d o w n
What was going on?
Ashitaka opened his eyes slowly, trying to understand the strange sensation he was undergoing. He felt as if he were jumping upside-down; it resembled what he thought being sucked into a black hole must feel like. Curiously, he could see his feet above his head, bare and full of splinters. That was right...he had been helping to haul wood up for a new fence to surround Iron Town. He tried to turn his head and look at his hands, which were flat against his sides, but even that small effort made him feel nauseas.
What was happening?
He felt like someone had torn open the back of his head. Air seemed to be filling and penetrating his brain, keeping him from thinking straight. He couldn't focus, couldn't understand what was going on around him. He could see the sky, his feet, his hands, his blue tunic, and his riding chaps. His riding chaps? He had been riding? No, that wasn't right; he had been dragging wood from the forest, he was sure of it -- San had been standing around disapprovingly, that was how he remembered it. She had followed him back to Iron Town to help him with the wood. He remembered because she'd commented on his hair. It was longer now, too long to hang loose. He'd braided it to keep it out of his way while he worked.
That was how he remembered. But the chaps? What could explain that?
The back of his head was cold, and something was dripping down his neck. He still felt like he was being drawn into a whirlpool simply by the force of gravity, but exactly how he wasn't sure. His feet, his hands, all above him. So he was lying down? And jumping backwards? His foggy brain suddenly registered that jumping backwards was the same as falling.
So...he was falling?
The fur cloak was unfastened first, followed by the necklace of fangs and her dagger. Then, when she was sure that anything that would hold her down was now lying on the wooden ground, San scrambled up onto the tall wooden fence and, positioning her hands in front of her, dived.
She would have felt more comfortable if it was a human she were fighting, or if what she was doing wasn't just as reckless as what she was trying to stop. She knew very well how dangerous her stunt was, but, unfortunately, the weak, human part of her couldn't just sit by as she saw him plummeting to what should be his death -- if she didn't intervene.
San didn't want to be fulfilling the role that he had wanted of her, but was more grateful that the situation was the way it was instead of reversed. If he had jumped in after her semi-conscious body and saved her life before she either drowned in the lake or impaled herself on something beneath the water's surface, then she knew that she would have rather died.
Ashitaka was just being stupid again, the way he had been when he'd gotten mixed up in her bloodlust regarding Eboshi. San knew that she couldn't stop him from doing stupid things, but sometimes she tried to prevent them, the few times when she saw him committing them. She rarely saw him nowadays and had come out of her home on purpose just to catch a glimpse of him. The reconstruction of Iron Town was now well underway and Ashitaka had little time to run out to her forest just to spend an hour or two with her. That was the way it had been before the citizens of Iron Town had gotten so involved in rebuilding their home; now, however, he was always consumed with work to be done and, when not working, he was usually asleep on a reed mat somewhere.
San came out rarely to the ruins -- and construction -- of Iron Town, not wanting to mingle with the humans even though they bore no ill will against her. She was content to spend her time in the forest, planting trees and making sure that everything was healthy and growing. She had only come with Ashitaka today because he had been dragging a rather large load of wood and San had suspected that he needed a reprieve; naturally, she would be the one to give it to him.
Now, of course, he had to step in the middle of a fight between two workers regarding the height of the wall -- did it surpass the height of the old one? was it smaller? -- and, while trying to instill peace between the two, one had smacked him roughly and sent him flying over the side. San sometimes thought herself hardier than him, thinking that she could have resisted the blow, but as she saw him disappear under the water, she let all ideas of her superiority leave her.
Crashing through the blue surface, she swept into the graceful dive she'd been aiming for and immediately began to curse the fabric of her dress. It encumbered her efforts to swim over to Ashitaka, who was staring around himself with half-lidded eyes, as if unsure of what was going on. San had her mouth clamped closed tightly to keep the water out of her system, knowing that she could stay underwater far longer than a normal human -- she had had lots of practice as a child -- but Ashitaka was not nearly as practiced.
She could have smacked him when he inhaled, obviously not completely aware. His eyes, once glassy and uncomprehending, widened as water flooded his senses; he began to try and get control of his body, but now with water in him, it was even harder to concentrate. San kicked toward him and grabbed him around the waist with both arms, once again finding the strain of his weight a burden on her back. She cursed him and the water and her dress as she attempted to drag him to the surface by kicking and splashing wildly with one hand; the other was firmly about his waist, trying to keep him close to her.
After what seemed like an eternity, they broke the surface, San drawing in an enormous, grateful breath as they did so. Ashitaka was unresponsive and she tried not to let herself think too pessimistically -- he's fine, he's fine, he's fine -- as she kicked strongly towards the island fortress. Once her feet found purchase in the shallower water, she pulled Ashitaka along with her and laid him down as soon as she could be sure that he wouldn't drown once laid flat.
Scrambling down onto her knees, she clasped her hands together and brought them hard down onto his chest, trying to think of a way to get the water he'd swallowed out. The action didn't get a response, so she brought her hands down again and a third time, angry at him for not waking up.
"It's you stupid humans!" she growled at him, pounding repeatedly on his chest. Without warning, he spat a long stream of water into her face, to which she recoiled and wiped away disgustedly. Ashitaka turned on his side and coughed wretchedly, spitting out more water onto the dirt, his short brown braid falling over one shoulder and dripping wetly.
When he regained himself, he looked over to her. It took him a minute or so before he smiled. "You can't fool me," he said quietly, still unsure of what exactly had happened.
"Everything else can," she teased uncharacteristically, crawling on her hands and knees back over to him. She flicked the braid over his shoulder and put a hand on the side of his face. "You're so stupid," she said, her voice low.
"And you're so beautiful," he countered, one side of his mouth quirked up. She scowled.
"Don't start with me about that again," she warned. Her anger faded a minute later as she tentatively embraced him; his arms encircled her back less than a fraction of a second later. San felt slightly idiotic, sitting on a patch of dirt, completely soaked, and hugging a human.
It wasn't long before the men from the fence began clambering onto the beach, wanting to know if Ashitaka was alright and apologizing for the man who'd hit him. San unwrapped her arms from him quickly and felt him let go less enthusiastically, but even when Ashitaka started to calmly answer the men's questions, she kept one hand protectively on his knee.
After all, she had saved his life; she wasn't about to let him try and lose it again.