Princess Mononoke Fan Fiction / Dragon Ball/Z/GT Fan Fiction ❯ The Silent Prince, Perfect Collection 1 ❯ Chapter 12 ( Chapter 12 )

Chapter 11

A couple hours later, Dr. Cid had woken up and quickly got to work on his potion. Genji had put his shirt and shroud on, but had started sweating from the warm climate. Cid suggested the boy should take off his shroud so as not to overheat himself. Genji complied, leaving his shroud on the bed.

"Why not take a bath as explore the village?" Cid suggested. "The potion could take as long as this afternoon to make."

**Is there any way I can assist you?** Genji offered.

"Oh, what a thoughtful boy!" Cid beamed. "No, it's alright. I can make it myself. Go on, then."

So Genji left Dr. Cid's hut and walked around Taj village. Indeed it was a very small village in the artificial jungle climate. About fifty people lived there, all tiger worshipers and their families. But there were more houses than people, which told Genji that at least thirty more priests were stationed at the temple in Pare. There was also a nearby lake where Genji could bathe. He was quick to head there, shed his clothes and jump in.

The water was very cold, and very clean. Genji could see hundreds of tiny fish and frogs swimming through the water, and playfully chased after some of them. The demon scar on his back slightly twitched under the cold water, but that only meant that it was being cleaned. Genji would stop his pursuits of fish and frogs to rub his hand along the scar. It felt bumpy and rough, like it was rotting away. Genji remembered what his mother said in that dream.

It's jealous…Jealous of what? Me? For being the son of my mother?

Hmmm…

He decided to think about it later, and he swam to the shore where he left his clothes. He got out and was squeezing the water out of his long hair when he noticed his pants were missing. He didn't have to look too far to find them. A young tiger cub was carrying them down the path to Taj. It seemed to be proud of itself. Genji snarled and ran after it. The cub turned its head to Genji, and leapt down the path, laughing. Genji ran after it angrily. It thought this was some kind of game! He began running so fast that the wind whipping around his body dried him off completely. It felt like forever until Genji caught up with it, and tackled it to the ground.

"Ow!" the cub moaned with a tiny voice. "Hey! That hurt!" Genji grabbed his pants, but the cub kept its jaws on them and wouldn't let go. Genji tried to pull them out of the cub's mouth.

**Give me back my pants!**

"No!" the cub roared through her teeth. "They're mine now! I found them!"

**What are you going to do with a pair of pants?! Give them back!** Then, he heard laughing around him. Very loud laughing. He looked around nervously. He didn't realize he had ended up back in the village! There was a rather large crowd gathered around him, and all of them were laughing at him. He blushed, and covered himself with one hand. He felt frozen, and embarrassed…

"Hey, Kali!" he heard Ryu call, then he saw the priest jump out of the crowd and pounce on the cub. Kali, the tiger cub, let go of Genji's pants in surprise. Genji quickly clutched the fabric to his waist and took off running like a fired bullet to Dr. Cid's hut. He heard Ryu shout "Run like the wind, Genji! The town will be talking about this for weeks!" behind him.

Very comforting thought, Ryu! Genji thought sarcastically as he ran. He quickly rushed inside the hut, and pressed his back to the wall to catch his breath. Phew. Thank God that's over…

Then, he heard giggling in front of him. He looked up to see a young woman with ash black skin smiling at him and giggling. Genji's blush deepened to a darker shade of red. Just his frikkin luck…

Then, the woman pointed to Dr. Cid's bed.

"You can get dressed under the sheets." She offered. "I won't peek." Genji slowly nodded, then zipped under the covers of his bed and pulled his pants on. Then, he got out of the bed and looked around the hut. Dr. Cid wasn't present. He looked at the woman.

**Where's Dr. Cid?**

She blinked at him.

"Yes? What can I do for you?"

She didn't know the language of the Gods. He frowned, and traced his answer on the dirt floor.

"Where is Dr. Cid?"

"Oh!" she gasped. "My father? Why didn't you say anything? He's out on an errand, and he wanted me to make sure his potion didn't boil over." Genji looked at her feet. Under a small fire, a coffee cup was brewing a green liquid. It smelled foul, like burning flesh. Genji made a disgusted face, and plugged his nose with his fingers.

"What's your name?" the woman asked. Genji wrote his response.

"Genji."

"Oh, wait a minute!" the woman replied. "You're the wolf boy! I'm sorry, I forgot that you couldn't talk. I'm sorry."

Genji smiled and nodded apologetically. It was alright, everyone made that mistake.

"So," the woman began, smiling slyly, "what were you doing in the village with no pants on?"

