Disclaimer: I don't own Samurai Jack and this fanfiction is in no way used for profit. It has just been mutilated to suit my twisted desires. Mwahaha. Ha. Yes. :)

Warning, this story has:

The Occult (demons, pagan gods, etc.)

Aku and Jack’s blasphemous language (mostly directed at each other)

Yaoi (m x m relationships)

Violence (nothing beyond the TV show)

Name calling (so immature it will make you FEEL younger!)

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How's it going? Here's the next chapter. Probably some grammatical errors but oh well. I finally got off my butt after some prodding. There's some more Aku/Jack smoochiness. So yes, enjoy.

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"In blue ya said?"

Dagaz cocked his head in surprise, the charms dangling from his gruesome helmet clinked musically at the movement. "Hmm," he rubbed his chin, invisible beneath the skull, "I'd say ya encountered one of the Tuatha De Dannan, one of the hidden gods of this land."

"Hidden gods?" Jack parroted in astonishment and alarm before he cast Aku a dark glance, the first look he had dared to cast in the slighter man's direction the entire evening. The mage fixed his fey-green eyes on his meal, suddenly infatuated with his portion of meat from the Celts' kill earlier the previous day. There was tense silence. It would take a bloody fool not to notice it.

"Yes," Dagaz continued on, but his shrewd steel eyes flickered back and forth within the eerie shadow of his helmet. "I must say, lad, you've had some interestin experiences here. Many folk live out their entire lives here without so much as a glance at either the hidden gods or the Old Ones, yet ya somehow manage to see both in the span of as many days. That's very…curious."

Jack blinked at the big man's suspicious tone of voice and against his better judgement he allowed his eyes to flicker around the room. They had decided to break fast in the Knowth pub, named after an enigmatic cairn just west of the city beyond the triple walls—a grassy hump the only testimony to its existence. The atmosphere was thick with smoke, drink, food, and the anonymous din of conversation which mixed together into a friendly atmosphere. Some men and women—for women here could handle their fair share of drink as well—spoke of numerous sports, such as the ancient gladiatorial games which had survived from the city's Roman creators. Others talked of money, food, business, and farming. Jack had to admit, despite the chilly presence at his elbow, he genuinely liked this place. The combination of a dinning establishment and social drinking made for a markedly relaxed atmosphere unattainable in the obnoxious bars in the south, and combined with the inhabitants' general amicability, provided a pleasant haven.

The samurai knew even as his eyes travelled, hungry for exploration, he trod on very thin ice. Dagaz may have been courteous and good-natured, but he was still a seasoned warrior and would look out for the interests of his people. Diplomacy was everything. "Well, we are on a quest you see…." Jack looked to Aku for any semblance of support, but the demon spared him a contemptuous view of the back of his head. "You see, I am searching for one called the Forest King—"

"What?" Deirdre cut in, her pleasant face jolting into white astonishment a sharp contrast to the gleam of her eyes. She was Dagaz' wife and was just as formidable a personality. Though not as intimidating in sheer physical stature, the woman was none the less imbued with a steely presence. She was, without exaggeration, a force of nature unto herself and any who dared trifle with her did so at their peril. To aggravate Deirdre provoked the wrath of the city's most prominent business head, and elicited the displeasure of her husband.

Her exclamation caught the attention of a few casual eaves droppers, but one look at Deirdre's expression banished any uninvited questions. Deirdre's fierce disposition bolstered the golden simplicity of her appearance. She was beautiful in the way a tiger was beautiful, her yellow eyes peering out from hidden places. She looked that way at Jack now, her brows down over her golden eyes to shape her face into consternation and bewilderment.

"What do ya mean, the Forest King? Are ya mad? No one has dared to live in that place since the Romans settled here." She leaned forward to whisper towards Jack with a conspiritual tone, alarmed by the turn of conversation, but her distress was not without flecks of excitement. "Tis an eerie place to go, ya understand? Nothin grows right there. I tell ya, disabuse yourselves of findin that neck of the woods, you'll get nothin but trouble there."

"You…you know of this place?" Jack hissed and Dagaz to dip his head lower to match his wife's posture, ready to fend away any inappropriate comments. The samurai would have felt abashed if he wasn't so preoccupied. He had to admit the three of them hovering inches from the dirty table must have made a very peculiar picture.

