Ah, yes. Hello. I was just watching Samurai Jack last season last night and this suddenly popped in my head. Let's see how good am I at writing in cartoon genre.

By the way, all Jashi fanfic (cause I only had read them) in this section are so good! I feel like a little duck among gooses.

Samurai Jack © Genndy Tartakovsky

It was already miles away from the spring Ashi bathed before. Now she just walked straight ahead from the last direction given by the rave children. She is now in a quite peaceful village with children running around while laughing. Some women were washing clothes. The men were not present, probably working or... enslaved by Aku.

If not for her pursue for Jack, she would like to stay here for a while.

"Aku, you will not claim another innocent!"

Ashi gasped and snapped her head to her right. She could swear she heard his voice, albeit a bit... raspy?

"My quest has ended. I will now travel back to my own time and undo the evil that Aku has done."

His quest has ended? What does he mean? Did he defeat Aku just now? Where?

"And that's the tale of The Mighty Samurai, children."

... What?

Ashi walked slowly to where the voice came from and found an elder surrounded by children below a big and shady tree. They looked so happy. Remembering the previous decimated villages she saw with Jack, it was so soothing seeing some people can still smile genuinely in this despicable world.

"He's so cool, Grandpa!" one of the children cheered.

The elder smiled. "Yes, my child. From the medias and stories I heard from people who have seen him, he is so great."

"You're also so good at imitating him before!"

"Yeah, my grandma always said that you do the best imitation of him!"

"I want to hear it again!"

"Yes, yes! Do it again!"

"Ahahah... okay, okay, my child. Ahem." The elder coughed. "Aku, you will not claim another innocent!"

Ashi widened her eyes in surprise and lowered her head in disappointment. After she thought she had found Jack…

Growl…

The girl rubbed her stomach. Thinking that she could use some rest and some info around the samurai, she approached the group.

"Yeah, that's it!"

"Oooh, so cool, Grandpa Phil!"

"I want to meet him too!"

"Excuse me,"

The elder―Phil―and the children turned to look at Ashi. Some looked at her weirdly. Ashi slowly raised her right hand and waved it. That was a friendly gesture, right?

"Yes, Miss?" Phil asked her.

"I... couldn't help but be curious with your stories before, sir," Ashi rubbed her right arm. "Were you telling stories about The Samurai?"

"Yes, I was telling the children tales about him." Phil replied with a smile. "Would you like to listen as well, Miss?"

Ashi nodded quickly and sat behind the children with her legs folded to the side. Some children were still staring at her, now with a curious look. A girl beside her touched Ashi's arm, making Ashi turned to her.

"Miss, where did you find this kind of clothes?" she asked.

"Real leaves, man!"

"Looks like those Bell from Peter Pan stories wore!"

"Aren't you cold in that, Miss?"

"Children, please," Phil stopped their questions. "Now, which tale should I tell you, Miss? Hmm..."

One of the children raised his hand enthusiastically.

"Tell her the story you tell with your friends when you were trapped by Aku, Phil!"

"Right, that one! The one when he turned into big black dragon!"

"Tell her, Grandpa!"

"Alright, I will tell you the story I told other children back in my day." Phil coughed. "On a misty night..."

Jack climbed a huge castle, only to be greeted by an eight foot six arms mute guard. He sliced every robotic arm with such an ease even when the guard attacked him with six spiked clubs. After the samurai left the guard to explode, he continued his journey. With his hair messed up and grabbed his sword by his teeth, he climbed to the top of the castle.

When he reached the top, Aku creepily crept out from the shadow. However, Jack could sense him and avoid Aku's attack. They stared sharply at each other for a while. Jack raised his sword, while Aku prepared his attack. Then, they fight―

"No, not yet,"

An elder with white spiky hair came from behind Ashi. He smiled and continued the story.

"You're a threat to the land with your evil. Prepare to meet your doom!" Jack pointed at the Shogun of Sorrow.

"You are truly powerful samurai, but no match for my evil wizardry!" Aku replied with rage in his tone.

Aku quickly turned into a huge dark dragon-like creature and let out huge flames from his mouth. However, he is no match for Jack's samurai skill. Aku tried to bite Jack with his big mouth and big teeth, but the samurai always successfully avoided his attacks. At the end of the fight, Jack raised his sword high and sliced Aku with a single mighty blow.

"My quest has ended. I will now travel back to my own time and undo the evil that Aku has done." Jack said as he put his sword back to his scabbard.

"The end!" The children ended his story with a loud cheer.

"Still telling the children stories, aren't you, Phil." The elder with spiky hair grinned and walked toward Phil.

"Have to cheer them up somehow," Phil shrugged. "Oh, right. Children, could you leave us for a moment?"

The children whined, but still followed his order. They got up and ran happily everywhere. Ashi also got up to her feet and going to walk away, but Phil asked her to stay.

"Tell me, Miss, are you a friend of the samurai?"

Ashi hesitated a while. She was asked this question before too. What should she answer? She's not exactly sure if she's Jack's friend, or just a travelling companion, or a student of him. No, she doesn't even sure that Jack looks at her that way. They're not that close, but they're not enemies anymore either.

