the following two chapters are a collaboration with new member echobodhi, who has much skill. hopefully she'll post her own stuff sometime. i'll see what i can do about that. peace
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"And then she fell asleep!"

Chen burst into laughter at the confusion on Ashitaka's face. "Isn't that a good thing?" he managed, and Ashitaka shrugged desperately, eyes wide and plaintive.

"I didn't know what to do, so I…" He stopped, looking at Chen helplessly.

"So you stayed there. All night." Chen stated, expression abruptly deadpan. Ashitaka blushed a deep crimson, and laughter rang from Chen once again, echoing through the early morning. He clapped the younger man on the shoulder, and tried to summon words. He failed, bending over double on his seat as amusement shook through him. Ashitaka's expression darkened.

"I'm –– I'm sorry, Ashi! I just…oh my… go on, I'm sorry."

Ashitaka eyed him indignantly as his guffaws subsided to chuckles. "Nothing happened! We just… I just… held her!"

Chen took a deep breath, smile splitting his features, forcing the laughter back. It was difficult, but somehow he managed. "Don't get me wrong, kid, I'm happy for you." He looked into Ashitaka's eyes, to show him the sincerity that he felt, even if it was hiding behind a thick layer of amusement. "For both of you."

Ashitaka looked skeptically at him, but soon a smile grew on his face as well. They shared a moment of silence, thoughts running through both of their heads, and Chen took a moment to examine Ashitaka. The boy had taken three days to tell Chen about the events of that night, and Chen had been curious ever since he had seen the pair vanish into the night.

San had been a decidedly better indicator of how the night had went, Chen remembered. The only time she had come to Chen for sword training, a smile of joy hadn't left her face despite her reluctance to answer any questions regarding the reason for the smile.

"How did it feel?" Chen asked, and Ashitaka looked at him questioningly. "When you woke up to see someone you loved."

The boy seemed surprised at his question, but looked down thoughtfully. "Wonderful." His voice was soft, and full to bursting of emotion.

But not the emotion Chen expected. "Hey, what's wrong?"

Ashitaka didn't answer, but he took a deep breath, tension creasing his young face. His hand moved to touch the hilt of his ringblade, where Kaya's ribbon shared the iron ring with Gorou's headband. "It's the dagger." Ashitaka's voice cracked, and Chen leaned closer, looking at him in concern.

"The one from Kaya?"

Ashitaka nodded. "San doesn't know what it means."

Chen looked to him questioningly. "Wait, I thought it was just something that Kaya gave you. What does it mean?"

Ashitaka took a deep breath. "No. It's so much more than that." He faced Chen, eyes dark and determined. "It is a marriage symbol."

Chen blinked in surprise. "Wait, what?"

"Kaya was my betrothed. The dagger was a symbol of that."

"And you haven't told San."

Ashitaka nodded despondently.

Chen frowned and leaned over, meeting the boy's eyes. "And why haven't you told her?"

Ashitaka looked up at him helplessly. "I––"

"Ashitaka! Chen! Pretty boys with swords!"

Chen stood up, searching for the voice calling to them. Fortunately, he was taller than most anything in the camp, so he easily picked out the stout, apron-clad woman waving to him from the entrance of a large tent. Kinu, the head medic. Chen waved back to her. "Yes, Ms. Kinu!?"

She was making her way over to them. "Chen! Where's the Lady, and why aren't you with her!?"

Chen couldn't hold back a smile. "She was with Dayihata last I saw her! Told me to head back, why?"

"Oh! And you actually went!? Never-mind," she called, now nearly next to him. "I need you to tell her something for me," she stated, squinting her eyes at him in the sunlight. He leaned down to better hear her. "We're running low on medical supplies. It's not bad — most of the wounded are already on their way to recovery, but we'll need to stop at the next village. Tell her, won't you?" She turned to Ashitaka, and the boy straightened expectantly, confusion slipping from his face as if it hadn't been there. "Ashitaka — Genji just woke up; he's due for another dose. Could you take care of him? I have to go find some more herbs."

Chen raised an eyebrow at her as Ashitaka stood, giving a compliant nod. He looked at Chen uncertainly, and Chen pointed at Ashitaka, fixing him with a determined gaze. "We're not done here. We'll talk later, got it?" Ashitaka bit his lip but nodded, eyes downcast. Chen watched as Ashitaka hurried towards the medical tent and then turned back to Kinu, who was eyeing him questioningly. A smile returned to his face. "And why have you chosen me of all people, to tell the Lady?" he asked skeptically.

She looked up at him narrowly, as if he was the short one, a hand planted on her hip. "I'm busy, Master Chen. You are not." He shrugged and nodded agreeably.

