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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.

Chapter List
- 15
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Upon reappearing, I slowly released Chimitsu and looked around carefully. We were in another stone castle, but it did not belong to Duncan. It looked and felt much, much older. Much of the decor involved the color green in some form or another and through the windows, I could see mountains and clouds, even a few trees.

Silver and crystal chandeliers filled the castle, elaborately ornate and all lit with candlelight. Along the wall, paintings and tapestries depicting sky scenery hung, and a few even depicted angels that looked a great deal like Chimitsu herself. Clearly, this was the home of the Wind Elemental.

I quickly turned back towards her when I heard a soft thud beside me, finding her in tears on her knees on the floor. Instantly, I knelt down, trying to comfort her, only to repeatedly have my hands swatted away. She had hidden her face behind her hands again, but it seemed that this time, she did not want my comfort.

"Chimitsu-chan..." I said softly, reaching out to gently pull her hands away from her face.

"NO!"

She jerked her hands away and looked up with me half angrily, half in fear, the tears streaming down her pale cheeks. Her outburst startled me so much that I backed away a bit, not having to wonder why she was so upset, although I did have to wonder why she did not want my comfort. She no longer looked like the cheerful Chimitsu I was used to seeing. In fact, she looked quite broken.

"Chimitsu-chan...why?" I asked.

She wrapped her arms around herself and squeezed her eyes shut, her body shaking with violent sobs. Her wings drooped behind her, hanging almost limply. The crystalline tears poured down her cheeks and I quickly reached out, pulling her close, feeling the hot tears soak the front of my kimono.

"It's my fault..." she whispered through her sobs.

"Your fault? What is your fault?"

She refused to answer, sobbing even harder there in my arms.

"If you are talking about Mad Jack's little trap, that was not at all your fault. You did your best to defend the castle and tried to drive him away. My capture was my own fault, not yours."

"No...not that..."

"It's not that..."

"Then what is it?"

She looked up at me tearfully and quickly pulled herself away.

"I...I'm sorry, Jack..."

"For what?"

"I...I don't know...for everything....all the trouble I've caused you...and probably will cause you."

"Chimitsu-chan...you are not any trouble at all to me."

She shook her head lightly as she rose, her wings folding against her back.

"I'm sorry..." she whispered again before turning and fleeing.

"Chimitsu!"

She ignored me and kept running down the corridor until she had disappeared out of sight. I stood there, staring in the direction she had run off in, shocked and disturbed by her sudden change in demeanor. It hurt to see her suddenly refuse my comfort, refuse to tell me what was wrong, why she was so upset.

I did not know whether to follow or to let her have some time alone. In her current emotional state, it was possible that she was going to try something foolish. After all, we were in the mountains and she had plenty of places from which she could throw herself. She had never told me anything about Elementals being unable to take their own lives, which left suicide open as a possible explanation and I could not allow that to happen.

With panic rising in my chest, I quickly dashed after her, hoping I would find her before she tried anything. I skidded to a stop at the end of the corridor, looking to my left, then to my right. Which way had she gone?

"Chimitsu! Chimitsu-chan!" I cried out.

No answer. Damn! This was her castle and she would know it well. I was the outsider and did not know her in her domain well enough to be able to judge which way she may have gone. I would have to guess and hope I caught up to her in time.

I looked at the floor, blinking when I spotted a single, solitary, white feather. So many white feathers these days...was she molting? I leaned down and picked it up, looking at it carefully. Clearly, the ones I had found in the grass at Duncan's castle had been torn from her wings in a fight, but I had found two before that, one on the pillow next to me, the other on the floor next to the chair that had been tipped over downstairs.

Looking to my left, I spotted something white on the floor far down the corridor, almost out of sight. I hurried down, finding yet another feather. Perhaps a few had been torn loose while she struggled with Mad Jack, but there was something very unsettling about all these lost feathers.

I picked that one up, too, and hurried down the corridor, looking for any other sign of her, pausing when I came to the end of the hall. The window was closed, which meant that she had not jumped, but she had certainly come down this corridor. I stayed very still, listening carefully before quietly retracing my steps. I had to have missed her somehow. Perhaps she had gone through one of these doors.

Carefully, I tried each one, passing over the ones that were locked, peeking into the ones that were not. A library, an indoor garden, a few bedrooms, and back by the window I had stopped at, a winding staircase. Of course. This was a castle and it was bound to have more than one floor to it.