"Aye, everyone kens that awful place." Deirdre nodded and gave an affirmative glance towards her spouse, whose cold blue eyes narrowed warily in reply. "Strange things happen, no animals will go there, nothing but scrawny trees will grow, and the air tastes dead among them. A strange place, eerie. It feels like there is somethin watchin ya whenever ya go there. Like the trees have eyes." The fierce woman leaned closer and in the candlelight maintained by the resident charmer, her features gained a menacing quality. "I know, I've went there—"

"Ya fool!" Dagaz hissed, leaning closer.

"Oh hush, don't tell me ya didn't venture up there when ya were a wee terror?" She gave him a caustic smile but his face remained unreadable beneath his helmet. "Why do ya want to be going to such a place, Jack? I ken your sorcerer and yourself are adventurers, but why come now? Ya came here by accident didn't ya? There are other places to go sightseenin lad." Deidre shook an admonitory finger at the two of them, surprisingly maternal, but neither Jack nor Aku missed the sharpness in her eyes.

"Well, this is true…and yet it is not, I think." The samurai gave a small shrug, eyes dark with thought but his mouth a firm line of decision. At the puzzled glances, he warrior continued on. "We are travellers on a very dangerous quest and used magic to escape an ambush. We came north to elude pursuit, but we did not realize we had gone so far. Now with the appearance of these faerie folk, I am not sure our coming here was by accident at all…for they know a great deal about that which hunts us and may help us defeat our adversary."

Dagaz and Deidre exchanged a complicated glance, their eyes glinting in the smoky light.

"Ya should tread with caution, lad," Dagaz rumbled quietly and folded both his calloused hands beneath the grizzly chin of his helmet, toughened by wielding his massive hammer. "The faerie folk are a fickle people, just as likely to mislead ya into danger as to lead ya to what ya seek. The Old Ones are even less reliable then that. They disappeared beneath the surface since the Romans arrived."

"What is your quest, lads? Are ya being chased by demons? The Dragon Master, eh? He's a pestilence of a wrym he is, always coming south in winter to raid at the head of his serpent horde…." The ginger headed woman gave a disdainful snort at the last note, but her eyes gleamed curiously.

Jack didn't miss Dagaz's eyes flicker to rest upon Aku at the mention of demon and felt a steady trickle of sweat tease the nervous plane of his back.

The wizard suddenly came to life at this question, pulling his gaze away from the neglected remnants of his meal to gaze with his vivid green eyes at both Deirdre and Dagaz, his face filled with hostility at such prodding. "Do you know of Gaia?" He asked in his smoky brogue, features sinister in the dance of orange candlelight and shadow within the dimly lit pub.

Neither Celt moved, but both of them ceased their casual movements and concentrated on the shape-shifter with newfound wariness. "Aye," Deirdre nodded, "the Demon Mother? There are many legends here about Gaia and the Forest King—but what importance does this have for you?"

"Because Gaia hunts us!" Aku suddenly snapped, all patience gone. "She is here and tearing this world apart even as we speak."

"Tearing it apart…looking for you." Dagaz suddenly finished and his grey-blue eyes glinted in the shadow of his helmet like a sword unsheathed. "Our charmers sensed somethin happenin in the south, but their Sight hadn't the power to discover what it was. Now it appears I've found out…but why would Gaia be after you two lads?"

"I am Samurai Jack," the warrior sipped his drink, face stony. "She wishes to enslave me into her services and Ojika, he…."

"Is a demon." Dagaz finished succinctly and the tone he used brooked no argument for otherwise. "I knew it the moment I saw ya, the way ya moved and the way ya acted…no wonder ya aligned yourself with such a warrior. I've heard how powerful demons consume the life forces of the weak."

Aku's eyes narrowed into baleful green triangles.

Foreseeing the explosive situation, Jack cast Deirdre an unhappy glance before he heaved a sudden sigh and rubbed his hands against his temples. Too much had occurred in the past few hours and he was not ready to deal with anything. To say it was awkward between himself and his foe was an understatement. His mind was still reeling over the reason for such behaviour on both their parts. They were enemies in a temporary alliance because of a greater threat. Surely that was not enough….

Jack's mind shied away from the implications and the headache which had centered itself in the middle of his forehead worsened. He hadn't had any time to confront Aku about what had happened (the demon seemed content on forgetting the entire interlude had occurred at all) before Dagaz had entered the picture and insisted they come and dine with him and his wife at their favourite pub.

