A Debt Repaid.
By NekoNemui.
A/N: Hey guys! I had a creative flow late last night, and I felt like writing something new! So, welcome to the wonderful land of one-shots, because you're in for one crazy ride!
Disclaimer: Spirited Away is not mine. Not yet. :mwahah:
The boy with the black-as-ebony hair frowned as an icy draft crept through the opened window in the exam hall. He suppressed a shiver as the air closed in, and seeped through the fabric of his thin sweatshirt. When the exam had started, it had been sunny outside – a perfect morning. But now, clouds dotted the sky; blocking out the heat of the sun and threatening to cast rain to the earth below.
Haku had finished his exam twenty minutes ago, and was now sitting silently at his desk, waiting for the other students around him to complete their papers, too. It was so quiet in the room that the raven could have heard a pin drop. Well, quiet except for the distant scratching of pencils on paper.
Emerald eyes glanced at the clock hanging on the front wall. It was rather large for a clock, and had olden styled Roman numerals instead of English numbers. Whenever the 'seconds' hand would move, it would make a slight ticking noise – which could only be heard when the hall was as silent as it was at that moment.
It was 12:59. Only one more measly minute until Haku could leave and be free of year twelve school life..
Until next week; when he would have to come back, and sit another five-hour exam.
He'd been in the exam hall since eight that morning, and was more than ready to go home and catch up on the sleep he hadn't gotten for the previous week while he studied for them. Even as he watched the clock tick and tock, he could feel his eyelids drooping.
At long last, the bell chimed; signalling that the exam had come to an end.
With a fresh burst of adrenaline at the sound, Haku stood abruptly from his chair and stalked to the front of the room to hand in his stack of hand-written papers. The professor gave him a curt nod, and didn't bother to look up from the work he had been engrossed in while the exam had taken place.
Taking the nod as permission to leave, Haku practically jogged out of the room and down the hall; juggling his books and laptop between his hands while trying to shove them into his bag. He pulled his timetable from his school diary and read it over as he strode down the front steps of the giant school. He needed to double-check his exam times so he could calculate how long he would allow himself to rest.
"Haku!"
The raven snapped out of his thoughts and glanced up from the timetable in slight shock; spotting the source of the voice as a figure came bounding up to meet him at the bottom stair. It was a girl; a girl he had known all his life. And her name was Chihiro Ogino.
He had known the brunette for as long as he could remember. The memory of Chihiro's family moving in next-door to his was so distant that he could have sworn it had been decades ago, not a mere sixteen years. At first, Haku hadn't liked Chihiro – as a toddler she had been clingy, and never gave him enough space. That didn't change as the two grew up together – attending the same primary school and high school; and most likely, university. But they had grown on each other; and now the two were completely inseparable. They were both eighteen now; and were taking their final exams of the year - the ones that determined their entire lives ahead.
In other words, they were serious. And Chihiro Ogino was anything but.
"Good afternoon, Chihiro." He said exhaustedly as she fell into step beside him.
"Again with the formality? God, Haku. It's only me." She pulled a face as though she had eaten something sour.
"You say that every day. This is just the way I am; you know that."
"What – a total suck-up? Man, you need to stop trying so hard to impress me; it'll never work."
He frowned darkly at the shorter girl as she giggled at her own comment. The green-eyed boy sighed, rolling his eyes up at the darkening clouds above.
"So how was your exam?" He asked, his voice monotone.
"It was so boring!" The brunette exclaimed, over-dramatizing as she leaned her weight against Haku. The raven stumbled as he was thrown off-step, nearly sending both of them crashing to the pavement below.
Before he could lecture her about it, the girl continued to speak.
"But that's not what I came to talk to you about – Last night I had a really weird dream!"
Another one? Chihiro had all sorts of strange dreams; and unfortunately for Haku, he was stuck as being the audience when she narrated them the following mornings. He let out a long exhale, knowing that the brunette would never leave him alone until he heard her out.
"Do tell."
"Okay. So," She stopped mid-sentence as she dragged Haku over to the nearest set of benches and flung the two of them down on a seat. Haku groaned inwardly – she obviously had a big story to tell.
