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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
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I walked alongside Chimitsu-chan as we continued down through another deserted, creepy corridor, this one barely even lit. It was difficult to see where we were going, but Chimitsu assured me that she knew where we were both headed. I followed her uneasily, not liking the growing stench that was coming our way from ahead of us.

Shifting a little, I realized that my wounded shoulder was beginning to ache and sting now that the adrenaline flowing in my blood had begun to decrease. I slowed my steps, trying to see how bad it was, but in such low light, it was quite difficult. I eventually came to a stop near a covered torch, trying to see the wound, but still could not.

"Let me see that, Minamoto-chan." Chimitsu said.

Reluctantly, I let her take my arm and push my kimono sleeve up to have a better look, only to have it slide back down and get in the way. With a frustrated growl, she simply tore it away to reveal a rather nasty and deep gash in my upper arm near the shoulder. The flow of blood had slowed, but a small trickle still continued to make its way on down towards my elbow.

"I'm sorry..." she whispered, gently pressing her palm to the wound.

"It is not your fault, Chimitsu-chan. You did not do that willingly."

She did not answer and did not raise her head to look at me, keeping her gaze focused on the wound as she began to heal it. There were a few moments of silence as the gash closed itself before Chimitsu finally released me, revealing a completely healed arm without so much as a scar. I rolled my shoulder a bit, smiling a bit when I felt that I had my full range of mobility back without stretching anything.

"Thank you, Chimitsu-chan." I said with a smile before allowing my expression to turn serious.

I did not need to say another word before Chimitsu turned around, heading down the corridor once again. I followed, keeping alert, knowing that it could not be very long before we met up with the next Dark Elemental. I stayed close to her, the stench hanging in the air growing stronger and stronger with each step, smelling sour and dank all at the same time.

Finally, we stepped into a darkened room, darker than the last, shrouding everything in shadows. I did not like the darkness of the room, although I had to admit that the air smelled a bit clearer here than it did out in the corridor we had just passed through. The very shadows seemed to twist and turn of their own will, dancing and snaking their way around the room like some sort of death dance.

Chimitsu came to a stop a few steps inside the door, looking around carefully, her wings slightly outstretched as if she was ready to take flight at a moment's notice. I stood beside her with my left hand on the scabbard of my katana, ready to break the seal and draw it with the right if necessary. It was tense for a few moments, but I knew that the next Dark Elemental was here.

Slowly, the shadows began to melt together into a form that I could not tell whether it was male or female. It was concealed completely in a hooded cloak from head to foot and carried a large scythe that gleamed dangerously in the dim light. The whole room carried an aura of gloom and despair about it, chilling me to the very core, despite how I tried to ignore it.

"Welcome to the Underworld, samurai. I am the guide to the afterlife, the gatekeeper to the realm of the dead and the deliverer of final retribution. I am indiscriminate, taking young, taking old, male, female, of all races and walks of life, as eternal as time itself." a cold, emotionless voice rang out, echoing in the room.

The cowled head slowly rose and the free hand reached up, pulling back the hood to reveal the same woman I had seen at Duncan's castle the day he and his entire clan had been wiped out. I bristled at the sight of her, wanting to attack her on the spot, but knew better than to attack in blind anger, especially when this one was an Elemental. I could feel Chimitsu tensing beside me and hea

rd her nodachi slowly slide from its sheath. "You..." I hissed. "You were the one who killed Duncan and his clan. You were the one who took them without a fight, leading them into death before their time.

"It's my job to guide those souls to the underworld, samurai. I did what I was ordered to, regardless of whether it was right or wrong."

"So Death is controlled so easily, just like that? Killing for the demon as he sees fit, not how it is supposed to be?"

"Essentially, yes."

"Why?"

She reached up with one hand and untied the belt holding the cloak in place before slowly sliding the garment off her shoulders to the floor. Underneath was an elegantly styled black dress that looked almost like something a spider would wear, complete with medieval lacing at the bodice. The scythe fit right in with the rest of the outfit, completing the dark, dangerous look she carried about herself.

"Because I can't disobey him. He made me and he can unmake me. I can't let that happen." she said.

"Would you rather perish at another's hand?"

"If it would save me his wrath, then perhaps, but don't think that I'm not going to go down without any kind of a fight, samurai."

"Of course not."

