Disclaimer: I don't own Spirited Away and never will. All credit goes to Hayao Miyazaki-the greatest anime genius ever.

Authors note: Hiya! This is my first ever fanfic. All reviews and criticisms are welcome!

Summary: Chihiro is now a high school student. But even as she tries to bury her childhood memories, the heart remembers what the mind chooses to forget - especially when a familiar new student shows up in her class.

Back in the spirit world, there is a new enemy with a deadly vengeance that is the root of Haku's problems. People think that a solution cannot be found, but they have all been looking in the wrong places.

Prologue

It was nearly midnight. The flame of the candle flickered once, twice. All was dark and peaceful. The silhouette of a young teenager was bent over the window sill, a mere shadow against the full moon outside. Her eyes took in the sights of the sleeping city, searching vainly for a place that she knew was gone to her. She let her mind wander and slowly, she fell into a sea of dreams filled with steaming bathhouses, witches, spirits and white dragons.

Chapter 1

As the family car slowly passed through town, Chihirofound her back unbearably stiff and gave into the urge of stretching herself across the backseat.

Damn it! Nobody asked me to fall asleep at the window of all places!

Luckily she had woken before her parents, or else who knows what a hell of a lecture they would've given her?

She groaned, knowing she was utterly doomed for the day. How the heck would she be able to stay upright through all those boring lessons with her sore back as an added bonus?

But as much as she wanted to ignore that fact, she knew that her mind was not really thinking about her physical state. It had instead chosen to linger on the scenes of her dream last night. They were like the pages of an old journal, torn and yellowed from too much reading, but still interesting enough to captivate. As it was, Chihiro often found herself lost in the wonderful world portrayed by the book. Lost has an essence of unwilling but uncontrollable and those were exactly what bound her to her unusual inhuman past. Chihiro did not want to relieve the memories chucked at the back of her mind, yet their childish sweetness would still surface and blind her all too frequently.

Get a grip Chihiro! Those times are over for you!

So instead, she stared and stared and stared at the scenery. Outside, the rising sun was casting its golden glows onto the welcoming trees, like a mother comforting its children and chasing away the blackness. Boisterous kids scurried around in the new warmth, grinning mischievously as playful pranks were played on one another while their oblivious parents began their busy day. Back in the car, Chihiro smiled softly. The world she was in right now was indeed beautiful.

But it pales in comparison to the spirit world, an uninvited voice added slyly in her head.

Chihiro tried to block it out by quenching her glares on some poor innocent trees along the roadside.

Of course, the ones in the spirit world are much greener though, the voice chuckled.

Okay…how about mathematics then. One hundred multiplied by one hundred equals ten thousand.

Hmm…the annoying buzzing in her head pondered mockingly, I wonder if Kamajii has that many soot balls……

Two hundred centimeters is equal to two meters—

I think Boh is much taller than that now—

When the sum of all the digits add up to nine, the number is divisible by nine without any remainder ---

Okay, I give up. I have nothing to say to that, the little voice sighed.

Yes! That stupid annoying damned mind finally shut up, Chihiro smirked triumphantly. But considering the fact that the 'stupid annoying damned mind' was actually a part of Chihiro, her statement was truly weird.

"Chihiro, we're here," her mother's voice snapped Chihiro awake.

"Ack! We're here already?!" she exclaimed.

"Well, your father is still finding a parking lot in this awfully crowded school of yours. But perhaps it's his horrible driving." Yuuko added as an afterthought. "But haven't you been paying attention, Chihiro?"

Chihiro scratched her head sheepishly. "Hee hee. I guess I was too busy daydreaming."

Her mother shook her head and said concernedly, "You've been doing that a lot recently. What's the matter? Is something bothering you, dear?"

"What? No! Of course not! Can't a girl daydream now and then?" Chihiro laughed nervously.

