Author's Note

I lied! Sort of. I'm back with another chapter of Jack and The Reunion!

So sweet, it'll rot your teeth!

Jack and The Reunion

Chapter 6:

Epiphany

Synonyms: realization, surprise

They had been at the Scotsman's castle for a little over a week now, awaiting an even larger reunion. Creatures from all over the world, allies that Jack had picked up along his journey, were gathering here to plan and execute a full-scale assault on Aku. And even though the threat was looming, the ominous day drawing ever closer, Jack couldn't have felt more relaxed.

The castle, as loud and unruly and rowdy as it was, proved the closest both Jack and Ashi had ever come to experiencing peace. They were safe and sheltered, warm and well-fed. They became closer to the band of Scots, developing friendships. Their muscles, so used to being tensed in stress, relaxed as they laughed deep into each night.

Not to mention, the relationship between the samurai and the assassin had deepened. They had become closer than ever before, even more inseparable than when the two first showed up. To outsiders, they could see an ease, a comfort between the two. Young love, no doubt. In private, they were intimate, and not just physically. Jack whispered stories of his past. Ashi began to open up about her own.

The Scotsman, all of his teasing aside, was so happy for them he could have punched something. He did punch something. Jack. He punched Jack.

Flora dropped a large stack of books down onto the table with a resounding thud. Ashi had to crane her neck to the side to see her friend behind them.

"This is... light reading?"

"Aye, lass. You'll find everything you've ever wanted to learn in here! History, religion, customs, even Celtic Magic! But don't worry yourself, I'll make sure to take you through the good parts."

Jack watched the two of them from halfway across the room, smiling and laughing at each other, as Flora taught Ashi how to read in the ancient language of her people.

"Our girls have gotten mighty close the past few days, eh?" The Scotsman said, putting his mug down before him.

"Yes. It is good to see her make friends. She looks happy."

"I noticed you two becoming a might close as well."

"Yes," he replied, not really paying attention. He continued admiring her.

The Scotsman rolled his eyes, this becoming an all too frequent occurrence.

"Jackie, you gotta stop staring at her like that. Some might mistake you for a predator."

He hummed and nodded his head.

"I love her."

A long silence stretched between them as his words settled.

"Wha?" The Scotsman was aghast.

Jack's eyes widened at his admission. He felt embarrassed but also, somewhat relieved? It surprised him how easy it was to say the words aloud.

The Scotsman, on the other hand, felt a rush of excitement. "A week ago, you'd barely budge on the word 'companion' and now you say you're in love?"

He nodded again, slowly, almost reluctantly. "Yes, I suppose. I think I have been for quite some time. But we've just been so busy. There is always some imminent threat. Always a fight. I have not had time to... process all of this."

Jack turned to the Scotsman, a confused look on his face. "This has never happened before."

The Scotsman sniffed and threw his arms about his friend, loudly sobbing into his shoulder. "I'm so proud of you laddie."

Jack squirmed beneath the Scotsman's grasp, reaching up to awkwardly pat his shoulder. Ashi saw the two and raised an eyebrow in question. Jack held his hands up and shrugged, preferring to play the fool.

The Scotsman sniffed again, wiping spectral shadows of tears from his cheeks.

"So then, when'll you be tying the knot?"

Jack's head tilted, having heard the phrase before, yet unfamiliar with its meaning. The Scotsman spoke slowly. "Tying the knot. Getting hitched?"

Still, no response.

The Scotsman smacked his friend on the shoulder. "Ain't you ever been to a wedding before?"

"A wedding?" Jack's eyes widened, cheeks tinted red. Then he frowned. "Wait. A week ago, you told me that I needed to address my feelings with her. Which I have not yet done. And now you are telling me to marry her?"

"That's the natural order of things, isn't it?" The Scotsman barked, his accent growing thicker in his excitement. "You meet a gal, you fall in love, you marry her, and you fill your castle with little ones. It's a dream come true!" Then he paused.

"Wait! You haven't told her yet? What in blazes are you waiting for?"