Had this happened five years ago, perhaps he would have reacted differently, ten years ago none of this would have happened at all.

By all the gods, he was getting too old for this!

Seeing Jack's resignation to the hostility taking shape, Deirdre's golden tiger eyes softened and sought some way to ease the situation. She had a soft spot for Jack since the very first time he had walked into the stall, shushing the rude remarks of his belligerent companion.

"Hmm, perhaps we can be of some help, aye?" Deirdre cast a rhetorical eyebrow in her husband's direction but evidently didn't give a damn what his opinion was on the matter. She flashed Jack a surreptitious smile and he nodded his thanks, sincerely grateful. Even in the candlelight he looked worn out and his friend sitting beside him, so arrogant and uptight, didn't look much better. Obviously both had been through some sort of ordeal, one great enough to ally a samurai and a demon.

"Anything on demonlore would be helpful," Jack murmured softly.

"Well," the woman uncrossed her arms and quested for some left over food, neatly plucking a bit of grilled potato from Aku's plate before the demon had time to protest. "Let's go one step further—we'll show ya the place, as wicked as it is! What do ya say?"

Dagaz, who had presently disengaged his silent glowering towards Aku to take an appreciate pull on his pint of Guinness, promptly swallowed only half of his intended mouthful while the other sprayed back into his cup. "Deirdre, for the love of the gods…." The big Celt panted in indignant distress, dividing a baleful glance between his wasted drink, his unruly wife, and Aku's smug little grin.

"Och, where's your sense of adventure ya heathen? Not afraid of a few wee spooky trees now, are ya?" She spared him a sweet smile, tiger eyes gleaming. The glare he gave her in return was fierce enough to melt metal but completely deflected by her demure expression. She had the same wicked glee as Aku.

Jack rubbed his face, felt the heaviness on his brows suddenly come down upon him with unexpected force. He had trouble suppressing the urge to yawn. He glanced at Aku, who had said little during the entire meal, and felt the days' strain suddenly crash upon his shoulders. Though he was a man dedicated to the people, he couldn't deny he was also a man who was fond of his privacy. He hadn't been by himself since…since he had been approached by Aku and with so many complications the chances for some quiet time alone became all the slimmer.

"Jack?"

"What? I apologize, please say that again." Jack blinked rapidly to dispel a rising wave of irritability.

Deirdre cocked one eyebrow and that shrewd gleam in her eyes flickered in the candlelight. "I asked when would ya like to start? I could use a break," she murmured quietly and cast Dagaz a significant glance, which he met but quickly buried his face in his drink.

"We will require time to organize ourselves and pay our room…tomorrow morn should be fine." Jack returned politely, his gaze flickering over the pleasant crowd of the pub to gauge how many tables he would have to negotiate on his way out. Deirdre recognized the longing she saw and had anyone been watching, they would have caught her small smile, but no one was and her moment of indulgence went unnoticed.

"Aye, well it's settled then," concluded Dagaz with a grudging pull of his pint, which was almost empty. "Shall we break fast together or simply have it on the roads, lads?"

"Ah, Dag! Use your noggin, I've plenty of extra food in the pantry back home, we can have a nice meal on the way." Deirdre gave her husband a playful swat on the shoulder, a gesture more reminiscent of soldierly comradeship than an expression of affection. Jack found the oddity curious but was much too tired to explore quirks and favoured the two Celts a tired smile intead.

"That is fine, but if you will excuse us, we must go and sort out our belongings." He rose with the same expression of suppressed tension and gave Deirdre and Dagaz a polite bow in thanks.

The legions of drinking patrons were less of an obstacle than Jack had first anticipated but he couldn't leave the pub quickly enough. Even Aku's wordless presence was now a heavy lead weight upon his mind, reminding him he had responsibilities to fulfill, consequences to meet. The interlude in the alley had lasted but a matter of minutes, if that, and yet the ramifications were earth-shattering! The samurai moved aside to make way for another waitress, this one red haired and tall as a Viking, and resisted the temptation to grit his teeth in frustration. This was madness! Aku and himself had always been foes. They were both the embodiment of good and evil. What sort of insanity was it that they would…that it would be possible to….

It seems there is a darkness in you, samurai…. The words were a caress of black velvet, terrible and sensuous.

