A note from the Hime no Argh herself–
Loads of thanks and Aku plushies to those who have reviewed thus far, I really appreciate it. ^-^ In case I forgot a disclaimer earlier, as I tend to do, Samurai Jack and all related characters and concepts belong to Cartoon Network and Genndy with the last name I can't spell. Tartovsky? Is that it?
Here's the next chapter, enjoy!
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Chapter 3
Secrets
Jack joined Chisana and the emperor for a supper the likes of which he had never tasted. Hajime seated Jack at his right-hand side and seemed very keen on hearing the details of Jack's adventures. The samurai related the tales as best he could, and when he was finished, Hajime leaned back in his chair with a satisfied smile.
"Fascinating," the emperor murmured. "I am amazed that you have managed to elude Aku all this time. I would not want that one after my blood."
"I am not merely trying to elude him, Hajime-sama," Jack corrected. "When I find a way to return to my own time, I intend to destroy Aku for good."
"Do you really think that you can succeed with this plan?" Hajime inquired. "I thought time-travel was an impossible magic."
Jack became aware that Chisana's eyes were fixed on him in a strange, calculating manner. "If Aku could find a way, I can as well," he replied firmly, casting a glance at her, but she quickly looked away.
"If anyone can banish Aku's evil from this world, it is Jack the Samurai," Chisana said confidently. "Surely he will find a way, Father."
"Hm." Hajime watched his daughter for a moment, then sighed, shaking his head. "I grow weary of this effort to evade the evil of Aku. I am growing too old to be emperor here."
"You have some years left, Father," Chisana assured him quickly, but Jack said nothing. Something about Hajime's words struck him as odd, though he could not place what it was.
"My daughter should cease to worry about me and worry instead about finding herself a husband," Hajime was saying pointedly to Chisana. The princess's lips pursed tightly, and she excused herself soon after.
Hajime did not comment on his daughter's behavior. "Will you walk with me?" he offered instead to Jack, and the samurai obediently followed him through the gardens outside the palace.
"What think you of my city, samurai?" the emperor asked after they had walked in silence for a time.
"It is very beautiful," Jack replied honestly. "And so very well-protected."
"Indeed," Hajime agreed, and Jack thought he detected a note of amusement in the old man's tone. "Protected so since the city's birth, long before my time. I wonder what our ancestors saw fit to protect so fervently. Were they truly that frightened of Aku's wrath?"
"Aku destroyed Nippon," Jack pointed out, though he too wondered.
"So he did. And in three thousand years, Shangri-La has remained untouched." Hajime smiled wearily. "It makes me wonder when all our wards will fail at last, and Aku will have what he desires."
"What does Aku desire?" At last, Jack voiced the question that had been gnawing at him since his first meeting with Chisana. "Your daughter told me that his minions often seek this place. And..." Jack fell silent. He had his suspicions, but that was all they were. If Chisana was indeed hiding something, it was not his business to intervene.
Hajime merely shrugged his thin shoulders. "Perhaps it simply annoys him that a civilization such as ours should escape his grasp for so long." He rubbed his arms, looking toward the warm, welcoming lights of the palace. "The night is cold. I think I will go inside and have some wine. Will you join me, samurai?"
"Thank you, but no," Jack declined politely. "I would like to enjoy the fresh air for a while longer."
"To each their own," said the emperor dryly. He nodded to Jack and left.
Jack watched him go, then turned his eyes to the night sky. He watched the stars, momentarily wondering where Chisana had gotten herself to. Then he scolded himself mentally–it was not his business to run after that impossible woman like a nursemaid.
"How treachery pervades our golden city," whispered a low, cracked voice, interrupting Jack's thoughts. He started and stared, amazed, at the old oracle who stood just to his left in the shade of a cherry tree. Jack was very rarely caught by surprise.
"I did not hear you approach," he confessed, bowing. The old woman merely regarded him silently with her blind eyes, and Jack added uneasily, after a moment or two, "What do you mean about treachery?"
"Treachery," whispered the oracle again. "The most unlikely of candidates has betrayed Shangri-La to the darkness. You know I speak truth, samurai."