Genji frowned as he wrote out his answer and underlined it.

"Don't ask!"

The woman laughed pleasantly behind one hand. She looked at him with her small, soft eyes. Genji looked her over as well. He hardly realized how loosely her robes were tied around her body. He also noticed that she wasn't wearing any kind of underwear! No bra or panties! He quickly looked away and started blushing.

Suddenly, she sat next to him on the bed, and leaned her shoulder on his. He blushed deeper, wishing he was somewhere else. She giggled at him.

"You're cute." She commented.

Oh please! Just go away!

"How old are you, Genji?"

He nervously held out his fingers a couple times to add them up to fifteen.

"Oooooo! How cute! We're just ten years apart!"

She nuzzled his forehead, and he flinched so hard that he fell off the bed and away from the woman. She noticed his scar and she screamed playfully.

"Ewwww! How gross! Does that hurt?"

Genji blinked a couple of times. His shirt! He completely forgot about it! He got up to go get it, but at that moment Ryu came in the doorway, carrying Genji's kimono shirt.

"Hey, Genji!" he called. "This is your shirt, right?" The tiger cub named Kali was chasing after the priest.

"Hey! That's mine!" she roared at him, pawing at his feet. "Stop taking my stuff, Ryu-san!"

"It's not yours." Ryu gently scolded. "You keep stealing other people's things. Your daddy told you to ask before taking other people's…"

"You're being mean!" Kali moaned, running out of the hut. "I'm telling my daddy you're taking my stuff!"

"Go ahead!" Ryu called after her. "Tell your daddy you've been stealing again! Taj-sama will just punish you again!"

The woman giggled at him.

"Oh, Miya-cha, you're so commanding…"

Genji blinked at the woman. A slight accent made her say "cha" rather than "chan."

Ryu smiled at the woman.

"Hey baby. How've you been today?"

"Bored as usual." She sighed. Genji blinked up at Ryu in confusion.

"Oh! Uh, Genji…" Ryu began, "this is my wife, Masaki. I can see you two got to know each other already. Here's your shirt." Ryu tossed the shirt, and Genji slipped into it the moment it touched his hand.

"He's such a darling." Masaki cooed as she watched Genji get dressed. "Can we keep him, Miya-cha?"

Frightened, Genji hid behind Ryu. Ryu narrowed his eyes at his wife.

"Cut it out, Masaki. You're scaring him."

"I'm just teasing." She chuckled. She took another look at the coffee cup, and stood from the bed. "Well, this is boring, so I'll just go back and wait for you to come home." She walked up to Ryu, and gave him a very passionate kiss. "Bye-bye, Miya-cha." Then she winked at Genji. "Bye-bye, Genji-cha." Genji stayed hidden behind Ryu until Masaki was out of the hut. Ryu smiled down at Genji.

"She's really something, isn't she?" he asked. Genji shook his head as his natural color returned to his face. "Well, Yume and I are getting ready to pack up. So, I'll stop by to tell you when we're ready." He began to walk out of the hut. "I had all your stuff brought back from the temple, so we're ready when you are!" Then, he walked out of sight, into the village. Genji sat next to the boiling coffee cup, pinched his nose, and waited for Dr. Cid to come back.

He was all but ready.

/|\

Dr. Cid came back in the hut later in the day with the last ingredient for the potion. He mostly mumbled to himself that his daughter couldn't follow instructions as simple as "don't go anywhere." Finally, the brew was ready, and he poured the liquid into another cup.

"Here." Cid offered to Genji. "Drink every last drop. And you might want to hold your nose. It has a very potent taste."

Genji nodded, way ahead of the doctor after keeping his nose closed for fifteen minutes. He pinched his nose tighter, and gulped down the drink quickly. It was awful! He felt like he was swallowing a whole frog! Soon, he finished it, and wiped his mouth with the back of his hand. He haunched over to breathe, leaning on his knees and letting his hair fall over his shoulder. The taste was lingering in his mouth.

"Here ya go." Cid handed him another warm cup. Genji held out his palm to turn it away, thinking it was more of the nasty potion. "Hot chocolate." Cid explained. "To help get rid of the taste and mint up your breath." So Genji graciously accepted it and drank it quickly. The warm and filling taste flooded out the sour thickness of the formula. After finishing the hot chocolate, Genji took a sigh of relief. That potion was the worst thing he ever tasted.

Dr. Cid stood waiting next to the boy.

"It'll try to attack you any moment now." Cid warned. "However, once it starts, the potion will poison it and force it to stop. That burn on your back shouldn't grow any bigger."

