Princess Mononoke Fan Fiction ❯ The Chronicles of Princess Mononoke ❯ Splitting ( Chapter 15 )

Splitting

 

Whilst Ashitaka was making his way up to the north-west up to the mountain where he must meet at this hunter's moon; San, Motoko, Little Kaya and San's brother were still on their search party to find Ashitaka's sister. The exploration had been quiet; they still couldn't find her, or the mysterious man who abducted Kaya.
With San's prediction that made her thought that they were on his trail, there hadn't been any luck.

“We're lost now!” Little Kaya decided to huff out brusquely.

“Kaya don't be rude!” Motoko sternly demanded.

“Yes Motoko.”
“San we're lost now.” Motoko decided to repeat the sentence in a supple way.

“But I thought we were on his trail! Brother can you smell anything weird?”
“No. Everything seems normal. Then San gave out a huge mood of groaning when she hurriedly jumped off her brother, and shook her hands in the air.

“We ARE lost!” She then sat down on a broken log shaped like a stool and rested. “It must be a hoax.”

“Don't worry San.”
Don't worry? DON'T WORRY?” She then rose up from her place and stood upright in front of Little Kaya's sister. “Motoko, do you realize that Ashitaka is counting on me to find her, and I owe him big time for what he did for me. I can't let him down.” Motoko then heaved out a quiet sigh upon herself. But that moment was then erupted when a half-mild wind swept pass the leaves. San's ears pricked up a little, but before she turned around she sensed something unearthly.
A creaking noise scattered into the atmosphere, almost as if something was breaking. What could it be?...A tree? But then, luckily with San's unique senses from the forest, she dashed her body into Motoko's, to push her out of the way from a crashing tree. They both grunted as their shoulders were sparsely grazing and their breaths intensified, when they then looked at the fallen tree.

“God…dammit!” San harshly rose up and jerked around quite funnily at the sight. “Alright! What human has done this now?”
“The one behind you”
“What?!” San immediately turned around from an unidentified voice, but then she felt a swift object just touched her skin, and slit a quite deep cut upon the top of her shoulder. San felt the shot of a bullet fortunately missing her but fell backwards from the sudden shock.

“San!” Motoko quickly gripped the wolf girl by her waist and pulled her in close to protect her, and Little Kaya then swooped around behind San's wolf brother.

“Who the fuck was that?!”
“Me.” San's reaction turned to hatred as she saw another face of another goddamn bandit.

“Why are you cutting down my forest?!”

“YOUR forest? This is OURS now.”
“Like hell it is!” San then secretly unsealed her dagger, and then she lashed out of Motoko's reach, and slam dunked her dagger into the throat of the bandit like a sleek cat of death. Blood accidentally spat out onto her cheek and onto her white overtop. She stumbled a little as she rose herself back onto her feet and chuckled wryly a little. “Whoops, made a little…accident.” Motoko could already see that, but then she spotted the wound slit on her shoulder bubbling and oozing out more dark rose blood from there, which actually made San's face turn white as snow.

“San, I think you should lie down, your shoulder…it's bleeding intensely.”

“I'm fine!” Princess Mononoke replied in a sleazy, drunken tone, as the loss of blood made her light-headed and wheezy. The blood began to travel from her shoulder, and then seeping in through the white fabric, and drooling upon her leg as it reached only droplets onto the ground. When then, she tepidly collapsed onto the floor sideways and swung her arms back, almost as if she was having a hypoglycemia - often happens to diabetics, a sign of low blood sugar- Motoko quickly picked her up and rested her head onto her shoulder, as she wiped away some of he bandit's blood from her cheek.

“Damn you San.” San tried to lift herself off the ground, but with Motoko's hands still holding up her shoulders.

“It's okay, I'm…okay.” But San then fell quite violently back down on the floor with Motoko accidentally falling flat on her, when then the redhead then began to shrug her hurriedly.

“Hey San! Come on! Wake up now. Dammit…” Little Kaya ran up towards her and stroke the wolf girl's hair away from her face; trying top be some use.

“Who's out there?” A firm voice silenced the air, as then Motoko and Little Kaya stared out at what's in front of them, which slowly emerged out from the bushes, and then had a distinctive identity of Nanahara once more; staring down upon them with quiet and curiosity.

