Like a Fairy Tale.
By: Princess LalaithDisclaimer: I don't own any of the Spirited Away characters nor the original history, they are of Hayao Miyazaki, I do own Chiharu though, and this fic. This Fanfic is just a way to keep myself and you occupied, I'm not doing it for money, so please don't sue me. Thanks.
Chapter 1.- Bed stories."Tell me a story mommy." A little ten-year-old girl with auburn hair and jade-green eyes said.
"Which one would you like?" her mom asked. "The Sleeping Beauty?"
"No." the girl said. "I want that story about Princess Sen and her trip to the Spirit Kingdom."
"You really like that story, don't you?" the woman said.
"Yes mama." The girl said.
"Well, here it goes." The woman said. "Once upon a time, there was a human princess named Sen. One day she got lost and arrived at another a kingdom, a kingdom that she was told never to go, because anyone who went there never returned. But when she found out where she was it was too late already, because a huge river was blocking her way back to her own castle. So Princess Sen started exploring that new kingdom…"
"The Spirit Kingdom!" The girl blurted out.
"Yes, the Spirit Kingdom." Her mom continued. "She was still exploring when she met a guy, really handsome in fact…"
"Prince Haku!" the girl said.
Her mom nodded as she continued with the story. "Prince Haku told Princess Sen that she should leave that place, before it was too late. But there was no way Princess Sen could leave. So Prince Haku offered to protect Princess Sen while they found a way to get her back to her kingdom. But once they got to the Spirit Castle they found Witch Yubaba."
"The evil witch." The girl murmured with a fake-dark-voice.
"Right." The mom said. "Witch Yubaba wanted to turn the Human Princess into a piglet, but Prince Haku protected her. Princess Sen had to work in the Spirit Castle to survive, while the Spirit Prince found a way to take her out of there. She met some friends, like Lady Rin and Grandpa Kamaji, and they taught her how to live with her spiritual essence, because in the spirit Kingdom material things aren't important, the important thing was the inside, the soul. Finally Prince Haku found a way to return Princess Sen to the Human Kingdom. And she had to leave. But even after she was back to her castle, she never forgot the Spirit Prince, she had fallen in love with him. Seven years later she ditched her crown, her title, she gave up on everything to go back to the Spirit Kingdom, to her beloved. And there, she found out Prince Haku loved her too. And they lived together, in the Spirit Castle for some time. But Witch Yubaba never liked the idea, and she was always telling the princess she could never marry Haku, because they were of different kingdoms, and no one would accept their marriage."
"What an evil Witch." The girl murmured cross armed.
"Indeed, she was evil." Her mom said. "One day, Prince Haku had to travel to a distant town, and he left Princess Sen in the castle, but it was such a sudden trip, he didn't even had time to tell his beloved Sen where he was going. So when Princess Sen woke up, she didn't found her prince, and she went looking for him. The Witch Yubaba found her, and told her Prince Haku had left forever, that he was to marry a Spirit Lady like he should have since the beginning. Princess Sen cried, she couldn't believe, she didn't want to believe her beloved Prince had betrayed her. But the Witch insisted, until the Princess couldn't take it anymore. She packed her things and left, crying."
"Damn witch." The girl said.
Her mother glared at her.
"Sorry mama." The girl said in a low voice.
"Princess Sen got back to her castle." The mother continued. "And found no one there. Many things had happened in her absence, and especially, no one had seen her parents since months ago. She was really sad, because she was alone. But then a childhood friend appeared, it had been long since Princess Sen had seen him, but he told her he was in love with her. So Princess Sen married him, and went to live with him, and the years passed, one after another. But even today, Princess Sen waits for her beloved Prince Haku to go back to her."
"Mama, why can't this story have a happy ending?" the girl asked.
"Not all stories have happy endings sweetie." Her mother answered.
"Like yours and papa's?" the girl asked.
"You already know that darling." Her mother replied. "I married your dad, and we were really happy, but he died in that accident two years ago. But still, we are together, and we'll take care of one another, won't we?"
