I do not own Princess Mononoke, Cardcaptor Sakura or any of the animes referenced in this story.

War for Peace

Chapter 1: Cargo's Next Target

Kaya yawned as she stood on the lookout post over Iron Town's gate. She placed her arms on the wall, putting one hand over the other and slumped down so her cheek was resting on her hands. "Boring, boring, boring," she sang under her breath, while checking, for probably the thousandth time, if the sun was even close to rising. She was happy to volunteer to be the night-watchman, but only because she always forgot how tedious the job was. "You could get a monkey to do this," she muttered, "Or Gonza, he's about as smart as a monkey." Her hat lay on the ground next to her. As much as she loved to wear it, she could not deny that it was just too noticeable, even in the darkness of the night.

The last three months had been like hell for everyone, human, god, or animal. Almost every spare moment had been spent preparing for Cargo's attack. Every fighter had done whatever possible to bring themselves to the very peak of their abilities, or as near to this as possible in the time allocated. Ashitaka, along with Kaya, returned to Iron Town with training routines for the warriors, designed to improve their strength, speed and skill.

Ashitaka regularly visited San who remained in the forests to help the forest gods decide on their training methods. When he was staying in Iron Town, he and his sister would work on tag team technique which they estimated, with their skill, even Cargo would struggle to counter on his own.

Kaya had been required to push herself harder in order to keep up with Ashitaka and San but never the less managed it. She now reckoned that, besides Cargo, the three of them were some of the greatest swordsmen of all time.

Her head jerked to the right as she noticed movement out of the corner of her eye. "And here I was complaining that this job is boring," she muttered, watching a figure climb over the wall and jump down onto a rooftop.

Even though there was nobody watching, she decided to show off her new technique by back flipping onto a nearby house. She then quietly followed him from roof to roof. It came as no surprise when she realised he was heading for Eboshi's sleeping quarters.

The figure jumped to the ground, while Kaya climbed down, so as not to make any noise. The figure, who Kaya guessed was a man by his height and hairstyle, moved slowly towards Eboshi's house, presumably thinking he had all the time in the world.

The young princess waited until he was right in front of the door then threw a dagger into his leg. The man yelled and fell against the wooden door before crumpling to the ground.

The door to Eboshi's house opened just as Kaya was about to knock. She instantly bowed to her and said, while gesturing to the injured man, "It seems we have an uninvited guest." He was currently lying on the floor clutching his wounded leg in agony.

"I can see that," Lady Eboshi muttered.

"And I can see you've been up all night planning battle strategies again," said Kaya, noting that Eboshi was fully dressed in her day clothes, minus her coat.

Eboshi shrugged. "We need to be as prepared as we possibly can if we are to stand against Cargo," she replied as she moved to examine the man.

'If you work yourself to death you'll be doing Cargo's job for him,' Kaya thought but was too loyal to make the joke out loud.

As soon as Eboshi was close enough, the man pulled the dagger from his leg and attempted to stab her with it. Unfortunately for him, Eboshi easily avoided the attack and stabbed him with her own dagger. The man let out one last gasp before going limp.

Kaya shook her head at the man's stupid act. There had still been a chance he could have survived but even if he had killed Eboshi he never would have escaped with his injury and no doubt the people of Iron Town would have executed him for killing their leader. 'Either he's an idiot or he's so loyal he'll follow his orders at all costs.'

"His clothes seem too expensive for him to be a thief or bandit, so I'm guessing Cargo sent him," stated Eboshi.

"Then he and his other men are most likely not far behind," said Kaya.

Eboshi nodded in agreement. They both noticed that people were starting to emerge from their huts to see what the noise was about and we're clearly uneased by the dead man. "I'll tell Gonza to sound the alarm," said Eboshi.

Kaya bowed to Eboshi again. "And I'll wake Ashitaka." She ran off but paused to take the bow from the assassin's quiver.

It didn't come as much of a surprise when she saw a second assassin about to enter Ashitaka's hut. "Hey you," she yelled. The assassin turned, firing an arrow as he did. Kaya caught the arrow with ease and sent it right back. The man still had a stunned look on his face as the arrow entered his skull.

As she ran up to the hut, the door flew open and Ashitaka ran out. A moment later he heard a small bang and then an "ow". He stopped for a moment and then looked behind the door to see his sister sitting on the ground rubbing her forehead. If you didn't guess, the door had whacked her in the face. "What a way to thank a girl," she muttered, noting that Ashitaka had most likely been awake as he, like Eboshi, was in his day clothes.

Rolling his eyes Ashitaka helped her up. "What's happening?" he asked, looking at the dead man lying next to his hut.

"Two assassins slipped passed the lookout," she replied, glancing at the man, "They're wearing the same outfit so they must have been working together."

Ashitaka frowned at her, "Weren't you on watch tonight?"

Kaya blushed. "Hey, I followed one and the other must have entered while I was distracted, and I've been up all night, cut a girl some slack."

Rolling his eyes again Ashitaka muttered, "We're under attack Kaya, could you be serious for one moment."

"For one moment maybe," she giggled.

Ignoring her Ashitaka looked at the assassin again. "How could he have guessed this was my hut?" he asked no one in particular.

Kaya looked at the man and then her brother's hut. "He couldn't," she stated, "There's no difference between your hut and any of the nearby ones."

Ashitaka nodded. "So someone who's already been in Iron Town before must have told him."

"You think Cargo's been here?"

"Without a doubt," said Ashitaka. "It would only be entertaining for him to risk being hung. I'm sure the fact that he can be right under our nose without us knowing makes him feel invulnerable."