"Besides, you were bound to return to her sometime today anyway— and Ashitaka said you were a cleanly person, so I suppose there's that," she muttered, producing a slip of paper from her frock. "Here, give her this — it lists the wanted supplies. Well, go on," she shooed him with her hand, "don't keep your Lady waiting."

Chen grinned and gave her a mock salute. He rather liked the woman's antics — they were a welcome change to the meekness of most of the women he'd known from his days in Duan Zen Even many of the Reiti girl didn't have such spunk. With a wave, he turned on his heel and broke into a light jog.

He liked all of the Tatara women, truth be told — liked their devout vigor and their sharp-tongued manner, their jokes and their songs. The men, during their nights around the fire, had told him that the women used to work the bellows in old Iron Town. They had sung of gold, blades, and ogres in the evenings, a song that men weren't allowed to truly listen to, much less sing. Some of the men, including Genro and Kohroku, had even tried to instigate a crude reproduction. He smiled as he recalled the bootlegged melody. He'd caught Eboshi humming it once, while she tinkered with some metal contrivance or other. It was remarkable how the woman felt most at-ease when she was surrounded by guns.

Soon enough, however, his thoughts returned to Ashitaka. The dagger – the blue crystal hanging around San's neck— was a marriage symbol!?
It made sense that he and Kaya had been engaged –Chen had seen the boy's devotion to her— but why had he been foolish enough to give it to San, and then not tell her about it? Chen shook his head with a sigh. That was quite the situation Ashitaka had gotten himself into.

Chen neared the glade where the temporary smithery had been situated. Dayihata's Den, as he'd grown to call it, for it was always occupied by the man and was distinctly den-like. Chen slowed his pace and brushed a hand through his tousled hair. It was for concentration on the task at hand, as well as to help it look good, and put Ashitaka out of his mind, for now.

He could hear Dayihata's amiable timbre, intercepted occasionally by the man's scratchy laughter and by smooth-voiced replies that could only belong to Eboshi herself.

"Milady?" He moved to push past the flap, but before he could stick his head in, her voice rang out.

"Remain outside for the moment, if you will, Master Chen."

He straightened and replied, a bit stiff from surprise, "Yes, my Lady." He heard the heavy sounds of something large being moved, and the shrill scrapes of iron on wood. Whatever it was in there, it wasn't anything he had seen before.

"You may enter, Master Chen," came her voice.

He entered gingerly. Eboshi was standing next to a low folding table whilst Dayihata sat on the ground, in the process of lowering the heavy lid of what appeared to be a large wooden case. Before it closed entirely, Chen caught a glimpse of light refracted off of gleaming wood amidst the metallic glints of polished steel.

Dayihata turned and called out cheerfully: "Master Chen!"

"Master Dayihata," Chen returned, tipping his head as he stepped farther into the tent. As his eyes adjusted to the dimmer light, he noticed a small mechanical contraption in the Lady's hand. It had a thin iron barrel mounted on a sleek wooden body, and ended with a narrow nozzle, which was, he noticed with slight alarm, pointed directly at him. The calculation in her eyes turned to amusement, but her arm remained steady, the odd device — was it a gun? — trained directly at his forehead. He could see something in her eyes — a sort of glee, barely controlled, at being able to hold the weapon. Some of that frustration he'd noticed in her manner on the hill, when she had allowed him to assist her… it was lessened, now. His eyes widened as she hefted the weapon, and Eboshi gave a slight chuckle.

"...And hello to you too, Milady," he said carefully, instinctively raising a hand against a weapon that his brain knew he couldn't defend against. His caution seemed to delight Dayihata, who grinned so widely with his dilapidated mouth that Chen could easily make out the man's seven teeth. He waved to Eboshi excitedly. "Give it a go, m'lady, give it a go! Test her!"

Eboshi lowered the object and glanced back at Dayihata sardonically, a smirk on her red lips, lifting an eyebrow as the man proceeded to reiterate his enthusiastic encouragement. Seizing his chance in her momentary distraction, Chen gave a theatrical cringe and hastily stepped away from the entrance.

Dayihata gave a cry of dismay. "Aw, Milady, quick! You'll miss your target!

"That would be rather a waste, Dayi, don't you think?" Eboshi returned, lowering the gun. "He is instrumental to the plan and hence necessary for our mission — and, in the meantime, he's a perfectly useful samurai."

Glad I'm worth something, Chen thought wryly. He shrugged apologetically to the grinning Dayihata.

"Besides," Eboshi continued, "he makes good company; the girls like him, Ashitaka likes him — he's even charmed the Princess Mononoke, from what I've seen. And that is quite a close range — a poor test of marksmanship, no?"

"Don't I get any say in this?" Chen asked half-incredulously. Good company, was he?

"But, my Lady!" Dayihata exclaimed, disregarding Chen's remark. "Such fine armor! I bet five bullets my machine could blast through it."

