Legal Disclaimer: This is a fanfic. I own none of the characters, nor the setting. Don't sue me.
While You Were Gone
Chapter One
Her leg spasmed, the muscles taking a moment to freak out and jerk her into wakefulness. She had been dead asleep, it seemed, and a confused and bleary-eyed look around was necessary before she fully comprehended where she was and who she was with. She had been having a most vivid dream, rain, a bridge, a river, and several cars. There had been some strange occurrence in the dream, something that had sent her stumbling back into wakefulness. As quick as she tried to catch her dream and remember it, however, it flitted away. Likely, she'd never remember the full details, and even the hazy ones were beginning to disperse.
That left her with few options, so she decided to focus on the waking world. A smile formed as someone called her name, and she got to her feet, stretching her arms above her head with a content sigh. She'd been here before.
The entrance was still there. Beyond the tunnel and the waiting area, the fields and the vendor stalls were still visible, though Chihiro would swear she had never seen them from anywhere else in town. Even from her home, which had been at the end of the street on a hill that should have overlooked the park, none of it had ever been noted from outside the tunnel that led to it. Kazuo had found the entrance while biking down an overgrown road a few weeks previous. Seeing it for the first time in nine years (outside of her dreams) raised a host of feelings within her. Confusion, anxiety, even a hint of fear, had all filled her. Every step down the tunnel had made her feel uneasy, as though she should not be here.
Their investigation of the old "amusement park" had seemed such a silly, trivial thing. It would be fun, skipping their last day of class and spending it in an abandoned park. They had picnicked on the lawn that led down to a creek, and had spent the better part of the late morning and early afternoon playing games. They'd thrown a Frisbee around, had played a mortifying kissing game, and had eventually succumbed to truth or dare. And even though they'd come to explore the abandoned stalls and buildings, even dares to cross the creek and immerse themselves in the old architecture had proven useless.
The buildings – old and abandoned as they seemed – exuded an air of danger, and the closer the teenagers got to them, the more they felt watched. The more their skin seemed to prickle as their hair tried to rise. Even in the day time, it seemed to say "do not disturb".
"Chihiro! C'mon! This place is boring. We're going to go back to the car! Mako said we can go to her place."
Her head turned, her soft brown hair drifting into her eyes with the breeze. She smiled. "Aww, but I was going to try and cross the creek!"
"Ha, ha. Very funny, Chihiro. Come on. Let's get out of here. This place is giving me the creeps."
"No really. I want to go explore. Go on ahead, just leave my bike at the tunnel entrance!" She grinned, trying to let him know she was serious.
"Chihiro…"
"Kazuo. I will be fine! I just want to look around. Besides, Mako wants to have some alone time with you."
Even from several meters away, she could see the blush on Kazuo's cheeks. "H-he does?!"
"Well duh! You're leaving for Tokyo tomorrow. When's he going to have another chance? Listen, just tell Mako and the others that I'll catch up to you later tonight. I don't really want to leave yet."
"O-okay. If you say so. You're sure Mako wanted some alone time with me?" Kazuo sounded mystified.
"Positive. Go get him." She winked at the boy, who still hesitated.
"Why do you want to look around so bad, Chihiro? Not two hours ago you were saying this place gave you the creeps?"
That made her pause, and she frowned, twisting a hair-tie around her wrist slowly. It was one she'd had since she moved here. Unlike all her other hair-ties, it hadn't broken with age. Sometimes, she swore that it glittered and gleamed in certain light, though she had no idea how a basic hair-tie could do that.
"I don't know, Kazuo. I just feel like I need to go look around. Maybe I just want to push myself."
Kazuo gazed at her, a frown on his lips as he slowly closed the distance between them. He looked in her eyes, his own brown nearly a perfect match to hers. He put his hands on her shoulders, then briefly drew her in for a hug. "Just be careful, okay?"
"I promise. Now go. Have hot make-outs with Mako, all right?"
That got the reaction she wanted. Kazuo laughed, and with another hug he nodded, then pulled away and jogged up to the tunnel. Chihiro watched him go, her back to the abandoned theme park. When she was sure that her friends were gone, waiting a solid ten minutes, she turned, frowning.
