily chores, taking out their laundry to dry, and checking through the supplies like usual. It was sunny today, and he appreciated it. If the gang got another day of over humidity then their clothes wouldn’t dry properly and blah blah blah.

Personally he just wanted to take a day off, go fishing in the creek nearby with his son, or learn how to sew more from Abigail. It was actually very helpful he had learned. But no, today he was-

“John.” A voice from behind startled him, and John almost dropped the basket, making a very undignified noise at the same time.

“Ack-Hosea?” He turned to see the old-timer behind him, looking more cold than normal. “Don’t scare me like that!
“This is important, now put that down and come with me,” He placed a firm hand on John’s shoulder, and who was he to say no to that? So John shoved the basket next to a rock, and hurried over with Hosea to whatever he had to talk about.
…
Hosea sat John down across from him, and rested his elbows on his knees, looking intently through him.

“So. John.” Hosea spoke in a lower tone, and they had set up away from camp.

“…yes?” He looked more nervous than Hosea expected him to be, but he had been a little dramatic.

“There’s something going on here, and we need to figure it out before something happens and we’re all killed for it.” He stated, again, very dramatically. John raised an eyebrow, now realizing it was probably actually maybe not as important as he thought.

“What do you mean? Get us killed? Hosea, I don’t think we’re going to die over-“

“Something is wrong with Jin,” He took in a deep breath, “there’s something wrong with Arthur too.”

John raised both his eyebrows now, having formerly being very oblivious to it, but suddenly putting it together.

“You’ve noticed haven’t you? They’re both being weird, sulky and distant.” Hosea gestured vaguely behind him to camp.

“You’re right. Arthur’s been off his game since he recovered, when we were talking…” John thought back, and the wheels in his head started going.

Hosea nodded, “Something’s wrong with them, and they happen to be some of our best.”

John thought his words over, “So what do we do then? What’s wrong with them?” He leaned in slightly, resting his elbows on his knees too. The pair looked conspiratorial now, both hunched over together.

Hosea shook his head slowly, mulling the situation over himself.

“We need to know what’s wrong before we can solve it.”
…
John had been following Arthur around for the whole day, and nothing seemed out of the ordinary. He was going about his usual routine, and doing his chores, getting into squabbles the normal amount. He did notice that every time he had time to himself, Arthur would just sit around thinking.

This was strange, Arthur never pondered when he didn’t have to. He said philosophy was a fools errand and that the only real thing in life was alcohol and guns. Or something. John didn’t often listen entirely when Arthur started lecturing him.

Arthur was currently sitting by the campfire, carving something silently. No one else was around, so John walked up behind him and decided that just asked would be the most direct and best way to get an answer.

“Arthur! Buddy! Pal,” He smiled widely, taking a seat next to Arthur with a hearty pat on his back.

Arthur looked at him up and down, before raising an eyebrow, “What did you do this time?”

“Hey!” John frowned, “I’m offended that you think I only act like this when I want something.”

“But you do only act like this when you want something. So what is it today, John? More money, a horse, my soul?” He smiled slightly as John looked away, having wanting something else entirely,

“We need to talk, something’s up, with you.”

Arthur’s face turned serious in less than a second. He knew what John meant too, it seemed.

“Nothing is ‘Up’ with me, John.” Arthur spoke with a lower tone now, having put his guard up, “Nothing is wrong either. And I don’t know why you care so much about it.”

John put an arm on Arthur’s shoulder, holding onto it firmly, “Listen, I get if it’s a personal thing, you don’t have to tell me any details.” Arthur looked away, “But if this is something that’s bugging you to the point of it being visibly affecting you, that could really distract you. And I mean in scuffles, or if we find another one of those camps.”

He was trying to be nice to his friend, even forgiving, but this was a serious matter in a way. Arthur was their best fighter, best shot, and best with the horses. If he slipped up they could all pay for it.

“Just…” John let go of his arm, “Whatever you’re dealing with, deal with it and move on. We have more matters to focus on.”

Arthur took in a breath, and nodded, his brow still furrowed. He didn’t look angry at John at least, and he would take that.

