Once again, I'm terribly sorry to all my readers about the lateness about my updates. I know every update I say I'll get them up faster, but things keep coming up. I hope I can be forgiven for this. (Ed. Note: We will this time, but consider yourself warned, punk!)
Anyway, I won't waste any more of your time. Here it is, the chapter you've all been waiting for: Chapter 12 (read and you'll find out why).
Being Alive
Chapter 12
The sky, a dark mass of the darkest shade of gray, poured down an intense barrage of rain upon the rugged, mountainous landscape. As thunder occasionally erupted from within the clouded mass, water ran down the mountain in wild miniature streams, past the hooves of the oxen that dug into the muddy pathway, as well as the geta-clad feet of the humans that accompanied them. The oxen were slowly stumbling up the mountain, constantly bumping into one another, and occasionally moving away from the group, only to be swatted back by the ox drivers and their tiny whips. As the ox drivers were kept busy with their tiresome task, the orange-clad men around them stood to the outside, slowly moving along as they clutched their ancient, paper-wrapped muskets. Held back by the slow pace of the oxen that carried their many sacks of rice, they cautiously eyed what they could see of the landscape around them, watching for any suspicious activity in the heavy storm.
Little did they know they were actually being watched from far above.
Through the small, curved eyeholes of a delicately crafted clay mask burned the eyes of a young, wild girl, dressed in the fur of a pure white wolf, with a mane jet-black hair just visible behind the mask. She stood on top of a boulder that sat near the top of the mountainous area, gazing down at the traveling band of humans with utmost loathing. She tightened her grip on the spear she held, and grinded her teeth in anger.
Just you wait, gun woman. Soon, I will sink my blade right into your soulless heart, and spill your blood until it runs like the rain on this mountain!
As she looked along the train of oxen and humans, she found the target of her hatred: a lone figure standing alongside the edge of the mountainside as the train passed by. As she continued to bore her eyes into band of loathsome humans, she grew impatient. Why are we even waiting? Why am I waiting? They're completely unaware! This wouldn't even be a challenge...we could take them the way they are…and they wouldn't even be able lift one miserable finger-
"San" a deep voice growled from behind her. The girl turned around, and looked down from the boulder at the caller: an unusually large, vicious-looking white wolf. "You weren't thinking of starting early, were you?"
She scowled. "We're wasting our time, Kiba. The humans are absolute sitting ducks right now! We're letting our perfect chance slip away."
"You know how we work, San" the wolf retorted with a growl. "We wait until Mother gives us the signal. And only then do we make our move!"
The girl resisted the urge to retort back to her brother, and sullenly nodded her head. "I know that. I just don't understand why-"
"We wait for the signal, San! No questions asked! And I expect you to follow it like we always do. Now, come on. Mother's already staked out our positions."
With a final angry sigh, San gracefully leapt down from the boulder, landing right on top of the wolf, who immediately tore across the top of the mountain, dodging and leaping over several obstacle rocks.
"Unbelievable," the girl quipped. "I can smell it already."
"What?" her wolf companion asked, as he leapt over another boulder. "The stink of the iron or the stench of their disgusting strong drink?"
"Both" she replied. "Not to mention their own, natural filth."
The wolf snickered as they disappeared into the haze of rain.
As the rain poured down his green poncho, just barely managing to keep him dry, the youth frustratingly tried to light a cigarette he was shielding from the rain with his hand. Bending over, he tried time and time again to draw a flame from his lighter, which, unfortunately, had slipped out of his hand and fallen into a puddle seconds earlier. Now, lighting it was all but impossible.
Dammit! Why'd this have to happen now, of all times? C'mon, you stupid piece of shit, c'mon!
No matter how many times he spun the wheel, however, the sparks failed to draw a flame. With a defeated sigh, he snapped the lighter shut, and pocketed the unlit cigarette. Moving to a nearby tree, he sat against the thick trunk, and pulled his knees closer, pulling the poncho tighter over his head.
At least I remembered to keep this, he thought. Otherwise, I'd be soaked to shit. Slightly raising his head up, to the point where rain didn't creep in, he stole a glance at the dark grey sky. It had suddenly begun to rain buckets not even an hour ago, taking the soldier completely by surprise. He'd been walking through vast woods for two days now, having left Kyoto a day earlier. He didn't know for sure if this iron works he'd heard about existed. He was even less sure about the so-called "Shishigami" that the others had told him about. He only knew that he had no reason to be doing anything other than searching for a cure for the curse he had been carrying for almost a month. And, every last clue, inquiry, and answer had led him to this point.
I'm probably heading towards nothing, he thought, burying his face in his hands. Damn, I really need a smoke….
