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I wrote this on a whim, and to encourage our RPers to post again crying This is basically a story of Jack returning to the past and setting things right, before searching out in a last hope to find the people who saved him...and to express his gratitude to Chiyoshi, who granted his wish to propel him back to the past.
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As Jack stood over the remains of the carnage...he felt a mixed sense of relief and regret.

It was not for the physical state of the damage to the homes and culture...no, so long as he and his people lived it could be rebuilt to a more glorious and propering nation than before. His own father's determination after the first fight with Aku proved it so. But...even though he arrived to slay Aku, preventing an uncountable number of destruction and mass murder from occuring, he still lost a handful of loyal vassals to slavery as he trained, and from his delay in returning.

Then of course...there were his friends.

The small band of heroes who had bravely plotted a course to take Jack back from Aku...who slayed devil after devil to finally grasp the handle. It had been one of the greatest highlights of his life; the moment Luke took to grasp the sword and set him free. He recalled the wild reception he recieved from his other friends, embraces and tears all around.

He recalled Chiyoshi especially. His debt to her was immense. She gratefully granted his sole wish, and now everything was set right. But he still recalled the year of waiting for the next full moon...how Luke and Gato were taken under his wing, eagerly training with their blades and shedding hard-earned sweat to produce good results. Chiyoshi's gratitude was almost comical; she'd gone to great lengths to ensure Jack's comfort, despite his gentle decline to being treated so exclusively. And everyone else, their casual comings and goings...he missed them.

And there was the regret. Chiyoshi, the eve before Jack's departure, felt the first sting of bitterness.

"I can't have a wish of my own!" she'd cried, shedding tears easily from her watery form, "I...I want to make people happy but I want something for myself for once!"

Jack had not shown himself to her that night...but Luke was there to make the horrific connection. Chiyoshi loved Jack, in every sense of the term. She wanted to be his confidant, his friend, his sister, mother, guidance and lover. It was the most selfish thing, and the only thing, she'd ever really wanted.

If Jack fixed things in the past...then King Ozerick wouldn't have felt a need to make her. Chiyoshi, Luke, Gato, Tau, and everyone else would never exist. It was a cold, cruel, and lonely sacrifice.

"My son," his father spoke, taking him away from his thoughts, "I understand your wish to see the world once more...but from what you have told us I do not think it would be light on your heart to force yourself upon this journey."

"Father," Jack sighed, shaking his head, "This is the last I shall do of this. Aku has been slain forever...but he left behind something I must verify as true."

His father was taken aback, and instantly worried, "What? A minion in this time?"

"No," Jack said, as he picked up his pack and began to walk away, "Just a sad sacrifice for peace."
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Nothing. He'd traveled everywhere and found...nothing. It made the burden on his shoulders feel heavier and heavier with each step he took to see disappointment. Even as he sought out the Scotsman in the Highlands...he did not see the singular fighter among the many loud and rowdy look alikes.

He was close to home now. He had stopped on the tip of Japan, and had stopped to a well to drink. The well...the well!

Jack recognized it instantly. It was in the same place, with snow all around. It was Chiyoshi's wishing well!

He hurried over, dropping his pack down as he leaned over. "Chiyoshi!" he called. It echoed in his voice for a long time...but there was no reply. "Chiyoshi!" he called again, insistent and desperate. He had to find at least someone...he couldn't bear this horrible weight much longer. If only one...at the very least...had made it-

"Yes sir? Did you need something?"

The fair voice, delicate as the falling snow, make Jack freeze. He turned around swiftly and met Chiyoshi...just as she appeared in the lost future. She wore something different, a winter coat and an outdoor kimono as her feet were wrapped in fur lined boots. On her shoulders she carried a long wooden rod, two buckets for water hanging on each end. She looked curiously at Jack, then the well.

"Oh! You want to know where the bucket is right?" she assumed instantly, setting down her water-carrier as she hurried around the side, producing a rope and bucket attatched to a loop on the side. "People miss it all the time and with this snow-"

"Chiyoshi," he breathed heavily, "Do you know me?"

"Know you?" she replied in utter confusion. "Oh! Oh right! You're the prince!" She immediately bowed low before him, "Please excuse me your highness, but I didn't recognize you. Did you want directions back to the capital? They've rebuilt it so quickly it's amazing!"

Jack stared in stupefication. This was indeed Chiyoshi, but with a pang of disappointment...not the Chiyoshi he knew in the future. The heavy weight weighed down his shoulders...and Chiyoshi ceased her chatter to see the down-trodden look of the young monarch.

"Your highness?" she said gently, "Are you alright? You look...like you've lost something."

"I have..." he said with a deep sigh, sliding down to sit in the grass. "I...hoped to find a friend here. I owe her everything...my victory over Aku wouldn't be possible if she hadn't helped me."

Chiyoshi remained silent, being respectful of the mourning Jack. But she carefully put a hand on Jack's shoulder, rousing him from his misery. "Perhaps..." she said hesitantly, "Perhaps that makes her happy now. If she had a good friend such as yourself...maybe knowing that she could help you made her happy too."

Jack found himself gaping in awed disbelief. This Chiyoshi...sounded so very much like the one he'd known. The little water spirit always said such things, going on about her gratitude and gratefulness for aiding Jack.

He managed a smile. "Thank you." he said with a slight choke. "Her happiness means so much to me."

Chiyoshi smiled triumphantly. "Then I shall try to make you happy to the best of my ability my good prince!" she said in enthusiasm. "It won't be much but the village would be more than happy to accomodate your needs."

And as Jack followed her back, he found himself awed at the powers of friendship and devotion. It was so powerful that it transcended even time itself.

Looming above the Earth's physical and spiritual boundary lay a road that shined only if the sun's rays hit it just right, usually not until that of a full Solar Eclipse. The road stretched out far from the Earth to the cosmos, and from the infinity that was the cosmos it ended at a palace. This palace was unlike the simple thinkings and understandings of mortals, it stood upon nothing but itself, floating among the stars at the center of cosmos. It has a name that mortals have given through religious means: Heaven. Other mortals of science call it the Singularity, the End of All things. Both being correct, it hung in the night sky, invisible to all from the Event Horizon, the Gods lived here, watching over all.

From this Singularity, a man walked down the road that shone only during the light of an eclipse. He wore the tabard of the Gods and for a force stronger than them: Fate. He would walk to Earth upon hearing the call of trouble, but in this universe,aid had already be sent and the man would walk anyway. He would seek out an important man that had only one name: Jake. He would aid him is need be, he would defend him if need be, he would walk to Earth while he was to be born and raised and trained to be a great man and even greater samurai.

The knight in lavender armor continued to walk to his destination, knowing on thing: It was his Fate, his only fate.