“Fine. I’ll ‘deal with it,’” He conceded, “Now stop digging into my personal life, Marston,” He pointed a finger into John’s chest, and John couldn’t help but to chuckle,

“Yeah, don’t worry I won’t!” He put his hands up in mock surrender. “This is the last you’ll hear of it from me.” He stood, and said a quick goodbye before walking off. It went well enough, he thought.

He did wonder how Hosea’s talk went with Jin?

Chapter Text

It had been months now since Arthur finally figured out what his stupid heart had been trying to tell him.

And as much as he didn’t want to listen to it, it was getting all the harder to ignore.

Things were slightly in his favor though, Jin had seemingly been trying to spend less time with him if he had the chance. He avoided Arthur so often you would think he hated him. And it made Arthur feel tight in his chest thinking about it. They were making progress on their overall goal of course, which most of them forgot about until Dutch brought it up.

“We’re in the clear!” He had announced one morning, to the nearby birds displeasure. “We’re going to have enough money to leave this place soon!”

Everyone else seemed to enjoy this idea thoroughly, ready to go back home, even if home was traveling around more just in a more familiar area. Arthur was happy too, happy enough. He had missed his horse, and the towns he knew, and the wanted posters of him in the towns he knew.

Of course, as scenic as Japan was with the beautiful landscapes, wonderful sunsets and sunrises, and… not bad looking people, he was ready to leave. Then he could put everything behind him for good. They only needed one more big score, and they’d have enough to pay for a boat. And there it was again, that stupid annoying tight feeling in Arthur’s chest.

He’d never felt this way before, and even though he knew the most likely source, even then this was new. Back with Mary, he never felt this way. It was always a more tickle-y feeling, but he was younger at the time, so who knew. He did know that there was no way he was going to do anything about it, tight chest feeling or not, no matter how many times he felt it every time Jin walked into a room.
…
His friends had found a job.

Jin had taken to calling them friends now, it had been long enough that he did see them as such. Even Arthur was a friend to him, even if he looked away often, or avoided him. He still held him in the highest respect.

The job in question wasn’t complicated. Jin had gotten word from a source in the straw hat’s crew that there was a mongol camp nearby. They took in and out shipments of armor regularly, and through the same road every time. There were guards that went with the shipments, carried by horseback, but they never went with them far.

The guards stayed by the camp, so if the gang and Jin could ambush them farther out they would be able to take the entire load for themselves. No matter what that would be, selling high quality weapons and armor would bring back a respectable amount of money. Then they would be able to go home.

Jin had gotten over his sadness at this, if one could call it that. He knew he had lost the opportunity a long time ago to speak up about his emotions now that Arthur seemingly avoided him so regularly. It… was unpleasant to think about, however he could not stay long on those thoughts lest he be distracted continuously.

A while ago he had happened to be visited by one of the older members of the gang, Hosea. They had a very nice conversation about just this, although Hosea did not know what Jin’s distraction was. He thought he didn’t. Hosea did, for some reason, make many comparisons to him and to himself.

Then he happened to speak about the other, Dutch, Hosea’s tent-mate. Jin had taken his advice to the heart since he seemed to adamant about it, even if he was not entirely sure of the advice’s meaning or relation to him.
…
Even as Arthur started to get ready to head out and ambush the mongols, his head was stuck in everything it shouldn’t’ve been in. He should be focused on strapping his guns into his belt, on pulling his hair back (that had grown a bit longer over the months), or focused on NOT THINKING ABOUT HIM.

The him in question he decided to not name or else he’d go into another spiral of chest hurtin’ and that didn’t help anyone. So as he pulled on his hat, looked in the mirror and checked that his bandana was on right, and patted his pockets for the extra ammo, he didn’t think about him once.

He just stepped out of his tent, walked over to the others with all the usual bravado he could manage, and nodded. They were ready.

The four of them that were going on this job were Arthur, John, Dutch, and Jin. The only one that didn’t have a gun was Jin, but he had brought a bow across his back instead, along with multiple swords, so no one was worried about if he’d hold his own or not.

It didn’t take long to get into position, the two horses being enough to ride close to the ambush spot, before being tied up and everyone continuing on foot. They stayed out in bushes as the sun began to lower in the sky, the perfect time to not be suspected.