No, he was a prince. He would not be seduced by evil, no matter what form it appeared in. He was on a mission to slay Aku, though they were allies now, and he would see it through not only for his own honour but for his father's after Gaia's threat was purged from the world. Jack had always known he could be unorthodox in his ways and that his education was not of the same ilk as his predecessors, but he always liked to think it gave him an advantage. He was unpredictable and calling upon such numerous resources had saved his life many times over. Now, however, he wondered if his strange childhood had given him one disadvantage: compromising the ideals of his people by mincing it with those of others. He battled an ancient evil from his homeland using a blessed weapon from his ancestors. To betray such lineage was unforgivable! How would he be able to face his father…?

Jack suddenly halted, oblivious as he stepped into the night's chill.

It suddenly dawned on him he hadn't truly expected to reunite with his father at all! He had always travelled through the world trying to mend what he could and undo the devastation Aku's tyranny reaped. The fact that perhaps the task was too extensive for a lifetime, too great to simply leave behind, had gradually trickled into his mind over time, turning days into months, months into years…. Now the past was a mirage. It had been a tangible goal that had slowly lost its substance after so many failed attempts and now it had been reduced to a simple ideal, a beacon of hope, a standard with which he should uphold himself. One day he might return to his people…one day….

So where did that leave him now?

The air outside was cool and crackled with the promise of a cold day tomorrow. Numerous torches along the pub's wall silhouetted people's comings and goings so they appeared to be a horde of demons milling amongst the surreal clash of firelight and darkness. The street was wide to accommodate heavier traffic, which had long since ceased its arterial flow through the cobbled roads spanned throughout the city in a network of commerce. Stores were closing as well, many patrons having since retreated into the warmth of their homes or fled to establishments such as the Knowth pub.

Jack's eyes dismissed the street with one smooth sweep, satisfied there was no danger, and glanced up at the sign hanging above his head. The brightly coloured cairn was illustrated in fair detail, complimenting the craftsman who had created it. It sat with a sense of priority above the pub's worn wooden door, which rested upon a wide landing at the top of a regal set of stairs, Roman in design despite the pub's distinctly Celtic namesake. Jack studied the combination with a distant sense of amusement which helped dissipate some of his distress though it had little affect upon his the headache settling behind his forehead. He sighed, rubbed his temples, and leaned against the railing.

A flash of green alerted Jack to Aku's presence and with a resigned scowl the warrior turned around to face his nemesis only to see the demon grip the proffered railing with a suppressed sense of relief. Neither of them spoke, both acutely aware of their own weaknesses. The wizard forced out a stiff exhalation and willed himself to stand upright with more effort than it should have required.

"How long?" Jack inquired quietly.

Aku cast him a cutting glance. His face, though completely human, had a sinister element to it which drew in the night's shadows and lent his slanted eyes an eerie intensity. He had never indicated after the incident on their way here that the fuhai bothered him, but it was having a visible affect. Jack could honestly say he had never seen his nemesis appear so diminished, not just in a physical sense, but the demon's aura, the harrowing presence was ebbing away. In the torchlight Aku appeared as elusive and insubstantial as wisps of smoke.

The wizard's face was frank with resignation as he turned to gaze at the mill of people below them who swirled like eddies in a river. "Not long," he returned grudgingly, the admission of mortality both offensive and disheartening.

For a moment Jack found it hard to imagine the man in front of him was a killer. When Aku turned his head and reciprocated the samurai's stare he immediately lost any need for imagination. Though every nuance was crafted to be human, the demon's inherently malevolent nature maligned the ordinary features of his mortal disguise.

"Will you be able to make this journey?"

Aku's green eyes flickered like sputtering candles. "Yes," he growled into the darkness.

With an uncomfortable shrug, the samurai stepped away from the balcony and pushed his way through the surreal silhouettes to step on the road. His white clothing billowed around him, whispering in the quiet streets. He looked at his nemesis, face only partially visible in the firelight, and received a dour nod of affirmation in return before his foe dared to release the railing and follow his footsteps.

The road to their inn was long and arduous with Jack nervously flitting through the streets with the restlessness of sleep deprivation while Aku followed him at a more sedate pace, his slim figure slipping through the thinning crowds like a shadow. The samurai heaved a sigh when he reached the familiar building's age worn façade, amazed at how beautiful the day had seemed when he had left a few hours before.

The innkeeper and his daughter gave polite greetings to the two of them but quickly returned to their figures on the desk, faces unreadable in the candlelight.

