Sorry everyone. Dx School has been consuming way too much of my time. *pokes MS Word* It's done, though. ^O^ I would have made it longer, but I decided to just cut it off here. <33 Thanks for the kind comments, everyone.
Chapter Three
“Wait… Did I take the wrong turn? This can’t be right.”
“You’re here,” Haku—for it could only be him—repeated.
I nodded slowly, surveying him again. Surely this was a dream. I had wanted so desperately to go back to his world the first few months after my adventure, but now I was finally beginning to find my place in the world.
I took a deep breath, trying to find my brain amongst the sudden rush of feelings that crowded like a fog around my brain. “What are you doing here?” I asked finally. “I mean, I know that you said that we would meet again…but why now? Has Yubaba finally released you? Are you going to stay in the human world?” The questions tumbled out, one after another, each wanting an answer for itself.
Haku smiled at me, then said gently, “I’ll explain in a little while. But for right now, I need you to come with me.” He paused, looking at the toy store behind me. “Can you do that?”
“Um, sure. Just a second.”
I rushed inside, scribbling a quick note to Yuri:
Yuri-
A very good friend of mine dropped in for an unexpected visit. I need to help them out with something. Not sure when I’ll be back. Cover for me?
-Chihiro
I wondered if she would be able to decipher my scrawled, messy handwriting. I was just about to begin a neater version, when Haku entered the toy store.
“Chihiro, that’s fine. We need to go. Now.” The urgency in his voice was plain, blunt even.
I swallowed, turning around to face him. “Alright. How long will I be gone?”
At this question, his brow furrowed in thought, and a small frown twitched on his lips. “I don’t know. It could be a while, though.”
“Great.” My voice was hollow, yet the tremor somehow made it into my voice. “I’m so getting fired.”
Haku’s smile widened, lighting up his pale cheeks. I couldn’t help but laugh, too, despite my dire position.
Finally, or rather, a few minutes later, I looked at him. “Okay, let’s get going.” My tone was light, filled with a forced brightness.
I was finally with Haku. I had missed him so much. But was he really worth giving up everything that I had worked for?
As we walked out of Zakyou, the door tingled merrily. I couldn’t help but look back at it, a sense of despair settling into my stomach as the chime faded away. The sunlight was warm on my back as Haku led me through the many streets and alleyways of the town. It had grown considerably since I had first moved here. At the thought of my ten-year-old self, filled with resentment, I grinned. Foolish me.
The twists and turns we took blurred in my mind until we reached a point that I hadn’t been to in ages. It was the old road. The one that had brought me to Haku in the first place. The gnarled tree rose up to my right, its ancient branches casting shade over the small entrance gate that leaned against it. The shrines, now barely visible through the dense undergrowth that had bloomed around them, sat quietly, their stone structures cracked with age. I glanced up at the blue house high above our heads. My parents still lived there.
At the thought of my parents, a sob came surging up in my throat. Would I ever see them again? Biting back the cry of despair, I replaced it with anger. Toughen up, Chihiro! I scolded myself, you’re not ten anymore.
I tore my gaze away from my once home, only to find Haku watching me, his gaze intense.
“We really should keep going,” he said, tone gentle. As if I needed his sympathy.
“Okay,” I said, finding my tongue rather numb.
Haku led the way down the dusty old road. I fell in step beside him, finding it easy to be near him again. Even if I was still angry with him, I was glad to have him back. A moment later, a warm hand came around mine. My gaze met Haku’s in surprise, but I let it drop back down to the ground quickly. I gently took my hand away from his, an awkward silence settling over us.
It was nearly unbearable, walking silently with Haku up the road. So many questions and thoughts swam around in my head, buzzing like angry bees. As the thick canopy swallowed up the sunlight on the road, one bubbled out.
“Who sent you, Haku? Yubaba?”
Haku looked at me, his pale green eyes lighting up in amusement. He laughed, a very unexpected thing. “No, Yubaba hasn’t run the bath house for many years. I think that you took the last out of that old witch.” He shook his head, as if remembering pleasant, long ago memories.
The gesture was so unlike Haku, I wondered how much he had changed in our years apart.
“Then who runs the bath house now?” I said before we could fall into another silence.
“Boh.” The answer was short, almost tight.
“Boh? Yubaba’s son?”
“Yes, Boh.” I felt a bit offended, though I shouldn’t have, at Haku’s patient, tired tone.
“Okay,” I said, moving on swiftly. I needed answers, and Haku could give them—I couldn’t waste any time mourning less than nice replies. “Why were you sent to get me? Is it something bad? No-face?”
Haku stopped then. I pulled up short, turning to face him.
“Haku?” I asked, trying to decipher his frozen ex
pression.
It melted away, leaving a stony determination on his pale features. “No, Chihiro. It is something much worse. There’s something—or someone—in the bathhouse. Spirits are disappearing, Chihiro, with no trace. Then, they will turn up weeks later, their memories gone. Some haven’t returned at all.
“Boh sent me because no one else has been able to capture the creature, or whoever is conjuring it. He thinks that you can do it.” Haku’s voice was bitter as he continued, “Let me warn you, Chihiro, that Boh is desperate to catch this thing. Be careful, and always watch your back.” He leaned in closer then, as if telling a secret. “I will, too.”
I couldn’t stop my eyes from widening as reality sunk in.
“D-Disappearing?” The tremor was evident in my voice.
Haku nodded, but he didn’t say anything. I studied the angry ex
pression on his face, and then decided not to question him further.
Suddenly, Haku stopped short. I looked back at him in surprise, but then a small, hunched statue caught my eye. A tall, intimidating red wall rose up in front of me as I looked away, and I knew why we had stopped.
“We’re here,” I breathed.
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