"... Acquaintance, I think." Ashi finally answered.

The one elder with white spiky hair gasped.

"Her voice sounds like her, Phil."

"Tara, you mean?"

"Yeah, your sweetheart."

"You're truly evil to mention her, man. No wonder youarea used to be Aku when we were role playing Samurai Jack and Aku."

"I always play Aku 'cause you guys never let me to play Jack!"

"So… what is it you wanted to talk to me?" Ashi interrupted them.

"Ah, yes, actually I just wanted to ask you that―"

"Because apparently your voice is similar to his late wife," the spiky haired elder quickly added. "He wants to know if there are more parallels between him and the samurai, besides the voice."

"Aw, shush." Phil hushed his friend. "So, what's your purpose here in this small village, Miss?"

"I, uh, I'm in search for him," Ashi reconsidered telling the elder her purpose. But, hey, what if he passed here? "Do you see him passed through here?"

"Samurai Jack? Oooh, boy, if he passed through here, we would definitely know, Miss." Phil nodded. "Unfortunately, no, he didn't come here."

Ashi lowered her head with a sad look. Suddenly, one of the children tugged her dress and looked at her with a big smile.

"Would you join us on our feast, Miss... uh..."

Ashi smiled and squatted down to the same level as the child. "Ashi. Call me Ashi."

"Miss Ashi! Come join us!" the other child came and pulled Ashi's hand.

"Uh... I'm not sure that I could..."

"It's okay! Just for a minute!"

While Ashi was being dragged by the children, the little girl who sat beside Ashi before walked towards Phil. She smiled sweetly and whispered something to him. Phil smiled and nodded.

"Bring me a tape then, little girl."

-o-

Ashi bowed at Phil and the children when they finished the feast. Walking away from the village with a little box Phil gave her as a parting gift, she continued her search for Jack.

However, she couldn't ignore what Phil said when he gave that box.

"May you find what you search here."

What she was searching? They already know that it was Jack, but there is no way Jack is inside the box, right?

Her curiosity took the best of her. She opened the box and found a tape recorder and a letter. Written on it was:

A little missy who sat beside you asked me a favor. She told me that your eyes sparkled when I told you the story about the samurai. She asked me to record my imitation of him for you. Next time you come here, let me know what you think about it. Personally, I think that might be what he thinks about you. You're a good woman, Miss Ashi. May happiness come to you like me and my wife.

- Phil

"What does that even mean?" Ashi tried to play the tape by pushing every button on it.

A voice that suddenly came from the device made her jolted a bit. After hearing the recording, Ashi smiled and let out a grateful sigh. Some droplets poured from the sky not too long after. Without further ado, she searched for something to cover her from the pouring rain...

... and dropped the tape somewhere.

She just realized that miles later, but she wouldn't forget the recording and what Phil wrote: what Jack might think of her. One sentence that made her confident about that one thing.

"You're my friend, Ashi…"

Omake

"Where have you gone through your search for me?" Jack asked Ashi as they walked through a forest.

"Well, I passed lot of villages, meet lot of people you've saved, like the woolies, archers, and the rave children. Oh, I remember walking down here before too!" Ashi touched the big-grown leaves surround them. "I don't know that there is another samurai besides you and there's another one who's looking for the greatest warrior―"

"Hm? What is this?"

Jack sensed something hard against his geta on the ground and it's not rock. He grabbed a little rectangular-shaped thing half buried in the ground. Ashi approached him and looked at the thing. She recognized the thing and gasped.

It was the tape recorder.

"Oh, yes, I passed through a peaceful village where one of the villagers could imitate your voice. He gave this to me," Ashi took the tape and played it. "It makes me more confident about my role to you."

"You're my friend, Ashi…"

Jack chuckled. "Yes, you are my friend. I already refer you as an ally when we went to save the children―"

"... I love you."

Silence.

Both of them stopped everything they were doing, they could swear they even stopped breathing for a minute. Hearing his voice saying those three words made the samurai a blushing mess, like a red ripe tomato. His mind tried to think of something and end this awkward silence, while Ashi turned her face away from him.

"... as a friend." Jack smiled awkwardly.

"I know, I know. Thank you, Jack," Ashi tapped his shoulder, also with a shade of red still on her face. "I was just... surprised as well. I didn't hear that last bit last time."

Jack just laughed a little, followed along by Ashi. Realizing there is a more important matter at hand, they continued their journey. They walked together side by side, until they arrived at the desert, slowly forgetting the tape.

Little did they know, they will say and hear those words to each other in a near future.

Yeah, this was inspired from that Aku's Fairytale or something episode. The name Phil is canon because somebody did call the child imitating Jack that, I dunno if it's just an easter egg or something, because Phil might be taken from Jack's VA, Phil Lamaar.

Then I thought, "Hey, let's make a parallel between the child and Jack more. His wife would be already dead and her name is taken from Ashi's VA." and that's where the name Tara came from. Can't find a fitting name for the Aku boy though, hahahaha.

Thanks for reading and good day.