Enjoy. :)

Chapter 1

A not so long time ago a young female human wandered into the spirit world. A young powerful dragon called Jinhai , a spirit of the elements, who was strongest with water, pitied her. He gave her refuge and food. After two weeks he found himself growing attached to the human. Eventually he found she liked him back. A year later they were mates and they had a little girl who they named Huan. A group of toad spirits were disgusted. So disgusted they captured the the human and her baby. They banished the human and the child back to the human world and closed the entrance off forever. Or so they thought... Back in the human world Huan grew up and had a little boy called Akio. Akio met a woman called Yuuko, who went on to get married and have a little girl called Chihiro. Akio didn't inherit any of his grandfather's powers but Chihiro, well that is another matter altogether.

The world was full of amazing things. Chihiro Ogino knew that better than most people. But not all things amazing last. That is the cruel truth of nature. No, scratch that, life.

She sighed and continued to stare out of the window. She felt her mind drift to the spirit world.

It seemed like a dream, a wild fantasy from the imagination of a child, but it was real. Chihiro was sure of that. She had the proof even with her now. Although no one would think a simple hair band was proof of the spirit world. But it was real to her , and that's all that matters.

She remembered the day she received that band. She remembered everything about that world, and she missed it. But most of all, she missed him.

Who was he, no one would believe her if she told them. He was the one who saved her those 12 years was the one who helped her rescue her parents and get them home safely. He was the one she dreamed about almost every night. He was Nigihayami Kohaku Nushi, also known as Haku, and he was the spirit of the Kohaku river. It had been 12 years since they'd seen each other. Twelve long lonely years and not even the smallest sign of the river spirit. He had promised they would see each other again. He had promised! But where was he? And where was the world she had come to love more than her own?

Her first experience in the spirit world had been terrifying as well as exciting. She and her parents had been on the way to her new home when they accidentally stumbled into the place that would change her forever.

She remembered how scared she had been. Any 10 year old would have been terrified by what happened. Her parents, unaware of what they were getting themselves into, had eaten the food meant for the spirits. They gobbled it up like pigs. As punishment, the witch in charge of the land, Yubaba, had turned them into pigs. Chihiro had been left all alone in the spirit world, lost, confused, and scared to death.

But then he came to her. He comforted and helped her through this difficult time. Following his instructions, Chihiro had gone to the bathhouse owned by Yubaba and received a job. The old witch stole her name, changing it to Sen. She was put to work with the other spirits in the bathhouse. With the help of Haku, and two other spirits, called Lin and Kamagi, she managed to become useful enough to be considered a good enough worker to stay in the bathhouse.

That was until she let in a monster named No-face, who caused a great deal of damage to the bathhouse. Yubaba wasn't happy about her 'guest's' behavior. As if things weren't bad enough, the witch sent Haku on a mission to steal her twin sister's gold seal. But Yubaba's sister, Zeniba, had put a powerful protective spell on the seal, to keep it from being stolen. As Haku slowly died, No-face continued to wreak havoc in the bathhouse. And to make matters worse, Yubaba's son, a 10 foot baby, had tried to force Chihiro to play with him, which resulted in him being turned into a baby by Zeniba.

Things began to look up after that though. After retrieving the seal from Haku, Chihiro managed to lure No-face out of the bathhouse. Once outside, the monster became quite peaceful and friendly. Chihiro, No-face and Yubaba's son, still in mouse form, then took the train to Zeniba's house to return the gold seal and apologize for Haku.

As it turned out, Zeniba was quite nice. She welcomed Chihiro into her house and even gave her the band she wore now. After everything was as it should be, Haku arrived at Zeniba's house, once again in perfect health.

It was then that Chihiro realized who Haku really was. Just as Yubaba had done to her, the old witch had taken Haku's name. But Chihiro knew what it was, and with his name restored to him, Haku was able to break free from Yubaba's spell. When they returned to the bathhouse, Chihiro found out that Haku and Yubaba had made an agreement to return Chihiro and her parents to the human world if she passed one final test, which she did.

"Why did I ever leave?" Chihiro whispered.

"What was that?"

Chihiro snapped back to reality. She glanced over to the girl in the seat next to her.

"Nothing Mimi."

"Oh, ok. That's a really good drawing. What are you calling this one?"

Typical Mimi ignorance. But as they say, ignorance is bliss.

I look down at my picture. It is very detailed. There is a large white dragon with a young girl on it's back. They were flying over a river.

"I call it Sen and the spirit of the Kohaku river."

Mimi's face wears a scowl.

" Why are you so obsessed with that river, I mean, you almost drowned in it."

" You wouldn't understand. It saved me." Mimi gives me one of her usual sighs. Loud and dramatic. A bit like Mimi.