Kenshin and Jack did not emerge from the barn until they were absolutely certain of their safety. As they slowly swung the door open, they were greeted with a scent of loss and defeat, though the gentle winds that blew in got rid of the foul odor. After getting only one sniff of the stink, everything else was a relief. It smelled like grass and ripe wheat again, a deep, rich, and earthy smell that could be inhaled like wine could be drunk and intoxicate the senses.

There was also silence, since the leaping insects of the field were the only ones who held dominance. The sky above was blue with long streaks of white softly scarring it; the ground resembled a very sleepy old man, yawning with years and experiences that were piling on his back yet merrily smiling and waiting to see what else would be added to the pile. The prints of the man that they had encountered were either lost or too faint to see, as wrinkles become obscured in an elder's features. So, without anything to follow and little to do save go forward, Kenshin and Jack did exactly this.

"He's gone," said Kenshin, though Jack wasn't quite sure if he really spoke to him. "Well… then I guess that's that. There isn't anything we can really do, and I'm not one to wait for someone to strike first, that I'm not."

"I agree," replied the slightly-older samurai. "A wise man once said that a blade of grass in the wind is more difficult to catch than one in the ground. We should be moving if we are to avoid detection, but not to find our enemy. I do not believe that these are the type of people who can be easily hunted."

"…No," agreed Kenshin flatly. "That they most certainly are not. Well, Jack, as I am a wanderer, I will continue as such and see where the roads take me."

"And I, as a fellow wanderer, will follow the same path." Kenshin smiled, and both he and his companion set out on the road, their only destination being the horizon before them. The one true perk of a drifter like them was that their destination was wherever their travels took them--they didn't know where they were going until they got there. Needing the safety of the open road anyway, they set out and distanced themselves from the town.

5: Where There is Smoke--The Two Samurai Begin Their Journey

The Japanese countryside was beautiful. The flat grassy lands that Jack had passed through slowly gained dimension as the two warriors wandered down a path that only they had constructed. At first, the land slowly dipped down into bowl-like valleys and rose up again into tiny dome-shaped hills, like a big emerald blanket that had been ruffled and tossed a little. Then, the mountains rose up in the distance, slowly and timidly at first, but a few were mighty and imposed as sentinels and guardians to the left and right of the warriors.

Sometimes, the grasses would fade and bodies of water would overtake them. The bodies sometimes made tiny lakes where the valleys were especially low, or some trickled down the emerald pathway as streams, making their own path as liquid wanderers. There were snakes of water branching off into many tributaries, some of them truly resembling the twigs of trees as they jutted here and there, descending down from a source on higher ground. A large pond, big enough to have fish in it (none bigger than their hands, probably), greeted them casually as they waded through a different kind of sea.

The grass sometimes became watery and thick, soaking the samurais' kimonos as they pushed through the reeds and went around marshes. Frogs and cranes came out as the addition to the presence of the flying crickets, some of them dining on their fellow choral members as they added their own groaning and wailing melodies. A braap would come up every often, or a kyee as bird and amphibian splashed through the waters. The sst-sst-sst sound of grasshoppers was a delightful background instrument, and coupled with the gush of water, it made a beautiful song that could never be heard nor replicated anywhere else.

Through more marshes, and past the grasses, Kenshin and Jack sometimes came across flat areas of rock where no plants could grow. At first, the land was level and bland, grayed with the neutrality of stone, but soon even this began to take shape, though not in curves or waves like the grass had. These dimensions were sharper, more jagged, almost foreboding in a sense, and not quite as enjoyable to cross. Both Kenshin and Jack had years of experience as wanderers under their belts (some would even say the experience was on their sandals), so they didn't mind crossing rocks or anything else. Besides, it was a part of nature, and a welcome change from town life.

The two samurai wandered through the beautiful and ever-changing countryside of Japan for the better part of the day, making little conversation and resting whenever they found a good supply of food. Fish (or the occasional roebuck) provided them with a variety of foodstuffs, and when it looked as if evening would fall at last (and the moon came out of hiding to show its haunted, pale face at the world once again), they decided to sleep out under the stars. It was a welcome change for Jack, who had almost gotten used to sleeping in a filthy Aku-infested city.

