Ashitaka sat on the roof. Not just any roof, he sat cross-legged on the peak of Lady's Eboshi's mansion. The stars spread out before him, the night sky lifting his eyes against his will, the pinpricks of light giving him peace where few things would. He tried to forget what awaited him below in the meeting room. The samurai had woken up, and the only thing keeping him from questioning the man out of his wits was Lady Eboshi. The stress of recent days had overworked her, and while she rested, the man had woken. She was preparing, only willing to speak to the man at the same time as Ashitaka.

It was a reasonable request. He would honor it. He took a deep breath of the mountain air, only slightly tinged by the smoke of the small forge-fires down below, trying to relax. He had to keep calm, especially when he revealed who he really was. Or had been. It was hard to keep those things straight.

He looked over the mountains surrounding the Ironlake, -or at least what these lowlanders called mountains- and tried not to think of home. The green meadows, the mountainside where he had grown up, the stream that he and Kaya had played in as children…

His fists clenched as he thought of Kaya, helpless and bound, at the mercy of the imperial tormentors. He could not stand by while she suffered. And he would burn down the capitol, if it came to it, to get her back. Why must those he love suffer because of him? He sat up straighter, clearing his mind and tried to concentrate on the beauty around him, the stars above him and their reflection on the lake below. It was a still night, one that could carry peace and anxiety in equal measure.

His lips quirked in a smile. "Hello, San."

"How did you know?" The wild girl abandoned her stealth stance, complete with sheathed dagger in hand, and sat cross-legged next to him. She looked exactly the same as she had when they had parted barely more than a month ago. Her wild brown hair was tamed only by the leather headband she wore, a small gemstone carefully placed in the center of her forehead. The crystal dagger he had given her hung around her neck as if it belonged there. He would tell her, someday, what it meant.

Without even trying, she was more beautiful than all the girls he had ever seen. Where they had makeup, she had war paint, and where they revealed and fluttered lashes to draw men's attentions, San drew Ashitaka's heart with her sincerity and simple beauty. He looked at her with a genuine smile on his face, some of the stress of the last days lifting from his shoulders. She looked back, curiosity on her face, blue eyes warm and slightly… was she nervous?

"I will always know the sound of your footsteps. I've always thought it strange that you wear shoes." He said.

She glanced down at the makeshift wrappings tied to her feet, and shrugged. "I never really thought about it." They sat in silence for a stretch, and Ashitaka prepared for the question he knew would come. It came.

"Why didn't you come? You said you would visit me." San chided, voice soft, yet plaintive all the same.

"I couldn't find you. About a week ago, I went to the spring. No amount of shouting brought you…" He said, looking at her pointedly.

San reddened slightly, and looked at her feet. "We might have been in the northern forest that day." A pause, then, "I'm sorry."

"It is no problem. You're here now." She looked back up, eyes searching, and he smiled again. Strangely, she hid her face from him. Confused but not wanting to say anything wrong, he looked up at the night sky again. She joined him, and they gazed at the stars.

"Spring is coming. My favorite constellations are out this time of year." Ashitaka stated, studying the sky intently.

San glanced to him, confusion in her eyes. "Constellations?"

"Star patterns. In the spring, we can see the Sower, the Builder, the Great Ox. The Warrior is ascending, you can see his sword arm just above the mountain over there. Oh, and there's the Wolf. You don't usually see it until mid-spring, but I guess because we're so far West of…" He trailed off, realizing he had almost told her where he was from, but she didn't seem to have noticed. She had leaned forward, trying to see what he saw.

"I can't see them. Where is the Wolf?"

"If you come closer, I can point it out to you…" He stopped, surprised, as she immediately drew nearer to him, eyes transfixed on the stars. She was… quite close. "Hold out your hand, and point over there, I'll trace it for you." She nodded, slim arm rising as she leaned closer to him. His right hand took her own, their heads side by side, her body almost against his.

Ashitaka began to trace out the stars for her, but he looked to her face, so close. San's eyes were wide in awe, following his finger as he outlined the figures in the stars. She looked so much like a child in that moment, curious and trusting, and when he was finished, she breathed out, "I can see her now. She's jumping…" She turned to him, wonder gleaming in her eyes, and they let their hands fall. She did not pull away. In her blue eyes, Ashitaka could see the reflections of the million lights.

"When I was a child, I thought I could see shapes in the stars." She said, voice soft. She had never talked about her past. "Tsume thought I was crazy, and Kiba would only laugh. But mother believed me." Her eyes met his again, and he became aware of how comfortable she was, there, virtually in his arms. She trusted him that much? He made himself listen to her words. Her eyes flashed downward. "She could not see them. She told me that I could see them, because I was human." San's eyes narrowed slightly, as if remembering an old pain. "I thought that was a bad thing. I tried to never look at the stars like that again. But they were always there, mocking me." She looked at him again, over her shoulder, and he held her gaze.

She looked down, suddenly. "It doesn't feel as bad anymore. With you." He nodded, smiling as his eyes went to the heavens above yet again. It spread out before them, an expanse of shattered light arranged in only a way they could see.

"They're so beautiful." She said, voice filled with the wonder of a remembered thing. Before he could think about it, his hand raised to touch her cheek, fingers brushing against the red paint there. She turned to him, expression suddenly guarded. But she didn't pull away.

He held her gaze. "You outshine them all."

Her eyes widened, and he let his hand lower. She stared at him for a long second, red spreading behind the markings on her cheeks. Frantically, she hid her face, and he leaned respectfully back, again putting a small distance in between them.

Finally, she looked up, expression controlled. "Thank you, Ashitaka." Her voice was unruffled, but not cold. He smiled in return, and her face twitched as he looked back up at the stars, silently thanking them for their relative beauty. After a second of furiously controlling her expression, San gave up with a sign and looked up with him.

"San, I have something I want you to know." Ashitaka stated quietly. He didn't need to ask why she was here, she had obviously come to see the samurai and hear his story. She looked to him warily, preparing herself for another compliment. He met her eyes, expression determined. "You are the only one, San. The only one I would trust my identity with." She held his gaze, serious and questioning.

"Tonight, I will be forced to reveal my past to people I do not trust. I will tell you some now before-" He was interrupted by people calling in the building below them, calling for him. He looked towards the source of the sounds, and when he glanced back, San was already on the move, barely a fleeting shadow across the roof. He did not try to stop her. San would do what she would do. She would hear his story either way. He stood, stretching his legs, then went to meet this samurai.