I am an ass, but if I try to apologize it will sound hollow, because I've apologized so many times that by now it's just a standard procedure, so I'm not going to even bother.

The reason this took so long to finish is not because of vacations or injuries or anything - not to say I wasn't on vacation, which I was - but because I am an idiot who doesn't plan out her stories before writing them, and so I had no clue what I was going to do with this chapter up to the Nightwalker scene.

And so the beginning is kind of rocky, but it gets better.

Yakuul's speaking will be in italics.

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.

The Nightwalker

Ashitaka had only been conscious for a few seconds, but the moment he was able to form a coherent thought and realize that there were human arms wrapped around his waist, the human arms were gone and he heard a soft thud behind him. He managed to stay upright for a moment, long enough to realize he was in the forest, riding some sort of deer creature, and his brothers were running beside him, before dizziness overtook him and he was falling off of the deer and onto the ground.

He lay flat on his back, feeling the cold dew of the grass against his warm, fur-less skin, breathing in and out and staring at the moon shining through the leaves high above him and slowly coming to the realization that despite everything he was still alive and hadn't been killed by That Damned Woman or any of the other damned humans in that damned town - and then the most horrible pain he had ever felt burned in his shoulder and somewhere inside his chest. It felt like he was being stabbed - no, it was much, much worse than being stabbed. It was indescribable, this pain, and the force of it was enough to make him grab his shoulder and clench his teeth, eyes shut tightly. A small hiss of pain escaped him before he could stop it, and he resisted the urge to roll onto his side and curl into a fetal position.

Ashitaka felt the familiar feeling of his brother's nose nuzzling against his cheek, and his brother's warm breath ruffling his hair. Slowly and hesitantly opening his eyes, he found himself staring up at his younger brother, Sune, who was staring at him with big, concerned brown eyes.

"Sune-" He breathed, before cutting himself off with a series of coughs that forced him to sit up, which caused him to grunt as pain ripped through his body, and he doubled over, groaning as he clutched his injured shoulder, squeezing his eyes shut.

You're lucky to be alive, brother. Sune stated, nudging Ashitaka's uninjured shoulder with his nose. One of those damned humans shot you.

At this, Ashitaka's eyes snapped open, and he looked up. "What?" He asked, dazed, before pulling his hand away from his shoulder and staring at it in shock. He felt his stomach churn as he looked at the blood covering his palm. That explained the pain…

And then Ashitaka remembered what had happened. He remembered charging into the human town, confident that this night would be the night when he finally killed That Woman. He had been fighting That Woman, and she had taken advantage of a moment of distraction and knocked him unconscious. From then on, it was a hazy blur - he didn't remember anything.

So then… how had he ended up back in the forest?

When he asked Sune this question, Sune didn't answer immediately - he looked over at Mon, who was watching them from a few feet away. The eldest brother didn't say anything either, but growled in displeasure and looked to the side. Ashitaka followed his brother's gaze, and when he saw what Mon was looking at, his mouth fell open in disbelief.

It was a human.

There was a human lying on the ground.

There was a human lying on the ground in the forest of the Forest Spirit.

It took him a moment to fully process this, but when it did, his eyes narrowed and he turned to glare at Sune, bristling with anger. "You brought a human here!"

Sune scowled as he looked down at him. I don't pretend to like it, but it was our only option. If possible, Ashitaka's glare only grew stronger at the lack of explanation. Seeing this, Sune continued, giving a little sigh. The female saved you from the gunwoman's fortress, and she claimed to want to help you. She was giving you her life force, keeping you alive so you wouldn't bleed to death.

Believe me, brother, Mon said, coming over to the two of them, If there had been any other option, I would have bitten off her head.

Ashitaka gave a bitter laugh at this, his grip on his bleeding shoulder tightening. The pain was getting worse and worse with each passing second, and as he felt something warm and wet trickling down the side of his head, he realized his head was bleeding as well. His headache was still present, and, if possible, much worse. Sweat was beginning to bead at his forehead with the effort it took to keep from crying out in pain, and his head was beginning to spin.

