Ok so this is my first ever Fanflic (written down at least). It is a little short and kinda lacking in anything happening but I wanted to write a short Fanflic that was a bit different to other SA's i have read. There will probably only be three or four chapters.

Posted 10/08/09

Redone and lengthened as of 13/08/09

As it would seen customary with Fanfics I do not own any part of Spirited Away's story, concept or characters.

"Chihiro what am I going to do with you?" Chihiro winced at her mothers tone, it wasn't angry or rough but instead filled with disappointment and sorrow and cut deeper then any other tone could. The girl who had not long turned twelve had a feeling that her mother knew this fact all too well as she looked down from the report card held I her mothers hands towards her own feet wishing the ground would just open up and eat her.

"Ever since we moved her your grades have dropped, I know it is been hard for you to get settled here but it has been nearly two years now. It's not just your school work either, just look at this place. When did you last tidy up in here?"

Chihiro glanced around her room, it really was a mess and even though it was bigger then her room in their last house it seemed far more cluttered then that room had ever been. Dirty cups were stacked by her bed and on the floor as well as a few small plates. There were clothes shoved and piled up in corners, books were off the shelves and there were pieces of paper, some of which were bound to be over due home work, scattered around like leaves in a wood.

"You don't talk to us any more either, if you would just tell us what the matter was maybe we could help you. I know its an upset moving and that you are coming to the age where everything is changing..."

"Mom it's not that" The last thing Chihiro needed was her mother giving her another 'Teenager talk' "I have just been a bit distracted and still feeling a bit home sick. I didn't mean to let everything get on top of me but i am going to try harder i promise" There a peace offering, hopefully it would get her mother off her back for a while. Chihiro's mother looked on at her daughter with a sigh, her lips pinched together.

"All right but if your grades don't improve I am going to have to show your next report card to your father." Chihiro winced and her mother seemed happy with the response. The last thing Chihiro needed was her dad on her back. After placing the report card on top of the nearest pile of papers (which happened to be on a barely visible desk) Chihiro's mother left leaving the girl to slump backwards on her bed and stare up at the ceiling before reaching over and pulling a pillow to her chest to cuddle.

Chihiro had told the truth and really was home sick but it was not a simple little house on a plain little street with tarmacked roads and friend's faces that made her heart ache. It was for the touch of magic and the unexpected, for friends without faces and the rush of adrenaline she felt when she flew as flowing scales glided beneath her.

At first she hadn't truly missed the spirit world, after all no task her mom or dad set her could ever compare to scrubbing slime encrusted bathtubs (or smell as bad) but slowly Chihiro noticed something was missing, like a colour had been taken out of her life leaving her world muted and gray. She started to doubt herself for having left the Spirit world. Would she have been so eager to leave if her Parents had not been involved? What would she be doing now if she had stayed? If she had looked back as she left? But the question that lingered in her thoughts the most was Would she ever see her friends again, would she ever see Kohaku again?

Chihiro lifted her pillow to her face and sighed into it. She was just being a stupid little girl. Her friends had risked their lives to help her brake her contract with Yubaba and it was that contract that had meant she could stay in the spirit world. Chihiro thought through so many ways she could go and see her friends and though she felt everyone would be shocked and happy to see her she could not think past the first meeting. She would have to work but there was no way she would go back to Yubaba, who knew what she would do to her after she had been so humiliated. Chihiro gave a shiver at the thought and pushed the pillow under her head.

She could always go work for Granny but that was so far away from everyone. Train tickets were expensive too from what she had heard. Haku could...no, Chihiro shook her head slightly, Haku was free now he could go anywhere he wanted and live his life again as a dragon not a witch's pet but if Chihiro went back she might as well shove another slug down his throat. He would want to keep and eye on her at the least and as his friend Chihiro knew she could never take away his freedom like that.

"The Kohaku river flows again" Chihiro said softly to herself, she wondered if he would make a river in the spirit world or would he claim one? She wasn't too sure how things like that worked.

"Why do I still feel like I don't know my own name? Is it because I'm not Chihiro any more? At least not the same Chihiro who walked into the bathhouse?" 'But then who am I?' Chihiro wondered. After a moment Chihiro pushed her self off her bed and walked over to her window. Opening it a gust of wind brushed her face and the girl was left gazing at a blue sky patched with white clouds, like scales, over looking the busy houses and buildings of her neighbourhood. It was strange to think that she hardly knew the places or the people she shared this view with when she had lived here for coming two years now.

"I free, that's who i am. I'm just as free as Kohaku to pick my own path and my own life" There was no point trying to fight time and Chihiro realised that she had been clinging on to her memorys of the spirit world and of her friends there harder then her name on that little peice of card. She had to let go if she was going to truely be free. Not forget, she could never forget, but she could no longer try and stand still. She had a life to lead, a life she and her friends had fought for, and it was time she raced out to meet it.