"I remember moving to some weird town in Japan. Yes – Japan! I know, I've never even been to Japan before. But anyway, both my parents were with me and suddenly my dad started talking about taking a shortcut to our new house. All I remember after that is an abandoned train station and theme-park looking place through some dark tunnel. Or maybe it was a village? I can't remember. But it was all abandoned."
Haku nodded, not really knowing what she was getting at, and not really understanding due to the fact that he was only half listening. Sure, she was his best friend, but sometimes she could go on and on..
He chewed the inside of his cheek. He just wanted to go home and rest.
"And suddenly," Chihiro continued; oblivious to Haku's bored behaviour, "My parents ate some kind of strange food and turned into pigs! .. Don't give me that look, I'm being serious, Haku!"
The ebony haired boy simply stared at his friend, mouth slightly agape. How on earth did she think of those things? Seriously – pigs?
He decided that he'd had enough crazy talk for one day. He really, really needed some sleep before he dropped dead from exhaustion. Besides, she would probably come up with a new story in a few days, anyway.
"And then all these weird-looking black monsters began to roam the streets and-"
It was at that moment that Haku spotted a bus pulling up in front of the senior school area. No; not just a bus – this was the bus. It was like God himself had brought the bus's fate together with his – and he wasn't going to turn down such a good opportunity to escape.
"Chihiro, I really need to go – I'll text you later though!" And with that, the eighteen year old took off, tucking his laptop under one arm and his bag over the other.
"Haku – Wait!"
Haku didn't wait to hear the rest of Chihiro's argument and boarded the bus hurriedly; not looking back over his shoulder as the double doors closed behind him.
"Haku – wake up! Hakuuuu!"
Haku rolled over in his bed and lazily opened one eye. A small noise of annoyance left his lips as his eyelids refused to pry apart due to the 'sleep' that had crusted over the inner corners of them. Eventually they broke apart, and there, in his direct line of vision, was the origin of his disturbed slumber.
He felt a wave of sleep rush over him; begging him to just roll over and shut his eyes again – to ignore Chihiro as she jumped up and down on the end of his bed. Instead he just slammed his eyes closed again; feigning sleep and praying that she would get the hint and just go away.
"Haku – I saw you open your eyes! You look like crap, you know? Get up – I need to tell you something really important!"
The eighteen year old groaned out loud, and pulled himself up into a sitting position. He could feel his hair sticking up, and the crustiness in his caruncles was making his eyes irritated. He angrily glared at Chihiro from beneath his ebony locks. This had better be important.
"What do you want, Chihiro? How did you get in here?"
"Oooh," She teased, her mouth forming to resemble an 'o', "someone's on their time of the month!" And then, referring to Haku's second question, she said "Your mother let me in."
Haku grumbled under his breath, muttering something unintelligible. He made a mental note to change his doorknobs for ones that had locks in the near future.
"Anyway – I'm here to tell you.." The brunette trailed off, looking him dead in the eyes.
Suddenly Haku felt his blood chill. She looked like she was about to tell a child that their pet rabbit had died.
"Tell me what? Chihiro?" He was beginning to inwardly panic.
".. that you are a spirit!"
The raven blinked at the girl in front of him. "I'm a .. what?"
"A spirit! You shouldn't be here – you won't last in your human form! You have to go back to the Kohaku River or else Yubaba might take your memories again and you might forget who you are!"
"Yu- what? Huh?"
"Oh my God!" She cried, pointing an accusing finger at him. "You've already forgotten!"
"Chihiro – forgotten what?"
He watched with wide eyes as Chihiro paced the small room; her fingertips resting on her chin as if in deep thought. Suddenly she stopped, and turned to him with furrowed eyebrows.
"You.. you! You made me leave the Spirit World! It's your fault that I had to leave! Why did you do that?"
"I did what?"
Haku was really beginning to get sick of saying 'what'.
"Haku – you seriously don't remember? You saved me from disappearing in the Spirit World, and then you helped me sign a contract under Yubaba so I could stay and work in the bath-house!"
"What's a bath-house?" Haku mentally slapped himself for blurting out the question. Now he'd have to listen to her talk even more..
