I'm starting yet another story! Don't worry, i haven't forgotten the other two. I'm struggling with some writers block regarding those stories. I really want to get back to them, i just don't quite know how to go about writing the parts I'm stuck at.
I don't plan on making this a very long story, maybe just around 10 chapters or so. Anyway, Enjoy!
Update: After realising how inaccurate my story actually is, i decided to fix it up. I also felt my story was a bit lacking on solid detail, so I'm going through and actually describing things. lol. I am reading up on Shinto stories, so look forward to details accurate to real mythology! Also none of the places named here are real, the movie took place in a fictional city and so will my story.
"Ten minutes!" A stern-sounding professor stated as he and his students pushed dust mops back and forth across the old tile floors. It was customary in Japanese schools to clean the classroom at the beginning of each day. The idea is that it will teach students respect for their surroundings. Chihiro scrubbed away at the mildew on the frames of the windows. They hadn't been cleaned in ages and she silently wished she had never brought it up. It was her second day at Geijutsu Bungakubu. It was a rather small college in the small town she had lived in for the past nine years.
Chihiro tended to avoid speaking to many people at the college. She could feel their disapproving jealous eyes burning through her as she walked through the halls between classes. The only reason she was there was her recent success as an author. A little more than a year prior to enrollment at the college, eighteen year old Chihiro had enrolled in a writing competition where she presented a short novel titled Spirited Away. She easily won the competition and was rewarded with a scholarship for a literature program at a college of her choice. As she began applying to colleges she opted to publish her book. It had become a national best seller within a month. The deans of the Geijutsu Bungakubu hoped to gain popularity for their small school by hosting such a well known author as a student.
Chihiro enjoyed her classes at the school, but to a certain extent she didn't feel like she deserved to be there. She almost felt like she cheated her way in. She was well known for a fiction novel and that's all it was, but something in the back of her mind kept telling her otherwise. She had once stated in an interview, "I don't view it as fiction, so much as I view it as a story yet to happen. I was an imaginative little girl raised under a Shinto household and was terrified by the idea of Kamikakushi. I was probably ten when these characters first came into existence. Whether any of it actually happened or if it was actually a dream doesn't matter much to me. What was important were the lessons i learned and eventually shared." To her, her words were true, but she still felt as if something wasn't quite right about it.
Chihiro realised that she was staring quite intensely at a wall rather than listening to her teacher. The professor repeated himself to the daydreaming girl, asking her to name the conjunctions. She recited them with ease, they had been drilled into her head in grade school. The professor gave her a half-hearted praise before moving on to the next student.
Her second class was on ancient religions. She was somewhat excited for this class. While Chihiro was familiar with Shinto tradition, she didn't quite know all of the history behind it. She was a bit disappointed to learn that it would be covered in a week or so after Buddhism. Chihiro pulled her textbook out of her back and began peeling the shrink-wrap from it. As the thin plastic was removed from the hard cover book, a strange but familiar scent wafted off of it. It was a very chemical smell, but it wasn't displeasing. Chihiro had come to appreciate that 'new book' scent. She inspected the shimmery cover of her fresh book. There was a glossy image of kitsune on the cover. She opened the hard cover only to have her breath taken away by the very next image in the book. The fierce face of a pearly river spirit stared back at her. The sea green mane seemed to flow as Chihiro stared at the dragon. In most cases, such an aggressive looking image would bother her or even scare her, but something felt familiar, comforting even, in the jade eyes of the aggressor.
That night Chihiro returned to her dorm room late, her friend Mei was already fast asleep. Chihiro did her best to not wake her friend, but it was hard when the floors creaked and moaned under even the slightest weight. She went straight through the small apartment and out onto the balcony. It was raining steadily outside. Chihiro took a deep slow breath in through her nose, savouring the musty smell as warm precipitation washed the humidity out of the air. Chihiro felt comforted by the rain, there was something relaxing about the soft patter of rain drops, something familiar. Chihiro realised she was dozing off as she stood leaning on the short banister. It was quite late, Chihiro went in to get some rest.
It was very early in the morning when Chihiro woke. She had not slept well, fortunately she had a fairly free schedule today. She had scheduled her classes for every other week day so that she could have the time to relax in between. She ate her breakfast quickly and began her pile of homework from the previous day. Day one of Ancient Religion had left her an essay on the appeal of Buddhism due by next week. She worked hard on it until around noon. Chihiro packed away her progress and made her way to the library in town. She was well aware that the college had its own library and bookstore, but those buildings were packed with schoolbooks and encyclopedias. Chihiro had no interest in those books, they were too... educational, for a lack of a better word.
"Welcome back, Ogino-san! Always nice to see you!" An older man greeted Chihiro as she entered the small library.
"Hello Hiroshi-sama! Any new fiction?"
"Not since last week, and your book is still the most recently written piece in my collection."