He gave the human another look, glaring in it direction, as though the human was at fault for everything that ailed him. Which it was - if it weren't for the human and its disgusting species, the forest wouldn't be dying, Mother wouldn't have been shot, he wouldn't have been shot, and everything would have been just fine. [1]

(There was a small voice at the back of his head that spoke up, saying that it wasn't fair to blame all humans for the actions of a few, that not all humans were as evil as That Woman and her followers, that he was a human too - he tuned the voice out as soon as it started straying into that subject.)

His glare faltered slightly when he saw the deer creature - that was, he realized, actually some type of elk - that he had been riding just moments before was now standing over the fallen human, biting and chewing at its clothes and hair. For a moment, he thought that the elk was just showing irritation at the human who had forced it into slavery - because that's what humans did; no self-respecting animal with a mind would willingly let a human ride it - but then he realized, as he continued to watch, that the elk wasn't trying to hurt the human. Instead, what he had thought had been bites were just gentle nips, as though the elk was trying to wake the human up and see if it was alright. There was definitely something affectionate in the way the elk was looking at the human.

He tensed, but relaxed just as quickly when Mon gave him a nudge in the arm. Brother, come. We must get to the pool.

Ashitaka glanced at Mon, and when he returned his gaze to the human and the elk, the creature had looked up and was staring right at him. He tilted his head slightly, staring back at the elk. Its gaze was almost accusatory.

Honestly, if he hadn't been who he was, Ashitaka might have been a bit frightened of the intensity of the stare.

But he understood what the elk was trying to tell him.

As much as it pained him to admit it, this human had saved his life at the risk of its own, and had brought him to the forest of the Forest Spirit, no doubt knowing what would happen to it if any of the few remaining Gods of the forest found it here. He couldn't just leave it, no matter what it was.[2]

So, with a small groan of frustration and the knowledge that he'd probably regret what he was about to do, Ashitaka got to his feet - slipping one arm around Sune's neck to pull himself up - and only staggering once, he approached the elk and the human. He heard his brothers mutter something to each other, probably wondering what he was doing, but he paid no attention to them. The elk lifted its head from the ground, watching him cautiously. But at the same time, the elk didn't seem too worried about him.

Ashitaka looked the elk directly in the eyes, before reaching forward with his good arm. The elk took a step back, looking wary.

"I'm not going to hurt you." He said gently. "I want to free you from your harness." The elk looked less cautious at that, and Ashitaka untied the harness from around his head, before throwing it into the bushes. "You're free now. You can leave this place."

The elk snorted. I prefer to stay with San, if you don't mind. His tone made it clear that he would not be leaving the human unless Ashitaka or his brothers had to forcibly drag him out of the forest.

Ashitaka blinked, and then gave a small smile. "So you can speak. I wasn't sure if you could or not. What's your name?"

I am Yakuul, the elk said, lifting his head high, and my rider is injured. Will you help her or not?

Ashitaka was slightly taken aback by the impudence Yakuul showed to the child of the Wolf Goddess Moro, but quickly got over it. He nodded, and when Yakuul let out a snort of approval, he approached the human - the elk had said it was a female - and knelt down to the ground, rolling the human over onto its back. (Her back, he reminded himself, because even if she was a human she had saved him, and as such he needed to show her enough respect to repay his debt, and he scowled a bit at the thought of being in a human's debt)

Her mouth was slightly open, and if he strained he could hear her breathing softly. Her eyes were shut, her dark eyelashes standing out against her pale skin, which appeared to be glowing in the moonlight shining through the tree branches above them. She looked much more relaxed in her sleep than she did when she was conscious.

He felt something catch in his throat.

Because he had seen this girl before - she was the girl from the river, the one who had carried the scent of something evil and showed no fear in the face of his mother, and the girl he had briefly fought against in the human's fortress. Both times he had seen her, she had been strong and fierce. Now she was lying unconscious at his feet, completely vulnerable. It felt wrong, somehow, because he had seen that when he had fought her in the fortress that she was holding back, making an effort to not hurt him, and she had risked her life trying to save his. And before, at the river, she had looked upon his mother and his brothers and him, with his blood-stained mouth, and had looked him right in the eye, fearless. Seeing her weak and vulnerable was wrong - just as wrong as it would have been to see That Woman in the same state.[3]

Ashitaka. Mon spoke sharply. What are you doing?