Genji nodded, and braced himself for another attack. He didn't have to wait long for one. Soon, he felt his heart lurch and his insides squirm. He stopped breathing and fell to the floor. The burn on his back felt like it was boiling on his skin. Then, he heard a loud, unearthly roar in his ears, and the pain suddenly vanished and the attack stopped! His lungs seemed to pop open, and he breathed in heavily. It lasted much shorter than the previous attacks. That probably meant that the formula worked. Genji pushed himself up to his feet. Cid smiled at Genji massaged his sore shoulder and arm.

"There! You see!" Cid called in triumph. "The demon can't grow bigger! And if it tries to, all you have to suffer is a few seconds of pain! How about that, eh?"

Genji applauded happily. After being raised by a medicine woman for five years, and he never knew that kind of potion existed. And even though the demon wasn't gone, at least it wouldn't cause Genji any harm.

Cid calmed down to explain the rest of the news to the boy.

"Of course, the demon's not dead." He reported seriously. "It may continue to try and grow, but each time it does it will poison itself more and more. There is a 10% chance that it could destroy itself this way."

Genji scratched his head in confusion.

**Oh no, I hate percentages…uh…so…what exactly does that mean?**

Cid made a flat face.

"It's not likely."

**Oh! Okay!**

"Right." Dr. Cid nodded. "Now, are you still set on going to the ravens in China?"

**Yes, I am. I'm taking the Ashitaka road to get to them.**

"Alright, just be careful, boy." Cid wished. "That road is still rather treacherous. A lot of bandits and smugglers hang out by it, prowling for victims."

Genji bowed in thanks while keeping eye contact.

**I will be careful. Thank you for helping me, doctor.**

He grabbed his shroud from off the bed, and walked out of the hut and into the village. Dr. Cid sighed after the boy.

"A boy and his wolf…on a journey to cleanse from his body a scar… Has Ashitaka-san been reborn from this boy?"

/|\

Genji found Yume chatting with a few tiger gods in the village square. She had a leather blanket tied to her back, and he could see several bulging pockets where supplies were stored. Genji smiled at that sight. He had a lot of thank-yous to give out. He approached his wolf, and Yume was quick to notice.

"Hi, Genji!" she barked. He patted her muzzle and she licked his face. The tigers Yume was talking to decided to wander off without saying goodbye. Genji jumped onto Yume's back and settled himself into the saddle blanket.

**How does that feel Yume? You comfortable?**

"Yep! How about you?"

**Much more comfortable. You have a bony back.**

She turned her head to him and growled. He apologetically scratched behind her ears, and she whimpered.

"Looks like you're all set to go." Ryu laughed from behind them. Genji turned to look at the tiger priest. Ryu was no longer wearing his green and brown robes, but instead a tiger striped karate gi. He was holding his skull helmet in his hands, and Genji could finally see Ryu's hair. It was bright orange hair, and was very coarse and spiky. He was a real carrot top, and Ryu probably washed his hair once a week and kept it under that helmet the rest of the time.

"All ready!" Yume nodded as Ryu slipped his skull helmet back on his head. Genji reached into one of the saddle pockets and pulled out Dr. Nezu's map. He found Taj Village was directly on the Ashitaka road, so he traced his finger along the thick black line, which headed east. West City was only one hundred miles away, and was the nearest non-Mononoke settlement on the map.

Ryu climbed up Yume and sat behind Genji to look at the map.

"Well, there's all the work cut out for us." Ryu laughed. "I hope you thanked Dr. Nezu for this."

Genji nodded. He did.

"Lesse…" Ryu followed the black line with his eyes. "If we follow the trail, and only stop to rest at night…we could reach the Chinese boarder in a week. And the village is another three days from that. Sound okay to you guys?"

Genji nodded.

"What's a 'week?' " Yume asked innocently.

Genji and Ryu fell out of the saddle blanket in embarrassment. They quickly climbed back on, and Ryu put the map away.

**A week is seven days.** Genji explained.

"Oh!" Yume perked her ears up. "Why didn't you say so? Can we go now?"

"I said all my good-byes." Ryu nodded. "How about you, Genji?"

The boy nodded, hanging his shroud over his shoulders and pulling his mask over his eyes.

"Okay, Yume!" Ryu called. "Let's go!"

"YEAH!" the wolf called, bounding through the village. The villagers and tigers hollered their good-byes to the travelers as the wolf ran past them. As they left the village, they heard Taj-sama roaring in farewell.

Genji smiled as they sped through the jungle.

With his demon under control, he felt nothing could stop him now.