It had been six years since Chihiro crossed over to the Spirit World: Six years since she had met Haku: Six years since she saved the Spirit World: Six years since she let go of Haku's hand and ran back into her own world.

Chihiro had returned home and didn't tell anyone about the Spirit World. She was nervous to tell them; she knew that they couldn't understand, and all of her classmates would make fun of her. She decided to keep her secret to herself.

The house that the Ogino's had bought was boarded up when they arrived. Confused, they called the agency to get an answer. The house had been off the market for 40 years. The owners never showed up on move in day and they were forced to resell it. It was then sold to a family who accidentally started a fire inside a year later. One of the family members died and the house was taken off the market. Chihiro knew why the time lapse had happened, so it was amusing to watch her parents try to figure it out. Her father was convinced it was the aliens. Her mother just yelled at the agents and told them that she would sue them for not doing their job.

They found a house closer to the woods and happily moved in. Chihiro's father insisted that she stay inside. But being the way she was, she constantly snuck out to walk through the woods and visit the statue in front of the Spirit World. She would sit and converse with him for hours until it was time to go home. It would just stare blankly at her, but he was the only one that she could talk to about her problems and the adventures that she once had. She constantly tried to go back into the tunnel, but the other side was just the same woods she had come out of. She figured that it wasn't time for her to go back yet so she gave up. She knew that when it was time it would one day call her back.

But as time went on, she was slowly losing the memories of her time in the Spirit World. With every passing day she forgot a little more about it. She would try to force herself to remember, but every memory was becoming fuzzy. She couldn't figure out what was happening or why it was happening.

Her last memory disappeared while she was dreaming. Chihiro looked at Haku's face one last time before turning and running toward the human world. The memory slipped away as she let go of his hand. She woke up with an aching pain in her heart. She knew there was something forgotten but she couldn't figure it out. Eventually, she didn't even know she had lost anything. Everything had disappeared. She dreamt about the Spirit World sometimes, but didn't realize that she was recalling actual events.

Chihiro wrote down the dreams that she remembered in a notebook. She read her entries often and attempted to come up with reasons why these strange creatures were appearing in her dreams. She even borrowed books from the library that analyzed dreams, but none of them satisfied what she was looking for.

After Chihiro lost her memories, she stayed inside often. She had no reason to leave.

Chihiro's parents had also been concerned when her attitude adjusted so abruptly after their short stop at the tunnel. They noticed she was more calm and polite, and rarely threw tantrums anymore. They made her see a therapist but Chihiro kept everything to herself. After her memory loss, she would explain to her therapist about the dreams she was having. They gave her medication and told her she just had a vivid imagination. Chihiro's parent's did not let her go out with her friends much, so one by one her friends stopped asking to come over and she was left without many people to talk to at all.

But her friend Ryuu never left Chihiro's side. She met him the first year she started attending her new school, and they had been friends ever since. Ryuu walked her home every day and they spent countless hours together. He was Chihiro's best friend.

The day before, on the last day of school, they were silently walking home together when Ryuu stopped in the middle of the sidewalk, "Chihiro I need to tell you something,"

"Yes?" Chihiro turned around to look at him. His face looked puzzled and a little red, but Chihiro thought nothing of it.

"I just, I don't know. I've been wanting to tell you something for a while but I never knew if there was a right time to tell you but…"

Chihiro realized what he was going to say and it was what she had feared for a long time. She didn't want their relationship to change and she was afraid for him to even bring it up. She could feel that there was something in her heart that wasn't letting her have feelings for Ryuu. She wanted to love him, but she couldn't figure out what was holding her back.

"Oh no!" She interrupted, "I have to get home! My mother said if I was late today she wouldn't let me see you tomorrow," she lied and started to walk away, "I'm sorry, you can tell me some other time! I'll see you tomorrow!" She ran off leaving Ryuu behind on the sidewalk, feeling let down and embarrassed.

Chihiro flipped to the next page of her book. She sighed and wiped the sweat from her face. She was perched upright on her bed with her legs crossed in front of her. It was the first week of summer vacation and she was spending it inside reading a book.

She reached over to her desk and grabbed her cup of ice water. She took a sip as she continued reading. A strong wind suddenly blew into her room and leaves swirled in. One fell lightly onto her lap and she picked it up to look at it. Her gaze wandered out the window. Her chest suddenly tightened, and she had the urge to go outside.

Chihiro closed her book and stumbled out of her bed. She walked over to her bookshelf and slid it back into its assigned place. She opened her closet and changed into a loose purple shirt and jean shorts. She brushed her long brown hair and braided the front sections of her hair to the back and secured it with a colorful hair band that she had had for many years and kept with her at all times. She slipped on a pair of sneakers and walked to her door to see where her parents were. She turned the corner to see them on the couch watching the television. She rolled her eyes, went back to her room, and locked the door behind her. She climbed through her window and headed out toward the forest.

Chihiro felt nervously excited, but she wasn't sure why. She entered the forest behind her house and kept walking. She found a rocky path and decided to follow it.

She looked beside her, and on the side of the road were little concrete houses. They lined the road for as far as Chihiro could tell. Her heart started beating loudly in her chest at the sight of them. She walked toward them and knelt down to get a better look. As Chihiro was examining them, she heard thunder in the distance.

She looked up as she felt the first raindrop hit her nose.

