I do not own Samurai Jack or the Powerpuff Girls

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The samurai sat in the woods, meditating in the calm of nature. Aku's attacks had not seemed as effective as they had in the past. Maybe he's losing his influence... He thought, listening to the falling leaves.

"Fall's beautiful, ain't it?"

He was up in an instant, sword drawn and ready to defend against the assailant. Upon seeing the intruder, a brunette in a dark suit, he sheathed his sword with a sigh. "You...surprised me." He muttered, sitting back down.

"Sure you want to do that?" The brunette said, not moving an inch. Her eyes had a slight glow to them. Suddenly, the still form registered as great a threat as when she had snuck up on him.

"Are you a...robot?" He asked cautiously. She didn't look like any robot he had encountered, but looks could be very deceiving.

"No." She scowled, an expression that fit her so well. "I think I should be insulted." She disappeared in a puff of smoke.

"Odd..." The samurai said, standing again. Moving on was sounding like a good idea.

---

He spent many minutes walking through the forest, nothing happening in an eventful manner. He had actually spent many days without conflict from any enemies, much less Aku. The demon seemed less active as of late and that had him more worried than ever.

"Boo!"

The sudden noise surprised him, causing him to jump and draw his sword on the intruder of his peace, finding the woman in a suit standing there. "Who...what are you?"

"Good question. Not hardly the point of the matter."

"What is your business with me?"

"Ooh, that's closer." She disappeared again, reappearing on the branch of a nearby tree.

"What does a teleporter want with me?"

"Oops, wrong on both marks. Later, Jack." She disappeared yet again, but was nowhere in sight this time.

The man looked around, sheathing his sword only after he was certain that there were no threats in the immediate area.

----

The samurai had finally sat down that night, having made a fire. He was close enough that he stayed warm, resting with his sword propped against his shoulder, ready to draw at a moments notice. And for the third time today, he had drawn his sword on someone who shouldn't have been able to sneak up on him, but did anyways.

"Have we met yet?" She said, looking down at the sword pointed at her throat. "Or rather, have you met me?"

"Yes...earlier today." The samurai replied, holding the blade steady. "You refused to tell me who, or what, you are, then called me by the name given to me by this time's natives."

"Hmm...you're not as quick as you were...will be. On that note, what is your name? I don't want the time stream to be corrupted when I make that trip."

"They call me Jack." He said, lowering his sword. "You are...a time traveler?"

"Hey, you're pretty quick on the pick up." She said, looking at the sky. "Wait, that's not right. You've met me before, so you're not quite so quick. Funny how perspective changes with time." She giggled before disappearing in yet another puff of smoke just to be on the other side of the fire. "You never answered my question."

The samurai cocked his eyebrow at the comment, confused by the lady's comment. "What question?" He asked, sitting down again and sheathing his sword once again. This girl is confusing.

She smirked, removing the shades that had been resting on her nose, revealing large green eyes. "Fall's beautiful, ain't it? At least I've made an attempt to answer your questions...or will make an attempt at least."

He almost chuckled at the indignation in her voice. Then he gasped as he realized that he had to look around before he could answer. The forest really did look beautiful. "It is..." He stated slowly.

The girl started giggling again. "Couldn't see it for all the trees, could you? So arrogant." She stood up and walked around the fire. "Perspective is everything." She smirked just before she disappeared.

---

Walking through the forest yet again when morning came, he couldn't help but notice a bird nested in a tree. Or a deer that happened to pass nearby. It really was beautiful, but he had been so focused on his mission that he had failed to noticed the natural world around him.

"-atch out!" The brunette appeared in the air this time, crashing into a bush. In the trees behind it, several of the mechanical bugs that often attacked him. However, the one that the brunette was holding, a surprise in itself, was rusting at a rapid rate. Then she jumped back and pulled a sword out of nowhere. His sword! And she was using it to slash the robot apart.

But his sword was at his side. Not giving it much more thought, he pulled his sword and charged into the fight as well.

---

After the fight, both figures leaned against trees, each streaked in oil and blood. The girl spit out some blood, then smiled, revealing a very crooked collection of teeth.

The samurai sighed, smiling at the girl in front of him, for a girl she must be for the way she was acting. He hadn't thought much of it at the moment, but after what she had said last night, he did have questions. "You're a time traveler, then? Could you take me to my home time?"

"Yes and yes." She replied, leaning her head back against the tree she was using as a prop, closing her eyes. After a few minutes of quiet, she opened her eyes to look at the warrior. "Oh, I'm sorry. Did you mean would I? In that case, no."

"Why not, if you have the power?"

"As you once, or rather will, tell me, being able to do something does not make it right to do so." She stood up, pulling a threading needle out of mid air. Then she started to sew her sleeve back to the rest of the suit.

The samurai sighed. "Of course not."

"Oh, don't take it like that. You'll get back...eventually."

They sat in silence for a minute, the samurai watching her sew her suit jacket arm back on. "Why do you do that?"

"Do what?"

"Mend your clothes. With your power, you could simply grab a new suit."

