A/N: My muse told me to write this so write this I did. I've always loved Ghibli films so why not write a Princess Mononoke AU for EreMika?
Disgusting, disgusting, Mikasa thought. She reeked of humans. The smell of iron and smoke and death clung to her and she felt the urge to tear off her own skin. She feared she'd never be rid of this stink. And while her human form looked frightfully like the dreaded humans that she detested, she reminded herself she was nothing like them. She would never cut down the beautiful trees in the forest, never pollute the waters that flowed in the stream, never harm the nature that she called home. The humans were the monsters after all and yet…
She looked reluctantly at the unconscious body beside her and bit her lip. And yet this boy had saved her. Her brother had told her to dispose of the nuisance but she couldn't bring herself to.
"It doesn't matter if he saved you," Levi had snarled at her, his hand hovering unconsciously over his chest where a silver bullet had pierced him only days before. "He's a piece of shit like the rest of them. It's in their nature to destroy everything around them unless we destroy them first." Even though the boy had come out of his way to return an unconscious Mikasa back to her brother where she would be safe, Levi had still lashed out hard enough to knock the boy out. Levi wouldn't do the dirty work himself though. He said the boy was Mikasa's problem and thus she should be the one to get rid of it.
Mikasa had told her brother she'd take care of the human hours ago and here he was, only unconscious. He stirred and she felt her breath hitch and her heart beat faster. As he stirred, eyes fluttering open, she reached out to snatch the dagger from his belt and held it close to his throat. While she held the sharp knife steady, the tip barely touching his neck, her own voice wavered. "Why did you save me," she whispered.
He fixed his eyes – big and blue and stormy like a troubled sky – on her. The boy didn't bother respond. No beads of sweat ran down his tanned skin and his breathing was even and steady. It was like he had just woken up from the most peaceful dream. He was strangely calm about this whole situation. If the weapon she held pressed to his throat bothered him he didn't show it.
She cleared her throat and spoke again. "Why did you save me?" she asked again, clenching the handle of the dagger even harder.
He parted his lips as if to speak but no words came out. His silence only succeeded in making her angry.
"What's wrong with you? You saved that bitch but you saved me too!" she snarled. Her voice, usually calm and quiet, was rising. She wondered if the whole forest could hear her. "Why would you save me? I'm a wolf and you're a human! I'm your enemy!" Frustrated by his lack of response, Mikasa raised the knife and brought it down, sure that the sight of his blood spilled on the ground would somehow make her feel better, but she stopped it inches away from his throat when he finally decided to speak.
"You're beautiful." His words were so quiet that she wasn't quite sure if he had spoken at all.
She sat there, startled and frozen in place. "What did you say?" she said.
"You're beautiful," he repeated, his eyes still fixed on her.
Her lip quivered and she slowly set the knife down. She wouldn't kill him. She couldn't kill him. She'd tell Levi that the boy had woken up while she was about slit his throat but he had woken up and gotten away from her. She'd say he was stronger than he looked. She'd lie. She wasn't sure why she felt this sudden urge to let this boy live. It wasn't like she had ever felt uneasy about getting blood on her hands. She had killed numerous humans in the past but for some reason this particular human made her think twice killing.
She looked over and he was still staring at her, gazing at her in wonder. She opened her mouth to tell him to leave but he spoke before she could. "I'm Eren," he told her. "Eren Jaeger."
"Eren Jaeger," she repeated, savoring every syllable that fell on her tongue. She felt a bit like she was betraying her brother by just speaking this stranger's name but at the same time she was too enraptured by the boy's big blue eyes and strange calmness to truly care. "I'm Mikasa."
Finally his eyes left her face to glance at the knife she had taken from him, the one she had discarded at her side. "Are you going to kill me?" he asked as if he had suddenly discovered this.
"No," she said, "I'm not."
This time his mouth opened to reveal a smile and his eyes twinkled as he returned his gaze to her. "Thank you," he said.
You're beautiful, she thought as she stared back.
Truth be told it's actually been a while since I've watched Princess Mononoke but I did rewatch this scene a couple of times just so I could write this. I might expand on this AU if I decide I like it. More importantly I hoped you guys liked it! Mayhaps Eren is a bit OOC in this but I like to think that his arm's being consumed with hatred from a Titan-infected animal and thus he's able to appreciate nature more instead of screaming about killing stuff. Yup, yup.
Feel free to leave some prompt ideas or other AUs in the comments or review if you have the time. Thanks a bunch!