With a fire lit and some small fish frying next to it, both samurai kept silence to themselves as they stared at the dancing flames. They both had a habit of dreaming monotonously into a roaring fire, and if anybody else were there instead, they would have pressed them to go ahead and rest. Truth be told, Kenshin and Jack were very similar, and did not need much conversation at all to know what the other was thinking. Eventually, though, Jack crawled away from the fire and rested first, since he had been deprived of sleep the most. Kenshin stayed up for an extra five minutes before nodding off himself.

Jack and Kenshin woke up refreshed, but a burning smell in the air stirred them to concern. There was a scent of smoke spreading out from somewhere; perhaps the east since the wind was blowing from that direction. Both samurai knew the odor well, and gave each other a wary look as they recognized it as the kind of smoke produced by a large fire.

"Do you smell that?" asked Jack. Kenshin nodded his head.

"It's too powerful to come from a single source, that it is. There's lots of smoke in the air…" Just as they were contemplating what the cause of pollution was, a person leaped up from the distant horizon and ran towards them, screaming and flailing their arms desperately. Both samurai ran to catch up with him, and arrived just as the poor exhausted man fainted from weariness.

"Are you okay? What is the matter?" asked Jack. The man was too busy wheezing and sputtering out nonsensical words to make any sense.

"Town… fire… town… fire… came… fast… fire… help…"

"There's a town on fire?!" Kenshin tensed suddenly and sharply as he heard the dreadful news. "Where is it? What caused it?"

"There!" yelled the man, pointing a shivering finger behind him. Kenshin stood to his full height and peered over the horizon, faintly making out a thin pillar of black smoke puffing out of the distance.

"I see it!" he exclaimed. "Jack, will you come with me and help? I can't just stand here and let people get hurt!"

"I understand; I will help you." Jack knelt down and picked the exhausted man up off the ground, and turned around to follow Kenshin as the younger man sprinted for the burning town. Jack hated to be lagging behind, but there was still a person in need, and until they recovered, he had to help them along at a slow pace.

"No, go ahead without me," sighed the wear man after a few steps. "I'll be okay. I just need to rest. You and the other one go ahead and see if you can help us. We would be forever in your debt if you could!"

"Are you sure?" asked an uncertain samurai. The weary man nodded his head.

"Yeah. I'll be okay." Jack pursed his lips, and reluctantly left the man behind as he sprinted after his new friend. The two samurai might have been in the middle of evading three deadly assassins, but that didn't mean that they couldn't help other people out.

The town drew closer and the smoke became larger as the two samurai ran nearer and nearer to the cause of distress. Kenshin tried to keep calm as he leaped over the hills and the rocky surfaces, but he couldn't help but think of how many people were suffering already. It took him back to a cruel part of his life, in which he had been the one to cause the fires, and to slaughter those who tried to escape, and to lay waste to whole villages…

The life of Battousai was cruel, but Kenshin the wanderer willingly sought redemption for his acts by replacing what was destroyed and saving what was in grief. Helping a town quench the deadly flames would almost seem as if he had never started any at all, or at least not one, and though no deed could ever wipe clean the slate of his past, a life spent healing injuries was better than a life spent doing nothing.

Samurai Jack, not far away from Kenshin's trail, had no reason to seek redemption or fight to make yp for past sins. His was the path that had always been straight and true, never at war except against the truest evil to ever live, and freed from the hollow feeling of murder that Kenshin sometimes felt. No, Jack fought because it was the right thing to do, because no person should experience grief, and that any help given would be received well--and perhaps another step towards his ultimate goal would be made.

So they both ran for the town, which was not entirely ablaze. When they came within the outskirts of the village, they noticed that one very large building was the source of the blaze, and half of the problem was all the chaos going on around it. People screamed and ran around mindlessly, makeshift firefighting teams were throwing buckets of water onto an immense blaze, and shrieks from inside the building told horrible stories of people still trapped inside.

"This is bad," muttered Kenshin to himself as he arrived. In all the confusion, nobody heard or even noticed him; they were all lost in the anarchy. Jack arrived a few minutes later, gasping for breath and asking what was happening. He got his answer when he heard the scream of a child come from the building.

