This is a redo of the fourth chapter, for those who are confused by me reposting the chapter again. After I read Warmach1ne332's review of this chapter, I decided to modify some stuff, as the ideas that they had ended up being better than what I had in mind.

Also, after reading Guest Ronin's review, I decided to specify which of the girls were which. Also, their hairstyles have changed after they got the ash scrubbed off of them, I just didn't think that I'd need to specify that event happening, since I was basing that event off of InYuJi's fanart. Either way, this is who they are (and I'm referencing InYuJi's Samurai Dad 3 fanart with this list.)

Ashi: We all know who she is.

Aki: The girl with the rabbits next to her. When she's grown up, she is the woman with the blue coat and blue eyeshadow.

Ali: The girl that is leaping in the air happily. When she's grown up, she's the rebel graffiti ninja.

Ami: The girl that is next to the flower. When she's grown up, she's the "pink Sakura Tessen/ the first one Jack killed"

Amori: The girl with the butterfly. When she's grown up, she's the Chun Li with roller skates.

Anzi: The girl with the birds on her arms. When she's grown up, she's the Falconer.

Avi: The girl with the dragonflies around her. When she's grown up, she's the main techhead.

I hope that clears some issues that you guys have with the story. Anyways, read on to find out what happens.

It had been a few weeks since Jack had saved the girls and taken them under his care and protection. In the time since he had shown them the forest and explained the many things that lived in it, the girls' curiosity had grown immensely with each passing day. The Samurai couldn't blame them, as they only wanted to know what the things in the world around them were. Because of this, the girls continued to ask him many questions about the world, with the man doing his best to answer them, although he sometimes had to fib the answer if the question they asked had an answer which wasn't meant to be heard by children. As of now, Jack and the seven girls were walking through another forest.

However, since those few weeks, the climate has changed, as snow was gently falling from the skies above, blanketing the landscape with a white coat. Due to this, the plant dresses that the Daughters of Aku previously wore have been replaced with the clothes that Jack had bought them. Despite this, the girls enjoyed the change of scenery and thus, began asking Jack more questions about the world once the seasons changed.

"Where do the birds go?" Anzi asked.

"They fly south when winter comes." Jack explained.

"Why?"

"There's no food left for them at the moment." He replied, "It is also too cold for them to stay here, so they go someplace warmer."

"Will they come back?" She asked hopefully.

"Of course." Jack smiled.

Suddenly, the Samurai heard quick and rapid footsteps coming their way.

"What's tha-" Ashi started to say.

Before she could finish her sentence, a figure who was cloaked and wielding a large sword leaped into view, ready to strike down on the Samurai and possibly, the Daughters of Aku. Thinking fast, Jack grabbed the electric whip that he acquired from the last bounty hunter and swung it, with it coiling around the assassin. Flinging him towards the trees, Jack watched as the bounty hunter hit them hard, collapsing onto the snow. Despite this, he was back on his feet in a matter of seconds, much to Jack's chagrin, with the Samurai pulling out his pistol from his holster and aiming it at the robot, keeping it trained on his head.

"Heh, I should've known that you would be able to detect that." He chuckled, "Well, at least I tried."

Jack didn't dignify that with a response, giving the bounty hunter his trademark look instead and keeping his pistol drawn on him. As for the girls, they hid behind the man, peeking out around him. The bounty hunter soon noticed them and a malicious smile graced his lips.

"Well, well, well, this is a big surprise." The bounty hunter stated, "Samurai Jack is a daddy now! Never thought I'd say that."

Jack didn't think anything about the comment, instead trying to formulate a plan so the girls could get away safely. However, the Daughters of Aku, upon hearing the word "daddy", looked at the Samurai. They never thought of him as this and as a result, they ended up confused.

"So, what's your next move, Jack?" The bounty hunter taunted, "Are you going to attack me upfront and leave them exposed to danger or are you gonna play it smart?"

Jack continued to stare at him.

"I'll wait for your decision!" He snarked, standing in place.

The man glanced towards the area around him quickly, trying to find a place which would securely hide the girls from the bounty hunter's sight. Seeing a large tuft of snow covered grass to his right, Jack then had to figure out how to get the girls over there without them being seen.

"Girls, listen to me." Jack said quietly, "When I attack, run towards that grass and hide."

"Will he see us?" Ashi whimpered.

"Don't worry, he won't be looking at you." He replied, preparing to shoot.

"Did you decide your next mo-" The bounty hunter started to say.

Suddenly, Jack fired off several shots, with the bounty hunter quickly deflecting them with his sword. However, he didn't expect Jack to quickly run up and drop kick him in the face, sending him flying backwards. Seeing that Jack had the bounty hunter down at the moment, the Daughters of Aku used that window of time to run and hide inside the tuft of grass, hoping that they wouldn't be able to be seen from that point on.