"I... nearly told her. When we were in the ship. We almost lost our lives." He quieted, remembering the feeling. "But it did not seem appropriate."

"What! That's exactly the time to," the Scotsman trailed off with an aggravated grunt. "Well, what's your excuse now?"

Jack shrugged, looking increasingly nervous. "I have just not found the right time to..."

The Scotsman interrupted, sputtering. "Haven't found the right...! Have you lost your brain again? The two of you have been shacking up all week! When was the last time either of you slept alone?"

The samurai flushed, suddenly not wanting to talk anymore.

"I have half a mind to bring her over here right now; tell her myself, if I have to."

"No!" Jack called out hastily. He sunk into his seat and folded his arms, avoiding his friend's eyes. "I'm," he muttered, "scared."

The pair lapsed into silence.

"What if something happens? This battle with Aku, I feel it is our final. But... what if I fail? What if she gets hurt? What if I..." Jack quieted, not willing to say the words.

"So," the Scotsman deadpanned, "you want to risk getting killed without telling your woman how you really feel about her? What a way to go, eh?" He said it more as a statement than a question. Jack opened his mouth to retort but shut it almost immediately. He looked like he was having an epiphany.

The Scot sighed. "Dunderhead." He lifted a heavy hand to the samurai's back. "Not that you have to worry about that, of course. We're gonna string up Aku like a skinned cat." Jack winced at the image.

"Just ask her to marry you. I don't think you'll be disappointed with her answer."

"But," he replied, his eyes finding her across the room. "Wouldn't that be... rash? We have not been in the same company for very long."

"Ha! Are you kidding?" he laughed, lightening the mood. "I asked my wife to marry me the night we met!"

"You did?" Jack was surprised. Well, not that surprised. His friend was nothing if not to the point.

"Aye. I remember it like it was yesterday. A beauty I had never known the likes of before. And a tongue sharp as a whip. I was hopeless."

"And... she agreed? So soon?"

"Hell no! She called me a scrawny pantywaist who could benefit from a few push ups before ever speaking to her again! But I couldn't get her sweet, blue eyes out of my thoughts. I pursued her for two years before she finally gave me the time of day."

"Two years?" Jack looked over at Ashi hesitantly. She happened to look back. The look they gave each other could be mistaken for nothing else than raw infatuation.

"Though by the look of it," the Scotsman spoke up. "I doubt you'll be waiting more than two minutes to get her to agree to it."

Jack continued looking at Ashi for a few more moments before turning away.

"You are right. She should know the truth of my feelings for her. I will tell her tonight."

The Scotsman winked. "Atta boy."

Jack looked into his friend's eyes fondly. "Thank you. For your hospitality and your advice. I am honored to have such a friend. How can I ever repay you?"

"Someone once told me that friends carry no debts."

Jack smiled. "Yes."

"I'm so full."

Jack sighed in amusement. It must have been the fifth time she had said it on their brief walk.

The sky had darkened, dusk having nearly taken away the last glimmers of the sun. Chunky clouds filled the sky, thick like oil paint on a dry canvas. The last rays of the sun danced across the surface of the lake, glittering in its recession.

The two sat on a bed of grass before the lake to watch the magnificent scene of nature. Ashi laid her head on Jack's shoulder and sighed in contentment. Jack leaned into her touch, resting his cheek on her hair.

The two sat in comfortable silence, listening to the subtle shifts in sound as the day drifted into night. The buzzing of bees was silencing, the chirps of crickets burgeoning. Jack smiled to himself. The atmosphere was perfect.

"Ashi?" She hummed in response, not lifting her head.

"There is something I want to tell you."

"What's that?" her voice had taken on a near sleepy quality.

He took a deep breath in to steady himself. He knew what he wanted to say. He had mulled over the words for hours after his conversation with the Scotsman. He was ready. He opened his mouth to speak but became distracted by a low, droning noise.

A lone bee, rare to see this time of night, buzzed between them. Ashi waved her hand in front of her to shoo it away. Jack watched as the insect lingered, landing on her shoulder. She jumped slightly.

