Princess Mononoke Fan Fiction ❯ The Chronicles of Princess Mononoke ❯ The First Turn ( Chapter 4 )

The First Turn

 

Ashitaka was just wandering around the forest; the one where he feels most comfortable around, in order to search for Sasuke to report his return, he then reached up onto a hill, a smooth plain on the surface of soft grass, but downwards a steep, rigid fall at about then meters deep; that can kill a human. He looked over the edge, and saw a wondrous landscape of the mountains, pored over with jade nourishment and small droplets of cherry and scarlet, but in the night time, all he could see is droplets of cobalt and violet. Ashitaka sighed happily as he saw the strange and surreal side of world he now lives, taking in a deep breath and heaving it out with sweet emotion of abyss, with Sasuke secretly standing behind him at meters away.

“You're back.” Sasuke's low voice made Ashitaka turn to him.

“Did San tell you I was gone?”

“Of course.” Sasuke snorted back, and then he walked up to him slowly. “You're an idiot leaving us.”

“What?” Ashitaka then turned his full body towards him.

“You could have been killed.” Ashitaka then turned a curious eye at Sasuke.

“Were you the one who killed the wild wolf?”

“What wild wolf?”

“Never mind…then what do you mean?”

“I mean…” Sasuke began to raise his voice a little. “…every spirit around us are spies, they live in the trees, the flowers, the water, even in the grass, both good…and evil, live under and among us. Maybe it was my fault for not telling you before.”

“And these evil spirits can kill me?”

“Mostly if you're human, and you're defiling their physical form in anyway, but you don't really have to worry much now…” Then Sasuke saw Ashitaka look away for a short moment before he looked back up. “…yet, immortals still have the same risk of getting killed as well.” Ashitaka pricked his head up again but only with a bit more concern.

“Tell me more.”

“With a full immortal- like me, can survive from fatal injuries, but I think with half-immortals like you…it's really less likely.”

“Well…how do you a half-immortal can't survive any injury?” Sasuke then slowly clutched onto Ashitaka's collar.

“Let's find out then.”

And then, he pulled in Ashitaka and stabbed him through the stomach. Ashitaka's eyes broadened with pain, as he gradually pulled out the sai in his abdomen but he was then pushed over the cliff edge by Sasuke, leaving him to fall. Sasuke just watched him with his uneasy eyes; he didn't do anything to save him. But he did watch a sudden care on Ashitaka's eyes. His eyes slowly, ever so slowly, started to blur from his mortal grey eyes, into pure hazel. There was then a painful siren screeching in Ashitaka's ears, as he also heard the gushing of his blood and the thumping his heart, as he fell and fell to a death. But as he couldn't scream from the pain, he heard a voice screaming a name, as he fell, and fell and fell…

 

“PHOENIX!!!”

 

…crash…

 

Still at the end of dusk, San was sitting in her cave, treating her brothers wound on his hind leg.

“What happened out there? What are these wild wolves?” San questioned with wonder.

“I don't really know, I thought animals would tell the difference between humans and immortals. But I think the only reason Ashitaka was attacked was because he wounded one of them because it nearly killed his sister.”

“Kaya.”

“Ashitaka told you?”

“Yes, he did tell me… but tell me more about the wild wolves.”

“They attacked us as we tried to escape them. It is in the nature for an animal to attack anything which bit it first. But, there was something else…”

“What do you mean?”

“There are more spirits than we know San; within trees, rivers, also the grass. But there are also evil spirits that live among us, and I think they were trying to get a hold of Ashitaka, since he is an immortal now. And by that he's new; it could be that they were trying to lure him into the darkness…” San looked at her brother in a quite worrying way, before she looked back out at the view of the forest.

 

Meanwhile, back over to Sasuke, he was still looking down at the fallen Ashitaka; who was just lying on the floor. So then Sasuke used his vector powers, the soar himself down to the surface and stomp onto the ground. He saw Ashitaka's arms spread out wide and his legs were lifeless, his eyes were still wide open, but not moving; the light was gone.

“Always takes time at the first turn.” Sasuke lowly spoke to himself as he walked over to Ashitaka's unmoving face, and looked down upon it for a moment. “Come on.” He groaned for a moment. And waited, and waited, and waited…

Until, a big gasp came in from Ashitaka, as his eyes regained light again, and started to shiver.

“Finally.” Sasuke grunted again, as then Ashitaka rose back up and stumbled a little. He gradually raised life back into his lungs as he coughed out bits of unwanted carbon dioxide.

“Sasuke…” Ashitaka choked out.

“It looks like you do heal to wounds then.” Ashitaka then looked to where he was stabbed, and then, he began to startle, by the amazing work of his healing skills, as the wound had somehow sewed the skin back together without a scar in site. Ashitaka jerked back off from the ground and began to fret a little.

“What did you do?!”

“You healed yourself, that's what people like me do.” Sasuke replied in a saccharin tone. Ashitaka took a hold of himself, and then harshly pushed Sasuke to the ground.

“You didn't have to kill me like that!” he yelled back in a hollow voice. But Sasuke huffed out a breath and smiled secretly, until rising himself back up again.

“I only did that because if you panicked, you wouldn't have got back up your feet. So really you should be thanking me.” He replied in a dark cool voice, like the voice he always loved to adore in usage.

“Well…thank you then.” Ashitaka reluctantly expressed gratitude to.

“What happened on your trip then?” Ashitaka pricked his head up a little and then sighed.

“I failed to go back to my village, I rescued my sister from wolves, and then those wolves attacked me.” Sasuke lightened up when he heard the phrase `sister'.

“You have a sister?” Ashitaka nodded his head at his question.

“Kaya, not Motoko's sister.” Sasuke stared at him for the moment, and then looked at the moonlit sky.

“If she's your sister, maybe…”

“No, we're not bonded by the same blood, but I always treated her like she is.”

“Not everything goes by blood, Ashitaka; it's the bond that counts.”

“What do you mean?”

“Miracles can happen if you believe in a bond so strongly, that you then feel like you can bring anything back.” Sasuke then looked at Ashitaka. “They do happen; you brought me back when I was shot.” Ashitaka then looked down to himself and remembered what happened back in Irontown; the voices reminded him.

 

BANG!

 

“Sasuke!”

 

Ashitaka blinked his eyes quite tightly to try to send those memories back to the end of his mind, and then looked back at Sasuke.

“At least I'm not alone in this world, with being immortal.” Sasuke's small smile faded a little, and returned his observation looking at the moonlight. He always adored the moonlight.