They had decided to take out a shipment going out instead of coming in. Then it would take longer for someone to notice it was gone, along with the people transporting it. The gang had long since been aware of Jin’s story, or enough of it to learn why he did what he did. So they were entirely on board with killing whoever he pointed at.

Arthur especially had (unfortunately) felt a sort of anger after hearing what had happened to Jin, his uncle and his clan. It felt like some weird connection, he was pretty sure it was called empathy or something.

He kept his eyes ahead instead, watching Dutch closely for the signal. They would first surround the horses with shipments on it, then all take it at once from all sides. Even if they brought weapons, the chances of being hurt were much less than the last time Arthur had taken on some mongols.

He shuddered remembering when he got sick, still hating the amount of time he had to rely on others from a simple cut on his arm. This time would be different, they’d get money out of it too, and then they’d leave. Easy as mounting a horse, he thought.
…
The plan had gone well, it was supposed to go well at least, and they were so close to getting out unscathed.

As planned they had surrounded the horse, attacked at once, and gagged the rider before rifling through the goods attached to the horse. There was a lot of things they could sell at the village a few miles over, and some plain money too. It was all helpful, and they had just barely walked away from the horse before it all went downhill.

For some reason the mongols had sent out an escort to go with the shipment. They hadn’t all the other times before, but the one time the gang planned to rob their horse, they sent someone to keep an eye on it. Before they could notice the escort however, there was an arrow flying past Dutches head and a horn of alert sounding in the distance.

“Shit!” Dutch exclaimed a few seconds before Arthur chimed in with a pained,

“God damn it, Dutch! Every time!” His glare almost worried Jin more than the approaching mongols. This was the worst thing that could have possibly happened, he thought. A moment later he dodged an arrow flying past his head shot by one of the mongols chasing them.

Behind him he was able to pick out John and Dutch’s footsteps running behind him, along with Jin’s armor jingling as he ran. The four of them were only faster than the mongols because they were able to recover quickly, a moment too late and it would be their heads.

Arthur only prayed that he hadn’t forgotten the way through the forest and back to the camp. If he had then he prayed that he had carried a strong enough knife to cut through bamboo bark.
…
By the time Arthur ran out of breath he had gotten far into the forest. The trees and bushes had hid his way back, and although he recognized a few rocks near him, he was not confident that he knew where north was. He slumped down on one of the rocks, and took a moment to breathe.

The others were no where to be seen, they had all split up after the road ended, and there was no way he was about to call out to anyone while they were still being actively chased. Arthur had been an outlaw for long enough to know how to run, and how long to lie low for.

So he waited. Then he waited for a few hours. Then one more hour before he decided to move. So he picked the direction he hadn’t come from, and started walking.

He had a disadvantage, being in an unfamiliar place and being alone. But the odds weren’t worse than what he had faced, so his spirits were pretty high. He would just need to find camp or one of the gang, then he could go from there. He was even already going through it in his head when he head something.

Rustling ahead of him and to the right, sounding bigger than a deer. He crouched down, and trained his eyes on the blind spot up ahead. Whatever was making the noise was right behind a large rock outcropping, and he slowly made his way over to it.

When he saw armor strewn on the ground, he relaxed as he recognized it. Then he tensed again. As he stepped around, he saw something he didn’t expect. Two things he didn’t expect.

It was Jin, and he had propped himself back on the rocks. His armor was taken off from the waist up, and his shirt was stained with blood. His hair was messy and his eyes were partially closed, his lips pursed. His left hand was pressing a wad of fabric tightly against his right arm.

Next to him was a carving of a fox over a small house, or it looked like a house, with a small plate for incense below it. Before Arthur could get a good look, he saw a small fox dart out from beside Jin and run off into the forest. He hadn’t noticed it until it ran, but it had been one of the stranger things he’d seen.

Then he snapped back to reality, to Jin and his bleeding.

He hurried over and knelt beside Jin, putting an instinctual hand over the towel he had pressed to his arm.