 

After the still contact with the new leader of Irontown, Motoko and the other's settled back in the re-developing town, as Nanahara carried the unvoiced gasping San back to his den and laid her body on the tender white pelt that matched her clothes. He then got out a small box, filled with fine silk threads and needles as thin as a strand of hair, but still as strong as iron. He quickly dampened her bleeding shoulder with a clean cloth, before he started to stitch the wound back together, as the silk forced the split skin to touch each other again. The stitching was quite noticeable, but at least it prevented her from losing any more blood, or the incident of catching an infection. He then placed his hand over her forehead, and grinned.

“Her temperature's gone down. San will be fine; she's a strong girl.”
“Not to mention a fighter.” Motoko added, with Nanahara's smile as a gesture in return. He then stared down at the young wolf princess with marvel and interest.

“What is her story?”
“Well, she's also known as the Princess Mononoke; she was raised in the forest by wolf gods. San always hated the human kind as they kept destroying the forest, and in order to protect the forest spirit, she felt that she must kill the former leader of this town. That was then when met Ashitaka face to face on night, he saved her, as he nearly died from a gunshot wound…

 

The voices then began to distort and blur as San's gaping slumber began to gradually unravel into something else. The soft wind then started to blow pass her streamlined skin and her fingers twitched slightly by the brush of dust, yet she remained still and quiet like the surface of a lake unbroken. Until…

 

…San…

 

The whisper of her name arose her from her laying place, and awoke her in a different atmosphere. Her face was still quite pale but at least there was some color upon it. Her eyes were still weary as her eyelids were lingering slightly. But then she looked down, and saw herself lying on a pile of dampened twigs, bunched and hurdled together almost like a beaver would do. She didn't feel cold at a sense, but she felt bitter by the sight of the scene; the dark teal sky stained and blurred amongst the eerie mist, as well as the trees of the dead loitered and crippled their branches in the air. And here was the most peculiar thing: her hair was floating, and her body felt buoyant, roughly like rider…she was under…water.

She tried to take a first step, but failed as her foot refused to press down to the floor. Her kinetic energy was slow and hovering unhurriedly; so then she decided to glide pass the weak current and took a wonder out in the bizarre open. If it was underwater she was looking into, her breathes came out in bubbles in air. She looked at them peculiarly at first, as her fingertip accidentally burst on of them. But then, her thoughts were then triggered onto something else; a dim light shining not so far away. So then she gently floated across there, brushing pass the twigs and the dead falling leaves, when then, she found what seemed to look like was a hutch, a borrow where probably, there was an entry to somewhere. Her fingers scraped away more dead foliage, and entailed upon a bright blue light. Mysterious…bright blue light…it seemed to gloss so strong, yet it didn't sting her eyes. It hypnotized her for a moment; lingering over this glow of mystery, that could mean something even more bizarre.

But then, muffled voices occurred into her head, and they began to grow more distinct than when they were fading. They produced more intense, and sharper, which made San begin to loose the thought of why she was staring at the light of anonymity. A strange buzzing echo spurred into her head. Getting louder…and louder...and louder…

 

“…she's still vulnerable on the inside. I can see it clearly on her face; she's fragile.”
“Yet she's still headstrong Motoko; surely you can see that as well.”
“Yes…”

San's eye's shot opened in less than a second from this eccentric drone that suddenly stopped from the moment her eyes unfasten. Her pupils turned at Nanahara and Motoko talking, and then jerked out from her laying position.

“I know where Kaya is!” Then the two people who were just talking turned to her ecstatic facial impression. Motoko then turned to her fully with a worried impression on her face.

“What?”
“I know where Kaya is!”
“Where?” A silent moment filled the air once again out of hesitation.

“In the river.”
“What?!”
“I know it seems hard to believe, but she is there! Remember we saw a man abducting her? Well he went into the river, and my thought is that there's something more down there. I just had a dream about it; the same river we always come across.”
“San, it is impossible to find her down there, haven't you forgot; we can't breathe under water. Are you that this isn't just another ruse?”

