Disclaimer: God I wish I owned spirited away, but sadly I don't

Chapter 1

The sun in Chihiro's bedroom window woke her from her peaceful slumber. She sat up and rubbed her eyes, attempting to wake herself up more but failing. She lay back down unknowingly and closed her eyes again, allowing sleep to once again overcome her.

"Chihiro?" Somebody called from outside her door.

She groaned and sat up again, knowing she couldn't get those few minutes of sleep she craved.

"Get out of bed and get downstairs now, you're late!" Her mother yelled angrily from outside her door.

Chihiro jumped at hearing she was late; she turned so she could see the alarm clock that was sitting on her night stand.

"7:50…" She said lazily, preparing to lie back down, "7:50!?" She yelled as she realized just how late she was. She jumped out of bed and ran to her closet and yanked her school uniform off of its hanger. She threw it on as hastily, but carefully in an attempt not to rip it.

"Chihiro, you are a mess!" Her mother scolded as she sprinted out to the kitchen, her hair looked like it had been in the middle of a tornado.

"Sorry…" was all Chihiro could say in her haste of putting toast into the toaster, then running back upstairs to pull her hair up into the ponytail she always wore. She was careful with the purple shiny band as she pulled her hair through it, it wasn't very noticeable but she always wore that hairband and no other.

"Get out of here!" Her mother yelled.

"Trying!" Chihiro yelled in return. She ran downstairs and grabbed her bag, then her toast. She fumbled with it being so hot.

"Get a boyfriend!" Her mother yelled as Chihiro was leaving the house.

Chihiro sighed, her mother had changed. Her parents divorced when she was 13 and she'd been living with her mother since, she preferred her dad over her mom. But her mom was insistent on Chihiro living with her, and saying her dad would influence her to do bad things, and meet bad people. So Chihiro had been pushed around and insulted for the way she was since the divorce. She was now 16 and a junior in high school, which meant it had been three long years of her mother trying to change her.

"Hey, hey, hey look who it is, Chihiro Ogino." Her best friend Aki said as he walked up, throwing his arm over her shoulder.

"Aki, what's up?" Chihiro asked, but not really caring enough to hear the answer. Every day before school her mother would yell something to her right before she left that she needed to get done that day. Today's was to get a boyfriend apparently.

"What did she request today?" Aki asked, hearing her tone. He knew all about her mother, and how she acted.

"I need a boyfriend." Chihiro sighed exasperated.

"Hey, we could always fake it for your mother. I could come over for dinner, and we could hold hands and kiss…" Aki said making kissy faces and Chihiro. Aki had confessed his love for her a long time ago, and was turned down, but that didn't change their friendship at all.

"In your dreams lover boy." Chihiro muttered, she didn't want a boyfriend. Plenty of boys told her they loved her, but she never gave them a chance with her. She didn't want a boyfriend. Of course that didn't stop about 50% of the boys that confessed to her. They would follow her home, or try to flirt with her after class, but none availed. She heard rumors of why she wouldn't date anybody they would get crazier and crazier as the years progressed. She has a boyfriend that doesn't go to the school (untrue), she's a lesbian (untrue), she's picky (unsure), she can't date a boy because she's secretly engaged to a prince in a far off world and she's actually an alien princess (what). To be honest, at one point in time Chihiro might have felt a sort of love towards a certain river spirit. But she was 10 plus, she hadn't seen him in 7 years. Oh, and- you know- he was a freaking spirit.

The bell rang pulling her out of her thoughts, her back stiffened as she realized that she was late. Her head turned to her left where Aki once stood, but the area was now vacant. She knew why, she would go off into her little trances of thought and wasn't aware to the world around her. Not sound, not person, but pain was something she was aware of though.

Aki must've walked away when she went into her own little world. She did that a lot, but mostly when she thought of Haku.

She missed him a lot; she could still remember his calming voice, his smile that always lightened her mood, the way he looked at her, and how scared she was when he was hurt. And he was free now, unlike her. Since she left the spirit world she never felt quite at home in the human world, everybody was nice and all- especially Aki- but she didn't feel quite welcomed.

"Chihiro Ogino, you're late." Her teacher scolded as she walked into the classroom.

"I'm so sorry sir I dropped my bag and had to get my things together." She lied, bowing her head.

"Take your seat, because of your grades I won't put it on your record. But if it happens again…" He trailed off as he wrote her name down on the attendance sheet.

"Yes sir." She mumbled sitting down, she didn't like attention and all eyes were on her as she sat down.

The rest of the day was uneventful as she listened to lecture upon lecture about things she already knew.

