Well, now! This small oneshot was inspired by, as the title states, Spirited Away.
Summary: Acrostic poems dance and drift away on the strong winds of love. But no one that saw the drifting papers expected them to end up where they did.
Disclaimer: I don't own Spirited Away.
Spirited Away
The rustling of paper and beads could be heard as a soft breeze drifted in through an upstairs, open window of the Ogino household.
The only child of the family, Chihiro Ogino, age sixteen, sat in her room at her desk. With long brown hair that reached her waist and still quite the thin, but by now slightly curved, figure, she was clad in a pair of white capris, and a light pink tanktop. Her feet were bare, and rubbing against eachother slightly under her desk as she thought.
It'd been years since she had been to the Spirit World and the bathhouse. It'd be years since she and her parents had returned to their world, and though her parents knew nothing of the experience they all had, Chihiro remembered it all.
She remembered Yubaba who ran the bathhouse. She remembered the sight of her parents as pigs. Kamajii and Lin she still remembered well, as well. But the one memory she remembered better than anything else, was Haku who, really, she didn't let die away into just a memory, even after all these years.
She'd been ten then, and now she was sixteen. She'd gone through her preteen years, and entered her teens. She should have had crushes, fallen in love with boys at school. Something. But no. Her mind and heart stayed with the promise Haku had made her nearing six years ago - that they would see eachother again. And it was this promise that kept her heart owned by Haku, whether he knew it still belonged to him or not.
She'd been just a child then. Ten years old, and experiencing puppy love. But that love had stayed, and she'd never given another boy since Haku a second glance.
She missed him. She was waiting on the day their paths would again intertwine. Because she loved him. And she believed in him, and his promise.
The girl's eyes glanced over at her notebook, laying shut on her wooden, polished desk. The brunette cautiously reached over, taking the notebook into one hand, and brought it to herself. The rustling and slight cracking noise paper made when moved around could be heard as the girl opened the notebook, flipping back a few pages since she'd used the first few for random doodles.
As breezes continued drifting in through her open bedroom window, the curtain of beads that hung in her doorway, all multi-colored and sparkling, moved and danced at the breeze's command, creating a bit of sound.
Chihiro carefully tore out a piece of notebook paper, and soon shut her notebook back again, placing it back on the wooden desk and sliding it across it, back to where it was and completely forgetting it.
She took a mechanical pencil and held it in her hand properly, and lightly embedded an H into the top line of the piece of paper.
Words soon followed.
.::Location Switch - Spirit World::.
Meanwhile, back at another time, in another world, back with a different person - no, a different race, similar thoughts seemed to be going through a young male's mind, and he seemed to be carrying out actions that were much the same.
The spirit of the Kohaku River, better known as Haku even today, sat on the old stone steps where he'd last held the hand of the girl he loved, nearly six years ago.
His greenish hair had gotten longer, now going just past his shoulders, which had become plenty broader and stronger. Haku had most certianly gotten taller, and become toned with muscles and the like. Spirit or not, of couse his body would grow and develop some time, regardless.
The spirited male's mind, much like Chihiro's, was constantly plagued - no, blessed - by thought's of the one he loved. He remembered her so well - her brown hair, her sparkling, dazzling eyes. The child-like appearance she'd held, last he saw her.
Of course, there was no doubt in his mind she'd probably grown by now. She was probably in her teens, and had most likely developed and changed quite a bit.
She was a beautiful young woman, he was sure. One male's probably flocked and swooned over.
In the male's lap was a small piece of paper, only about half the size of what a piece of notebook paper was in modern day times. Around the edges of the stationary was a thin leaf pattern, the vines and leaves a nice, rich green color on the paper. In his hand was an old fashioned ink pen. Beside him on the stone steps sat the small vial he'd have to occasionally dip the tip of the ink pen in for what he had planned.
Feeling lonesome and rather reminiscent, as well as slightly lovestruck, Haku carefully dipped his pen in the vial of ink, making sure not to get too much in fear of easily smudging what he was to write and, using his lap as a backboard and having to carefully write, he sketched out a slightly sloppy C - curse legs for not being good surfaces to write on. But he hardly cared - he just continued to write.
C is for the childlike love and innocence that saved me that day
H is for your hair that always moved with the breeze in the most perfect way
I is for the inner feelings I have always felt for you
H is for the heart warming kindness I presented to you
I is for the igloo that was my heart that you of all people melted
R is for the road we've both walked and all the things we've dealt with
And O is for the only love I ever knew
.::Location Switch - Ogino Household::.
H is for the help you didn't hesitate to give me
A is for the attraction between us that could easily be seen
K is for the knight in dragon scaled armor you proved to be
And U is for you and me, and all the things we could be
Chirhiro had easily sketched out the words as she just wrote what came to mind, and what she remembered about Haku. With the love she felt for him, it'd been far too easy.
