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War Of Shadows	By : TurtleNinja Category: +S through Z > Samurai Jack Views: 3353 -:- Recommendations : 0 -:- Currently Reading : 0
Disclaimer: I do not own Samurai Jack, nor any of the characters from it. I do not make any money from the writing of this story.

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Mad Jack

I watched my original fall to the sand in a pitiful heap before turning towards the bounty hunter that had shot him. The three-eyed alien emptied the shells from his gun clip before reloading and flicking his cigarette butt out into the sand. My original was not yet dead, but he would be shortly and without suffering.

I wanted him to suffer.

"Dare ga omae wo meirei hasshita ka?"[1] I asked.

He gave me an indifferent look as he holstered the weapon, shrugging his massive metal shoulders.

"You told 'im to die, so I just finished the job for him." he said.

"Baka yarou!"[2]

I stepped closer, watching his eyes shift into an expression of fear as I approached.

"I wanted him to suffer." I said quietly, threateningly.

"He was gonna die anyway, man, so what're you complaining about?"

"You'll never know, now, will you?"

Before he could react, I summoned my katana to my hand and quickly took his head. The others remained silent, not daring to irk me any further. I wiped the blood from my blade on his jacket before sheathing it, turning to gaze at the rest of my gang.

"Anyone else want to be made an example of?" I asked.

The remaining seven shook their heads rapidly, their eyes showing just how piss-scared they were of me. Satisfied, I walked over to my bike to wait for Ekirei to return from finishing off the Wind Elemental. I suppose it didn't exactly matter how my original died, just that he did, but I wanted him to suffer and suffer good. He wasn't worthy of a quick death.

Eventually, I began to hear footsteps from the oasis and I looked up, peering through my sunglasses at the trees, waiting for Eki to hurry it up so we could report to Lord Aku. He would be most happy to hear that the samurai was dead and that he was rid of the Wind Elemental in the same fell swoop. However, the being that emerged from the trees was the last person I expected it to be.

"Omae wa..."[3] I said.

The white-winged Elemental looked up at us and the carnage that lay before us, her eyes narrowing for a split second before her gaze fell upon my fallen original. He was hanging on by a thread, not moving and hardly breathing. Already a pool of blood was beginning to soak the sand beneath him. He was finished.

Chimitsu hurried over to him, dropping her nodachi in the sand, cradling his broken form in her arms with his head to her breast. She didn't seem to care that his blood was staining her gown or that he was so close to death that he was a lost cause. A small trickle of blood ran from one corner of his mouth and even his nose, showing just how critical his wounds were. She just had to know that. Anyone would.

"Minamoto-chan!" she cried, the crystalline tears welling up in her eyes.

Of course the fool wasn't going to answer her, not when he was practically dead. I doubted that he could even hear her. Even if he had been conscious, he wouldn't have been able to answer her.

Slowly, she turned to look at us, those brilliant emerald eyes of hers turning stone cold as her gaze fell upon us.

"What did you do to him?!" she cried, her voice nearly breaking.

"What do you think we did to him, woman? Your samurai is a dead man, you know. Why don't you accept your fate of joining him and wait for the end?"

"Aku. You work for Aku."

"Hey, hey, the girl's not so stupid after all! Of course we work for Aku! Who else do you think would be out in this forsaken place looking for you?"

"Sou ka."[4]

She looked back down to my original and after a soft sigh, wrapped her wings around him. For a moment, I thought she was going to allow him to slip away, only to feel him grow just a hair stronger. Shit. The bitch was healing him, keeping him alive long enough for her to deal with us and get him help.

Slowly, her wings withdrew, and she lowered him down to the ground, covering his exposed face with his hat and a strip of cloth. After that, she rose, not bothering to wipe away the sand and blood that clung to her gown. I watched impassively as her face rose up to meet my gaze, her expression completely cold.

"You did this to him. You nearly killed him." she said softly.

"And why should I care?"

"You hurt Minamoto-kun. Yurusenai!"[5]

In a flash, she had her bared nodachi in her hands and was leaping towards me with blinding speed. Instantly, I reached for my katana, intending on blocking, ready to do to her what I had done to my original. Foolish Ekirei. I couldn't even trust her to take care of her weak original.

As it turned out, I didn't need to defend myself. A split-second before the nodachi was to come crashing down across the motor of my bike, Ekirei appeared and blocked with her own blade. Apparently she wasn't so useless after all. I relaxed my position and sat back, enjoying the catfight.

"You again? Can't you take a hint?" Chimitsu snapped at Eki.

"Just like you, dearie, I can regenerate. By the time you made your way out here and found your hero dead, my wounds had healed."

"Yeah? Regenerate this!"

In a flash, Chimitsu kicked up with her left foot, slamming her foot into Eki's jaw before slashing quickly with her nodachi, severing muscles and tendons in Ekirei's arms and legs. Unable to support herself or hold her nodachi any longer, Eki fell to the sand, struggling to pull herself up by fluttering her wings. I growled softly, watching the white-winged Elemental.

