I do not own Spirit Away. (Though it would be really neat if I did).

This is simply meant to be my own slightly rambling take on how I'd like to think things go for these characters in the future. Enjoy.

As long and hard as Chihiro had pushed against her parents, mostly her over-protective father, that she wanted to live on her own now that she was grown and in university (her father believed that she should live at home until she got married and could be safely passed to someone else's protection) she felt rather lonely at times. Usually in the evenings, when her day was winding down, and she would look around her small apartment and get a little wierded out by just how quiet it really was.

So, like she did most evenings now, she slipped on her pale green spring coat, stuffed her hands into the pockets, and went for a walk. It was a way of calming her mind, almost meditative, so that her body moved forward automatically while she would mentally exorcise all the stress of the day.

It didn't surprise her anymore that when she stopped, she was standing in the same small park she always managed to find on these trips. Even when she'd headed the opposite direction at the start, she somehow always came here. It was a small children's park among the many apartment buildings, with a simple playground area that was well used.

Of course, it was nothing like how it looked almost twenty years ago. She'd lived near here then, as faint as the memory was, and enjoyed swimming with her parents in the river that had flowed all those years ago. Except for that time she'd almost drowned while trying to go after her lost shoe. Her little pink shoe.

Something niggled at the back of her mind, a memory she could never quite grasp onto. It had been there before, this feeling that there was something else she should remember at this place, but it was invariably gone almost as quickly as it had come, and she shrugged it off. If it were important, it would come to her eventually.

She stretched her arms above her head, thinking it was about time to head home. Her mother would be calling soon to check on her, like she always did. They still worried about her, and she figured they never really would stop. It was a parent thing. Make sure she was eating and sleeping enough, studying hard, making friends, and then at the end, that half whispered question about her nightmares. Which she would as usual assure them were gone. They were so rare now.

She turned and froze when she saw the stranger that had been watching her from behind. He was young, maybe a year or two older than her own twenty-one years, dressed casually in jeans and a hoodie sweater with her university's insignia stitched proudly on the front. His hair was unfashionably long, resting in a blunt cut near his shoulders, and his eyes were the most amazing shade of emerald green. An impossible eye colour on someone who looked so thoroughly Japanese, but there he was.

They stared at each other a moment, until a car horn startled them both back to reality.

"I'm sorry." He told her sheepishly. "I'm looking for a friend of mind…she lives around here, but I'm afraid I've gotten myself lost."

"Oh. Um, does she attend class here, too? I may know her." She tried helpfully, feeling unaccountably disappointed.

"her name is Ogino Chihiro."

She blinked stupidly at him. She had no idea who this guy was, she was sure of it. Almost sure, even with that whisper in the back of her mind again.

"But…um, I'm Ogino Chihiro." She told him nervously, backing away slowly to try and put distance between them. Just incase. The world had too many maniacs in it for her not to be cautious.

He did a good job of copying the stunned stare. "Chihiro?" He scanned her face, looking for what she didn't know. Those piercing green eyes met her own plain brown and widened just the tiniest bit. "It is you." He smiled, and she was struck with the thought of how very handsome he was when he smiled.

"I'm sorry, but I don't remember you're name. You are?" She prompted, still wary of this strange man who seemed to know her, and uneasy about the fact that it was almost dark.

It's alright, Chihiro. You were made to forget. It's the way of things, you couldn't be allowed to leave with that sort of information. But…I had a promise I needed to keep."

The buzz in her mind was getting louder. "What promise?"

He stepped closer, but she quickly backed off again. "You made me promise you that we would see each other again, Sen."

She frowned at him. "Don't call me that, that's not my name. And I don't remember you or any promise between us. I think I need to go now."

"You know that once you meet someone, you never really forget them. Isn't that what Zeniba told you?"

She looked at him oddly. "Zeniba? I don't know any Zeni-oh!"

She felt something slip loose, like a knot that finally came undone, and it was like a flood gate opened up. Images rushed past her eyes so fast she could barely see them. She put her hands up as if to ward it off, keep it at bay, but they kept coming. A old witch in a tacky blue dress with the biggest head she'd ever seen yelling at her to be silent, pigs dressed in her parents clothes, a giant black monster with a mask for a face, a beautiful white and green dragon with the most amazing green eyes...

When her vision cleared, she found him looking at her with concern, gently shaking her shoulder and calling to her. "Chihiro? Answer me. Say something. Are you alright? Chihiro!"

"Haku?" It was little more than a whisper. He slowly nodded.