The girl nodded.
"Ok, time to sleep little girl." The mom said tucking her. "Good night, sweet dreams."
"Good night mama." The girl replied, already half-asleep.
Her mom smiled and went back to her own bedroom, once there she sat in front of her mirror for a few minutes. It had been some years, but se looked beautiful, with her long auburn hair, and her light-brown eyes, Materu Chihiro was as beautiful as any twenty eight-year-old woman could be. She was a widow, her husband, Materu Yukio had drowned, when the boat they were traveling in sank; Chihiro had been saved by a rescuer, and she was told her daughter had miraculously survived, but her husband couldn't make it, that was two years ago; but she still had her ten-year-old daughter: Chiharu.
.---.
Next morning Chihiro and her daughter were having breakfast. Chiharu was studying fourth grade at Seyu Elementary, and Chihiro was the Art Teacher in the same school.
"Mama, I need you to sign the permission for today's field trip." Chiharu said handing her mother a slip of paper.
"Sure darling." Chihiro said signing the paper and giving it back to her daughter.
"Thank you mom." Chiharu said as she packed everything in her bag.
Ten minutes later mom and daughter left to the school.
.---.
It was about eleven o'clock when Chiharu's group arrived to where they were visiting.
"This." Their teacher said. "Was built once as a shrine, that's why you can see so many spirit statues nearby. Afterwards it was used as a train stop, and as an entrance to a park, but now there's nothing, just an abandoned building. Follow me."
The class followed him through the red tunnel and to a clearing, and not far there were some wet rocks.
"It is said that when the sun sets all this gets full of water." The teacher explained. "It becomes a river, so better no stay here late."
The kids nodded.
The teacher led them to what looked like a ghost-town or something like that.
"This once used to be a public park." The teacher said. "But it was abandoned because of the problem with the river."
Some kids looked at each other, it seemed to them that their professor was making all this up, some others took note of everything, they seemed truly interested.
Chiharu on the other side seemed quite amazed.
'Everything looks like the way mama described the Spirit Kingdom.' She thought amazed. Then she thought ironically. 'Yeah, sure Chiharu. And a few steps from here you'll see Prince Haku.'
"Chiharu…Chiharu!" a voice called.
"Eh? What!" Chiharu jumped.
"What were you thinking about?" a girl with honey eyes and dark-blonde hair asked.
"Nothing important, just…things." Chiharu answered.
"You were lost in that fairy-tale world of yours…again." The girl declared turning her eyes.
"Well, yes, there's nothing I can do about it." Chiharu answered looking at her feet.
The girl just turned her eyes again and shook her head.
"Hey Kasumi, you're supposed to be my friend." Chiharu said.
"I am Chiharu." Kasumi replied. "But I still think you're getting too involved with those fairy tales, and you're letting your life go by."
With that Kasumi walked away.
"Probably she is right." Chiharu told herself. "Well, of course she is right, she is always right." She sighed.
Just then, Chiharu didn't see a rock in her path, she tripped and fell down the road, where she bumped her head and fell unconscious; the thing is, no one saw her.
.---.
At three o'clock Chihiro was waiting for the group of kids to come back so she and Chiharu could go home, And the group arrived, but Chiharu was not with them.
"Probably she left with Kasumi." Some girls said. "Her mom picked her and some other girls up, they were going to have a sleepover tonight."
Chihiro nodded, she remembered her daughter talking about the sleepover a couple of days ago. So she left to her home to eat. She never imagined what was about to happen, something that would change their lives, completely.
Here I am with a new story. I had, in fact, written it since a while ago (as those who have aken the bother of reading my profile will have noticed), I just didn't find the oportune moment to begin publishin it. Until I decided this moment was as good as any other so...here I am. Hope you'll like the fic and leave many reviews.
P.S. For those who may be wondering, this fic is already finished, but the updates will depend on the number of reviews I receive. Thank you.
