Princess Mononoke Fan Fiction / Dragon Ball/Z/GT Fan Fiction ❯ The Silent Prince, Perfect Collection 1 ❯ Chapter 14 ( Chapter 14 )

Chapter 14

He didn't sleep at all that night. Not only did the possibility of Cell being his father keep him up, but he had the feeling that he was being watched. The whole night he lay on the saddle blanket, clutching his shroud tightly around his body, seeing the pale face and evil smile he vaguely remembered from TV. He couldn't believe that the monster fell in love with his mother…and they…

No. Genji finally decided. I don't have a father. My mother was a virgin when she gave birth to me, and she never had a mate. Cell is not my father. I am a miracle.

Then, he had finally gotten to sleep.

/|\

It felt like an instant had passed when ice cold water splashed on his face and woke him up.

"Rise and shine, Sleeping Beauty!" Ryu called, putting down the bucket. "It's twelve-thirty! Time to go!" Genji groggily sat up and brushed some wet bangs to the top of his head. He gave Ryu a hard stare of hatred.

I can't believe you woke me up light that…no one splashed water on me to wake me up before…

"Geez, don't stare at me like that." Ryu sighed. "I let you sleep in because of what happened last night. You slept through the whole morning." He reached into a pocket of the saddle blanket, and pulled out a ripe red apple. "Here, get something to eat. I'm gonna put the blanket on Yume. Up ya go!" Genji took the apple, and got off the blanket so that Ryu could lift it off the ground.

Genji sat by the riverbank and bit into the apple. He stared at his reflection as he chewed. Now that Dr. Cid's potion didn't work, what would happen? He wanted to get to the ravens as quick as possible now, since he was really running out of time. If they kept going and didn't stop to eat or sleep, then they could cut travel time in half. However, rushing would only provoke fear and make his demon scar grow bigger. He decided against rushing. He would go along at his nice and steady pace, which should keep him calm and keep his scar under control.

I'm not going to worry myself. My goal is at the end of the Ashitaka road, and I will reach it in due time. I know who I am, and I will not let anyone taint this knowledge.

He ate the rest of his apple, then threw the core to the other side of the river for any animal to finish off. However, when it landed Genji heard an "Ow!" Blinking, he stood up to see what it was.

Suddenly…

…pfft…

DTK!

Something hit Genji in the chest and he faltered back a step. He looked down at his stomach to see a dart in his gut, right where the demon burn had spread. He didn't feel hurt, but he figured he should be… He yanked it out with one hand, and looked at it. It was a chute of wood with red and black feathers and a long needle attached. The needle was dripping some kind of purple liquid. He looked across the river to see someone running from the underbrush. Putting two and two together, Genji dropped the dart, jumped through the river, and ran after the person.

Genji was the fastest runner on Singing Mountain. He even outraced wolves. The perpetrator he chased was no match for his speed. Genji caught up to the person, and tackled the person to the ground.

"Hoye!" the person protested as they both hit the ground. They wrestled as Genji tried to keep the person in his grasp while the attacker tried to get away. Finally, Genji pinned the dart shooter to the ground and straddled the waist to keep the person from getting away. He assumed it was a young boy by the haircut and flat chest, but actually…

"Yu pervert! Dun do mey here!"

It was a girl slightly younger than him! He didn't react immediately, but stared at her face in disbelief. She had rosy skin, ice blue eyes, and very short indigo hair. She was giving him a look that could kill, so he got off her. He gripped her wrist to keep her from escaping. She was wearing Shinto priestess robes (a white yukata over red dress pants), and wooden sandals that were fashioned like stilts with foot tall platforms. Her sandals made her tower over Genji by half a foot. She was still glaring at him when he let her up.

"Hoye! Jerk! Let go!" she yelled with an accent, trying to tug her hand away. Genji kept a firm grip, not about to let her off so easily. He stared her in the eye.

**Who are you? Why did you shoot me with a dart?**

She didn't respond, nor made any indication she heard him. She didn't speak the language of the Gods.

Something in her other hand caught his eye. She was holding a hollow bamboo pole the length of her arm. It was a blowgun. He quickly snatched it from her and she protested.

"HOYE! Thaat's mine!"

Genji frowned at her, then dragged her back to the camp spot by her hand. She yelled at him the whole way.

"Hoye yu! Leggo! Whey yu takin mey?! Yu pervert! Yu kidnappar! Yu bahstad!"

He continued to drag her across the river towards the waiting Ryu and Yume. Ryu was carefully holding the dart in his hands.

"Genji!" Ryu called thankfully. "Where did you go? And what's this?" Then, he pointed at the girl. "And who's that?"

Genji held up the blowgun, and the girl tried to grab for it.

"Givvit! It's mine!"

Ryu blinked, then pointed at the dart in his hands.

"You mean…this is yours too?"

The girl's face started turning red. Genji couldn't tell if she was angry or embarrassed. She was probably both.