I made my way up the stairs until I found myself in a tower bedroom decorated in white and green, but no sign of Chimitsu. Was this her bedroom or was it just a tower reserved for guests? I paused again, listening carefully. The room was large and there was another door on the other side of the bed. Ever so faintly, I could hear quiet sobs coming from the other side of the heavy door.

I crossed the room and tried the door, finding it unlocked. I peeked inside, finding Chimitsu sitting alone in a marble tub that had been filled with thick bubbles. She was still sobbing quietly, but not as violently as she had been before. The dress she had been wearing had been tossed aside on a chair near her sandals and a towel.

Slowly, I made my way over to her after closing the door behind myself, realizing that she had likely noticed me by now, but did not acknowledge me. I knelt behind her, disregarding the fact that she was in a bath, and began to massage her shoulders and wings. Neither of us said a word, although her sobs began to fade away until she was no longer crying.

"What is wrong?" I asked softly.

"It's all my fault...all my fault."

"What is your fault?"

"My sisters. I killed them."

I blinked and sat back on my heels, startled.

"What? How could you have killed them?"

"I wasn't strong enough to help them. I could have fought, I could have saved them."

"Chimitsu-chan, you could not possibly have fought against Aku. Remember what you told me when we first met? How you had barely escaped his attack?"

"That only shows how weak I am, how useless I am to anyone, even you."

"If you were useless, I would not be here right now. I would be dead several times over."

"That's all I'm good for. I'm no fighter. I'm just a useless healer unable to defend herself or the ones she loves."

"You are too a fighter. Did you forget the battle that ensued when we left the first village? How you defended me from a surprise attack? And what about the first time we encountered my dark twin. I was not of any use as a warrior with my life hanging in the balance. I am sure you fought well to escape with me then, too."

She sighed heavily, considering my words, but I could tell that they had little effect. This could not be a result of Mad Jack's attack alone. Aku had to have done something to her before I had arrived to tear her apart emotionally like this.

"No, but I'm of little use to anyone. I'm a curse."

"A curse? How are you a curse?"

"Everything and everyone I come into contact with crumbles to ash. You'd best do yourself a favor and get out of here...before I kill you, too."

"You are not going to kill me, Chimitsu, so stop talking so foolishly. I do not know what they did to make you think you are so worthless, but I highly doubt that your sisters would want you to give up so easily. We came this far, why stop now?"

"Because it's hopeless. For every step we take, they're one step ahead of us, waiting to delay us. We'll never get to our goal."

"We will only fail to attain our goal if we lose sight of it."

"But if I kill you..."

"You will not kill me. It takes a lot to kill a samurai, Chimitsu-chan, I would have thought that you knew that with how you always tell me that you watched my family for centuries. The Minamoto clan is not an easy one to destroy, not by a long shot."

"Leave me be...I'll only shatter your happiness, weigh you down and hold you back."

That hurt, but I was not about to let her curse herself and sink into the depression that I had often felt whenever I thought about home. Since meeting her, she made me feel as if I really could reach my goal, and now she was so close to giving up on me. I could not believe that this was the same angelic woman who had always told me to push on, to not give up.

They had shattered her, but I was going to do my best to pick up the pieces and bring her back into good cheer.

"Chimitsu-chan, listen to me...please...." I said softly.

No response. I sighed a little and wrapped my arms around her, resting my chin on her shoulder, not caring how wet my kimono sleeves got.

"You are the best thing that has happened to me here. Nobody has given me such hope like you have. You make me feel like everything really will turn out all right in the end, no matter what obstacles I may face. You do not seem like yourself when you are not so cheerful. When you are sad, it seems as if the world is going to crumble around us. When you smile, I feel like that little boy again, a child who had little cares in the world, who never knew Aku's treachery."

She sighed a little and leaned her head back against my collarbone and I rested my chin on the top of her head, still holding her close.

"We both have a lot of on our shoulders, but we both know that if we give up, then all our efforts will have been for nothing, right?"

Slowly, she sat up, pulling away from me, turning to face me, still hidden by the bubbles for the most part. Her tears had finally stopped, her piercing emerald eyes clearing, but she still did not smile. I gazed back at her, waiting for her to finally speak.

"I know. For so long, I hid my sorrow, tried to be happy and cheerful so I wouldn't burden you, but I don't think I can do it anymore. I'm not as strong as I may seem, Minamoto-kun." she said softly.

"We all have our weaknesses, Chimitsu-chan, even me. You may be millions of years old, but you, too, have a level of humanity, just like everyone else."

"Perhaps...but I should've known something was going on with my sisters when I had all those visions."

"Visions?"

