Princess Mononoke Fanfiction

Chapter 4

Ashitaka woke up at dawn, hearing the cry of the wolf. The howl sent shivers down his spine. It sounded anguished and frantic—something was up. Something sinister was happening.

Ashitaka quickly rolled up his woven hay sleeping mat and packed up his things. He whistled for Yakul, who came to him promptly. He fed the elk dried corn from his hand before climbing on his back and riding off into the distance.

Ashitaka steered North East. Somewhere deep in his bones, he could sense the darkness in that direction.

"Something's going on," he muttered to himself. "Let's go, Yakul!"

Together, boy and elk bound into the dark looming trees of the North forest.

The wolf pack had been travelling for 2 days. It usually never took more than a few hours to journey from the west to east.

"Keep up the pace children," Moro grunted. "We're almost there."

San could feel her eyelids fluttering in fatigue as she struggled to remain upright on her brother's back. She crouched down low to avoid the scraggling thorns of the branches of trees. They cut at her arms anyway: her bare arms and legs were covered in scratches. Some had opened and deepened and were openly bleeding.

"San, you're bleeding," her brother muttered at her from a corner of his mouth. A thin yet steady trickle of blood was oozing from her leg onto his white fur, staining it.

Moro abruptly stopped and wheeled around.

"We can take a short rest here," she said. The boy cubs went prowling off in search of a drink of water to satiate themselves. Moro tended to San, tenderly licking the scratches on her legs and arms.

"Where does it hurt, daughter?" Moro murmured.

"Not anymore, mother," San said, smiling. She leaned into her mother's warm fur and let her eyes close for a few seconds. Moro noticed her daughter's exhaustion.

"We'll continue tomorrow," Moro growled at her boy cubs. "For now, we rest."

The boy cubs shifted uneasily.

"Resting in broad daylight? Isn't that risky?"

"Yes," said Moro, "But your sister is tired. We must enter the North with focus and attention. Rest, children."

The boy cubs obligingly curled up next to their sister and fell fast asleep. Moro stayed awake a little longer to watch a fast approaching figure on the horizon of the mountain. A cape, a dark figure on a elk…

Moro gave a barking laugh and her mouth rippled back in a smirk to expose fatal teeth.

"Ashitaka," the wolf goddess said, "I should have known."

Ashitaka felt as if he were still miles away from the North, though he had already been journeying for 3 days. He arrived at the bottom of a hill. There were spirits up ahead, but they didn't seem to be bad ones. Ashitaka decided to take his chances.

"Wait here," he said to Yakul. The elk pawed at the ground nervously and butted his head into Ashitaka's. Ashitaka stroked his soothingly, then set up on a trek.

He couldn't help think that it was very similar to the one he had set upon in the West, leading to Iron Town. He remembered the kodama had shown up then and led to the way out. Ashitaka looked futilely about—no friendly tree spirits showed up. The forest was silent. Dead. It was less than sleeping—a bunch of trees and dirt and grass and nothing more. There was no life, no soul, no spirit. Ashitaka felt uneasy in the environment. The silence was unsettling. Until—

Ashitaka could hear breathing up ahead. It was unmistakeable—there were living souls up ahead. Good or bad, he couldn't tell. Ashitaka crept through the trees, barely making a sound.

He stopped dead in his tracks. To his absolute astonishment, it was the wolf tribe. He eyes zeroed in on San instantly, spotting her. All sorts of feelings welled up that moment. Sadness, joy, a strong, uregent desire to run over and envelop her in his arms..

He'd barely taken two steps when a low growl stopped him.

"Ashitaka. I should have known you to end up showing up. You are the most interfering human I have ever met."

But Ashitaka couldn't respond. For the first time in his life, he was frozen in fear. Behind Moro, looming in the dark recesses of the trees, was a pair of blood red eyes.

"And? What do you have to say?" Moro snarled.

Ashitaka pointed mutely to the trees.

Moro turned around, but the eyes were gone.

"What's this? A trick? Didn't San tell you herself she never wanted to see you ever again? What are you doing here?"

"There's a demon here…" Ashitaka muttered, regaining his senses.

Moro's sharp ears pricked up immediately. As much as she hated the idea of her daughter and this human boy being togther, she knew Ashitaka was a strong warriro with integrity. He would never lie.

"What did you see?"

"Eyes. Red eyes. Behind you, in the forest yonder."

By this time, San and the cubs had woken up at the commotion. San spotted Ashitaka and her initial reaction was confusion and shock. Then she smiled and couldn't help the bubbling laughter of joy that escaped. She ran and threw herself into his arms.

"Ashitaka…" she whispered.

Ashitaka's heart was somewhere in his throat. He put his arms around her cautiously. "I missed you," he said quietly, and meant it.

Moro gave a dissatisfied growl and the two immediately parted, San looking ashamed at having lost herself. Ashitaka found it hard to be regretful at all.

"What else did you see?"

"Nothing," he said firmly. "They disappeared as soon as you turned around. I believe they aren't afraid of me, but fear you."

"What's going on?" San was wide-eyed and awake, after her long nap.

Ashitaka turned to her. "There's demons nearby. I saw one just now. They're hiding in the North forest."

At this proclamation, the wolves' fur pricked. San gritted her teeth and bared them slightly, looking a bit like a wolf herself.

"I'm journeying to the North to hopefully slay these demons." This, directed to Moro.

"And what do you get from that?" Moro asked, unimpressed. She hoped he would be killed in the effort.

"That is something I cannot tell you." Ashitaka said in a tone that clearly said this was not be discussed anymore.

"Mother," San said hesistantly, "Couldn't Ashitaka come along with us? He would prove useful."

Moro looked at her daughter wearily. She could never be stern with San after all, but this was a different matter all together.

"Say your goodbyes," she said.

"Goodbye," San said, her face void of emotion. If she let herself, she would cry, and that would be the most degarding expression of human weakness.

Ashitaka smiled at her, even though his heart was breaking. "We'll meet again."