Not willing to give him any time to regain his bearings, Jack then aimed his pistol at the bounty hunter's head and fired, wanting to take him out as soon as he could. However, the bounty hunter leaped up from the ground, avoiding the shot, and jumped backwards a couple of feet away from Jack. Landing back down, he held his sword in front of his face in a defensive manner. The Samurai pointed his pistol and shot at him several more times. The bounty deflected all those shots once more and in a move that nobody saw coming, dashed for Jack at lightning speeds, something that even the man was not able to counter.

Hitting Jack in the face with a flying kick, the bounty hunter watched his pistol fly into the air because of this, catching it as it came down. Landing on his back, the Samurai looked back up with a shocked expression upon seeing his firearm being pointed at him. The Daughters of Aku gasped in shock. Looking around, the robot scanned the forest to see if he could find the girls. However, he couldn't and thus, turned his attention back to his target.

"Well, you've taken big precautions to keep your kids safe, Jack!" He mocked, "Not that it will do any good once you're taken care of!"

Suddenly, the bounty hunter got an interesting idea.

"Or… I can take you out and then have those daughters of yours taken to Aku." The bounty hunter told the Samurai, "I'm sure he'll love having possession of his mortal enemy's children!"

The girls overheard this and shuddered at that thought, especially at the prospect of being with the thing that their mother and the rest of the Cult had worshiped. Jack, on the other hand, knew that he had to react quickly to the bounty hunter pulling the trigger on his pistol. However, to his surprise, the robot didn't even take advantage of the situation. Instead, he grabbed the slide and cocked it backwards, disabling its ability to fire.

"I don't like guns, they make the job too easy." He stated, answering the questions that appeared in Jack's mind, "I prefer a challenge." The bounty hunter added.

Having no use for the firearm, the bounty hunter threw it towards some grass and entered a combat stance. Unbeknownst to him, it landed in front of the tuft of grass that was hiding the Daughters of Aku, with them gasping upon seeing the pistol land in front of them. Despite the loss of his main defense weapon, Jack wasn't out of options yet. Grabbing his electric whip once more, Jack cracked it and waited for the robot's next move. Chuckling, the bounty hunter realized that it was time to stop holding back. Grabbing his cloak, he threw it off his person. The Samurai noticed that the bounty hunter, despite being a robot, didn't appear to resemble any type that he was familiar with. Instead, he resembled a human, one that had all their flesh and blood replaced with synthetic parts and circuitry. If there was an ounce of human skin on him, Jack could've assumed him to be a type of cyborg.

The two held a stare for a bit, wanting to see who would decide to strike first. It ended up being the bounty hunter, who broke off into a run, with his sword at the ready. Jack waited until he was close enough to retaliate. He leaned under the sword and flung his whip towards the robot. Unfortunately, the bounty hunter anticipated this and jumped over it, before kicking Jack in the face, sending him to the ground. Raising his sword over the downed warrior, the bounty hunter attempted to finish him off at that point. However, the Samurai rolled out of the way and performed a leg sweep, causing the robot to be dropped on the ground as well. Not allowing him to get any breathing room, Jack kicked the sword away and held the bounty hunter down by his neck, punching him in the face repeatedly.

The bounty hunter eventually broke free and performed a backflip, landing a fair distance away from Jack. Eyeing his fallen sword, he decided against going to retrieve it, as he'd possibly end up as scrap parts. Instead, he rushed for Jack, who prepared to fling his whip at the bounty hunter again. However, the robot surprisingly closed the distance between them in seconds. Without missing a beat, he kicked the Samurai's weapon into the air and punched him in the face, sending him back, albeit still on his feet.

The whip had now begun to fall to the ground, with the bounty hunter catching it. Before he could make any use of it, Jack kicked him in the stomach, causing it to be dropped. The Samurai then attempted to damage him with a three-punch combo, although all of his hits were blocked. Suddenly, the bounty hunter headbutted Jack, with the man staggering back and letting out a cry of pain. Panting for a moment, he felt blood seeping out of the place where he got hit, with the robot letting a malicious smile grow on his face. Angered, the man let out a yell and attempted to strike the robot down with a kick aimed for his head.

Unfortunately, the bounty hunter has the same idea, as he fired back with a high kick of his own. Their kicks collided and the two dashed back from each other, with Jack only growing angrier and the bounty hunter becoming more smug. Letting out another yell, Jack attempted to hit his opponent with a heavy punch. However, the bounty hunter quickly hit Jack twice in the face before performing a roundhouse kick on the Samurai, knocking him back down to the snow covered ground.

"Oh no!" Ali whispered.

"Jack." Aki cried out quietly, not liking what she was seeing.

Out of all the Daughters, Ashi was the one who not only disliked what she was seeing immensely, but she also knew that something had to be done.