Time had changed her. Age had given her a bit more height, a bit more feminine definition to her body, and had taken the last of the baby chub from her face. In the nine years since she last stepped foot through the tunnel, she had grown into a woman. Time had also taken away her memories of the Spirit World (or perhaps something else had). After the rescue of her parents, she'd left. They had reached the end of the tunnel, and from there, the adventures in the bath house had become hazy. Her memories seemed more like a dream, a vivid creation from the depths of her mind.
Only the lessons she learned had really stuck with her. Even her parents had noticed the difference in her. Their "brief" foray into the spirit world had transformed Chihiro into a confident, optimistic girl. Beyond that, the Spirit World was a dream. The bath house was a flight of fancy. Sure, kids could be spiteful toward their parents, but Chihiro always marveled that her subconscious liked to curse them into becoming pigs!
To stand and stare at a scene from her dreams, however, suddenly brought new questions to mind about those dreams she had. This place was perfect, down to the pebbles in the creek bed and the colors of the buildings. She took a deep breath and started across the grass. She'd abandoned her tennis shoes back by the tunnel entrance. She wore a pair of jean capris and a bright red tank top, her school uniform stashed in her bag (also beside the tunnel entrance). A casual day spent in the warm weather of late spring. If she had remembered what would come of crossing the creek, she might have gone back for her shoes.
She hopped from one large rock to the other, while a memory played of her father saying, "They meant to put a river here." Briefly, she paused and glanced over her shoulder. For some reason she felt as if she were making a very final decision. It had the feeling of the end of a chapter in her life. She'd felt this way before, though she couldn't remember the specifics. Something related to that tunnel. Something related to the dreams of this place that flitted around her memory, just out of reach. Unaware of why she did, she took a deep breath and turned her back on the creek, on the tunnel, and on her friends and family. Ahead of her, the seemingly abandoned stalls waited. She trudged up the stairs and stepped into the spider web of small streets and vendor stations.
She could smell food. She inhaled deeply, following the scent down the main thoroughfare. She stopped at the small splinter street where the scent strengthened, and her eyes widened.
"But…this is…" She trailed off, walking forward to place a hand on the counter. A feast lay before her – and so did a memory. Her parents sat on the stools to either side of her. They shoveled food into their mouths as fast as they could, and she could hear her mother telling her to try some of the delicious meal.
"Chihiro, you have to try this!" "Mmmff. So good" "Mmm. Mhm." "Mustard?" "Fank you." The conversation had gone from words to grunts. Chihiro shook her head, stepping back from the stall both in her memory and in the present.
"It was just a dream. So why does it seem real?" She whispered the words, almost scared that someone would answer.
Her feet carried her down a path that seemed familiar, as though she'd been down it before. Perhaps she had. Up the stairs, the bath house grew in size. She got steadily closer, able to see the full height, the full glamour and splendor of the place. A bridge spanned a ravine, leading to the bath house on its own island. At first glance, it appeared abandoned. She walked up on the pale wooden planks, glancing over the rails of the bridge at the train tracks below.
In the space of time it took to look down, then back up and ahead, he had appeared.
He was older, maybe a year or two older than her, and he was handsome. His hair had grown longer, still the same blue-green color, his eyes as deep as the ocean, as old and knowing as the earth itself. All of these thoughts went through Chihiro's mind before she could process them, and she inhaled sharply. "Who ar-"
"Why are you here? You shouldn't have come back, Chihiro. You weren't supposed to come back!" He took a step toward her and she fell back a step, which gave him pause. "You don't remember yet."
"Remember what? How do you know my name?" She frowned, her lips pressing tightly together as she stared at him. "And why is it a big deal if I'm here. I didn't see any signs saying that no trespassers were allowed."
The man's face flashed briefly with amusement. A slight smile formed at his lips, making his already handsome features that much more so. He was tall and lean, easy to shrug off at first glance as weak or too skinny. As Chihiro watched him, however, she realized that the man before her was anything but weak or too skinny. He had a certain aura to him, a tension like a cord wound just a little too tight around a wheel, or river water held back by a dam. The thought sparked a brief memory of a boy who could have, possibly, been a younger version of this man.