The girl read over what she had written, and felt tears come to her eyes, though of sadness or joy she could not say - perhaps both. This poem, obviously, read Haku.
Chihiro heard the loud voice of her father, calling her name. Oh, were her parents ready to leave?
The brunette carefully stood, willing and wiping the tears that had formed in the corners of her eyes away. Taking the piece of paper she'd just finished writing on with her, she went to her open window, leaning out it slightly and looking down at the sidewalk below.
Beside the gray, cemented sidewalk was her father's parked car. She couldn't see her mother in the passenger seat, but she knew the brown haired woman was there. Her father was leaned out of the driver's side window, the hand still in the car probably on the steering wheel while his other arm rested on the door.
"Hey! Come on - we'll be late to your open house!" Her father called up, motioning to the watch he wore on his wrist.
This evening was an open house for Chihiro's school. She wasn't new to the school, but she and her parents went every year. Chihiro would be starting her junior year in highschool this year.
"Coming!" Chihiro called, waving the hand that didn't hold her piece of paper. The other rested on her windowsill, paper in between her fingers though she was so focused on supporting herself currently that her grip on the paper was loose enough for a strong breeze that soon came by to steal the paper away, causing Chihiro to give a dissatisfied and concerned gasp. We all know how clumsy and buttered fingered Chihiro Ogino can be, and that was something that hadn't changed over time.
Chihiro gave an unhappy look as she watched her piece of paper be taken away by the wind to heaven only knows where, and as she unfurrowed her eyebrows a bit, she gave to give a blank stare, though a bit of hope twinkled in her eyes.
The thought of it getting to Haku somehow was incredibly silly, but if she had to lose it, watching it go with such a thought in mind was a nice way to go about it.
"I love you, Haku," She murmered softly, watching it go twisting and dancing on the breeze.
.::Location Switch - Spirit World::.
Green eyes scanned over the words he'd etched out onto the small piece of paper with his ink pen. The pen had been left in the small, now more than half empty vial of ink beside him, no longer needed now that his feelings had been expressed on paper.
Holding the paper in his hands, Haku stared down at it thoughtfully. A series of strong breezes swept by, though Haku, as we all know, wasn't nearly as clumsy as Chihiro.
His hair whipping and smacking against his face, coming into his line of vision, Haku brought a hand up and moved his hair out of his face, tilting his head up.
The winds certainly were strong and persistant today, almost like either they were trying to bother him or trying to rip the piece of paper from his fingers.
Haku glanced back down at the piece of paper, eyes moving downwards from first letter to first letter. Chihiro. His eyes softened...
And he let the piece of paper go, allowing the winds to rip his love and sweet little confession from his fingers.
The green haired male watched the strong winds take his piece of paper high in the sky rather quickly, allowing the softest of smiles to take hold of his face as he watched his fleeting love whisked away.
"That would be you, Chihiro," He murmered softly, in reference to the very last line of the acrostic poem he'd written for his love, even if he doubted she'd ever get it.
.::No Location - Narration::.
The poems drifted and danced on the strong breezes that had swept them away, taken from their creator's, whether it'd been suddenly or willingly.
Haku with his undying love for Chihiro. Chihiro with her silly hope that Haku would unexplainably manage to get her poem now that she no longer had it.
One having watched her piece of paper being stolen away. The other having watched his being whisked away because of his own choice to let it go.
Maybe somewhere deep in their hearts they both hoped it would, but neither had ever expected that, somewhere, sometime, their piece of paper was not stolen away, or whisked away. At some point, somewhere, their sheets of paper were spirited away.
Chihiro Ogino returned home a couple of hours after leaving for her open house to find she had carelessly left her window open before leaving. But as she entered her room, on her carpetted floor she found a small sheet of paper with words written on it in ink and written out slightly sloppily but by no means unreadable.
She crouched down, picked it up, and read it. A smile spread across her face, and tears came to her eyes.
The spirit of the Kohaku River, better known as Haku, walked home to the small cabin he'd come to live in, and dancing and twirling close to the ground at his front door, eventually letting him reach down and pick it up, was a piece of paper with lines going horizontally across it.
He easily managed to catch the piece of paper, and stood at his front door, reading over it. His mouth curved into a small smile.
Her's said Chihiro.
His said Haku.
And somehow they both knew who the piece of paper was from and that their love was true.
Well? What did you think?
Alright, alright! I know some might find the very ending with the papers magically switching world's cheesy, or very far fetched. But I like it, and it makes things sweeter - makes them have that tingly, loving vibe.
Anyway, please read - which, if you've made it this far, I assume you've already done - and review!
-Love, PuddinPie.