Intermission: Kyoto 1336
"Quick, round this way!"
Jack gestured and stopped just long enough to make sure Rose and the Doctor got ahead of him around the sharp corner. Too closely behind, a group of men were in hot pursuit; by their garb and the swords thrust into their belts, anyone in Kyoto could tell they were no ordinary city folk but the Shogun's personal guards. Though there were a few people still on the streets at this hour of the night, none dared to stand in the way of the Shogun's men.
"Not friends of yours, I gather?" Rose asked, breathless as they sprinted down narrow alleys, past low stone walls and paper-and-wood houses.
"Not anymore," the Doctor replied, "In here!"
He had found a courtyard door ajar and shoved the two humans in before entering himself. He shut the door and the three crouched behind the low wall, listening tensely for the guards.
"Takauji doesn't like foreigners, especially when they botch his negotiations for some very attractive war weapons to kill the emperor with," the Doctor explained in a low whisper.
"Who's Takauji?" Rose asked.
"Why'd you botch the negotiations?" Jack asked.
"Ashikaga Takauji. The Shogun. You're hitting the history books when we get back to the TARDIS," the Doctor chided Rose, then turned to Jack, "One of those machines would have wiped Japan off the map, not to mention crack the tectonic plates apart like so much eggshell."
"Aliens?" breathed Jack, as the sound of the footsteps grew louder.
The Doctor nodded. The footsteps grew louder yet, the sound of angry voices, and after an eternity, they receded. The three sighed in relief.
"Who are you? What are you doing in my front yard?"
A rotund woman stood at the front door of the house, brandishing a wicked looking cleaver. She took in their strangely coloured hair, their pale skin. And screamed.
"Out, out!"
The Doctor opened the door and ushered the other two out. By the sound of it, the guards had doubled back as well, hearing the screams. Jack led the way, turning corners and down alleys until Rose was entirely turned around. She had no idea where they were, and where they were going. Fortunately, Jack seemed pretty sure of their direction.
Miraculously, or so it seemed to Rose, they turned into a small alley and the TARDIS was there, waiting. They piled into the blue box, just as the guards turned the corner.
Gendai had been one of the samurai despatched to negotiate with the gaijin for the purchase of weapons that they could have used against the false emperor who had fled to the South. And this ika, Doctor, as he called himself, had ruined everything.
And here was the damned blue box again, that the Doctor had hidden himself into the last time.
Knowing it was useless, Gendai drew his wakizashi - the alley was too narrow for his katana - and slashed at the box. As he glumly expected, not a scratch marred the demon box, but his wakizashi was blunted. With a curse, he aimed a kick at the box.
Just as the TARDIS was dematerialising.
The other guards had retreated to the mouth of the alley when the TARDIS lit up, and were torn between horror, shock and mirth when they saw their boss fall flat on his back, after trying to kick something that was no longer there.
Gendai got up, rubbing his…hip. He hated that blue box.
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The kimono, to Jack's relief, was undamaged. He rushed off to Aranea's room to hang it up, as a surprise when she returned. It was light in colour, befitting a younger woman, and adorned with literally thousands of small butterflies of all colours that flocked together at the bottom of the kimono, but grew more sparse further up, until only a handful of brightly coloured wings decorated the shoulders and front.
He came back to see Rose laughing until he could no longer see her eyes. The Doctor had been telling her about his last encounter with Gendai, and why the samurai loathed the TARDIS so much.
"-finally, he ran right through the TARDIS, just as the old girl was dematerialising," the Doctor was saying, "barrelled right into a noblewoman's palanquin at the other end of the street. You should have heard her! She could have given your mom a run for her money!"
Rose gave the Doctor a mock glare, but the laughter bubbled through again quickly. Still floating on adrenaline, and almost giddy with relief that the kimono was all right, Jack joined in.
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The Doctor remembered that even though Jack had been standing right next to her, and he had been several feet away, it was towards him, and not Jack, that Rose reached out when the light came through the walls. As the light devoured everything - walls, console, column, Jack - he still saw clearly Rose's face, frightened and desperate. And her hand, reaching out for him.
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