I do not own Princess Mononoke

Chapter 7 – I've Lost It

A/n; Sorry guys, I know some of you might want to know what happens next between Ashitaka and San but I just had to get this off my mind. I've had this idea for a very long time. I hope you enjoy this little filler chappie 3

His hair poked at his eyes, and his necklace clasp sometimes caught on stray hairs on the back of his neck. He would stare at his shoes, his dirty hands, and then at the mirror. He would question who he'd be staring at. And remember that he was loyal to only one. The only girl he really cared for was his sister. He would do anything if she actually asked him, but she never did. He would protect his brother at all costs, and he would stand by Shinji through anything. Only these people were who he would actually care to see everyday. He could care less about other people.

"1…2…3…"

"Keep your eyes closed Taka!"

"Right, sorry…1…2…3…"

"Come on Kai, we gotta hide!"

"You're it Taka! Keep your eyes closed and don't peek until 10!"

"Stupid…" He mumbled as he snapped out of his childhood memory. A box of cigarettes appeared before him being held by Shinji's arm. Taka accepted one and took out his own lighter.

"Where's your double?" Shinji leaned against the wall near the bench Taka was lying down on.

"Downtown. Said he was going to buy some stuff with some of the guys." Taka watched the sliver of smoke coil around air and float towards the stars. The smoke would always make his eyes sting, but he never showed it.

"And you didn't go with them? They have a habit of picking street fights with Kaname's Kids. They can't play nice, you know?" Shinji played around with his words a little. He was teasing the underclassmen. Taka didn't laugh, he never did at Shinij's little jokes but he did acknowledge them. "You have something on your mind." He had a knack for reading him like a book on display every now and then.

"I might." Taka wanted to drop it. He wasn't exactly proud of what his memory made him think of.

"You do." Shinji swiped the smoke out of Taka's mouth and waited. He sighed and shifted himself on the bench.

"There's someone I know…Who's different." He began.

"No shit. That's how fights start." Shinji took a whiff from his smoke. Taka hesitated, as he knew that was coming.

"She isn't like the rest." He began vaguely. Shinji paused, and exhaled smoke from his nose and dropped the smoke to the ground before he began to collect his thoughts.

"She doesn't like you, huh?" Shinji concluded, as he was in the same position.

"I don't know. She's complicated."

"I think you're just dense." Shinji leaned back into the wall again.

"You should talk…" Taka's tone was directed towards Shinji's act to win San's attention.

He let a little chuckle of amusement out and replied nonchalantly, "That was just for fun. For a bit, I convinced myself that I might've found her, but I was so wrong. I can tell she has eyes for someone else." He began to show a side Taka had never seen before. Shinji could read women?

"She does? How can you tell?" Taka sat up a little in surprise. This was new information.

"Because no girl would punch that hard if she didn't." He scratched at his cheek a little and laughed. Taka just stared at him as in 'I don't think so'. "I kid, don't worry, I was just making assumptions, that's all." He joked.

An underclassmen ran up to the both of them, stopping their conversation, telling them of a street fight that had broke out downtown. Indeed, a fight bigger than what was imagined had broken into chaos in the streets. Pedestrians were getting caught in the cross-fire, people were getting thrown into windows, and the police were slow to respond.

"What a mess." Shinji scanned the fighting area.

"We have to break this up somehow. Other people are getting involved." Taka surprisingly replied valiantly. He rushed in before Shinji could stop him. Both tried to break up brawls with their members and the other's. Being the stronger, and more skilled fighter, Shinji was able to rip a fight in half with his bear hands. He took a guy from the brawl, and pinned him against a wall.

"You. Where do you belong? Who started all this?" He demanded.

"Kiss my ass!" The boy replied scornfully as he spit a wad of blood and saliva at Shinji's face. Shinji quickly jammed his fist into the boy's stomach and held him down tighter and harder.

"That was a warning. Stop being stubborn and just tell me who!" The boy took a little to recover from the blow. He looked up and blinked through his swollen eyes.

"…I don't know, by the time I got here, some guys from Shinji Nakahara's gang were already fighting our guys." He coughed up some blood, so Shinji let go and moved on.

"Idiots!" He cursed to himself. While trying to break up more little fights, he heard a scream that seemed all too familiar. He looked over his shoulder…and almost screamed himself.

While Taka jumped in, and tried to others to help him break up other fights as well. But as he tried to break up one fight, his eyes spotted the one person that made his blood boil. His hairs prickled on ends, and his gut began to harden as he took his first step forward.

"Hiro Kaname…" He said to himself, to anyone normal, they wouldn't be able to hear his call among a brawl, but Hiro's eyes picked up on his name. He turned towards the source, and smirked. Kaname was another gang leader. Actually, rival to Shinji, but Taka considered him a personal rival. In middle school, he broke Kai's arm and fractured his leg. Shinji was able to walk away with a twisted ankle, but his pride wasn't damaged. He was able to dislocate 4 ribs and shatter 2. Hiro was, in the most concise description, a cocky bastard. Now was his chance to release his anger, his hate, his fury. Now was the perfect time. They both walked towards each other, but before Taka could throw one hard punch to the face, Hiro took a bat from a nearby fighter, and swung hard.

If it was a ball, it would've been a homerun hit. But for Taka, it managed to make everything dark and painful. He hit the ground, but it didn't make a difference. Falling to the ground was nothing like what he was experiencing. His hands covered his eyes in pain, soaking in his own blood. Someone was calling to him, actually, a few people, but he couldn't focus whose voice belonged to whom. He tried opening his eyes to identify, but the pain was so intense he had to keep it shut. He let another scream of agony out as he felt himself being picked up and carried off. He thought of Kai, Shinji, San…and her.

