Author's Note: Kudos to my reviewers!

Utterbliss: Of course I'll keep going! I love Princess Mononoke, and this idea has been in my head so long that I'm not about to quit putting it down. I could never forgive myself.

Artgirl150: I'm glad you like it. As far as I can tell, "Mononoke" means something like "magic spirit" or just plain "spirit." I tried looking it up online, and I found an interview transcript with Hayao Miyazaki, and he said that San was raised by a "mononoke," ie, Moro, so I'm pretty sure that it means "spirit," since Moro was a spirit of the forest. He described Moro as one, anyway, so I'm pretty sure that's what it means. It's a word that really doesn't translate all that well.

Chapter 2

Taro, Jiro, and San were all frustrated after two weeks of constantly ducking out of sight of the humans. This lot was fearless, and they were always leaving their camp and wandering around the forest. More than once they had had to hide for more than an hour until the humans had gone away from their hunting area. By that time, most of the good game had been gone.

"Why don't we just eat them?" Taro asked one night as they settled in to sleep. "A few crunches with the jaw and they'll be gone."

San glared at her oldest brother. "That will only make more humans come looking for them," she said, settling into her sleeping furs. "Don't be stupid."

"What do you think they've come for?" Jiro asked, staring out of the cave mouth to see the stars. "They can't possibly have come looking for the Shishigami, have they?"

"Even humans wouldn't be that stupid," San said with a little snort. "We'll just have to wait them out."

Her brothers growled their agreement, and San stretched out in her furs. This pack of humans was beginning to make her angry, but she felt that they would go away once they became bored. Humans usually did.

Space

San woke, feeling her brothers' bodies stiffen around her. There was something wrong.

"What is it?" she whispered, sitting up. "What did you hear?"

"There's something outside," Jiro said quietly. He sniffed, trying to get its scent.

"I can't smell it, but I can hear it," Taro said, sounding very uncomfortable.

"Well, let's go see what it is," San said, slipping out of her bed. "It's probably just some animal."

"But why can't we smell it?" Taro insisted. "It doesn't sound like anything we know, and we can't tell what it is by smell."

Jiro got up as soon as Taro did, and they followed her outside.

"Maybe it's something that doesn't have a scent," San said, heading down the rocks.

Taro stared at her. "Everything has a scent, San, you know that. Everything living, anyway."

By that time, they had reached the ground and were gazing around the clearing. They couldn't see anything, but for some reason, San's eyes began to water. Her nose began burning, and her throat started soon after. What was wrong with her?

Sudden shouts made her whip about and try to see out of her watery eyes. Some. . . thing was rushing at her, and only her reflexes saved her from being hit over the head with what appeared to be a club. Taro and Jiro began snarling and snapping at whatever it was, but their eyes were just as useless. More things were rushing at her, and she began to leap about, dodging and ducking blows. Taro and Jiro began to do the same, desperate to protect her.

It wasn't until she had a moment to breathe that she saw how far away she had gotten from her brothers. Worried, she headed back towards them, but more assailants stopped her. Frustrated, she started screaming at them, and grabbed her knife.

Something large and heavy, like a blanket, fell on top of her, knocking her knife out of her hand. She pushed at it, screaming, ready to kill whoever had thrown it on top of her. The ends suddenly tightened around her, and it was then she realized it was a net. It tightened around her and pulled her off her feet, and she began to be pulled along the ground.

"Taro! Jiro! Help!" she shouted. "I'm in a net! Help me!"

Forcing her eyes to focus, she stared over to where her brothers had been. Jiro was unconscious on the ground, and Taro was fighting to protect his brother and was unable to come to her aid. Frightened out of her mind and understanding that her brothers weren't able to help her, San began to tear at the net, trying to get its ropes to break. She dug into the rope fibers with her teeth, but they were too rough to chew through. Desperately, she tried to force the ropes apart, but only managed to burn her hands on them.

More commotion from the group over by her brothers tore her attention from the ropes. The group had overpowered Taro, and now he was lying on the ground. Screaming her hatred for these creatures, San fought to get to her brothers, but the net held her too well. "Let me out!" she shrieked. "Let me out!"

