San woke to the feel of a cool breeze blowing over her skin, raising goose flesh on her arms and legs. She raised an arm to her face to rub the sleep from her eyes and protect them from the afternoon sunlight creeping in beneath her eyelids.
When did I doze off? She thought.
Blinking, she turned her head to see Ashitaka sleeping soundly next to her on the grass.
His face was turned slightly in her direction, lips parted as he breathed evenly. An arm was draped haphazardly across his stomach. San had never seen him look so calm and peaceful. When she was nursing him back to health after he'd been shot, he slept fitfully. His forehead would be beaded with sweat and his face contorted in agony because of the pain he endured from his spasms that he thought she didn't notice.
Idiot, she thought, You couldn't hide that from me. I'm a wolf, remember?
Looking at him now, he seemed so different from the boy she knew. Before he was cursed and stripped of his title. Before he was forced to leave his village to seek out the Great Forest Spirit and got himself shot for protecting her. Before he fought off the humans in an attempt to save the forest.
San wondered if he was dreaming about his village now, looking as peaceful as he did.
On impulse, she leaned down and pressed a feather-light kiss to the scar on his cheek.
Ashitaka stirred, eyes fluttering open. The first thing he sees is San looking down at him with wide eyes and a blush coloring her cheeks. He blinked in surprise.
"San?" he asked, his expression quizzical.
San only responded by blushing even more. She opened her mouth to say something, but no sound came out. She felt like a child caught in the act who was about to be scolded.
Now, you've done it. She berated herself inwardly. Why did you go and do a thing like that?
Ashitaka propped himself up on his elbow and raised his free hand to her face, caressing her cheek.
"What is it?"
His hand was warm on her skin, calloused in some places from working in Iron Town. A memory came to mind of a woman locking lips with her mate, her "husband" as they were called among human women, one day when she visited the village. San remembered the feeling the first time she and Ashitaka had touched lips when she fed him the tree bark. Back then, he was just a stranger she was trying to save from the brink of death. How would it feel now that they had grown closer?
Would Ashitaka be her "husband" one day? Is that what he wanted?
Was it what she wanted?
She felt the pad of his thumb lightly brush her cheek, breaking her out of her reverie.
"You're so beautiful," he murmured.
Just like that, all of San's uncertainties fell away. He could have easily disarmed her with those words, just like he had the night they had first met, but now they gave her courage and reassurance. She knew she wanted to stay by his side always. She felt sure now that there was no more reason to doubt his intentions for her, for the two of them. She trusted him completely.
Smiling warmly at him, she leaned down and pressed her lips to his.