Was he the boy from her dreams? Haru…? No. Haku. But that was ridiculous, and Chihiro shook her head. Meanwhile, the man had let his faint smile disappear, instead studying her with a serious expression. It wasn't disappointment, but Chihiro couldn't place the emotion behind it. Perhaps that was how the man preferred it.
"It's too soon, Chihiro. You need to go back before it's too late."
"Too late for what? And how do you know my name?" She rested her hands on her hips, and the only thing she could have done to make herself look more aggravated would have been to stamp her foot.
"I can't tell you that. You'll remember in time, but it's too soon."
"Too soon, too late. Why won't you just answer my questions? Nothing good ever came from people acting all mysterious like you are!"
"And nothing good ever came of revealing things before they were meant to be revealed. You'll understand in the future."
An irritated huff escaped her, and she blew a few stray strands of hair out of her face. "I know this place. I feel like I know you. Why won't you just tell me?"
"You're arguing in circles, Chihiro."
"You started it!"
Instead of getting frustrated back, the man simply laughed, and the sound gave her pause. It was a good laugh, a good sound. The laugh was rich and warm, and it seemed to her as though it were the kind of laugh that didn't get used very often. She exhaled a breath she didn't know she had been holding and instead tried a different tactic.
"What is this place?"
His mirth faded, just a bit, and he shook his head. "Unless it comes to you on your own, I can't tell you that."
An irritated sound escaped her throat and she closed her eyes. "You would put Dumbledore to shame," she complained.
"Dumbledore?"
"You know…Harry Potter? British book series. Popular worldwide? J.K. Rowling? Wizarding world. Kids on broomsticks with wands?" None of it seemed to make sense to him. His face didn't light up with understanding. He simply regarded her with a puzzled expression. She closed her eyes and brought her left hand up to rub the bridge of her nose.
"You should leave," he said.
"You keep saying things like that…Is it really such a big deal to be here?"
She twisted the hair-tie on her wrist around it, over and over again. She didn't remember where she'd got it, but she did know it was the sturdiest, longest lasting hair-tie she'd ever had. It glinted briefly in the sunlight, and the man's eyes widened when he saw it. Chihiro didn't notice as she pulled her shoulder-length strands up into a high ponytail.
"It is. You're…trespassing…as you said. And you don't want to be here after sundown."
Rather than make her uncomfortable or scared, that revelation piqued her interest. A smile formed on her lips, and she tilted her head to one side. "Why not? Is this place haunted? I'd love to have a ghost story to tell my friends."
"You don't want to tell them this ghost story," he uttered the words with a weary sigh.
"Why not?"
"Because you won't survive it if you stay."
A cold chill went down her spine, and her lips pursed. "Listen, there is no reason to threaten me. I will leave if you're that insistent on it. But I just want to know more about this place."
"Knowing more is what will get you hurt. Things are different when night falls. And things are even more dangerous right now. You just can't be here."
"But –"
"Chihiro, just trust me. Please? You did once before. And I know you don't remember me, but can you find it in your heart to trust me again?"
The earnest tone and the way he looked at her were enough to halt her from an immediate rejection. Instead, she hesitated, trying to pull the memory from the depths of her mind. Haku, the boy in her dreams: this man looked an awful lot like him. Like a grown up version of the boy who was so frequently her guide. They were just dreams, weren't they? She frowned, swallowed hard, and then nodded.
A relieved – albeit sad – sigh escaped him and his shoulders sagged in his relief. Even if she wound up not remembering him, the concern he had for her was palpable. A memory of the boy giving her the same sad and relieved look flashed through her mind, of him saying good bye to her and promising they would meet again one day. It was just a dream, wasn't it?
"Just a dream," she said, voice soft and breathy.
"Chihiro?" His voice held concern as he stepped forward once more, touching her shoulder. She blinked a few times, as though trying to get something out of her eyes, and then shook her head.
"I just...You remind me of someone. A dream I have a lot. Have had ever since I moved here."
The man simply smiled. A twinkle in his eye suggested he knew the exact dream. The way he treated her suggested they knew each other. They had been dreams, but she found herself increasingly uncertain of that particular fact. She did remember the abrupt change in her attitude, her feelings of confidence after she and her parents had exited that tunnel. It felt as though a piece of the puzzle were missing. A large piece. She frowned, worrying her bottom lip with her teeth.