A chill that had nothing to do with the cold crawled up Jack's spine, and instinctively he gripped the hilt of his sword. "Who? Why would they do such a thing? What is this city hiding?"
"I suggest, Jack the Samurai, that you find Chisana. And when you do, ask her the meaning of the treasure of Shangri-La." The woman turned without another word and glided away.
"Of course," Jack said grimly. Keeping a hand on the hilt of the sword, he went to seek out the princess. It did not take long to find her; after searching around the garden for several minutes, the glimmer of gold caught his eye. Jack turned quickly to see a familiar silhouette through the window of a shrine in a corner of the garden, lit by flickering candlelight.
Stealthily he moved to the entrance of the shrine, his footsteps soundless on the lush grass. Peering inside, he saw Chisana kneeling in front of a painting of a woman surrounded by flowers and burning incense. She was mourning a dead ancestor, he realized.
"Chisana-Hime," he said quietly.
The princess jumped and looked back at him quickly, relaxing slightly when she saw who the intruder was. "Jack-san. You frightened me."
Jack took his hand off the sword, placed his palms together, and bowed in respect to the deceased. "Forgive me. I did not mean to disturb you here."
"It is fine. Will you come in?" The way she looked at him told Jack she suspected something was wrong. She made no comment on the matter, however, as he stepped into the shrine, stooping slightly to avoid brushing against the low ceiling. "I was just paying my respects to my mother."
That explained something, Jack thought as he looked closer at the woman in the painting. He could see now that Chisana was the spitting image of her lovely mother, right down to the sparkle of mischief in their matching black eyes. "You take after her perfectly," he informed Chisana.
She smiled. "Everyone tells me so. I am afraid I will soon meet the same fate as her, as well."
"What fate is that?"
"Marriage," Chisana said unhappily, turning to gaze at her mother's face. "My father is adamant in his plan to marry me off before I succeed the throne."
"Are women allowed to rule in Shangri-La?" Jack asked curiously.
"It is not forbidden by law, but it has rarely occurred throughout the generations. I have been trying to convince my father to let me become the sole ruler of Shangri-La, but he will not listen." Chisana traced her mother's face with a finger. "The oracle told me that my mother was a free spirit, just like me. Then she married my father, and was never the same. Of course, it is improper for a woman to run about like a child when she is married. Still...she was not even a noble's daughter. No, she was the daughter of a merchant. For what did my father marry her? I still do not understand." She sighed, shaking her head. "She would have done better in a different household."
"Are you so certain?" Jack asked quietly.
"I am," said Chisana sadly. "Have you ever seen an animal die in a cage, because it so misses the freedom it once knew? That was my mother's fate. She died in a cage, like an animal."
There was a silence.
"I wish I were a man," Chisana said suddenly, passionately. "Then I could live the life of a samurai, like you. Of course, I would not," she added as an afterthought. "There is Shangri-La to think about, after all. My kingdom is far more important than these silly childlike thoughts." She stood, brushing dust from her kimono, and turned to Jack with a smile. "I will simply have to make due with what I am dealt. Shangri-La must be put ahead of my desires."
Jack stepped back to let her pass as she walked purposefully out of the shrine, wondering how he–and the oracle–could possibly have mistaken Chisana for the one who would betray Shangri-La. Then Jack realized, with a start, that the old woman had never cited Chisana as the traitor at all–she'd merely suggested that Chisana was hiding something, as Jack suspected all along.
"Chisana-Hime," Jack said, striding after her through the garden, "what is the treasure of Shangri-La?"
Chisana stopped dead in her tracks. Slowly she turned back to stare at him, wide-eyed. "How do you know about that?"
"The oracle told me. That is, she told me to ask you about it," Jack added, always precise. He regarded her seriously for a moment. "I suspected you were hiding something, but I did not want to pry into your business. However, this treasure sounds dangerous. I hope you will not keep it a secret any longer."
Chisana pursed her lips, and Jack was sure that she was doing some fast thinking. After a moment or two she seemed to arrive at a decision. "Come," she ordered, suddenly businesslike. "We are going to see the oracle."
