-Catgirl-of-Bavaria- : Heh, I'm not even finished with my first Spirited Away fanfic, but still, I had to get this idea down into MS Word The thing I love about Miyazaki-Sensei and this movie in particular is that it's just begging for fanfics to continue it, and there's just so much you can do with it in that sense, as is obvious with all of the fics that have been written, lol. Anyway, I hope this hasn't already been done, or is too cliché, and I hope you enjoy! Reviews are greatly enjoyed, and Flames, well… whatever. –shrugs- I'm tolerant…Just, being nicer is preferable
Disclaimer: No, I don't own Spirited Away or it's characters, otherwise there would be more than just a merely implied romance between Haku and Chihiro. There would've at least been a kiss, dang it!
Prologue—A Blank Slate
Rain pelted the landscapes in sheets of icy water in the realm of Spirits, soaking anything and everything, including a modest cottage in the location of Swamp Bottom.
A figure stood, hazed by the downpour, just beyond the gate to the establishment, not moving, not caring about the endless rain that spattered the dirt below him into a muddy mess.
A blue-green, sleeveless Kimono hugged the young man's form, dripping in rain and hemmed with the mud around him. The boy's hair lay no farther than his shoulders, and shimmered a dark dusty black color. It too was soaked with rain, and his bangs dripped incessantly into his eyes. The boy's almond shaped eyes remained focused on some random point directly in front of him, steely and grayish green. His hands hung slack at his sides, constantly dripping with precipitation that ran down his exposed and sleeveless arms.
"Don't look back until you've reached the other side of the tunnel," the memory of his younger self crossed through his mind. He was seeing the human girl, Chihiro, off to her parents and the human world.
"Will we ever see each other again?" the ten year old girl had asked him innocently.
"I'm sure we will." He had told her with a small smile.
"Promise?" She smiled back.
"Promise." He had responded, still holding her hand. "Now go. And don't look back." He let her hand slip from his as she ran down the stone steps, and across the path of river rocks. She ran all the way to the gateway, and obeyed, not looking back.
Haku's dripping hands clenched into fists.
He hated himself for telling her that, not to look back. He knew, if she looked back before reaching her world, she would surely remember everything, and possibly come back, upsetting the balance of both worlds. He knew, that by not looking back until she'd crossed the barrier, her memory of this world and all that had conspired there would be blocked from her access.
It was the only way to keep things the way they were meant to be. Keeping the humans and spirits on either side of that barrier, keeping the harmony. It was what he had been supposed to do, his duty as a powerful spirit of his world.
What Haku hadn't known, however, was how much he'd later regret sticking to that protocol, how much he'd miss the young human girl called Chihiro Ogino. He wanted to see her, ever since he sensed her presence in the spirit world completely disappear five years before. He missed her dearly, and he was sure.
Haku was sure that he loved the human girl who'd changed his life.
And now she was gone.
"Haku, dear, what are you doing out here?" A kindly voice approached him from behind.
Zeniba, the kinder and more generous of sister spirits was approaching him, quickly gliding through the downpour with a large black umbrella. She had a home-knit shawl wrapped carefully around her, striped in different shades of blue, mingling together in a complicated looking design. Her face was aged with several wrinkles, her grey-white hair pulled neatly into a large bun on her head.
"No-Face told me he saw you out the kitchen window, standing in the rain as if waiting for something." She told him, coming closer in the mud and swinging the shawl off of her shoulders. Behind her, in the doorway to the cottage, stood an inky black creature, expressing his concern with the face on the mask he always wore.
Haku looked up to her, realizing that in his reverie, he'd sank to his knees, drenching his kimono in wet mud. He allowed the shawl to be wrapped around him.
"Come, dear, we'll put another log onto the fire, and get you warmed up." The old spirit told him compassionately. Haku pulled himself to his feet, and allowed himself to follow the woman slowly back into the cottage.
In the five years since he'd come to stay with these spirits, Zeniba and No-face, they'd been nothing short of kind and understanding of his heartache. He'd quit working for Yubaba soon after Chihiro left, and went to the warmest shelter found in the spirit realm.
