Please, please review. I know everyone says that, and you must usually ignore it, but i speak for all authors when I say it really truly means a lot. This was a small bout of inspiration that I kind of want to continue, so tell me if I should! Review!
Chihiro sighed, gazing at the mess of papers around her, and ran her fingers through her frazzled hair. She grabbed the purple elastic from her desk and tied it back into a wild ponytail. She was so busy lately, with her work, her new fiancée, and her fathers death. She felt the endless anxiety in her stomach, the constant droop in her eyes. She felt drained. She had to fight herself to pick up the phone when it rang. 'This is the prime of my life' she thought angrily, stomping around the house, cleaning up clutter. 'I am only twenty eight, I should stop wasting my life being sad and tired. Why am I so miserable?'
She stared forlornly out the window in the whirlwind of colored leaves, the slight drizzle smattering the windows. Her gaze averted to reflection, which looked pale and drawn, red splotchy patches on her cheeks that had remained since her childhood. She frowned, not pleased with her face. Puberty had done nothing for her, save some height, (maybe a little too much of that) and some slight curves in the appropriate places. But her face had remained round and childlike, much to her displeasure. She sighed again, then groaned. There was a brisk knock on the door. She hoped, prayed is wasn't the mail man coming to greet her "good moooooorning." Did everyone's mailman greet them everyday? She didn't think so. She found it very annoying, that daily motive to leave her chair. She liked her chair. It was a nice chair.
Never the less, she rose once again, placing a smile on her face and went to open the door. She flung it open with barely restrained exasperation and froze. It wasn't the mailman standing at her door.
"It's the biggest pleasure to see you again, Sen."
Sen. 'Sen'. The name reverberated in her mind,calling back long forgotten memories. It felt like a lifetime ago when she had lived them. But she hadn't. She couldn't have. And yet, standing before her was the very one who had been the light in those dark, dark places, the deep, lost memories.
"But you were a dream," she whispered, tears pushing through to her eyes. Also, she had never lost the want to cry like a child. She had no idea how adults did it.
He looked the same. He wore different clothes, no longer the white and blue work clothes of the bathhouse. But his hair was still cut in the same fashion, sleek and black, and his eyes, his eyes, were still eerily green, like the river he was named for, long and filled with secrets; dragonesque.
He looked slightly hurt, and she almost broke control, not quite ready to bawl in front of the strange who stood before her. But he wasn't a stranger, was he.
"I told you I would return for you, Chihiro," he said sadly but determined, now using her real name, not the one the witch had given her.
"But now?" She whined. "Now? It's been eighteen years! I waited for you! I gave up friends for you, but you never came! My life is a mess right now, and you thought it would be a good time to come barging back in?! How-" Chihiro new if she didn't stop she would cry, so she furiously slammed the door in his face. She slid down the white wood and cried. Cried, and cried. Nothing was right, but at the same time it was. Her father was dead! Work was choatic! She was engaged, and now her true love from so long ago had returned! He felt him outside, heard him sigh, the sound full of anguish and sorrow. She almost felt bad. He slid down the other side of the door. They stayed like that for a while, until Chihiro was done crying.
She mopped her eyes with a sleeve and stood precariously. Sniffling unattractively, she slowly opened the door. She looked up and met his eyes. She saw hope there, and a smile almost ready to play out. She fell forward into his open arms and sobbed agian.
"Oh, Chihiro," he said, his voice breaking. Chihiro whispered his name, clinging to him desperately, 'Haku, haku, haku, haku...haku...haku...'
She had told him to return the next day, quite unfriendly, so she could cope with the new surprise. He didn't seem to mind though, smiling knowing and releasing her maybe somewhat reluctantly from her hug. She had fallen asleep on the couch, her eyes red and puffy, her cheeks tear stained. Her boyfriend hadn't bothered to wake her up to go to bed, and for that she was slightly angry, for now she had a ferocious ache in her neck. He must of assumed she was still upset over her father, and though she was desperately sad, she had never been close to him. She had never been close to either of her parents, never being the adventurous sort they both were.
Now she waited on the edge of her chair for his knock, like a cat ready to spring. She wanted to see his eyes again, the eyes that made her feel so young and ...happy? She had spent the whole morning remembering the spirit world, the bathhouse, Lynn, Noh-face, Yubaba, Zaneba and the giant baby. The train that only went one way. She could decide if the memories wee welcome or not, but they did seem to lessen her anxiety about seeing Haku again. This anxiety was really getting out of hand. Maybe she should see someone.
A knock on the door. Chihiro bolted from her chair and was at the door in a second, flinging it open and trying to suppress the deep disappointment when she was met with the mailman blinking cheerfully down at her. He grinned and handed her her mail. Mostly bills.
"Good moooooooooorning," he lamented, tipping his ridiculous hat. "Feeling better this morning?!" Chihiro nodded, frowning when he regarded her face. "No? Well, let me just say, that mail of yours won't make it any better." At that, he just smiled wanly, and almost pranced away. Chihiro grumbled. Cheerful idiot. Rifling through her mail, she turned back inside and closed the door carelessly. She almost flung the letters when she heard,
"Oh! Well, should I just come back tomorrow then?" The voice was slightly sarcastic, something she never recalled him sounding. Oh well. She supposed the human world was rubbing off on him. She panicked, dropped her mail and opened the door.
"No!" She practically hollered. He grinned, tucking a strand of hair behind his ear. It was strangely childlike, but somehow endearing. What was she thinking!? She was engaged!...but this was Haku...
"Alright then." She led him into her house, a warm tingling spreading in her when he bent and handed her the dropped mail, saying, "you dropped these?" with a small smile. He sat carefully on the couch, seeming very out of place. He was the sort she interpreted with otherworldliness and magic. Well...he was a dragon...
"Tell me why you took so long!" She demanded, wincing at her whiny tone and cautiously observing his half smile, that seemed regretful and rueful.
"Yubaba, well, was reluctant to let me go."
...tell me if I should continue? And you will find out what happens! Reviews!