"You know," she said. He simply nodded. "But you can't say." Again, he nodded. "And you need me to leave before dark." A final nod, and he caught her by the hand to lead her away. She followed him with surprisingly little resistance, falling into step with an old familiarity. Something resonated from this scene, this situation. As if she'd been led through this place by his hand before.
When they reached the far side of the vendor shops, however, a curse escaped his lips. It didn't take long for her to figure out why. Even though the sun still shone brightly above, the creek had turned into a vast expanse of water. She couldn't even see the train station building. It had been lost. Memories trembled at the edge of her consciousness, and she inhaled sharply as she stared.
"Where...what is…" She started her questions, but never finished them. She dropped to her knees, staring in shock across the water.
"She knows you're here." He commented quietly. "And she doesn't want you to leave. I hoped to get you away before she realized…"
Chihiro didn't respond, instead staring in a mixture of fear and awe at the water stretched out before her. It had happened before. She could feel it to the core of her soul. But her memories refused to cooperate, flitting just out of reach like a tantalizing treat she was too short to grab.
A hand appeared in front of her face, holding a few small, purplish-red berries. "You need to eat something from this realm," he said, voice gentle.
She took one of the berries, not even questioning the logic of staying in a "realm". She popped the berry into her mouth and bit it. A tart flavor exploded on her tongue, and with it came memories. A memory of her fear as she huddled and cried, and as the boy forced a berry onto her, made her eat it before she disappeared. She looked up at the man beside her, and swallowed hard.
"Haku?"
A slight smile formed, and he ducked his head. "You remember?"
"Not everything," she admitted, swallowing hard. "But I remember you gave me the berries before. I know that I...I know you. I just can't find the finer details."
He nodded, smile disappearing as he did so. She remembered something, but it clearly wasn't as much as he had hoped.
"Can you tell me what I can't remember? Fill in the blanks?"
"No. You have to remember on your own. If I interfere...she'll cause problems for me."
He said it again. "She" will cause problems. "She" knew that Chihiro was there. While Chihiro pondered this, another memory came back. Her name here, in this realm, it had been Sen. And the woman who had renamed her–
"Yubaba," she said. "She was the one who kept my parents as pigs. And she...she...what else did she do." She closed her eyes, rubbing her forehead as though it would help her remember.
Haku held his hand out to her, and when she looked up she took hold of it, letting him pull her to her feet.
"Yubaba runs the bath house, yes. Come on. We should go. She wants to see you."
Something continued to wriggle at the back of Chihiro's mind, but she only nodded. They didn't rush through the vendor stalls. Instead, Haku led her at a leisurely place. If Yubaba knew she was here, then they might as well take their time, right? That was, in Chihiro's estimation, what Haku was thinking.
"I wonder if there's a way to speed up my memory."
"Maybe. Has anything particular been triggering it?"
"I think...It seems like retracing my footsteps is what's doing it."
A thoughtful "hmm" escaped him, and Chihiro glanced at him from the corner of her eyes.
"You got older." A moment passed and a blush stained her cheeks. "Well. I mean. Of course you got older. I...Just. What I mean is…"
"My appearance ages as I choose. I could still look like I did when you were ten. I thought staying close to your relative age was a better idea, though. Was I wrong?"
She blushed a little darker. "No. No, you weren't wrong." He smiled, and she timidly returned that smile, not sure what to think.
"I thought you might feel that way. I'm glad I guessed correctly." He looked a little too pleased with himself, which caused Chihiro to blush a darker shade of pink, but also made her want to rib him a bit, too.
"Making sure a girl who can't even remember you thinks you're handsome? Now I really wish I knew the full extent of what happened between us."
It was Haku's turn to blush, and both of them laughed. "You'll remember in time."
There was a sound like air rushing through the trees, and a rustling of skirts, and then a woman's voice, older and a little raspy in sound. "I so hate to interrupt this reunion…" She wheezed and laughed. "Oh who am I kidding? I love to interrupt this reunion. My dear Sen. I thought I'd never find you here again. We have so much catching up to do."
A/N: This chapter has been revised and re-uploaded as of 3/28/14. No major changes were made, I simply cleaned it up a bit and edited some errors and redundancies!
