Yuugi Nocahan had been walking for twenty days on end

Ashitaka was just getting ready to go to sleep when he saw the two of them burst out of the forest.

"Oh, great," he said to Yakuul, only a few feet away. "Just like her to not listen. She probably didn't get a wink of sleep."

He looked on, curiously, wondering what they were up to. When he saw that they were headed for the town, he instantly tried to stand up, but to no avail. Whatever they were doing, it probably wasn't good. San never went to the town unless he was there, and she knew that he was at his home! So for her to be going to the town was, he felt, cause for alarm.

Looking around, he saw a useless fence post, and he reached for it, picking it up off of the ground, and made a provisional support out of it. Pulling himself up, he slowly worked his way across the plain. Yakuul grunted, and followed, expecting Ashitaka to want to ride him. When Ashitaka expressed that he wouldn't be able to get on, Yakuul followed anyway.

San, meanwhile, had already reached the open entrance of town. It wouldn't be dark for at least three more hours, so she had plenty of time to do her business, and then leave before they closed the monstrosity they dared to call a gate.

She took the package from her brother's mouth, and, with a final farewell, he disappeared over the hill. Her first inclination was to ask the strong smelling man, but he not only didn't know what it was- but also said that he didn't want a "filthy thing like that" in his den at all. She was then given directions to a taxidermist, somewhere near the town square.

It wasn't too difficult to find, after she managed to locate the square. The many furs lined up along its banister gave it away. Without knocking, she entered the building and was almost greeted by a man before he realized who she was, and then was silent, except for a quiet, "May I help you?"

"I need your help with this," she said, holding it up for him to examine.

"Well, let me get a closer look," he said, placing towels over his hand before he touched the stinking beast. "How will you want it done?" he asked formally.

"I don't want it skinned, human," she said, "I can do that on my own. I need your help identifying it."

"Oh, I see," he said, looking at the thing once more. It didn't take long before he gave her an affirmative "No".

"Do you know anyone who might be able to help me?" San asked, desperately.

"Afraid not," the man said, removing the towels from his hands. "I suppose you could always ask people in the town. Maybe one of 'em will know something."

San sighed. Figured that she'd have to do it the hard way. "Thank you," she said, ignoring the wince the man gave her when she picked up the load with her bare hands.

She once again entered into the town square. It didn't take long before she realized that her social skills could use some work, for whenever she asked someone what it was she was carrying, they either looked at her as if she had lost her mind, or they hurriedly left in a state of panic.

Then, from somewhere in the crowd, she heard someone cry out in excitement. Turning to look, she saw a strange man approaching her. "You found it! I didn't think I would ever see it again!"

"Yuugi?" another voice said. "What is it?"

San's eyes widened. She recognized that voice.

Lady Eboshi stepped up next to the man, and when she saw to whom he was addressing, she froze. Their eyes locked onto each other, invisibly willing the other to look away first. Tension began building that was almost too much to bear for the two women.

Mercifully, Yuugi broke it up for them by exclaiming, "Wherever did you find this?"

San looked at him. "I found it in the forest," she said.

"Well, I figured as much," the man said, laughing. He began to stifle his laugh, and then stop all together when he saw the icy glare San was giving him.

"I take it you know what it is?" Eboshi asked him, doing everything in her power to avoid looking at the young girl standing a few feet away.

"Absolutely," Yuugi said, taking the thing from San's arms and placing it in his own. "I found this thing swimming around on the Yellow River in China just before I came to Japan. I'd never seen anything like it before, so I decided to bring it along. Vicious thing, I might add. Gave us a good struggle, but we managed to cage it and transport it with us for a good ways. Before I could set it up on display, however, we lost it, just about ten miles south of where we first met Gonza, and his caravan. I had taken it for dead," he added, bouncing his prize around in his arms as if it were his own flesh and blood.

"Can you tell me anything useful about it?" San asked, losing patience with this fool. "I need to know what it does- where it came from."

"Well, I already told you where it came from," Yuugi said, answering her first question. "As for what it does, well…we did some tests on a sick mule that was dying- let this fellow loose in a pen with it." San bristled with anger, but he didn't notice, so he continued. "Almost tore that mule apart. It seemed to excrete some kind of paralytic poison, but the funny thing is, it didn't eat it. Instead, it just attached itself to its prey and then looked like it vomited all over it. We didn't know what this would do, so we left the dead mule alone for a few days. Then, out of the blue, the mule started to shrivel up. No warning signs or anything- just shriveled. Something that looked like thousands of little maggots came out of the mule afterwards. We assumed that it was this fellow's offspring, but we were all so spooked that we threw the entire carcass over the side before they had a chance to get anywhere. Needless to say, everyone kept as far away from it as they could."