"Aki, Ali, Ami, Amori, Avi, Anzi!" She whispered, "We have to help Jack!"

"H… how?!" Avi whispered back.

Suddenly realizing that, Ashi quickly tried to think of something fast. Eyeing the ground, she noticed decently sized rocks hidden amongst the tuft of grass.

"I know!" Ashi said, grabbing them, "We'll throw it at that bounty hunter!"

"But… but, won't he see us?" Amori asked.

That was Ashi's second realization, with her peeking through the tuft of grass to see the bounty reacquire his sword. He soon walked over to a downed Jack and held his sword over his body.

"What was up today, Jack?" He asked, "Did you have the flu or something because you were really off your game!"

The man didn't reply, only preparing to retaliate once he made a move. However, the Daughters of Aku believed that he was done for.

"We have to help him, okay?!" Ashi said simply.

"Heh, I guess we'll never know." The bounty hunter said simply, "Nighty-night, Jack."

The Samurai was about to perform an evasive maneuver when he suddenly heard the ruffling off the tuft of grass that he had the girls hide in.

"Throw!" Ashi yelled, throwing her rock.

Confused by this, the bounty hunter then felt several rocks hit him in the face. Although this didn't do any damage, it made him immensely annoyed, with him turning his attention towards the Daughters of Aku.

"Yeah, that hurt a lot." He told them sarcastically, "You girls will get your turn to take me head on, just let me finish up with Samurai Dad over here!"

With the bounty hunter distracted, Jack quickly drew a throwing knife and stabbed him with it, exposing his circuitry underneath, before kicking him a fair distance away from him. Getting up, Jack grabbed his whip and entered a battle stance once more. Landing on the ground, the robot was back on his feet in a matter of seconds, although he staggered a bit and clutched his wounded area. However, he soon noticed the girls standing right out in the open and got an idea, albeit an extremely malicious one.

"Guess they don't know the meaning of hiding, huh Jack?" He asked, before running for them at lighting fast speeds.

Upon seeing the robot rush for them, the Daughters of Aku gasped in fear due to how fast he was heading for them, with a clear intent to murder.

"NO!" Jack cried out, being unable to stop him in any meaningful way, as his pistol was no longer with him.

Not knowing what to do, Ashi soon eyed Jack's fallen pistol on the ground and grabbed it, although she had no clear idea on what to do with it. With the bounty hunter growing closer by the millisecond, she had to do something fast. Trying to imitate Jack when he fired the pistol, Ashi pointed it at the robot's head and squeezed the trigger, shutting her eyes as she did so. Thankfully, when the pistol was thrown on the ground earlier, it caused slide to be moved back into its original position, which allowed it to be fired once more. The bounty hunter, not expecting for the gun to fire, suddenly felt something going through his head.

"ARGH!" He cried out, collapsing to the ground, right in front of the girls.

Seeing this happen, Jack hurried over to that spot. Upon firing the pistol and watching the bounty hunter collapse to the ground because of this, Ashi wasn't sure on what to think. The only thing she did after that was shakingly dropping the pistol on the ground and shivering. Making it over to the girls, the Samurai picked up his pistol and pointed it at the collapsed bounty hunter, making sure that he was down for good. Once that was done it, Jack leaned down and began checking over the girls to see if they were okay.

"Are you okay, Jack?" Ali asked.

"I am fine, don't worry." He replied, "What about you all?"

"We're okay…" Ashi whimpered.

"Ashi, what is wrong?" Jack questioned, concerned at how she was acting.

The girl didn't reply, only pointing at his gun and then at the robot, before lowering her head towards the ground.

"It's okay, you were only trying to protect yourself and your sisters, correct?" He asked her, speaking in a soft tone.

"Yes." She replied, although she didn't feel any better.

"I understand that you are all too young to make any sense of this." He added, "Despite how you're feeling right now, I will let you know that all these bounty hunters are just nuts and bolts."

"Nuts and bolts?" Anzi repeated.

"Yes." Jack told them, "There's no need to feel anything bad about you defending yourselves from him or any other bounty hunters that we may face, because of this."

The girls looked back up and upon hearing that, nodded, although Ashi continued to have a downcast expression. Jack realized that it'd be best to leave the area where the battle took place and as such, began guiding them back to their temporary shelter.

"Let's leave this place."

As Jack and the Daughters of Aku exited the forest, with him also taking the bounty hunter's sword for himself. However, a lingering doubt began to appear in his mind, with Jack doing his best to ignore it.

Later On, Unknown

Jack was unsure on where he was. The area he was in appeared to stretch on for miles, with no sign of a change of scenery even being remotely present. However, his goal was simply making it through the region alongside the Daughters of Aku. Unfortunately, his motorcycle was nowhere to be found, which forced them all to walk.

