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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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I tossed and turned fitfully, tired enough to want to sleep, yet not wanting to sleep at the same time, fearing that if I did, I would see another Elemental's death. I desperately wanted to go out and fight for all those innocents Aku was hurting, but knew that I could not do so unless my body recovered or he would win for certain. Nevertheless, it was difficult to lay there and not think about all those people out there, crying out for someone to help them, crying out for me to avenge them.

Eventually, I did manage to drift off into a fitful sleep, finding myself in a haze different from the one I had experienced in my fever dreams when Chimitsu's sisters had visited me. It was dark and shadowy here, but not frighteningly so as I looked around, trying to find out where it was that this place resided.

Off in the distance, the haze and shadows cleared so that I was finally able to spot another person and quickly hurried towards it. If there was someone else here within my mind, then I would not be alone until I woke up, even if this was some kind of dream. As I drew nearer, it became apparent that the other person was none other than Chimitsu.

"Chimitsu! Chimitsu-chan!" I cried out to her, hoping she would hear me.

Yet she did not turn to face me or acknowledge that I had called out to her, keeping her back turned towards me. I found that rather odd, knowing that she always looked out for me without fail since she appeared to care about me a great deal. I walked up to her and attempted to rest a hand on her shoulder, only to have it pass right on through, much to my surprise and frustration.

I furrowed my brow and took a step back to contemplate this. She was not here or if she was, I was a spirit to her and she would not be able to see or hear me. I knew she was alive when she had been in my presense only moments before, so this had to be some sort of very strange dream, one I could not seem to wake up from. I stood right in front of her, gazing into her empty green eyes, yet she still did not appear to see me, strange and disturbing as it was.

Suddenly, she turned and instantly vanished the moment she took a single step away as if she were a ghost. It almost looked like she was walking away from something other than myself, something I could not see and that worried me, wondering just what or whom could be here besides us. I looked around frantically, hoping to find her again, but saw no sign of her or anybody else.

Damn. I did not like how she simply disappeared like that without even acknowledging me as if were the ghost and not her. If this was a dream, then it definitely did not bode well as a feeling of dread rose in my chest. It felt almost as forboding as a premonition, but I had never experienced a premonition before and could not be certain.

With a sigh, I sat down in lotus position, knowing that I would not be able to find her if I did not calm my mind and focus. I closed my eyes and took slow, deep breaths, focusing on her through my growing anxiety. I wanted to find her, see where she had gone and why, what it all meant to me in this dream.

Sensing that I had found what I was looking for, I opened my eyes and quickly rose with a gasp, startled at what I saw. I was back in Aku's fortress, not exactly in the dungeons, but not exactly in the usual spot where I saw him, either. It was an entirely different part of his fortress that had been, oddly enough, designed as a feudal castle, causing a pang of homesickness to rise in my chest.

Disregarding any notions that Aku might be in this dreamscape or even controlling it, I regained my composure and walked about, trying to see where Chimitsu had gone. It made no sense for her to come to Aku's fortress alone, not when he was wanting to kill her and she had been running from him all this time. She could not possibly be here, although the nagging feeling of dread began to rise in my chest again as I continued into the fortress.

Soon enough, my ears caught the sound of combat, which I followed deep within the fortress to another room. It was not quite a dojo, but perhaps more like an arena of some kind although it had been decorated much like a dojo, even if it was in Aku's twisted style. It was empty but for Chimitsu, Aku, who was in his Elemental form standing off to the side watching, and three shadowlike beings. Two of the shadows were battling each other while Chimitsu fought the third, but I could not see whom they were or whom Chimitsu-chan was fighting.

I watched as Chimitsu fought with the shadow, but it did not look like any form I was familiar with. It could have been representative of anyone, male or female, human or Elemental. I was unable to tell what or whom it was she was fighting, only that she was fighting her hardest to defeat it.

I moved in closer to get a better look, but the shadows did not change, having only faceless, random human shapes that Aku seemed to enjoy watching. Chimitsu looked frustrated and battle worn and I began to fear that she was losing the fight. Her nodachi slashed over and over again repeatedly, moving like silvery lightning, but it did not appear to be making any critical strikes on the shadow creature.