"No!" she cried out. "S'not me dart! They's lots ove us out here! Culd be anyone's!"

Genji decided to prove her wrong. He put the blowgun to his mouth and blew out hard. A dart just like the one shot in his chest jumped out the other end of the chute and landed harmlessly to the ground. Genji glared at the girl, and she laughed nervously.

"Whell…whe all 'have th' same daarts…"

"And 'we' refers to the bandits we were warned about?" Ryu asked suspiciously, tossing the dart in his hands to the dirt. "As in the ones who hang out along the Ashitaka road?"

"Baandit?" the girl laughed with more nervous tension. "I'm no baandit! Th' naimes Momiji Shotaro, N I'm just ya local priestess."

"Nothing 'local' about you, sweetheart." Ryu growled. "There's no temples around here. At least nothing Shinto."

The girl, now known as Momiji, put her free hand on her hip angrily.

"They's a temple right here dedicated tu all Mononoke guds. Yu goiys, ove all people, wuld know about it."

"No kidding?" Ryu raised an eyebrow of interest. "A pantheon to Mononoke gods? You must be lying. I've never heard of anything like that."

"I'm nuut lyin'." Momiji insisted as Genji walked to the saddle blanket on Yume. The young girl was dragged with him. "It's just twenny miles from here, N it's completely made of gold!"

"Now I know you're lying. There's absolutely nothing like that in this jungle."

"I'm nuut lyin'!" Momiji insisted harshly. Then, Genji tossed her in front of Yume, and the girl landed square on her rear. "Ouch! HOYE YU!"

**Yume, make sure she doesn't go anywhere.**

Yume reacted by leaning her jaws close to Momiji, making the girl scream.

"If you try to run away," Yume threatened, "I'll bite your head off!"

"Nice doggy…" Momiji squeaked in fear to the wolf, "Good doggy…sit…staay…heel…"

Genji went through the blanket's supply pockets, and brought out the map. He beckoned for Ryu to join him, and the tiger priest walked to his side.

"Good idea, Genji." Ryu congratulated. "Let's check her story out. If there's a Mononoke temple here, Dr. Nezu would know about it." They both looked through the jungle covered part of the Ashitaka trail for any sign of a temple. After looking along the black line, Ryu pointed to something in surprise.

"What's that?!" he cried out. Genji looked too. He saw the Chinese character for "secret" and written next to it with an indication line was "Yuzuha Mononoke Temple." Ryu and Genji looked at each other in confusion. They didn't know what to make of it. So, Ryu decided to test the girl.

"So, Momiji, what is this temple made of gold called?"

"Yuzuha." She answered smartly.

Genji and Ryu looked at each other again and nodded. She was telling the truth.

"Okay, you check out." Ryu announced, helping Momiji to her feet as Genji put the map away.

"Yu bahstads owe me an appologie fore all this!" Momiji shouted at them, recovering her bravado. "I didn't du a daam thing tu deserve this aat all!"

"Uh, yes you did." Ryu nodded, holding up Momiji's blowgun. "Why did you shoot Genji with a blowdart?"

Momiji looked at Genji as he prepared himself to jump onto Yume's back. She blinked at him a few times and smiled.

"Oh, so thaat's Genji…"

"Why did you shoot him?!" Ryu pressured angrily. Momiji became nervous, trying to find a good excuse.

"I…I…I…I thought hey waas a deer?" she squeaked.

"You were trying to kill him?!" Yume barked.

"NO!" Momiji quickly answered in fear of the wolf's huge teeth. "Me daarts aren't poison! They paralyze! Caan't find it in me ta kill people…"

"So," Ryu finally estimated, "you tried to stun Genji to steal our stuff, izzat it?"

"Uh…" Momiji thought about that for a moment, then decided to go with that story, "yah…thaat's right!"

Yume growled in suspicion.

"I don't like her…"

**She's alright, but I don't trust her.** Genji admitted. **We need to keep a close eye on her. Let's take her back to her temple and continue on our way.**

Yume barked once in agreement.

"Genji wants to take her back to her temple." Yume reported to Ryu.

"Okay." Ryu nodded, then took Momiji by the wrist Genji had previously grabbed. "C'mon, let's go for a ride."

"On thaat?!" Momiji squeaked, looking at Yume.

"She ain't gonna hurt you." Ryu assured, helping her onto the saddle. Then, he climbed up himself, sitting behind Momiji to make sure she didn't get away from him. He looked behind him and frowned. "I don't think there's any room for you, Genji…"

"That's alright." Yume yipped at him in assurance. "He can go as fast as I can." By her shoulder, Genji nodded up at Ryu. The boy grabbed a tuff of fur from the wolf's side and readied himself.

"Alright, let's go!" Ryu proposed. Yume took off running with Genji quickly moving by her side. They bounded down the path, heading for the Yuzuha temple.

Momiji remained eerily quiet during the ride, just smiling a secret smile to herself.