"Eki! Mueki na onna!"[6] I snarled.

Somehow, she managed to haul herself up by her wings into flight, her hands just barely grasping the heavy nodachi. I shook my head, watching as Chimitsu formed a green orb of energy in her hands and flung it, knocking her out of the air. Eki landed hard on her back, effectively breaking both wings and preventing her from going anywhere now.

Knowing that Lord Aku would tear me apart for letting her die and breaking our own Elemental Circle, I motioned for one of the hunters to take her on their bike. Chimitsu watched me carefully as I dismounted my bike, katana drawn. I couldn't let the Wind Elemental escape, especially if she had the ability to regenerate my original.

Lord Aku wouldn't forgive me for beating him to within an inch of his life and then allowing him to be healed.

"Now it's just you and me...Mad Jack." she said.

"I see my pitiful excuse for a samurai original told you about me."

"Enough for me to know what you're capable of."

"Aha...only the old me, babe. I've improved this time around."

"I see Aku's given you the powers of an Elemental."

"Unlike Eki over there, you actually seem to have some brains."

"And you don't. The signatures of my sister, Metal, and Jack, are all over your essense. What sort of warped Elemental are you?"

"A good looking one, that's what."

Her wings drooped a little and her expression went deadpan. She was clearly not impressed, which was a pity. I suppose when she'd been hanging around my original so much, it was no wonder that she wasn't interested.

"You're full of shit, y'know that, MJ?" she asked.

"No, but I do like the MJ. Sure beats sharing a name with your corpse of a boyfriend over there."

"Are you finished?"

"Weeeelll....actually....."

In a flash, I slashed at her, forcing her to block or lose her head. She parried easily, keeping a safe distance from me with a blade that was easily five feet long. That meant that I wouldn't be able to get close to her all that easily. At least, not without cheating, of course.

I knew that this battle between us could go on forever, since we couldn't kill each other. We could hurt, that had been allowed for training purposes, but never could we kill. She could have easily killed Eki and I wouldn't have mourned the bitch for even a second, but she didn't take her double's head.

One reason was pretty obvious. She was a goody-two-shoes and her type just didn't finish off an enemy like that. Heroes never failed to give an enemy a fair chance, even if we fought as dirty as they come. Another reason was a matter of honor and Eki had been defeated, there was no reason to kill her. My only relief in her being kept alive was that Lord Aku wouldn't kill me for losing Eki.

Over and over again, Chimitsu and I clashed blades, stirring up the sand beneath our feet. Unlike my original, she wouldn't make simple mistakes and she had already figured out that I was an Elemental. She would have years of training and was easily a match for me. On top of that, we were both immortal and could go for days without food, water, or rest, even under the blazing desert sun.

The only thing keeping her from prolonging this battle was my mortal original.

With him having mortal limitations, like needing food and drink, and being so close to death, she wouldn't be able to fight me forever. She might have bought him some time, but unless she managed to somehow get the upper hand soon, he was as good as dead. In no way would I allow her to get the chance to heal him again.

As immortal as she was, she knew my original's limitations as well. She knew as much as I did that he was on borrowed time and could not afford to lay there while we battled. Sparks danced across the sand as night began to close in, drastically dropping the temperature. Perfect. The darkness was my friend and my original was rapidly running out of time.

"You can't keep this up forever, Chimitsu. You know he's running on borrowed time and dying as we speak." I said.

"Perhaps, but he's not dying as quickly as you think."

"So what? You're not gonna get the chance to heal him again."

"I'll just have to fix that, now, won't I?"

As quickly as she had struck Ekirei down, she swung up with both hands, backed by the heavy nodachi, slamming her fist into my chin. I snarled in pain as I stumbled back, wiping at my mouth as I watched her hover back towards my original's limp form. Damn! She was more clever than I thought she was capable of.

In an instant, her nodachi was sheathed on her back between her wings and she had gently lifted my original into her arms. I could not allow her to escape with him or Lord Aku would never forgive me for such an inexcuseable failure. I drew my katana back and moved to strike, only to be sent back by a short burst of wind.

I quickly pulled myself to my feet, intending on summoning a magical attack if she wanted to play hardball, but I never got the chance. Her wings flared out as she prepared to take flight and she shifted my original's weight to her left arm, balancing him carefully against her shoulder. Her right hand came up, her expression finally breaking from the one of ancient, cold hatred.

"I haven't got the time to toy with you. Until we meet again, little minions, play nice." she said.

An instant later, a great wind stirred up, blinding us with sand that swirled around. I cursed and blocked the best I could, but by the time the sand had settled, Chimitsu was long gone and with my original. A part of me wanted to kill the bounty hunters I had brought along, just to relieve some of the fury I was feeling at the moment, but it wouldn't do any good.

I, too, had fought her, and failed, but we couldn't go back to Lord Aku like this, not after failing so miserably. Perhaps we could have had my original, but now that he was in the hands of the Wind Elemental, he would be restored and back on his feet. I sheathed my katana and remounted my bike, sighing as I sat there for a few moments.