"A place where spirits go to clean in luxury! Sort of like a spa-house here. Haku – you were the number one apprentice of Yubaba!"
The raven sighed and rubbed at his temples. "Who is Yubaba?"
"The witch who rules the bath house. You're the one who told me that!"
"Chihiro, quieten down a little.. I'm still waking up.." Haku muttered, wincing at Chihiro's natural loudness.
In all honesty, it wasn't strange for Chihiro to casually waltz into his house – they were neighbours and she often spent time at his home after school on most days. But right now.. he just wanted some sleep. He hadn't escaped her only a few hours earlier to have her jump all over his bed while he tried to rest up.
The two of them had always been best friends; but never once had either of them hinted to taking it a step further than that. They just always seemed to be comfortable with the friendship they currently had.
Though Haku considered himself to be a rather good at concealing his emotions.
Yes, Haku had, on multiple occasions, admitted to himself that he liked Chihiro Ogino. As in, more than a friend. At times, she could be smart, cute, funny.. and Haku would fall in love all over again.
"Yeah yeah, ice princess. Just hurry up and remember and then I'll leave you alone!"
But right now was not one of those times.
"You'll leave me alone if I remember?" He asked, his tone extra poisonous.
"Yes!"
"I remember. Bye-bye now."
Haku flopped backwards onto his pillow again and pulled the sheets up over his face as he turned his back to Chihiro. He could basically feel her fuming behind him.
"Haku! I'm serious! Do you think I'm crazy?"
Very slowly, the raven turned his head to stare at her over his shoulder; his eyes blank. "Do you want me to answer that?"
Then Chihiro jumped on him and tore the sheets off his body. She watched in satisfaction as he squirmed on the bare mattress and tried to ignore what she had done. But it was a lost cause – she had crossed the line.
Haku sprung himself from the bed and strode angrily over to the brunette; gripping her by the shoulders and spinning her around so that he could control where she was walking. With his new control, he wheeled her over to the door and pushed her out – slamming the door quickly and then using all his remaining strength to push his clothes cabinet in front as a way to prevent the girl outside from re-entering.
Quite pleased with his work, Haku scooped his bed sheets from the floor and returned to his bed – plugging in his headphones to drone out the banging of fists and cries of anger beyond the bedroom door.
It had been three days since the day Haku had kicked Chihiro out of his room – and since then, he had been living stealthily; careful to avoid her at all times.
Instead of studying at home (where she would undoubtedly find him), he decided that he would work at the school – in the library, preferably. After all, it was a huge library; one that he could easily conceal himself in.
She had called him so many times that he had just turned his phone off completely. Whatever that dream was, she was still going on about it. Seemed like it would take a while for her to move on and come back to reality.
Haku had only one question – Why, oh why did this have to happen during exam weeks?!
The raven let his head fall forward and collide with the bathroom wall. He had taken a lunch break from his studying and had also taken that as an opportunity to have a bathroom break to relieve himself as well. So now he was standing in a urinal stall, wondering why he was stuck dealing with his difficult best friend's crazy side-effects.
"Haku!? Are you in there?"
Speak. Of. The. Devil.
Chihiro's voice echoed throughout the large bathroom area. Luckily there was a bend in the wall, so even if she had poked her head through the door, she wouldn't have spotted him anyway.
"Haku – answer me or I'll have to come and find you. I know you're in there – the librarian told me."
He gritted his teeth. That damned librarian was a traitor.
"Chihiro – what is it now?"
"Oh – Haku!" She shrieked happily, her voice noticeably louder. She had definitely just entered the mens room. And judging from her footsteps, she was going to find him.
Standing over a urinal.
With his fly undone.
"Chihiro- Wait for me outside, will you?!" He called out, a little desperately.
"Huh? Did you say somethi- Oh."
She had done it. She had walked in on him and seen him halfway through undoing his jeans. Both of them blushed furiously, and Chihiro spun around – turning away from the scene.
"I-I'm sorry! I'll just.. wait outside for you, then!"
The urge to relieve himself had vanished completely by that point – overridden by embarrassment. So instead of continuing with his business, Haku simply zipped up his fly and walked out of the bathroom to join her.