Suddenly, she raised up the nodachi to make a powerful downward strike, something I knew that was rarely done for the simple fact that it left you wide open to attack unless the other was doing the exact same thing. With my heart pounding wildly in my chest, I hurried forward to stop the fighters, only to watch in horror as Chimitsu was impaled upon a blade that looked very much like my own. I froze and stared in shock, unable to tell if it was my hand or Mad Jack's that dealt the killing blow, only that the katana that pierced her looked exactly like the one I carried.

I closed my eyes shut tightly, trying to force out the image of Chimitsu impaled on what appeared to be my blade though it seemed to be burned into my mind as a cold realization swept over me. By the gods...could it be that she was going to die by my hand? No, it could not be so and I would not allow myself to believe that it was even possible. It had to mean that perhaps she would fall to Mad Jack, but not to me. I would never harm her, much less kill her, not when I cared about her as I did.

I could feel a power welling up inside of me, burning passionately with a desire to stop this destruction and see the end of Aku. I could feel it firing up, swelling with such force that the vision of Chimitsu's death vanished the moment I opened my eyes, disappearing into mist as if it had never been there at all. This power...it was so familiar and foreign all at the same time as if it had been a part of me all along and I had simply not known about it. There was something inside of me...welling up to explosive proportions. Such raw power...

My eyes snapped open and I quickly sat up, this time without a coughing spell to send me back onto the bed, realizing that I could feel it. I could feel the raw power inside of me, burning with the desire I felt in my heart to stop all the destruction caused by the Dark Elementals and Aku. It was almost as if my heart had merged with another's will or had somehow been awakened with such raw, violent power, the likes of which I had never felt or known possible before.

I turned my head and saw the Star of the Elements lying on the nightstand where Chimitsu had left it. It had not changed or moved, but now shined brightly with the power it held and all five points glowed like small fires. I reached over and carefully picked it up, feeling the same power that burned inside of me radiating from it. My body and this amulet seemed to be harmonizing somehow, but I did not understand how this could be or what had caused it in the first place.

How very strange. I knew that the only one who would be able to tell me anything about this would be Chimitsu and she was not in the room at that particular moment. Both she and Extor had told me to not leave, to get my rest, but I felt that I had done enough rest.

I wanted answers and knew that I would have to wrestle them out of her one way or another, hoping she would tell me without much resistance. As it was, I did not have the strength to argue with her on the matter. No, I knew in my heart that she would tell me if I made it known just how serious a matter this was for me to know.

I attempted to swing my legs over the side of the bed, only to feel something tug at my naked chest with a bit of discomfort. I looked down to find that I was still connected to the monitors that beeped, hissed, and dripped rhythmically. I frowned and quickly pulled them off, ignoring the short, quick pain and solid whine that came from them as I did so, not caring what their purpose was at the moment.

Now that I had freed myself from the monitors, I swung my legs over the edge of the bed, finding with mild irritation that I had been wearing only my fundoshi. I looked around, not wanting to walk about nearly naked and was relieved to find a grey-white sleeping robe nearby, possibly left by Chimitsu for when I awoke. Once I had dressed in it, I carefully made my way to the door, trying the handle to see if it was locked.

It swung open and I took several unsteady steps out into the hallway with the Star of the Elements dangling from my hand. I was relieved to find that they had not locked me in, knowing that I would not have had the strength to break the door down, no matter how much I would have wanted to so I could get my answers. The hall was almost like the lab, very bare and sterile in looks. The walls, floor, and ceiling were almost completely white, so much so that it stung my eyes, save for a window into a lab here or a lab there and some doors. I stumbled along, doing my best to lean against the wall for support as I made my way down the hall to find Chimitsu, determined to find her and get my answers.

My body felt unsteady and weak from the weeks of being bedridden and sick and I felt my annoyance grow at my lack of strength. I would not be able to defend myself or anyone else against Aku should he attack now and I was not pleased with the thought, swearing silently to myself that I would train my hardest to regain my strength once I was able to. At this rate, a turtle would have made its way down the hall to Chimitsu and the others faster than I was moving at the moment.

