Princess Mononoke Fan Fiction ❯ Personal ❯ Accidental Thoughts ( Chapter 1 )
[ T - Teen: Not suitable for readers under 13 ]
By: Kurayami Ryuu 
Anime/Manga: Princess Mononoke Fan Fiction | Genre(s): Angst / Romance | Type: Continuation | Uploaded On: 04.01.2005 | Pages: 2 | Words: 1.8K | Visits: 698 | Status: Completed
Anime/Manga: Princess Mononoke Fan Fiction | Genre(s): Angst / Romance | Type: Continuation | Uploaded On: 04.01.2005 | Pages: 2 | Words: 1.8K | Visits: 698 | Status: Completed
Disclaimer: Okay, if I owned Princess Mononoke, for one thing, I'd be Japanese. And if I were Japanese then I would obviously be brain-damaged in some way, considering that I know about ten words in Japanese. Or else, I'd have to be two. Except most of them are swear words. Either way, I don't think I'd know this many words in English if I were a two-year-old, filthy-mouthed, brain-damaged Japanese person, even if I did own Princess Mononoke. Does your head hurt yet?
A/N: Okay, first of all I have a terrible confession to make. This is probably gonna really make you hate me, more than you probably already hate me for writing a non-cannon pairing. And I swear, I have never seen a fandom with a higher precentage of cannon pairing fics than this one. Okay, okay, I'm already going off on tangents, I know. My confession: I think Eboshi-sama is cooler than San. Yeah, San has many good points, but Eboshi is much more complicated. I think she's really the most realistic character in the show, which is saying a lot. There, I said it. Er, don't kill me onegai? Of course, if you're actually reading this then you probably like Eboshi too, and you might even be nearly as fed up with the sheer cannon-ness of this fandom as I am. Or else you're just reading this for the sole reason of flaming me, eh heh. Well, go ahead; they're calling for snow tonight and I'm freezing! I mean, snow? Isn't it a little late for that? Shutting up now...
XooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooX
Chapter One: Accidental Thoughts
XooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooX
Lady Eboshi sighed. She had had many problems in her life, after all; she was genuinly surprised at the persistance of this one. You would think it would take one look at her and get discouraged. No such luck, however. It was quite an annoying little bugger. The thing was...
Lady Eboshi didn't understand about ships.
Iron, now iron she knew. Iron you could depend on. It could be tricky sometimes, with is seams and unexpected bends and impurities, but she understood that. Iron was sturdy. You could make things with it, that you could hold in your hands. She'd never even been on a merchant ship. She didn't understand about riggings, or currents, or scurvy. Generally she'd left that up to someone else. She always went on the land shipments, after all, to protect her people. She knew all about the hold-ups one could encounter when traveling over land. But, and this was a little-known fact, she didn't really like the water. It was somewhat embarrassing. But as far as she was concerned, it shouldn't ought to be that hard. How long could you possibly take to cross a great bloody pond? It wasn't as if there were troublesome oxen or trecherous mountain passes or anything. It was so frusterating. Not to mention rather boring.
But she was doing her best. She knew it would all make sense eventually, or else. Because, unfortunetly, shipping was her life now.
It was a bit odd that they had decided to continue calling it Iron Town, because at this point Port Town would have been much more appropriate. However, it just wouldn't have stuck. Anyway, she thought it served as a good reminder. And she needed it. The thought of all that iron, still deep under the trees somewhere, set her on edge sometimes. But she absolutly couldn't forget...
These accounts made her head ache. She got up, going against her better judgement to the window. When she'd first had this room made, the desk had faced the window, and she's found she was always staring out it. Unwelcome thoughts snuck in when she did that. Moving the desk hadn't helped much.
There were so many ships down there, she thought gloomily. ...Iron hadn't smelled like fish, either.
But it was comforting to see the people bustling about. They seemed happy enough. Moreso, maybe, now that there were no more threats from demons and gods. There were still the various warlords who lusted after Iron Town, of couse, but the funny thing was... Iron Town was actaully stronger and richer than ever. If no one had been able to steal it before then they certainly didn't have a chance now.
