Sweet Surrender

Iron Town was thriving. Their wealth had increased over the past year and a half. Ashitaka and Lady Eboshi had worked together and succeeded. The forest had re-grown in many areas and the ones which hadn't were being mined. They too would be filled in once there was nothing left for the humans.

It was an uneasy alliance between the creatures and the humans. San had never approved of relenting in any way to them. She had fought against humans for too long to simply surrender. That, however, had come about rather quickly. Her brothers seemed to have put up even more resistance than she had.

With that, the forest was rife with speculation. They spoke in whispers of San and Ashitaka and the time that they had spent together. As Ashitaka was the humans' ambassador he still visited often. He would never truly be one of the humans and neither would San.

The whispers grew over time. The two became legendary heroes in the tales woven of their adventure. There were whispers of tragic love, undying love, secret plots and other extravagant fantasies which had no relation to reality. San was rather oblivious to their gossiping but Ashitaka was not.

He was the only one who dared to ask; "Why?"

"The arrangement was the only one that you would settle for," San replied, quite displeased at the mention of her relent.

"Is that the only reason?" he continued bravely.

"There is no other reason. Why are you asking me these questions? Do you want more land? Are you trying to find ways to make me give you the forest?" she snarled.

"I was only curious," he replied, nonchalantly. "The villagers soon to believe that there was more than an agreement. They've been talking about this for a long time."

"Humans talk about meaningless matters. You've never concerned yourself before," she stated, oblivious to the point he was trying to make.

"I was only asking. Their gossip seemed more intimate. I wanted to know what you think of this," he said, innocently.

San frowned at him. "There's something that you aren't saying. I want you to tell me,"

"They're ridiculous. They think we've been secretly in love," he chuckled and took the lead.

San fell slightly behind. Her pace was slower than his. Her eyes had clouded over. His words echoed for a moment in her mind. She looked back at him.

"I'll go back to Iron Town. The next meeting shouldn't be until the full moon," he told her and left.

She frowned the moment that he turned his back. Her brothers ventured to her side but she was too pre-occupied with watching Ashitaka leave. His words made more sense than she would ever care to admit.

Author's Note: … Is this happening? Is this really happening? They're all there. They're all alive. No one died. There's been no love triangle that ended in tragedy. There have been no lovers spat that couldn't be repaired… There isn't a single moment of tear your eyes out angst. What have I become? I do suppose that you, dearest readers, are ever so slightly thankful for that though, so I wish you enjoyment from this tale. I do truly thank you for reading my work. Please accept my apologies if you are displeased with my story in any way.

Part of the Revival Collection.