Well now, there is no doubt that very few of you know where this is all going. Haha, my task is done! Seriously folks, now with chapter two is up I am going to start getting intense. Please review after reading; I would like to know what you guys think this is my first fic, you know.
Chapter 2
The New Clan Leader
They had been running for at least an hour at full sprint to make it back to their den. A young girl rode on the back of the younger of the two wolves as they made their way thru what had remained of the forest. As they reached the cave that they resided in, the girl on the wolf slid off, landed gracefully onto the ground and began walking towards the entrance of their home.
"Can you two keep watch, I would like to be alone for a few moments inside." Her voice made the statement sound more like a plea than an order.
"Yes San, go inside and rest for a while, Reno will keep watch and wake you if there is anything wrong," the older Brother said to his human sister. He then turned to his younger brother and gave him a nod, signaling that he must go off alone. After he watched his younger siblings enter the den, he turned and began to run off into the forest.
As he ran towards the pool where the forest spirit once dwelt, thoughts drifted towards his mother.
Why did you have to die, he thought as he ran. You were more capable of guarding this forest than I can ever hope to be. You taught me as best as you could but I am not ready to look after San and Reno on my own. Would you think that I am ready to lead our clan now?
Now being the eldest remaining member of the Wolf clan, all of Moro's responsibilities fell onto his back. When it seemed definite that Moro would die, she named her eldest son her successor. It was now his job to guard the forest, as it once was hers.
I need to see you one last time, he thought as he neared the pool.
When he reached the pool, he began to search for the scent of his mother. He lifted his nose into the air and caught the scent of what he was looking for.
He began to move to where his mother's corpse now lay at a slow walk, as if not to disturb the silence that was in the air. Then he found her.
Lying not far from a skeleton that closely resembled a boar, a headless one laid on its left side near the pool. The head was not far from the body to the right and the now leader of the wolf clan approached his mother's skull.
For a moment, it was nauseating to see the skull of his mother, but for her honor he would not show the smallest amount of apprehension as he paid his final respects.
"I will make you proud of me, mother," he said, the only creature that had made a noise for miles. After disturbing the silence, the wolf felt as though he should not linger in this place and then something shining in the sunlight caught his eyes. The rifle that Eboshi had carried into the forest yesterday lay 3 feet to his right, and suddenly the young leader of the wolf clan was filled with more sadness and rage. He took the horrid human weapon in his mouth and was about to crunch it into dust when something sharp had stuck him in the side of his mouth. He howled in pain as he tossed the weapon with great force into a nearby tree. The rifle shattered and set free a short sword that was stuck into the wooden part of the gun.
Ashitaka's sword, he realized as he came over his pain in his mouth. That human had tried to stop Eboshi from killing the forest, he thought as he stared at the blade. He had also saved my life after the battle with the humans when the boars charged the mountain. I had been trapped under the body of a large and heavy boar and this boy and several other humans who had helped him free me and saved me from certain death. That boy had also saved San when the forest spirit was killed. He had convinced San to help him return the Spirits head but it was not in time for the sun had begun to rise when the head was returned. Despite his partial failures, he had at least tried. He is not like those other humans, who know only destruction and greed.
I cannot hate that boy, he thought. He did more than I could have done to preserve the forest, and maybe he did more than any of us could.
As he finished thinking to himself, he carefully picked up the short sword in his teeth and began to trot back to his den.
As he reached the cave he saw Reno laying on the ledge in front of the entrance to the cave overlooking the forest for miles. The elder one walked past him to see San napping in the corner with her fur blanket wrapped around her body. He stood at her feet and rested the blade there. As he lifted his head back up, he noticed that she had been crying.
The wolf knew that humans did this when they were either afraid or filled with sadness and grief. He had previously thought that San was too far from human to exhibit these emotions, but now he guessed that he was wrong. The death of our mother must have wounded her deeply, he thought. Maybe seeing Ashitaka soon would lift her spirits.
He was about to lie down next to her when his younger brother, Reno called to him.
"Rude, come over here."
Rude did as his brother requested and walked out to the ledge to see what he wanted.
"What is it?" he asked in a grumpy voice.
"The other humans are on the move. About 400 or so of them are moving eastward through the forest, back the way that they came. What should we do about it?"
Rude thought for a moment and then looked over at San. He then looked back to Reno and answered.
"We will accompany San to the town where Ashitaka said he would be and she will inform him of his enemy's troop movements."
Stunned, Reno retorted back to his older brother his idea.
"Surely you cannot be serious, they will kill her and us on sight if we go anywhere near that human town."
"They won't try that for Ashitaka will not allow them to. We can trust him."
"We can't trust any humans, or have you forgotten what our mother had taught us!" snapped Reno angrily.
"I just visited where her body now rests younger brother, don't you dare say that I could forget anything that our mother taught us," Rude said baring his teeth. "However, She trusted him to protect San, so I say we can trust him to help us. I am now head of the clan, so I say what we shall do. Besides those humans are far more dangerous than the ones we have dealt with before. They will return after the winter has passed and come to destroy the human town and our forest so we must look to make allies. Do you understand little brother?" He said, barring his teeth to help get his point across.
"Yes."
"Good, it is sunset now, we will leave at dawn. Sleep now, I will watch from the top ledge." With that, Rude jumped up to the ledge where his mother sat many a time and took his watch over the forest.
In the Hut of Eboshi…
"Good eveningAshitaka, it's good to see that you are well."
Ashitaka moved the curtain out of the way and entered the room that was being used to take care of Lady Eboshi after her injury from Moro. Before he could say anything else, the other woman in the room caught his eye.