Somehow, though, Chimitsu and Extor had been alerted to the fact that I had left the room I had been in and I soon saw them and Duncan bolting down the hall towards me with concerned looks on their faces. I took a few more weak steps towards them before I lost my balance and tripped over the loose edge of the robe hanging open around my shoulders, nearly crashing to the floor if not for Duncan catching me in time. I began to feel dizzy and was more than a little relieved that he was big enough to support my weight.

"What on earth are ye doin' out of bed, laddie?" he asked.

He pushed me up to my feet and I leaned weakly against the wall, trying not to fall to the floor again as I held up the Star of the Elements. Instantly, I could see the shock in their eyes and knew that they were most likely wondering what I was doing with it. Chimitsu walked over and gently took it from me, looking at it carefully, almost studying it while I half leaned on the wall, half on Duncan's shoulder.

"It was glowing like that on the nightstand. I did not know what to make of it, whether or not it was reacting to something, so I tried to find Chimitsu-chan. She knows its power best." I told them.

"Indeed I do, but I've never seen it do this before. The energies inside of it are immense, almost explosive. How did it get like this?"

"I am not certain. I woke up and it was like that."

Chimitsu's head immediately snapped up and in my direction, the shock and surprise evident in her emerald eyes. For a few moments, nobody spoke, and I began to feel my strength slipping as I leaned more heavily on Duncan and the wall. Slowly, she looked back to the amulet she held, her shock melting away into bewilderment.

"That's impossible. The Wind Point seems to be activated and that can't be done unless I invoke the power, which I haven't done. You've been too weak for me to do that without seriously endangering your life." she replied.

"I don't know, it looks like it's glowin' all right to me." Duncan stated, shifting my weight against his shoulder, trying to get me to stand more against the wall than him.

Chimitsu slowly lowered her hand with the Star dangling a few inches below her closed fist and she stared blankly ahead at the wall with a contemplative expression on her face. It was true that she knew the Star's power best, but apparently, this turn of events had her completely puzzled and that could not possibly be a good thing. Now was not the time for her to be uncertain as to what the amulet could do when we were on the verge of needing it.

"Indeed it is, but I wish I knew what caused it. Any of the five Elemental Points need to have their power invoked. They don't just flare up with power out of nowhere like that." she told us.

I tried to shift my weight a bit, only to find myself still too weak to stay standing upright of my own power for long. I furrowed my brow in frustration at this and what Chimitsu said. If they had to be invoked and only her four sisters had invoked their powers into their Points, then it could not be at full power, not when she had not invoked her power into the final Wind Point because I was too weak for it.

"I am sorry, Chimitsu-chan. I wish I knew what caused it, but it was like that when I awoke. I knew that it had not done that before and decided to find you to see what you new about it. I need to know about what that amulet can do if I am to use it and I want my answers now, please." I stated firmly, despite my rapidly weakening state.

She looked over at me and eyed me up for a bit before sighing heavily. I could tell that she was reluctant to tell me any of the answers I was seeking, but I was not about to have it any other way. Either she was going to tell me now in this very hallway or she was going to tell me back in my room, one way or the other.

"All right. I suppose it was important enough, seeing as how I've never seen this happen before, but you get yourself right back to bed. You'll never get well at this rate, Minamoto-kun." she chided firmly.

I flushed slightly at her scolding me in front of the others, but allowed Duncan and Extor to lead the way back to my room with her following behind the three of us. Somehow, I was beginning to feel that perhaps I could rest now, that I would have a chance to fight and I would have it soon. I sighed a little as I climbed back into bed and shooed Extor away as he tried to put those sticky things on my chest again, not relishing the idea of having them tugging at my bare skin so roughly whenever I tried to move.

"But without them, we can't monitor your progress." he stated in protest.

"I will be fine without them. I am alive, am breathing, there is no need to monitor me. I have no intention of dying anytime soon, friend."

"All right. But the minute anything changes..."

"I know. You will know if anything does."

Reluctantly, both he and Duncan left me alone with Chimitsu, clearly worried about me even though there was nothing to really be worried about. I may have been seriously ill only a few days ago, but I was awake and determined to get well as quickly as I could so I could fight again. Ekirei was going to pay sooner or later for her attempts on our lives and causing the suffering of so many innocents, just as my dark twin would.

All of them would fall for their treachery, along with their master, Aku.

"A penny for your thoughts."

