In the thirteen years since Chihiro departed the Spirit Realm, she's fought to believe her fantastic dreams really happened, but it's hard to cling to memories that fade like morning mist. Can the graduating law-student reconcile her heart and her mind? What follows when she does?
Chihiro sat alone in the booth for two, frowning to herself. She always sat alone. It wasn't so bad; she was used to it by now. But still, there was a part of her that longed for more. Once, she'd found someone who'd touched her heart. At their parting, he'd promised they'd meet again, and his eyes had promised she'd never really be alone. But where was he now?
Of course, her memory played tricks on her, and she couldn't really be sure if these were memories, dreams, or wishes. At night, vivid visions of a fantastical adventure played in her mind. She always woke with the feeling that these visions were memories, but even when she reached for a pen and paper, all solid comprehension vanished, leaving her only with doubt and dismay.
The waiter appeared at her elbow and smiled. "Can I get you something else, beautiful?"
She looked up and smiled at him. He was a nice kid. Not her type, even if he had been closer to her age. Sometimes she had to wonder if he was just being kind when he flirted with her or if he really thought something could come of it.
"Eric, your uncle can't approve of such talk, and we both know it."
He grinned at her and bounced his eyebrows. "True, but you haven't told the old man yet, so I think I'm safe."
Her eyes rolled, and she shook her head. "Okay, Romeo. Just the check, please."
Eric smiled and nodded his head. "Coming right up, cutie."
Chihiro turned to the icy window and sighed. The snow fell softly without the fierce wind to whip it into a frenzy. She liked evenings like this—quiet and peaceful. A blazing fireplace and a book waited at home for her along with her old cat, Puff. She smiled to herself as she thought of the lazy old beast. Perhaps the creature was so ornery because of the terrible name. Chihiro's only defense was in that she was only thirteen when she'd named the creature and she'd been really into English names at the time.
She sighed as she thought of the headache she'd gone through to get that stupid cat through customs and quarantine when she'd moved to the United States for university. Her last year—seven more months and she'd graduate. Nights like this made her wonder if she really wanted to stay on in this country or return to Japan. There was no doubt that the company she wanted to work for was based here—but still…
"Here you are." Eric set the bill down and smiled as he disappeared again.
Like always, his name and number appeared at the bottom of the ticket. Like always, she shook her head with a smile and laid the money on top of the ticket. She stood and threw her coat over her shoulders. With a wave to her young, over-zealous waiter, she stepped out into the cold, night air.
Her breath rose in a frosty column as she strode through the streets. Even if the river was frozen, she enjoyed walking along its banks on the way home. She felt her love for the water was somehow linked to her ever illusive dream-memories, but like everything else she found herself drawn to, it was distant and confused.
Logically, she should hate the water—having very nearly drowned once. Just as odd was her unexplained aversion to resorts of any kind. After all, what was wrong with having someone wait on you hand and foot so long as you paid for it? But these were her strange likes and dislikes.
Chihiro sighed as she strolled down the cobblestone walk that ran next to the guardrail. She paused to stare out over the ice and water. The river ran swifter than normal, so that the center of the river lay open with ice clinging only along the edges. The rapids near the banks, conferred motionless by the cold, rested in a powerful tranquility that was both awing and chilling.
"Excuse me, are you Sen?"
Chihiro turned, startled, towards the voice. She started to answer in the negative, but something in her stomach stopped her. She felt that once upon a time, she had gone by Sen. "I've used that name."
The pale stranger smiled and held his hand out. She looked down to see what he offered. There, resting in his palm lay a shimmering, translucent, aquamarine scale. Her mouth dropped open, and her eyes lifted to his face again.
"Who…?"
"I'm just a messenger," he interrupted her question. "This is for you."
The moment she touched the object, blurry memories began to dance in her head, and for the first time, she could call them memories without wondering if they were flights of fancy. The scale was hard as steel though it was light and soft. She tested the edge with her finger and wondered if it might cut her. She imagined that it could cut if she needed it too, but at the same time, it would never cut her.
"Where did you…" She looked up, but the man had disappeared, leaving only a puff of feathers floating downward with the softly falling snow. Chihiro looked higher. A great snowy owl had almost crossed the mighty river.
She cuddled the precious object against her chest as emotions broke over her like waves. While the memories still refused to solidify, she knew this was paramount. In all of the jarbled memories, one face stood out for her. This was one of his scales. Did it mean…? Could he…?
Chihiro didn't have time for musing. She had to get home, because Puff would be hungry by this time. Of course, the fact that the cold was beginning to set into her bones and would freeze her joints soon didn't slow her either.