She was waiting and waiting for her walk home though, her route to her house from the school passed by the Kohaku River, or what small parts were left of it. There was a small stream of it that ran on the other side of the apartments that covered the river, it was small but still there. On her walks home she would always take her time walking by the small river, secretly hoping to see Haku again. But she would never see his wonderful eyes or his amazing posture as she would round the corner. She only saw the small remains of his once beautiful and flowing river.

She sighed as she was leaving her last class of the day, gym. She hoisted her messenger bag up onto her shoulder and tried to exit the creepy empty locker room as soon as she could- well at least she thought it was empty.

"Chihiro" A male sing-song voice echoed through the creepy old room.

She paled instantly, fearing that there was a ghost or something in there.

"Chihiro" The voice called again, only this time closer.

She backed up as much as she could before she felt something close to her ear.

"Chihiro" A husky voice whispered in her ear, sending chills down her spine.

She nearly jumped out of her skin when she heard how close he was, she opened her mouth to scream but was stopped when she felt a hand clamp over it.

"Shhh… We don't want to get caught do we?" The voice asked in her ear once again.

She shook her head slightly, and he dropped his hand.

"Daiki what are you doing here?" She asked as she registered who the voice belonged to.

"I'm here to see you babe." He murmured, only this time his mouth was closer to her neck than her ear.

"Get away from me you pig." She demanded trying to run away.

"If you fight me I'll have to make you kiss me." Daiki warned, as he grabbed her waist to pull her back in.

"Get off of me!" She began screaming.

Daiki turned around so he was in front of her with his arms on either side of her, and pushed her up against the lockers.

"Good girl." He whispered, as she winced in pain from hitting the lockers too hard. That's when she notice, he had his little goons hovering behind him. There were about 5 of them standing there, just watching Daiki attack her, some even looked amused.

"No stop! Please!" She pleaded, as he leaned toward her more.

"You know you like it." Daiki whispered

"You pig!" Chihiro yelled angrily, she brought her knee up and hit him right in the groin. As Daiki keeled over in pain she made a mad dash for it, she managed to avoid his goons and get out of the locker room.

"Get her you idiots!" She heard Daiki yell in the distance. "That bitch is going to be mine whether she likes it or not."

Chihiro ran as fast as she humanly could away from the boys, the footsteps where gaining on her and she had to get somewhere public so they couldn't touch her.

"We've got her now." One of the goons yelled.

She let out a small whimper. They did, they were gaining on her fast and she was running out of speed.

She pushed herself even more she was gaining on the apartment complex, and if she made it she could knock on some doors and ask for help.

"Gotcha!" One of them yelled, she looked back and saw that one of the boys was about two feet away.

She took in a sharp breath then surveyed her surroundings, she was too far off from the apartments to make it, and she was by the Kohoku River instead.

"Daiki I've got her!" The guy behind her yelled right before she felt him push her over. She rolled down the hill towards the river. Before she could calm her spinning head she felt somebody on top of her.

"No! Get off of me!" Chihiro yelled.

"Never babe." Daiki whispered on her neck.

She let out a small whimper as he nuzzled his head into her neck. Daiki turned her head so he could access her more, when her head was turned her eyes landed on the river off to her right.

"Haku" She whispered helplessly.

Suddenly there was a big explosion that blinded her and made her fly back. She was literally flying through the air, Daiki was no longer over her, and instead she heard him scream in horror.

"D-d-d-dragon!" She heard him yell.

When she felt herself fall it began to register to her how much it would hurt when she hit the ground. She prepared herself for a sudden burst of pain, but felt nothing. She'd stopped moving but wasn't on the ground.

The large explosive sound from earlier had dissipated and it was extremely quiet now, no birds, no wind, nothing.

"Are you okay Chihiro?" She heard a familiar calming voice ask. That's when she opened her eyes that she hadn't realized she'd kept closed; she saw that she was being held in somebodies arms.

"Y-yes…" She stuttered, not looking up at the boy holding her- she was blushing too much.

"Thank god. I'm sorry I didn't react earlier." The boy apologized.

"What?" Chihiro asked looking up at her holder. She met the boy's eyes, green, she observed. She looked at his face, attractive, very attractive looks like he's my age, she noted. She looked at his hair, black, she saw. Haku, she realized.

"Haku!" She flung her arms around him, he was older now and was dressed much differently but still recognizable. She hadn't seen him in 7 years, and he was here now. All the fear and anger she had felt earlier had diminished. She felt happier than she'd felt in 7 years, he was there.

"I've missed you so much." She said, her voice muffled by his shoulder where her head was laying.

"I've missed you too." She heard him say, as he pulled her closer.

"What the hell!?" Chihiro heard a voice yell, that sounded like Daiki's.

They broke up their hug, and Haku set her down onto the ground once again.

"Get your hands off of my girlfriend!" Daiki yelled angrily, he probably didn't know that Haku was the dragon that'd scared him earlier.

