Princess Mononoke Fan Fiction / Dragon Ball/Z/GT Fan Fiction ❯ The Silent Prince, Perfect Collection 1 ❯ Chapter 7 ( Chapter 7 )

Chapter 7

They continued south until sunrise, and they stopped to eat. Using his bow and arrows, Genji hunted down three deer for them to eat. Yume gorged down two of the deer raw while Genji cooked the last one for himself over a small fire. After eating, Yume complained that she was sleepy. But Genji pressed her onward, determined not to stop for a break until they came to a town.

Genji and Yume continued over grassy plains that seemed to stretch for miles. The light green grasses towered over Yume, making Genji be the lookout and point out the directions to Yume from her back. There was no sign of civilization around, which just made Yume complain more.

"Genji!" she whined. "My feet hurt, I'm tired, I haven't eaten since this morning…can't we just stop for a little bit?" Genji hopped off her back and ran in front of her to make eye contact.

**No!** he barked. **The nearest town isn't far from here. We can stop there to sleep and eat, okay?**

"But I'm tired!" Yume howled. The rather high sound swept over the plains like a gust of wind.

"HYOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOO!"

Genji glared at her.

**You can go a little further!** he scolded. **Now let's go!**

"No." Yume whimpered, lying down on the ground on her stomach. Genji knelt next to her, and the grass covered both of them.

**Look, if we don't find a town before dark, we can rest. We still have a couple more hours left…see, the sun's setting now. So get up.**

"You're a jerk." Yume moaned.

**Oh, c'mon! We're not that far now!**

"How would you know? You don't know where we are."

**…**

Genji couldn't argue with that, so he sat next to Yume.

**Fine. We'll rest a bit.**

"You're still a jerk, Genji."

**Aw, you don't really mean that…**

Yume growled at him, so he turned his head away for something to look at. All around him were thin but tall bushels of long grass that completely hid his body even if he stood up. The wind was hardly able to touch him, only blowing a few strands of his long, blond hair.

He pulled his mask over his face to shield his eyes from his blowing hair. Then, he had an idea. Letting his shroud cover most of his head, he tapped Yume's forehead to get her attention.

**Hey, I never got your opinion on this. How do I look with the mask on? Okay?**

Yume looked up at him, then burst out laughing while rolling on her back.

"You look like a girl!"

Genji smiled, not able to laugh.

**Just like a priestess?** He mused on that. **Hmm…maybe I can use that to my advantage…**

"Huh?" Yume wondered, flopping over to her side. "How?"

**Element of secrecy. I'm sure the ravens wouldn't let some man from Singing Mountain into their land. A young Mononoke lady, however…**

"Genji, the ravens hate the wolves." Yume reasoned. "That's why no one wanted to let you go. You could get hurt."

**But isn't there a rule that Mononoke can't kill each other?**

"No."

**Aw, dammit…** Genji lowered his head. **Oh well. I'll wear it anyway because it looks cool.**

"But you look like a girl!"

**So?**

Yume resumed laughing.

"You're silly, Genji!"

**I thought I was a jerk.**

"No, no. Not anymore."

Genji smiled, and rubbed her exposed belly. Yume was the easiest wolf to please. She was a little older than he was, but still acted like a little puppy. No wonder why she was one of Genji's best friends.

Then, they heard something rustling the grass next to them. Genji sensed a bad aura and quickly stood up in alarm. Yume hushed up and rolled on her belly.

"What's that?" she wondered quietly.

The rustling around them continued, and Yume began to growl. Genji caught the scent of something not quite human. He didn't know what it was. Then…

"HSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSS!"

The air was filled with loud hissing. They were surrounded on all sides!

"The Snake clan!" Yume panicked, and started barking around her in panic. "Go away! Stay away! We didn't do anything to you!"

Genji loaded his bow and waited. The snake tribe was known to be the enemy of all Mononoke. There was no other tribe or living being they favored. The main practice of the snakes was to destroy everything that wasn't a snake. The tribe had few followers, and those that wanted to follow the snakes drank their blood and were transformed into hideous humanoid monsters.

Is that why I can faintly catch a human scent?

Then, someone stepped into Genji's view. It looked human, but its scent proved otherwise. Genji could see the person's skin: completely dark green snake skin. Down its arms were light patterns of diamond shapes colored white. It wasn't wearing any clothes except for a deer hide loin clothe. Genji realized that it was a snake priest. He turned his head to Yume.

**Tell him that we pass in peace.**

Yume seemed to nod slightly.

"We're passing in peace of the snake clan!" she whimpered. "Please leave us alone!"

"You shall not passssssss." The priest hissed.

Genji aimed his bow and pulled the bowstring back. Threatening felt like the only thing he could do at this point. The priest narrowed his eyes at Genji and kept hissing. The boy held absolutely still, keeping his eyes locked with the priest. Suddenly, as though he tapped into the snake priest's mind, Genji could read the man's eyes.

It's a trap…

Trap?

Suddenly, a huge hoard of snake priests jumped from the tall grass and pounced on Genji and Yume. Genji quickly shot the arrow at the first priest before he was tackled to the ground. Yume barked and growled at her attackers, grabbing some with her jaws and flinging them aside. Not able to use his arrows, Genji was forced to fight barehanded. He punched and kicked several away from him, and blood would occasionally fly from the priest's mouths after a hard blow. But there was too many of them for both Genji and Yume to fight off. More and more priests kept jumping into the battle.

Yume was wrestled to the ground by many priests holding her legs and neck. Genji still tried to put up a fight, even though he was pinned to the ground. His mask had been torn off his face and his black fur shroud ripped off his shoulders. The priests were biting into his flesh with their sharp teeth. Yume was yowling in pain as they bit into her.

It was a bad time for another heart attack, but Genji was suffering one. Even though he didn't have a voice, all he could do was scream.

**STOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOP!**

All the priests froze and looked at Genji. They all heard him. He clutched his heart and tried to sit up. He glared one priest straight in the eye.

**Leave us alone!**

The priest suddenly panicked.

"Ssssseru!" he screamed at the top of his lungs. "SSSSSERU!" In fear, the other priests retreated. The pain in Genji's heart began to subside. Soon, all the snake priests were gone, and the grassy plain was silent once again. Genji carefully stood up, bleeding from every cut in his body. He quickly bent to Yume. Her fur showed small spots of blood blemishing her snow-white flank. She whimpered at his slightest touch.

**Yume! Quick, get up!**

"Genji…"

**You have to get up! They'll come back!**

"Okay…I'll try…" Genji helped the wolf up to her feet, and they moved at a trot through the tall grass. Genji kept an arrow in his bow just in case the snake priests tried another ambush. They kept jogging through the grass, hoping they would come to a town quickly.

<Genji! Kid, are you alright?!>

Guardian! I think I'm okay…

<It's not as bad as it looks. Just scratches, they'll heal over. You'll be fine. Your heart, however…>

What's wrong?

<The burn is spreading to your lungs. You're running out of time. You have to get to that wise woman quickly.>

Yume and I are going as fast as we can.

<You're doing fine, Genji. Just hold out long enough to reach a town. And keep your emotions in check! Fear and anger makes the burn grow faster!>

Right! Thank you, Guardian!

A gust of wind blew through the grasses, showing them the horizon ahead before lightening up and letting the long curtain of green hide their vision once again.