This is my first Spirited Away story. It's more like a poem, really. I'm failing Algebra right now, so I probably won't be on for a while until I get my grades back up. I wanted to get this posted before I forgot it. It basically focuses on Chihiro saying goodbye and hello agin to Haku, and is dedicated to my friend SSDuelist, who introduced me to this movie. Arigato!
She Never Looked Back
By Ichigo2491
(Disclaimer: Hayao Miyazaki invented these characters. I'm not anywhere near as cool as he is!)
He told her to let go.
He told her to walk on and leave him behind.
He told her not to look back.
It was one of the hardest things she had ever done; leaving Haku. It would have been so much easier if she could have turned around and waved until he was out of sight. But she couldn't.
So she released his hand, turned her back, and walked away.
She never looked back.
Not only did she obey Haku's command that day, but Chihiro also took his words as a maxim for the rest of her life. Every decision she made was made with absolute certainty; she never questioned herself. She made mistakes, but she didn't dwell on them.
She never looked back.
Chihiro went to her new school; made new friends. She liked her friends and they liked her, but there was something about her, something otherworldly that made the other children wonder what was going on under her thick brown hair.
Some of the other children taunted her for her dreamy look and frequent pensive expressions. Chihiro ignored them. After all, she knew something they didn't.
Over time, friendships evolved; were chiseled into mere acquaintanceships by the winds of puberty and high school. She watched this happen with only a twinge of regret. She graduated and left them behind, to blow away like fallen autumn leaves.
She never looked back.
She became engaged to a handsome and wealthy man. But he became cruel and callous, proving himself to be far from the kind of husband Chihiro wanted. She called off their wedding, broke the engagement, and moved back into her parents' blue house near the abandoned theme park.
She never looked back.
One summer night she went out for a walk. Absorbed in her thoughts, she scarcely noticed where her feet were taking her. She was startled when she looked up and found herself on the grounds of the park.
A peculiar phenomenon began to unravel before Chihiro's startled eyes. The dark blue skyline wavered, and stars flickered in and out of focus. She watched as the night turned into day... a lovely summer day with a cumulus-splattered, robin's-egg-blue sky, flowers dotting the thick green grass.
She knew, somewhere in the back of her mind, what was happening. She had come here before, so many times when she was growing up, to try and reenter the world of the bathhouse. All her attempts had been unsuccessful. This time she had come here with no intention of gaining entrance; she had been unsuspecting, just like the day so many years ago when she had first met...
Haku. His green eyes were unmistakable. He had grown from a boy to a man, but she could tell it was him, standing right where she had left him, his hand extended to take hers, just as he had released it...
Tears rolled down her cheeks as Chihiro stepped forward.
"It feels like forever," she whispered, staring into his eyes.
"I promised we would meet again," he answered, smiling that warm, familiar smile. He stretched his hand out a little further.
Smiling through her tears, Chihiro took it, and turned her back on her home.
And she never looked back.