A/N: Ok people I'm back again...for a while anyway. I know I have a million and one stories to update, but I was looking this one over and nearly gagged at how bad this was. So I'm going to re-write this one and we'll see about the other ones later. And yes some facts will be changed in this version of my story so nobody please say "but in your other story : insert random thing here :. Thank you.

Bad luck comes in threes

Groggily blinking the sleep out of her eyes, 17 year-old Ogino Chihiro glared at the light blue alarm clock singing merrily next to her bed. "Why anybody would come up with a machine as stupid as an alarm clock, I will never know." She muttered into her pillow. Flinging an arm across her desk, Chihiro smacked her snooze button and prepared for a small 9 minute nap.

Absorbed as she was at attempting to fall back to sleep, Chihiro didn't notice the door to her room quietly open, nor did she notice the slight footsteps coming across her room. She didn't notice anything until it was too late.

Chihiro let out a small gasp as all the air was pushed from her lungs, courtesy of the body that was now flung across her back. Groaning slightly, she let herself be rocked back and forth by the annoyance from next door.

"C'mon Chi, we're going be late!" Said Niko, Chihiro's best friend, as she shook her back and forth even harder. "Leave me alone", came the muffled reply. "Nope and if your not up in 5 minutes, I'm going to come back up and play trampoline on your spine." Niko pushed herself up and left the room without another word.

Chihiro turned over wondered if staying in bed was worth the pain.

She pushed herself up and began to get dressed.

5 minutes later, chihiro was in her kitchen, muttering darkly about morning people. Niko looked up from her seat at the table and smiled brightly. "Well look who decided to join the land of the living." Chihiro shot an 'I-hope-you-burn-in-a-pot-of-acid' glare in her direction as she reached for an apple.

Turning to give her mother, who was at the stove watching her offspring with a small smile on her face, a kiss before she left for school, Chihiro was struck with the feeling that this would be one of the last times she ever saw her mother. Shaking the feeling off ( it obviously wouldn't be the last time she saw her), Chihiro leaned in and gave her mother a quick peck on the cheek. "Mom," she said quietly, "be careful today huh?"

"Aren't I always?" She asked with a small laugh, as she turned back to the stove. With a tiny frown still marring Chihiro's beautiful features, she turned and headed out the door, Niko at her heels.

10 minutes later, Chihiro glanced at the small river that ran by the path, to the sympathy of her walking buddy. "Dreamed about it again, didn't you?" Niko asked quietly, studying her best friend. Chihiro forced a smile. "They don't come as often as they used to but I still get them from time to time. Nothing I can't handle."

Niko shook her head in sympathy and studied the path in front of her. Chihiro had told her about her trip to the spirit world last year and anyone who knew Chihiro would know that she wouldn't lie about something like that, so Niko had no choice but to accept what she had heard as truth. And there was just something about Chihiro that seemed…otherworldly. Niko also knew that her friend still dreamed about her time in the other world, dreams that left her upset and exhausted.

Slinging her arm around her friends shoulders, the 2 girls trudged up to the school. "Oh well, at least you can sleep during the assembly." Said Niko, as the walked up the stairs.

Chihiro's laughter followed them through the door.

Chihiro got through most of the day with the small ball of anxiety firmly rooted in the pit of her stomach, but after fourth period, the ball seemed to become a fist that started to squeeze her heart. So it was almost no surprise when the teacher told Chihiro that she had been summoned to the office for a meeting with the principal.

Gathering up her books, Chihiro walked to the front of the class and out the door without looking back.

The halls were empty. Her footsteps echoed ominously down the corridor as she walked to the office. She pushed open the door to the principal's office and seemed to go into a trance. Niko was sitting there looking as if she had been crying. The principal looked grave as he stood up from his chair. The policemen looked sympathetic.

They started to talk to her but Chihiro only heard bits and pieces. "I'm sorry…parents…hit and run…declared dead…hospital." Chihiro was up and running out the door before any of them could even begin to comprehend the fact that she was no longer in her chair.

That didn't last long. She was halfway down the hall when the doors crashed open behind her. Footsteps pounded up the hallway as she flung open the front entrance doors. She ran down the steps and managed to get halfway across the courtyard when arms grabbed her from behind. Chihiro collapsed onto the ground and started to scream, the sound echoing across the courtyard where the echoes of her laughter could still be heard.

4 months later, Chihiro's heart would receive another blow. Turning in her desk chair, Chihiro picked up the phone that wouldn't stop ringing.

"Hello?"

"Chi! What took you so long! I was beginning to worry." Niko's anxious voice sounded through the phone. "Why? I just didn't answer my phone..." she replied, mouth turning up in a small smile. She knew why. Niko like to worry about people and Chihiro was number one on her list at the moment.

"You know how I like to worry. Anyways…I need to talk to you. Meet me by the bridge in half an hour?"

Chihiro hung up the phone after agreeing and pillowed her head in her arms. More bad news.

An hour an a half later, Chihiro curled up into a ball on her bed, and willed the tears to stop falling. She was leaving. Niko, her pillar of support after her parents, and for the matter Haku, was leaving her. "I can't stay here. I can't stay here and watch someone else leave me…"

She pushed herself off the bed and hastily packed a bag. Closing the door to her apartment, Chihiro left her building and walked onto the street.

She looked up at the giant entrance way. Somehow it seemed a lot bigger when she was 10. Then again everything looked bigger when she was 10. Steeling herself, Chihiro took a breath and walked into the tunnel and out of her world.

Everything looked the same, she noted as she walked out of the entrance on the other side. The bathhouse stood imposing over the small town, the lights starting wink on in the fading light of day. The smells wafted across the large meadow that would soon be an ocean. With that last thought, Chihiro continued on her way. She climbed the stairs and was on her way to the bridge when she heard giggles coming from that direction.

Looking up in surprise, she noticed the people kissing on the bridge. Ducking behind a building, Chihiro leaned against a wall, breathing hard. Her dragon wasn't hers anymore. "Haku, what was that?" A female voice demanded from the other side of the wall. "Nothing," a deep, masculine voice replied. "Nothing at all."

Chihiro slide down the wall as the silent tears started to course down her cheeks.

A/N: Yes I know short-ish chapter but at least its better then the original. I'm going to leave the original upuntil I have all my reviews from my old story copy and stored awayso feel free to enjoy until then.