Princess Mononoke Fan Fiction ❯ The Chronicles of Princess Mononoke ❯ Reluctance ( Chapter 10 )

Reluctance

 

“Sir, There's a man with a red mask, asking for your name.” Nanahara then turned to a guard standing near the gate.
“Bring him in.” He ordered, as then ten men by the gate began to pull on the wooden mechanism that can raise the gate up and down. Ashitaka lifted himself off Kaya's elk and brought him and her inside the rebuilding town.

“Ashitaka, what brings you back?”

“I need to talk to you.”

They then went into Lady Eboshi's former garden of green nutrition, and stalked the path along the way.

“What do you know of Sasuke? Please tell me the truth.” Ashitaka started the conversation, and then Nanahara sighed when he was asked that question.

“I know he's the Kira.” Ashitaka exhaled heavily and stared at the ground.

“What are you're intentions?”

“That I deport him to the law enforcements.”

“You mustn't do that Nanahara. Sasuke is too unstable to cope with that.”

“Yes, I recall the incident that happened yesterday.” Ashitaka stuttered for a moment and tried to hide away his guilt.

“The man wasn't yours was he?”
“Fortunately no. But I am still aware of the Kira's motives.”
“It's not his fault; Sasuke never wanted to become the Kira in the first pace, but it was his experience that enticed him to kill.” Nanahara looked away from that moment and looked at the sky.

“You're very lucky that I am a reasonable man…so…I won't deport him.” Ashitaka exhaled out his relief and smile frailly.

“Arigato…” But then something had caught the corner of his eye, and stared behind Nanahara. What he could see there was a shadowy figure, with no face to identify, yet he could see her shoulder length hair flowing with the wind, but stood perfectly still, until a whisper broke the silence…

 

…they're coming…

 

Ashitaka became unnoticeable of what was surrounding him outside his head, but inside his head was blurred with a pinning noise that filled his ears in slow moments, the voices outside were muted or too distorted for him to hear.

 

…Ashitaka…Ashitaka…Ashitaka!

 

“Huh?” Ashitaka was then pulled back into reality as Nanahara tapped him on the shoulder.

“Are you ok Ashitaka? You seemed distant at that moment.” Ashitaka quickly turned his head to where that shadowed girl stood, but she was gone. He still remained staring for a moment, but then slowly turned his head back to Nanahara.

“I'm fine, thank you.”

 

Later on back over near the forest, Kaya remained curious about the macabre and the mystery of Sasuke. She sat near the lake with her knees brought up to her face and her arms wrapped round them.

“He must be one very depressed man, this Sasuke. His anger is so boiled up inside him; all of that rage just from hating humans, I would explode from experiencing that. Okay Kaya, you haven't met the man yet, so it's first impression that counts.” But then, she heard a twitch from the corner of her left ear, and turned her eyes behind her, as she saw the callous Sasuke walking up to the lake. Out of sudden panic, she scattered behind the camouflage of the trees, to cover her identity away from the Kira. “What am I doing? I'm supposed to meet the guy not hide away from him! Ok…here it goes…”

Sasuke stood near the water with his arms firmly crossed and his back kept straight. His eyes stared and gazed at the ripple effects that shook the face of the lake, and then observed what was below the surface; glancing deeply at the speckles of dust that floated and slowly danced in harmony with the current. As always, Sasuke never seemed to have what you call a good-mood day, so his silent irate emotions showed upon the surface of his face, as a soundless, frowning sentiment. But then his eyes gradually turned to a corner when he heard the twigs snapping as he saw Kaya unconfidently walking up to him. He didn't made any motor reflexes as he knew tat she meant no harm to him; after all, she was Ashitaka's sister. She then insecurely stood near Sasuke and began to shiver from the cold chill down her spine as the man looked at her sternly.

“Ermm…Uhhh…” those were Kaya's first words towards him, but Sasuke stared at her silently with still a stern face. “Uhhh…ermm…” small specks of sweat began to drip from her forehead. “Uhhh…Ermm…sorry!” she then pivoted 180 degrees and sprinted back into the forest. Sasuke's face then softened, but only by the slightest, and sighed to the lake.

“I wish she talked to me.” He thought to himself in a small sense of loneliness.

 

In the afternoon, Ashitaka returned riding on Kaya's elk, and then dropped himself of when he let the elk graze freely on the fresh planes of grass. He wanted to find Sasuke, to talk about whether he's also getting these strange messages transported in dreams an trances. So, he wondered around in the forest, and found himself near the lake, with Sasuke standing with his arms cross again and his emotions return to steel stubbornness.

“Sasuke.” The tiger stripes then slowly turned his head to the side as he looked at him, until continuing his view at the water again.

“If you want to ask me what happened yesterday, I don't know what the hell happened to me.”
“Well there was that and something else.”
“Hmm?” Sasuke then gradually turned his head back to Ashitaka.

“Lately, I've been having…messages in my dreams…saying, that I must go to this call…” Sasuke's eyes suddenly pricked opened when he heard that, but coughed out a little to hide his giveaway.

“You've been getting those messages as well, haven't you?” Sasuke stuttered for a moment but then stood himself straight up.

“No. What messages?”

“The messages that apparently ALL immortals must be summoned to. You know this Sasuke. You are immortal after all, so you must be summoned as well.”
“That doesn't mean I HAVE to go, I don't want to go anyway.”

“Well it's got to be important if they send you a message like that.” Sasuke then scoffed and flicked his head away.

“I was called once…nothing but a waste of time really.” Ashitaka looked at him in a confused way for moments.

“A woman said a war is coming.” Sasuke slowly turned his eyes back to him, and then looked back at the water.

“My choice still stands.” Ashitaka gasped a little, but then Sasuke rotated his head back to him.

“Don't be surprised Ashitaka. Wars come and go, we just live and survive through them.”
“You have no care!” Ashitaka then ran out on Sasuke, as the tiger stripes took a little surprise by that sentence and watched as he ran back into the darkness of the forest.