The creatures without a smell gathered around her, lifted her, and carried her away. When she saw their hands, she realized that they were humans.

"Put me down!" she yelled, trying to bite them. "Let me go! Put me down, you stinking humans!"

The humans moved quickly, taking her out of the immediate area of her home and into the deeper woods. When she saw where they were going, she started screaming again, furious. These were those humans from that camp! How dare they kidnap her like this! How dare they!

"All right, let's go," she heard as a large carry box was brought up. Put her in there and let's get out of here before those wolves wake up!"

I know that voice, San thought, and she began to look for him. She spotted the monk, and she started screaming, wishing that she had his throat in her hands. "You filthy human!" she shrieked at him. "How dare you kidnap me like this! You smelly, filthy, ugly—"

Almost casually, Jigo reached up and slapped her face. "Quiet down, girl. The Emperor has invited you to the capital, and he sent us to escort you."

San snarled, wishing that he would try to slap her again. She'd bite his hand off! She was pushed, net and all, into the box, and the door to it slammed shut behind her, and she heard some sort of lock slip into place. The inside of it was padded and covered in silk, and a basket of fruit and a skin of water rested over in the corner. The only openings in it were slits that were too narrow for her to fit even a hand through, but they let in enough air so that she wouldn't suffocate. Fighting her way out of the net, she began to use her shoulder against the door, but learned soon enough that it wouldn't budge. Screaming with frustration until her throat was raw, she sank to the floor, fighting the urge to cry. The box rose and started forward with a sickening lurch, and she realized that they were going to take her out of the forest as that monk had said. Cold despair settled into her stomach, and San curled around it, hoping that she could manage to get free somehow.

Space

Ashitaka and Yakul headed through the forest, on their way to visit San and her brothers. Lately, some of the young unmarried women in Iron Town had begun to flirt with him, and it made him uncomfortable. As a result, he had begun to visit San more, enjoying her company and the good-natured jibes of her brothers. Recently they had begun to refer to him as "San's human." They would say, "San, your human is here again," or "Uh-oh, it's San's human!" Ashitaka took their teasing in good stride since they were her brothers, and they were protective of their sister.

As they reached the clearing for the wolf's clan home, Ashitaka realized that there was something wrong. It was too quiet. He spotted the two wolves, and he and Yakul rushed over, suddenly very worried.

"Taro! Jiro! What happened?" he shouted, reaching them. "Wake up! Please wake up! Are you two all right? Where's San?"

Once he had shaken both brothers, Taro's and Jiro's eyes opened, focusing on Ashitaka. "San, your human's here," Jiro said, closing his eyes again.

Taro leaped to his feet, knocking Ashitaka off of his. "SAN! Jiro, wake up! They took San!"

Jiro jumped up, looking around.

"What happened?" Ashitaka demanded. "Who took San?"

Hurriedly, the brothers described what had happened.

"Things without a scent took her?" Ashitaka asked, surprised. "Are you sure?"

"What we did smell made our throats and eyes burn," Taro explained. "We could smell nothing else."

"Did you see which way they took her?" Ashitaka asked. "Has there been anything different in the forest lately?"

Jiro nodded. "This way."

The two wolves led Ashitaka and Yakul through the forest to the abandoned campsite, and Ashitaka looked through all of it. "It looks like they're warriors, like the kind Jigo employs."

"Where would they take her?" Taro asked, panting. He was still tired.

"I don't know," Ashitaka admitted as Jiro turned and headed back the way they had come. "Where's he going?"

"He's gone to get some of San's things," Taro explained. "Perhaps we can scent her."

Jiro reappeared with a bundle, and together, the brothers sniffed it, getting their sister's scent.

"We know you're going to go look for her," Taro said, "and we're coming, too. We'll find her together."

Ashitaka nodded. "I was hoping you would. I'll head back to Iron Town to tell them where I'm going and to pack, and I'll meet you on the hillside where we gave the Shishigami back his head."

"Hurry," Taro said. "If you take too long, we won't wait."

Ashitaka nodded again and leaped into Yakul's saddle, and together, he and the elk headed back to the human town.