The Daughter of Aku and The Foolish Samurai - Episode XCV
Light waves of movement rumbled through the pink flesh surrounding a bedraggled, bearded man carrying a chained young woman. Wary eyes looked back at their unwitting companion before temporarily relaxing and feeling his exhaustion take hold. The man opted to place her body against one of the odd uvula-esque protrusions and attempted to use another as a seat. The material felt oddly springy but too weak to sustain a long needed moment of respite.
Small trails of blood had fallen marking their winding path, tinting the creature's insides with dark red specks and lines. Both of them were still bearing open wounds that would need to be taken care of eventually but they seemed to be slight enough to ignore for now. He turned his gaze back to the most pressing current problem. All he could think to ask himself was, 'What do I do now?'
The facts: She was also clearly human, she served Aku in some fashion, and nothing seemed to stop her. The death of her sisters had done little to discourage her efforts to kill him. Her own injuries and impending death seemed to matter little to this ignorant whelp. She chose this path, right? I would be justified in ending this right here if I so choose...
Rather than act on that dark impulse, his troubled expression shifted as he reevaluated her resting form. Rather than see a dangerous adversary, he could only see a young face that seemed so innocent and inexperienced with the world. Right after finishing that thought, his makeshift seat suddenly popped, releasing a green haze with a vile stench reminiscent of carrion. The fetid smell and taste prompted a bout of wheezing coughs and he waved his hands to shoo the noxious gas away. A high-pitched laugh broke the ensuing silence as the gas cleared.
"My Lord and master, Aku, may it please you for all eternity the samurai is dead," came from the kneeling Ashi. The Daughter of Aku seemed unusually happy considering her still-living target stood less than 2 meters away and she was still tightly wrapped in her sickle's chains. The face she was making made the samurai slightly uncomfortable for several reasons that he did not want to think about at this moment.
"Um, I'm right here," Jack commented dryly.
"Fool! We've been swallowed by a monolithic creature. You're dead," was her confident response, feeling assured of her imminent victory.
"I've been inside giant creatures before. I'll find a way out," the foolish samurai replied while thinking of his misadventures. He shook off the memory of the dragon's stench when he realized his captive was attempting a surprise assault. Even with her upper body bound, a very capable combatant like her would take advantage of every opportunity given.
"Stop," his words did nothing to halt her furious attack but after landing an initial blow, the weary samurai managed to fend off her attempt.
"Enough!" Jack bellowed. A prolonged fight would do no good for either of them in this state.
"No! I will never stop!" Ashi yelled back.
"Yes, yes, I know till your dying breath. But once you see how misguided you are, you will see the truth about Aku," he stated with conviction, despite how little his word meant to a devotee of Aku. Their commotion seemed to have brought unwanted attention to them and the thundering rumble of footsteps approaching could be heard. With a brief sigh, the samurai sent through time braced himself for the next round.
A mild headache prompted shut eyes to end their restless slumber and scan the environment for information. At first, Ashi had no idea where she was but she quickly spotted the foolish samurai curled tightly in the dark room. His mere presence filled her with hate like always but something was different about this moment. He was clearly alone yet he seemed to be arguing with several people simultaneously. Was he mad? Was this some sort of trick? Her training had been insistent on keeping your wits about yourself. A mere moment of hesitation would lead to the worst fate: failure.
Shaking herself out of that memory, she used the opportunity granted by the candid view to gather additional data on her mortal foe. His body seemed impossibly strong and lithe given the information the Daughters of Aku had studied for years. He was supposed to be older, much more feeble by now. What sort of deception had he used to grant himself such youthful health and power? The fool looked just like his wanted picture from 50 years ago. Where was the fabled sword, the only weapon rumored to hurt my master? The bevy of conflicting information presented an enigma equal in size to Aku's Greatness. Lost in her racing thoughts, she failed to notice a red beast inching closer to her back with its open claws.
After watching her target dispatch the clawed creature, she unintentionally began to analyze him in a new fashion. Despite her training, she found herself admiring his muscles, solid build, and grizzled appearance. In some ways it made sense, the samurai was the only man Ashi had ever seen in person and the onslaught of new sensations had her intrigued. In others, the mere thought of being attracted to a cretinous villain like Jack repulsed her to her core. After placing his corpse in Aku's grasp, perhaps she would ask for a manservant of her own. Yes, a nice strong warrior to fight with should perform perfectly to satisfy these unwelcome urges.
Hopefully, her father and mother would approve of that idea, it certainly wouldn't do to displease Aku or the High Priestess...
Author's Notes:
Thanks for reading! The new season of Samurai Jack has been amazing, inspiring me to actually write something again. I don't typically write fanfiction but this idea seemed fun to me, so I decided to just go for it. The original idea was much more lewd, expanding upon a potential encounter between Ashi and Jack, but I decided to keep it appropriate for teens at the moment. Anyway, I'm not sure if I will continue this particular idea but I could definitely expand upon it in a lemony fashion if desired. ( ͡° ͜ʖ ͡°) It was fun to write a regular story regardless of continuation.
Predictions for the canon story arc - I'm currently thinking Ashi will be the impetus to break Jack out of his funk/hallucinations but it's not clear yet if she will survive the required action. I suspect either Aku, one of her sisters survived, or mother/priestess will end up killing her as one of the driving forces behind breaking out of Jack's depression arc.
Credits - direct quotes taken from episode XCV where applicable. Thanks, Genndy and everyone else working on Samurai Jack!
- ShyKite