"Thanks anyway!" She shouted as she walked down one of the aisles. The tall aisles were uncomfortably close together, giving only enough room for one person at a time. Beyond the first set of shelves was a small sitting area. Chihiro took a seat at one of the small leather armchairs. She pulled out a small notebook and placed it at the table in front of her. She shuffled through her bag to find a pencil. Bringing her pencil to the paper, she froze. The pencil hovered dangerously close to marring the blank page as she thought hard about her ideas. As if a light switched had been flicked on in her mind, she put the pencil completely to the paper and began scribbling away. As she sat there writing, she became aware of how eerily quiet the library had become. She slowed her hand to a stop and looked around. It was too quiet, even for being the middle of a school day. She looked up, the lights were still on. The air conditioner had switched off and Chihiro hadn't noticed at first. She began to calm down as she realised what had happened to the noise. Before she could completely re-devote her thought to her page, something passed in the corner of her eye. She jerked her head in the direction of the movement, but the library was completely still.
Twilight darkened over an old bathhouse and the bridge lights flicked on. Silhouetted figures began to fill in with colour as they approached the streets leading to the Aburaya. Red paper lanterns dotted the streets giving off a brilliant welcoming light. A small, green Frog spirit named Aogaeru greeted spirits as they crossed the red bridge into the busy bathhouse. Haku landed roughly in the middle of the bridge with a loud thud before transforming into a human form and running inside. He completely ignored Aogaeru as he rushed inside and upstairs to Yubaba. Aogaeru wanted to be frustrated with Haku for not returning his greeting, but recognized that somethign must not be quite right if Haku was in such a rush. The Foreman was handing out tokens left and right as regular customers came through. He attempted to greet Haku as he rushed past, but couldn't get a word in before Haku was completely gone.
Haku burst into Yubaba's office rather abruptly and slammed a spell book down on her desk. Without a word he turned to leave; annoyed Yubaba used her magic to stop him in his tracks.
"Are you not going to wait for a thank you or a reward?" Yubaba asked, the slightest poisonous tone in her words
"You aren't the kind of person to give thanks, much less rewards." Haku responded calmly, but coldly.
"Think carefully about your words, or continuing to live will be your thanks." Yubaba spat back. Yubaba motioned for Haku's hand. When he reached outward she turned his hand palm-side up and placed on hand in his and the other beneath it. The witch's massive hands completely engulfed his. Haku felt an intense heat, he winced lightly at its intensity. Any normal person would have tugged their hand backwards from the intense heat, but Haku stood firm; the heat felt oddly familiar.
"What is this?" Haku asked, not even disguising his hunger for the answer.
"That is your fire. Surely you recognized it. For your unwavering loyalty to me and my bathhouse, I am returning the full extent of your magic."
"Why?" Haku asked, completely stunned by Yubaba's kindness.
"You have placed in my hands the spell book of the most powerful spirit in existence."
Kohaku took a long flight after his conversation with Yubaba. As He flew over the vast water that extended from the backside of the bathhouse, he blew flames out into the open air. Vibrant blue fire extended like a serpent's tongue from the dragon's mouth. He roared out in joy; a powerful stream of fire coming from his mouth and nose as he strained his voice. Flying far out into the distance, Kohaku headed towards the site of his river, or where it had once laid. As he landed he changed into his human form. He breathed in deeply again before blowing fire into the air yet again. Even in the shape of a human, he could use his fire breath. He laughed and shouted in excitement.
His joy didn't last for long as he stood at the ruined site of his river. The silted, useless dirt grew no grass to disguise the location of the river. Haku's eyes followed the dirt upstream into the distance. Nothing was there, not even the slightest trickle of water. A spring water bottling factory had been built at the top of the river and the dried up river bed filled in with left over dirt from construction sites. The clay and silt heavy dirt was infertile and ugly. Kohaku's joy was quickly replaced with sadness, then again with anger as he stood at the site of his dead river.
With the full extent of his magic returned to him, Kohaku could feel the power welling inside of him as he grew more and more angry. In a matter of moments he was completely overtaken by his rage. His power began to manifest itself in changes in his physical appearance. His eyes began to glow white, sharp scales stuck out of his skin, and sharp yellowed fangs stuck out of his mouth. He raised a hand, lightly flexed, into the air. As if grabbing onto a blanket and tugging it off a bed, he threw his hands sideways, clawing through the air. The earth shook and dust puffed into the air from his dried riverbed. The Water bottling company upstream exploded as a cascade of water destroyed the factory and washed the filthy dirt away. Raging water blasting down stream, bringing the Swift Amber River back to life. Havoc erupted in town. Parts of the main street had been destroyed and a small playground washed away. As panic arose, Haku fled back to the Bathhouse, with no care for what effect his action might have.
That is it for chapter 1! I hope you enjoyed!