Written in Lin's point-of-view for the sake of comedy...:P
Disclaimer: I do not own Spirited Away
Rantings of Love
The fawning of the gossiping maids had always embarrassed Lin, for she knew very well who they were directed at. Her friends –though she often thought that was too strong a word, acquaintances perhaps?- shared her daily toils and burdens, all of which had not bothered their godly patrons in the least…yet their jauntiness and flaunting beauty was something that Lin found unnervingly alien.
Heiko, the most recent addition to the bath-house staff (next to Sen, of course) was by far one of the worst lovesick maids that prattled on to her about him.
Oh, yes. Listening to the daily ramblings of a desperate teenage girl, stricken with infatuation for another who she fretted did not reciprocate her 'unending love' was one of Lin's greatest burden of all…
He prowled through the hallways as Heiko and her were washing the rims of the baths, the stench of grime and the dirt caking their carefully painted fingernails making them both scrunch their noses in distaste.
"I hate Sun gods…" Heiko muttered bitterly, her shoulders sagging in weariness as she firmly scraped the tubs clean with a sharp knife. "Their arrogance will be most certainly their ruin."
Lin snorted in agreement, unaware of her Master's presence a few steps away, watching in stoic contemplation.
"Yubaba is coming." A curt voice sliced through the easiness in the air, leaving behind a lingering tension that was all too familiar.
He was here.
Lin watched Heiko's eyes slide over and widen, a tinge of pink coloring her pallid cheeks. "M-Master…" She straightened, smoothing the folds of her apron as a shaking smile tugged on her lips.
"I suggest you hurry before she arrives. She just received a letter from her sister, and those never leave her in a good mood." The Master said, promptly ignoring Heiko.
Lin turned, locking her eyes on his cool, jade gaze, smirking. "Did she yell at you today? For bringing in that intruder?"
He smirked arrogantly, his dark hair brushed back by some invisible wind that always seemed to reappear at the most inconvenient of times. Heiko let out an audible gasp at the movement, startled and entranced.
"You should get some rest, Lin. I will take care of this." Without so much as a farewell, he turned away swiftly and with a snap of the fingers wisped away like mist on a rainy day.
Heiko let out a forlorn sigh, her droopy eyes and curving lips sending out a sign to Lin that was all too obvious. Lovesick fool.
"Oh." Heiko drawled out. "Isn't Haku jarringly beautiful whenever he smiles, Lin?"
"Yeah, yeah…" Lin muttered as she heard the ghost of a laugh echo in her head. "Real cutie, isn't he…?"
They did not like Sen at all, Heiko even less.
They disliked the way their Master had graced them with his presence even less with her around. She seemed to repel him, to repel the very same beauty that had sent their hearts throbbing with such aching longing.
And whenever he did appear, most like on Yubaba's whim, the staff ladies' oft wandering eyes suddenly didn't wander anymore. They fixed solely on him, as if he were a magnetic force impossible to pull away from.
His scowl drew sighs. His anger sparking fancies all around.
Lin hated him for it. And she hated Sen for bringing it to her attention once more.
"Haku!" Lin watched as Heiko stiffened, interrupting the story she had been telling a mere second ago. Footsteps pounded outside, audible through the paper thin walls that separated their chambers from the simple hall.
Two figures appeared, one feminine and petite, the other tall and intimidating.
"Haku…have you heard?" The girl whispered, her voice oddly breathless and hushed. Sen.
"No-Face? Yes, I've heard of him. Yubaba's having a conniption over the damage he caused, yet his gold seems to satisfy her well at the end of the day." His voice wafted to them and Kiki, a lithe and tall woman who often sung at the bath-house restaurant sighed dreamily.
"…Oh, he is ever so eloquent isn't he?"
The others let out earnest nods in agreement.
"Mmm, I wonder what Master Haku would look like if he allowed himself to age a little more?"
The girls giggled in unison while Lin folded her arms across her chest, frowning and feeling oddly left out.
"Oh, he'd be stunning!" One cried, clasping her hands together.
"Devastatingly handsome, for sure!"
"Heartbreakingly beautiful!"
"Gah!"
The girls stopped, turning to Lin with confused looks. She jumped up, eyes wide with rage and flickering with impatience. "I've had enough! Enough, I tell you!"
"Now, now, Lin…" One of the older girls stepped up to pat her softly on the back. "I know we've been waiting far too long, but trust me…Haku will come around."
"No!" Lin cried, pulling away. "Good spirits, can't you see? I'm done, finished! Pine for that arrogant, heartless boy all you want, but for the love of all that is good and holy, don't come crying to me about it!"
She turned on her heels and left, fuming.
Haku stood on the threshold of the door, head tilted in confusion. "…Lin?"
She glowered at him, breathing in through gritted teeth. "Don't. Ask."
Lin sighed in relief, smiling tiredly at Sen who swept the dirt away from the floor.
"Ahh…you have to wonder how gods manage to get themselves so dirty."
Sen grunted in reply, her eyes distant and a frown on her face.
"You know, you're a nice change from those gossipy, fawning maids, Sen."
"Hm." Sen merely nodded.
Lin leaned against her own broom. "I mean it. All they can think of is their appearance, their hair, and that insufferable Hak-"
"Less talk, more scrubbing." Haku's voice filled the air as he quickly peeked into their bathtub and clucking his tongue in disapproval. Lin stuck out her tongue at him, ever defiant and he smiled dryly at them both, an arrogant twinkle in his jade eyes.
Just as quickly as he came, he disappeared, a fresh wind coming in and stealing him away like magic.
Sen sighed, suddenly, sitting on the floor and tapping on her chin, looking strangely pensive. A light came to her eyes as she turned to face Lin who could only gape in horror at the expression she saw on Sen's face.
"Oh," Sen breathed out with pink-tinted cheeks. "Isn't Haku jarringly beautiful whenever he smiles, Lin?"
And so, the cycle begins anew…unfortunately.