Jack felt a great rush of relief when he closed the door and could relax in the privacy of his room without the penetrating regard of Dagaz and Deirdre watching his every. He vaguely heard Aku rummage around behind him but he wasn't concerned enough about the demon to pay any attention. The day's toll had taken much from him and what had started out as a pleasant excursion – as pleasant as it could be – had deteriorated into immorality and dishonour.

Could it have been pity? He went about the mechanical task of closing the blinds to minimize the heat lost through the windows. He knew his weakness was his empathy for other people – an empathy so strong he would sacrifice himself and his agenda to save them. Many times he had been faced with that choice and just as many times he had picked the same answer. Jack didn't consider himself a man easily deterred from his goals and yet he didn't consider himself to be solely goal-orientated either. Did he not deserve something of his own?

Jack set his jaw and glared blindly at the screen he had just closed. No, he refused to be brought to his knees by this. The samurai turned his head to gaze at his nemesis who sat listlessly on the single chair in the room, eyes fixed with glazed distraction upon the motion of the charmed fire lit before their arrival, curtsey of the maid. He would not be…be dishonoured in such a fashion – he refused! Aku felt his glare and his green eyes flickered to light on him, baleful shards of jade, before he returned to staring off in space, preoccupied with his own thoughts.

There was a smothering blanket of silence.

Finally the wizard's vivid eyes narrowed into impatient slits and cast an emerald glare in Jack's direction. "Well what? What is it you want to say? By all the gods stop sulking and speak!"

Jack was startled out of his broodings but refused to be baited. Instead he shook his head and set his mouth into a line of mute anger before he sauntered to his bed and settled himself upon the newly made sheets. They smelled of flower oils and lye from the soaps used to clean them. He closed his eyes and made a mental check list of all the supplies they had and how long it would take to pack them. The logistics were not difficult but he had no idea how quickly he could travel with Aku lagging behind. Time would play a vital role in the bulk and priority of their equipment. Jack knew their journey should take less than half a day from had been described upon earlier investigations, but would that turn into a whole day? A day and a half?

He sighed and realized with sudden relief he hadn't preformed his daily kata; a ritual he enjoyed to keep his body and mind fit. He knew hacking at the problem was futile but perhaps if he stretched his muscles it would give him time to cool down and gain a different perspective. It had always helped before when he had been young and hot-blooded.

Jack smiled indulgently. Since when had he considered himself old?

He shooed Aku off the chair, who had regained enough health to spit a curse, and shoved any obstructions out of his way to give himself a crude training area. The warm clothing he had donned instead of his white gi were peeled off with varying degrees of irritation and tossed haphazardly on his bed. He could feel the wizard's eyes burning his back and a strange pang of modesty assaulted him before he shoved it aside, determined to enjoy himself despite the lack of privacy.

With a deep breath the samurai slowly drifted into the tranquility of mindless routine. He began without the enchanted katana and simply allowed his body to slide into the natural rhythms of training long since ingrained into his memory. Initially Jack's muscles felt stiff and unwieldy when confronted with such spry exercise but as he continued they warmed to the activity and any preliminary discomfort disappeared in the pleasure of motion. The surrounding room – including Aku – became little more than blurs of colour as he focused inward both aware and oblivious of his situation.

Jack often wondered where his convoluted path would eventually lead him. When he had allied himself with Aku he had known it was a decisive judgment, but towards his salvation or damnation? Years ago he had been righteous and naïve. He had never thought to question himself, but as time went on he feared his honour, values, and morality were slowly being eroded. How long could one man remain an untainted beacon within a sea of darkness? He was getting old, he admitted it. He was growing tired of not having a home, of constantly fighting for his life, of always having to fulfill a quest. He was growing weary of his debt to the world.

It was puzzling such a bond could develop between himself and Aku, even more bewildering neither of them had noticed it. Jack liked to think he had dominion over himself, every corner of his soul familiar to him. Yet he had been blindsided. Was it pity? Was it desperation? Or was it simply his sympathy for others? Aku was immortal yet there were times when he could appear just like any other man. Jack knew it was deceit – everything around the demon was deceit – yet he couldn't dispel the illusion.

How ironic! He couldn't bear to witness the suffering of a creature who had inflicted misery upon an entire planet.