The other woman, who also seemed to be one of the former lepers, was tending to Eboshi's right side. She was one of the ones who had helped Toki and the others fend off the samurai who had attacked while Eboshi was out to kill the Forest Spirit. Her bandages had been left on her hands and head but that was all that Ashitaka saw wrong with her. The disease that had once crippled her had left no trace of its self on her fair skin, that shown brilliantly in the sunlight. Her dark black hair hung out of her bandage as she looked up to meet his gaze. For a moment, Ashitaka was entranced by this girl's beauty until Lady Eboshi turned to speak to her.
"Nara, you may leave and take a rest for a while, I wish to speak with Ashitaka alone."
She turned and responded yes milady and started to walk out of the hut. As she passed Ashitaka, he bowed before her. After he bowed, Nara blushed and hurried out of the hut.
While Ashitaka was wondering if he had done something wrong, Lady Eboshi turned to speak to him.
"I do not believe that she has ever seen a man with most of his clothes off. Forgive her shyness Ashitaka. At least your lack of clothing shows that your curse is gone. I am afraid to say that your shirt is ruined," she said, nodding in the direction of Ashitaka's blood stained blue kimono.
With her making that statement, Ashitaka for the first time all day he noticed that he wasn't wearing his blue kimono. He didn't realize that the only thing that he was wearing other than his tattered pants, were his torn blue sleeves that only covered his arms.
Now slightly embarrassed, Ashitaka began to blush.
"Yes it does. I am sorry milady, I forgot to get some more clothes after I had returned."
Before he could continue, Eboshi had cut him off.
"Ashitaka, please don't apologize too me, I am neither worthy or deserving of treatment like that from you." As she said this she stared at the ground. I cannot bring myself to meet his gaze, she thought.
"Please, don't say anything," she said in a pleading sort of tone. "I wanted to see you again so that I could thank you for all that you have done but also to apologize to you for what I have done and ask you for forgiveness," she sobbed.
Ashitaka's stunned face couldn't be hidden as he looked at her. Eboshi was pleading for forgiveness, and that was something that he thought she could never do, especially not to any man that she had once deemed to be foolish in his beliefs.
"I was wrong," she continued, "to kill the Forest Spirit, to kill Nago, and to destroy this whole forest. I directly caused all this death and destruction. Greed and hatred blinded me to what you believed, and you were right Ashitaka to try to live with the forest in peace. I should have listened to you sooner. You truly saw with eyes unclouded. I don't deserve to live any more." Tears started to flow down her cheeks as she finished confession to Ashitaka.
"Eboshi," Ashitaka said in his warmest, soothing voice. "You may be the closest person responsible to all of what had happened here, but you must remember one thing. You are human, and with that goes with the fact that you are an imperfect being, just like me. Your sins will stay with you for as long as you will live, just as mine will. I know now from experiencing the events in these mountains that we as human beings can do one of two things when we realize that we were wrong. One, we can suffer in our misery and count the days until we have to pay for our sins or," he paused to if Eboshi was listening to him at all. He was pleased to see the she had stopped crying and slowly lifted her head to meet his gaze. "Or, we can try to do our best to make amends and repair the world that we nearly destroyed. I know that I would rather try to make things right instead of doing nothing. You must remember Eboshi, with one arm or two, this town still needs you dearly. Toki, Keno, Gonza and the others will need you to lead them and to learn to live in peace with the forest and begin to make repairs to all the things that were destroyed. I swear to you, as long as you are willing to let me, I will stay to help you in any way I can."
"Thank you Ashitaka, I must say that you have knowledge beyond your years. You must have made your people, who ever they are, very proud." She smiled warmly at him
"You are very welcome milady." Ashitaka responded with a smile on his face. Good, he thought. She is going to be all right.
Just as they had finished speaking, a knock was heard on the door of the room. It was Gonza.
"Excuse me milady, if you would allow it, I need to speak with Ashitaka now."
"You can Gonza," she said, and then turned back to Ashitaka. "Thank you again."
Ashitaka bowed deeply and then turned to follow Gonza out of the hut. It was night now and Ashitaka was beginning to feel tired.
After they exited the hut, Gonza began to speak.
"Before I begin to inform you of our situation here, I to would also like to thank you for saving mine and Lady Eboshi's lives. I am truly grateful for all that you have done for everyone here. So now that that's out of the way, I also need to ask you for help."
Once again, Ashitaka was stunned at someone's sudden change in character. The first time that he and Gonza had spoken to him, the only things that he said were words of distrust and later that night, he had threatened to kill him. Now he was being treated as though Gonza trusted him deeply, like someone who lived in Iron Town.
"What is it that you need?" Ashitaka asked.
"We know that there are more samurai out there and even though their strength is diminished, they could hurt us very badly if they attack. They might even be able to take the town. What I need from you is to help prepare our defenses and defend the town when it will become necessary. All of the men here trust youand it would greatly boost there moral if you stand by us. Also, I picked up you bow and last arrow from Keno." He said as he handed him the bundle he was carrying. "I also took the liberty of refilling your quiver, no charge of course."
"Thank you," Ashitaka said and bowed. "I will stand watch tonight as my first duty to Iron town." With that he hurried off to the main gate to man his post.
Well, what did you all think? I know it was a little long so I decided to make it two parts instead of my usual three. Each chapter will usually follow this set up of Two or three different character focuses. Mind you, all of this is going on at the relativesame time, just so no one is confused about the time frame that is going on here. Expect Chapter 3 MUCH later from now. I am going to be on spring break and I have much partying to do and I will need even more time to recover from it. HaHa! R&R plz. Thnx.