Haku narrowed his eyes, and began stalking over to Daiki. He looked genuinely enraged, it was terrifying.

Chihiro brought her hand up and placed it on Haku's arm. "Wait" She said softly. Haku's face softened, and he stepped back.

"No! I want to fight this big shot, come on! Who do you think you are, interrupting me and my babe?!" Daiki yelled as he began walking towards Chihiro and Haku.

Chihiro took a cautious step back, fear filling her eyes.

"No." Haku said calmly, he'd taken notice to Chihiro's reaction and wasn't going to let her get hurt.

"What was that? You scared?" Daiki yelled getting closer to them.

"Just go away and I won't hurt you." Haku warned, placing an arm in front of Chihiro. He was lying obviously- he wanted to kill that boy for touching Chihiro the way he did.

"Give me back my babe and I'll probably still beat the shit out of you." Daiki growled, snatching Chihiro's arm. She whimpered in fear as he tugged her towards him, she tried to yank her arm away but to no avail, Daiki was to strong. Daiki pulled her up to him and wrapped an arm around her waist, making her face be extremely close to his. She tried to turn her head away from Daiki but he raised his other hand and made her look at him.

"What do you think you're doing, you idiot! First you knee me in the groin-" Daiki's lecture was cut off by Haku's snicker. Daiki glared at him and continued, "Then you make me run across town, and now you have this boy here trying to 'protect' you!"

Daiki raised his hand angrily, and began to bring it down to slap her. Chihiro closed her eyes and was prepared to face this pain, when she didn't feel the hand make contact with her face. She opened her eyes and saw Haku standing next to them now, and he was holding onto Daiki's wrist in a death grip.

"I wouldn't do that if I were you." Haku growled. Then Daiki was no longer holding onto her- but lying on the ground on the other side of the road.

Chihiro's eyes flew over to Haku who hadn't moved, but he was looking at Daiki like he wanted to do more than that to him.

"Thank you." Chihiro whispered, she hadn't realized it, but she had tears flowing down her face.

Haku's attention went back onto her and his face softened when he saw that she was crying.

"Hey, Chihiro… it's ok. You're fine now." Haku said, pulling her into a hug.

Chihiro began crying harder as she realized that she was being the "poor little heroine" of the situation.

"I'm sorry I scared you, I'm sorry I made you do that, I'm sorry that I'm crying, I'm sorry-"

"Hey, it's fine." Haku said softly, interrupting her apologizing pulling her closer. "Let's get you home."

Chihiro nodded, but didn't want to let go of him. She only tightened her hold on him, almost as if, if she let him go she would lose him and she would have to face Daiki alone again.

Haku looked down at her, his heart breaking for this poor girl. "How long has he been doing that?" He asked softly, after she calmed down a little.

"It's been pretty random, but recently he's been coming after me more. I'm usually able to get away- just today he had his friends with him." She said sniffling.

Haku pulled her closer to him, assholes he seethed.

"Let's go." He said quietly, lifting her back up into a cradle.

Chihiro was surprised at first but didn't do anything about it, she felt safer in his arms. She leaned into his strong chest and closed her eyes for a moment to try to rid the evil memory of those boys from her mind.

"How did you get here?" Chihiro asked after they'd been walking in silence for the past five minutes.

"Well, when you left the spirit world I had my contract broken with Yubaba. So I was free, but I didn't have anywhere to go. I would wander around the bath house, but I spent a lot of time in my river. I would see you walk by every day after school for seven years Chihiro. I wasn't able to go to you though because I was still in the spirit world. But today when I was there I saw you running, and you looked so scared." Haku paused for a second, and swallowed. "I wanted to help you but I couldn't get out. But when you said my name the barrier broke and I was able to get out. I think I scarred Daiki's friends for life." He said chuckling.

"So that explosion I heard… it was the barrier breaking?" Chihiro asked.

"I think so…" Haku said.

"Oh my God Haku, what if you can't get back?" Chihiro asked, sounding scared.

"Who says I want to go back?" Haku asked a little mischievously.

That didn't calm Chihiro's nerves, "I didn't mean for you to get stuck in this world, I didn't even know if that would work. Oh no, I'm so sorry." She said, leaning into him more.

"Hey, I wanted to be here. The spirit world had nothing for me, I can protect you here." Haku said calmingly.

"You don't need to protect me- I don't want to make you do that." Chihiro said blushing a little, she was glad he couldn't see her face.

"No, I want to." Haku insisted.

Chihiro looked up at him surprised- in all honesty she'd never had anybody be so kind to her. He looked down at her, she had aged well, and she was absolutely beautiful. She'd grown her hair out a little longer but still kept it in her normal ponytail, her eyes shined with wonder and kindness. She looked so shy and sweet, and beautiful.