Ashitaka glanced backwards at his brother briefly, before turning his attention back to the girl. Without a word, he slipped his arms under her body and lifted her up

You shouldn't- Sune stopped his protest when his brother shot him a look.

"How close are we to the island of the Forest Spirit?" Ashitaka asked. He was doing his best to ignore the fact that before this moment he had never gotten within a foot of a human without trying to kill them, and now he was holding a human girl in his arms and making an effort to try and keep her safe.

Close, but-

Ashitaka had already walked past his brothers before Sune could finish, Yakuul following close behind with a wary look at the wolves. After a moment, his brothers followed him and the elk, and within minutes the dense growth surrounding them gave away and they were standing at the edge of the pool of the Forest Spirit, the clear, quiet lake stretching out in front of them. In the center of the lake was a small grassy island, with a few trees, one of them so tall that it looked as if it would reach the heavens if it stretched much further. At midnight, when the moon was at its highest, you could see it in the part in the trees. As it was, the moon was appearing just over the treeline. It would be morning in just an hour or two.

Ashitaka set the unconscious girl down on the grass in front of him. The wolves and Yakuul watched him as he watched her silently for a moment - before he suddenly fell forward and collapsed on her. Yakuul let out a snort of panic and rushed forward, but once he lowered his head and saw that the Wolf Boy was unconscious and could not harm his rider in any way he relaxed. Mon and Sune, on the other hand, were not so easily calmed. While Sune immediately bit down on the back of Ashitaka's shirt and began pulling him off of San, nearly frantic with panic, Mon had disappeared.

The elder Wolf brother returned a moment later, when Sune had succeeded in pulling Ashitaka off of San and rolling him onto his back. Mon had a tree sapling clenched in his fangs, and when he inclined his head towards the island in the center of the pool, Sune began dragging Ashitaka towards the water, Mon following closely behind. Once they were in the water, Mon had to help Sune get Ashitaka onto his back, so they could swim easier. It was a bit of a struggle, but they managed, and then they were swimming through the water with ease. They soon reached the island, and Sune gently rolled Ashitaka off of his back and down on the grass, his lower body submerged in water.

After a few clumsy attempts, Mon finally managed to take the sapling and, using only his teeth, stuck it into the ground above Ashitaka's head, before both the wolves walked back into the water and swam back to land. Once out of the water, they headed for Yakuul, who had not moved from his stance next to San's unconscious body.

Such an odd human. Sune commented, watching the girl.

Yakuul gazed at him. What do you mean?

She helped my brother when she didn't have too. She could have let him die. That's what Ashitaka would have done if he was in her place. He wouldn't have helped her. Mon said.

Maybe he would have. But San is not like other humans. She is of the Emishi people. Yakuul stated, lifting his head slightly in pride. San was really the only human he had true respect for. He honoured the Wise Woman only because of her role, and did not really care much for anyone in the Emishi village except for San and her sister. But he only liked Kaya - he did not respect her as much as he did San. San had earned his respect when both of them had been young, when San hadn't been older than five and he had only lived four summers, and San had defended him from her own father. Yakuul's leg had been gravely injured, and everyone had agreed that there was no chance of it healing, and that it was best to put the calf out of his misery. The former Emishi chief had been about to kill him, when San had stepped up and defended him and told her father that she would help Yakuul heal, and only when she failed could her father kill him.

Her father had agreed, and within three months Yakuul was healed and on his feet again, and he had gained San as a lifelong companion.

Which was why he often felt so much guilt whenever he saw anything that reminded him of San's curse. He often wondered what would have happened if he had ran just a little faster. Nago's curse wouldn't have touched her. They wouldn't have had to leave the Emishi village. They wouldn't have had to leave home.

