You have no idea how long it took me to actually get started on this...

So, this chapter… will be mostly in "Wolf Boy's" point of view. When we reach the part where San and "Wolf Boy" first see each other, we'll see both their point of view's. Just to let you know.

The "He" that is referred to so many times is "Wolf Boy". Just so you know and don't get confused.

Disclaimer: I do not own Princess Mononoke or any characters thereof. Studio Ghibli and Hayao Miyazaki are the proud owners of the fantastic film, while I am just a High School student and am writing this for my own amusement and because I'm shocked that no one else had come up with the idea before me. I only own any possible changes I make to the plot of this movie, the dialogue of this movie, and/or any other things that I can't think of right now.

Also, I'm going to start putting the chapter title's below my pointless little Author's Notes.

An Encounter

The wind and rain beat relentlessly against the white wolf pelt the boy wore over his human body as he and his brothers raced across the mountain's rocky, barren terrain. His fingers were clamped tightly over his brother's fur as they sped past the remains of charred trees that had long since died, leaping effortlessly over the trees that had fallen. At the speed they were going, the rain felt like dozens of pebbles hitting his arms, as they were the only part of his skin visible amidst his fur.

His grip tightened on his gleaming obsidian knife as the wolves got closer and closer to the train of humans and oxen slowly moving along the mountainside path - like any of them had any right to be there! They had been the ones to kill the forest in the first place, and now they acted as if it belonged to them the entire time. How dare they?

And now they were attempting to get through his forest, just so they could reach their town and continue to destroy his home.

Not if he had anything to say about it.

Through the eyehole's of his demonic-looking mask, he could just make out That Woman. He could hear her yelling commands to the men, ordering them to take aim at his brothers with their rifle's. They had all stopped their effort to get the oxen moving, and were now taking up positions, ready to fire their weapons. He didn't care, and neither did his brothers. The three of them continued to run, getting closer and closer and so close to That Woman that he could smell her already and his heart was pounding with anticipation-

Before he heard her yell at her men to fire. With a loud noises that always rang in his ears no matter how used he got to hearing them, iron balls came flying toward the wolves. Expecting this, the moment he heard the bullets being fired, he threw his arm out and pointed to the right with his knife, signaling for his brothers to head to the right. In a small explosion of blue fire as the bullet hit the ground, pieces of bark and shrapnel flew at high enough speed to draw blood.

Not put off by this first attack, wolves continued their attack, still heading straight for the train of oxen. His elder brother - the one whose back he was crouched on - let out a snarl and bared his fangs, while he himself pointed his knife at That Woman.

It was only when the second assault of bullets came flying towards them, this time nearly succeeding in hitting them all, that his elder brother insisted on retreating. Reluctantly, he let them pull back, away from That Woman, and away from his revenge. But it was alright. He knew that Mother would be there soon - and she would finally be able to crunch That Woman's head in her jaws like she always spoke of doing.

-(o)-

An elegant looking woman in a red hat and dark blue cloak, both slick with rain, stood underneath a violent red-coloured umbrella, holding her rifle tightly in her hands, and watched as the wolves and the Wolf Boy retreated. Her guardsman, a sturdy, tough-looking man taller than she was smirked as he watched them run away. "That was it? They weren't so big." He sneered.

"Those were the pups. Wait till you see their mother." The woman said darkly, her narrowed eyes flicking around the landscape, searching for something.

All of the men stood still, waiting for their Lady to tell them that it was safe so they could move on. Then, out of nowhere, an enormous white she-wolf - about three times the size of the pups they had just seen - with two tails came running down the mountain, heading straight for the train of oxen.

"It's Moro!" The woman yelled, snapping a cartridge into an advanced looking gun and lighting it, not taking her eyes off of the wolf. Moro leapt out of the destroyed forest and landed on the pathway. She sank her fangs into the neck of an ox, crushing several men under her body as she did as well as knocking a man over the cliff. With a snarl, the she-wolf tore down the pathway towards the cloaked woman, knocking over an oxen and one man, sending them both tumbling into the deepy, misty abyss along with the packages of rice the oxen had been carrying.