"Chihiro?" Somebody asked interrupting their moment.

Chihiro looked over to the source of the noise, "Uh… mom." She greeted, they'd reached her house without her realizing it.

"Who is this?" Her mom asked looking at Haku confused, that's when it just occurred to Chihiro that she was still in Haku's arms.

"Oh uh…." Chihiro trailed of, "You can put me down now." She whispered at Haku.

"Oh, sorry." Haku mumbled as he placed her on the ground again, Chihiro swayed a little so he put his arm around her waist to stabilize her.

Her mom's eyes widened when she saw him put his arm around her, "Oh, he's your boyfriend!" Her mom exclaimed getting the wrong idea.

"What?" Haku asked, he didn't recall making this agreement.

"Yes, uh… yes he is." Chihiro said, surprising him.

Haku looked down at her confused, and she gave him an apologetic look.

"Good, I knew you would pull through. Come here boy." Her mom insisted sternly beckoning him.

Haku looked down at Chihiro for conformation, she nodded slightly and took his hand in hers. They walked up to her mother together and waited for her to speak.

"Good looking…" She mumbled putting her hands on her hips, "Are you rich?" She asked.

"Yes, he is." Chihiro said before Haku could answer.

"Uh- huh…" Her mom said nodding and looking him over, making Haku uncomfortable. "I have one question for Chihiro."

"What is it?" She asked.

"How did you get a boy to go out with you?" Her mom asked, "You know, I'd told you to do that but was preparing for you to come home empty handed. How in the world did a girl like you get a boyfriend?"

Haku furrowed his brows at her mother's rudeness towards her daughter.

"I have no clue." Chihiro mumbled.

"Is she paying you?" Her mom asked Haku.

"What? N-no." He said baffled, is she being serious?!

"I can't believe it…" Her mom said laughing. "I'll give it two days, and then you'll realize how much of a freak she really is."

"Come on Haku." Chihiro mumbled, pulling him into her house.

When they reached her bedroom she fell onto her bed, with Haku sitting in the chair by her desk.

"I'm sorry about that." Chihiro mumbled putting her hands on her face.

"Why would your mom say those things about you?" Haku asked.

"Because she's evil." Chihiro's muffled voice said. "I'm sorry I got you into that situation, we can pretend to break up."

"No, that's okay. I don't want your mother to be ashamed of you." Haku said standing up, and looking around her room.

"She already is, but thanks anyways." Chihiro said sitting back up, and taking her hands away from her face.

"We could keep pretending if you'd like." Haku said looking over at her. Chihiro's face lit up and she nodded excitedly. Haku laughed at her sudden burst of energy, he walked over to her bed and sat down by her.

"Thank you Haku, I don't know how to repay you for all you've done for me today." Chihiro said looking at the floor.

"You don't need to, just you being okay is a big enough repayment for me." Haku said giving her a small smile.

Chihiro smiled at him then grabbed his hand and led him over to the window.

"Tell me about all the people from the bath house." Chihiro said as they sat down.

"What's to say? They're the same as ever, they do miss you a lot though." Haku said with a small smile on his face. The moonlight was shining in his green eyes making him look simply gorgeous.

"I would like to know what has happened to you though." Haku said pulling her out of her thoughts.

"Well, I'm a junior in high school now… and well… I don't have many friends, actually I have one friend." She said thinking.

"Wait what?" Haku asked surprised, he would've guess that she was extremely popular.

"Yeah, um… it's not bad though he's nice-"

"He? What's his name?" Haku asked.

"Aki" Chihiro answered simply.

"I haven't seen him before have I?" Haku asked, thinking of the people that have walked home with her.

"No, he has soccer practice after school so he's never with me. But we walk to school together." Chihiro answered.

"Uh- huh… So that's why nobody helped you today?" Haku asked.

"You helped me." Chihiro pointed out yawning, leaning her head on Haku's shoulder.

Haku looked down for a moment as he thought about why she wouldn't have many friends, much less a boyfriend, she's gorgeous.

"Haku?" He heard her ask somewhat dreamily.

"Hmm?" He asked

"I'm glad you're here." She mumbled as she drifted off.

"Me too." He answered, when her breathing slowed down into a peaceful rise and fall he looked down at her.

"Sweet dreams." He whispered, and kissed her forehead. He lifted her up into his arms and carried her over to her bed, and covered her up as quietly as he could. Then flicked the lights off and jumped out the window, not wanting to deal with her mother again.

Hey guys, that was my first chapter! I know it was kind of long, but I tend to prefer long chapters. So yeah, I will try to update often so leave a review if you'd like and I will read allllll of them. HAPPY READING :)~ ER