Author's Note: Thought or Emphasis, Flashback, Thought or Emphasis in Flashback.

I don't own Samurai Jack. I do own this cool sword I found in a hole… hmm. Looks familiar.

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Samurai Jack: Stay

A One-Shot

"Let's rest."

"Yes."

They had liberated another village that morning. More robots to dismantle, nothing new. 'Just nuts and bolts,' as he would often assure her.

Ashi had followed Jack, the samurai from centuries past, for nearly a year now. They were partners, and, to those they saved, heroes.

They were enemies at first. To her, he was the bane of this world's existence, her ultimate and only quarry. To him, she was yet another of the countless assassins seeking his head, but of flesh and blood instead of armor and circuits.

She attacked, yelled, insulted, spewed those lies about Aku and his "infinite glory." But then, after a strange adventure in a giant monster, she put her life-long mission on hold, it seemed. She was quieter, though not afraid to slip in an insult or complaint when they met new difficulties.

In time, though, the berating had ceased. She hadn't said much of anything after that, about him or herself. They eventually parted ways without much to say.

Except that she promised not to kill him until she had time to think.

It was months before they met again. She had returned with new weapons, and a new worldview… though her look was largely the same.

She wanted to follow him, she said. He obliged her, and she stuck to him ever since.

And now, here they were, sharing a room in an inn as a reward for their efforts. While not every city had developed much even in the decades Jack spent here, this little hamlet had managed to make beds with sturdy pallets and thick sheets, a tiny slice of decadence in a broken world.

They had slept in different beds, as always. They were both soundless sleepers, though Ashi was always stiff and outstretched, as if ready for an attack. Jack wondered if she had always slept like that.

He didn't like thinking about what she had been through before meeting him.

She was apparently still awake as she lay. "Jack?"

He recalled how surprised he was when she first called him that instead of "Samurai" (and without the word "die" attached, at that). It was one of the small changes with which she reentered his life. "Yes, Ashi?" That name, he learned before she left.

"Who is Ikra?"

"Hmm?"

"Ikra," she repeated with a curious softness. "I heard you mutter the name in your sleep, but I didn't get to ask today who it was."

Ah yes. THAT name. "She is-"

"She?" She sat upright, now fully awake. "Ikra is a woman?"

"Yes, but-"

"You dream about her." Lately, she had come to despise the thought of anyone else but her at his side, other than the old Scotsman—she respected his ferocity in battle. "Did you like her?"

Ikra? If she were real, who could say. But the truth of that adventure had made certain feelings stronger, particularly a hate against him. "Absolutely not."

"Then your dream was a nightmare!" She had seen it before in her journey alone. Adults and children, haunted by the visions of their tormentors. "Did she hurt you?" At his lack of response, righteous fury emerged. "If I ever find her, I will rip out her-"

"Calm yourself, Ashi." Her… passion, for lack of a better word, had become both endearing and concerning. "Ikra is… a long story."

And a disturbing one. Fifty years later, and the sight of that cursed laugh coming out of that form still gave him the occasional nightmare.

"Then, she is gone?"

"If the gods are kind?" He sighed. "I will never see Ikra again."

"Good." She lay back down.

Silence.

"Ashi?"

More silence.

She must have gone to sleep. Good night, Ashi. He prepared to do the same when-

"I don't like it."

"What don't you like?" He sat up. "Is it the bed?" He had seen her sleep on solid rocks before.

"I don't like…" She tried to find the words, her lips moving rapidly in the dark. "You!"

"Me?"

"NO! Of course, I like you!" It was one of the things she discovered. She did not know what she liked about him, exactly, but she learned that she did, and she was honest about it. "I mean, I don't like..."

She let it go. "Hmph."

He got out of bed and lit the nearby candle. The light revealed she was standing, staring down into his eyes. They were the same brown as always, a lighter shade than his.

They looked angry. He had seen it before, of course. But he could tell she was not angry at him… at least, he hoped she wasn't.

He didn't want to go through that phase all over again.

He stood up and placed a hand on her shoulder. With the past they shared, the first time she accepted his touch without a flinch or counter-attack was one of his tiny victories.

"Talk to me, Ashi." He assured her, "I am here to listen. Even if we talk through the night, I will be here."

She had seen what was in his eyes before. It was not the look he gave her when they first met. That, she learned, was pity.

This was stronger, brighter… she had seen it between family… or was it between those not related?

She looked away, so she would not be ensnared again.

"I've been thinking."

"About?"

"About Aku, and you. If you kill Aku-"

"When." She left her mission behind, but he still had his. "I will defeat Aku."

"Yes." She believed him. "When you defeat him, what will you do?"