"Haku!" She cried, launching herself forward into his arms. He stumbled, but held her tight. She clung to him, laughing and crying at the same time, thinking nothing more than that it was so good to be near him again. Her fingers traveled up and splayed over his face, touching, memorizing, making sure he was real.

"Haku." She croaked, her throat tight with emotion. "you're real. You're really real. You came back."

He smiled softly and rested his forehead against hers. "Of course I'm real. I take it you missed me?"

"Missed you?" Now that she knew he was real, that her dreams had all been real, and that he was here, she felt something else bubbling up inside her. "Missed you?" She asked again, incredulous. Indignant.

She pushed against him, fuming, but he wouldn't let go. "Let go of me! Missed you? You…you…you flying snake. You made me forget about you. About everything. Do you know what I've been through?"

He let go, looking confused. "Chihiro?"

"Don't you 'Chihiro' me! I've had nightmares about the spirit world since I was a kid. Terrifying dreams of witches and pigs and monsters that want to eat me. And I would see things. Little creatures or oddly dressed people that I would catch out of the corner of my eye and then they'd be gone. I thought I was losing my mind. My parents thought I was losing my mind."

She ranted, picking up a handful of small rocks and throw one at him for every point she made. He easily dodged them, looking bemused as he watched her.

"Chihiro, let me explain…" he tried to catch her again.

"No! I'm not done yet, dragon boy. I had to see a shrink for three years because my parents were so worried that I'd lost my marbles. Which did nothing for my social life, let me tell you. And what boys were interested, I turned down. All of them, and I never knew why. They were all nice boys, would have made great boyfriends, but I couldn't make myself like them. And do you know why?"

she glared at him, and he had the audacity to grin, even as he finally caught hold of her arm and brought her back to him again.

"No, why?"

"Because I was waiting for you to keep a promise I couldn't even remember, Nigihayami Kohakunushi! And you made me forget that!" She promptly burst into tears and wailed at him. "You made me forget that I loved you!"

he grin immediately disappeared at the sight of her tears. An angry Chihiro was one thing. He'd seen it once or twice, though never before directed at him. He hadn't been able to keep from being amused at what a little spit-fire she could be, so passionate about everything. And very pretty when she was mad. But her tears did terrible things to him, and he felt a little like the snake she'd accused him of being.

He held her close and let her cry into his shoulder. "Chihiro. I'm sorry. But I could not break the laws, not even for you. It doesn't happen often, but there are some humans that accidentally enter the spirit world. We do all we can to send them home again, but they cannot have any knowledge of our realm. It's too dangerous. It has driven some men mad before. But I had to see you again. I promised I would, and gods are always bound to their word."

She sniffled against his sweater and wouldn't look at him. "So does that mean that when you leave you'll make me forget again? I don't want to forget you, Haku. Please don't make me."

"I'm not leaving again. Not unless you want me to."

She peeked sad, watery eyes at him. "What do you mean? You can't stay here. You're a spirit. A River God. You need to go back, it's where you belong."

"True…if I was still a spirit." He said quietly.

She frowned in confusion. "What else could you possibly be?"

"Human." He smiled.

She just gaped at him. "But…but that's not possible. Gods just can't become human. And even if you could, why on earth would you give all that up? Immortality, magic, the dragon. You had a home and friends there. I can't believe you would leave that."

"Believe it, then. And there are ways. Many gods believe it is good practice to become human every few centuries. Keeps you humble, reacquaints you with the other world and another way of living. Teaches you things you can't learn as a spirit. All of that. I've never tried it before, but I must say, it's not such a bad way to be."

"But, Haku…"

'"It's alright. I know I'll die eventually. I can accept that. My spirit will pass on like all the rest. It's not as though I fear death. Met him once, actually." He told her, trying to coax a smile.

"But why, Haku? Why did you do it?"

"Because." He told her, bringing his finger up to trace her jaw. "it would be rather pointless for me to keep my promise and tell you that I love you just to have to leave you again."

Her head snapped up, brown eyes wide and slightly bloodshot. "Haku?"

"Yes?"

"Do you really mean that?" She asked. He nodded.

"Then say it again."

"I love you."

"Again." She demanded.

"I love you, Ogino Chihiro."

She sobbed again and buried her face against his neck, but this time he knew that her tears were not a bad thing. She punched his shoulder.

"Don't you ever do anything like that ever again!"

He kissed the top of her head. "I wouldn't dream of it."

she hiccuped against his throat. "Stay with me forever?"

"Of course."

She was silent for a moment. "Promise?"

He couldn't help smiling. "Promise."

She finally smiled at him, and he knew he would never be able to leave even if he did have to. He'd die as many deaths as he needed to, as long as he could live in the same world as his Chihiro.