The woman frowned as she struggled with her keys. Something was strange. Whenever her keys jingled in the door, Puff would come and yowl until Chihiro made it inside to quiet her. At best it was poetic justice; at worst, it was cruel irony. She didn't know what she would do if her landlady found out about Puff. Chihiro didn't have the funds to move, and she couldn't get rid of her beloved cat, regardless of the minx's pushy ways and snippy attitudes.
"Puff?" she called as she shut the door behind her. "Where are you, Puff?"
To her dismay there was no answer meow, and her cat did not solidify—a comical rounded-rump where a regal tail should curve in perfection. Nature's joke: the Manx Cat. She was really beginning to worry now. Puff was not a young cat, and her worst nightmare was coming home to find her beloved cat had abandoned her in favor of the great litter box in the sky.
"Puff?" She entered the living room and turned on the light.
Chihiro froze as her heart leapt to thunder in her throat. Every muscle tensed as her flight or fight response hit overdrive. But there was something about the stranger that soothed her nerves and toned down her reactions Perhaps it was his gentle, green eyes or the fact that her normally homicidal cat rested, contended in his lap, purring loud enough to rival a Harley.
He smiled at her—a disarming, affectionate smile. "Hello, Chihiro," he started. "It's been a long time."
For a moment she could not speak. There was something tantalizingly familiar about his speech… and his eyes. Still, she could not move. There was a stranger sitting on her couch, and her cat treated him like family—better than family. He spoke to her as if they were close friends, yet she knew that he was not someone she'd run into lately—if ever. However, when he spoke, her dream-memories danced around behind her eyes, making her wonder again about her sanity.
"Are you who I think you are?" she finally forced out.
He smiled again, this time bright and open. Puff jumped to the ground as he stood and reached into his pocket. "I seem to have lost the companion to this," he started. "Have you seen it?"
Chihiro looked down at his hand. He held out an iridescent, blue-green scale, just like the one she now carried in her inner coat pocket. Her mouth dropped open, and she looked back up at him.
She reached into her coat pocket and produced the frail-looking object.
"I thought you might." He grinned again, placing his scale next to hers in her hand.
"How did you get here?" she breathed.
He grinned, and somehow, she knew he wasn't going to answer her question right away. Her memories told her enough to know that was true.
"Do you want to go for a walk?" he invited.
Chihiro smiled and took a deep breath. For the first time in years upon years she felt like she was home. "That'd be nice, Ha… Kohaku."
His smile widened. "You remember."
She shrugged with a smile as she walked with him to the door. "I guess I do."
Walking by his side, her hand linked at his elbow, the cold didn't dare touch her. Their breath rose in columns of dancing mist as the two strolled beside the river. Chihiro felt peace wrap her in warmth and comfort.
"You seem well," Kohaku commented after a short time of comfortable silence. "I am glad to see that."
Chihiro flushed a little. "I'm glad you've come," she murmured. "Sometimes, I feared you were a dream, and that I'd never see you again."
"I promised, didn't I?" he pointed out.
"You did," she answered. "But that means little if was a dream."
He laughed—warm and strong like a rushing river. "My dear Chihiro, you have accepted far too many of your world's skepticisms. Who says that even if it were a dream I could not have fulfilled such a promise?"
"I just… It's that…" She closed her mouth in thought. "Was it a dream?"
"It might be what is called a dream," he answered without answering. "But are not some dreams more real than your so called reality?"
"Perhaps."
"Chihiro, do you remember what I told you before we parted?"
She swallowed as the conversation came flowing back to her—clearer than it had ever been.
He'd looked down into her eyes and taken her hand in his own. The boy had opened his mouth and said, "Keep your heart strong and your will steady. They will guide me back to you. Do not doubt when your world tells you you're foolish. I will find you when I am strong enough to come for you."
"Yes," she whispered. He must have finally gathered the strength to rebel against the evil forces that dominated his life.
"I have come," he announced the obvious as a sad glint rose in his eyes. "Just as I promised. Doesn't this mean that our time together was 'real'?"
"Kohaku, what's wrong?" Chihiro tugged on his arm as she stopped walking, forcing him to stop and face her. She glazed up into his vibrant eyes, trying to read the emotions there.
He smiled and reached out long, graceful fingers to touch her face. "I cannot tell you how I've missed you," he murmured. "Thirteen years that dragged like eternities each…" Kohaku shook his head.
Chihiro tried to smile, but a strange fear grasped at her heart. She could feel that something very wrong in their air. "You didn't answer my question," she pointed out.
"I wonder what you can feel for me after so long," he commented. "It has been long for both of us. How many things could have changed? What sort of people have we grown into?"