It wasn't a question of whether he had grown too harsh within his lot in life, but rather, that he had become completely indifferent to it. If not for the distant promise of salvation within his own past, what goals had he in life? For many years Aku's existence had been the centrepiece of his existence and he didn't doubt the same was true for his nemesis. Was it possible then? This misunderstanding had stemmed from their determination to ensure the other's doom?

Jack halted his kata. The world suddenly came back in full focus and he realized his breath was harsh and the air chilled his skin, which was lightly glazed with sweat from his surprisingly robust exertion. He had needed that.

The samurai turned around, one hand absently running through his hair and immediately froze, pinned beneath the jade knives of Aku's gaze. The air thickened with tension and Jack instinctively adopted the power stance, undeniably wary though he had no explanation why. The demon reposed easily on the bed, signs of weakness gone, but his face was harrowingly still - intense. It had been the same eerie expression the wizard had worn in the dark alley.

"Why are you staring at me?" Jack murmured into the silence.

Aku blinked suddenly as if he had come out of a daze and the frightening stillness of his face suddenly broke into annoyance. "You dance virtually naked before my eyes and expect me to watch something else?" He demanded caustically, one aristocratic brow arched in utmost disdain. "You will pay for your insolence, samurai! I do not believe any mortal has the ability to abrade Aku's senses as you, impudent fool!"

The demon suddenly sprang from the bed, eyes pockets of green fire, and stood eye to eye with Jack. He smelled strange (like ozone) and his face warped from outrage to hungry impatience. Jack, despite himself, decided to play this strange new game.

"You have never paid much attention to my kata before. Why does it bother you now?" It was a simple question and, game or not, Jack wanted the answer.

"It does not bother me – I simply desire your destruction," Aku replied flatly.

He was so blunt his threat was almost lost upon Jack. The samurai's mouth became a small 'o' of stupefied astonishment before he gathered the wits to duck. The wizard's strike hit air and while he was off-balance Jack grasped his katana on the opposite bed, completed a revolution on his heel with his resulting momentum, and brought his blade to his foe's throat just as the demon laid his claws on the warrior's chest. They looked like human hands but Jack's skin tingled beneath. He could feel the subtle menace of talons beneath the spell and it chilled him. Aku's fingers spread over his heart, threatening, and the samurai wondered just how much force would be required to pry it out. If he asked, the wizard would tell him.

"You are enjoying this," Jack observed, startled, then regained some of his composure. "You are a cruel creature.You were supposed to be my ally." He didn't sound indignant at all, merely irritated.

"I am Aku," the demon breathed menacingly, amused. "It is my nature."

The samurai shook his head in disgust and sheathed his katana as quickly as he had unleashed it. He knew the wizard and his fickle moods. "Indeed, time and again you demonstrate yourself a slave to your nature. You live like an animal."

Of all the things Aku had anticipated from the samurai's mouth that had not been one of them! The demon jerked his head back, genuinely surprised. The wizard's face curled into a snarl and one curved fang peeked from beneath his lip, but quickly cracked into an alligator grin. The boom of his laughter was a startling peal of thunder, shattering the room's stillness.

"Haaahhh haahh haaaaa! Samurai Fool, you do amuse me!"Aku's mouth split into a wider grin and his teeth gleamed.

"I am not here for your amusement," the samurai murmured softly, the shadows dancing across his face. "I am here because I have no other choice."

"How inconsiderate of me to overlook your status," Aku parried mildly and flexed his hands with an inquiring tilt of his ominous smile.

"Do not toy with me, demon," Jack countered sharply and took a step back, ending their interlude. "I want no part in your little games—"

"Then why do you insist on playing them, samurai?" The wizard inquired, words flowing eerily from a booming pitch to black velvet. Emerald eyes shimmered in the dim light and exuded something indefinable but undoubtedly out of place—dangerous and supernatural. Jack felt the sudden transformation as keenly as if someone had punched him in the gut and took an instinctive step back, unable to stifle his astonishment.

Aku's human face curled into an unfriendly smile. "Do Aku's powers make you squeamish, samurai?" His expression widened into a smirk and he came within an arm's length of Jack's tightly wound profile, eyes gleaming with malicious amusement. "Do not tell me that for all your boasting, you fear my abilities!"

Jack's breath suddenly quieted as the demon stepped closer. "I thought you would not be domesticated by one worthless human," he muttered with a derisive quirk of his brow. He knew as he spoke so incautiously he was playing Aku's game but the words escaped between his lips before he thought to stop them.