"There are still people trapped inside!" he shouted. Acting quickly, the samurai ran as fast as he could to the nearest well, and hoisted up a bucket of water. He quickly doused himself and bravely dove into the blaze. Kenshin caught onto what Jack was doing, and splashed himself down before following. Inside the house, the breath of Hell greeted the two samurai as the doorway burped out more flames and smoke to bar their way.

Shielding their faces with their arms, the two samurai quickly studied as much of the house as possible. Practically everything was on fire, from the stairway that led to the upper levels to the rafters and beams that kept the house up. Burning planks of wood fell like meteors, smashing into the ground and narrowly missing the samurai. Sparks and cinders poured down on their dripping clothes like droplets of rain, burning tiny holes into their cloth. Smoke fogged their eyes and their lungs, the flames burned their bodies, and the only thing that kept them in there was the scream they had heard earlier.

"Up there!" shouted Kenshin, looking into the highest levels. He spotted two children on the very top floor, holding close together and wailing. Jack saw them, and also spotted a middle-aged man who had been trapped under a piece of wood. An elderly woman was paralyzed somewhere on the stairs, several older children were desperately trying to find the exit, and one lone dog barked for his freedom.

"We'd better split up," suggested Jack. Kenshin agreed, and darted straight for the kids while Jack jumped up the building to find the children. Bounding up in a quick zigzag fashion, the white-robed samurai easily jumped in front of the children, startling them briefly.

"Do not worry, it is safe now," he told them, slowly reaching out for them. Sniffling and crying, the children reluctantly approached the stranger.

"Who're you?"

"I am here to take you to a safe place," replied Jack. The kids smiled softly, and grabbed hold of the samurai as he hugged them close. Jack nimbly leaped down the building in the same way he came up, narrowly ducking past a falling rafter. He gently shoved the children out the door, and went in search for others. Meanwhile, Kenshin was prying the heavy lumber that had fallen on the middle-aged man's leg, freeing him with a great push.

"Can you walk?" he asked softly. The man could barely move without groaning.

"Urgh… no… I think my leg's busted. But thank the heavens you two came along! Are the children all right?" Kenshin had seen Jack's act of heroism, and gave the man a warm smile.

"Yes, they are, now please come with me." The man gingerly supported himself on Kenshin's shoulder, and held on tight as he was dashed down to the main level and out the door. A crowd had gathered outside ever since the two daringly dashed in, and gave Kenshin a cheer as he presented them with another villager.

"Ah, Rendo! You're okay!" they shouted as the wounded man joined them. The men gave Kenshin faces of vulnerable desperation, asking, "How many more are in there?"

"An elderly woman, three children, and a dog," he told them. A few of the women cried out as they realized that the missing people were their children, and beseeched Kenshin to hurry up. Not wasting a moment, he rushed back in and searched for the remnants. Jack had kept himself occupied during that time; after diving back into Hell, the ceiling began to cave in severely, and large chunks of debris fell in his path. He quickly rolled away from the biggest pieces and let the little bits fall as they may; his goal was the children on the ground floor.

A great wall of flame surrounded three pre-teenage kids, all of them huddled together. Jack saw their horrified faces, begging for help, but as soon as he took a step towards the ring, it exploded even brighter and rose higher into the house, becoming hotter and more impossible to blast through. Jack shielded himself from the belch of fire, the screams of the children horrifying him. Thinking quickly, he looked through his surroundings and noticed that pieces of the ceiling were still caving in. He then got an idea.

"Stay there!" he told them, then he ran off and looked up directly at the ceiling of the house, which was almost completely gone. He spotted the fires licking away at a rather large board, and waited with anxious patience for it to fall. Precious seconds mercilessly drained away (like so much dust coming down from above) as he waited, but his patience was rewarded with a proud crack. A huge portion of the ceiling came crashing down, and this was where Jack drew his sword and split the object in two.

Quickly, he carried both halves of the destroyed ceiling with him, running back towards the desperate children. With a mighty toss, he slammed the pieces of the ceiling onto the flames, flattening them and creating a brief passage for the kids.