"Be still," he whispered, swatting it away gently and watched it fly away from them. Jack laughed to himself.

"Hopefully the insect will let us bee." Ashi groaned. He laughed again. Quite loudly.

"Get it? Let us bee, because," he trailed off, snickering to himself like an idiot.

"Oh, no, I get it," she said with an eye roll and a lopsided grin.

"You are such a dork," she laughed, echoing words from their host's daughters. "Sometimes I can't believe I've fallen for you."

His laughter died out almost immediately. His thoughts slowed to a crawl. Did she just? Ashi's eyes widened larger than the pool of the lake. Everything seemed to stand still.

"I mean, what am I saying? That was one of the best jokes I've ever heard! You've really got a talent for humor. You know what? I just remembered." She removed himself from his shoulder and started to stand.

"I left something in my room. It's pretty important. I'll just run and grab it, I'll see you later then? Alright." She finished her rambling as fast as she could. Her mind screamed at her. Get out of here!

"Wait!" His hand reached out and grabbed hers before she could move away any further. This was not how he imagined this scene unfolding. He knew what he wanted to say to her. But to actually hear it from her first. It shocked him.

"No one has ever... I mean, not since I was a child," he whispered. She removed her hands from his, frightened. Jack stood up and faced her. His eyes bore into her. It was relentless. Suffocating. She didn't know what to do.

"Ashi. Do you really?" His voice was quiet, hopeful. Ashi looked at him, her eyebrows knitted together in anxiety. She opened and closed her mouth, the words never coming out. She felt dizzy. She had never felt anything like this before.

"Please. Say it."

Her mouth was dry. She tried swallowing to ease her discomfort.

"Please."

Her voice cracked. "I love you."

"Marry me."

"What?" she gasped, not certain if she'd heard correctly.

"Marry me," he said again, more firmly. He grabbed her hand again, his heart was racing. "I am so sorry. I know this is sudden but you must understand." He found the words came easier to him than he anticipated.

"You mean so much more to me than you know. I owe you everything," he trailed off, placing his other hand on her cheek. Ashi's eyes filled. He felt his own eyes prick with tears as he echoed her words from so long ago. "The hope you gave me saved my life."

Tears slipped from her eyes.

"For everything you are, for who I am when I am with you, I love you."

"Jack," she whispered. She couldn't think of anything else to say. So she acted.

Their lips met hurriedly. Jack thought his chest was going to burst. He was holding her in his arms. The woman he loved. The clever, curious, and stunningly stubborn woman. He loved her. And she loved him, too.

The pair split apart and Jack's thumb began wiping the tears from her eyes. Ashi's eyes remained screwed shut, her breathing shuddering as she began to cry harder. She buried her face in the chest of his gi and wept until her shoulders shook. Jack wiped the tears from his own eyes before embracing her.

Emotions she had never been allowed to feel were suddenly unlocked. Tears she had been forbidden to shed now streamed freely. He held her tightly as her knees gave out, sinking them both to the ground. Every struggle, every hardship had led them to this point. The sensation was breathtaking.

She cried for Jack, who's past had been so tiring, so lonely. She cried for her sisters, such brief lives of sorrow, who had no future and would never experience anything like this. And finally, she cried for herself. For how cold the world once felt. She never knew the concept of love. She didn't think she was capable of feeling it.

But now she was here, in the present, being held by her bright and shy and fearless warrior. He wasn't the only one who felt that he owed her his life. She had been given a second chance at it, thanks to him.

Jack looked down at her with worry. He shifted their positions so that she was seated in his lap and softly stroked her hair. His mind receded, thinking back to his darkest moment when he was ready to end his own life in disgrace. She had saved him.

"I love you."

He thought of when he'd been incapacitated in the effort to find his sword and how he had been attacked. She had saved him.

"I love you."

He thought of being trapped in that ship, yelling out for cover as he worked to figure out the only weapon that could help them. She had saved him. The swelling in his heart continued to grow.

"I love you," he whispered, again and again and again.