The woman hoisted the gun onto her shoulder and took aim at Moro, without a trace of fear. "Come on…" She sneered, beckoning the wolf with her tone, smirking. As if the she-wolf had heard her, Moro grabbed another oxen by the neck and tossed it over the cliff, and sprinted forward toward the lady, knocking over at least three other men and sending them over the cliff as she sped past them.

The she-wolf leapt towards the woman, teeth bared. Now the lady had a clear shot of the wolf without anything blocking her way. With a blaze of red light that a illuminated her face, the woman fired her gun, sending the bullet straight towards Moro. It pierced her chest, drawing blood, but Moro seemed to be able to ignore it and continued forward. She might have even been able to kill the woman, if it hadn't been for the guardsman, who tried to shoot a bullet but instead shot fire out of his gun. Fire blazed across her pure white fur, the wolf let out a snarl of pain, before taking a wrong step to the side. Her paw slipped, and Moro tumbled over the side of the cliff into the ravine far below.

The guardsman leaned over the side, laughing. "Did you see that? We killed her!"

The woman almost sighed in exasperation at the man's ignorance, before leaning over the cliffside as well. Her eyes narrowed as she saw the two wolf pups and the Wolf Boy disappear into the fog as they headed for the ravine below them. No doubt they were heading for their mother to make sure she was alright. "She is a God, not just a beast. She won't die from something like that."

The guard looked up from the ravine and inspected the damage the wolf had done. A few of the men were dead, having the misfortune to have a run in with Moro's teeth, while others were close to falling over the cliff side and were attempting to pull themselves back up. Men lay groaning across the trail, oxen mooing in panic, and the men who weren't injured were attempting to calm them down. One oxen was half dangling over the side of the cliff. The boxes of supplies lay scattered across the ground, some of them crushed, while others were only dinged up a little bit. "Look at the damage she did..."

"Get everyone reassembled! We're moving out." The woman said, walking away from the cliff side.

"What about the men who fell?"

"They're dead. Let's get the living home." And that was all she would say on the matter.

-(o)-

Meanwhile, San rode through the forest at the bottom of the cliff, unaware of the battle that had taken place far above her. Though, she had heard the rifle's being fired, and was wondering what the sound could have been as she left the forest, appearing in the sunlight as the rain lightened up and the clouds disappeared. San noticed a rushing river, the water coloured brown. She inspected the river, trying to figure out if it was clean enough to drink from, when what appeared to be a dead ox with a package tied to its back floated down the river, followed by a wooden box and what looked like a human body. San repressed a shudder at the sight of the body, before letting out a gasp as she spotted a man, lodged between the rocks on the river bank, half-submerged in water.

San dismounted Yakuul and ran over to the man, crouching down next to him carefully. She placed a hand over his mouth, checking for his breath, and was relieved when she felt warm air come out of his mouth. He's still alive. In the process of pulling the man out of the water, she spotted another man behind a large boulder, also unconscious. Once San had successfully pulled the first man over to Yakuul (making sure to set him down in a position that wouldn't injure him any more than he already was) she ran over to the boulder, and managed to pull the second man away from the boulders.

Once she had set down the second man next to the first, she looked over them carefully, inspecting them for any obvious injuries. It looked like the second man had broken his arm and his leg, but as long as they healed successfully, he would be alright. But the first man looked terrible. It was lucky that he was still alive, given the fact that not only had he broken his arm, but had also hit his head against the rocks at some point.

Yakuul suddenly seemed to tense up, and his ears pricked up. San, noticing the elk's sudden discomfort, looked up at him. He was staring at something by the river. She instinctively grabbed her bow and pulled her mask up, before running upstream. She hid behind a dead tree that had fallen onto the rocks on the riverside, and peered out through the twisted roots. What she saw made her gasp.

Lying on the riverbank, across from where San was hiding, was what appeared to be a mass of white fur. Then, a silver wolf slowly came out of the woods and approached the mass, nudging it cautiously with its nose. After a moment, another wolf, the same shade of silver as the first one, came out of the woods as well. But this wolf was carrying a human rider. San watched in amazement as the mass of fur slowly got to its feet, revealing the fact that it was actually a gigantic white wolf. San couldn't help but notice a bloody wound in the larger wolfs chest. A Wolf God! San instantly thought. How could a creature as large and amazing as that be anything other than a God?

