Disclaimer: see chapter one.
Night of a Thousand Horses
By ShaggyDiz
Chapter Two: Truth/Deceit
The rain finally stopped the following day, and although the skies were still overcast, it did not deter Ashitaka from his mission for today. He, along with Lady Eboshi and Gonza, had decided, once the rain stopped or let up, they would travel to the towns to buy seeds. It didn't matter if it started raining again while they were in those towns. It'd be safer there than having to travel through the muddy roads while it was raining. They still had to worry about them without the rain, but at least the danger of travel was lessened slightly.
It took about half the day to arrive on horse back to the closest merchant town. Business had been slowed considerably during the last few days of rain, though there were still quite a few people milling around several of the better shops. Still, walking on the road was easy enough.
Ashitaka led them to the northeastern part of the town, to the first merchant who had a vast amount of tree seeds. The man there was well established, with a decent sized storage facility that held a wide variety of seeds and other planting materials. Ashitaka remembered the man being quite friendly and comfortable to be around with, and his own appearance didn't make the man weary of anything from his past.
"Good day sir," he said to the merchant.
The man looked up and smiled. "Ah, it's the boy from the other day. How are you doing?"
"Just fine sir." He stepped to the side, allowing the merchant to see his companions. "These are the people I mentioned from before," Ashitaka explained, introducing Eboshi and Gonza to the merchant.
"A pleasure to meet you, Lady Eboshi."
She bowed slightly. "Ashitaka told me that you have some of the best seeds produced in this town. Is that true?"
The merchant smiled. "I would like to think so. Would you like to see what I have?" Eboshi nodded, and the three of them followed the merchant into his shop. He explained to them in heavy detail about the quality and quantity of the seeds that he had. Eboshi was impressed with his explanations.
"How many seeds do I need to cover an area the size of this town?" she asked.
"How many?" The merchant seemed slightly puzzled by this request. "That's a lot of seeds were talking about here. I would guess… at least two or three of these barrels, filled to capacity, to cover an area that big."
Eboshi nodded. "I'll take four."
"Four barrels?"
"Yes. I need four barrels."
The merchant hesitantly nodded. "Do you have any means of transporting them?"
"Not until two days from now, if it doesn't rain again. We have to travel through a narrow valley road to get to where we are, and the roads are still hard to travel on. In two days time though, I will have several cows with me and several more men to complete the transaction."
"Very well." The merchant held his hand out, pointing towards the front of the storehouse.
"When do you want me to pay?" Eboshi asked as they came back to the front.
"Half now, and half later. I don't want you dropping out of any sort of deal."
She smirked. "Of course. I understand perfectly. Gonza, grab him several pouches, if you will." Gonza left for the horses, and returned several moments later, holding three small packs of gold.
"Will this be enough for now?" she asked.
"More than enough." The merchant's eyes lit up as soon as he saw the gold sitting on his table. Not forgetting his manners, he bowed to his costumers. "Take care, and thank you for your business."
The three of them bowed as well, and then they were off.
"He was pleasant," Eboshi told Ashitaka. "A good businessman… a rarity in these times."
"I knew you would have liked him. He was the only trustworthy one. He didn't hide anything from me."
"I can tell." They walked along with their horses, stopping towards the middle of town to a small food stand. It was decided that they would rest here for the time being before returning back to Tatara Ba.
"Gonza! Is that your nodachi that you brought with you?" Eboshi asked. The two of them looked at the samurai guard, and all three of them turned to his horse, staring at a large sack that was stretched to fill out the bent remains of the massive sword.
"It is, milady," he told her.
"You can take it to the blacksmith if you want. We'll be a little while longer anyway." He murmured his thanks before getting up and grabbing the sack.
Eboshi waited until Gonza was a fair distance away before turning back to Ashitaka. "I seriously hope this works."
All he could do was nod.
"I nearly failed once. I let my greed get to my head, and it nearly cost the people of my town their lives." She paused, running her hand along the length of her robe. "How do you do it?"
Ashitaka was taken aback slightly by the question. He collected his thoughts, trying to find a way to answer the question. "Its how I was brought up," he said. "I was going to be the prince of the last surviving Emishi village…"
"What is it?" she asked after he trailed off.
"No one knows of the existence of this village," he whispered. "I don't want them to be found." Eboshi nodded, and encouraged him to continue. "I had to show no fear, and no greed, and no carelessness in what I was doing. I was ready too."
And then his clenched his fist. It twitched slightly.
"I'm sorry," Eboshi whispered lightly. Ashitaka barely heard the apology.
"I won't hold it against you. You paid for your sins with your arm."
She smiled. "I know I have, but I don't think I've been entirely forgiven. I still have to protect my town again."
