RETURN TO THE SPIRIT WORLD!

CHAPTER 1

When Chihiro got to the new house her parents were in shock. According to the date they've been gone for weeks. They couldnt figure out what had happened. Her dad had come up with all sorts of theories but none of them have ever come even close to the truth. She would have told them everything that had happened with her in the Spirit World, as if they actually believed her. If she told them they might think that she was either making it up or just crazy.

Its been almost 5 years since she got back to the Human world and made some new friends at her school. However no mater what she did she couldnt help but missed her friends in the Spirit World like Lin, Boh, Kamaji, No Face, and Zeniba (Granny). But out of all those people she especially missed Haku. No matter what though she still believes that she will see him again.

She enjoys looking for pictures and anything else she can find on the Kohaku River before the apartments were built. It helps her remember him and the promise that they made. Sometimes if she looked ever so closely she can see his face in the water other times she can see him as a dragon.

Sometimes she would wake up and wonder if it had all been a strange and long dream. That it had never happened and then she would look at the table next to her bed and smiled. The hair band she used to tie back her hair was there. The very one that her friends had made for her would shine in the morning light and Chihiro would know that it wasn't just a dream. One day she woke up and after she got dressed, picked up her backpack, and went downstairs her mother noticed that she looked even more tired then usual in the morning. Chihiro didn't sleep all night long. She was having that dream again; the last time she saw Haku. She gave her mom and dad a hug and kiss and left for school.

Oh her way to school she was lost in thought about Haku again, its been 5 years and in those 5 years she had grown up and became a very beautiful young lady. In fact all sorts of boys had asked her out loads of times but she always said no. They couldnt understand why and she couldnt tell them because she didnt know the answer herself. She got to school and her friends came up to her and started talking like the always did but today Chihiro hardly listened to what they were saying because she was daydreaming about Kamaji in the boiler room and the soot sprites.

The all of a sudden the most popular guy, Hideo, in the school was walking over over to them. The girls stopped talking and stared at him as he walked over and said hi a little breathlessly.

"Hey Chihiro," he said. "Can I talk to you real quick?"

"Huh? Oh I guess," said Chihiro coming out of her daydream; she didn't even know he was here till he said hey.

She followed him a little ways away and waited for him to talk. He smiled confidencely and said, "You want to go out with me?"

Chihiro was expecting this he wasn't the first boy to ask. She smiled polietly as she shook her head and said no.

"Great I know a great place to go to after schoo... wait did you just say no?" he asked his smile fading.

"Yes. I'm sorry but no thanks," said Chihiro.

"Why?" he asked. "Dont tell me that you're going out with someone else?"

"Not really," Chihiro said.

"Then why dont you want to go out with me?" he asked me.

She opened her mouth and then closed it again. To be honest she didnt know why she always turned guys down she knew that she had to figure out the reason.

"I'm sorry but I cant," she said and to her relief the bell rang. She turned and almost ran up the stairs.

As she was sitting in homeroom her friends came up to her and started asking her all sorts of questions and when she told them that she wasnt going out with Hideo they all were going on and on about why not. They kept this up until the teacher came in and told them all to settle down; and for the first time Chihiro was glad for class to start.

As the teacher started going on and on about math; Chihiro started to draw on here notebook cover. She didnt even notice because she was trying to figure out why she always said no to boys. At first she thought that she just wasnt ready and was nervious but now...

she looked down at her notebook and saw that she drew the radish spirit, some soot sprites, No Face, and a shining dragon all over her notebook. She stared for a long time at the dragon and thought everything over when she was in the Spirit World... when her parents turned into pigs, when she worked at the bathhouse, when she was almost eaten by No Face, when she met Kamaji and the soot sprites, when she met Zeniba (Granny) and she turned Boh into a mouse...

"Chihiro pay attention this is going to be on the test," snapped her teacher.

(Later while walking home)

Chihirio was able to get away from her friends and on her way home she thought of more about the Spirit World... getting on the train with her friends, meeting Lin, talking with Zeniba (Granny), being attacked by paper birds, but the one thing that kept going on through her head was flying on a Haku and remember his real name... the Kohaku River and freefalling.

She didnt even realize that she walked right by her house. By the time she realize this she saw that she was on the road to the tunnel, and she was standing right next to the stone shrines. She stood there for a minute before she made up her mind and started running down the path.

She ran and she ran; even after her lungs felt like they were about to pop she still ran. She didnt stop until she was right in front of the tunnel. She stood there tying to catch her breath and staring at the tunnel as if she never seen it before.

She came here often and just stared at the tunnel though she never once went through it. Crossing over to the Spirit World crossed her own mind thousands of times but she just didnt know what to do.

She stood there for almost an hour completely lost in thought and when the sun started going down she turned slowly and walked home. She turned around at the tunnel one more time and sank to her knees crying. She finally understood why she was like this... why she couldn't go out with boys... why she was so anxious and uncertain all the time... why this pain in her heart wouldn't leave...

She had been chasing her dream for so long now that sometimes getting it back was all she could think about... and other times she just wanted to forget.

She missed her friends and longed to see them all even Yubaba again. But most of all she wanted to see him again she knew she couldnt hide it anymore.

Sometimes she wanted to forget it but it just wont go away... she keep seeing his face over and over again in her mind.

She wanted to see Haku or i guess the Kohaku River again with all her heart... she understood her feelings finally after all these years and wondered when it began.

"Haku... I... I love you..."