The former Emishi Princess only became more amazed as the human rider dismounted the wolf he or she was riding. The rider seemed to set something in his or her hand down on the ground, before approaching the Wolf God without a trace of fear.

-(o)-

Mother had been hurt. A human bullet had been buried deep within her breast, near her heart. He could tell.

He had seen the way the bullets had hit Nago. Only from a distance, though. Mother had forbidden him and his brothers to get closer to the war. It was between the boars and the humans. That was what she had said. And they needed to stay hidden, and stay out of sight, and keep the element of surprise on their side for as long as they could.

He slipped off his eldest brother, completely silent, as he quickly made his way over to mother. A patch of her shining white fur was smeared with blood. His jaw clenched at the sight of his mother's injury. That Woman will pay for this… Without thinking twice, he knotted his fingers in her fur, and took her blood into his mouth. It filled his mouth, stained his skin. Then he spat - the red and black liquid was washed away in the river. He did it again.

He didn't even notice another being was present until Mother began to growl.

-(o)-

San gripped a root of the tree as she attempted to look closer at the human and the wolves. The rider was a boy, she realized upon further inspection. A boy with shaggy dark brown hair - darker than hers - a little bit shorter than hers was now, whose face was buried deep in the neck of the Wolf God. From what she could see, he wore a cloak and headdress of white fur - probably wolf's fur, she decided, eyeing the animals - and amidst the fur of the headdress was a fierce looking red mask.

She couldn't help but be amazed as the boy sucked the blood from the God's wound, before turning his head and spitting it out into the river. On the boy's third time, the wolf gave out a low growl and looked right at the place where San was hiding. The boy turned around, his mouth stained with blood, and San had to bite back a gasp at the sight.

But now she had a full view of the boy. He certainly didn't look like any boy that San had ever seen. He was completely different from Chagum. His skin was a light shade of brown, darker than her own paleness. He looked as if he was around her age, with dark brown hair that was hardly any longer than hers was now, and dark grey eyes that were narrowed in distrust. - Three wavy, vertical red lines were painted upon his forehead, standing out against the darkness of his skin.[1]

He was wearing black pants that were torn off at the knee and had little strings of fabric trailing down to his ankles. His shirt was sleeveless, a dirty shade of white. But it was so old and frayed that it had ripped, right down the middle, exposing his chest until the rip in the fabric came to a stop at his stomach, where a piece of brown cloth was tied around his waist, almost like a belt. The coat of wolf fur, from the front, looked like a vest. It would have hidden his arms from view, if there hadn't been two holes for his arms to fit through so they hung at his sides over the fur.[2]

Around his neck was what appeared to be a short necklace of black leather, made of five white wolf fangs. San could see something shining that was hanging from his neck, but because of the sunlight reflecting off of it, it was too bright for her to properly see what it was.[3]

The boy reached for something with his right hand, not taking his eyes off of San. Once he had it in his grasp, he stood up straight, staring directly at the place where San was hiding. He spat the rest of the blood out of the corner of his mouth, into the river, before he wiped the back of his blood-stained left hand across his mouth, staining his arm and smearing the blood, but not getting rid of it entirely. He did this in a very hostile way, as if he intended to scare San away. It was then that San saw what he had grabbed with his right hand - a gleaming, black knife was clasped tightly in his grasp.[4]

Realizing she had been caught, and not wanting to get into a fight, San set her bow on the ground, climbed on top of the dead tree and faced the wolves, pulling down her mask in the process. "My name is San. I came here from the lands of the east. Are you the old gods I've heard inhabit the forest of the Forest Spirit?"

-(o)-

If nothing else, he felt slightly stunned by the girl's declaration. He had been expecting a townsperson to begin screaming at the sight of him and his family, or perhaps for a rifleman to start shooting at them. Instead, he had found himself staring at a young female human, dressed completely in white, as she looked right at him without a trace of fear. She must have been a foreigner - he would have remembered seeing someone dressed the way she was, with pieces of armour around her arms and her legs.

