Note/s: A COLLABORATION FIC between sallychan and steshin/samuraidaddy. This modern AU is based on Jack travelling to the future to find Ashi and meets her reincarnated form (more of this in tumblr). However, we decided to amp it up, heavily inspired by Zenzero's fic "Finally" (where Ashi got faded into the future and meets modern Jack) and played with the possibility of ALL FOUR meeting.
Before reading, some things to guide you through:
1) Shinjiro is Jack's headcanoned real name by Sally, which means "pure", opposite of Aku's "evil". The name is also derived from the story of Momotaro that Jack regaled to a baby in the last episode of Season 4, only that there is another version of the story called Samurai Momotaro (Momotaro-zamurai), in which the hero, Shinjiro, takes on the name Momotaro during his quest, which is similar to what Jack did when he took on the titular name of the show.
2.) The names don't crop up yet in this first chapter, but for convenience in modern AUs, we headcanon Jack's last name as 'Minamoto', which was one of the surnames bestowed by the Emperors of Japan upon members of the imperial family who were excluded from the line of succession and demoted into the ranks of the nobility. We went with that since royal family members weren't allowed to have surnames.
3) For Ashi's. Her headcanoned last name is 'Mazoku', which is a common concept in Japanese fantasy referring to a clan of beings born with supernatural and paranormal powers. Ashi is a demon no matter what time or place lol.
With that in mind, we hope you enjoy! This also counts as our entry for jashi month with the modern AU theme. Any errors will be rectified at a later time.
3/10/2018 - Edited with more details.
Yours and Mine
Ashi held out her glass, demanding another refill, and the owner of the old wooden food cart was more than happy to oblige. It was nighttime, past the peak hours of Tokyo. She was drinking beer and gorging on fried noodles and pork dumplings. The air was cold but the heat and smoke of the yatai's busy burners helped counter it.
Seated on the same bench was her companion, a bowl of ramen in front of him. He looked very much like a man that she had dated until quite recently, named Jack.
But this man was not Jack, and despite his exceptionally personal ties to him, she refused to refer to him by the name that she had grown to adore, and instead insisted on calling him by his birthname, Shinjiro.
The man in question only stirred his dinner indifferently, weighed down by his own confused heartache, and nervously eyed Ashi while she buried her bitter anguish beneath alcohol and oily foods.
"Are you going to eat that?" She asked, pointing at his bowl, but before Shinjiro could even answer, she plucked the pork cutlet from his broth with her chopsticks and shoved it inside her mouth.
He stared, amazed at her voracious appetite. Not that it should really surprise him, after all, he had lived with Ashi—the feudal version—for a few months now. Well… until tonight. The strange events of the past week pushed to the front of his mind, and he remembered with a sigh why they were at this food stall.
As confusing as it was, they had both lost their respective time-travelling lovers to, well, each other. Or rather, to the opposite's lover. It boggled his mind just to think about it. His meeting with 'his' Ashi had been bizarre enough, having found her nude near the historical Kyoto palace, and convinced that he was her fiancé, Jack—but then to find another version of himself and Ashi in Tokyo? It tested his understanding of reality.
His face and neck instantly burned in embarrassment as he recalled the very event that led all four to meet.
Shinjiro had been called in to attend a meeting at another office branch that was outside his usual district. When it concluded, he stopped by a random pharmacy for a drink and newspaper. He never would have guessed that something as mundane as getting a refreshment would change everything.
Just as he brought the can up to his lips, Shinjiro felt a small hand tighten firmly on his shoulder and yank it hard enough to turn him around. He flinched from the contact, and was narrowly able to bow his chest away from the droplets of tea that escaped from the mouth of his drink, sparing his white collared shirt from being stained. He and the woman that grabbed him looked down with startled eyes at the splattering of tea at their feet, and when Shinjiro looked up, he was shocked to see it was Ashi, only, her hair was much shorter than it was when he saw her hours ago, and she was wearing professional attire he'd never seen her in before.