"I can't believe you just walked into the men's bathroom." He muttered, narrowing his eyes when he saw her leaned against the opposite wall of the door.
She blushed again, turning a light shade of pink. Haku felt his heart twinge, but dismissed it immediately.
Instead he set his jaw. "What is so important that you felt the need to tell me in there?"
Her features changed, and suddenly she was grinning up at him. "I saved your life!"
The eighteen year old boy raised an eyebrow. "When?"
"In the Spirit World!" She squealed, giving him a funny look as though it was the most obvious thing in the world.
He exhaled sharply. "Chihiro, I'm really not in the mood right now."
"Haku – you've gotta listen to me." She continued, ignoring the raven's protests. "You were sent by Yubaba to steal her twin sister Zeniba's golden seal, and then when you stole it you were cursed and nearly died! There was blood everywhere!"
He narrowed his eyes. "I don't steal."
"Yes you do! But you couldn't help it – you had to do what Yubaba asked, because she stole your name! Your real name isn't Haku!"
"Chihiro, I have birth certificates at home that can prove that my name is Haku Nushi."
"No! You're wrong! Your name is Nigihayami Ko-Haku Nushi!"
"What the heck does that mean?"
"God of the Swift Amber River! Oh my God, Haku. You don't even remember your own name?"
"No, I don't – because that's not my name!"
"Yes it is!"
"No it isn't!"
"Yes, Haku, it is!"
The ebony haired boy growled at the shorter girl. "I'm getting kind of sick of this story already, Chihiro."
"It's not a story! It's real!" She whined, grabbing him by the sleeve.
"I'm going to go study now." He said, turning a sharp glare onto Chihiro. "Do not follow me."
As he turned to leave, Chihiro only tightened the grip she had on his shirt. "Nooo! Haku, don't leave! Don't leave me again! You did that so many times in the Spirit World!"
Haku found that his strides were beginning to slow since Chihiro refused to let go and was now stuck dragging the girl through the school hallways. He grumbled angrily and tried to pry off her fingers woven tightly through the fabric of his sleeve.
"No! Stop it!"
He ignored her cries of protest as he busied himself in picking her fingers one by one. Eventually she gave out, and toppled clumsily to the marble floor. Haku gave himself a mental thumbs up before racing down the hall and hopefully, away from the brunette and her crazy story.
"I found you!"
Haku nearly jumped out of his skin when Chihiro suddenly popped up in his vision. After all the trouble he had gone through to disguise himself in the grey hat and black sunglasses, the girl had still recognised him sitting at his table in Starbucks. He'd even worn a scarf; to somewhat hide his lower face and neck. Looking in the mirror, he was sure his plan had been fool proof. But here she was; the one he had been hiding from, who had indeed caught him out.
"Why are you dressed like that? You look kind of stupid, you know."
Well. That was a blow to his pride and ego. And to top it off, it was an insult directly from the girl he had a crush on. He once again asked himself (for the millionth time) why he had fallen in love with such a moronic person.
"Does my wardrobe bother you?" He asked, removing the sunglasses and hat to watch her reaction. Not even his remarkable skill to be emotionless could hide the iciness in his tone.
She seemed to have been caught at a loss for words. "Um, no.. not necessarily.. did I offend you? I'm sorry – you know I was only teasing."
He immediately felt a rush of guilt overcome him. The raven sighed. "No, I know. What do you want?"
She sat down opposite him at the two-seater table and folded her hands together in the tabletop. "Listen.. I just wanted to apologise for the um, story I've been telling."
Haku blinked his green eyes in surprise. "What?"
She glanced up at him beneath her lashes; her eyes full of sorrow. She genuinely looked .. well, sorry for being a total pain.
But then, slowly, she started to grin.
"Gotcha." She giggled, clapping a hand over her mouth to suppress her own laughter.
Haku closed his eyes and inhaled, trying to find his inner peace. He would not throw a fit in the shop - he wouldn't.
"But seriously, you nearly died!" She continued, leading over the table to prod him in the chest. "I can't believe you are looking so.. healthy after nearly bleeding to death in the boiler room! Man, you are so lucky that Kamaji was there to look after you while I fixed your wrongs!"