"Didn't I just tell you why?" She scowled, biting the thread just before she closed up the one whole. "Anyways, I'm no thief." With that she disappeared, the scowl still evident in her face.

---

The next time she appeared, the samurai was not half as surprised and decided not to draw his sword at her intrusion. "Welcome back. I was afraid I had offended you."

"Aw...." She responded, ignoring the half hearted apology as she settled into a scowl that looked too natural as she sat firmly on the tree branch over his fire for the night. "You already figured it out?"

"I think so." He smirked, looking into the fire. "It's faint, but I believe you...pop when you appear, and smoke when you leave."

"I wouldn't now about that, exactly. I'm gone at that point, after all. But others have told me similar, myself included."

"If you were not present, how could you tell yourself?"

"Not the me me, the before me." Seeing the samurai's confused look, the girl decided to attempt to clarify. "Throughout my...term as a shifter, I have had to teach myself at younger ages how to control my ability, much as I was taught by myself when I was at that age. In essence, I had to create a paradox to prevent a paradox. Much the same as you are trying to accomplish in your quest for travel to the past."

The samurai's face fell. "Then I will fail in my mission?" He asked solemnly.

"Not necessarily." The girl smiled, which was beginning to look scary in her face. As if she found something amusing that might cause him grief. "How far do you think you have been flung by the growth of Aku's power? That would be a fair estimate in terms."

An odd question... He thought, thinking of his spread anyways. It had taken the demon almost fifteen years to assert total control over one of the islands. In the time he had been gone, the demon still didn't have total control of the world. It was a big place, but it shouldn't take more than a few centuries as his armies grew. "Maybe four hundred years." He stated grimly.

"So close, yet so far off the mark!" She was smiling even wider now. The truth just might hurt more than he initially thought.

He sat in silence, waiting for the blow that she was waiting to spring. But she didn't. Instead, she was staring at his face, which he only noticed when he looked up at her. "Is something wrong?"

"You're cut. You weren't cut when I last saw you." She leaned forward, crouching impossibly on the edge of the branch. "How did you get hurt?"

"A few hours ago, we fought a bunch of mecha-bugs that snuck up-"

The girl jumped out of the tree, her hand stretched out as if she were attacking. "W-" She started, disappearing in yet another puff of smoke. She reappeared moments later, this time standing next to him. Her suit was still ragged, but not as bad as it had been when she had fled earlier. "Ask it. I know you want to."

"I'm not sure what you mean." The man replied, surprised at the sudden anger in her voice.

"Bull! You have questions, I know you do." She sighed, turning away from him. "Why can't you fix my problems if you can travel through time seems to be a popular one."

Taken back by the sudden aggression, the samurai could only think of one question. "Why did you learn to sew?"

The girl couldn't help but stare at him blankly. Not once had someone asked a question that did not pertain to them in so long. Then she smirked. "Thank you, Jack." She whispered, disappearing yet again.

---

Two weeks crawled by slowly for the samurai. He continued to travel, helping those in need, following yet another rumor to find a way home. He lived his life the same way he had for the last three years. But he was paying attention now. He had been so focused on his goal, he forgot what he was trying to save. Fall changed to winter, and it was just as beautiful. He actually looked at the people he was helping. It felt good to know he was helping them.

But in the same breath, sleep brought him no real rest. Even if he made it back to his own time, it would undo his own journey. He would never have met those he had helped, or those who had helped him. The Scotsman and his clan would be lost to time, the thief he had come to terms with would never become what he was. Centuries, maybe even more, would change due to his actions. But they wouldn't. The girl hadn't said it directly, but she had implied that anything that had happened would continue to happen as long as his actions were consistent to it. That meant he would ultimately fail.

"Because I was weak." A familiar voice said after the sound of popping air. "You're the only person I've ever told that, so don't tell anyone."

The samurai just sat in silence, knowing that she would continue with the story if she had more to tell.

She sat down across the fire from him. "I needed my sisters to need me. They were perfect. Smart, beautiful, talented. They were better than everyone, better than me. But I had to protect them. So, I became the toughest. I became a good fighter. But they always trumped me, were always better. They kept getting stronger and stronger. I needed them to need me, so I learned. I could mend clothes...even make them if I took the time. I learned how to cook. I was mean sometimes, but I was always protecting them, always there for them. They never got hurt like I did, and they didn't realize I was jealous of them." She stopped, looking up at the samurai. "Eventually, they could protect themselves. But I still felt a need to be needed. I left, to find others who needed me. It wasn't my only reason to run, but it was the dominant one."

Jack smiled. She was quite an interesting person, it seemed. He thought, looking up only to see her standing up. "Wait. I have more questions for you."

"And I have some for you. But it will have to wait for another time." She had pulled a top hat out of nowhere and putting it on top of her hair. "I have to go meet someone, if I can remember when they are." She said, disappearing yet again.

---

(This is the third of three experiments that I'm doing. I'm trying to nail Jack's personality, as well as Temporal. Tell me what you think.)