Red elk to my reviewers!
Caliga--Updating!
Galenchia--Thanks! I'm glad you found it!
JRM van halen fan--I hope I got that right. Anyway, thanks for the review!
notamember--you should be, if you really aren't. Here's a chapter for your enjoyment!
Animechic08—Why, thank you! I was going for Miyazaki. Reviews like yours just send me to the moon! I'll keep writing as long as you keep reviewing!
Lizzie Leigh—Glad you love love love it! Wait no longer, my friend. The update is here.
Lady of the Celtic Land—Here's more! Fluff possibly ahead.
Origami—I'm glad you like it. Continuing.
Cpd3—Sorry, my friend, but the chapters come in their own way and time. Some days I feel POTO, or CL, LW, TT, IY, XME, or PM. Some days I don't write at all. But, wait no longer, here's the next chapter! Thank you for reviewing!
Verya—Updating. Understand about the work, I'm in school, and it's neverending.
Kadasa-Mori—Something Forest? Cool. What is Kadasa? As for Taro and Jiro, I modeled them after Skandranon and Aubri in the book "The Black Gryphon." Just in case you want to read it. They're two of my favorite characters. Thanks for reviewing!
Dar Sel'La—Yeah, I can't wait for the surprise either. Maybe Ashitaka's acceptance into the tribe will be permanent, maybe not. Keep reading!
Mushrambolover—I can't w8 for you to read this chappie! Thanks for reviewing!
Chapter 9
Taro and Jiro were enjoying themselves immensely. Every single person in the Emperor's garden was giving them and their snack of deer-haunch a wide berth. Ashitaka and San were "circulating," as Jigo had suggested they do, but San was looking increasingly bored.
Even as they thought this, San left Ashitaka's side and came over to them, dropping into Taro's side with a sigh.
"Bored?" he asked.
"Very." She stretched out her legs and burrowed her head into Taro's coat, settling in for a doze. "How do humans ever manage to avoid boring themselves to death at these things?"
"I have no idea," Jiro muttered, watching the proceedings. "Your human seems to be doing all right, though."
"That's because he's human," San pointed out.
"Point taken."
Ashitaka slipped over a few minutes later, looking very confused. All he wanted to do was leave the party and find some woods to nap in, but why? He'd never felt such an urge before. The longer he stayed in the palace, the more alien it seemed to him, and the more he wanted to leave. Did San feel this way? He couldn't be sure.
"Well, how are you two?" the Emperor asked, coming over to where they sat. "Have you met everyone?"
"Yes, thank you," Ashitaka said politely.
"Enjoying yourselves?"
Ashitaka answered before San could snarl something, saying that yes, the party was very nice.
"Well, I'm glad. Very glad," the Emperor remarked, and before they could say or do anything, he left and Jigo took his place. San muttered something and ignored him, while Taro and Jiro yawned hugely, showing all of their teeth. A few nearby ladies fainted, and Ashitaka could have sworn that he heard the brothers chuckle. Were they enjoying frightening everyone almost to death? He shook his head. Of course they were.
"Ashitaka, I wonder if I could have a word with you?" Jigo asked. "I'd love to show you the koi pond."
"All right," Ashitaka said hestiantly, feeling ready to scream. He'd seen about a million koi ponds in these gardens! How many more would he have to look at?
One more, apparently. Jigo described how it was built, the difficulties the workers had in making it, and the resulting beauty.
Ashitaka looked at it, wondering what Jigo saw in the stupid thing. It was too. . .tame. Remembering the lake in the forest, the pond looked too artificial for him to enjoy it. You could see where they had dug it out and how they had paved the sides and bottom to keep the water from soaking into the ground. It didn't look nice at all, but it did look fake.
"Listen, I was hoping to ask you something," Jigo said, sidling up next to him. "Why do you have marks on your face like the girl's? What happened to you?"
"What do you mean?" Ashitaka asked, surprised.
"Come on!" Jigo said at his chummiest. "You can tell me. Are you a mononoke now?"
Ashitaka looked at him very coolly. "I don't know what you're talking about. What is it you're trying to ask me?"
"Are you a spirit? Have the wolves made you immortal?"
So that's it, Ashitaka thought. He wants to know if I've become a god like Moro.
"I am nothing more than what I appear to be," Ashitaka said as evenly as he could. "Excuse me."
With that, he left Jigo and returned to San and her brothers, and during a time of heightened activity, they all slipped out together. They did it so quietly that no one noticed their absence until later.
Space
The Emperor called Jigo to his quarters later that evening. Jigo came in, bowing low.
"How may I be of service, Your Majesty?" he asked, smiling his best supercilious smile.
"What did you learn,Jigo? What did the boy tell you?"
Jigo wanted to kick himself. The Emperor would not like hearing that he had learned nothing, so he prevaricated.
"He told me that he is nothing more than what he appeared to be, which I think is something more than is seen," Jigo said, thinking as quickly as he could. What to tell him so he would be mollified? Hmm. "I think that he did not understand my questions, but every day he appears more restive, and more wild; just like the girl. The forests are calling to him, and he is longing to answer."
"Only a mononoke would feel that way," the Emperor said, thoughtfully. "Try to find out how it was accomplished, Jigo. That is all."
Jigo bowed low once more and backed out, his grim face hidden. How would he find out? The boy and girl both avoided him! Perhaps he would have to lay a little trap in order to make them give him some answers.
Space
"He what?" San blurted after Ashitaka had told his story.
"He wanted to know if I've become immortal," Ashitatka repeated patiently.
"Ridiculous," Taro muttered. "Mother died, didn't she?"
"Yes, but how long would she have lived had she not been shot?" Jiro pointed out. "You forget what she told us, Taro. A god lives a very, very long time unless something happens to change that."
"And if Jigo was interested, you can bet that his Emperor was, too," San muttered. "What do you think, Ashitaka?"
"I think that the Emperor still wants to be immortal, and he probably thinks that we know how to make him so," Ashitaka said, lapsing into Wolf just in case anyone was listening. He had been speaking Human, but the others steadfastly refused human words when they were alone. Now, to the human ear, they were only growling and whining.
"We can't make him what he can never be," San said, sounding angry. "And now that we know what he wants, we can tell him what he wants to know and go back to the forest."
"Will he like what we have to tell him?" Ashitaka asked. "That we can't help him at all?"
"Does it matter?" Jiro wanted to know.
"I guess not," Ashitaka admitted.
"We'll tell him in the morning," San said, curling up on a bed. "It's late right now, and I'm tired. He can't do anything to us right now."
Ashitaka nodded and sank down beside her, curling up just as she had. He'd noticed that his habits had been changing lately. He no longer wanted to sleep on his own and felt more secure when curled up with San and her brothers in a big, furry heap. He felt better when he was with the pack rather than away from it. Was there something happening to him, or was it only his imagination? He couldn't decide, and before he could think of anything more, he slipped into a sleep where the forest called to him and he answered with a longing howl.