I turned as Chimitsu sat down next to me on the bed, brushing a few strands of hair out of my eyes. I sighed a little and leaned back against the pillow, trying not to scrunch up my face with the tickle of my hair brushing against my nose as she pushed it up out of my face. I did not like being so helpless, but enjoyed her company nonetheless.

"Just thinking about the Star of the Elements." I told her.

"What about it?"

I regarded her carefully as she looked down at me tenderly, even protectively like a mother would. I knew full well what had caused the four Points that had belonged to her sisters to activate, but I had yet to figure out why it was hers had activated when she was alive and had not done so. It was very odd and puzzling that I knew I was missing something somehow, but could not manage to figure out what.

"I wonder if I know how it activated. All but your Wind Point, that is. I think I can explain the others." I informed her.

"How?"

"Your sisters."

Chimitsu instantly paled, one slim hand going up to her mouth in complete, utter shock. Her eyes misted over and I immediately regretted breaking her heart with the memories, even though I had no choice. It was becoming quite clear that the Star's power had begun to activate because of the visitations I had experienced while I was comatose.

"That's impossible. Jack, my sisters are all dead." she murmured quietly.

"I know. I am sorry, Chimitsu-chan. I saw them in my mind while I was in the coma you told me I was in. They came to me, showed me their final memories and invoked the power of their Points within me. I do not know how, it is just a feeling I have."

Her hand slowly slid from her mouth and she wrapped her arms around herself tightly. I slowly sat up as she lowered her head, watching a few tears trickle down her cheeks, and I began to wonder just how much she knew about her sisters' gruesome deaths. Carefully, I slipped my arms around her and pulled her close to comfort her before she slowly pulled free of my grasp and wiped at her eyes, pushing the memories back into the depths of her mind.

"I see. That would explain it, yes. They couldn't do it face to face with you when they're dead, but the power comes from your heart, so all they'd really need is to contact your spirit. It's entirely possible." she finally replied.

She sat there in silence for a moment, as if she was contemplating something that I had said or she had just thought of. I slowly laid back down and watched her, seeing a flicker of thoughtfulness cross her lovely features. Something was not making sense to her and I could just about guess what it was.

"But...my Point, the Wind Point?" she asked, turning her head towards me.

I sighed a little, wishing that I knew what to tell her. It could have been anything, from a group effort on her sisters' part or a subconscious invocation between the two of us. Anything was possible considering how concerned she was for me and how I feared not being able to protect her while in the state I was currently in.

"I do not know. I did not know that the Points had even activated until I had awakened and found it glowing like that. I know they activated the power inside of me and somehow...your Point's power has been activated as well." I told her.

Her delicate brow creased as she considered this, still not entirely convinced, at least not where her Point was concerned. She reached up with one hand and rubbed at her temple as she sighed, clearly unable to come up with a suitable answer. As much as I would have liked to have helped her figure it out, I had less to go on than she did when she was the one who knew the most about the amulet's power.

"There must be another way to activate it because I haven't dared to try to invoke the power in you myself. I'd have to meditate on it awhile to even remotely guess at what caused it to do this." she finally told me, the frustration evident in her voice.

I nodded a little, staring at the sheets with an inaudible sigh of frustration. I did not dare tell her about the dream I had about her dying at my hand or that of Mad Jack, not wanting to worry her, especially when I did not know what the dream meant or which katana had impaled her dream self. Was it the one I carried or its dark twin that lay in the hands of Mad Jack?

I was beginning to wonder if that vision had not invoked the power of the Wind Point without Chimitsu's help. I had reacted strongly enough with shock and anguish when I had seen the vision of her death that it could have been possible to somehow subconsciously invoke the Wind Point's power. Perhaps it was even the other four Points reacting to my heart and invoking it without my knowledge, at least until I had awakened and spoken to Chimitsu.

I knew that Chimitsu's sisters had physically invoked the power through their spirit forms while I had been in the coma, that I had no question of. It was not just an emotional reaction for the first four Points, but an awakening of power that had slept within me by her four sisters. How the last bit of sleeping power had been awakened without her help, I was not entirely certain, but my best guess had to be that it was a reaction to what I had felt in my heart.