"No," said Kaya matter-of-factly, "What makes him feel invulnerable is the fact that he's standing behind us and you haven't even noticed."

Turning around, both saw him giving them an evil smile. "How did you know he was there?"

"My sixth sense," Kaya lied. In reality Cress had told her but she did not wish to reveal this to Cargo just yet.

"It's a displeasure to see you again," Cargo sneered.

"What are you doing here so soon?" Ashitaka demanded, "You said you wouldn't be back for another month."

"Oh sorry, did I say I'd be back in four months?" the assassin smirked, "Alright, I wanted my return to be a surprise."

"It doesn't matter; Kaya and I can take you on by ourselves," said Ashitaka.

Cargo threw back his head and laughed, "Hilarious."

"It's no joke," muttered Kaya.

Cargo shrugged, "If you want to delude yourselves into thinking you can beat me when I fight at my best then be my guest. But by the end of this I will have made you see why love and companionship are not good things."

"How?" Ashitaka and Kaya asked together.

"By showing you the pain it causes. I shall start by bringing those bothersome cardcaptors back. I will make Sakura watch as I hang Syaoran."

"Love causes pain," yelled Ashitaka, "but that's just part of loving someone, whether it's true love or family love."

"My love for my brother was the only thing that stopped me killing him when you hypnotised me," Kaya shouted, "I will always stand by him. How can that be a bad thing?"

"You would always stand by your brother, but is that true the other way around?"

"Of course I would, I'd never betray her!"

"You wouldn't betray her, but you abandoned her back at your village."

"I had to!"

"And you wouldn't stand by her if she were to join me."

"I would never do that," Kaya yelled.

"Never say 'never'" Cargo smiled, "And I did use the word 'always' for a reason."

"You can't ask me something like that," replied Ashitaka.

"Only because you know I'm right."

"Stop it!" Kaya stuttered.

Cargo giggled. It was amazing how simple it was to make them squirm. "I haven't even mentioned that I know who you really are."

"Meaning what?" asked Ashitaka.

With a smile on his lips, Cargo gave a mock bow. "It's an honour to meet you, the last prince and last princess of the Emishi."

Ashitaka's eyes widened. "How did you find that out," he demanded.

Kaya's mouth dropped open. "Oh no," she gasped, "please tell me I didn't reveal that to you when I…"

"When you were under my father's hypnosis spell," Cargo finished. "I'm afraid you did, but don't worry I haven't told anyone. I wouldn't want to risk losing my chance of killing off the Emishi tribe to someone else."

At that moment the sound of a bell began to resonate throughout the village. "There's a constant ringing in my ear," Kaya muttered sarcastically.

Cargo looked around, attempting to judge where the ringing was coming from. "I assume that's an evacuation signal," he laughed, "Why does it not surprise me that you and your friends would run away."

"We don't plan on running from you this. We'll finish you now," Ashitaka declared.

"I don't plan on fighting you with these people dashing about," the green haired man replied, gesturing to the people coming out of the nearby huts. He pulled his hood over his head. "I'll battle you later," he sneered, and then turned and walked, almost casually, away. Everyone was too focused on getting to the boats at the back of the village to notice him.

Kaya started to follow him but Ashitaka grabbed her shoulder. "Ashitaka, we might still be able to…"

"Use your head…" Ashitaka began but Kaya interrupted.

"Yeah, I'll head-butt him."

Ignoring her comment Ashitaka continued, "If we fight him here he's just going to use someone as a human shield when he realises that we out class him."

"Point taken," Kaya muttered.

It appeared that Cargo's retreat may have also been caused by the arrival of his men, who were currently clambering over Iron Town's outer wall.

"It's a good thing we ordered an evacuation," said Lady Eboshi, coming up to them. "Follow me, there's something I need to give you." Kaya and Ashitaka followed her through the crowd of people and back to her house. When they were inside Eboshi immediately went over to the corner of the room. Using her one hand, she brushed away some of the dirt on the ground, exposing a wooden box buried there. She opened it to reveal the emerald they had obtained from Cargo's father. "You must make sure Cargo doesn't get this back," she said, offering it to Ashitaka, but he shook his head.

"I have no interest in using that," he stated.

"I'll take it then," said Kaya, reluctantly accepting it from Eboshi. It was then that the sound of someone running in heavy boots could be heard. It was too soon for any of the men who had been climbing over the wall to have reached them and as the people of Iron Town rarely wore boots, there was only one person it really could be.

"You go on ahead," ordered Eboshi, "I'll ensure he doesn't follow you."

"I'm not just going to leave you here to be killed," replied Ashitaka, "Kaya I want…"

"Well if you're staying then I'm staying," Kaya cut in.

"No Kaya, you should…"

"Brother when you wouldn't let me help you fight Asano, I didn't know if I'd see you alive again. The whole reason I came here was because I didn't want that to happen, yet it did. So I promised myself that it would be the last time. If you stay, I'll stay," she finished.

Ashitaka frowned and glanced at the door. The footsteps were getting closer.

"Just go with her," said Eboshi to Ashitaka, "his men won't take much longer to get here. Whoever stays here will die. Do you want that to happen to your sister?"

Ashitaka shook his head, the frown still on his lips. "Come on," he said to Kaya. The two hastily made their way through the back exit.

Lady Eboshi drew her sword and a moment later the door was smashed open to reveal Cargo. "So it'll be you who'll become today's target," he laughed, his black eyes sparkling with madness.

To Be Continued…