Ryumiko flicked happily through her cousin's old sketch book. In it were her illustrations of strange beings, from people made of radishes, frogs wearing yukata, a dark figure wearing a Noh-mask and a giant baby with an old hag who had a giant head. But Ryumiko's favourite sketches were the drawings of a boy with green hair and eyes. For some reason, this boy featured many times in her cousin's sketchbook. Often, the boy was seen to be pictured with a white dragon with the same green eyes. Occasionally, her cousin featured in these scenes. Everytime the boy was drawn, somewhere on the page, her cousin had written 'Kohaku'.

The boy was a mystery to Ryumiko, unusual and full of secrets. Three years ago when she was twelve, she often imagined she could enter her cousin's world and discover the secret behind Kohaku. She remembered the times her cousin had told her fairytales using the pictures she'd drawn; about an abandoned theme park with a bath house for spirits, ruled by a greedy witch who stole other spirit's names in order to make them her servants.

But her cousin no longer entertained her with such stories. Her cousin was eighteen and in college studying art, not caring for her world of spirits and magic. Ryumiko sighed and closed the sketchbook, placing it back in her cousin's wardrobe. She was now living in her cousin's room while she was away in college, thanks to the little problem that her parents had passed away and left her without a cent to her name. Don't get her wrong, she was sad about her parent's death, but they'd always leave her at home whilst they travelled the world, making her stay with relatives for the most part of her life. Her loss was not a large one.

She glanced in the full-length mirror, at her features that were so much like her cousin's. Her face was a little more oval shaped than her cousin's but otherwise almost the same as her cousin's. The only changes were her hair and eye colour. Her hair was a glossy black that reached her waist and her eyes a dull blue instead of her cousin's beautiful deep dark brown eyes.

"Ryumiko! Lunch is ready!" called her Aunt from downstairs.

"Coming!" Ryumiko replied back, opening the door to exit the bedroom. She paused and looked at the door. Reaching out a hand, she traced her cousin's name that was engraved into the door, whispering the name as she traced, "Chi-hi-ro…"

"Ryumiko?" called her Aunt.

She snapped out of her little moment and pulled her hand away from the door, running down the stairs to the kitchen.

x-o-x-o-x-o-x

"Where are you off to, Yumi?" asked her Aunt, using her old nickname.

Ryumiko paused at the front gate and turned to her Aunt, "Just out for a jog!"

Her Aunt waved her good-bye as she took off down the hill. Ryumiko knew the town like the back of her hand. She was now heading up to her Aunt's favourite grocer and shopping strip, and on the turn to her right, she would enter the forest that was at the end of the road. Chihiro had taken her there often for picnics when she was younger. Once they'd found an old and enormous red gate at the end of one road. Chihiro stared at it for hours before Ryumiko went to go explore what lay before the gate. Before Ryumiko could even pass the gate, Chihiro grabbed her and pulled her back, "No! You can't go in there!"
She gave her cousin a questioning gaze before asking why.

"It's because if you go in there, you might not come back out! It's so old that it's about to collapse any day now!" Chihiro explained.

Ryumiko had always known it was a lie, but never questioned her cousin about it again… neither had she found the gate again. Many a time, since her cousin had left for college, Ryumiko had set out to find the gate for herself... her search was always unsuccessful. Today it was going to be different. She fingered the hundreds of short strings that she carried in her pocket. As she walked, she was going to tie strings on branches, so that she knew where she'd been before, hopefully eliminating different places. As she neared the forest, she took a deep breath to steady herself.

Hours passed and there was no sign of the old red gate anywhere. Her pile of strings was half gone and the sun seemed ready to set in an hour's time. Ryumiko sat against the trunk of a small tree, listening to the sound of dry leaves crunching underneath her weight. Her feet were sore and her patience had run thin. What's the use anymore? she thought tiredly. It's been weeks and I still haven't found so much of a-

Her thoughts were stopped when she saw a little rock-like mound between the trees that seemed familiar. Wandering on sore feet towards the mound, she gasped when she saw a glint of red catch her eye. Breaking into a run, she stood breathless before the giant gate, not quite believing that she'd finally found it after all those weeks. Ryumiko absently tied a loose string onto the nearest branch before walking towards the wide tunnel-entrance. Not only had she seen this gate once before but many a time, she'd seen Chihiro drawing it. Sometimes it was coloured, others, it remained a lead pencil sketch, but all of those drawings held not even one once, of the overwhelming mystery the real thing did.

Ryumiko found her feet being pulled closer into the darkness of the gate, urging her to explore further. Any normal person would know that walking aimlessly through a tunnel just before sun down was not the best idea in the world, however, Ryumiko could not resist following her foot's will; too many unanswered questions that could be solved lay beyond that tunnel, and she was not about to let the opportunity pass.

It wasn't long before she could hardly see where she was going, occasionally stumbling over rubble or chunks of the gate that had crumbled from age. After a couple of moments walking in the darkness, it seemed as though there was no end in sight. Just as she considered turning around and heading home, she saw light at the end of the tunnel. Being able to see the ground now, she broke into a run, eager to get out of the darkness. As she kept running, she gasped when she found her feet speeding through a field. She stopped abruptly and looked ahead. She could hardly believe her eyes. There, right in front of her, was something she'd seen in pictures, heard in stories... Chihiro's 'Spirit World'... The abandoned theme park.

Hello out there! So I thought I'd try out a Spirited Away fic since I find the concept intriguing and the storyline brilliant! Sorry about this chapter length but my first chapter is always the longest and the most difficult to read... It's all good from here!

So I hope you enjoyed reading this and I hope I can update for you quickly (This is a bit of a difficulty seeing as I'm horrible when it comes to updating :S)

Anyways!

REVIEW PLEASE!