“Look, I know what I saw, and I have a gut feeling that there's something down there we need to know about. It could be another world down there, hundreds!”
“That would be beyond human reach.” San then angrily crossed her arms as she contracted her muscles together, but wincing a little from the graze he received on her shoulder. Then Nanahara decided he could be of some counseling.

“Maybe Motoko is right San. To other supernatural's this would be an easy access. But you're only huma—

San's expression raved with wrath and vexation as her daring eyes turned to Nanahara by the sound of the word `human', `human' was the last word she would ever be called by. Not even Ashitaka dared to even think of that word to her. She was raged.

“I'm sorry San. But the chances are unfeasible to achieve.”

“I know that! But I rather have you prove me wrong by checking it out.” Nanahara sighed with a small sense of irate before he looked up his brown eyes towards San. But then, they both heard a hustle from outside, with some inhumane growling as well.

“What's that?”
“My Brother!” San then ran outside from the hut, out where they could see her last remaining wolf brother; tied in gritty rope with his paws unusable and shaking, he was struggling violently whilst his roars spat out saliva from his tongue, with other mediocre male humans prodding his white fur with rusty spears. This made San's infuriation broaden vigorously.

“Stop it at once!” She sprinted and brutally pushed the men aside, releasing her dagger into the grip of her fist and gritting her teeth intensely.

“Men! Lower your weapons now!” Nanahara's booming voice shook the men internally for a moment, before dropping their spears and fled like a pack of scared animals. San then quickly untied her brother and whispered in his ear in comfort by asking him if he was alright. She then sniffed and kissed his broadened head before stroking his back once more. Nanahara then walked up to them in a sign of aid.

“Are you alrigh—?

“Stay back human!” Nanahara stuttered for a moment and looked at San with worry.

“San, I'm not—

“No but you are! You're exactly the same! You will destroy my forest! You will destroy the gods! You will destroy me!” the man stood in shock from what she heard. Could all these things she's saying is true? She couldn't be serious; Nanahara didn't have the heart to annihilate the natural world; the world where humans once came from. Then Motoko came running in with Little Kaya.

“San! Is everything alright?”
“No! Nothing is alright! I'm gonna go find Ashitaka's sister! I know she's alive!”
“For God sake, listen to me--!
“San, she won't take part; she's just like the rest, leave her!” The wolf brother snarled at the carrot top.

“No…it's her choice whether she want's to take part. If she refuses to listen then fine; we will go on without her.” Motoko gasped a pale bitter exhaust of cold air as her mind went numb. She didn't want to be rejected, but yet she was only trying to be logical; what kind of an idea would come into mind of going underwater? The main risk is that they could drown. But what if San was right? What if there was an inexplicable portal which leads somewhere else? Like San said; it was her choice to listen.

“Alright San…I'm still with you.” San's expression soften by only the slightest as the answer that she was looking for diluted her rage a little. But then, what will happen to Little Kaya? She's too vulnerable to be set onto an adventure where there's great obstacles; dangerous and moving.

“I'm with you too!” The young child glistened with glee.

“I don't want you to come.” The little girls smile quickly faded as her lips trembled.

“Nand`e? I don't understand, do you not want me? Doesn't San and the wolf like me?” The wolf snarled at the young girl darkly, but then stopped immediately from a harsh kick from San.

“No Kaya. Don't ever think like that! It's just not safe for you.”
“But you get hurt all the time!”
“True, but can end up dead.” Little Kaya stood still for a moment, as a tear secretly trickled down the side of her face. The wolf noticed it, and then out of pure curiosity, he then prodded his way over to her, and licked away the tear softly, before he then softly nudged her a little, and then pawing back over to San. Nanahara looked at the young girl stifling her tears, and then thought with wonder…

“I will take care of her while you're gone.” Motoko then looked up and smiled.

“Thank you so much.” Little Kaya looked up at the man and shivered slightly by his overwhelming height.

“I'll make sure she won't come into harms way.”
“You better do.” San's utter was left with a small slap on the arm from Motoko as a stern face disciplined her faintly.

“We better go now San.”
“Right then Motoko…let's go.” San then drew back in her dagger, climbed onto the wolf's back as so did Motoko, and rode rapidly out of Irontown and down to the riverside, leaving Nanahara to place his hand amongst Little Kaya's shoulder, to show that she wasn't being abandoned, she was just being protected.