"What did I tell you about wandering off, Jack!?" Her expression flashed from confused to annoyed in an instant.
Jack stared down at her incredulously. "A-Ashi?"
Her frown deepened as she studied him, eyes raking him up and down. "At least you remembered to put on real clothes this time." Before Shinjiro could interject, Ashi let out a shocked gasp and sandwiched his face between her hands. She turned his head over from one side to the other in inspection. "You cut your hair?!" She was appalled. "Jack! I know I always tell you to get a haircut but I never mean it!"
Shinjiro's brows knotted at her words, none of which made any sense. The way he wore his hair now, gelled back in a sweep to the crown of his head, was the longest he had ever grown out his hair in his life, and he couldn't recall her ever telling him to trim it... And if anyone had cut their hair, it was her!
He tried to formulate something to say but Ashi suddenly grabbed hold of his hand and started pulling him out of the store. "Come on!"
Nothing he had managed to jumble out deterred her from pulling him down the street and into a cramped, crowded apartment building. There was no elevator apparently, and they had to walk up several flights of stairs before they reached a tiny flat that Ashi apparently had the keys to. Once inside, Shinjiro stepped around it in bewilderment, wondering how long she had been keeping this seemingly well-lived-in apartment from him, and more importantly, why she would. They lived quite comfortably at his condo, and this building seemed very… poor.
Ashi's hands pressed to his chest, luring him away from his questions with her half-lidded eyes.
"I don't remember buying you this outfit…" The flirty smile she wore gave him butterflies.
He wanted to point out that he was the one who bought clothes for both of them but once again found himself at a loss for words when she reached down to unbuckle his belt. She cooed some nonsense about him actually wearing briefs but he was not able to dwell on that for long, as his mind slowly lost focus, absorbed in the pleasure he felt from the ministrations of her hands and mouth. Something about it felt different, more exhilarating. Perhaps it was the unfamiliarity of this shoebox apartment, or Ashi's strange eagerness. Whatever the case, he loved it, melting against the wall as he held the sides of her head and bucked his hips for more.
That was the very scene that Jack, Shinjiro's feudal version, walked in on. Or rather, crawled in upon. Through the seventh story window.
Shinjiro had been startled, all lust gone from him immediately upon thinking the man was an intruder, and he pulled Ashi up from the ground quickly. He held her close to him, with every intention of rushing them both towards the front door, but halted when Jack stood, his loose hair shifting to reveal his face clearly. Shinjiro could not believe how similar the man looked to him, aside from his long hair and traditional attire.
"Ashi!?" Jack spoke with great concern at seeing someone restraining her, then raised his brows in surprise when he also noticed the similarities between himself and the man holding her. There was an immediate tension in the air at that, with all three suddenly aware that something was terribly wrong. Shinjiro's confusion burst into shock and fear as the man brandished a katana from his obi.
"Imposter!" He snarled, unwilling to risk Ashi's safety by wasting time questioning what this lookalike could be. Shinjiro's face lost color as Jack charged at him, arms positioned for a full swing of his blade.
Shinjiro dodged the first slash, the blade tearing the wall behind him instead like cardboard. He then bolted out the door and down the stairs with the knowledge that he was the intended target and not Ashi. The farther he got away, the safer she would be. His years of athleticism and martial arts paid off, zipping past concerned bystanders and vaulting over objects, with the deranged man chasing him with equal, if not greater, speed.
They soon ended up in a park, Jack trapping him in a fenced area. Shinjiro quickly attempted to scale the wired fence when Jack leaped high up in the air with his sword. He let out a fierce battle cry as he brought his sword down, ready to end Shinjiro.
That was when his Ashi came in.
Instead of his blade cutting into his opponent, it struck something metallic, and Jack opened his eyes to see Ashi glaring up at him, long hair fluttering dramatically as she blocked his strike. She wore only her relaxed-fit house clothes, with her fingers clenched tightly around a metal sign that she had wretched from the ground as a makeshift weapon. Neither had time to register who exactly they were fighting—they were too caught up in the protective rage they felt over someone trying to cause harm to their lovers.