"Kamaji..?" His brain was beginning to hurt from all the new information she was bringing up.
In the past few days, Haku had gotten a few things straight with Chihiro in regards to her dream.
Firstly: He apparently enjoyed wearing a white puffy marshmallow-looking uniform on a daily basis.
Secondly: His boss was an old lady with a massive wart in the middle of her forehead who could also turn into a bird.
Thirdly: He could supposedly turn into a dragon at will and apparently enjoyed intimidating all the workers in the 'bath house'.
And fourthly: His boss had a giant baby son who hadn't aged a day in hundreds of years.
And when she claimed it was real, she wondered why he didn't believe her.
"Yes – haven't I already mentioned him? He's the boiler man! You sent me to him to find work in the beginning, but when he refused, he sent me with Lin to see Yubaba."
"Lin..?"
"Oh! Right – Lin. You and her have never been on very good terms; well, at least I know for sure that she doesn't like you one bit!"
"Well, judging from that, I don't think I like her very much, either." He frowned.
"And then," She continued, "while you were away, I accidentally let a spirit called 'No-face' into the bath-house."
"Let me guess – he didn't have a face?"
Chihiro seemed surprised. "Do you remember?!"
He sighed. "No. His name kind of gives him away, though."
She suddenly looked disappointed; deflating into a slouch like a popped balloon.
"Well, anyway, he could turn dirt into gold, and used that to trick the workers into believing he was a wealthy customer. They gave him all sorts of luxuries, but then it all got to his head, and he began to actually eat other spirits."
"He.. what?"
"Ate them! And Yubaba got really mad and decided to make me fix it, seeing as I was the one who'd let him in in the first place without knowing he was bad."
"Isn't that unfair? You couldn't have known that."
Haku cursed inwardly. He was beginning to participate in the discussion – which was a huge no-no. Chihiro openly smiled at him, clearly happy to see that he was showing some interest.
"I know, right?! But anyway, I fed him a medicine from the river spirit – not you, a different one – and he began to vomit up all the food he had eaten – including the people."
"Lovely." He was beginning to tire of the gruesomeness.
"It turns out that it actually saved him! So I saved yet another person." Chihiro grinned, obviously pleased with the actions she hadn't literally performed.
"Uh-huh." With that, the raven downed the last of his coffee and stood from his seat. "I have an exam first thing tomorrow, so I have to go and study for it now."
"What? But I was only getting started!" The brunette pouted childishly. "You always leave me, Haku. This really isn't any different from my dream at all."
Haku hated how easily affected he was by her words. How she could claw into him and make him feel guilty for the smallest things. He caved.
"Listen, you have your final exam tomorrow, too. So why don't we go out for dinner afterwards? To celebrate."
She lit up instantly. "Yeah! Sounds good!" But then she began to smirk a little. "Ooh, are you asking me out on a .. date?"
"What? No, of.. of course not!"
"Ha! You're going all red. Are you sure?"
He scowled at the floor, willing the heat away from his cheeks. "Yes, I'm sure!"
He could hear her laugh softly, and then stand from her chair, too. "I'll see you tomorrow then."
And with that, the brunette glided past, exiting through the little doors leading into Starbucks. Haku could only stare at the chair she had been sitting in, realising that, for the first time, he was the one who was left behind.
"I don't want any funny business tonight, okay?" Haku said, his emerald eyes holding the gaze of the brown orbs before him. "We're here to celebrate, not converse in nonsense."
Chihiro beamed at him from across the table. "Okay!"
The raven relaxed a little, feeling a weight lift from his shoulders. "So, how was your exam?"
"It was good, actually. I felt really confident about it all." The chocolate eyed girl poured herself a glass of wine from the bottle that Haku had pre-ordered. He frowned, realising he had completely forgotten to offer her a drink when she had sat down before.
"That's great, Chihiro."
"What about you? How did you go?" She asked, eyeing him over her glass as she took a small sip.
He shrugged. "I did fine, I suppose."
"Ah, come on, you know you did great! Heck, you'll probably ace them all and get a perfect score on your ATAR."