“Jin! What happened?” His voice came out more rough than he meant it to. Jin groaned, opening his eyes and focusing on Arthur,

“I was hit in the shoulder, maybe lower. An arrow,” He glanced down to the wound, still bleeding out, “Not poison.” He clarified.

Arthur didn’t feel that much better hearing that it wasn’t poison since it was still an injury, a bad injury on Jin. As he thought about it, he had never seen Jin hurt before. Not to the point of terrible pain like this.

He looked down for a moment, trying to figure out what he could do. He wasn’t great at first aid, he never had been, that wasn’t his job. But now out of all the people that needed it, he was the one helping someone. Finally he remembered what to do,

“Here, hold on-“ Arthur began taking his shirt off, more forcefully than the shirt could handle. He then began ripping it up into strands like he had seen someone do before for makeshift bandages.

Jin, who was having a hard time sitting up and staying awake before, was now wide awake and invested. He took in a breath, and nodded, checking his would to see how difficult it would be to bandage.

“It’s… not on my shoulder. Not perfectly,” His hands shook slightly, “You’ll have to cross-wrap it,” Arthur nodded.

He grabbed a long strip of fabric, and stretched it across his hands, moving his knee closer to reach.

“Sit up would you?” The impatience in his tone wasn’t intentional, but it wasn’t out of anger. It was out of fear.

Jin sat up, pushing himself slower than normal, and gently pulled the cloth away from his wound. It was bad. The arrow head was out, but it was a messy job. Arthur guessed that Jin had to do it freehanded with no help from something to open the wound easier.

He shuddered at the thought, but didn’t get held back by it. Arthur leaned in and wrapped the fabric around Jin’s shoulder from the back first, pulling it around under his armpit and over his shoulder. He repeated it a few times before tying it in the front.

Jin stayed still through it, and his eyes stayed on Arthur’s hands as they worked. His breathing was painfully measured. Arthur wrapped a few more strips of fabric around the wound until he was satisfied that it would stay and that it wouldn’t bleed through. His shirt was practically gone, and now that the immediate adrenaline of life or death was gone, he was starting to process his thoughts.

In the moment he hadn’t thought about the closeness or intimacy of treating Jin’s wound, he had just done it. He cared about Jin, more than he wanted to admit, but he did, and Jin could’ve died. He would do anything to stop that from happening.

Jin was still quiet, sitting and breathing through what Arthur assumed was terrible pain. His eyes were up now at the shrine, the fox carving and all its strange majesty. Arthur didn’t get it, but he didn’t judge.

“Everything has a reason,” Jin’s sudden words startled Arthur slightly, but he looked to him without complaint. “That is what I believe. The fox guided me here, to this shrine, for a reason.”

He was surprised at that, a fox guiding someone, but he again didn’t interject. Jin had almost died, he would give him this.

“Then, you found me.” Jin’s eyes turned to Arthur, he looked up at him with something intense. It wasn’t anger or disinterest, not even gratitude. “It was for a reason.”

“When you first came here to Tsushima you came on the wrong boat, Then that one companion of yours got put in jail. At the same time I was passing through the village, and I found you all there.” Jin smiled, a weak small smile, but a smile, “I found you.”

Jin was beginning a monologue, he was sure, about reasons. And as nice as it was sounding, Arthur didn’t believe in fate. He also wasn’t sure about how much he was liking the way this speech was turning toward.

“Jin, you should rest-“ He tried to stop it before he got to the uncomfortable part,

“Arthur,” Jin put his hand on Arthur’s knee. “I met you for a reason. I have known that for a long time now, and I have been a coward not to say anything.” His brows furrowed slightly. “I can’t die without telling you this, now, I know that.”

Arthur’s eyes widened, and his heart was going much too fast for a simple hand on his leg and a man in front of him.

“We are connected, even through different continents we were bound to meet.” Jin’s smile widened slightly, “I do not know the word for it, but that is what I feel to you.” He put a hand on his chest, over his heart.

Arthur knew the word, he knew it very well since it had been bouncing around in his chest for the past few months about Jin. And the worst part was that he felt somewhat offended that he didn’t get to confess. If there was a coward it was the person who was meant to be an outlaw and a gunslinger not being brave enough to meet his feelings and confront them.