"Ah," No-face urged Haku to take a warm cup of tea from his delicate looking hands, as Haku sat on a pouf chair near the fireplace. He accepted the tea gratefully, though not really caring about food or drink. No-Face smiled, as best he could, as Haku took a sip of the steaming liquid, and drifted back to the small kitchen to prepare supper.
"Haku, I know what you are experiencing is hard," Zeniba began, slightly uncomfortable, Haku sensed, for whatever reason. "However…"
No-Face's chopping of vegetables ceased from the kitchen across the small den, seemingly expecting something. A small, chubby mouse floated to the top of Haku's chair, being air-lifted by a small black creature with an orange beak. Haku recognized them as Boh, Yubaba's young son, and Yu-bird, Zeniba's visitors for the past week. The mouse gave him a little smile in greeting, accompanied by a small 'Chu.'
"In the last four years, I have been studying greatly the possibilities of sending a spirit into the human world." Zeniba continued, pacing in front of the fire. "As you know, spirits cannot pass through the barrier into the realm of mortals. However, in my studies, I've found something of a loophole."
Haku's eyebrow rose. He knew she'd been spending a lot of time in her study, but he never saw it prudent to come out and ask what it was about. No-Face seemed to be in on it as well, his chopping had resumed, but Haku sensed that the creature's attention was mainly on Zeniba.
"A loophole?" Haku asked. "So that a spirit…like me…could get to the human world without their original entity?" Haku's steel eyes peered through his damp bangs. He knew that without some sort of form, in his case, the Kohaku River that had been destroyed, it would be impossible for a spirit to return to the mortal world.
"Indeed," Zeniba nodded. "Essentially it's a spell that would give you your own, new entity. It's something like a soul conversion." Zeniba explained further, looking at the boy.
"Soul conversion?" Haku repeated curiously.
"Yes, it's powerful and tricky magic, but I have been studying this for years, and I'm confident in my powers." Zeniba continued.
"Wait, so you want to use this magic, on me?" Haku's eyes widened, hardly daring to believe that there was an easy solution to his situation, and that it was suddenly so close.
"Only if you agree." Zeniba smiled kindly. Boh looked at Haku from the river spirit's shoulder, giving him an encouraging little mouse smile. "There are of course, risks, like any other spell. And there are some catches."
"What kind of risks?" Haku asked first, taking another sip of his tea. No-Face had again stopped chopping vegetables, and was now setting a pot of water to boil on the stove. Haku was still sensing No-Face's attentiveness.
"Well, this is a spell involving your very soul, if it goes wrong, it could cause your soul to be lost." Zeniba told him darkly. The room went eerily quiet at those last words. "You would wonder this world, lonely, lost forever and not having anywhere to go. It was unfortunate enough…" Zeniba paused, glancing for a moment to the kitchen and No-Face. "It was unfortunate enough, to have happened to our dear No-Face."
Haku stared at her for a moment. No-Face was the victim of a Soul Conversion gone wrong? He glanced to No-Face as well, and the creature nodded, a sad little smile on his painted face.
"No-Face was, not too long before Chihiro came along, also trying to get back to the mortal world." Zeniba explained, obviously reciting what No-Face had remembered and told her. "He was a new spirit, one that came from the Plane of Death to this world. His entity was once a human, as yours was once a river." Zeniba sank into a rocking chair and conjured up a pair of knitting needles to pass the story along while she knit. "He was new to this place, and he wanted dearly to go back. All he remembers of his life in the human world now is that it was cut short by tragedy in the human world. So upon finding a powerful spirit, they agreed to perform the Soul Conversion spell."
Haku gazed intently at the witch, fascinated to be suddenly finding out so much about such a mysterious creature. No-Face stood now just beyond the kitchen, his gangly black fingers interlaced in front of him, listening absorbedly to Zeniba's citation of his life. He had told her everything he had remembered, everything that came back to him over the years as soon as he discovered her subject of study one day three years before.
"However, something went wrong in the spell, either it wasn't recited right, or the spirit was simply not strong enough, and No-Face's soul became lost, no longer belonging to the mortal or spirit world, just set to wonder." Zeniba's knitting needles clacked together as she continued both her knitting and story telling. "It is quite random, where your soul would turn up. If your soul ends up here in the spirit world, you become a lost being, like our friend No-Face. If you end up in the human world, then you are considered a 'ghost' by humans. Either way, there is no turning back, and you spend eternity as such. It is lucky for No-Face that he found Chihiro, who showed him the first compassion that a lost soul has felt in eons."