San stared in disbelief. Had this really happened? She gasped, but it couldn't be heard over the noise of the market. Was this true? Did this mean Ashitaka would…?

"Anyway, how did you come across him?" Yuugi asked again.

San didn't hear him, and he was about to ask again, but Eboshi put an arm on his shoulder. "Look at the beast," she said, looking almost as sickly as San.

Confused, Yuugi looked down and actually observed the thing he held in his arms. Were those blade marks? Someone had fought with this? But who?

Realization dawned on him, and he jerked his head to look up at San. "Was Prince Ashitaka attacked by this thing?!" he demanded.

San was too dumbfounded to notice or even care about his tone. She nodded, numbly.

"Oh, my god…" Yuugi muttered, shaking his head and letting his prize fall to the ground. "Was he…injected?"

San tried to think. Ashitaka had never mentioned anything about the fight that he'd had, but then again, she'd never asked. She had assumed that it was something he'd rather not talk about. "I'm not sure," she breathed.

"You need to ask him," Eboshi said, addressing San.

San looked up at the older woman and nodded. Yes, that's exactly what she would do. But didn't she hate Eboshi? Why was she listening to her? It was most likely because she didn't care anymore. None of that mattered- all that mattered was making sure Ashitaka was all right.

"I-I'm sorry," Yuugi said, reaching a hand out to place on her shoulder.

San shied away, not letting him touch her. She didn't want anyone touching her. Without waiting for a response, she ran all the way back through the town.

When she reached the gate, she was surprised to see Ashitaka trying to work his way through the crowd.

"San!" he called when he spotted her, "Over here!"

She complied.

"Boy, am I glad to see you," he said, looking around the busy streets. "When I saw you and your brother heading towards town, I figured something was up, and-" he stopped when he saw how she was looking at him. "I take it something's up, eh?" he said monotone.

"Ashitaka," San said, trying to control her voice. "Think back a bit, to the fight. When you were battling the creature, what did it do?"

A bead of sweat appeared on Ashitaka's forehead. Why did she want to know about the fight? The only logical explanation he could come up with was because she knew something that he didn't. She knew something terrible that he didn't. Trying to recall the events, he narrated them, "It jumped out at me, and…it clawed my chest," he started before taking a pause. "I reached for my sword and counterattacked it, but I think it had poison in it, cause I got really tired, and I couldn't move. I guess I thought I had killed it, but it used it's last breath of life to…to…" he tried to remember what had happened, all the while trying to ignore San's pale face and mortified expression. "It seemed like it attached itself to me, and then my leg burned like fire before it finally died. Why? Is something the matter?"

San didn't answer. She merely stepped closer to him and turned him around the way he had come.

"Let me help you back to your den," she whispered.

Willing, though more concerned than ever, Ashitaka allowed himself to be led back over the plains towards his house. Eboshi and Yuugi respected the couple's right to privacy, and decided to wait until San had given him the news, personally, before they said or did anything.

Yakuul was waiting for the Ashitaka and San at the entrance to the town. He pushed his snout into Ashitaka's outstretched hand, and habitually lowered his antlers for Ashitaka to climb on.

But San, trying to maintain a dignified composure, said, "Yakuul, will you please do me a favor? Go back to your den. I need to speak with Ashitaka alone for a little while…"

Yakuul blinked at her momentarily, then turned slowly and trotted back towards the hut.

After he had gone, Ashitaka removed San's arm from his own and looked at her in her eyes. "San, something's wrong. It has to do with that thing in the forest, doesn't it?"

San settled down in the grass. She could only nod her head in response.

With much difficulty (although he tried not to show it) he lowered himself down next to her. "Will you tell me?" he asked her in a soft voice.

Quickly, San looked back up at him. "I can't. I feel like I'm going to cry."

Despite himself, Ashitaka smiled at her, warmly. "There's nothing wrong with a good cry every now and then."

"But wolves don't cry!" she persisted, her voice getting louder as she felt her eyes begin to get slightly moist.

Ashitaka reached down and wrapped his large hands around her small, lethal ones. "Then don't cry. But I must know what it is you are trying to tell me. I deserve to know."

With her free hand, San attacked the wetness in her eyes, and, taking a deep breath, she began: "The strange man who arrived here recently- I think his name was Yuugi- had brought the thing from someplace called China. He said that they'd lost it while they were just south of this town, and that…they…they had noticed it's strange behavior and decided to test it on a dying animal…" she finished quickly, inhaling sharply.