"I suppose we shan't find out until we meet another samurai who bears its equal," Eboshi commented dryly. "If things truly go badly, maybe you'll have the royal guards' armor to test against, Dayi." The man cackled to himself, rubbing his bandaged hands together, but her gaze returned to Chen. "I'm afraid Chen would make rather a poor target."

"I resent that statement! I think I make a perfectly good target," Chen laughed, even as he moved nearer to the high-ceiled center to ease his stooped shoulders.

Dayihata crinkled his nose at him. "Oh no, Master Chen. Like the Lady said, much too big, too tall — shoulders too wide. Not interesting. Maybe a hundred yards off, you might be able to redeem yourself?" Dayihata grinned again, putting a hand on his chest, over his heart. Dayi continued, "No, no Master Chen, you're much too big to aim at. Besides, you samurai have far too much honor, anyway." Winking at Chen, he waved his hand in Eboshi's direction and added in a loud, conspiratorial whisper: "And you're far too well-liked, it seems."

"That was conspicuously loud, Dayi. Might make one wonder at the importance of it," Eboshi stated dryly.

Dayihata merely spared her an insouciant glance. "Women," he mouthed to Chen, fretting with his bandaged head as if there were hair piled atop it. He raised his brow masterfully, producing what Chen had to admit was a very convincing imitation. "They say so many insincere, deceiving things — why, it's positively cruel!"

"What was it you wanted, Chen?" Eboshi asked, stepping over a litter of metal scraps, nearing him. "Surely you didn't come merely to exchange witticisms with this fool of a jester."

"Kinu sent me," Chen returned reaching for the slip of paper the medic had given him.

"Oh?" Eboshi questioned. "What does she want?"

"I'm to give you this. Says she's undersupplied — wants to stop at the next village, instead of just passing through in style like we'd planned."

"Oh, dear Kinu," Eboshi began, inspecting the piece of paper he held out. "Always so dutiful. Ah — you forget that I can only hold one thing at a time, Chen."

He realized she already held the gun, and quickly placed the paper on the low bench near all the tools. "Sorry, Lady Eboshi, I didn't mean—"

"Chen." His words froze in his mouth, and he looked at her in surprise.

"I think we have spoken enough for me to call you a friend. Eboshi will do."

"Yes, my... " A smile spread against his will. This would be a welcome change. "Yes, Eboshi."

"Good man," she stated, inspecting the gun in her hand, her smile still quite prominent. Chen exchanged a glance with a grinning Dayihata, who was trying his best to look busy by cleaning an already-shining trigger guard. He was humming to himself, and Chen suddenly realized that he hadn't been at the fire the night before. A shame, he seemed an amusing fellow. Why was that?

He would think on that later. Right now, it was the Lady's smile that interested him.

"If I may," Chen stated carefully, and she slipped the slim gun in a case hanging at her side, eying him from the corner of her gaze. "I've never seen you so… content."

"And that is a cause for surprise?"

"Well..." he began, hesitant. He straightened and met Eboshi's eyes, her arching brow analyzing him. "Yes," he stated firmly, meeting her gaze.

"Yes, well," she replied, brushing a hair away from her eyes. "I did miss shooting. Blades are things of beauty, of elegance — but firearms are so much more effective, even if they do tend to be rather volatile. Have you ever tried your hand at it? You'd enjoy it, I'd wager. You seem to like loud, risky things."

"Sounds about right," Chen laughed. "I actually haven't been able to try them out yet." He looked curiously at the rifle and pole-gun on the ground near her feet. "I do want to try, though. I have for some time, actually."

"They say there's no time like the present — if you're so eager," Eboshi said. "I could show you."

Chen looked up at her in surprise. "Now, my Lady? What about..."

She graced him with a small smile, and his words stopped, remembering the authority of the woman he was speaking to. "Kinu can wait; we will not enter the town in procession until late afternoon. Unless you had another time in mind?"

He shook his head mutely, and stepped aside as she passed, bowing slightly. She did not look to him as he passed, but her hand rose gracefully to brush against his arm. "Please take the rifle and follow me. Dayi, could you take another look at the project? The multiple firing mechanisms still need some work."

Dayihata nodded his head. "Will do. But be careful, m'lady." Curiously, he glanced at Chen before continuing. "You're gonna have to learn to aim better before you can be accurate with the pistol."

Eboshi only nodded and smiled, exiting while Chen scooped up the rifle, the wooden stock smooth in his hands. Dayi winked once more to Chen, continuing his humming tune. Chen grinned back at the small man, and followed Eboshi back into the morning light. He fell into step beside her, the rifle over his shoulder.

oi! thanks for the continued support! This fic has a long way to go, and i would love to hear what yall have to say about it! Please leave a review, it really does help!
happy reading (and reviewing)

-pakari