The Little Wolf [A Princess Mononoke Fanfic]

Chapter 4

Y/N woke to the strange feeling of something around her waist. Something warm. Her eyes slowly fluttered open, and she stared at the ground as it passed by beneath her feet. She attempted to raise her head but flinched when she felt pain blossom in her lower stomach, soaring through the rest of her veins. 

Suddenly the feeling disappeared and Y/N whipped around to see a figure falling to the ground. She recognized it immediately. It was the form of the boy that she had encountered before. The one who had intrigued her down by the river. She slid off her mount, which turned out to be a serow, and rushed over to the body of the boy, crouching beside him. She leaned down and pressed her ear to his chest, shutting her eyes as she focused on the sound of the still-beating heart in his chest. It was weak, hardly there at all, but it was enough. She let out a soft breath of relief and manoeuvred herself so the boy could rest his head on her legs. For some reason that she didn't quite understand, she didn't like the idea of his head resting on the cold mountain terrain.

"Y/N, get away from him." 

Y/N raised her eyes from the boy to see San stumbling over, accompanied by their siblings. The two true wolves seemed eager to feast on the boy's corpse, but Y/N held him closer to her. She felt protective of him and of his life. Strangely protective. 

San stood beside her sister, staring at the deadly wound in the boy's torso that had drawn a trail of splattered blood after them. "His own people shot him." 

Y/N drew a mark in the ground and San nodded. The boy was dying. He wouldn't last the night.

The boy suddenly shifted and Y/N let out a small gasp. Her hands cupped his cheeks, holding him in an attempt to keep him still. The less he moved, the less he would bleed. 

"Why did you stop us from killing her," San hissed, kneeling beside the boy. "Tell me while you're still alive!"

The boy grimaced, and Y/N gently drew her fingers across his cheek, unknowingly soothing him with her touch. 

"I didn't want them to kill you, that's why." His eyes fluttered open for a moment and he stared up into Y/N's pools of e/c hovering over him. Despite the pain, he couldn't help but smile. If he was to die, he could rest well now.

"We're not afraid to die," San growled. "We would do anything to get humans out of our forest." But even as she said this, her eyes flickered to her sister's hands, which were now pulling the hood from the human's head and gently untangling the knots. She didn't like the... ease... that Y/N seemed to have around this human. The peace. And the way that she gently caressed his face as though he were of some value to her. 

"I knew that from the first moment I saw you," Ashitaka breathed, wincing again. 

"And I'm not afraid of you," San shouted. She grabbed Ashitaka from Y/N and wrenched him away, pulling out his sword. "I should kill you for saving her!" Just as she was about to bring the sword down upon the boy's throat, Y/N jumped in the way, shielding Ashitaka with her body. She stared up at San, shaking her head from side to side, and San froze. She had never seen this emotion in her sister's eyes. Or rather, she had never seen the emotion displayed like this. Love mixed with a tinge of fear.

"Please," Y/N whispered, her voice hardly audible over the mountain breeze. 

"Y/N," San hissed, her eyes hardening, "Move." She pushed Y/N away and held the sword to Ashitaka's throat, the tip pressed against his skin. "That woman is evil, and there's no one who can stop me from killing her."

"No, live..." Ashitaka forced the words through his lips.

"That's enough! I'm not listening to you anymore!"