Behind me, Ekirei had managed to regenerate her severed muscles and tendons and had taken over the spare bike. Her wings still hung limply from her back, but she was still back on her feet. I gave her a sharp glare before reving my bike's engine and turning around on the road, heading back into town.

The others followed, but only Eki ended up with me at my final destination deep within the heart of the city, in a place few dare to go. Only the roughest, rowdiest, and most dangerous of people ever came here and anyone else that dares either has a deathwish or is just plain stupid. The small group of biker bounty hunters might have followed me into the desert, but in no way were they going to follow me into the nastiest section of the city.

Not that I cared. They had been handsomely paid to back me up and take down the samurai and Wind Elemental if Eki and I failed, but it didn't matter now whether or not they were of any use. I wouldn't see them again and I don't think they wanted to see me again anytime soon.

I pulled up to a club called "Demon's Den" and parked my bike. Eki pulled up alongside me and gave me a look, her wings folding into place on her back. I didn't give her a second glance before heading in, knowing that she would follow. The inside of the club was noisy, but I didn't care. Nobody would dare mess with us or think about interrupting our business here.

Eki and I headed through the club and into the hotel area, passing by the desk and heading upstairs to a room designated especially for Lord Aku's commanders, which meant us. I pushed the door open and headed inside, tossing my jacket aside onto the nearest piece of furniture, which ended up being a coffeetable. Eki walked in behind me, closing the door as I removed my sunglasses and tossed them on my jacket.

"We are so very screwed, Jack." she said.

"No shit. Whatever gave you the first clue? The fact that you couldn't take down your original or that your original stabilized my original and took off with him?"

"J-chan, c'mon, don't start this shit with me. I didn't see you kicking her ass out there, either."

I whirled around grabbed her by the throat before she could block, lifting her a good foot off the floor.

"Do me a favor, Eki. Shut that useless mouth of yours." I said before letting her down.

She backed away, rubbing at her neck, eyes narrowing at me.

"You didn't have to throttle me, y'know."

"It was the only way I could shut you up."

If looks could kill, I'd be dead, but I didn't exactly care, either. We had more important things at hand to worry about instead of fighting each other all the time.

"Look, J-chan, we're both in the same fix. We can't go back to Aku-sama empty handed. We need either the Wind Elemental or the samurai." she said.

"He probably knows that we failed already."

"If he knows that we were so close, perhaps that's why he hasn't bothered us."

"Or he's too busy doing Fuki to care."

She made a face.

"Ew. You know 'bout that shit, too?"

"What do you think he was doing when I got my marching orders from him last?"

"Point taken. So what do we do, J-chan?"

"The samurai is already badly wounded and still near enough to death that he won't be trouble for a little while at least. How much healing power can your original put out before she has to stop?"

"Her limit? She's had several millennia's worth of experience so she can heal a great deal before she's at her limit. She can't, however, heal around bullets, so unless those bullets come out, he's as good as dead."

"Then your original will find a surgeon first, then heal him the rest of the way."

"Perhaps. She may use a bit of power to keep him alive, but she has to have the bullets removed before he can be completely healed."

"And after that?"

"Hard telling. She could go for over a day full force and not blink."

"Did you injure her at all before she came out of the oasis and found us?"

"Yes. She must have healed on her way out."

"Does self-regeneration deplete her reserves?"

"To some extent, yes, using her power to heal herself can cost her, so we could easily have several days to find them. As much as they're apt to not stay in one place too long, they'll have to now. With your original so badly wounded, they'll have to stay put until he can travel."

"And if she exhausts herself, then they'll have to wait a few extra days until she recovers. She wouldn't want to make a move if she couldn't repair any wounds. How long will it take her to recover?"

"Depends on how badly she's drained herself. If it's bad, she'll be weak and need to rest for a couple of days. If it's not, she can recover her reserves with a night of sleep. If that's the case, with them both recovering, they'll go someplace extremely safe, a place that they both know with allies to back them up in case shit happens and there's an attack. Know of anyplace they'd go to like that?"

"I know of only one place in my original's memories that he'd go and that Chimitsu would know to take him if she's watched him carefully over these past few years."

"Where would that be?"

"The Highlands of Scotland. My original has friends there. They'll be safe in a castle and have an entire clan of Scots to back them up in case of an attack. I don't know if they'll have a surgeon nearby, but they'll at least have the safety of a castle and numbers."

"So what do we do until then?"

"We wait. Rest a bit and in a day or two, we go and attack. There's no need to hurry, Eki. If they don't have a surgeon, they'll have to wait for one to arrive and will only extend the time that my original and yours are recovering from their wounds and power drain."

"And then?"

"We attack. By then, we'll have recovered faster than they can and be more than a match for the Scots."
--------------- [1]"Dare ga omae wo meirei hasshita ka?"= "Who gave you the order to shoot?"
[2]Baka yarou= Stupid asshole
[3]Omae wa= You are...
[4]Sou ka= I see...
[5]Yurusenai= I won't forgive you
[5]Mueki na onna= Useless woman
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War Of Shadows