Before reading this, read the prequel

Happily Never After

Or else you won't get it...


The Reason...

Six years. Six whole years. Six painful, pointless, miserable years since I've been tricked by that voice -The Fate- into failing Yubaba' s final test and slaving for the witch. To my slight comfort, Haku, instead of breaking the curse of Yubaba and freeing himself, stayed in the bath house, even if that meant staying as Yubaba' s slave.

Sure, the spirits around here has become more pleasant and polite towards me, but Yubaba still treated me the same as ever. But Bo's influence helped. I wasn't treated as badly when we were in his presence.

I went to visit my parents -who were, regretfully, still pigs- but thankfully weren't eaten. Haku and Bo and everybody else had threatened Yubaba enough to convince her against it. Still. At times I was miserable. During that time I would stand in the pig pen, in front of my parents and swear that someday, I'd de-piggify them and get them and we'd all return to the Human world, where we belong. It saddened me to admit that, though. I made so many friends here, it almost felt like… I belonged here. I was without human contact for so long; it almost felt like this was where I am supposed to be. At those times, I would shake those thoughts away and tell myself I was human, not a spirit. I would curse the voice –I still hesitated to call her 'The Fate'- for snatching away the one chance I had to save my parents and myself.

"Chihiro! Chihiro!" came a voice, sharp, loud and familiar.

"Oh…" The now-sixteen-years-old said. "Hi Rin."

"Chihiro." The spirit accused. You were daydreaming again! Weren't you?"

"Well…" The human trailed off. The older of the two brown heads sighed.

"Chihiro, this is the sixth time today that you've been like this. Is something wrong?" She asked gently. "Is it some kind of human thing I should know about?"

"What's wrong with Chihiro?" came a gentle voice behind them, which made them both jump twenty feet up in the air.

"Haku! You scared me!" said Chihiro, trying to calm down her fast-beating heart.

"Stop trying to sneak up on us you little-!" Rin glared at the green haired boy. Thanks to Chihiro those two had gotten along better then before, but they (Rin) still couldn't be nicer to him.

"Rin, stop being mean to him." Chihiro stuck up for Haku, as always. Rin just 'hummp!'ed and walked away.

"Thanks." Haku grinned. "Although I would have been perfectly capable of handling her myself."

"Nonsense." Chihiro murmured, smiling to herself.

"So, what's wrong?" Haku asked, a worried expression replacing his grin.

"Nothing, nothing... I'll go see my parents now." Chihiro quickly changed the subject. She had told no one about the voice, not even Haku. She was worried what they would think.

"You've been hanging around the pig pen an awful lot these days." Haku observed.

"They're my parents, Haku." She said more forcibly, hinting that she did not want to be pushed any further. Haku took the hint.

"Alright, then. Come back before the dark, okay?"

"Of course."


As Chihiro headed for the pigpen, she heard a sound. Not just any sound, it was music. A clear, soft tune of the flute was getting louder and louder as Chihiro approached the pigpen. Burning with curiosity, she opened the door to see who was playing such an innocent tune in a pigpen, of all places. She tiptoed to see a young boy sitting in the middle of the pigpen, blowing a wooden flute. His eyes were closed and it seemed like he was concentrating so much on his flute, he did not even notice that Chihiro entered. Chihiro just observed the boy for a second. He had a slim build, and his pale face was framed by long locks of blue-black hair. The right side of his face was covered with hair while the left was swept off to the side, revealing his sharp facial features. He looked not so younger than Chihiro, yet he seemed a lot smaller, slouched upon himself.

There was an eerie silence save for the music of the flute. Chihiro found this very strange, since the pigs were always so noisy, snorting and squealing. But today, it was all silent. No snorting, no squealing. Very odd.

"Hi." Chihiro greeted, shyly. But the boy had obviously thought he was alone, so he jumped fifty feet into the air, slipped off the ledge he was sitting on and landed headfirst into the pile of pig-waste in the pigpen he fell in.

"Umm… Are you okay?" Chihiro asked, round-eyed. Normally spirits would notice her coming a hundred miles away, no matter how quietly she came. Did that mean this queer boy was not a spirit but a… human?

"What do you think?" The boy spat. Chihiro flinched at the open show of malice.

"I… I'm sorry." Chihiro stammered. The boy turned his back to her, and, to Chihiro's amazement, there was no trace of pig-waste anywhere. Not on his clothes, his hair, or his skin. 'So he is a spirit after all.' Chihiro thought in disappointment.

The boy sighed. "It's alright. I'm sorry I snapped at you." He turned around with a smirk. "You're Chihiro, right? The one he is obsessed about?"

"He?" Chihiro repeated.

"Y'know." His smirk widened. "The great Nigihayami Kohaku Nushi." He said sarcasticly. Chihiro raised an eyebrow. Most of the spirits-save Rin- practically worships the very ground he walks on. Sometimes it was so extreme it was comical. No one ever dared to make fun of him. But this boy just did.

"You really shouldn't talk about him that way." She advised him. "he may not look it, but he has quite a temper."

"Yeah. I know." The boy responded with a shrug.

"So… who are you, exactly?" Chihiro asked.

"My name is Hirako Kurai." He said. "I'm the guardian of all the animals." He said, "You're not very observant, are you? I almost live in this place, and you, during six whole years, didn't notice me whenever you came to visit my pigs."

"They're my parents!" Chihiro cried.

"You're a daughter of two pigs?" He asked, skeptical. "You sure fooled me."

"They were humans, but Yubaba turned them into pigs." Chihiro frowned.

"You mean she had me turn them into pigs." Hirako corrected her.

"What?"

"She made me turn them into pigs." He repeated.

"But I thought…"

"I know what you thought. A powerful witch she may be, she cannot take other spirit's authorities."

"But why would you do such a thing?" Chihiro asked.

He shrugged. "I'm bound by the contract to do whatever she says. Just like you."

"Chihiro." Came a different voice from behind her and a hand on her shoulder.

"Ha-Haku!" Chihiro cried, whipping around.

"I see you met Hirako. At long last." The grinning dragon said. "How did you get him to show himself?"

"She caught me playing my flute." Said one sour-faced Hirako, waving his flute.

"Well, say goodbye now." Haku said. "Yubaba wants to see you, Chihiro."

"Fine, be like that. Just steal her like that from me, dragon." Teased the animals' guardian spirit. "You're just jealous 'cause I get to stare at her whenever she comes to visit her parents."

"Hirako. That's enough." Haku warned.

"Whatever." Than suddenly the boy disappeared.

"Eh? Where did he go?" Chihiro asked, confused.

"To tend to his chickens, I believe." Haku said. "I'd prefer if you didn't talk to him that much, to be frank. He has a bad temper and has a bad past with humans."

"Look who's talking." Chihiro murmured.


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