"I…" His fierce gaze relaxed, the hand on her shoulder now stroking his shaven chin. "I don't know."

"You said that the portals back to your time are gone. If you find one, will you go?"

"Yes. I made a promise." He could not forsake his parents, his homeland. "I will return to my time, and defeat Aku there. My people will finally be free, and it will be as if this world had never happened."

"But if you kill him in the past…"

As her eyes fell to her hands, he realized her problem.

"…What will happen to me?"

"I don't know, Ashi." He thought about it. "Perhaps you will disappear. Perhaps you will be born in another life, one untouched by Aku's lies."

He suddenly realized that he would never see this new life. Assuming he would begin to age when he returned home, he would never live long enough to see that other Ashi, a different Ashi from the one he once deemed a "crazy woman."

"Or perhaps," it occurred to him, "this world will live on. If that happens, I will count on you to keep the people safe."

"Me?"

"Yes." Besides his partner, in many ways, she was his student. Jack had hoped to pass on what he knew to someone else; a son or a daughter was a distant, nearly impossible dream, especially in this world.

He had met Ashi, but she was no child. Ashi was a woman. She was…

…complicated.

Her head bowed again.

"I don't want you to leave."

"Sooner or later, I will go. I have to."

"No, you don't."

What brought this on? "It is my duty!"

"I thought my duty, my destiny, was to destroy you."

"Yes. But you changed."

"And your mission can't change?"

"No. You were forced into your role before we met. I chose mine before you were even born."

"You told me that our choices define us, that they determine our fate! Why not change our fates?"

He reached out to her once more. "I'm sorry-"

"NO!" She slapped away his hand and shoved him, his surprised form sent sprawling onto his bed. "I'll stop you!"

The plan, made in an instant, was simple.

"You can't hold a sword with your arms broken!" Reaching behind her back, she unveiled her weapon, a short sword—in Jack's era, it would be called a yoroidoshi, an armor-piercer. "You can't go to Aku if I slice your tendons!"

"ASHI!" He put up his hands in both defense and appeal. "I understand you are afraid of the future, but things may-"

"NO, Samurai! I won't hear it!"

"Listen to me!"

"I WILL NOT BE LEFT ALONE!"

Jack froze.

There was no world beyond the walls, no village afraid of its saviors' clash. Just a room, him, and her.

"All my life, I have only known my sisters! But they are all gone!" It took time, but she did not blame Jack for their deaths, only their mother. "The lying wretch who birthed us is gone as well!" Ashi had made sure of that.

She pointed her blade at the shocked samurai.

"Now all I have left is you!" Her blade wavered. "And if you are gone..."

Her stern gaze clouded with tears.

"I will have nothing."

She dropped her sword.

"I'll be nothing."

"You have never been nothing, Ashi, never to me. You are your own woman." He got up from the bed. "Your strong spirit, your love of nature, your curious mind seeking to learn what is right and wrong; they are all part of you. You never needed me for you to become you."

"You're wrong. I've fought against and with you. I've learned so much just from being near you. I wouldn't be the woman I am without you!" Her eyes red from crying, she gave that stubborn pout. "That's why you're staying here."

"Ashi…"

"YOU'RE STAYING!"

She crashed into him, wrapped her arms around him, the one thing she knew was real. Her tears painted his shoulder.

It was the first time he had ever seen her cry.

"I won't let Aku take you." She held him tighter. "You won't go away. Not without me!" She had a new idea. "If you find a way to go to the past, I'll go with you! Your time and your world might be different, but I'll learn, just like in this one! Just…"

Her voice broke.

"…Stay."

He wanted to tell her he would.

She would be there at his final battle, that he could feel in his very soul. Whether standing aside, or standing at his side, she would be there.

Her loyalty to him was an astonishing gift, and a heavy burden on his heart. His loyalty to his people weighed just as much.

And neither of them truly knew how their journey would end.

He wanted to tell her she would never have to worry, that he would be here with her, forever.

But he couldn't.

"We should get to bed, Ashi." He tried to lead her to her bed, but she refused to let go.

"I mean it, Jack." Even now, as the need to sleep began to grip her mind and body, she was firm. "Stay."

He gently stepped back, falling with her to his bed.

"I will still be here tomorrow."

"I don't care." Her voice was a whisper, her eyes already closed. "…stay."

They lay there.

Fate would take them elsewhere in the morning.

"Alright." He let his hand brush away a tear.

He would hold onto this moment, and so would she.

He was here now, and that was all that mattered to her—to them both.

"For now, I will stay."

Only soft breaths were her reply.

"Good night, Ashi."

The candle's flame disappeared.

END