"Are we almost out, Jack?" Ami asked.

"I'm not sure." He replied, "Perhaps we only have to walk a little furt-"

Suddenly, a dark silhouette enveloped the Samurai and the girls.

"Long time, no see, Samurai…" A familiar voice uttered.

Shuddering in fear, Jack turned around to find his mortal enemy, Aku, towering over him. The girls, upon seeing the huge monstrosity, quickly and fearfully hid behind their guardian.

"A… Aku…" Jack stuttered.

"Yes, it is I, Samurai Jack." Aku replied sarcastically, "I am surprised that you remember!"

The man was getting increasingly unnerved by the laid-back attitude of his mortal enemy, which was made worse by the malicious grin on his face.

"I presume that you are wondering why I have finally have decided to make a reappearance, correct?" He smiled.

Jack gulped, knowing the exact reason why he was here, although he tried to deny it.

"Well, a little bird told me that "Samurai Jack has lost the only weapon in the world that can harm the mighty Aku"!" The Shogun of Sorrow laughed, "Fool! Now, I shall smite thee!"

"Jack… I'm scared!" Anzi cried out.

"Oh, what is this?!" Aku responded, upon hearing a child's voice.

Looking closely at the small figures behind the Samurai, the Shapeshifting Master of Darkness was able to make out seven small little girls in plant dresses, who were trembling at the sight of the him. The demon, unsure on what to think of this, soon let a evil smile grace his lips as he suddenly found out a way that he could hurt the Samurai besides brutally killing him on that spot.

"This is something I would not have expected!" He asked, "The Daughters of Jack! Bah, you girls should've known that your father isn't able to protect anyone! Let alone himself!"

Watching Aku glide closer to him, Jack panicked.

"Aku, please! Don't hurt them!" He pleaded, something very uncharacteristic of him.

Upon hearing this, Aku thought for a moment on if he should listen to the Samurai or not, as well as to give him some false hope that he would comply to his plead.

"Nah!" Aku replied, grinning maliciously.

Swatting Jack away like he was a mere bug, the demon turned his attention to the little girls, who were tearfully and fearfully huddled together. Grabbing them with his hands, he kept a tight grip on the girls as he brought them to his face.

"JACK!" They cried out in fear, amongst Aku's evil laughter.

The Samurai, shaking off the impact that his mortal enemy's swipe had on him, upon hearing the Daughters of Aku cry out for him, gained a panic-stricken expression on his face.

"NO!" He yelled out, running for Aku, "DON'T HURT THEM!"

Hearing that request only caused the demon to laugh even more than he already had been.

"Foolish Samurai! Why would I listen to you!" Aku asked mockingly, "After all, without your sword, no harm can come to I!" He reminded, grinning at what he would do next, "Now, let this be a reminder that no matter how hard you try, you can't save anyone!"

With that, Aku began squeezing the life out of the girls, causing them to let out deafening cries of pain and anguish.

The Real World

"AH!" Jack screamed, shooting up from his sleeping position.

Thankfully, that whole experience of Aku coming back and killing the Daughters of Aku in front of Jack's eyes was only a terrible nightmare. Nevertheless, he drew his pistol from its holster and scanned the cave that they were in for any threats. None were spotted and as such, Jack lowered his weapon and let out a sigh, turning his gaze towards the now asleep girls, who despite today's events, were having good dreams. Knowing how today's encounter ended up being too close for comfort, the Samurai reminded himself to take more drastic actions in case anymore bounty hunters made a surprise appearance such as the one that he fought today.

"Don't you think it's time to give them up?!"

Eyes widening, Jack looked to his side to see his hallucination standing there, with a angry expression on his face.

"Why?" He shot back.

"Why?! Have you forgotten what they've done today?!"

"They were only trying to help!"

"They acted like fools!" The hallucination replied, "Those children have no sense of self-preservation! They don't have any-"

"Why don't you be quiet?!"

"Jack?"

Hearing Ashi's voice, Jack looked at her and saw her concerned expression.

"What is it, Ashi?" He asked, pretending to act that everything was fine.

"Are… are you having a nightmare?"

"Um… no, I'm fine." Jack lied.

"But… you were-"

"Ashi, believe me. I'm okay." He told her, motioning her to go back to sleep, "I should be asking you about your state. Are you feeling a little better?"

"Yeah?"

"That is good to know." He replied, smiling and tucking her in, "I promise that your sadness about your actions today will go away soon. Just try to go to sleep again."

"Okay."

Ashi complied with Jack's request, closing her eyes and heading back to sleep. Jack, upon seeing her do so, realized that it'd be best if he did the same, in order to rest up for whatever laid ahead for him in the morning. The only thing he hoped for was that he didn't dream that same nightmare for the rest of time.

Chapter Five will be coming soon, I promise. Anyways, check back for more, chapters.