A breeze flew by. It pulled on the girls clothing, making it sway in the wind. As he breathed in, he smelled her scent. Oddly enough, she smelled like a mixture of the rain and the grass - but something else as well, something that smelled almost evil. He knew Mother had sensed it too, as her snarl seemed to grow louder.

He felt his piercing glare slowly relax, until it became a look of mere curiosity mixed with hostility. She was a human, after all, and no human was ever innocent. The girl didn't look like she was any threat to his family at all - but looks were often deceiving.

He was still expecting her calm disposition to crack, and give away to terror. But still, nothing but a calm gaze. His eyes never left hers.

Finally, he felt Mother shift, and he broke away from the human girls stare to look at her. She had finally gotten to her paws, and had begun walking away into the forest. He ran his hand gently over her coarse fur as she moved past him. His older brother approached him, and he mounted his sibling with ease.

"Wait!" The girl called after him.

He looked at the girl one last time, his mouth still stained with blood. "Leave us alone." He said coldly, before his brother broke into a run and disappeared into the forest with Mother.

-(o)-

San watched as the wolves and the boy disappeared, the second smaller wolf dragging an oxen carcass behind them. The look that the boy had given her was still fresh in her mind, and she couldn't help but feel that it wouldn't be the last time she saw him.

The former Emishi Princess stared after the wolves for a moment, before she heard a man screaming. She sighed. What now?

As she walked back toward Yakuul, she saw the second man she had rescued was now awake, screaming and trying to back away from something perched on a rock, dragging his broken leg and attempting not to touch anything with his injured arm. San looked at what the man was trying to get away from, and as she spotted it, a smile appeared on her face, and she nearly burst out laughing.

It was a small white creature, with a vaguely humanoid form. Its head was in the shape of a circle, with three unevenly-sized black holes that made up its mouth and eyes. It wasn't moving, or attempting to make any threatening movements towards the man, yet he was still screaming at the top of his lungs like the creature was one of the wolves San had seen.

"A Kodama! I never thought I would see one here." She whispered, still smiling.

San approached the man, who was currently still trying to get away from the Kodama, while at the same time trying not to touch anything with his injured arm. "Calm down." The man jumped and let out a yelp when he heard her voice. "You'll make your injuries worse if you do that." The man gaped at her, as if he was wondering why she wasn't screaming alongside him.

The Kodama turned it's head, making a rattle and a clicking noise. The man screamed even louder. "He's a tree spirit. It's a good thing he's here. It's a sign this forest hasn't been spoiled." San explained.

"But they'll bring their lord and master right to us!" the man exclaimed, looking around in terror as if he expected to be attacked at any moment.

San gave the man an odd look. "What do you mean? You mean the wolves that I saw?"

"No! No, I mean - I'm talking about a real monster, this enormous deer creature, but during the day it has a human face and then at night it-" While the man was babbling, the Kodama got up and walked off, disappearing into thin air, which only made the boy scream again. "It vanished!" He looked up at Yakuul, and screamed... again. There was a Kodama with a cone-shaped head, sitting comfortably on Yakuul's back. San couldn't hold back the chuckle that escaped as the man began to yell about reinforcements and being doomed.

"Yakuul's not afraid. We don't have to panic." San stated, getting back to her feet and looking at the Kodama on Yakuul. "I'm sorry. Would you mind showing us the way through your forest?" The Kodama tucked its head into its chest, looking almost shy, and disappeared. As more Kodama started to appear, San realized this was their way of saying "Yes", and turned back to the man.

He was looking down at his broken arm, looking irritated. "How am I going to be able to herd the oxen now?" He whined loudly.

"Be lucky it was only a broken arm." San remarked calmly. "You could have been killed." She kneeled down next to him. "I'm going to have to make a splint for you. Otherwise your injuries will get even worse."

The man let out a nervous sound, looking around. "How do I know I can trust you?" He asked, suddenly sounding accusing of her. Her surprise must have shown on her face, because he continued. "You say you want to go through the Forbidden Forest, then you're asking for help from those… things! Now you say you want to build me a splint!"