Ashi threw his blade back with the length of the sign's pole, and moved to strike him with a furious growl. Jack evaded her attack, and they rapidly fell into a familiar rhythm of leaping dodges and brutal parries, with neither able to land a strike against the other despite the ferocity in their haphazard waltz through grass and brush.
They locked together again and only then, as they scowled at each other over their joined weapons, did they recognize the fiery glares staring back at them. A moment of clarity washed over Jack and Ashi both, and they relaxed their hold on their weapons as they tried to process how this could be.
"Jack…?"
"Ashi…?"
Shinjiro felt the prickle of tears at the back of his eyes as he absently stirred his soup. The chemistry had been immediate, he thought sadly. By the time present Ashi caught up to them, the feudal couple were already cozying up to each other after their deadly dance, ecstatically rubbing noses and holding hands as they talked excitedly. The love reflected in their eyes for each other was intense and electrifying. Shinjiro knew then, he did not stand a chance.
He turned to his drunk companion.
They did not stand a chance.
Ashi devoured the last of her third or fourth plate of dumplings and instantly asked for another serving.
"Sorry Miss," the cart owner grunted, "you cleaned me out for the night."
Ashi was not pleased and kicked up a drunk fuss over it, to which Shinjiro felt he had to intervene. He grabbed her wrist, shaking it a little. "Ashi, please. Control yourself." He shot the owner an apologetic smile, who did not seem perturbed in the least, obviously accustomed to such unruly behavior.
Ashi yanked her hand free from his grasp. "Oh shut up!" She yelled brokenly. "After everything, the least the universe can do is give me all the dumplings I can eat!"
Her temper made him nervous—the Ashi he had known for months never had a cross word to say to him. The only time he had ever seen her angry was in defense of him, and with his mild-mannered lifestyle, there was hardly anything to defend him from. That was of course, until her warrior prince fiancé decided to try and murder him.
Shinjiro tried his best to ignore the memories of his time with feudal Ashi, and focused his attention on the modern version before him. She was still glaring up at him. Her eyes squinted in irritation the longer he took to respond, and her nose crinkled up like a rabbit's might. He could not help but find it oddly cute.
"Please, calm down, Ashi…" He tried to speak calmly, in hopes it might persuade her to do the same. "If you'd like, I could order takeout before we return home."
Ashi's bitter expression flared back up with emotion, almost insulted at what he could be suggesting.
"What do you mean "home"!? We don't live together—you're not my boyfriend now just because…!" Her rage tapered off a moment, having reminded herself of her recent 'breakup', which was more like, the boyfriend she loved dearly realized that he had picked the 'wrong one'.
She grew quiet as she reflected more on it. Jack had tried to reassure her that he did love her but his convoluted explanation of her not being the 'right Ashi' and proper timelines flew over her head as the hurt she was feeling trumped everything else. He had left her. He had chosen someone else. Yes, that someone else was still 'her' but Ashi could not help feeling like she was the outdated model, discarded for an upgraded version of herself.
Honestly though, who could blame Jack? She saw the shredded park—a warrior woman who could go toe to toe with him greatly surpassed a common office lady. Hell, she wouldn't be surprised if this Jack—no, Shinjiro, thought the same thing too. Probably thinking he got stuck with the recyclables.
Still, she had hoped the time she spent with Jack meant something, enough for him to choose her… but who was she kidding? She slid Shinjiro's bowl over to her and drank the remnants of his soup. It was easier to feed the void in her stomach than the one in her heart.
Her companion's concerned frown went unnoticed as she sipped apathetically, then tilted back and slurped up the last of it. She set the bowl down hard on the counter and abruptly stood up, wanting to make a show of how fed up she was with the whole situation. Unfortunately, broth and dumplings did little to combat how much alcohol she had consumed, and her legs immediately gave out when sudden lightheadedness struck her. Shinjiro bolted up to grab her, and managed to cradle her just in time to save her from collapsing against the street.