He shot her a funny look. "I'm beginning to feel pressured to meet your high expectations of me."
She laughed, returning her glass to the table. "You? Feel pressured? Oh, Haku. That's got to be the funniest thing I've heard all day!"
He stared at her with an unimpressed look on his face, which seemed to only fuel the laughing fire within her.
After a short while, the brunette died down, and an awkward silence settled in the air between them. Haku watched as Chihiro fiddled with her napkin, and noticed he was doing a similar thing with his empty wine glass. To give himself something to do, the ebony haired boy swiftly plucked the wine bottle from Chihiro's side of the table and filled the glass with the deep maroon liquid.
More silence. Haku was beginning to wonder if Chihiro had ever been this quiet in her life. Feeling a sudden urge to taste the liquid in the glass, he brought the cup to his lips and swung his head back to let it roll down his tongue.
"Haku – I can't stop thinking about the Spirit World!"
The raven nearly choked as Chihiro suddenly blurted out the sentence. He instantly brought a hand to his chest and thumped; trying to get the wine to move out of his airways.
He cleared his throat and stood from the table to call over a passing waitress. "That's all for tonight, thanks."
"What?- No! Haku! You have to listen!"
The outburst caused a few heads to turn their way, and Haku found himself feel rather violated by the situation. "No, Chihiro. I'm not having this conversation again."
He turned and stalked out of the diner; fully aware of the brunette trailing along behind him.
"Haku, please. Just listen!"
Realising what the two of them must look like to the other customers; he hurried faster out into the cold night and pulled out his phone to text a taxi. He was both relieved yet disappointed when Chihiro burst through the door a few seconds later.
"What do you think you're doing?" She cried, throwing her arms into the air dramatically.
"Exactly what it looks like." He muttered, hitting the 'send' button and shoving his phone back into his pocket.
"Haku – you don't understand. In the Spirit World, you-"
"Chihiro – you said it yourself; that was a dream. It's not real, alright? Stop confusing me with your insane stories!"
The brunette's eyes practically bugged out of her head.
"Insane.. insane?" Haku could have sworn he saw a vein pop on Chihiro's forehead. But suddenly her expression changed, and to the raven, she looked almost ..defeated.
"You.. really don't remember, do you..?"
Haku sighed. "No, Chihiro. I don't know why you think I would, when it has never even happened."
Suddenly she looked up; a flash of desperation shooting through her eyes.
"It did happen. It felt so.. so real. And if I'm not mistaken, you owe me for both saving you and finding out your true name."
"Well, actually, it seemed you already owed the spirit me for saving your life at the beginning, right?"
She suddenly brightened up, grinning madly. "So you were listening to me!"
Haku rolled his eyes. "Your voice is difficult to drown out. It's so loud."
"Ha-ha. But even if I owed you for saving me, I repaid that debt by saving you. And then I figured out your identity. So now you owe me."
"Excuse me, Chihiro, but I owe you nothing."
"Oh yes you do."
"No; I don't. Spirit-version-of-me-from-your-insane-dream does."
"In other words – you."
Haku inhaled deeply and exhaled dramatically. He brought his fingers together and rubbed at the bridge of his nose in frustration. It would be less bothersome to just let her believe what she wanted, and that required him to comply with her wishes.
"Fine. Whatever; I owe you. What do you want?"
And then that smirk appeared on her face – the same one from the previous day. Except this time, there was something in her eyes; making them shimmer brightly, and, somewhat deviously.
The ebony haired boy refrained from gulping. Chihiro had always been unpredictable, and he'd found that she was the only human being who was capable of making him feel nervous.
"Kiss me."
Haku blinked. His heart skipped a beat. What did she just say?
Kiss me. Her words rang clearly in his head, echoing over and over, yet not growing softer as a normal echo would. She wanted him to kiss her. The girl he had been secretly crushing on for ten years – standing before him; uttering those words with an odd confidence as though she had known the whole time.
Maybe she had.
And before his mind could oppose the situation, Haku snapped his eyes shut, and pulled the brunette to him.
It had barely been a kiss - with a simple and light brushing of the lips; but it was enough to leave him hungry for more.