"It'll be tough. I don't know how much help I can provide this time. I'm not as strong as I once was."
She shook her head. "You have courage. You keep that, and everyone – including myself, and Gonza – will follow you till the end.
"And you have the mononoke too."
Ashitaka frowned at the mention of her name.
"What's wrong?"
He shook his head. "I don't know. I just… I just want to be with her. But I can't."
Eboshi nodded. "It's tough, being from two different worlds. She loves you though, and I would think she'd go with you to any place on this earth." She leaned in close and whispered: "I'll make sure you two are happy."
Ashitaka looked over at her, and the only thing he could do was smile. It was slight, but it was enough to change his mood. But there was a nagging doubt in the back of his head:
He doubted those words would come true.
Jigo made his way towards the south, making good time towards his escape route in the southwest. He made sure to keep Asano's guards off his back as he went south, constantly telling them that he was doing his search for the samurai, all the while heading towards his docks in the most secretive way possible.
As the afternoon slowly turned into evening, Jigo told the troops watching him that he needed to stop for the evening and rest his wary legs. His complaint was simple: "I'm an old man. I need my rest."
The guards bought it easily.
Two hours past, and as the sun finally fell beneath the trees; the last of the guards fell asleep. Jigo quickly packed and made his move. His goal was to make it to the dock by the early morning hours, and by the time the guards noticed his escape, Jigo would already be out to sea, on his way to China and freedom.
"Any luck today?"
"None. They're as stubborn as ever."
"Then we'll have to show them our intentions." Ashitaka stretched himself before lying back on the ground. It had been a long day.
San looked over to him. "I still – "
" – don't like this. I know you know." He looked over to her and smiled. "You've said that every day now that we've mentioned this."
"I know. And I'll keep saying it until it's finally over." San stretched a bit, but opted to remain sitting.
Ashitaka didn't mind. "I'm sorry."
"What for?"
"I broke my promise the other night."
"It's all right. It was raining."
"I know, but…"
"Hmm?"
"I couldn't fall asleep that night, San. I couldn't sleep last night either."
She didn't like the tone of his voice. It was thick with sorrow.
It shouldn't be that way.
"We're here now, you know."
"… Yeah, we are." He turned his head, looking at her. San looked his way briefly – smiling as she did – before turning back and looking at the starry night sky.
"You shouldn't be sad, Ashitaka. We're here, together. We should be happy." She looked back at him.
"And what are you? Happy or sad?"
"I'm happy," San whispered. "I'm glad to be here with you."
For a moment, Ashitaka allowed his sorrow to go away. He found he liked it, and allowed himself to smile.
It was real.
"Lie down with me."
"What?" San barely got that out. The statement froze her.
"I know you don't like the contact, but I think… I think it'll benefit us both… somehow."
For a minute, she remained, looking out towards the horizon. She looked over at him though, and slowly, she slid over until she was as close to him as possible without actually touching him before lying down, keeping her eyes towards the sky.
And somehow, being this much closer to him brought a greater sense of relief over herself.
"I… like this…"
Ashitaka smiled.
They stayed that way for the remainder of the evening.
The smell of the ocean permeated through Jigo's senses. He was almost at his destination. It took the entire night, but he had made it.
There was no one to elude, no one to hide from. It was an easy escape. He sometimes wished all of them were like that. But this one, the one that guaranteed his life, was the easiest of them all.
All Jigo had left to do was to make his way through the small copse of trees that led to the beach and he would be free.
"Ohayo, Jigo." He froze. He recognized the voice.
"Kuro…tawa…?"
"Ah, so you do remember me, Jigo. How long has it been since you last deceived me?" Slowly, he came out from his hiding spot, which was one of the boats along the dock.
"Deceived you? Wasn't it the other way around?"
Kurotawa smirked. "Honestly, I can't remember. We're both alike, you and I. We each deceive everyone we meet, and in the end, we reap in the benefits of their self-doubt. Am I right, dear old Jigo?"
"What do you want, Kurotawa?" Jigo asked. "And make this quick. I have places I must be at."
"Ah, yes. If you haven't already heard, I've come into the services of one Lord Asano not too long ago, and his mission to me for this week was simple: make sure Jigo doesn't escape.
"And here I am, making sure you don't escape."
Jigo nodded. He already knew of Kurotawa working for Asano. He expected him to be further north though. He would be more useful for the one mission Asano had rumored about two days ago.
Of course, while he thought of this, he was also trying to find the best possible way to escape from Kurotawa. He had a definite speed advantage, and so he could just possible outrun Kurotawa until he reached a boat that would easily get him into sea. Running would be the best option too: Jigo saw that there was only a katana that was strapped to his side. He knew of the man's strength, but he doubted that he would be able to throw a katana into the back of Jigo.
