Reality was cruel, but it's cruelty was nothing compared to the things she'd faced as a ten year old human girl in the Spirit World. So Chihiro stayed in the boring reality she had been born into for as long as she could, settling into a humdrum of schoolwork and friends, then the bore of work and boyfriends.
She was never happy, and the rest of reality could see that.
She'd often lay in bed at night, thinking about what would have been if she had stayed, if she had purposefully gotten the question wrong and continued to work in the bathhouse, alongside Haku and Rin.
She'd be waking up about now, and running down to the boiler room to give Kamajii his breakfast with Rin, gossiping about customers in the elevator. Then she'd get the joys of cleaning the tubs, probably a smaller tub than last time because it was unlikely they'd get an 'important' (meaning especially stinky) guest today. After a day's work, she might be a be able to sneak in a meeting with Haku at dinnertime, when everyone's eyes were turned on the day's main meal. After lights out she'd sneak back into the room, cuddling in close to Rin and telling her the secret kisses and touches she'd shared with Haku, taking Rin's sisterly advice on the matter of Haku, and love.
But each morning, Chihiro woke up right where she had laid her head last night: on her pillow.
If she went back now, she'd be closer to Rin's age than Haku's really, and Yubaba wouldn't take her back in even if she could manage to cross back into the spirit world.
So instead, she built a like here.
Her best friend was tall and thin, with dark hair-a substitute for Rin. And every man she ever was with had eyes the color of a river and hair as dark as a night sky.
One Friday night, however, she boarded a train, and woke up in front of Zeniba's house.
Zeniba wanted her, to use her against Yubaba, as her namesake and such.
Every Friday since she was fourteen, Chihiro returned to the Spirit Realm to practice magic.
The word spread quickly, and all her old friends from the bathhouse-including Rin-showed up at one time or another to welcome her back, even if they knew she was not to stay for longer than the weekend.
As she began to excel in witchcraft, she began to excel in reality as well, as if her limited time in the Spirit World had partially eliminated her reserved side.
She met knew friends, got a boyfriend, and every weekend she still disappeared until one day, she couldn't do it anyone.
"My visits have to get shorter, gramma. I'm getting married." Chihiro smiled, proudly showing off the ring gracing the twenty-year-old's finger.
She was older than Rin by three years now.
"Oh!" Zeniba cried with joy. "I'll miss you, child, but I know someone who'll miss you even more."
And for the first time in ten years, she let the name be whispered into her ear: Haku.
Zeniba assured her he still loved her, and Rin told her every week how he's continuously shoving all the other girls at the bathhouse off of him, claiming he's with someone else. But Haku had not visited her once in the almost six years she'd passed in and out of this world, and his face was the one she'd come back to see the most.
So slowly, she stopped coming.
The wedding came and went, then arrived the honeymoon and the babies and the carpools and the college funds and spending money on things (like dresses for dances) that Chihiro had never before realized were so important. She had left the Spirit World when she was ready, though it took ten years longer than originally planned. She was a practiced witch by then, teaching her daughters (but never her son) the trade.
And when she visited Zeniba's cottage again, this time she was staying for good.
She was sixty-seven years old, but the moment she set foot inside the house she was ten again.
And Haku was there, and it was like she never left-and maybe she would never have to again.