With a little more urgency than before, Haku pushed his lips against hers again; soaking up the tiny squeak of surprise that erupted from Chihiro and using it as fuel behind his passion. He could feel Chihiro lean into the movement, and exhaled dreamily through his nose as she wrapped her arms around his neck. His arms tightened around her waist as she began to curl locks of hair at the base of his neck between her fingers.
Finally, the need for air became too great, and the two jerked apart, panting heavily and looking flustered. Chihiro glanced up at Haku beneath her lashes; the corners of her lips twitching upwards as she spoke.
"So that's what was missing."
He raised an eyebrow. "What do you mean?"
"I didn't tell you this before, but in that dream.." (Haku facepalmed) "we were undeniably in love."
"Undeniably?" Haku smirked; covering up his shock of Chihiro dreaming about a relationship between them. "A dream is a wish your heart makes, isn't it?"
"I don't believe that is true. After all, I did once dream about being turned into a camel and trekking through the desert, and, sorry to disappoint you, but I don't think that's on my wishlist."
Haku frowned a little in distaste. "I think I remember when you told me about that one."
"But.." Chihiro continued, ignoring Haku and gazing off into the distance. "In this case, you'd be right."
The raven did a double-take. "You.. you mean..?"
"Haku." She said firmly, turning her full attention on to him. "I think.."
Haku watched as the brunette's cheeks slowly turned a deep shade of pink. "I think I might be in love with you."
For a few moments, Haku wasn't sure whether or not he was dreaming. But when reality finally sunk in, his eyes grew wide in complete shock.
"I-"
"You don't have to answer right away!" Chihiro babbled, flinging a hand out in front of her as if to say 'stop.'
Her mouth was curled downwards and her eyes were tilted up in worry. Her cheeks had turned so red that Haku wondered if it was possible to burn yourself from blushing too much. All in all, she was kind of.. cute.
He smiled, and wrapped an arm around her shoulders; a new confidence coming to life within him. "Do you know how long I've wanted to hear you say that?"
She looked up at him, surprise evident in her eyes. "You..?"
The raven sighed. "You can be such an oblivious moron, you know?"
Chihiro hit him playfully in the chest, feigning anger. "I'm not oblivious!"
"And the sky isn't blue."
She growled. "Haku.."
And then he grabbed her by both hands and turned to look her dead in the eyes, making absolutely sure that she was listening. "Chihiro Ogino; I am and have been undeniably in love with you for ten years and counting."
"Undeniably?"
"Undeniably."
She sucked in a breath. "Ten years? That's .. such a long time."
He shrugged. "Doesn't feel like that long."
She laughed sadly, shaking her head. "You're right – it's doesn't."
He gawked at the girl, registering what she said. "What do you mean?"
..Had she loved him for that long, too?
Chihiro grinned devilishly, shooting him a funny look. "As a wise man once said – 'You can be such an oblivious moron, you know'."
He frowned. "Very funny."
She grinned. "I am."
And then she fell into him; wrapping her arms around his waist and burrowing her face into his chest. He hesitantly circled his own arms around her shoulders; somewhat shocked by the sudden action. He eventually relaxed, and the two stayed like that for a while – together beneath the light of a street lamp on that icy winter's night.
Their peace was disrupted, however, when the taxi Haku had ordered pulled up; honking to signal its arrival. At first, neither of them moved. But then Chihiro tilted her chin upwards, locking her eyes on Haku's.
".. Do you remember yet?"
Haku groaned for the hundredth time that week, and lightly bonked the brunette on the head with his fist. "Stop it already."
As they walked hand in hand to the passenger doors of the vehicle, Haku grinned into the night.
Maybe that dream hadn't been so bad, after all.
Hahaha, wow. My first one-shot. What did you think?
I am posting this on Monday the 27th of January, 2014 - In other words; my final day of the summer holidays. I want to thank all my awesome reviewers from my other story 'Forgotten' for being so supportive and patient with me while I busied myself in my everyday life. In a way, this story is dedicated to them. As promised, I will try updating weekly from now on so you will eventually get your ending!
Lots and lots and lots of love,
Neko.