Princess Mononoke

~A Friend~

Ashitaka passed through a peaceful village. But the people looked suspiciously upon him.
"Hey, who's that man?"
"I've never seen him before"
A small, fat man was sitting and eating with them. He looked distastefully at his bowl, "Is this soup or donkey piss"?
More people began to notice Ashitaka, and the fat man jumped up,
"And there he is now!"

He quickly finished his food and went over to the scene. Ashitaka was buying rice from a young woman. He handed the seller a small gold nugget inquiring,
"Will this be enough?"
The seller scowled "What are you trying to pull? This isn't money! Give me back my rice ya little theif!"
The fat man approached her, "Excuse me, may I please inspect that?"
"Go ahead"
He brought the nugget up to his eyes and exclaimed, "My God! This is a lump of pure gold you silly woman! However, if it's cash you want I'll pay for the rice and take this nugget off your hands." He looked to the growing crowd "My good people! Is there a money changer here who may be able to tell us what this lump is worth? No? Well let's see, now I'm just a monk but I say this is worth two - no - three bags at least. Mmm maybe more"
As he spoke Ashitaka began to sneak away. The man followed but the seller shrieked, "Hey where are you going, give me my gold!!"
She snatched the nugget from him, but he didn't care, he broke away from the crowd following Ashitaka.

Once he caught up with him he panted,
"Hey! You can't just rush off like that, we just met!"
He slowled his pace to catch his breath and continued,
"Well now, we've got your rice and everything is okay. You're a quiet man, a man of few words, I understand. Now, don't you even think of thanking me. It was my pleasure! In fact, I should be thanking you. I was caught up in that battle and I saw what you did to those Samurai. You fight like a demon! Where'd you learn to fight like that?"

All of a sudden, muffled foot steps came from behind. A small group of villagers were close behind.
"Ah" the fat man spoke softly, "I see you notice we are being followed. That's what happens when you wave a gold nugget around. They'll wait until we're asleep and slit our throats. What do you say we give them a little demonstration on how fast we can run?" He chuckled.
Ashitaka kicked Yakuls side to make him speed up. The pair ran together until they found a cave where they would make rest for the night.

As they sat together the fat man made soup over a small fire and Ashitaka told him the whole story of the curse. Once he finished the man questioned
"So the demon monster turned out to be a giant boar"?
Ashitaka nodded. " I followed it's trail to the woods, to where those samurai were attacking. But then..."
"You lost it. That's life. You see this village here? Last year when I came here, this was a lovely village. But then there must have been a flood or a landslide or a fire. The only sure thing is everyone's dead. These days there are angry ghosts all around us, dead from wars, sickness, and starvation. Nobody cares. So you say you're under a curse? So what? So's the whole damn world." He blew on the soup he was making.
Ashitaka sighed. "I should have never fought that battle. Two men are dead because of me."
The man shrugged. "Samurai thugs. You win some and you lose some - hand me your bowl - my point is everybody dies. Some now, some later, from brothel girl to Emperor. I've heard tell that the Emperor has promised and entire hill of gold to anyone who can help him live forever. Beautiful bowl, I've only seen one other like it. Ever heard of the Emishi people? They ride red elks. They also use stone arrow heads.... just like you."

Ashitaka didn't respond, but silently sipped his soup.

"Of course they were all wiped out some five hundred years ago. Don't worry. I won't tell anyone where you're from. Anyway I've got much bigger fish to fry" The fat man winked.
Ashitaka drew the iron ball from his pocket and showed it to his new friend.
"Have you ever come across anything like this?"
The fat man took one look at it and responded quick, "Never have."
Ashitaka sighed, "It came from the giant boar. It was inside of him and I'm sure it was that little ball of iron that killed him."
They ate in silence before the fat man spoke,
"There's a place high in the mountains, far to the west of here. It's the place where the spirit of the forest dwells and it's very dangerous for humans. To enter there is certain death-"
Ashitaka sat upright "The spirit of the forest?"
The man nodded, "I've been told the beasts there are all giants. Just as they were in the dawn of time."

The next morning Ashitaka left early, before dawn. The fat man cracked open an eye and watched as the ex prince rode away. But he did not stir or try to stop Ashitaka. He merely pulled his cloth blanket towards his chin and yawned,
"See you there my friend"