But at the same time, he was glad they had left the village. If they hadn't, San would have spent the rest of her life with the Emishi, married to someone she didn't even like, let alone love, and she never would have the real world outside of the hidden valley. She would only see things she had spent her whole life seeing. It would have been like being stuck in a box. That would have been worse than the effects of any curse that could be placed on her. San was naturally a free spirit. Personally, Yakuul thought the only reasons that San had stayed with the Emishi for so long was because of Kaya, and her responsibilities to her people. If not for her duties, there was no doubt in Yakuul's mind that San would have left the village the moment she had come of age.

You can leave the girl here. She won't come to any harm. No creature would risk shedding blood so close to the Forest Spirit's pool. Sune said.

Yakuul gave the wolves a wary look. I'll stay with San. Even if what Sune had said was true, he wasn't going to leave his rider alone in this forest. Not after that scene with the Ape Tribe, and definitely not after seeing the wolves before him looking so eager to rip San to shreds.

Suit yourself. Sune seemed to shrug, before both wolves ran off into the forest, disappearing into the darkness.

Yakuul watched him go off, before slowly lowering himself to the ground next to San. He had his eyes trained on the Forest Spirit's island.

It would be the highest honour if he could see Him.

-(o)-

The Kodama's stared as the elk sat on the ground, wondering to themselves why he wouldn't stand to see Him. They quickly forgot this curiosity - they were Kodama's after all, and they quickly lost interest in something unless it was interesting. Watching the Wolf Boy and the Emishi Girl sleep was not interesting to them. They started lining up, walking up the trunks of the trees surrounding the lake.

Soon, all of the tree tops for miles were covered with little white dots - the Kodama's waiting to see Him. They were completely silent. They did not want to anger Him.

Suddenly, appearing out of the darkness - He was there. He was different than He was during the day. At night, He was the Nightwalker - a vaguely humanoid figure. He looked human, because He had arms and legs and a body and an oddly shaped head. But He was not human. He was miles high, towering above the trees, and was half transparent. Across the back of His head and neck were long antler-like stems sprouting toward the sky. He was covered in dark blue - so dark they were almost black - designs, and sparkling lights shone across His body like stars. A black mist seemed to swirl inside His body.

He looked like the night sky.

This was the Nightwalker.

The Kodama watched as the Nightwalker walked through the trees. One Kodama suddenly turned its head and made it click. More Kodama's followed after this. Soon, the air was filled with the rattling of thousands of Kodama's showing their praise to Him.

In another part of the forest, a bear - at least it looked like a bear - rested silently. Its eyes were closed, and it appeared to be sleeping. Suddenly, its head lifted, and revealed the face of a human. It was the monk who had helped San earlier in her travels. He was covered head to toe in bear skins, to keep the animals of the forest from attacking. His eyes lit up when he saw the Nightwalker. "Finally." He muttered under his breath, before turning to the two other men behind him. They were dressed in animal skins as well, but unlike Jigo, refused to look at the Nightwalker.

"Come and look! He's finally here!" Jigo hissed at them. He had only turned back to the Nightwalker for a second before he noticed that neither of the men made any move to come and see the Forest Spirit's nightly form. "What are you waiting for? Why did you bother coming with me if you aren't going to look at the entire reason we came here and dressed in these stinking animal skins?"

"They say that if you look at the Nightwalker, you'll be eternally damned!" One of them said, his voice shaking.

"I heard that you'll go blind." The other muttered, keeping his eyes on the ground.

"Huh. And the people call you the best hunters in the land." Jigo scoffed. He reached into his fur and pulled out a piece of parchment. "Look. Do you know what this is?" When the men shook their heads, Jigo rolled his eyes. "This, my dear hunters, is a letter from the Emperor himself. He's forgiven us for cutting of the Forest Spirit's head!"

The Nightwalker reached a part in the trees and looked down at it. The Kodama's were still clicking away. Jigo looked back at the Nightwalker and stared at it with a greedy glint in his eyes. One of the hunters finally poked his head out and watched the Nightwalker, fear still in his eyes. "Legends say that when the sun goes down, the Forest Spirit turns into the Nightwalker, and at sunrise, He changes back again." As Jigo continued to look, he noticed something in the Nightwalker's stance changing. "Look! It's starting! He's changing!"