She pushed herself up off the ground a few inches, hovering over to land in front of me. I immediately took a step back, reaching with my right hand for my katana, but somehow, something stopped me from drawing it and striking her down in one swipe. Her scythe vanished and she reached out towards me before Chimitsu could do anything to stop her, her hands gently cupping my face between them.

Instantly, my body relaxed and I felt my mind slipping, along with the will to fight her, at least for the moment. I stood there with her holding my head and slowly, my gaze moved up to stare right into her cold, empty eyes. I could feel myself being pulled into their depths, into the heart of Death herself to a place I would later hope to never see again.

I felt myself being pulled, but could not control where I was going, being led by the Dark Elemental who held my very life in her cold, dead hands. I could hear the sound of fighting in the distance and began to wonder where she was taking me. I soon began to feel dizzy, almost nauseous, at the speed we were traveling at and quickly squeezed my eyes shut to force the feeling of discomfort down.

When I opened my eyes again, I found myself standing on a hill, overlooking the battlefield Chimitsu and I had left hours before. Destroyer parts and minion costumes lay scattered about the grassy plain amongst craters and scorch marks left by the artillery of both sides. The fighting was still going on, just as hard and heavy as it was when Chimitsu and I had broken free of the back of the destroyers.

All about, I could see people fighting and almost all of them were wounded in some form or another. I could see the Canines piloting large mechanical vehicles, firing artillery shells into destroyers, others ripping them apart with mechanical claws and still others slicing into them with various blades protruding from their sides. I could see the last of the Tribe and the Wildman fighting minions with the skills I had taught them to survive with in the jungle and felt a bit of pride in seeing that.

Extor flew overhead in some sort of vehicle, firing at minions and droids with each pass, zigging and zagging in and out over the fighting group. A few of the tribe and a few Canines had fallen, but I was relieved to see that the casualties were relatively low considering how long they had been fighting, although I knew that the tide could turn at any moment. They had been fighting for a long time and were not used to doing so for so long like I was.

It would be only a matter of time before they grew exhausted and began to fall to the relentless waves of droids and minions.

I turned my head slightly and saw Death standing there beside me, staring emotionlessly into the battlefield with her scythe in her left hand. Her eyes scanned the battlefield, as if she was looking for a target, for someone else to bring down. I did not want to watch, but she had brought me here and I could not leave until she wished it.

Finally, she turned her cold, empty eyes towards a small group that had broken away from the main battle and were moving further and further away. I looked closer and was almost surprised to see blasts of ice spraying about, coating minion and droid alike. Maeven! There was absolutely, positively, no possible way I could mistake the little faerie's ice magic.

There was a loud explosion that destroyed several droids and minions on the spot, sending pieces flying everywhere about the field. Yet they were not the only things that went flying through the air. Maeven herself was thrown back by the blast with a smaller minion on top of her.

She landed hard on her back on the grass not far from where Death and I stood, her tiny features marred with scratches and small burns and streaks of frost. Even at this distance, I could tell that she was badly wounded. Slowly, I began to realize what Death was doing and whom she had chosen to fall next in battle, much to my dismay.

"Why this one?" I asked.

"The little one is brave, samurai, much like you. You don't realize it, but you care about her like you would a fellow soldier. You respect her honesty and her bravery. Despite her tiny size, she fights with the heart and will of a fighter like you."

"Then it is her time?"

"No. She must go because she is a formidable threat to my master."

I clenched my hands at my side, wanting to stop her, but knew that I would not be able to. Death was doing this through her very mind, through powers, and I could not stop her that way no matter how much I wanted to. I hated feeling so helpless like this, unable to keep a dear friend of mine from dying right before my very eyes.

Maeven was strong, yes, but she was no match for one of Aku's minions. It had her pinned firmly against the grass, its yellow eyes showing nothing but pure hatred and malice for the little blue faerie. Her face was a mask of hardened determination with a clear disregard for the difference in their sizes or that he might kill her before she was able to escape.

Slowly, her head turned towards where Death and I were standing and her expression melted into a kind, peaceful smile of contentment. I felt a lump form in my throat as I realized what she was going to do to herself and the minion that held her down. She knew Death was there, that I was there, and that we were watching her struggling with the minion in that moment.

#Blessed be, brother samurai. It was an honor to fight this battle with you and the Lady.#

With one last smile, she turned back to the minion, her expression hardening again into one of final determination. Her eyes began to glow and spark, a small wind tearing up around her and the minion, stirring the grass at my feet with an icy chill. Then, with one last sharp, shrill cry in her native language, she latched onto the minion and both of them exploded in a blast of snowflakes, leaving nothing but a cold frost upon the grass behind.