Jack blinked. "Why?" he asked, following her as she strode purposefully through the garden.
"My mother...knew much about the treasure," Chisana said hesitatingly. "And the oracle knew much about my mother. She can surely tell you more than I can."
Jack sighed. "You women are leading me in circles."
Chisana glanced back at him, and her pearly teeth flashed in a grin. "I hope you can keep up, samurai."
The princess led him to a part of the garden he'd never seen, in the southeast corner near the wall surrounding the palace. It was obvious that this part of the garden had not been tended for years–shrubs grew unchecked, twisting about each other in thorny tangles, and the branches of stately old trees stretched overhead in a green curtain, blotting out the night sky.
Crawling through the brambles was not an easy task. Chisana let Jack take the lead so that he could hack away at branches that reached out to snag on their clothes, thorns tearing into their skin. Finally they reached a small hollow in the shrubs in which a single hut lay, smoke trailing from its chimney. Jack reached back to seize Chisana's hand and pull her to her feet, and they both gazed about the hollow.
"Is this where the oracle resides?" Jack asked in amazement.
Chisana touched a bleeding cut on her cheek, licked another on the back of her hand. "This is her home, yes. She prefers solitude."
As they approached the door of the hut it swung open, revealing the oracle in the threshold, leaning upon a gnarled wooden cane. "Welcome to my home, Chisana-Hime and Jack-san. I have been expecting you. Come in."
They followed the oracle back into her hut. The ceiling was so low that Jack was forced to hunch over, and even Chisana's head brushed the ceiling just slightly. The oracle offered Jack a chair, taking a seat in the other one beside a rough wooden table.
"Chisana-Hime may have it," said Jack politely, whose back was already beginning to ache.
Chisana shook her head in protest. "I am fine, you take it–"
"Oh, by the gods," the oracle said wearily. She grabbed Jack's arm and dragged him into the chair with surprising strength. "There, now you do not resemble a hunchback."
"That is good," Jack said weakly.
"Now then." The oracle crossed her hands over the knot of her cane and regarded them both with her white, milky eyes. "What may I tell you?"
"What is the treasure of Shangri-La?" Jack demanded instantly.
The oracle smiled. "As I expected. Well, then." Her eyes shifted to Chisana. "What have you told him, princess?"
"Nothing," Chisana said firmly. "I thought it best to leave the explaining to you."
"Very well." The oracle regarded Jack in silence for a moment. Finally she spoke.
"We in Shangri-La have a legend. One day our ruler will come to us, the one who shall be the greatest in a long line of emperors and empresses. This ruler will lead our people to great prosperity. Shangri-La shall grow, until it is not a city cowering in fear of Aku's wrath, but an empire that can match powers with the great demon himself, and win!"
"How?" Jack asked blankly.
The oracle leaned forward, her weight supported by her cane. "All through the power of our ruler. He–or she–alone will possess the power of the treasure of Shangri-La."
"Which is?" Jack and Chisana asked together.
"The mahou seishin."
There was a brief silence. Then Jack said slowly, "A magical spirit? These things exist?"
"Of course they do. They have existed throughout the ages. People have called them fairies, Di' Jinn, genies–it matters not. They all possess the same power." The oracle's voice lowered. "All have the power to grant the desires of their masters. That is the treasure that lies beneath Shangri-La."
Jack stared at Chisana. He could see clearly from her open-mouthed surprise that she had not expected something of this caliber any more than he.
"Y-you are saying," Chisana stammered, "that this mahou seishin can grant its master anything it desires?"
"Yes," said the oracle.
"All the power in the world? It can give that?"
"Yes."
"All the wealth and riches?"
"Yes."
"Life? Death? It can give these things?"
"It can give its master anything," the oracle insisted. "Imagine it. Imagine having such power at your fingertips. You could rule the entire universe, if that is what you desired. You could have anything, anything at all, at your command."
Chisana and Jack stared at her, speechless, unable to even imagine it.
"Now," the oracle said, very seriously, "can either of you think of someone who desires such power?"
It was Jack who answered with a single word, feeling cold sweat roll down his back.
"Aku."
* * *
Continued in Chapter 4.