As Jigo spoke these words, the Nightwalker's head started to lower down into the part in the trees. His antlers began to shrink back into His head. Suddenly, He seemed to fall forward into the trees. This caused a wild wind to blow across the treetops, which the Kodama's enjoyed immensely. They waved their thin little arms in the air with joy as they blew around in the wind, but stayed in the branches of the trees.

The wind carried down through the part in the trees and ruffled the leaves of the tallest tree on the island of the Forest Spirit. It made ripples flow across the pool, flashing with an almost golden shine for a brief moment.

The Wolf Boy was still resting on the island, still unconscious, getting closer and closer to death with each passing second. Yakuul still rested on the ground next to San, watching the island without moving a muscle. He didn't even blink.

A figure suddenly began to form on the island. It looked like the wind itself was creating this figure. When it became solid, Yakuul lowered his gaze and bowed his head.

For the figure had become an almost deer-like figure. It had long, shaggy, thick reddish brown fur that became a beige color around its face and underbody, fur that draped nearly to the creatures knees in the front, but then got shorter around its stomach. It had an animalistic, yet human face, colored the same red as San's markings, with three dark red stripes starting under its dark red human eyes, and one short one by its nose. It had an animal nose colored with white fur that stretched out and made eyebrows. It had more antlers than was normal - nearly twenty - that sprouted out of its head like tree branches clustered together. Its expression was a calm one, if not curious or happy. You couldn't tell, as its lips formed a small smile, but it didn't seem to reach its eyes.

It walked forward slowly, putting one foot ahead of the other in a graceful and almost horse-like manner. Its feet were an odd greenish color, with odd scale looking marks on the front of its ankles and toes. Each foot had three toes, one large one in the center with two other ones one the side, each with a large talon one the end - not a bird talon, something else entirely. It approached the unconscious - and almost dead - Ashitaka, long grass and flowers blooming from the ground wherever it stepped, instantly dying a second later as it pulled its foot away from the ground to take another stride.

This creature was Him. The Forest Spirit. The heart of the forest.

He stared at the tree sapling in front of His face. He knew this boy - He had given Moro his blessing to raise the child as part of the forest. Now he was dying, with a human bullet buried somewhere in his body. He noticed the elk watching Him from the edge of the land across the lake, head down out of respect, guarding the girl He had seen earlier. The girl with the Demon mark.

Perhaps the girl had only saved the boy to give Him a reason to remove the Demon mark.

Whether that was her intent or not, he did not remove the mark. It would have been easy remove it, even with the distance between Him and the girl. But he did not remove it. He had no reason to save the girl.

He had no reason to save the boy, either. He could have taken the breath out of his body forever. It would have been as simple as breathing. But He knew - He was the wisest Spirit that ever lived, He knew almost everything - that Moro and her wolf cubs would not stand for that. The killing would never stop if He killed the boy.

He pulled in a breath.

The sapling died.

The boy breathed.

-(o)-

Meanwhile, as the sun was rising over the horizon, Jigo and his hunters - still wearing the animal furs - climbed down a mountain cliff, careful not to slip and fall to their deaths. Jigo led them to a small hideout, made with leaves and branches and grasses to deceive the animals of the forest. Another hunter sat inside, staring out through a small peeping hole in the roof, keeping watch.

The hunter turned to the monk. "Master Jigo."

"What is it?"

The hunter didn't answer, but moved aside to let Jigo peer through the hole. As Jigo looked, he found himself staring at the cliffside the hut looked over. Dozens of crows were flying in circles around the cliff, cawing loudly in displeasure, and what appeared to be brown lumps were moving around in the shadows at the base of the cliff. Jigo looked closer, and his eyes widened when he saw that the brown lumps were actually hundreds of large boars, trekking up the path at the base of the cliff into the forest, squealing loudly and disrupting the usual peace and quiet of the forest.

"Would you look at that?" Jigo muttered to himself in amazement.

"Those boars aren't from this region." The hunter said, frowning slightly. "It must have taken them months to get all the way up here."