"In my meditation. Usually I would spend a great deal of time in meditation, but since we have been on the run, I have not done so. A few days before my sisters' four pieces of the Star appeared to me, I had several visions of them dying. I didn't know what it meant until the Star came to me for my piece to make it whole. I see everything that has gone on in your life, but I couldn't see what was going on in mine."

"But that does not make your sisters' deaths your fault. You could not have fought Aku off then any more than they could. If you had tried, then you would not be here now, would you?"

"No, I suppose I wouldn't be here."

"I do not think your sisters blame you at all for their deaths. You had no clue what was going on and even if you had known, you would not have been able to do anything. You did what you had to do to escape and find me and I am sure that they are proud of you for succeeding in finding help. Needing help does not make you weak or a failure. Knowing when to need help is a sign of wisdom, Chimitsu-chan."

She rose up, kneeling, and reached out to cup my face in her soft hands. She looked so young, but her eyes showed an ancient depth to them that made her look centuries older. Still, she was beautiful and perhaps, Duncan was indeed right when he said that I was starting to fall for her.

"You're the first person to ever say such a thing to me, itoshii[1] Minamoto-chan...the first ever." she said softly.

I could hardly believe that anyone would ever fail to tell her how kind and beautiful and wise she was, especially when she had lived as long as she had.

"It is the truth."

"Arigatou."

A small smile finally crossed her lips, making her seem more like herself again. I still had a hard time believing that anyone would not have seen such wisdom and beauty in her when it was so clear. Even a bit more unbelievable than that was what she did next.

Slowly, she leaned in, quite similar to what Ekirei had done, only much less threatening. I swallowed hard, staring into the depths of the twin pools of emerald as she softly pressed her lips to mine. A part of me wanted to pull away, yet the rest of me was unable to do so as my eyelids slid closed, my heart pounding in my chest as she moved her lips against mine.

Was this what a kiss was truly meant to be like? If it was, then I felt like drowning in the feeling of such unimaginable warmth. Her lips felt soft like rose petals and I felt more than a little disappointed when she slowly pulled away, her fingertips lightly tracing my jaw.

By the gods that felt good....

A soft, tender smile lit up her face and she said not a word as she slowly stood and withdrew from the bath. I stared after her, completely speechless, watching as she instantly dried herself and teleported a silk robe of white and green on. She glanced back at me with a slightly wistful look on her face before she left the room, the water and bubbles in the tub disappearing as she walked out the door.

I stood and hurried to follow her, finding her sitting on the edge of the bed, a few feathers littering the floor at her feet. She picked one up and looked at it almost sorrowfully before setting it aside. I watched her carefully before she looked up at me.

"What do we do now?" I asked her.

"I don't know. Our doubles are likely begging for Aku's forgiveness and then regrouping for another try. They're not about to give up on us, that much is certain. Aku's got too much at stake to let either of us roam about freely."

"Then we must continue on. Tell me...why did you bring us here?"

"It was the safest place I could think of for us to go off the top of my head. This is my castle. Aku can't get here, not without the intention of killing me or you. The moment he even thinks about it, he'll be magically cast out of the boundaries of my lands."

"How close are we to the city we were in when we left to find your sister's castle?"

"Hmm...not too far, but far enough that if we wish to get there quickly, we'll have to teleport and I don't have the strength to do another so soon. My reserves are completely drained now."

"Then we will wait for a few days. If they cannot reach us here, we will be safe until you recover."

"But by the time I fully regain my powers, they'll have caused plenty of havoc over the globe, just to draw us out. We can't do that."

"What do you intend to do?"

"I will rest one night. My power will be halved, but it will be enough to teleport with. From then on out, I'll go by foot with you until it regenerates fully."

"And your wings?"

"I'm afraid there's nothing I can do about that. At the rate the feathers are falling, I don't think I'll ever be able to take flight again."

"You are losing your wings?"

"I'm not sure. It seems that way. We won't be able to tell until after we reach the city."

"Then what?"

"I do without. There's nothing I can do if I lose my wings."

I had a feeling that there was something she was not telling me, but dared not push the matter after all we had both been through today. There was something about the sad, distant look in her eyes that told me that she had something to mourn in the loss of those beautiful white wings. However, whatever it was, she did not seem willing to tell me.

She curled up on her bed to sleep and I pulled up a chair, sitting down in it to keep an eye on her and the door. Tomorrow would come, yes, but what it would bring, I was not sure. As I began to drift off, I prayed that it would bring a healthy, cheerful Chimitsu again.
--------------- [1]itoshii= darling
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War Of Shadows