The oxen were moving at a record slow pace now, due to the steepness of the road they were now trying to climb. With the heaviness of the rain up a notch from earlier, and the extra steepness giving way to slipping on the thin level of mud, they were one step away from an utter fiasco. They had already had several near misses that were just barely avoided. One figure, a woman dressed in a thick, dark cloak, with her back to the endless cliff going down the side of the mountain, watched the ox drivers tirelessly beating at their oxen as they struggled up the path.
Spying one of the ox drivers resting on his knees, she stepped forward. "No slacking off, any of you!" The man immediately shot back up, and went back to his ox.
"Don't stop because you're tired! The sooner we get this rice home, the sooner we can finally eat and rest! So keep moving!"
Out of the crowd, one of the orange-clad men suddenly pointed up into the mountain. "It's them! The wolves are here!"
Her eyes bolted up the mountain, through the decimated, skeletal remains of the forest that once stood on the mountainside, to two white blurs moving in between them all. They moved so fast that she could only briefly glimpse them as they disappeared and reappeared out of the mass of rotting trees. She only knew them too well.
She waved her hand to the men, who immediately lined up, carrying their long weapons with them. "Calm the oxen! Form your ranks, and don't rush."
The men shoved their red parasols into the ground before opening them, and partially tearing the red paper off of the iron tips of their weapons, revealing the detailed pattern of a dragon indented into piece.
The woman's right hand man, setting up his own parasol, followed up on her commands. "Keep your powder dry! Remember to let them come in range before firing!"
Reaching for her own weapon, the woman kept her eyes on the mountain, well aware of the position of her gunmen. Although she could not see them clearly, she could easily read their tactics. And she was ready for them.
San clung to her brother's fur tightly with one hand, and grasped her spear with the other. Not thirty seconds earlier, the Wolf God had given them the signal to move, and they had taken off, dashing through the decimated landscape, ready to unleash their assault on the band of humans.
As the two wolves picked up speed, dashing in between the rotten and disfigured trees, she felt a surge of adrenaline flowing through every inch of her body. Even though the wind and rain threatened to distort her vision, she had not lost focus of her target ever since she had first spied her minutes earlier, and kept her eyes locked, even from such a distance.
She saw that the humans had spotted them, and watched as they began scrambling about in panic. She could smell their fear…she'd come to recognize the feeling many times. The closer they got to the band, the harder the hatred seemed to pump through her. This was the moment she had been waiting for.
A loud burst of sound suddenly resonated, quickly followed by a small explosion of earth right in front of them. Scowling in utmost anger and irritation, she held on as her brother darted out of the way of a subsequent shot.
Damn them! she raged in her mind. Damn them and their unearthly weapons! They're nothing but cowards! They know they stand no chance against us in a fair fight, so they attack us like this! As several more shots exploded in the ground around them, her brother made a quick turn, darting back up the path, and preparing for another push.
The woman watched as the first round finished firing, and the two wolves turned around, running back into the mountain. And, as she expected, they immediately turned back for another assault.
Like a moth to the flame, she thought. "Second round: fire!"
And, in a perfectly paced order of gunfire, the second round fired their muskets into the mountain, once again cutting off the wolves in their path.
As the next round of shots buried themselves in front of her brothers, San still refused to give up. Directing her brothers over the barrage of gunfire, she managed to get them close enough that she could see them rather well. Upon landing from a small jump, her brother leapt into the air with all his might, throwing himself in the direction of the caravan. And, with the humans clear in her sights, San hurled her spear, directly at the revolting gunwoman. Unfortunately, the rain had a negative effect on her throw, and the spear landed short, instead spearing an ox through the head, as well as the arm of the human standing right beside it. As her brothers immediately turned around to run up separate paths back into the mountain, she could hear the ox driver scream, and took pleasure in it.
"Damn it" she said to her brother as they darted between the rotted tree trunks, avoiding a third wave of hot iron bullets, "if it weren't for this blasted rain, I'd have gotten her for sure."
"Don't gripe, San" Kiba responded. "At least you got a human this time."
The girl looked down at her brother in annoyance. "What do you mean, 'this time?'"
"Lately, all you've managed to do is kill oxen and other animals they've enslaved. You should be ashamed" he said with a laugh.
"Shut up! I've killed more than you could ever believe!"
"Enough!" Tsume, her elder brother said, regrouping with them from another path. "Mother is about to make her move, and we need to be ready!"
Taking a leap down from a boulder in order to clear an enormous puddle, Dante landed on a rather slippery rock, causing him to slip into the surrounding pond of mud.
Shit… he thought, slowly standing back up, and stepping out of the mud, getting a good look at his now mud-stained pants. Sighing in anger, he looked up into the sky once again. Nothing but bad luck, huh?
His attention was torn away by the sound of thunder in the distance. Catching the direction of the sound, he looked up at the enormous mountain he stood at the foot of. Shielding his face from the pouring rain, he listened as the sounds returned. This time, though, he noticed something strange.
I haven't heard any thunder until now…and I never saw any lightning at all. No way, that can't be thunder…that's…
When it sounded a third time, he recognized it. That's gotta be gunfire!