Ashitaka put a comforting hand on her shoulder, mentally willing her to continue.

"He said that after it had attacked the animal…it injected its offspring into the deceased body. Some time later, its children devoured the remains, and-and…" unable to control herself when she saw the mortified look on Ashitaka's face, she stifled back a short sob. "I'm sorry, I'm sorry," she kept saying over and over again, although she still managed to refrain from crying, even though it only hurt her more.

His face hardened, he took San into his arms, embracing her, just as he vaguely recalled she had done when he was being operated on. "It's okay," he soothed. "Thank you for telling me. It's a good thing that you did, and I'm not upset."

However, that wasn't true. Deep down, he was sad, afraid, and confused all at the same time. It was like he was reliving the past. Had he narrowly escaped death from that curse, only to be destroyed by a tiny beast he fought one night in the woods?

"How long did Yuugi say it took for the pupae to mature enough to eat?" Ashitaka asked softly.

San was still sniffling in his shoulder, but she managed to muffle out: "A few days…maybe more…I forget…" and she returned his embrace, not willing to accept the fact that she was going to lose him.

Ashitaka didn't notice. "But the animal was already dead, right? I'm still alive…does that mean it'll take longer for them to mature?"

San didn't answer.

"If that's true, then perhaps…perhaps there is a way to purge them? Maybe there's a way they can purge my system with a medicine bath," he continued. He really doubted it, though. He was just saying this for San's benefit- anything to get her to stop crying. He had never seen her cry before, and it really upset him, but he knew that it was better if she used all of her tears now, so that when he finally did…die, there wouldn't be any left.

Anger welled up in him like a flame. Surely there must be a way to get rid of them? If his theory, about them taking longer to mature, was correct, then perhaps he would have enough time to develop a cure of some sort.

He couldn't be angry, though. His mind wandered back to when Nago had inflicted the deadly curse upon him. He wasn't entirely to blame, and Ashitaka hadn't been upset with him. How much less was this creature, which was only trying to survive, to blame? The circumstances leading up to the event had been careless, but he could not be angry- that would only make him bitter.

"San?" he asked softly, all tension and hurt from his tone gone. "San, look at me."

Slowly, she raised her head, wiped her nose with her arm, and gazed into his eyes.

"San, I need to go back to the town," he said. "I may have enough time to find a cure. If not…I'll have to leave this area."

San opened her mouth to protest, but he held up his hand.

"Please, San, try to understand. After I succumb, the larvae will spread. It is possible that they will infect the town. Although I am loathe to go, for their sake, I would not be able to stay any longer."

"But where would you go?" San asked, her eyes becoming teary again. "There's no place out there for you. If you stayed away from this town, you would have to stay away from all of the other one's, too! You'd be an outcast! Stay here, Ashitaka," she pleaded. "These townspeople- I know they are stupid, but they care for you! If you die, you will die peacefully, and among friends! Afterwards, they can worry about those damned larvae! They're tiny; they can't disappear in an instant!"

"Can I take that chance?" Ashitaka sighed. "All problems and paths must be thought out, San. What if one did escape? And what if it infected another person? It could lead to an epidemic."

"But what about the China place?" San persisted. "It was actually living there, and I have not heard news of mass killings!"

Ashitaka shook his head. "San," he said, "you do not know what China is. China is a massive country, much bigger than Japan, as far as land mass is concerned. This creature could've been living in an area where humans were nonexistent."

Desperately, San tried to think of another excuse. Something- anything to prevent Ashitaka from having to leave! But she could think of nothing…

"Don't worry, San," Ashitaka smiled. "I may not have to leave; not if I can discover a cure, remember?"

"Do not lie to me Ashitaka!" San said loudly, her eyes glaring. "You know just as well as I that there is no method that is able to cure what you have! No matter how much you try and convince me, and even yourself, that there is a cure, what would come of it? There is no cure!" she screamed, putting emphasis on the last four words. She jumped to her feet. If she hadn't…loved him so much, she would've already left in a fit of rage, but she couldn't just abandon him like this. "You know, just as well as I, that you are going to leave as soon as possible…" she whispered in a earnest tone. "How far will you go?"

Ashitaka thought for a moment. It seemed she knew him better than he thought. "I know I will leave this general area. I cannot stay and contaminate your forest, nor do I wish to contaminate anyone else's. The best place to go would probably be someplace high…like a mountain," he said, gazing off into the distance that was dotted with low canyons, but also with high peaks. "There are heights that maintain a warm climate throughout the year. I can stay there and farm, just as I do here; just as I did when I was in my hometown."