Somehow, that didn't really interest her much one way or another. There was a sort of detached interest, it was all very lovely that everyone was doing so well, but...
Unwelcome thoughts...
It was, she thought firmly, time to get back to work.
Xooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooo oooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooX
Then it was daytime. Now it is night.
The streets of Iron Town were silent, Eboshi noted as she walked through them an hour or two after sundown. Once, there would have been a team of girls up all night, working the bellows, and their singing would mix with the sounds of the machinery and spread out to fill the whole town. It was such a quite sound by the time it reached where she used to sleep that she'd never really noticed it until it was gone. But now there was no reason for anyone to keep such later hours. It would be now, of course, when there was no one else up to talk to, that she wouldn't be able to sleep.
And she would pay for it in the morning, she knew. But it was no good; if she forced herself to lay in bed with her eyes shut she still wouldn't be able to sleep; she would start thinking... Sleep, her only saviour, regected her even when she tried taking various foul-tasting medicines. This was really begining to annoy her. The best thing to do seemed to be to take a long walk, until she was exhausted.
She went up to the top of the wall, nodding to the guards in passing, and looked out. There was a forest of masts in the forground, and beyond it, the true forest, touched with moonlight. It was much quieter than it used to be; its spirits were content. She wondered if it was true, what Ashitaka said about the soul of the forest god living on. She wasn't quite sure she understood that but it seemed plausible enough, considering how peaceful the place was. And she wondered what the wolf girl was doing right now.
In spite of herself, though she knew it was unfair, she thought the girl must be off howling at the moon.
And then she turned and looked within. And was surprised.
There was a boy down there, in the quiet streets, swordfighting with himself. As she watched he tossed a stick in the air, and cut it cleanly in half. She thought she heard quiet, saticfied laughter, though she could have been wrong.
It was wrong. It was so pathetic, really. Their love was too pure for anything to ever come between them. Whenever he looked out on the forest he looked so wistful, and once Iron Town was rebuilt she would never see him again. And yet she went down.
Xooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooo oooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooX
One, two, feint left, strike right - one perfectly timed branch heading towards the ground suddenly became two - turn, strike -
There was the sound of metal on metal. Lady Eboshi smirked. "You're quiet powerful. You know, I can barely lift this thing in my left hand."
Ashitaka stared for a moment, and sheathed his sword. "You're not that bad, my lady."
She laughed. "Oh, please. I'm not that good, either." Ashitaka didn't wear a shirt to practice. She found that this was taking up quiet a lot of her mental process. She felt like a schoolgirl. "Do you always practice in the middle of the night?"
"Yes," he admitted. "I couldn't sleep." He looked awkward, as if remembering himself. "Was there something you wanted, my lady?"
Eboshi scoffed. "You're much too polite. It's not as if you're likely to be a perminent resident." She smiled. "Though of course you're welcome to stay."
"Oh... maybe..." The way he seemed to be making eye contact with his own little world made that seem rather unlikely.
Outside the smile remained firmly fixed in place, but inside she glared.
"Hmm, well... Say, Ashitaka, I had a thought," she said lightly, hating herself. "You're quiet possibly the best swordfighter in this town. And I seem to have found myself in need of a tutor..." She smiled brightly. Oh, she was horrible.
Ashitaka flushed. "You mean you want me to...?"
"Of course! You're really quite impressive, for a man." He stared again for a moment. And then, for a little while, they laughed.
Xoooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooo ooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooX
Then it was night. Now it is later at night.
There was nothing wrong with it, Eboshi told herself firmly. Perfectly innocent. She did need a tutor; she'd always been fairly good with her left hand, after all, but not as good as with her right. And Ashitaka was a very good fighter.
She couldn't help but wonder, however, what else he might be good at...
She choked down some pointless medicine, feeling somehow that she deserved it, and went to bed.
Perchance to dream...
In her dream Ashitaka wore fine robes and sat by her side. She knew it was a dream from the start, because he looked so happy. He'd never looked that happy in Iron Town. And he smiled and laughed when she talked, and never got a far off look. And he kissed her...
