"Kaze to Tomoni"
A/N: Right, this is my go for a Nausicaa fanfic; I hope you'll enjoy it! Note, that this story is based upon the film and not the manga, though there might be some traights from the manga here and there, so don't be surprised! I hope I get all characters right...
Also, because I had first planed to write this fanfic in japanese (but didn't because I'm lousy at writing in jp), the chapter titles and some words in the story will be in japanese... But don't worry! I'll put translation notes!
Disclaimer: OK, OK. I know you're itching to start reading, but this has to come: I DO NOT own "Nausicaa of the Valley of the Wind"! Miyazaki-sensei and Totoro-chan do! I own the plot and OCs, though!
Translation Notes:
"Kaze to tomoni": Along with the wind
Hime-sama: Princess. In the original, they all call Nausicaa like that.
-sama: a suffix used when speaking to a person you respect (or just out of politeness)
Arigatou: thank you
Chapter 1: Yokoku no Akumu ~ A Premonitory Nightmare~
Nausicaä was running. Running for her life, deep into the Sea of Decay. Fear clung to her, she had no idea why or from whom she was running from. All she knew was that she had to escape.
She passed trees, fungi and insects without realizing, everything passing like a blur as she sped towards... nowhere.
She had been following an Ohmu path; she turned at a bend to find her path blocked by and Ohmu shell. She spun desprately around for an escape route. There! A side path. She darted towards it without hesitation and started to climb, for it began to become steep.
She was beginning to see the top, when her foot slipped in something slimy and she stumbled. She felt a sudden sharp pain coming from her foot and she gasped, making her fall, this time for good. She looked down to see crimson blood flowing out of a gash at her ankle.
Despretely, she tried to stand up, but toppled to the ground again with a scream of pain. Her already beating heart began to beat even faster as she heard running footsteps. Clutching her injured ankle, she raised her head and saw, with shock: an exact copy of herself, only with raven black hair and a pair of leathery wings sprouting from the back; covered in blood from head to foot, human and insect blood alike, clutching a likewise bloodstained sword in her bare hands. But the Nausicaä infront of her wore an expression which the real Nausicaä would never have worn: a malicious, murderous one, an expression of pleasure in killing.
Her eyes widened in horror at the sight of the before-standing person. Her own nut-brown eyes were captured by the blood-red gaze of her horrifying counterpart and when the monster raised the sword, she could not either move or look away, paralyzed by fear or the gaze she didn't know.
But then she heard somebody call her name.
She was able to snap her gaze from the murdering princess as a blurred figure skidded between her and the other one, catching her by surprise. But the counter-part soon recovered and began to attack the newcomer. As they fought, he shouted to the shocked Nausicaä to run while he held her back, he turned his head to look at her. And she recognized him.
But the next second, a blade pierced him in the stomach, going right through. As he fell, Nausicaä screamed.
"ASBEL!"
Nausicaä snapped her eyes open, gasping. She sat up, heart racing as if she had been running. She was sweating all over, her orange-red hair matted and sticking to her neck and forehead.
"Asbel!" she whispered.
Then she felt a soft nudge in her hand. She looked down to see Teto, her faithful fox-squirel companion, nudging her hand as if in concern. Her eyes softened and with it, her heartbeat gradually calmed down. The fox-squirel climbed up her arm and came to rest on her shoulder, his favourite and accustomed place. She began to scratch his head affectionately.
"Teto." she said. "I'm all right. It was only a nightmare."
'Only a nightmare', she repeated, as if to reassure herself.
She looked around her room and saw from the window that it was dawn. Knowing that attempting to get back to sleep was useless, she climbed ot of bed and slipped her usual light blue dress, belt with pouch and leggings.
Done this, Nausicaä slowly descended the stairs to the main castle. As she had expected, the other castle dwellers were still sound asleep. And so were the kitchens.
So she decided to go to the balcony outside to see the sunrise.
As she came outside, a slight chill greeted her, making her shiver.
"Autumn is sure to come soon." she said, rubbing her hands to her shoulders and arms.
Teto, who had obviously come along, sensed his mistress's slight discomfort and rubbed himself against her neck. Nausicaä smiled. Her pet seemed to be becoming more and more devoted to her each day.
"Arigatou, Teto." she whispered the small animal and caressed his head.
Toghether they watched the sun rise and bathe the Valley with it's orangey beams of warmth. Watching this, Nausicaä thought how much the Valley had recovered from the past events.