I swallowed hard, feeling my body shake with horror and rage towards Death. She had not moved once the entire time we had been standing there, nor had she shown any emotion in Maeven's final moments. Maeven had known that it was her time and had not flinched while staring down the eyes of Death, going out the most honorable way possible.

But that did not make the raw ache in my heart hurt any less.

I sank to my knees and bowed my head, feeling hot tears roll down my cheeks as the battle continued around us without end. One by one they were dying and all for my sake and the sake of Chimitsu, all so we could complete the very mission we had been trying to finish all along. It was too much for me to bear and I clutched blades of grass in my fists until my fingers dug into the dirt.

"How many more? How many will fall before the sun sets?" I whispered.

"Perhaps all, perhaps none, perhaps only a few."

Her cryptic response only tore into the raw wound in my heart and my sorrow slowly gave way to anger.

"Damnit, how many?! Who else must sacrifice themselves for the sake of a future of hope?!" I cried.

"The number depends on how long it takes for you to die in their place."

"If I allow you to bring me to the underworld, to take my life, then you will leave them alone? You will promise that they will live until their true time of death?"

"Yes."

Slowly, I released the blades of grass and dirt I squeezed in my palms, considering her offer. If I let her kill me now, then I could stop the senseless death and destruction before me and keep all those that I cared about safe. Yet, if I did that, then what was I fighting for all these months?

I had not fought this long, this hard, or come this far just to give up and let things continue as they had for so many centuries.

I pulled myself up to my feet and turned to face Death, seeing that she was still looking out over the battlefield, searching for her next victim. It did not matter whether or not I went willingly or not. Either way, regardless of whether or not I refused, she would still try to take my life. It was not worth just giving up and letting her take me without a fight.

If Aku was going to win and rule this world for the rest of eternity, then I was going to die fighting honorably.

"Well, samurai?" she asked.

"No. They fight for the same reasons I do. They lay down their lives in the hope of one day seeing a world without your master's rule. They fight for me because I have helped them and gave them hope, something you could not possibly understand. Besides, it does not matter whether or not I accept your offer; I am a dead man either way and I would rather die fighting than on my knees at your mercy."

Finally, she turned her head towards me and slowly, a faint smile began to spread across her lips. Her eyes began to shine with a flicker of life instead of their usual dead emptiness. I remembered how she showed a faint spark of regret at Duncan's castle and began to wonder if somehow, she did not want to fully comply with Aku's orders.

"You're a brave man, Jack Minamoto. Few have ever dared to look me in the eye and tell me that they'd rather see their friends die than die in their place." she said.

"No. It is not about whether or not I would rather see them die than allow myself to die in their place. It is a matter of believing in them as they believe in me. They believe I can destroy Aku and, in turn, I believe that they can fight these minions for all they are worth, no matter what the cost because they have something to believe in."

"And what about me? Do you believe in me?"

"I believe that you do not want to kill all those Aku has ordered you to kill. You showed regret at Duncan's castle and you show a spark of regret right now. Will you let it go willingly or will we have to fight to the death for what we believe is right?"

There was a brief pause, during which I could see a flicker of compassion in her cold eyes. Somehow, I began to get the feeling that she finally understood what I felt and why we fought so hard against such impossible odds. Even Death herself was impressed, perhaps even envious in that moment and perhaps that was why she chose the way she did.

"You know he won't let me go without a fight." she whispered.

"He cannot stop you when you are dead."

She gave another brief smile before stepping forward, grabbing my head, and leaning in for a kiss. I could not react, startled at how quickly and suddenly she had moved in to do it. She had given no indication whatsoever of making any such advances and I could only stand there, letting her kiss me amongst the fighting droids and minions.

Slowly, I could feel myself drifting, almost sinking downward through the ground, feeling almost content and at peace. It almost did not matter that I had not reached my goal, only that I had come so close and fought so hard to come this far. I almost felt enraptured, but not at all like how it felt whenever Chimitsu kissed me, not so lifegiving and breathtaking all in the same gesture.

This...this felt entirely different somehow.

Suddenly, I felt a sharp stinging against my back and my eyes snapped open in mid-kiss, looking first into Death's eyes and then at the room around me. It had become brighter, lights illuminating the eerie decor and aura that surrounded it. Skeletons of all shapes and sizes hung on the walls and littered the floors, skulls serving as terrifying candelabras.