And then, again, it was day.
Xoooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooo ooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooX
A/N: Aw, tears, so sad. Possibly this could be in referance to my writing style. What do you think; is the characterization totally off? I've never written a Princess Mononoke fic before, if you hadn't guessed yet. Why must I always write fics about the complicated characters? It's just that it's so hard to imagine Madam Eboshi in love in the first place that I think the best of writers would have trouble with her. Or maybe I just really, really suck. Could be. What do you think? (giant puppy eyes) Review, review!
Converting /tmp/php9bfXpx to /dev/stdout
A/N: Okay, first of all I have a terrible confession to make. This is probably gonna really make you hate me, more than you probably already hate me for writing a non-cannon pairing. And I swear, I have never seen a fandom with a higher precentage of cannon pairing fics than this one. Okay, okay, I'm already going off on tangents, I know. My confession: I think Eboshi-sama is cooler than San. Yeah, San has many good points, but Eboshi is much more complicated. I think she's really the most realistic character in the show, which is saying a lot. There, I said it. Er, don't kill me onegai? Of course, if you're actually reading this then you probably like Eboshi too, and you might even be nearly as fed up with the sheer cannon-ness of this fandom as I am. Or else you're just reading this for the sole reason of flaming me, eh heh. Well, go ahead; they're calling for snow tonight and I'm freezing! I mean, snow? Isn't it a little late for that? Shutting up now...
XooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooX
Chapter One: Accidental Thoughts
XooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooX
Lady Eboshi sighed. She had had many problems in her life, after all; she was genuinly surprised at the persistance of this one. You would think it would take one look at her and get discouraged. No such luck, however. It was quite an annoying little bugger. The thing was...
Lady Eboshi didn't understand about ships.
Iron, now iron she knew. Iron you could depend on. It could be tricky sometimes, with is seams and unexpected bends and impurities, but she understood that. Iron was sturdy. You could make things with it, that you could hold in your hands. She'd never even been on a merchant ship. She didn't understand about riggings, or currents, or scurvy. Generally she'd left that up to someone else. She always went on the land shipments, after all, to protect her people. She knew all about the hold-ups one could encounter when traveling over land. But, and this was a little-known fact, she didn't really like the water. It was somewhat embarrassing. But as far as she was concerned, it shouldn't ought to be that hard. How long could you possibly take to cross a great bloody pond? It wasn't as if there were troublesome oxen or trecherous mountain passes or anything. It was so frusterating. Not to mention rather boring.
But she was doing her best. She knew it would all make sense eventually, or else. Because, unfortunetly, shipping was her life now.
It was a bit odd that they had decided to continue calling it Iron Town, because at this point Port Town would have been much more appropriate. However, it just wouldn't have stuck. Anyway, she thought it served as a good reminder. And she needed it. The thought of all that iron, still deep under the trees somewhere, set her on edge sometimes. But she absolutly couldn't forget...
These accounts made her head ache. She got up, going against her better judgement to the window. When she'd first had this room made, the desk had faced the window, and she's found she was always staring out it. Unwelcome thoughts snuck in when she did that. Moving the desk hadn't helped much.
There were so many ships down there, she thought gloomily. ...Iron hadn't smelled like fish, either.
But it was comforting to see the people bustling about. They seemed happy enough. Moreso, maybe, now that there were no more threats from demons and gods. There were still the various warlords who lusted after Iron Town, of couse, but the funny thing was... Iron Town was actaully stronger and richer than ever. If no one had been able to steal it before then they certainly didn't have a chance now.
Somehow, that didn't really interest her much one way or another. There was a sort of detached interest, it was all very lovely that everyone was doing so well, but...
Unwelcome thoughts...
It was, she thought firmly, time to get back to work.
Xooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooo oooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooX
Then it was daytime. Now it is night.