San squeezed her lips together. "Ashitaka, you realize that I cannot abandon my forest? Not even for you?" she said in a barely audible tone.

Ashitaka winced. Much as he hated to admit it, he had already thought about that. He didn't want to, but he knew that it was for the best for her as well. "Yes," he answered meekly.

It took a moment before she fully understood the meaning of that one little word, and San sank to her knees. "Ashitaka, please don't do this to me! You know I could never choose between my forest and you. Your departing will drive me insane! I cannot-" she stammered, trying to search for the right words. "I cannot think of living without you near me."

Ashitaka gazed at her lovingly. "I know, San," he answered. "But I must go. It will be better for both of us."

He waited for an angry response from her of some sort, but it never came. Rather, it looked as if a shadow had passed over her being as she accepted his decision. Slowly, she rose and looked down at him, with eyes that seemed glazed over by a thick fog.

"As you say, Ashitaka," she said with a voice that had no feeling behind it, as if it were merely utterances of a lifeless body. "You go to your den and prepare for your departure. I will go to the town and inform the people of your decision, and then you and I shall both return here, after which I will escort you to the edge of my forest."

Ashitaka seemed about to object, but he held himself back. Something in her eyes told him that he would not change her mind. Besides, he would welcome her company. It could get awfully lonely out in those forests alone. He didn't think there'd be any danger in her coming. She would go back after they had reached the forest's border, and then he would never see her again…he wouldn't have to worry about causing her grief, although that very thought nearly drove him to tears.

He nodded his approval at her own decision, and he held up his hand for her to help him up, which she did.

"I'll be back as soon as I can," he said, and he started to hobble off towards his hut, as San made her way back to the town.

An eager Yuugi, and a solemn Eboshi greeted her. They both noticed the dead look in her eyes.

"Well?" the man asked. "What did he say?"

San stood up to her full height and held her head up proudly. "The Prince of the Imishi," she said, "has decided to depart from these premises."

An outburst from the gathering crowd forced San to yell out a reprimand, quieting them down.

"He says that he will not burden you. After he dies, the larvae will spread, and he does not want to be near you when it happens."

Someone in the crowd cursed her, assuming that it was all her fault that he had decided to leave, and that she had deluded him into thinking that there was no cure.

Unable to control herself, San drew the long dagger she kept hidden in a sheathe in her fur, and pointed it to the crowd. In a fit of rage, she howled like a wolf gone mad, demanded: "Who said that!?"

When no one answered, she spat on the entryway ground, and rubbed it under her heel. "Do you not know?" she bellowed in a powerful voice that sent many scattering away in fear. "Do you not know how much I have suffered for your sake, and for his?! Do you not know what he has gone through for you? Have you not the slightest idea of how much he loves you all that he is leaving? He cares enough to leave the only place that he calls home, and here you dare to vilify his decision by slandering my name with false accusations on his behalf? I, myself, will be escorting him to the edge of MY forest! Afterwards, I shall return to guard it…and you, as I have promised, and I will do so for the remainder of my lifetime! I will not, however, tolerate your insufferable attitudes towards his leaving! We have traveled all available paths open to us, and this is the only one that remains. It does not please me, as it does not please you, but it is his decision, and I would ask that you respect that decision by leaving him in peace after he is gone! If you follow us, I will kill you…" she finished with a menacing growl.

Yuugi stared at her in disbelief. All of his doubts about her vanished, and he saw her for what she truly was. Such a woman, to be able to manipulate words and a crowd in such a manner! Why, if only half of his men had such spirit!

"Please," Eboshi said, sadly. "Please offer the Prince my condolences. On the town's behalf, and on my own, I would like to say that we shall miss him. We shall always remember him in our prayers. Will you tell him for me?"

Much of the anger depleted out of San, she sheathed her dagger and gave Eboshi a tight nod.

"And tell him I am sorry, also," Yuugi commented. "It's all my fault this happened in the first place," he said, lowering his head in shame.

San looked at his miserable state with compassion. At least this human knew when he had screwed up. "Do not worry," she said in such a voice that Yuugi could scarcely believe it was her who was shouting a few moments ago. "He blames no one, and neither do I. I shall tell him of your apologies. I'm certain he will find them comforting."

Yuugi bowed to the woman as she left the befuddled and bemused town behind- many of them wondering if they would ever see Ashitaka or the little wolf girl again.