When the sounds came to a stop, and the sky remained silent, he lowered his head, and continued on through the damp woods. Things just keep getting stranger and stranger, don't they?
"Dammit, calm the oxen! Just bandage the arm up, don't bother tying it! We need to keep moving!"
As her bodyguard dealt with the ox drivers, whom were both trying to calm the oxen and attend to their wounded comrade, the woman had her eyes fixed on the mountain. The wolf girl's little surprise had scared the living daylights out of the oxen, causing them to nearly trample the other drivers. Although most of them probably believed the worst was over, she knew it hadn't even begun.
"Lazy, pathetic fools," her right-hand man said as he approached her. "That sure was weak for an attack. And, as far as monsters go, they were nothing."
"We only saw the pups, Gonza. The youth of the pack," the woman replied, her eyes never leaving the mountain. "The mother will be here soon, and she's ten times as imposing."
Slowly bringing her eyes down the mountain, she stole a glance at the men as they attempted to get the oxen back under control…then, directly above them, where a rather large flash of white was dashing through the decimated forest, destroying everything in its path. As it got closer, she could feel the ground rumble under the horrifying presence of the wolf god.
"Moro!" she yelled, tearing the paper containing her personal weapon. Brought to attention by her exclamation, the other gunmen immediately proceeded to fall into line, raising their weapons, but their efforts proved fruitless, as the beast came at them with full, unmatched force.
The giant wolf tore through the train of humans and oxen, immediately sending some of them tumbling over the side of the mountain. She managed to snatch up an oxen in her jaws and toss it aside before dashing through the rest, trampling as much of the train as possible. Regardless, however, of what she managed to destroy on the way, her focus remained on her one target the entire time.
As the beast came closer, the woman held her shorter, thinner musket to her shoulder, and held her aim as tight as one could at the approaching target. After it knocked a final oxen over the cliff, which, in turn, dragged a human with it, it was in clear path. Shoving her lit match into the chamber, she ignited the powder, sending the iron bullet exploding out of the barrel, and right into the enormous shoulder of the approaching beast. While deterred, the wolf god continued towards the woman, refusing to show any sign of weakness, or to stop in the slightest. Her rampage was stopped just short, however, by the bodyguard, who unleashed an enormous burst of flames from his musket, enveloping the beast in a raging inferno.
Unable to continue any longer, the wolf god gave into the unbearable pain of the flames, and leapt off the side of the mountain, descending into the clouds deep beneath the level the humans stood on. Watching as she disappeared into the thick fog, the bodyguard lifted raised his weapon in triumph.
"We got her! She's fallen down the side of the mountain!"
"Don't start celebrating, Gonza" the woman retorted, maintaining every ounce of her authority. "She's a god. And it will take much more than what we have to done to finally bring an end to her life."
Gonza lowered his weapon and sighed, turning back to the caravan…which was in a truly sorry state for what it had been earlier. Several of the oxen had been trampled, and some of the rice bags had been crushed, spilling their contents all over the muddy path. Several of the men, not including the four who had fallen over the cliff with the oxen, had sustained rather serious injuries as well. Taking a quick glance back down the side of the mountain, the bodyguard turned to his commander.
"Eboshi-sama, what do you want us to do?"
With a final scan of the battered caravan, the woman hoisted her musket over her shoulder, and continued up the path.
"Move out. We're continuing as planned."
Stuttering in brief shock, Gonza held out his hand in a futile attempt to grab her attention. "But what about the men she pushed over the cliff-"
"They're dead, Gonza" she retorted, not looking at him. "Let's concentrate on getting the living home." And, without another word, she moved on.
MOTHER!!!
San's mind raced with fear and anxiety as she and her brothers dashed down the mountain, hoping against hope that the wolf god had survived monstrous fall.
Pushing aside one final piece of shrubbery, Dante stepped out of the woods, and into the open. Although the rain had calmed a number of minutes earlier, it had been virtually impossible to tell the weather from within the dense canopy. As soon as he stepped out of the woods, however, he felt a beam of sunlight bearing down on him. Looking up, he saw that the clouds had scattered, leaving them like islands in the blue sky.
Thank god, he thought in relief, digging his lighter and cigarette out of his pocket for one last attempt. Sticking the Marlboro in his mouth, he flipped open the lighter, and, after three strikes, drew a small flame. Yes! Holding the flame close, he lit the tip of the cig, and immediately inhaled as he closed his lighter. 'Bout fuckin' time…
Letting out a long puff of smoke, he took a look at his surroundings. What he saw caused him to nearly drop his cig in jaw-dropping awe. A long, rocky river, which appeared more like a mass of small waterfalls, was running down the mountain and through the forest, giving off the rare-but-pleasant aura Dante only occasionally got to feel during his journey. For at least a minute, he forgot he was traveling, and just decided to savor the moment.