Inwardly she sighed. She had been keeping her time in the spirit world a secret from her practical parents for almost five years now, and it wasn't going to change then. The last time she let slip, they had stowed away all the candy in the house, putting the blame on 'an overdose of sugar'. Now, however, Chihiro was pretty sure her mother and father would just look at her as if she was an alien and cart her off to a mental hospital or somewhere equally awful. Even though that idea definitely did not appeal to her, it was somewhat difficult to shoulder her wistfulness alone at times as well; being completely aware of the fact that no one would understand you. Besides, why was she thinking about that anyway? Her thoughts must have shown a little on her face then, although her mother chose to interpret it the wrong way. As it was, Yuuko's remark instantly threw Chihiro off balance.

"Don't try to hide it from me, Chihiro dear. You are better off forgetting about that good-for-nothing guy," Yuuko said sternly.

"Huh?" Oh no. She can't possibly…

"Remember, sweetie, there are plenty of good guys in this world. Pick another one. He doesn't deserve you. If anything, he should be the one to mope over losing such a sweet girl!" Oh yeah. Unfortunately for Chihiro, her mother just had to misinterpret her expression as boy trouble.

So much for being an understanding parent, her inner self smacked her forehead.

For once, Chihiro actually agreed with her irritating mind.

"Although I have to say that rejection or dumping as teenagers nowadays call it, is pretty much common. Don't get too worked up over it, dear. As I –" No doubt Chihiro was pretty disheartened to see that her oblivious mother was still babbling rubbish.

"Mom!" Chihirofinally gave in to the urge of stopping her mother. "It's not –"

"I understand if you don't want to talk about him. But don't think about going steady so soon okay?"

"Mom! Seriously! I'm not daydreaming about that!" the poor girl protested indignantly. Seriously…

"Let it go, Yuuko. Our poor Chihiro resembles an overripe tomato right now," Akio chuckled in the front seat.

School was pretty much normal that day. Well, if you count flying bombs (soccer balls) in the corridors, zombie-like teachers who actually didn't give a damn about their subjects (they were only paid to read from books), zooming tables and chairs in the classrooms (overly muscular pranksters with a twisted sense of humour), books thrown at the poor lecturers once the bell rang ( the Frisbee club anyone?), students who put on too much makeup that their faces resembled noh masks (*snickers* freaking geishas in high-school uniform), and the list goes on…( the pupils literally ruled the school) Typically, as the teacher was droning on about social communications and such (not that anyone was paying much attention- they've got exam purpose tape recorders™ for that), Chihiro was doodling on her worksheet, while playing rock-paper-scissors with her equally bored desk mate, while having a heated debate with her inner mind, and while ignoring the couples that were making kissy faces at each other. Talk about multi-tasking…

"Heeeello, anyone there?" Kana tapped lightly on Chihiro's skull.

"Yeah, a stupid annoying damned mind which I'm astounded is me," she drawled sarcastically.

Kana chuckled. "So, seen a psychiatrist yet? He might be able to cut off one half of you."

"Right, maybe split me into quarters in the process," Chihiro snorted.

Her friend let out a laugh, "It'd be a blast to see how you'd cope with it. Maybe you would become like those zombie teachers around; spacing out even more all the time with four different brains."

Chihiro was about to retort like she normally did when something about Kana's offhand remark clicked in her mind.

Said person noticed her friend's confused frown and smirked. "What? It's the truth. You've been staring into space for practically the entire week already, Chihiro. I'm beginning to think maybe you got smashed in the head or something."

So apparently it was that serious, though Chihiro couldn't understand why. Her reminiscing had faded considerably over the past months that Chihiro had begun to think that there was hope for her after all. That was until her high school entrance exams had passed and now she was stuck with the same nostalgic daydreams every day as when she was a child. Chihiro couldn't fathom it; really she couldn't. Where had it all gone wrong?

See, I told you so, the little voice chirped.

Shut up, Chihiro almost snarled out loud.

Her inner self bristled. Hey! I was only stating the obvious.

"Uh…Chihiro? Why are you growling?" Kana's voice dragged her back to reality.