'This could be it. I could die. I can't see any of them after this.' He thought as his own screams began to fade. He was set down, and many hands held him down as he kept screaming. Hands tried to take his hands off his face, but it wasn't enough to hold him down. A crushing blow to his stomach rained down, almost as great a pain as his eyes, but still not enough. It stunned him for a bit and that when the hands locked his arms down at his sides. A needle went straight into his arm, and everything wasn't just dark and painful, it was heavy too.

"…4…5…6.."

"Hurry! He's almost at 10!"

"I know!"

"7...8…9…"

"Hide!"

"…10! Kai! Onee-san! I can't find you!"

"Open your eyes then look, Taka!"

"I can't! I can't open my eyes! Tell me where you are!"

When he woke, it didn't feel like he really woke up. It was still dark, his stomach hurt, and he felt drowsy. Then, like a savoir, a calming voice called out to him.

"Taka...Are you awake?" A voice so soothing, so pleasant, calling his name. But who was it?

"Who's there?" He turned his head where he thought the voice was coming from, but a hand touched his chin and re-directed it.

"It's me. Kaya." She identified herself.

"Kaya…" He repeated. "I thought…you were away on…"

"I had to come back because your brother called me I cancelled the shoot and came here." She explained her presence.

"T-Thanks…" He relaxed his body a little. He tried picturing what she looked like, but he couldn't. He wished he could open his eyes, but they were locked shut.

"Well, I heard from the doctors. They said you can leave after tomorrow morning." Kaya brightened up. Taka sat still, and thought to himself, replaying what happened the night before.

"I won't be able to see, will I?" He pessimistically stated bluntly. She paused, and moved in her chair.

"…No, you won't. Whatever hit you damaged your nerves and the retina permanently. You're eyes won't be able to bring in light, or shape to the brain." She explained the other part of the report to him forlornly.

"I'm blind, then…" He softly summarized.

"Yes." She confirmed. 'But…Do not worry about it."

"Worry? I've lost my sight to the one person I despise, and now I'm useless. You're telling me not to worry?" He snapped softly at her, though he couldn't see her. He could've been yelling at a wall for all he knew.

"That's right. Don't worry. Because San, Ashitaka, Kai, and I are all here. Just to help you." She replied kindly.

"She's absolutely right."

"Shinji?" Taka moved his head again.

"Don't stress about it. Look at the bright side! I read somewhere that people who've lost one of their senses, their remaining senses become stronger." He tried cheering his friend up. "And of course, you're still in my gang." He added casually.

"Gang?" Kaya questioned in surprise.

"Yup, but we're a different gang, you know?" He laughed. Kaya sat uncomfortably in her chair, a sign telling him 'not really'. "Ahh, you'll get it later…maybe."

The next day, Taka went back home with Kaya. He was given a walking stick and Kaya was given directions on how to teach him how to get around. He refused her offer in hooking arms to go home, but the walking stick was hard to use, and he tripped over curbs, and bumped into people. Soon after leaving the hospital, Kaya took the walking stick away from him and took his arms and pulled him in so she could maneuver him easily. His bandages were still over his eyes, so of course, people stared at him, but it's not like he knew. He could've cared less even if he could see them. But he knew people would stare.

"Are people staring?" He wanted to confirm.

"Nope." She lied, but Taka couldn't tell. He just wanted to know or not.

"You're too socially-conscious. You need to forget about those kinds of things." She explained to him while waiting for the light to turn green.

"Right…Sorry." He exhaled.

"Why are you apologizing?"

"I don't know. Automatic response, I guess."

"When time comes, people aren't going to take your apologies very seriously." She joked, but Taka couldn't tell the difference.

"Right, I'm sorry." He stiffened.

"Relax, I was just kidding." She chuckled as she could see how awkward he must've felt.

"Oh, okay. Sorry about that….ah, I mean…okay." He caught himself and tried to recover from it.

"It's alright, ah! Come on it turned green! Hurry!" She pulled him along across the street. He never noticed, but he could hear a woman talking on her cell phone as she walked with them across the street. He could hear the engine of a car rumbling as he passed in front of it, and he could sense a curb coming. If he paid attention, he could sense if something dangerous was coming, like a wall, or a pole in his path. Of course, he didn't need to since Kaya was leading him closely.

'He was right…This is strange.' He thought as Kaya pushed through some crowds. As she pushed through, he could feel something in his gut. It was coming his way, and he didn't like it. It was something even his senses could pick up on. Like a stench, the stink that flowed through his inners churned his attention to what he felt was Hiro Kaname. He brushed someone's shoulder, and for a second, a chill went down his spine. He turned his head around, but remembered it wouldn't make a difference even if it was Kaname.

'I may not have my sight. But that won't stop me. Not by a long shot…Not as long as I have people I need to protect. Not as long as I can breath, speak, and move.' He told himself. 'You will regret this…'

"Can you sense it?" Kaya asked as they suddenly stopped.

"Sense…what?" He questioned back.

"Home." She smiled. That, he could sense. That's all he could sense. Her aura. Home wasn't home without that.

"Now I can…" He softly replied.

A/N: Have you ever started typing up a scene, and you're only half-paying attention to what you're actually typing? And then something distracts you from typing, and you come back to read where you left off, and you tell yourself, "did I type that!" I usually get that every other chapter or so. All the really good scenes I'm usually half- aware that I'm typing it. Probably because my attention is daydreaming the scene as it plays through my head like anime. I type what I see. That's why I have to re-read and edit a ton of stuff before I can post most of the time U.