“I need you to know.” Jin nodded solemnly, before taking his hand back off Arthur’s knee and settling back against the rock. “I expect nothing, and you may give nothing and I will not be offended.”

“Are you fucking kidding me?” Arthur exclaimed the moment Jin finished, “You fancied me for a long time now?” He wasn’t shouting, but it was as close as he could be without alerting anyone to where they were.

“You had it figured out and you said NOTHING? For months in a row?” Arthur’s face was flushed, and Jin was confused.

“Is this… a problem?” Jin spoke softly, almost worriedly.

“Yes it’s a problem!” Arthur had stood up at this point, and he buried his face in his hands before clarifying himself through muffled speech, “I like you too!”
…
The silent minute that passed between them where they both sat/stood silently with red faces felt like an eternity.

Both thought the other didn’t like them, and both had previously decided to say nothing. Now they had both found out the other felt the same, and they were taking it differently.

“…You had feelings for me as well?” Jin felt more shock, and the pain in his shoulder was completely forgotten now. It had been partially better at the sight of Arthur Morgan’s abs, but this was another level of distraction.

“Yes! Yes I like you!” Arthur took his hands away from his face, looking down at Jin with some self realization as well as in general, “There I finally said it! I like you very much!” His face felt hot, everything felt hot. He didn’t like this feeling very much.

Jin sat for another moment, thinking through it. His head dropped slightly as he looked down at the ground, the armor strewn about, the fresh grass.

“Then what is the problem?” Jin’s voice was hesitant, but genuine in his question. He had not been in this situation of romantic attraction before, so perhaps it was an issue more often. Arthur was still for a second,

“I don’t know, maybe I’m just frustrated,” He threw his hands up and sat down roughly in front of Jin, “If you had said something sooner than maybe I would have figured it out sooner…”

“Figure it out?”

“Yes, my… feelings,” Even saying it after he had addressed it felt strange. “I just recently figured out I like you, romantically and all that bull.” Jin raised an eyebrow,

“Ah, it was more quick for me,” Jin felt his own face warm up, and he gently touched a hand to his cheek. This was an odd reaction. “Why did you not say something if you felt it then?”

“Because… because I was being stupid and ignoring it.” Arthur huffed, and looked away, crossing his arms, “I thought that if we just got out of here I wouldn’t have to think about stupid things like relationships, and love, or anything that weighs you down.”

Jin smiled again, and pointed at Arthur loosely,

“Love, that is the word. I love you,”

“Hey!” Arthur’s face was somehow redder, “You can’t just go around saying that!” For all that Arthur argued that he didn’t like sappy things, he knew the L word was special. Jin nodded, and adjusted his arm slightly as he thought for a moment.

“So now what do we do? It’s all in the open, and we have reciprocated feelings.”

“I’m… not sure.” The last relationship Arthur had didn’t end great, but he didn’t really want this to end badly.

“I don’t know much about love, or relationships, or love. But I’m relatively sure that there is some amount of physical touch in it,” Jin’s gaze was steady, but his face was red, and his hands still shook. Arthur raised an eyebrow,

“Like what? Holding hands? Kissin’?” Jin didn’t look away, but he wanted to,

“…Yes, kissing.”

“Oh,” Arthur took in a breath, nodding slowly, “oh…” He slowly pulled himself into a crouch, his eyes going everywhere but Jin’s. The makeshift bandages, the ground, the armor, the weird fox shrine. Jin said everything had a reason, everything was on purpose.

Jin’s eyes fell, looking into his lap and his one hand resting there,

“It’s alright, I understand just because it is mutual it doesn’t mean that you-“

Arthur grabbed Jin by his good shoulder and pulled himself into forward, just barely, into his range. He then leaned the rest of the way, and kissed him.

Arthur couldn’t remember the last time he kissed someone like this, clumsily, messily, unprepared. He didn’t bring his hand up to hold Jin’s face like John did with Abigail, he didn’t make it last long, and he didn’t know how to move his lips to fit Jin’s right.

But even through the very unromantic setting, and effort, it was a good kiss.
…
Jin kissed him back, and decided to close his eyes. It just so happened to be the best first kiss he could have asked for.