I sighed a little as she set the amulet aside again, wishing that I could be certain what had caused the Wind Point to activate. She looked at me almost motherly, but there was something hiding within her piercing eyes that I could not read when it was buried within her protective gaze. With a playful smile, however, she reached up, plucked a feather out of her wing, and began to tickle my feet with it.

Instantly, I squirmed, trying to keep her hand away, but the feathers were so large that she did not have to reach far to tickle my feet and still keep her hand out of range of my flailing hands.

"Chimitsu-chan! Stop it! That tickles!" I cried, all thoughts of our previous conversation gone with her playful distraction.

She grinned and blocked my arms with the one that was not attacking my bare feet with the feather, much to my consternation. Eventually, she moved up to my stomach and I gasped at the feeling she invoked with the feather, quickly snatching up her wrists in my hands, watching her drop the feather on my chest. I had not exactly minded the sensation, but her feather had reminded me of something else that had been on my mind.

"What is it? I didn't hurt you, did I?" she asked, the concerned expression returning to her lovely features.

"No. That feather simply reminded me of something."

"Oh?"

"Your wings."

Her brow furrowed in confusion as she slowly sat up. She had not expected me to ask her about her wings, but I had suddenly remembered something that I had forgotten to ask her about earlier. Now that I had seen how her sisters had died and had the Star's power invoked within my soul, I realized that something else had been missed when we first met and I could not have known until now.

"My wings? Minamoto-chan, I already told you how I recovered them." she murmured quietly.

"I know, but I just now thought of something else. Back when we first met, your back had been torn open like it had been slashed with a giant claw. Obviously Aku's work, but your wings had nearly lost all their feathers. Why had you not lost your wings then? Why not lose all your power and become human then instead of as you did for that brief time?"

Her eyes lit up and the confused expression melted from her lovely features when she realized what I had been asking. I had not thought about it before, but now that I knew that her sisters had perished protecting the Star and she had escaped Aku's attempt on her life, it was beginning to all fit together. They did not have wings and she did and they had perished, even though they had been immortal.

So why had she escaped to live another day and they died at his hands?

"Oh. That. Well, that was because my power wasn't strained at the same time my wings had been shredded. I had enough power left in me to heal them before I lost them. This last time, I'd been straining myself for some time and didn't have the power necessary to heal the wings. That's why they fell off this time and not the first time we'd met." she informed me.

"Then, if you were not in human form the first time I saw you in that village, how was it that your wings regenerated?"

"They didn't regenerate. I can draw them into my back whenever I wish, although it's difficult to do so, so I generally just leave them out. Most people see weirder things than a woman with wings on her back so they don't say too much about me. They probably think I'm some sort of bird mutant hybrid or something. I knew you had ignored the wings when you first saw me, so I kept them in my back to keep from startling you."

She did not seem to realize that her wings had not bothered me at all when we had met. I had been more concerned with getting her to safety away from the bounty hunters than what she was. I had simply chosen to ignore the wings for the moment and ask later when we were no longer in danger.

"I did not ignore them. I knew that I could stand there and ask you about them and be destroyed by the bounty hunters or hurry with you out of there and ask later." I told her.

She chuckled softly and leaned down to kiss my forehead again.

"Oh, Minamoto-kun...you're so sweet." she murmured with a quiet chuckle.

I sighed a little and watched her for a moment before she stood, the bed shifting a little when she moved.

"Chimitsu-chan?" I asked softly.

"Yes?"

"Would it be possible for me to train a bit sometime soon? I fear that if I have been unconscious for a month, I will need to build up some of my strength again, especially if I am to face my twin again."

"Oh, don't you worry about that now. You just concern yourself with resting and getting better and we'll deal with you returning to your training when you're healthy enough for it."

I sighed a little, disappointed with her answer, but it was better than being told I could not train at all. With a little patience, I would recover faster and soon be able to fight again. Then I would no longer have a reason to worry and would not feel so damn useless.

"Arigatou. I will need to begin training soon if we are to ever have a chance against them." I told her.

"I know, young one. I know. For now...rest. I will see you in the morning."

"Oyasumi."

She smiled and the light went out as she left, enveloping me in darkness. Once the door had clicked shut behind Chimitsu, I gave a soft sigh and curled up under the warm blankets, falling asleep once more.
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War Of Shadows