He adjusted his arms around Ashi's grumbling form while he helped her to stand, and felt his pulse quicken as she shifted up against him. Perhaps he was starved for physical contact, having lost the woman who constantly bathed him with worshipping affection, but part of him itched to believe it was more than that. As Ashi wobbled back up onto her feet, trying to push away from him, and at the same time burrowing her tired head up against his collar, Shinjiro felt his cheeks blush at the incoherent complaints she grumbled into his blazer.
Never in his life had he spent time with a woman like her. His ex-wife was passive, and while he had thought she was content to share a domestic life with him, after a few years it turned out she had harbored feelings of resentment for his, for lack of a better word, boring personality. She wanted him to be more exciting; martial arts enthusiasm and a fascination with history, culture, and travel wasn't what lit a fire in her belly apparently, and she had had an affair. But she never made her unhappiness known to him until she was asking him for a divorce—likewise, feudal Ashi was passive to his desires, only passionately so, but was also bolder in what she wanted from him, too.
This Ashi was nothing like that. From the moment he met her, she was pushy and domineering, refusing to let him even get a word in the conversation. And rather than cry her eyes out over being broken up with, she was furious.
Shinjiro paused on those thoughts as he paid for their meal from his own pocket. He then fished for his phone and called a cab. Ashi became more subdued as they waited, leaning against him completely, her glassy eyes desperately trying to fight the weight of her eyelids. Her skin was flushed pink and her lips plumped out, red and glossy from all the greasy food she ate. He briefly wondered what kissing her would taste like - and immediately scolded himself for such an idea. Maybe the light beer was getting to him.
By the time the cab arrived, she was already asleep. Shinjiro instructed the driver with his own address. He had considered bringing her back to her own flat but realized it would mean carrying her up several flights of stairs. He didn't want to risk such a climb, given how unpredictable this Ashi was with her emotions.
He carried her into the house, and laid her on their—err, his bed, taking off her shoes and blazer, and making sure to tilt her head up properly on the pillows as precaution in case she felt sick and needed to throw up. After he was satisfied with how she was carefully tucked into bed, Shinjiro stepped back and watched her a moment, lacing his fingers together and rocking on the balls of his feet awkwardly. He was unused to having to take such mindful care of someone because of their own recklessness, and he wasn't completely confident in leaving her yet.
There was a soft pride in his chest when she shifted under the sheets and curled up comfortably. Surely this hotheaded woman would never admit it, but his efforts had pleased her subconsciously, and that was satisfying enough.
Her content, sleeping face looked so much like the Ashi he had treasured so dearly, that watching her slowly started to make his heart ache. He was happy that she left with Jack, they were truly soulmates, but he wondered if he or this Ashi would ever find that kind of fairytale love again. Shinjiro smiled, feeling a sense of bittersweet comradery with the woman before him; if nothing else, they at least had each other to understand this specific, confusing heartbreak.
Without thinking, he knelt and pressed a kiss to her temple, as he often did with feudal Ashi. Upon realizing his lapse in judgement, he moved to rise from the bed, but Ashi's slid her hand onto his neck with a sleepy laugh and froze him in place. Not even half awake, she tilted her head up to press a smiling kiss against his cheek, then settled back into her pillow.
At the back of his mind, he knew better. That that kiss was meant for the warrior prince that she loved. She would never have done that if she weren't so addled by the alcohol. But for the first time since he had his heart broken, he felt a surge of joy. He cupped his kissed cheek, as though it could preserve the feel and warmth of her lips. He could not stop the smile splitting over his face as he watched her breathe contentedly.
He was suddenly reminded of his feudal version's parting words. Ashi hadn't heard him, unable to bear the goodbyes any longer, but before disappearing in a pillar of light that would return them to their own time, Jack left Shinjiro with a final message.
"Love her." He had said. "She's yours."
Shinjiro padded over to the glass wall, staring out into the flashes of light and neon color of the city. If he squinted just right, they blurred out like stars.