"Now!" he shouted, and not one of the three wasted a second. As he ushered them through the brief hole in the flames, he could see Kenshin running back in for the elderly woman and the dog, and gave his fellow wanderer a wave of victory. Kenshin mirrored it with a smile, scrambling out of the way of falling wood as he made his way for the stairs. An old woman, sweet and kind but very scared, was trapped on a small plateau that was normally connected by two stairways, but now both paths had burned away. Kenshin pursed his lips for a second before calling out to her.

"Stay calm! I'm coming up!" The wanderer lifted himself up and vaulted onto her level, landing in front of her with a thump.

"Ooh! Oh my! That was quite a jump!" Kenshin gave her a chuckle, and suddenly squealed out as a falling flame touched his hair. He frantically screamed and tried to slap the fires away, but only succeeded in embarrassing himself and entertaining the woman. "Gracious," she sang, "you're quite energetic, eh?"

"I really don't think this is the time for polite conversation, that I don't!" he yelled frantically. The samurai in red briefly ignored the fire in his hair and scooped the old woman up in his arms. Carefully, he jumped back down to the surface, but came to an impossibly sharp halt as a large piece of timber crashed down right in front of him. Kenshin was absolutely petrified as he barely escaped being smashed and burned, but the old lady wasn't so shaken.

"Well, what are you standing around for? The blasted thing missed you by a mile! Go on, the door's right over there!" Kenshin let out a comical laugh, rubbed his smoking head, and wondered at the bravery of the old woman. He speedily ran through the house and set her down on the floor, amidst cheers of the townspeople.

"Oh no, Koroku's still in there!" shouted a young girl, pointing at the house. Both Kenshin and Jack looked back at the inferno, and could barely hear the sound of a pup yipping. The poor girl wailed uncontrollably, "Koroku, Koroku, nooo! My puppy!!" The villagers tried to calm the grieving girl as Kenshin and Jack looked at each other. They were tired, weary, hot, smoking, and they were finding it difficult to breathe. There was only a dog in there, inside the raging storm of fire and flames, a simple little dog lost somewhere in Hell.

So, of course they went back in for it.

"Where is it?" blurted Jack as he and Kenshin slipped inside the house. "It was right here a few seconds ago! It could not have gone far!" Kenshin hastily scanned the area for any signs of the dog, and spotted something wiggling on the second floor.

"Look! Up there!" Jack looked and saw the dog whimpering in fright, and both he and Kenshin dove towards it. An eruption of flame surrounded them, and with a great explosion, the entire house became washed with fire, and smoke, and the devilry of Hades…

----------

The anticipation outside was only matched by the dread. Everyone gathered in front of the burning house was stunned, and could only watch with frail hope as they waited for the two unknown heroes to emerge… or to be consumed by the flames. The children, the kids, the middle-aged man, and the feisty elderly woman carefully observed the house, especially the door, in which they knew, they knew that their saviors would emerge from. They had to. Any person noble enough to face flames for a girl's puppy had to come out alive…

The girl in particular watched closest, her hope the frailest out of all of theirs. She had been stuck in that building as well, but was whisked away by a brave and handsome samurai warrior, just like in the stories. She never believed that they would fail, although she was stricken with sadness because some small shred of doubt remained. Slowly, she could make out the image of two men appear in the doorway in the house, and with a gasp, she recognized them.

Samurai Jack emerged first, his gi blackened and burned, and every square inch of his skin as smoggy as soot. He wearily stood over a younger man, crouching down with something wrapped in his arms. The girl laughed for joy as she saw her puppy being cradled in Kenshin's arms, safe and sound and excited to see her again. She ran towards her dog with a shout, crying and laughing at the same time until she gave her dog, and Kenshin, a hug.

"You got my doggy! You got my doggy! Yaaaaaay!" Kenshin laughed with her, his face hopelessly covered with soot and smoke, and the entire town surrounded them in celebration. The younger samurai eventually stood up, giving the dog to the girl so she could squeeze him instead, and gave Jack a warm smile.

It was a pretty good way to end the afternoon.