It had been two months since the Tolmekians' invasion and the Ohmu stampede. In a space of a month, the Tolmekians had retreated and the Valley's people, along the Pejites, had begun to rebuild the torn buildings and the burned forest. Nausicaä remembered reminiscently the initial shock and then joy when Asbel had asked on behalf of his people if they could stay in the Valley. She had consented immediately, without hesitation, and for the past months the two kingdoms had rebuilt and healed from the past with exceptional speed and steadiness, more than she herself had hoped for.
When things had begun to stabilize, Lord Yupa had departed along with Asbel for who knows what explorations, leaving Nausicaä and Asbel's mother, Eharu, in charge.
Nausicaä sighed. 'I wonder what Asbel's doing. I bet he's having fun, helping out Yupa-sama and all... Augh, it's so unfair!' she thought, cheeks puffing.
She had always been longing to go and help Lord Yupa with his researches.
'But now look at me: cornered with all sorts of duties! And he, who should also be busy with his prince's duties, runs off with Yupa-sama!'
She gave another deep sigh. 'I guess that's how fate is.'
"What are you sighing about, child?" an old voice croaked just behind her.
Nausicaä jumped out of fright and turned to see the old seer inches before her.
"Obaba-sama! You frightened me out of my wits!" she said surprised. "Anyway, why are you up so early?"
The old woman chuckled at the princess's reaction.
"The same reason as you, dear child." she responded.
Each time Nausicaä asked something to the seer, she would get an answer which only doubled her questions.
"Have... have you been seeing nightmares too, Obaba-sama?" she asked, surprised at her slight trembling voice. Why was she afraid? Indeed, was she afraid? Or was it something else?
The short woman nodded deeply. "Yes, indeed. But I think it was slightly different from yours, Nausicaä."
Nausicaä stared at Obaba with an expression of mingled surprise and fascination. This woman never failed to surprise the princess.
"How can you tell?" she whispered.
As if sensing the girl's stare, the seer looked up, even if she was blind, and chuckled again.
"Being blind is quite disabling, but it brings many good things, such as refined intuition and, indeed, the Eyesight, my child." she rasped. Then, coming back to the topic, she said, "Do you want to talk about it?"
The old crone could tell her anything, but Nausicaä had the feeling that Obaba knew already what her nightmare had been. At the thought of it, she shivered again, even though having nothing to do with the chill. She let herself lean onto the wall and gazed down again at the Valley.
"No." she said. "It's probably something meaningless. But thank you anyway, Obaba-sama."
"Are you sure?" Obaba prodded. "You know, many dreams, as wells as nightmares, have always something of fortunetelling. Indeed, some are down right premonitions, giving you a glimpse of what is to become in the future."
Premonitions. Nausicaä's eyes widened as she rembered those murderful red eyes and... Asbel.
Terror gripped her heart again and she began to shiver again. She tried to get rid of the frightful flashbacks of the dream by shaking her head furiously.
"Obaba-sama, I-" she began to say, but was interrupted.
"Hime-sama, Obaba-sama, good morning!"
She and Obaba turned to see Mito, waving a hand, coming out greet them. As usual, he was in high good spirits.
"Good morning, Mito!" the princess greeted the old man. As did Obaba.
As Mito came forward to them, he too began to shiver and muttered, "Heavens, it's freezing!".
Nausicaä laughed at the comical reaction of Mito and said, "Yes, you're right. We should be preparing to take in the harvest before winter catches us!"
To this Mito nodded. "We are already preparing, Hime-sama. The harvest is due to start in two days."
The young princess smiled and began to descend a flight of stairs. "Good, I'll leave you in charge of the supervisions!"
"Hime-sama, where are you going! You're not going to the Toxic Jungle, are you!" Mito called after.
Nausicaä stopped to look back at her man-servant and the old seer and waved a hand, then sprinted off to prepare her flight.
Nausicaa sped off onto top of her Mehve towards through the deserts and towards the margins of the Toxic Jungle.
Ever since she and Asbel had discovered the underground caves in which the air was clean to breath, she had been visiting the place and jungle more and more often. She wanted to discover, she wanted to better understand the forest...
She had indeed made great discoveries: a cure to prevent people from getting sick with the poison; now she was trying to find a way to cure the people who already have been contaminated.
When she had arrived at the margin of the deadly forest, she landed. She let Teto quickly inside her shirt, took her flare gun, and ventured into the jungle.
Did you like it? I hope you did. Because I started to write this story about a month ago, I'll be able to update soon enough; about once in a week. First fanfic, so please be a dear and review! ^_^