Jigo suddenly shushed the hunter, eyes widening in disbelief as another boar stepped out of the forest and onto the cliff, trotting right to the edge and staring out over the treeline. This boar, however, was much different from the rest. It was much larger than the others, and its fur was white - the boar was obviously a very, very old creature. Four impressive tusks protruded from its mouth. The old boar's defining feature, however, were its eyes. Its eyes were milky white, and its pupils were a light shade of grey. This boar was blind.

"It's Okkoto!" The hunter gasped, his eyes widening.

"Okkoto of Chinzei? It can't be." Jigo disagreed. "Everyone knows he died a hundred years ago."

"There's no doubt about it - I know those tusks." The hunter grimaced, shaking his head.

Suddenly, Okkoto turned his head and looked directly at the humans hiding spot. His eyes narrowed, and a chill ran up the spines of both Jigo and the hunter next to him. They knew Okkoto couldn't see them, and it was doubtful he could smell them amongst the smell of all of the boars and the fur skins they were wearing, but it was still frightening. All it took was a single look, and the humans knew - Okkoto was not simply a boar. He was a God, and a very old one at that, and no matter how much of a fearless hunter you were, when an old God looked at you like that, only fools wouldn't want to get the hell out of there.

Jigo was not a fool. "We've been discovered! Pull out, hurry!" The monk and the hunter quickly ducked out of the boar's view and darted out of the hut, followed by the two other hunters. They dashed into the forest, and as they ran away, they heard Okkoto give a loud squeal, and they could hear the answering squeals of all of the boars that had followed him for who-knows-how-long.

But they all knew that it wasn't just a simple call.

That was the boar's version of a battle cry.

[1] - You'll notice that Ashitaka refers to San as 'it' instead of 'she' or even 'they' when he first sees her. This is because he doesn't really care about the gender of any human, because as far as he's concerned they're equal to insects, and you're not really going to put a gender on insects or anything you consider as low as insects. The only reason he doesn't call Lady Eboshi 'it' is because she is his main enemy, while all of her followers are just her followers, and therefore aren't as worthy of his contempt as Lady Eboshi is. Basically, the only humans whose gender he cares about is his greatest enemy, Lady Eboshi - and San, later on.

[2] - I don't know why but I find it hard to believe that Moro and Naga (before his demonizing) were the only remaining Gods in the forest. There had to be other Gods still around - but were either too cowardly to fight, or too wise to get involved because they knew the outcome of the war, and so never showed up.

[3] - In the original version of this story, Ashitaka referred to San as beautiful as she was unconscious. As I was writing this chapter, I realized that it didn't make much sense for Ashitaka, raised to hate humans and believe that all humans are ugly just because they're humans, to think of a human, even San, as beautiful. And it makes much more sense for Ashitaka to dislike the idea of anyone he knows is strong to be vulnerable in any way. (i.e. Lady Eboshi, San as of this chapter). Just as he doesn't care to address the humans following Lady Eboshi their proper genders, but does so with Lady Eboshi because she's his main enemy, he doesn't believe any human to be strong unless given proof otherwise - like Lady Eboshi fighting against him constantly and never losing, shooting his mother, etc, or San not showing fear when she saw him covered in blood, surrounded by huge wolves at the river, and fighting against him but not really giving it her all (which he noticed, if you go back and reread the part he's fighting against her at the beginning). Even if they're actions he doesn't approve of (Lady Eboshi shooting his mother, for example) it's proof that the person is strong, and therefore it's weird for him to see them in a vulnerable state.

Also, I think that Movie!Ashitaka was more attracted to Movie!San's strength than her beauty, even if he thought she was beautiful. So Mononoke!Ashitaka will be the same, although more so, because again, he was raised to believe humans are all ugly.

I realized like, twenty seconds into writing this chapter that I had no clue what I was doing. So perhaps that's why I don't like the beginning.

And, also, if you read the original version of this story, then you'd know that the description of the Forest Spirit/Nightwalker is the exact same. Because I like how I described Him before, and I can't think of another way to describe Him because He's so hard to describe.