But then Jigo noticed something else. Kurotawa was much to calm to be facing him one on one. What if…
"Ah, so you finally realize it, huh Jigo? Your eyes dance too much. Trying to find a way to get by me was expected. Hell, a lot of people can nowadays.
"But I doubt even you would be able to outrun ten men wielding Ishibiya!" As he said this, all ten men revealed themselves. Most came from the boats along the dock while a few of them made their presence known from the trees.
Jigo nodded. "Tell me one thing before you decide to execute me: how did you know of this place? I don't think I ever told you about it."
Kurotawa smirked. "You didn't. However, you're not as secretive as you make yourself out to be."
"I see." With that, Jigo took off to the right, hoping to evade all of the gunners. He knew all ten would take their shots at once, and if he missed them all, it would take them several long moments to reload them. By then, he would have found a ship and hid on it.
What he didn't expect was the simple order for all of them to fire at him the moment he made even the slightest movement. Ten shots rang off at once, and most of them missed. He was quick enough to take at least two steps away so that the shots flew right past him.
Two shots hit him though, and both proved to be fatal. The first one was taken from a man on a boat, and his shot hit Jigo in the arm, and it went through to his ribcage, completely throwing him off guard. The gunner himself purposely shot in that direction.
The second shot reached him a split second after the first one, entering the upper right side of his head. It quickly exited near the neck, and Jigo quickly fell over. He died before he fell to the ground.
Kurotawa walked up to the corpse and kicked it lightly, checking for any movement. "He's dead. Let's go." The gunmen quickly left the beach, making their way through the woods to the main road.
Only Kurotawa remained behind, but only briefly. He looked down at his dead partner and thought for one last time that it was he who had made the final deception.
He walked away, leaving Jigo's body to rot on the beach.
Three days past. Asano stood at the top of a hill in the northern part of the island, looking down at a small village long thought of to be hidden by the world. His spies ended that, finding the village the day after Jigo was taken care of. Word reached his caravan a day later, and on the third day, Asano found himself where he was at now.
"So this is the last Emishi village?" he asked.
"Yes, my Lord," a subordinate quickly answered.
"Are the samurai ready?"
"Just about, my Lord. They're gearing up now."
"Good." He looked down again and smirked. Behind him were five hundred samurai, all of who were ready to go into battle.
It would be swift, that he knew. The village was practically defenseless. Destroying it served no purpose, other than showing the people of Honshuu that Asano was not to be toyed with.
No one would know either, but it didn't matter. All Asano wanted to do was to ensure that he would be successful in the coming battles.
Nothing else matter, not even a village of peaceful people.
Or a boy that would let his rage be known.
Old Author's notes (yes, there will be two): yes, I know it's shorter than the previous chapter. And I know it sucks too. I had to get this done though, simply because I wanted to write something. I'm being cursed with NWFMS, or "Nothing Works For Me Syndrome". Its scientific purpose is that it prevents me from logging onto my laptop properly, and also to prevent me from using the main computer properly.
Oh how I love this.
Jigo, oh how we'll miss him. No point in having him around, really. He was going to die eventually. I don't like having to write with so many characters though. Yes, I know I'm only dealing with a half dozen at best, but I'd like to have a tight story with a few characters.
As for Kurotawa… yeah, I suck at making new characters. Just think of him that used to work for Jigo in that secret group of people he worked with. The name, by the way, was from Miyazaki's "Nausicaä of the Valley of the Wind", which I still need four volumes of the manga to complete the book.
As for the next chapter, I'll try and get the next one out soon. And I'll make sure it's better than this one. There were a few things I wanted in here that I didn't get (namely the encounter between Tatara Ba and the Shoujous), so that'll show up. Don't hold me to it though. Just depends on how things are here.
No pre-reader, as usual. Someday I'll be able to afford one. Read and review, if you please. Oh, and thanks for the reviews too. I didn't expect as many as I got. Domo arigato.
New AN: Um… crap. I wrote this thing probably back in October or November, and then decided that I wanted to redo it a bit before posting. Lo and behold, I barely touched it until now. And all I really wanted to do with it was just make it flow better. There were a few corrections, and that's it.
I know. That's really bad for something that should have come out ten months ago. My apologies.
The notes above were originally written at the completion of this chapter, and they serve their purpose. Hopefully I can get back into the swing of things, since this is the second thing I'm posting here in a week.
So for now, I hope to get cracking on chapter three soon. Yes, soon. And don't worry; I do plan on having it out in less than a year this time.
Shameless advertising: I have a fiction specific live journal. shaggydizfic is the name of it. All my stuffs will eventually make it there, I hope.