The wizard actually faltered, surprised at having his own argument thrown back in his face, but true to his species, he wasn't put out for very long. "Yes, samurai…I will not be domesticated," he murmured. His breath rushed against Jack's exposed neck as his scathing green eyes swivelled upwards to regard Jack's increasingly uneasy expression with an equal amount of amusement and satisfaction. "But…I am very curious…."

"No!" Jack snarled suddenly and pushed Aku away. The demon was caught completely off-guard and with an indignant squawk landed on the floor. If the samurai hadn't been so disturbed he would have laughed at his foe's comical expression. The demon suppressed a wince when he rubbed the back of his head and Jack felt a small tinge of guilt as he watched the wizard's tentative movements. He had completely forgotten about the fuhai's advancing progress. Aku saw the pity in his features and scowled so venomously the samurai felt all of his words catch in his throat. Instead of an apology he satisfied his sense of duty by kneeling down to help the wizard up.

"Do not touch me samurai," the shape-shifter growled.

Jack rolled his eyes in exasperation and grasped Aku by the shoulders. "I know it is in your nature to meddle with dark things, but…." He was momentarily silenced by the effort it took to coax Aku into a sitting position while avoiding eye contact with the demon's blistering glare. "But we cannot prod this…thing…between us."

"Thing," the wizard mocked and settled into the nearby chair. "If it is not even worthy of a name, why should I fear it? Or is it simply you who fears this…thing?" The word was saturated with condescending disdain.

"You enjoy misery while I seek to combat it, you seek to dilute the truth while I defend it." Jack wiped his brow and spared Aku a guarded look, unsure how to interpret the demon's pensive frown. "We cannot. We simply cannot."

The wizard sat back for a moment, silent, and regarded Jack with a contemplative expression. His eyes were cast an indecisive shade between green and brown in the soft firelight but his sharp features were cloyed with shadows and imbued his features with menace. He appeared both benign and sinister in one instant and it cost Jack more effort than it should have to banish the illusion of genuine humanity. His features tightened into a grim scowl and turned away to gaze at the fire, low and dim from neglect.

"Samurai Fool." Aku admonished softly, voice mildly contemptuous. "You want to see me as a hapless human. Someone your little mortal mind can understand and control, but it is not so."

"I know that," Jack retorted harshly and glared at his nemesis, eyes completely black in the dim illumination.

"Do you?" Aku asked quietly.

The simple question, spoken with a sinister combination of malicious logic and dark curiosity, halted all the indignant arguments which sprung to Jack's lips. He swallowed convulsively, his expressive features a churning mixture of emotions ranging from indignation, disgust, to conviction. Jack finally settled upon a frown and studied Aku's expressionless features with frank determination. This had to be settled, they both knew it. With a chance of victory within sight distraction in whatever form it took would be disastrous. And Aku would never leave it be. He would be forever tormenting Jack.

"You too are enslaved by your nature, samurai. You will always search for good in others, even at your own expense. I have been watching you try to twist your world to accommodate me, but you merely twist yourself." The wizard stood up and met Jack's hard gaze with a steady glare of his own. "I do not need saving, you fool."

Jack emitted a derogatory snort so contemptuous it made Aku smile. The demon favoured his nemesis a penetrating eye before he suddenly allowed his body to go lax and collapse towards the ground. He would have impacted the hard floorboards had the samurai's arms not instinctively caught him around the waist, sparing him the pain of another fall. Their faces were hardly inches apart and in the firelight, lent a surreal intensity as light and shadow danced together, inseparable.

"So you see, samurai, it is because you forget I am not human that your weakness sprouts," Aku whispered, features curled into a subtle, withering smile.

"No…." Jack's eyes were slanted and primeval in the dimness, black as the cold reaches of space. "It is because I know exactly what you are that..." He didn't finish his sentence; rather he crossed the chasm between them.

When they were separate again, Aku favoured his nemesis a gaze of detachment and consideration. "Hear me, samurai, for this is the one time I will ever be truthful to you." He growled softly and dug his fingers farther into Jack's hair—a novelty to his demon senses. "I am not sorry for what I have done. Not to you, your people, or your race. Know after this…you will try to love me, and I will take advantage of that, and you will hate me for it."

The fire spat and a log crumbled into glowing embers red as the halls of Hell.

"I know," Jack whispered, anguished. "I know."

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Okay, R+R if you want. Don't if you don't.