Ashi's cries had finally calmed, giving way to something that almost sounded like laughter. She brought her head up, but not enough to look him in the eye, and wiped the moisture from her face. Jack assisted her, tilting her chin up and caressed her under eye with the pads of his fingers. His hand trailed down to settle on her cheek. Ashi grabbed his hand, leaning into it but averted her gaze, embarrassed with her outburst.

"I'm so sorry," she sniffed, a genuine, watery laugh escaped her now. "That's probably not the right response to something like that, is it?"

"Do not apologize," he said, kissing her forehead. "As long as you do not take back what you said."

"No!" she laughed again. "Of course not. I just felt so... overwhelmed. I've never cried like that in my life." She looked him in the eye now. "No one has ever said that to me before."

"Never?" He looked down at her. "Not even as a child?"

She shook her head. His lips curved down in a deep frown. Despite their newfound closeness in the recent days, she still refrained from speaking in depth about her childhood. He knew that it was not a happy one. But he was not expecting this. He bitterly admitted that it made sense. She was raised with such hatred in her heart. What kind of mother treated her children in such a way? A spark of anger ignited in his gut.

He looked into her eyes and she could feel the conviction radiating from his gaze.

"If I have to tell you every moment until my last breath, I will."

She sniffed. Then she smiled.

"I love you."

"I love you, too."

Their lips locked again, sweetly, hungrily. Jack could taste the salt of her tears on her mouth. It only made him want to embrace her tighter, to shield her from any pain. Ashi moaned softly as the warmth from his kiss spread throughout her body, like the draping of a blanket.

The wind, however, was indifferent to the lovers' embrace and cut through them, shocking them both out of their shared trance. A shiver ran down Ashi's spine. When had it gotten so cold? Jack looked up. Though the skies were dark he could see the ashen tint of the clouds.

"We should go inside. I believe it will rain." Ashi nodded and stood, holding her hand out to assist him up. They stood beside each other now, fingers laced. A smile passed between them before it was interrupted by another chilly breeze.

The two made their way back to the castle, breaking into a jog as the wind picked up. Jack stopped short of opening the door, a very important detail dawning on him.

"Ashi?"

"Yes?"

He cleared his throat, cursing the newfound nervousness that coursed through him.

"You never answered my, um," he stuttered, "proposal."

"Oh." A slow smile, one that stretched from her lips to the light of her eyes, broke out her features. "Isn't a proposal more of a question? Yours was a demand."

Jack blushed furiously but smiled despite himself. Such a clever woman. He looked down between them, hands still entwined. He raised her hand to his chest and looked into her eyes. They glittered in anticipation. He whispered her name into the wind.

"Will you marry me?"

"Yes."

A crack of thunder startled them both. They both jumped at the noise, Ashi coming into contact with Jack's chest. They laughed. She looked up at him and beamed, wrapping her arms around his neck.

Their lips met just as the sky opened up and poured rain from the heavens.

Author's Note:

I just gave myself diabetes.

Background: I got a few comments here and there about our favorite little lovebirds and when they're going to say the magic phrase to one another. And I agree! They should tell each other how they feel. But I felt it didn't fit in the story I had already written. I've seen so many works of fiction that use the phrase as a deliberate catalyst, either for something romantic or tragic.

Like this: "I love you. Whew! Now that that's out of the way, let's have sex!"

Or this: "I love you." *dies dramatically*

I didn't want my story to follow that pattern. Not that there is anything wrong with this pattern. I just didn't want it for my story. I also didn't want the post-sex-afterglow "I love you" because I didn't think that fit either. Again, nothing wrong with it! It just didn't feel right.

But then I got to thinking, how would these crazy kids go about telling each other? Then the ideas flowed and my head nearly exploded. I wrote out a whole outline of where this story could go. If it does indeed go in this direction, I may update the description to read "An Alternative Ending to Samurai Jack". Cause that's definitely where this is heading.

Thank you for reading! Both the story, and this long ass author's note. Please leave a review and tell me your thoughts! Should this story continue with my crazy ideas? Am I totally in over my head? Most likely!