"Oh no! Of course you would!" she yelled at the sky. It responded by raining harder. She tried to cover her head with her hands and stand closer to the tree but it started to pour. She moaned and started running to find cover. At the corner of her eye she saw something huge and red. She turned her head to see a tunnel. "Thank god!" she sighed with relief.

She darted toward the building but saw another strange statue standing in front of the entrance. She slowed down and came to a complete stop. She stood, soaking in the rain. She looked down slowly at it and it stared right back at her. The details were worn but she could still see its face.

("Slow down you're going to kill us!")

"What?" She whispered as her eyebrows furrowed. Her head shot up towards the tunnel and she ran in to it.

"I swear I've seen that statue before but I can't remember when." Chihiro continued running until she reached the middle of the tunnel. She looked around and saw that there were benches on each side. She decided to take a seat for a little while to catch her breath and get dried off.

Chihiro wiped her face dry as she heard the distant sound of a train.

("Do you here that?"

"It sounds like a train."

"We must be near a train station."

"Come on, let's go check it out.")

Chihiro stood up and roamed to the other end of the tunnel. As soon as she got to the opening, she gasped.

The sky was perfectly blue and it wasn't raining anymore. Confused, she looked into the sky and then back down at the land in front of her. The wind was blowing gently and the grass was a perfect shade of green.

"Wow. This place is beautiful." The wind picked up a little bit and a couple leaves hit the back of her head. She turned around to look at the tower that stood before her.

("I knew it. It's an abandoned theme park. See?")

Chihiro stared at the building and then back behind it. There was nothing but grass going on forever.

"That doesn't make any sense! I just came out of the woods!" She started to walk quickly back towards the tunnel but a strong wind picked up and blew in her face. She could hear a soft, deep sound that seemed to come from the building in front of her. She was suddenly nervous to go back in.

("Did you hear that building? It was moaning."

"It was just the wind.")

Chihiro shook her head. She didn't know where all of these weird thoughts were coming from. She shrugged them off and figured that she would take advantage of her new discovery.

Chihiro ran through the grass, twirling and jumping. She felt like a kid again.

She started walking again. She jumped across a stream filled with beautiful boulders, and climbed up a flight of stone steps towards a huge frog statue. She stood on the top of them and looked out into the distance, the green field in front of her. She got a sudden ache in her heart like she missed something dear to her. She looked beside her like there was someone there, but there was no one. She looked down as a tear welled in her eye.

She shook it off like it was nothing. A smell suddenly hit her nose, and she turned around. She smelled something delicious. She walked swiftly up the hill and into a small town. Dainty, colored little buildings lined the streets. She walked through and came upon a store with steaming food on the counters. She walked in, gaping at what was in front of her.

("Come on, you guys. You can't!")

Don't eat it. Her instincts told her.

Chihiro sighed in disappointment, "It looked so good though. But it was probably put out there for someone else." Chihiro kept walking.

"It seems like there's no one here. Why was there food on the counter then?" She asked herself quietly, "They must be somewhere nearby." She started looking around for other people, "Hello, is anyone here?" Silence. "Hello!?" Chihiro started to get nervous.

She soon came to an even larger set of stairs. "Maybe there is someone up here," She started to clamber up them. As soon as she got to the top, she gasped.

("That's weird...It's a bath house.")

In front of her was a bridge that stretched over top of a deep ravine. On the other side of the bridge stood a huge bath house. Steam poured out of the top and a flag flapped furiously in the wind. "Why does this seem so familiar?"

The light had started to fade from the sky and Chihiro looked out at the sunset, "Wow!" She ran to the side of the bridge to look at the brilliant orange and red sky.

("You shouldn't be here. Get out of here. Now!")

All of the sudden Chihiro's heart began aching again and she started crying. She knelt down on the side of the bridge and put her head in her lap.

"Why is this happening?" She sobbed. "Why does this place make me feel this way?"

("Will we meet again sometime?"

"I'm sure we will."

"Promise?"

"Promise. Now go. And don't look...")

"It's you."

Chihiro quickly looked up in shock. She wiped her tears off with the back of her arm.

"Oh, I'm sorry! I almost took your food, I'm so sorr-"

"Chihiro."

She looked the boy in the face. He had shoulder length dark green hair and large green eyes. They pierced through her and she knew that she had looked in them many times before. She had longed for those eyes for many years.

("Don't be afraid. I just want to help you.")

("And don't forget, Chihiro. I'm your friend."

"How did you know my name's Chihiro?"

"I've known you since you were very small.")

("Meet me at the bridge. I'll take you to your parents.")

("I've tried everything to remember mine."

"You can't remember your name?"

"No. But for some reason, I remember yours.")

("I've got to go now, but I'll be back to help you soon. Just stay out of trouble."

"Thank you, _, you're a good friend.") Think Chihiro, think. Chihiro stared into the boy's face and he stepped forward. Her heart was pounding in her chest.

("You did it, Chihiro! I remember I was the spirit of the Kohaku River."

"A river spirit?")

("Keep quiet! I don't want my sister coming up here. Ow! A paper cut!"

"_ we're falling!")

Chihiro stood up and looked at the boy's clothes. She stared at his face, his hair, his hands, his eyes, (HAKU!)

"Haku?" Chihiro said slowly. The boy nodded his head as a smile came across his face.

Haku tilted his head and whispered, "Chihiro."