Eventually, he found himself walking down the side of the bulgy, boulder-laden river, leaping down the enormous rocks that helped to form the amazing waterfalls. As he walked, he kept his eyes on the raging river to his left. When he came to a rather spectacular-looking waterfall, he stopped, dropping to a crouch to fill his empty canteen with the fresh, clean water. Holding out his green canteen, he held it under the falling water, feeling the cool, clear liquid running down his hand. Sometimes, despite his curse, and all other hardships he had been though, he thought sights like this made it worth the whole ordeal.
His eye suddenly caught something, as a thin streak of red began to fall around his hand as he held out his canteen. The little stream did not stop, and he pulled back his hand, standing up, and following the streak of red liquid up the river. A few feet up, he gasped as he found the source, dropping his canteen on the ground.
Not ten feet up the river, clinging to a moss-covered boulder, was the battered and bruised form of a human body. Stepping closer for a better look, he could see that a bone was indeed protruding from the shoulder of the corpse.
"Jesus" he said to himself, clutching his stomach. Standing back up, he looked further up the stream, and noticed even more bodies floating in the river. His mouth gaping open, he found himself unable to breathe. What the hell happened here? Don't tell me these guys floated all the way down here from some battle?
Looking back at the man closest to him, who was dressed in a small orange tunic, and with his head wrapped in white lenin, he could see the blood trickling out of the man's wound, flowing like a river on its own. Looking closer, he began to think. If that guy's dead, why's his blood flowing like that? It wouldn't do that unless his heart was beating…
Getting the idea, Dante threw off his equipment, and stepped into the river, making his way over to the man as he clung to the boulder. Reaching him, he pulled up the man's head, getting a better look at his face. Although the eyes were closed, the man's face was a mixture of fear and confusion, with a gaping mouth and damaged jaw. The youth stuck his thumb under the jaw, feeling for a pulse. After a bit of feeling around, he found one.
"Shit! He's still alive!" Grabbing him by the waist, he hoisted the man over his shoulder, and began to slowly drag him back to shore. When he stepped out of the river, albeit with some difficulty, he laid the man on his back on the ground, pressing down on his stomach to remove any excess water. When he was sure the man was all right, he leapt back into the water, making his way to the other bodies floating in the river. He checked two of the remaining three, finding no signs of life for either. When he moved to the last one, who was dressed in a dark blue tunic, he moved in to feel for a pulse. Before he got there, however, the man, whose head had been submerged until Dante lifted him out, inhaled in his unconscious state. Feeling a wave of relief, he hoisted the man out of the water, and carried him back to lay him beside his partner.
Examining both of the injured men, Dante took note of their injuries. While they had both sustained fairly bad injuries, they had taken them quite differently because of their individual shape and build. The first man, in the orange tunic, had a fairly good and solid build, while the other man looked frail, with arms that looked like they would break at the slightest amount of pressure. Looking closer, he saw that the man's right arm was indeed broken. Breaking out his first-aid kit, he began to go to work on the men, bandaging every last one of their wounds and fractures.
After a few minutes of bandaging and cleaning, Dante looked down at his work. He'd used a few small branches he'd found in the woods to help brace the fractured arm of the thinner man, as well as every other fracture on either of the men. Although the wood had been damp, he felt it would hold under the bandages. Standing up, he decided to run back up the river to look for any more bodies he might have missed. Looking around, he saw none. He was about to head back to the men when he suddenly caught the scent of something rather disturbing.
Feeling a bit cautious, he walked back to where he had dropped his equipment, and swung his shotgun over his shoulder before turning back in the direction of the scent. Following the scent, he leapt from one boulder to another, larger one, where a large tree trunk had fallen, spreading itself across the river. Sniffing the air once more, he detected the familiar smell – blood. Only, this time, it was a bit different, giving off an even stronger scent than the mangled human bodies had. Taking a deep breath, he peeked in between two thick roots of the trunk, looking to the other side.
The sight that greeted him nearly made him fall right back into the running river. Lying on the rocky shore on the other side of the river was a beast that Dante could barely have put into words, other than being the largest wolf he could have ever imagined. Much bigger than any animal he had seen before, barring the giant beast of a boar he had encountered over a month ago, the creature lay sprawled out across the flat rocks, stretching almost ten feet. It was bigger than any regular sized auto; almost as big as the transport trucks he had used to ride in back in Vietnam. Hell, this thing looked big enough to rival a tank. The head alone looked big enough to swallow an average human whole. Save for the wound stained with deep red blood just barely visible on its shoulder, the animal had a coat of the purest white fur he had ever seen. Looking towards the back end of the beast, his eyes went wide as he noticed it had two tails. This beast that lay before him, despite being on the ground in an obvious unconscious state, looked more vicious and intimidating than the boar had ever been.