The human felt her hand trembling as she reached out to intertwine her fingers with his. "My heart tells me that I still love you." Her bold statement brought a surprised light to his eyes and stopped her heart in shock. Had she really just said that?
His eyes shifted to the side. "I have been blessed to watch you grow these pasted thirteen years in grace and dignity, but it was a curse as well. I observed you, knowing you could not really remember me and wondering if there would ever be a place for me again in your heart… Chihiro, you don't even know me anymore. You can't say you love me."
She smiled and shook her head. "I see the same heart and spirit in your eyes as when we were children. That is what I fell in love with then, and that has not changed. Perhaps you sing annoying songs while gardening in mismatched attire. I can deal with that, because your heart sings to me. I hope that if you've watched me, then you've come because I haven't grown into an unworthy wretch."
Kohaku grinned and shook his head. "You are one of the rare individuals that may yet redeem your race."
He turned from her and moved to lean against the guard rail. After a moment of silent appraisal of the frozen river, he started to speak again. His tone shifted to a weighty distress. "After I left Yubaba, there were hoops to jump through the get the Spirit Council to agree to let me come to see you in your world. I guess they felt I was being a little too pushy because they delivered an ultimatum to me last moon."
"Ultimatum?" she inquired, nervous for her friend.
He nodded, keeping his eyes straight out over the frozen water. "I only have two days to return to the spirit realm… if I stay beyond that, I will lose every status I have and will never be permitted to return."
She gasped. "That's horrible!" Chihiro bit her lip, sorry that they would have such a short visit. She looked up at him shoring her hope. "You'll be able to come back soon though, yes?"
His head dropped and his dark locks flopped forward, concealing most of his face. The strands waved as he shook his head back and forth. "Until there is a river vacancy, in the name of preserving balance, they will not permit me to return to this realm… It could be several tens of years."
Her heart stopped as his news settled on her. He'd come—but he couldn't stay. He was telling her that they'd probably never see each other again, and if they did, she would be an old woman! Chihiro fought the tears that flooded her eyes. No…
"Take me with you?" she whispered
He jerked his head up to lock his eyes on hers. The green orbs darted back and forth gazing into each of her eyes in turn. "You could never come back…" he breathed.
Chihiro felt her inhibition evaporate as she slid into his arms. She clutched him as she hid her face against his shoulder. "There's nothing here for me if you can never return," she murmured through her tears. "My parents are dead and without the hope of seeing you—I couldn't bear to go on…"
His arms tightened around her shoulders, and she let him rock her back and forth. "I can't let you go through that," he murmured.
She turned her eyes up to him. "What do you mean?"
"Do you remember how hard it was the first time? It would only be worse now."
Chihiro shuddered and gripped him tighter. "If it means I could be with you…"
He shook his head and sighed. "I didn't tell you so that you would offer to give up your life. I told you so I could ask if you would still love me if I was no longer a water lord."
"You mean to stay here?" she gasped.
"I intended to if it would not lower me in your eyes."
"You mustn't!" she exclaimed shaking her head in frantic worry. "I cannot ask you to give up your divinity. You'll gain a place on the Spirit Council, right? That's why they don't want you to come here… Humanity needs someone like you on the council!"
He shook his head. "And what about you? Doesn't humanity need just people like you to change it for the better? I know you have an offer to join the conservation law-firm"
She couldn't argue his logic, but he couldn't deny hers either. "What are we going to do?"
Kohaku cleared his throat, which drew her gaze back to his face. He glanced to the side and pressed his lips together. "Marry me?"
"What?" That had not been what she expected.
"Under spirit law, no couple may be kept apart for extended times—one year at the most," he explained, growing redder with every word.
"Even if I retain my humanity and you retain your divinity, they will be forced to let one of us cross the boundaries," she puzzled.
"It would buy us time," he answered. "You claim to love me, and perhaps you do, but perhaps it is the love of a child. I love you, but would not cage you before you knew the depths of your feelings."
"Let's do it," she laughed as she reached up to touch his face. "Call it buying time if you wish, but I will ever call it our marriage in my heart."
Kohaku grinned and nodded. "I've missed you so much."
"And I you…" They were going to win. It was going to be okay.
Chihiro stood on her toes to pull his face down to hers.
"You seem to be in a good mood."
Chihiro barely glanced up from the papers and files she shuffled in a mad flurry about her desk in her preparation to leave for the afternoon. "I am," she answered her assistant. "Did you start the paperwork for the watershed injunction?"
"Yes, ma'am," Eric answered as he raised an eyebrow. "You also seem to be in a hurry to leave."