"You…mentioned some catches as well?" Haku pressed on, more intrigued than ever.
"Ah yes, the fine print to the spell." Zeniba nodded, her fingers nimbly working the green yarn between her needles. "The spell, upon being successfully completed, has some back draws to it. Say we perform it on you, Haku, and you transform into your own, human entity. You will immediately wake up in the human world, in a setting of my design, as I am the conjurer, and you will begin your life as a human. However, your life in this world will be blocked out of your memory. Much like the spell that blocks this world from Chihiro's memory. You will not remember meeting Chihiro five years ago, nor will you remember your true name."
Haku's eyes sank. He thought in the sound of boiling vegetables and clacking knitting needles. Zeniba and No-Face were both silent, obviously giving the dragon the thinking time that was an obvious need at this point in the discussion.
Haku turned it over and over in his head, weighing the pros and cons. Zeniba would obviously design his human life to be near Chihiro, he knew this already without even asking. In that case, he'd be near her, just unable to remember ever loving her, ever saving her from Yubaba. Then the thought of No-Face crossed his mind, the thought of being miserable for eternity, wondering unknown land and being shunned as a monster like No-Face once was. Still, he had a great amount of trust in the kind witch Zeniba, and he wanted to be with his Chihiro, memory or not.
"Do it." Haku murmured to the stone floor below him. He was hunched over from his trip of thought, and felt Boh's weight on the top of his back. The clacking of both needles and stirring of vegetables ceased.
"Haku, dear, are you certain?" Zeniba gently asked. "Are you sure you don't need extra time to think on it?"
Haku nodded, his shoulder length hair bobbing with his motion. He told her exactly his thoughts about the matter; that he didn't want to live in a world without Chihiro, even if it meant not being able to remember her. He'd rather take the chance of somehow meeting her in the human world than to stay here, beating himself down everyday about telling the girl not to look back.
The group now stood outside in the pouring rain again, No-Face standing by the door, Boh and Yu-bird hovering right next to him. Haku stood facing Zeniba in the middle of the pathway, content with his decision. Zeniba, meanwhile was making her own preparations for the spell, using her book and notes for reference. She drew a circle in the mud around the river spirit, with five triangles placed around the larger shape, and instructed him to not open his eyes for the duration of the spell.
Soon it was all in motion, Zeniba chanting unknown cantations, the line around Haku beginning to glow a light blue color. No-Face watched intently as a whirlwind of air rose from the blue glowing line, sending Haku's hair into wild waving around him as his closed eyes faced the ground. Soon the wind blocked him from view as Zeniba chanted louder and inanely. The whirlwind rose straight to the sky, mingling with the rain clouds and spinning them in time.
The area around Haku was now all in the blue light, the wind seeming to acquire the torrential rain into it's cyclone. Zeniba looked up as she completed the chant, expecting the final step of the process that would signal the spell's success.
A bright bolt of lighting traveled around the whirlwind, forking down into five branches of electricity that all met up with their respective triangles. Haku, unaware of the lightning, only felt wind seem to come up from the ground, and allowed himself to point his closed eyes towards the sky. He felt warmth seem to spread through him from the inside out. It was a very pleasant warmth, but he forlornly sensed the dragon seemingly fly out of him, soaring up into the sky without him. At last, his feet lifted off the ground, and he sensed that whatever ends this was leading to, it was going, now. This was his last moment as Nigihayami Kohaku Nushi the river spirit.
'Thank you,' Haku sent to Zeniba in his mind, knowing the witch would be able to sense it. Meanwhile, Zeniba smiled to herself as the boy rose higher in the column of wind and rain.
'Be safe, Kohaku.' She sent back.
Haku smiled to himself, catching Zeniba's message.
With that, everything for the spirit went dark, his mind becoming a blank slate.
-Catgirl-of-Bavaria- : I decided to use that theory of Chihiro's not looking back causing her to lose memory of the spirit world…It's probably not one of my favorites, as Haku and Chihiro should be together, and her having to forget would just be…well, I guess this prologue kind of addresses my thoughts on that! '
But nonetheless, it'd be probable, I suppose…