His attention was drawn away by the sudden appearance of other beasts. Two more pure white wolves had come in to join the one in front of them; only these two wolves, while still large, were not even half the size of the bigger one. Catching the second of the two wolves, he noticed that a smaller figure was riding on its back, clothed in more white fur.
At first, he didn't know what to make of the figure. But he soon found out when it leapt off the wolf, revealing two bare, light-skinned, unmistaken human legs. Judging by the build of the body, he could see it belonged to a young girl, a girl who looked no older than himself. In addition to the cloak of white fur, she wore a rather torn and beaten white blouse over a blue dress that looked just as old and tacky. Her arms, excepting for a white band around her biceps, were completely bare. On her feet, she wore two white shoes that looked like they had been made of dried animal skins. Focusing on the girl's face, he noticed it was covered by what looked like a red-and-white mask. Almost as soon as he had noticed it, however, her hand reached up and lifted the mask, revealing a face that the youth could barely make out from his position. Thinking fast, he reached down to his belt, where he had strapped his sniper scope earlier, and held it to his eye, bringing the girl into focus.
Even through the glass of the scope, the youth found himself left breathless at the sight of the girl's now-uncovered face. As he stared deeper and deeper, he lost all inhibition of his surroundings, and found himself lost in the loveliness of her face. Sleek and clean, yet rough and wild, she reminded him of the calm, reserved, white-painted face of a Geisha as she performed her mystical dance, or that of an expertly carved porcelain doll. Two maliciously curved eyebrows lined above to large eyes, colored in an amazingly piercing hazel. Two sharply curved cheekbones surrounded a small, albeit full-lipped mouth. Yet, none of these features amazed him as much as three blood-red tattoos that adorned her cheeks and forehead. All of this was crowned by her lavish, neck-length ebony hair, tightened around her head by a white ornamental band.
The rest of her body, while slender and agile, appeared strong and powerful. Jewelry, apparently made of bone, hung from her ears and around her neck. And the cloak of white fur only added to her presence. For all her beauty, the girl radiated the same aura of wildness and intimidation as that of the wolves around her. It was almost as if she was one of the wolves herself.
As Dante had stared lovingly at the strange girl across the stream, everything had appeared to slow down. His gaze ended almost as quickly as it had begun, however, as the girl had made her way over to the gigantic wolf, which had slowly risen itself up into a seated position, and was bleeding from the gaping wound on its shoulder. As he followed the girl with the scope, he again found himself lost in her aura. Her next action, however, made him drop the scope in surprise.
The girl had dug her face into the enormous wound of the larger wolf, and had begun to literally suck the contaminated blood from it, spitting it out to the side each time before returning to the wound.
Even from his distance, the shocked youth could clearly make out what the girl was doing. Jesus Christ! As the girl continued to suck out mouthful after mouthful of blood, he clutched his stomach. Being an infantryman, he was no stranger to horrible wounds or unpleasant medical practices, but this…this definitely stood out amongst everything he had seen. I don't think I can take this…
Turning away, he took another puff of smoke. Well, she looks like a wolf. I guess she acts like a wolf, too…wait a minute…wolf?
It hit him harder than any bullet or explosion he'd ever witnessed. The realization came crashing down, and he found himself remembering not only the stories he'd heard, but the dreams he'd been having. Those two wolves…no, it can't be, no fucking way…
But there was no mistaking it. They bore an uncanny resemblance to what had terrorized him in his sleep nights before. And the stories the Kyoto lord had told him…about the forest of the Shishi-Gami…the giant beasts that lurked in the forest, protecting it from all humans…this had to be the giant wolf god, Moro, as Takeda had told him. No mistaking the size of that wolf, he thought, tossing his spent cigarette onto the ground beside him. When he thought about the wolf god, he was suddenly reminded of the other part of Takeda's story…the part about a young girl, who was raised by wolves…and had grown into a beautiful, yet vicious animal herself. Picking the scope back up, he returned his focus to the girl. As he watched her wipe the blood from her face, the images that he'd created in his mind from the lord's story projected themselves in his mind. The beautiful girl who hid in the forest and led love-struck men to their horrible deaths…the girl who raided human homes to snatch infants, and eat the flesh of her victims…the mystifying wolf girl…
"It can't be" he said to himself, quietly.
Suddenly, the giant wolf made movements that sent a chill down the soldier's spine. Sniffing the air repeatedly, and apparently finding the source of the smell, she slowly turned her head in the youth's direction, growling as she apparently locked her eyes on him. Holy shit, he thought, completely frozen with fear.
As if on cue, the girl turned her head away from the wound in the same direction the wolf was looking, revealing her blood stained face as she spotted the youth, and shot him a blood-chilling glare that sent even more pain down his backside.
Stuttering to himself in confusion, the youth slowly backed away from the trunk. But…how? How'd they spot me? I didn't-
While breathing in from his rising heart rate, he found the answer. Catching that familiar odor, he looked down, and saw the finished cigarette he had tossed out, which was still giving off smoke into the wind. His heart sunk. Oh, fuck me!