The streets of Iron Town were silent, Eboshi noted as she walked through them an hour or two after sundown. Once, there would have been a team of girls up all night, working the bellows, and their singing would mix with the sounds of the machinery and spread out to fill the whole town. It was such a quite sound by the time it reached where she used to sleep that she'd never really noticed it until it was gone. But now there was no reason for anyone to keep such later hours. It would be now, of course, when there was no one else up to talk to, that she wouldn't be able to sleep.
And she would pay for it in the morning, she knew. But it was no good; if she forced herself to lay in bed with her eyes shut she still wouldn't be able to sleep; she would start thinking... Sleep, her only saviour, regected her even when she tried taking various foul-tasting medicines. This was really begining to annoy her. The best thing to do seemed to be to take a long walk, until she was exhausted.
She went up to the top of the wall, nodding to the guards in passing, and looked out. There was a forest of masts in the forground, and beyond it, the true forest, touched with moonlight. It was much quieter than it used to be; its spirits were content. She wondered if it was true, what Ashitaka said about the soul of the forest god living on. She wasn't quite sure she understood that but it seemed plausible enough, considering how peaceful the place was. And she wondered what the wolf girl was doing right now.
In spite of herself, though she knew it was unfair, she thought the girl must be off howling at the moon.
And then she turned and looked within. And was surprised.
There was a boy down there, in the quiet streets, swordfighting with himself. As she watched he tossed a stick in the air, and cut it cleanly in half. She thought she heard quiet, saticfied laughter, though she could have been wrong.
It was wrong. It was so pathetic, really. Their love was too pure for anything to ever come between them. Whenever he looked out on the forest he looked so wistful, and once Iron Town was rebuilt she would never see him again. And yet she went down.
Xooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooo oooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooX
One, two, feint left, strike right - one perfectly timed branch heading towards the ground suddenly became two - turn, strike -
There was the sound of metal on metal. Lady Eboshi smirked. "You're quiet powerful. You know, I can barely lift this thing in my left hand."
Ashitaka stared for a moment, and sheathed his sword. "You're not that bad, my lady."
She laughed. "Oh, please. I'm not that good, either." Ashitaka didn't wear a shirt to practice. She found that this was taking up quiet a lot of her mental process. She felt like a schoolgirl. "Do you always practice in the middle of the night?"
"Yes," he admitted. "I couldn't sleep." He looked awkward, as if remembering himself. "Was there something you wanted, my lady?"
Eboshi scoffed. "You're much too polite. It's not as if you're likely to be a perminent resident." She smiled. "Though of course you're welcome to stay."
"Oh... maybe..." The way he seemed to be making eye contact with his own little world made that seem rather unlikely.
Outside the smile remained firmly fixed in place, but inside she glared.
"Hmm, well... Say, Ashitaka, I had a thought," she said lightly, hating herself. "You're quiet possibly the best swordfighter in this town. And I seem to have found myself in need of a tutor..." She smiled brightly. Oh, she was horrible.
Ashitaka flushed. "You mean you want me to...?"
"Of course! You're really quite impressive, for a man." He stared again for a moment. And then, for a little while, they laughed.
Xoooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooo ooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooX
Then it was night. Now it is later at night.
There was nothing wrong with it, Eboshi told herself firmly. Perfectly innocent. She did need a tutor; she'd always been fairly good with her left hand, after all, but not as good as with her right. And Ashitaka was a very good fighter.
She couldn't help but wonder, however, what else he might be good at...
She choked down some pointless medicine, feeling somehow that she deserved it, and went to bed.
Perchance to dream...
In her dream Ashitaka wore fine robes and sat by her side. She knew it was a dream from the start, because he looked so happy. He'd never looked that happy in Iron Town. And he smiled and laughed when she talked, and never got a far off look. And he kissed her...
And then, again, it was day.
Xoooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooo ooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooX
A/N: Aw, tears, so sad. Possibly this could be in referance to my writing style. What do you think; is the characterization totally off? I've never written a Princess Mononoke fic before, if you hadn't guessed yet. Why must I always write fics about the complicated characters? It's just that it's so hard to imagine Madam Eboshi in love in the first place that I think the best of writers would have trouble with her. Or maybe I just really, really suck. Could be. What do you think? (giant puppy eyes) Review, review!
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