San's eyes narrowed in annoyance. "Look, I just want to help you. What I personally do to help you has nothing to do with you. If you'd rather I not make a splint, then feel free to have your arm be injured more than it already is."

The man seemed to shrink into himself, before mumbling, "You sound like Toki…"

"Whoever this 'Toki' person is, she's very smart." San quipped, before getting to her feet and searching for something straight enough to use. Eventually, she had to climb into the trees and cut off tree branches with her sword to find anything remotely usable.

Once she had successfully found enough straight tree branches to make the splints, she tore off several strips of the white fabric of her robe. She took the torn strips, before wrapping them around the still unconscious man's head to make a makeshift bandage. San was well aware of the fact that the Kodama's were still surrounding them, and that the man was shifting uncomfortably in his inner panic. Not really paying any attention to him, San took the unconscious man's arm and straightened it carefully. She set one of the branches against his arm, before wrapping it in more strips of her robe.

"Kohroku."

San paused in her work, before looking up at the man. "What?"

"My name is Kohroku." He still looked scared of the Kodama, and was still looking around nervously, but at least he wasn't screaming anymore.

"My name is San." Without another word, she returned to her work.

It was only when San had finally finished making the splints for Kohroku's arm and leg - about half an hour after she started bandaging the first man - that she stripped free of her travelling clothes and her armor, revealing the blue tunic, blue baggy pants, black boots, and the dark blue cloth gauntlets underneath. She set her white robe onto Yakuul's back, to make a saddle for Kohroku, before managing to get Kohroku to mount Yakuul despite his protests (For a few minutes, he completely refused to touch the "beast", until San threatened to leave him there for the wolves to eat. That shut him up.) With that minor problem resolved, San pulled the unconscious man onto her back, and the group followed the Kodama's into the forest, beginning their journey.[5]

Finally finished this. (Sigh)

A few notes.

[1] The markings I gave Wolf Boy were inspired by the battle markings of the Northern Water Tribe from Avatar: The Last Airbender, as seen in "The Siege of the North, Part 1". I decided, if I wasn't going to give San any markings because she was the Princess of the Emishi, why not give Wolf Boy/Ashitaka markings because he's… you know, the Mononoke Ouji (Prince Mononoke)? I didn't want to make them too noticeable, like San's markings, but wanted to give him something - and since Miyazaki inspired the creators of Avatar, why Avatar inspire me?

[2] The fur coat is basically a vest made of fur. It looks like Movie!San's coat from the back, but looks like a fur vest from the front. Hope that was explained well enough.

[3] The necklace idea (and the vest fur coat idea) was inspired by a piece of artwork. It was a picture of genderswapped Ashitaka and San, made by kishi-san on deviantArt. It's labelled "GBG: Sketches 1".

[4] Seriously, I have no idea what material San's knife and spear tip is made of. I mean, I don't think it's bone, it doesn't look like it. And it also is silver, like metal, but I doubt it's metal since I don't think San would have the resources to make them. So I made Ashitaka have a knife made of obsidian - you know, that black stone? It sounds cool, and I think it fits him, personally.

[5] I was looking over my description of San's travelling clothes in chapter 2, and realized I had forgotten to put in any description of her pants or boots or the cloth arm guards I want her to be wearing. I swear to God, one of these days my head is going to fall off and I'll forget where I put it. I apologize. (slams head against desk) Basically, she's wearing just normal boots underneath her armored boots, and cloth gauntlets under her armored gauntlets. I kinda based her travelling clothes off of a cover image from a book I've read, Moribito: Guardian of the Spirit. Look it up - not the anime, the book, and you'll get it.

How did Ashitaka sound? I mean, his description? Do you think I described him well enough? I spent an entire day working on this thing. Literally. An entire day. And most of it was spent on his description, because I kept on being unhappy with it. I tried to sort of put the real Ashitaka's personality into the Wolf Boy's personality, somehow. Not his "I'll only kill to protect myself and others" personality. I can't really describe it.

Also, I wanted to add that part about San making the splints, because I wanted to. I mean, we don't see it happen in the movie, and I wanted to add something "behind the scenes" to the story.

Anyway… (sigh) I hope to see you again next chapter.