He was jerked back to reality by a cry that sent him falling back onto his rear. "Come out here, human!" came the unmistakable voice of the girl, as chilling as he feared. "Don't bother trying to hide! We know you're there!"
One slip short of panic, the soldier's mind raced. Shit, shit, shit, shit, shit! What do I do now? Although he knew he didn't have much of a chance on his own, he didn't want to throw himself in front of these three wolves. Mustering every last bit of confidence, he darted behind the trunk, out of the field of vision of the wolves. Pulling his shotgun off his back, he slowly pulled the action back to chamber a round, and began to move quietly, albeit quickly, from boulder to boulder.
"Where are you, human?" came the girl's intimidating voice again. Noting the venomous emphasis she put on the word human, he became all the more motivated to get as far from the place as possible, and continued to quickly step away in his crouched position.
Just as he made it to the end of one long line of boulders, and hid himself on the other side, he heard one of the wolves leap over the large tree trunk, and land right where he had been seconds earlier. He could make the other wolf, as well as the girl, making their way around the area as well, no doubt closing in on his position. Clutching his weapon tightly, he desperately looked around for an escape route. No matter how hard he looked, however, there was no way he would be able to get back across the stream without running right into the wolves.
San raced up her side of the stream while her brothers took the other side, using every last ounce of her senses while trying to find the creature she detested. As soon as she had seen the face between the roots of the fallen tree trunk, her anger from the encounter up the mountain had returned in full swing. Now, it appeared the gun woman had sent minions down the mountain to finish off her mother. To her, there was no other explanation. Luckily, mother had caught scent of the foolish human's stinking smoke stick…she'd seen humans use those sort of things, and it gave her another smell to detest.
Unfortunately, that same stink was the reason they couldn't sniff the human out at the moment. The girl scowled as she moved up the long line of boulders, moving closer to the rock on the very end.
Closing his eyes tightly in frustration, he desperately tried to think of a solution. All the while, he could hear the breathing of the large forest beasts gradually getting louder.
Moving slightly to his side, he inched his head out to see just how close the wolves were. For a split second, he saw them moving up the boulders along the stream, very close to him. Moving himself back to the boulder, he felt a tiny speck of pain in his rear. Sitting himself in a crouch, he found he had been sitting on a small pebble. Getting an immediate idea, he snatched it up, and moved his head out once again to peek at the beasts. Seeing that they were only a few feet from him, but looking in a different direction, he tossed the pebble further up the left side of the stream, away from the direction of the wounded men.
Just as she was about to turn the corner of the line of boulders, San's head perked up at the sound further down the river. Leaping onto and over the last boulder, she darted down stream, keeping up with her brothers as they followed the sound as well.
Watching as the wolves took the bait, Dante clutched his shotgun, and made his way to the other side of the stream, sprinting across a few carefully placed rocks, and into the woods, hiding behind the nearest tree. With his back to the trunk, he breathed in and out heavily, calming himself.
That was close. Looking back around the tree trunk, he looked for any sign of the wolves. He saw none. Heh. They may be vicious, but they're clearly not too bright. Maybe the legends weren't entirely true. Standing up, he dusted himself off, and turned to head back to where he had left the wounded. Gotta get back before those poor bastards get any worse-
He nearly fell forward trying to stop himself when he saw what was in front of him; standing in the pathway, glaring at him with utmost loathing, were the two large wolves, with the gigantic wolf god sitting right behind him, giving him the same glare.
The youth stood frozen with shock and fear, his eyes wide. Oh, shit! Dante thought, but with very little time to think, for, the very second he realized the trouble he was in, he noticed something flying at him from the side. He was too late to turn, however, as he was forcefully kicked in the side, crashing against the tree trunk, and falling on his stomach. Coughing up from the blow, he lifted his head up, and found himself staring down the business end of a large, white ceramic dagger, held in his face by none other than the legendary wolf girl herself, who was giving him the all-too-familiar glare of hatred.
Keeping her eyes on the human as he rose his head in her direction, San finally got a good look at him. And, as she looked him over, she felt a sense of wonder and curiosity flow through her. The first aspect of the human that caught her attention was the clothing he was wearing; a strange combination of green and black, with some of the most unusual shoes she had ever seen. Her eyes moved to his head, which featured a full head of shaggy, dark red hair, similar to the color of autumn leaves, and far different from any other human she'd seen. The shape of his face was also something new, along with the strange paleness his skin possessed. When she looked even closer, she noticed his eyes bore a different color as well. After getting a good look, she began to suspect that he couldn't be of the clan that occupied her land. However, her mind was brought right back to the meddlesome ironworker humans, when she noticed the object hanging from the human's back: a piece of wood and metal that bore a striking resemblance to the very weapon that the evil gunwoman always hoisted by her side. Her anger returning at full blast, she eyed the human with her most dreadful glare.