I began to panic, realizing that Death was stealing the breath from my very lungs with this kiss, her ice cold hands gripping my head so tightly that it was starting to hurt. Behind her stood Chimitsu, the blade of her nodachi stained once again with my blood. Spots began to dance before my eyes, but I was still able to see her raise the heavy blade and strike the other Elemental across the back, forcing her to let me go.

With a gasp, I fell hard on my back amongst a pile of dusty skeletons, startling a spider and more than a few rats from within the depths of the bones. I ignored it and lay there, gasping and wheezing, greedily sucking in the stale air. My head spun and the spots began to clear from my vision as the air returned to my lungs and faintly, ever so faintly, I heard the sound of a struggle on the other side of the room.

Once I had caught my breath enough to move, I forced myself up onto my feet, seeing Chimitsu pinned against the opposite wall with a small dagger impaled in her left shoulder. Death leaned menacingly over Chimitsu, raising the Wind Elemental's own nodachi over her head. I took an unsteady step forward, nearly tripping over a skull and then a rat as I headed towards them.

Neither of them noticed me as I approached, slowly withdrawing my katana from its sheath.

"I'm sorry to do this, Chimitsu, but you understand, don't you? I can't disobey Aku no matter what I feel. He owns me, just as he will soon own you and the samurai." Death whispered.

"You don't have to do this, Fuki. He doesn't own you and doesn't have the right to. You could easily turn on him if you didn't fear him so much."

"Try living in the same castle and sleeping in the same bed as him, little angel. You don't know fear 'till you've done that."

I knew that she did not really want to do what she was doing. I had seen it in her eyes on the battlefield moments before she had kissed me. She did not want to kill me or Chimitsu, but I began to understand why she had tried to kill me with the kiss of death and why she was trying to kill Chimitsu now.

She did not have the heart to face Aku and die at his hand for failure to kill us.

She had her back to me and could have killed Chimitsu at any time, but she was hesitating. She knew I was there and that I was armed, ready to strike her down. I remembered what she had said to me out on the battlefield and knew that there was only one thing to do now that she had given me the opportunity.

In one swift strike, I rammed the blade of my katana up through her back and out between her breasts at an angle. Chimitsu cried out in surprise as her nodachi slipped from the Dark Elemental's hands, but Fuki herself barely even gave so much as a grunt as I slowly let go of the blade. I took a step back, waiting for her to fall and turn to dust so we could continue with our mission.

Slowly, she turned, despite having a three foot katana buried in her torso, and came to a stop facing me. Her eyes shimmered with a spark of life, her face showing an unexpected gratitude. It was what she had wanted all along, to die at my hands and be free of Aku's unnatural control of her element, as well as her fear of being in his service and bed.

"Be free..." I whispered a second before her eyes went completely dark.

She fell to her knees and then facedown on the ground a second later, pushing my katana back out through her chest until it toppled to the ground beside her. A moment after that, she dissolved into dust that blew away into nothingness, leaving myself and Chimitsu alone. I looked up at the sound of a snap and saw Chimitsu standing there with the dagger in her hand, her left shoulder bleeding profusely for a few seconds before it began to close.

"Are you all right?" I asked.

"I'll be fine. I'm more worried about you. She nearly killed you."

"Perhaps. I think she was trying to get us to help her."

"Help her? How?"

"She wanted to be free."

She gave me a confused look before shaking her head and picking up her nodachi, resheathing it on her back between her wings. I retrieved my own blade, watching as she headed out into the next corridor leading to the next Dark Elemental. I sighed and followed, knowing that it was down to Ekirei and Mad Jack now, the very pair who had harassed us from the start.

As I reached the door, I felt a cool breeze wrap around my body and I turned, glancing behind myself. As expected, there stood Asagi in her elaborate kimono with her hair back in the chiming silver ornaments and a smile of freedom upon her face. In her hands was a baby umigame[1], its mother and father on either side of her at her feet.

She gave a short bow before all three disappeared into pale blue mist, leaving me to turn around and hurry up to catch Chimitsu. I felt almost excited, knowing just how close we were to attaining the goal we had sought for so long. Only two Dark Elementals stood between us and Aku and the freedom this world had longed for since I had been thrown from my home time.

With that thought in mind, I picked up my pace and hurried to where Chimitsu was walking down the corridor, on towards the second-to-last Dark Elemental.
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[1]Umigame - A loggerhead sea turtle
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War Of Shadows