Warnings: Um, lemon? Well, not quite a lemon. More like lime. Kyuzo is slight OOC at the moment, but for a reason. A rather funny reason, I thought.

I see Kyuzo and Kambei's relationship as a constant battle. Kambei loves to annoy her, and she hates that he can do that. And then you throw in a bit of sexual tension along with all the other quirks they seem to have, and you get instant fun. It doesn't really make for a stable relationship, but come on. They're samurai, stable doesn't seem to be in their vocabulary.

Chapter 1

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Generally, once a battle has been won and they are no longer needed, an army will disband. Especially an army consisting of seven people who had known each other for maybe three weeks. But then again, most armies don't go through the strange sequence of events they encountered.

Four of the seven suffered severe injuries, which was pretty good since three of them were supposed to be dead.

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Shichiroji wasn't sure whose survival surprised him the most. Heihachi, who had gone down with an airship while bleeding from the stomach, or Kyuzo who had been shot a hell of a lot and also gone over the cliff inside the capital. Or maybe Kikuchiyo, the one whose feet were the only parts they could find.

Yet they all lived.

Heihachi had been found fairly quickly. Though pinned by a giant sword, the solid mass had protected him from the impact and the explosion. Katsushiro had heard his singing. Apparently the mechanic assumed he was dead and was singing to pass the time. He was delirious with fever and blood loss, but he survived.

Kikuchiyo, who they assumed had been disintegrated, had lost his feet, but the rest of him had simply been pushed over the cliff and landed on a ledge fifty feet down. Though battered and missing a few limbs, the mechanic from the city was sent for and arrived a few days later to fix him up.

Okay, the most surprising one had to be Kyuzo. Shichiroji had been there, he had seen him die.

But three days later, the red samurai had walked into the village, looking like death warmed over, but alive. How the hell he could even move was a mystery, including how he had crossed the gorge without the bridge. Any other man would have succumbed to his injuries, but Kyuzo treated his wounds like he treated everything else. He wasn't dead, so he was perfectly fine.

"I said I'd be waiting at the village." Kyuzo growled as Kambei carried him to the current medical house. He had tried to walk there himself, but whatever had kept him going ran out the moment he stepped foot in the village. So Kambei ignored the various threats Kyuzo threw at him and scooped the slender warrior up.

Even more shocking than his survival, at least to everyone but Kambei, was the discovery of Kyuzo's gender. 'He' was actually a 'she.'

Shichiroji was the lucky one who figured it out. While Gorobei tried to figure out how to remove Kyuzo's coat, which turned out to be more difficult than he imagined, Shichiroji inspected Kyuzo's lower body for other wounds. And yes, he did check everywhere.

He was rather surprised when he discovered the lack of certain piece of equipment. Seconds later, Gorobei was staring in puzzlement at the strips of cloth bound tightly around Kyuzo's upper chest.

"Shichiroji? You might want to look at this."

"Let me guess. Breasts?"

"Good guess."

"The lack of a penis kinda tipped me off."

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Perhaps they would have disbanded once Kanna was rebuilt. At first, they did.

Heihachi joined Gorobei in the entertainment business. The two had become firm friends during and Heihachi loved nothing more than a good joke. The song they had been practicing was a tad crude, which made people wonder exactly where they were headed to perform.

Kikuchiyo, as promised, was engaged to Komachi. The mechanical samurai was taking his promise very seriously and had vowed to protect the village as well.

Shichiroji was anxious to return to Lady Yukino, and he invited Kambei to join him. When Kambei agreed, Shichiroji knew that meant two other people would be coming as well. Katsushiro, who was now formally Kambei's student, and Kyuzo. He honestly suspected that Kyuzo would have disappeared instantly had she been able, but Kambei still owed her a duel. Shichiroji knew without a doubt that Kyuzo also shared Kambei's bed, but until they made it official, he would say nothing.

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A week had gone by at the Firefly House. During that time, Kyuzo had attempted to kill Kambei twice. Shichiroji had taken the liberty of giving the two one room to sleep in, but Kyuzo instantly took Katsushiro's room and forced him to Kambei's.

That didn't make much difference. They all knew that Kambei was able to 'negotiate' his way into Kyuzo's bed.

Heihachi and Gorobei arrived halfway through the second week and were invited to stay by Yukino. Shichiroji didn't say anything about how perfectly willing the two were to share a room. After all, it was none of his business.

So, aside from a few attempted homicides (Kyuzo), the Firefly House was peaceful.

It wouldn't stay that way for long. He knew, that with Kambei and Kyuzo around, it was only a matter of time.

Just a matter of time, and he could sit back and watch the fun.

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There really was nothing like a hot spring. There was also nothing like have the partition between the baths come crashing down thanks to a very angry, very naked, female samurai with a pair of swords and an intent to kill.

"I'LL KILL YOU!!!"

To his credit, Kambei kept his expression fairly neutral, even while staring at the end the sword currently an inch from his nose.

But a grin that could only be described as lecherous managed to break free as his eyes quickly wandered from the weapon, to the bearer of said weapon.

It was amazing what one glimpse of Kyuzo's body could make Kambei forget about. Like the sword between his eyes. She was generally fully covered, with her breasts tightly bound to give the appearance of a flat chest, even if the entire group knew her gender.

But her body was fully on display and he openly stared, gaze sweeping up long legs that he knew from experience could, well… they could kick down a wall. Would they have to pay for that? He hoped not. Yukino was very understanding, but this was still the thirdwall Kyuzo had decimated.

So focused was she on Kambei, Kyuzo completely ignored poor Katsushiro. The youngest samurai had let out a rather unsamurai-like shriek when she knocked down the wall, and now he looked close to fainting. A tiny voice in the back of Kambei's mind scolded him for letting Katsushiro's first real look at a woman's body be so…traumatic, but he disregarded it. It wasn't his job to protect the boy's innocence. Besides, if he could battle Nobuseri, he could handle seeing a naked woman…Right?

Kambei glanced over at him. No, apparently he couldn't handle a naked woman. At least he had slumped sideways instead of forward, so he wouldn't drown.

"Kyuzo…" Kambei took one last glance at her body before he looked at her face. She was usually much for receptive to suggestions when he was looking at her eyes and not her breasts.

"Don't you think there is a better time for this?"

"…"

"You know you guys are going to have to pay for that." Neither one acknowledged Shichiroji's presence, not that he expected them to.

Shichiroji wasn't surprised to see Kyuzo there. The loud crash could only be her. Subtlety had never been one of her finer traits. Speaking of fine traits…Shichiroji, for safety's sake, only took a quick and discreet look at Kyuzo as he went to haul Katsushiro out of the bath. She was armed, short-tempered, and Kambei would kill him later if he caught him staring.

"Don't mind me. I'll be out of the way in a second." He wouldn't get his soak in the bath yet, but he could wait. Katsushiro needed to be revived, so he had something to keep him busy while those two continued with their twisted idea of foreplay.

TBC....

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I love Samurai 7. Kyuzo is my favorite character, whether male or female! Personally, I think he's the hottest character. Even though he's not really drawn to be gorgeous, I somehow find him so all the time.

Chapter 2 will be up very soon, since I split the first chapter.