Forever

It had been so long since Chihiro had been in the bathhouse, all those years ago. Since her time in the spirit world Chihiro had become a beautiful young woman of eighteen. Her thin, clumsy frame had changed and developed into that of a woman and she was beautiful.

Currently Chihiro sat in the backyard of her families home thinking about her past. She often did this, sat in the old chairs, remembering her days in the world of the spirits, her friends, and the one boy who made sitting in the comfortable chair possible. Her gentle brown eyes watched the wind push the trees making them bend and twist. Her long elegant fingers toyed with the small purple band she used to use to tie her long brown hair back. So many memories danced around her head, so many friends she had left behind in the world she could not return to.

Chihiro let out a long sigh, too much thinking would cause her heart to ache, and she promised herself that she could no longer wait for him to find her. The young woman stood up and looked at herself, the blue sundress she was wearing showed her womanly curves and she blushed; would he even recognize her? No, she thought, I mustn't think of him.

Shaking her head of doubt Chihiro walked to the side of her blue colored home and hopped into the small grey car her parents allowed her to use, the same grey car that lead her to him in the first place. Over the years it had become warn and abused, but it still worked.

After driving for fifteen minutes Chihiro hit the breaks on the old car and found herself in front of the small moss covered statue just as she and her parents had done all those years ago. The small thing looked the same, its double sided face smiled back at her, as if mocking her, because it knew. It remembered, unlike her parents. They seemed to have forgotten the whole time they had been turned into pigs, yet Chihiro couldn't forget.

Taking the keys out of the car Chihiro opened the door and walked past the statue, and stood in the entrance way of the strange building that had been the passageway to the world she longed to see again.

Chihiro took a deep breathe, she had tried everything, but she couldn't forget, she couldn't pretend that she didn't want to see him. She looked down the long tunnel that had once scared her, the wind tugged at her dress, pulling it towards the opening. Exhaling, she took a step into the long tunnel and walked back down the dark corridor once again, this time she knew where it led, she knew what she walking into.

She walked past the small benches and stopped, her feet stood at the tip of the cement, and she looked out across the vast field. As she looked out into the sea of green she smiled.

There in the middle of the field stood a young man, he appeared to be her age. His black hair and blue eyes made her heart flutter.

He smiled and as she was about to take the step off of the concrete, he screamed.

"NO CHIHIRO!"

She flinched, and stepped back. She couldn't go back into the spirit world, she wasn't a spirit, she was human, and that was something that she couldn't change. Her heart hurt, and she began to cry. Closing her eyes, she allowed the tears to fall down her cheeks.

"Please, don't cry," the familiar voice said to her, she could feel his warm breath on her forehead.

Chihiro opened her eyes and there he was, "Kohaku."

He smiled, "Yes Chihiro, I thought that you had forgotten about me."

"Never," she shook her head, "I could never forget you."

This made Kohaku's eyes light up and his smiled widened, "What did you think you were going to do?"

Chihiro blushed, "I just wanted to see you and everyone again, but I guess I didn't think it all through."

"You were going to just visit?"

Chihiro shrugged, she hadn't thought it all through, she didn't know if she could even get back home afterwards, but she did know that she wanted to see Kohaku again. Now he was in front of her and she had to force herself not to cross the line between that of human and spirit to simply touch him. She looked down at her shoes, she was still only a child.

Suddenly she felt a hand on her cheek, and another on her hip, and in one motion she was pushed farther from the line, and as she looked up she felt his lips on hers. They were soft and cool, almost like the feel of cool water on her skin on a hot summers day. The hand on her cheek pulled her closer to him, and the hand on her hip pushed her into the wall of the strange building. Her back touched the cool walls and she flinched away from it, and pushed into Kohaku.

She was losing it, there was no way that Kohaku was standing on the human side of the world, and was kissing her. Her eyes closed she placed one hand on his chest, resting it on his heart. There it was, the soft flutter that she had never felt in her dreams, the one thing that would wake her from her dreams, and cause her chest to hurt day after day.

Kohaku pulled away from Chihiro and watched her face, she had aged since they had seen each other last, since he had let her walk away from him, her childish figure had changed and become adult, she had become a grown woman, and he didn't want to let her go, he couldn't never again.

"Kohaku, how..." her puzzled look made him chuckle to himself.

"I am free, I bargained with Yubaba and in return for me doing one more favor she gave me the way to come see you again."

Chihiro smiled, "You mean, we can be together?"

Her smile made his heart skip a beat, and Chihiro could feel it with her hand, still resting on his chest.

"Yes, Chihiro."

With that Chihiro wrapped her arms around Kohaku, and he hugged her in return. Then he whispered into Chihiro's ear, "I'll never let you leave me again."

Chihiro gripped him tighter, the pain in her chest was gone, and then he slipped a hand down her back feeling her soft gentle curves. He then slipped his hand into her hand, their fingers intertwined.

They both smiled, and together, hand in hand they walked to Chihiro's car. The two of them would be together forever.