"You dare come here, human?" she said, scowling and baring her teeth in the most intimidating fashion. "You dare to invade our forest and spy on my mother as she lays with her dear life in the balance? That damned gun woman sent you to finish her off, didn't she?" She jabbed the dagger closer, stopping it an inch from his face.
Sitting up against the tree, the youth stuttered uncontrollably as he struggled to find words. "N- no, no! I don't know what you're talking about! Please, I'm…I'm not trespassing! I swear I'm not trespassing!" He felt the sweat begin the pour down his face. If the stories about this girl were true…
San snorted in anger at the human's pathetic response. She detected a typical lie. Bringing the knife to the outlander's neck, she knelt down, bringing her face even closer. "Do you expect me to believe any of that, you pathetic, loathsome creature? Why should I believe you're any different than the humans that target my mother everyday?"
Dante's breathing pace went up a notch as he felt the blade touch his neck. However, despite this new discomfort, he couldn't help but notice the girl's use of words. Mother? Does that mean…holy shit… Bringing his focus back to the girl in front of him, he attempted to hold his hands up in self-defense. "Listen, please, we can talk about this! I'm telling you, I'm not trying to kill your mother. I was just passing through, and I saw-"
"You're lying!" she yelled, pressing the blade hard enough into the skin that it began to draw blood. "I don't believe a word you tell me, human! I can see that weapon hanging from your back! Give me one reason why I shouldn't kill you right here and now!"
As San was taking her time with the soldier, one of the two smaller wolves made his way closer to the girl, and began to speak in a low, unintelligible voice. "San…listen to me. We think this human might not be alone."
Turning away from the outlander, the girl looked at her brother in confusion. "What do you mean?"
Although he was slightly confused with the supposed communication between the two, the youth could not easily miss the opportunity arising right before him. And so, he readied himself.
"When we were searching back there, I thought I smelled the scent of other humans- the ones with the more familiar scent of that blasted town."
"That could have been the humans mother killed and threw down the mountain, Kiba."
"They might still be out there, San. And Mother thinks we should-"
Moving faster than he ever had in his life, the youth darted to his feet. Catching his movement out of the corner of her eye, the wolf girl attempted to drive her dagger right into the boy's gut. However, she came up with nothing but tree trunk as the outlander dodged to the left, and, foreseeing her almost immediate counter-strike, he caught her blade hand in a tight grip, reversing the momentum and slamming it into the tree, forcing her to drop the dagger. Pulling a complex jujutsu move, he twisted her arm back around faster than she could react, and managed to grab her in a lock by her neck with his left arm. He held his arm tight under her chin, preventing her from being able to use her teeth in the situation. And, adding a final touch, he unsheathed his survival knife, and held the blade close to the girl's back, right at the nearest kidney.
When it was over, he had the girl in an excruciatingly tight grip by the neck, with a blade to her back. San was appalled beyond words by the action: no human had ever been able to so much as near her in speed. But she had let her guard down, and now the human had her in a grip she couldn't escape from. She may have been strong, but the boy was stronger, and he held firm, no matter how hard she struggled.
As he held his knife to the back of the white blouse the girl wore, he immediately shot glances at the two wolves in front of him. Bringing the knife in tighter, he yelled, "Back! Stay the fuck back!"
The wolves, though on the edge of their toes in shock and anger, stopped in their tracks when they saw the danger their sister was in. San, however, didn't share this sentiment. "Don't listen to him! We can't let him escape into the forest! Kill us both if you must!"
"Let her go, you bastard human!" one of the two howled.
"We're going to rip you to shreds!"
"Shut up!" the youth retorted, beginning to back away slowly. Feeling the strength the wolf girl was putting up against his, he tightened his grip, and held the knife closer to her side, where the wolves could clearly see it. "Come any closer, and give it to her in the back!" The wolves looked from the youth to the larger wolf, who motioned for them to back off.
"Good," Dante said, moving even further back, holding tight onto the girl's neck. "Looks like the tide's turned, hasn't it?"
"You bastard!" the girl nearly spat, turning her head back as far as possible to glare at him again. Don't think you'll get away with this!"
"I beg to differ, Miss" he responded, bringing the weapon in tighter. When he noticed the wolves as they began to follow, he stopped. "Don't even think about it! Stay where you are!" The wolves stopped, but continued issuing their deadly stares, their teeth bared, and growling angrily.
"Now, I don't know what you thought I was doing here, but I'm not about to get killed for something I didn't do! I was passing through this place, and that's all. And I'm sorry if I pissed you off, but I'm leaving now!"
Through clenched teeth, the girl let out a quiet retort. "Don't think we're just going to let you get away, human" she said, continuing the poisonous emphasis on the word. "I know that you come to our home to destroy it. And if you think my family will hold back simply to save my life, you're dead wrong!"