She gathered up a stack of green folders and swung in her chair to drop them into the large file cabinet behind her. "I am," she laughed. "Has notification come through in regard to the court date for the Pennair Suit?"
"Yes, ma'am, and it's been moved along the proper channels already," the man answered with a shake of his head. "Ms. Ogino, if you don't mind my asking, are you alright?"
Chihiro spun back towards her desk and continued shuffling her papers into proper folders in preparation for her departure. "Yes, yes, I'm fine." She was more than fine. In a couple of hours, her world would be perfect. "I appreciate your concern. Two things before I leave: Eric, you're the absolute best assistant I've ever had. Thank you for that. I want you to consider taking on this position permanently, not just in the summers. I am willing to double your wages and obviously offer full benefits. Think about it. Secondly, when I walk out that door in about seven minutes, I will not be reachable again until next Wednesday night—probably more like Thursday morning when I walk in the front door. Anything I need to know before then?"
Eric's jaw dropped and he stared at her in silence. The lawyer laughed to herself and dropped a stack of memos into her outbox. Eric was so funny sometimes—was he really that wannabe-suave waiter from those few years ago?
"Are you serious?" he breathed.
"Of course," she answered with a laugh. "I have the right to take a couple of days of vacation once a year, right?"
"No, not that," he blurted. "Your job offer. Are you serious?"
The woman stopped her tizzy of departure preparations and folded her hands over her desk as she leveled her steady gaze at him. "I am completely serious. You are a valuable asset to this company and have proven to be an extremely important assistant to me. If you are interested, I am also willing to throw in an all-expenses-paid paralegal education."
"Uh… why?"
Chihiro laughed and returned to her frantic work. "Eric, you alone have more passion about what we do than the combined interest of fifty of those lumps the scouting agency sent to me. I do not want a padded pedigree; I want devotion to what we do. You have that, so I'm willing to bend over backwards to keep you here. I don't expect an answer right now. Just think about it.
"Like I said, I'll be back on Thursday. If by some freak twist in the universe you run into a problem you can't handle, contact Carl. If nothing else, he'll be able to stall until I get back."
The woman stood up and smiled at her assistant. When she looked at him, she wondered what she would have done if someone offered her that kind of job before high-school even ended. She knew he had applications in to several universities' education programs—but she meant it when she said she wanted him.
Chihiro snatched up her purse and her car keys and turned to wink at him. "Have a nice weekend!"
Without another word, she left the stunned youth to consider her offer.
Chihiro could hardly control herself as she drove down the highway. Every muscle trembled in excitement as she drew nearer. Ten months. It'd been ten months this time, and she ached for her husband. She did wonder why he'd summoned her to the north instead of just opening a portal in her—their—home like normal. It didn't really matter though; she was going to get to see him—to talk to him, to touch him.
The woman pulled off into the old state park's crumbling parking lot like the directions instructed and turned her key. When she immerged, she was surprised to find an old lantern swinging in the air—suspended on the very nothingness. Chihiro laughed to herself when it began to sway down a pathway into the woods.
The daylight had begun to fade by the time the path opened up to a clearing and a lake. The lantern flew up to the right to hover near among the low branches. When Chihiro glanced around, her breath caught in her throat.
His back was to her, but she knew something had changed—she could feel it.
"Kohaku?" she called as she moved towards him.
Her husband turned to smile at her as he extended both arms to her. "Welcome, my love," he greeted as he enfolded her. "I have missed you so."
She tilted her head back to accept his kiss and gripped his shoulders when her knees went weak as always. "I was so happy when I received your summons," she said when he lifted his head to allow her to breathe.
"You have until Wednesday to spend with me?"
"Just like you asked," she answered. "But why did you want to meet here?"
A pleased grin spread over his face. "This area has long been under the dominion of a very powerful dragon—the Steel Toed."
"Did she give you an exit point?" Chihiro guess as excitement overthrew her patience. It was too good to hope for. They wouldn't have to wait months to meet any more!
Kohaku grinned and moved to brush some of her hair out of her face. "In a manner of speaking," he answered. "She's giving me her rule."
Chihiro's jaw dropped. Did he just say what she thought he said? "That means…"
The dragon nodded as a mischievous smile spread over his lips. "It means that by the end of the year I'll have the right to come and go as a wish, whenever and wherever I wish. It means I'll be a full member of the Spirit Council. I wanted you to be able to see it when I told you."
"Congratulations!" she bubbled as she pulled him into a tight hug. So that was the change in the air. "I'm so happy for you!"
"I'm happy for us," he whispered in her ear.