"Huh?"

Kana sighed, "Never mind." She was looking at Chihiro with an expectant glint in her eyes.

"What?" Chihiro said.

Her friend sighed again. "I asked you a question, dummy."

"No you didn't," Chihiro deadpanned.

"Fine. I'll ask one now. What are you so preoccupied with?"

"Nothing." Chihiro said automatically.

"I don't believe you," said Kana flatly.

If Chihiro had learnt anything useful about social communications, it was that Kana was annoyingly persistent and curious. And so she had to prepare a counter line for almost everything her friend says.

"Do I even have a say in this?" Chihiro asked exasperatedly.

Kana shook her head firmly. She could be immensely iron-willed at times; especially when her friend's private life was concerned. Think it prying, or medaling, or whatever else; however, Kana was adamant that it was nothing but a mere obsession with thrilling gossips. Not that Chihirowould allow her to spread such rumors by the way - but it still gave her something to chew on in this boring school.

But the most unexpected-not to mention disappointing-thing happened. Chihiro laughed.

"Oh Kana-chan! I was just thinking about what to get for my mother's birthday! No need to get so worked up!" She grinned.

Kana was staring at her friend with a perplexed expression. Birthday…?

"Then what was with the drama just now?" Kana asked.

"To annoy you," Chihiro said simply and let out a fresh burst of laughter, though after a while, it sounded quite forced to Kana's ears. And that was when she realized it.

Kana was no fool. She had seen the way Chihiro's jaw muscles tightened at that statement and heard the false mirth in her laughter. And come to think of it…wasn't Yuuko's birthday party held just a few months ago? Though Chihiro was quite the convincing actress, Kana had known her too long for that to work. It had to be something serious for her friend to lie so blatantly; and obviously Chihiro did not want to talk about it. Kana glanced at her friend's smiling face and the deception behind it, and decided that she would let Chihiro off the hook this time.

When Kana let the skepticism slide off her face and returned to her work, Chihiro let out a breath she had not known was holding. She still wasn't sure if her friend had bought her lie for Kana was equally good-if not better-at hiding things; but at least she had not pressed for more and for that Chihiro was grateful. She was going to have to do some really long thinking tonight as it was time that decision was made.

Chihiro was perched on the window seat again, looking out into the silent night. Except this time, there wasn't any full moon to keep her company. The reflected light from it had diminished somewhat, leaving behind a dark empty space in the sky. Of course, those who hadn't witnessed the moon at its peak would never know the difference. But Chihiro knew that it would only get darker and darker every day, until it became a mere black hole to the eyes, then one day it would rear up and restore itself to its former glory once more. It was just a cycle, much like life itself. The full moon could not remain forever unwavering; but neither would the new moon dominate for all time.

Chihiro glanced at the gibbous hanging desolately against the dark backdrop again. Was her fate written like the phases of the moon? Her eyes shifted to the glittering violet hair band in her hands.

Haku didn't keep his promise, she thought idly. Chihiro paused at that and let out a soft sigh. Kami has she been sighing a lot lately.

Well…I guess that just proves that I'm destined for this world after all.

……

……Well, you sure are silent today, Chihiro thought dryly.

I'm just giving you time to think about it.

Chihiro snorted. What are you, my fairy godmother or something?

I am you. Well, at the wiser part of you anyway. Since I am still here, that means that you are still unsure.

Chihiro shook her head sadly.

My parents and friends would just become worried about me and I won't catch up in school. Maybe I would even lose my sanity and do something crazy.

……

After all, I was born a human and must live like a human. No more fairytales.

……Fairytales, huh……her inner mind pondered over this and lapsed into silence.

Chihiro sighed. She needs her full moon to ride again – at least for now – and that meant shrugging off the chains that bound her to the spirit world. As much as she knew it was real, the spirit world and all her friends there would just become part of the life of an over hopeful naïve child.

Hope you enjoyed that! Pls review! All opinions are welcome!:)