Looking back at the girl with a confused look on his face, the youth said, "You know, you really have a fucked-up mind. Don't tell me you don't care if your own family kills you."
"If it will kill the likes of you, it would be well worth it!"
Shaking his head, Dante turned his attention back to the wolves, who were growing ever the more impatient. "Anyway," he said, moving back a couple more steps, "I think it's time for me to go. I really have my own problems to attend to, so I'll see ya' around!" And, with a tiny shove forward, the soldier delivered a hard front kick to the girl's back, sending her right into the path of the wolves, cutting them off before they could pursue. Turning around, he dashed back out into the river.
San landed in a roll, and leapt back up to her feet almost immediately. Snatching her dagger up along the way, she took off in the same direction as the human, not even bothering to mount her brother. "Stop where you are, human!" However, as soon as they got to the stream, they were greeted by an explosion of white smoke. The smoke caught them off guard, and quickly spread around, completely blinding their vision. Shielding her eyes from the smoke, she whipped her head back and forth, looking for any sign of the human. She found none.
"Blast it! Where is he?" As the wind picked up, the smoke began to clear. However, she still saw no sign of the strange human.
"It looks like he got away, San" Tsume growled, moving up right beside her.
"Can you find his scent?" the girl inquired, desperate to find a way to detect the runaway human.
"The smoke just destroyed all other smells, San. Face it, the human's gone."
Throwing her dagger to the ground in anger, the girl clenched her fists. "That bastard…he was spying on us….and he….he…"
Moro appeared behind them, dwarfing all of their combined presence. "San, don't be mad that you let your guard down. Just be glad that he didn't kill you."
The anger slowly dissipated from her face, leaving her with a confused look. "But…why didn't he kill me?"
"He needed you as a hostage, San. If he had killed you right away, he would've had nothing to keep us at bay. Don't think of it as an act of mercy."
Hearing these words, San shook her head. "Of course not. I know what his intentions were. But we've still got to find him!"
"No, San" the wolf god retorted. "We don't know where he is, and we can't sniff him out. It would be a waste of time. We need to return home."
Letting her head drop, the girl sighed in defeat. "All right, mother." And, with that, the wolves turned back to head up the mountain, Kiba dragging along one of the dead oxen that had fallen from the ambush. As her wolven family disappeared into the woods, San stopped to gaze into the area once more. What was with that human, she thought. He didn't look like the humans that live in this area…he didn't dress like them, and, overall, he really didn't seem like their kind. Her look of wonder quickly became one of anger again. But he had something that looked like one of their blasted fire weapons. He must be the same; all humans are the same. And if I see him again, I'll gut him and tear out his organs. Giving the river a final glance, she turned to follow her family up the mountain.
Over a minute after the wolves and girl had disappeared, Dante dropped to the ground from a tree branch. After getting rid of the girl, he'd managed to get far away enough to use a smoke grenade, which blinded them long enough for him to climb a nearby tree, staying out of their line of sight.
Watching the spot where the girl had disappeared, he couldn't help but feel mesmerized, and even a little scared. It appeared the legend he'd heard was true, at least in part. The girl had been wondrous, and vicious at the same time. He could only wonder, though, if he would ever cross paths with her again. And, if they did, it would be a time he would never forget.
Hope you all enjoyed that. It's what a lot of you have been waiting for, anyway. Once again, I'm sorry about the lateness of this update. Let's just say the latest school term came down on me like a fucking anvil, and I haven't had much free time where I could think about this story. However, I'm on break now, and I'll be working on chapter 13. So keep a lookout.
I hope you all have been watching the list of Mononoke fics. N'jata, the author of quite possibly the single-greatest PM fanfic, A Legend of the Past, a Savior of the Future, after nearly four years of silence, has returned to finish his work at long last. And I couldn't be happier to finally get back to reading it. If it weren't for his work, this story probably wouldn't exist. I owe nearly all of my inspiration to his amazing story.
Some of you, however, have been asking where else I might have been getting ideas for this story. So, I'll list them. Other than N'jata's fic, a couple of things served as a chief inspiration for this story: one was a 1979 film called G.I. Samurai (aka Sengoku Jietai), starring the great Sonny Chiba, the man you all know as Hattori Hanzo from Kill Bill. The movie tells the story of a group of the Japanese Self-Defense Ground Forces who find themselves thrown back into the feudal era of Japan. I won't say anymore about it, hoping that you will all try to see it for yourselves. Other inspirations include a number of Vietnam war films, as well as a few minor references to other films and animes.
Well, I've got to finish up now. Keep reading, and review every chance you get. Happy trails.
Music for Chapter 12:
Mononoke Hime Theme
by Jo Hisaishi (Mononoke Hime Soundtrack)
Riders on the Storm
by The Doors
(We'll be getting
more music in later chapters)