Chihiro stood in front of her new school, feeling slightly queasy. Her purple hair band glimmered in the sun, and for a moment the girl squeezed her eyes shut. When she opened them again, the school hadn't disappeared, and Chihiro sighed.

A new school…so mundane in comparison with the adventure she had been through, but scary enough to make her a little nervous and apprehensive. She closed her eyes once more, and let the memories wash over her.

A bathhouse…Haku telling her to leave before it got dark…the horror of seeing her parents as pigs…Kamajii and the soot sprites…the contract with Yu-baaba…a new name: Sen…Rin saying "Congratulations! You pulled it off!"…No-face …a white dragon…Zeniiba, or Obaa-chan, as Chihiro affectionately called her…"Chihiro, you did it! I remember my name!"

Kohaku…he promised he would see her again. Soon. She had written down the names of all her friends, and all that had helped her. She remembered the river spirit. She thought of Rin. In that manner, she had passed away the last of vacation, and school seemed like a hazy thing in the distance…until it was on top of her.

Chihiro opened her eyes. She could face anything after standing up to Yu-baaba. She could deal with her novelty at this school, as long as she had the memory of Kohaku in her mind. As long as she could remember flying on his back while he was a dragon. As long as she could remember how much he had helped her find a place at the bathhouse until she could get home.

The walk towards the building was just like a walk across the bridge. She would meet up with Kohaku on the other side. She held her breath as she walked through the crowd. Just before she reached the end, she was surprised enough to let her breath out. A smaller student ran into her, on accident of course, but she stumbled back just the same, dropping her backpack. Everyone turned on her, and Chihiro felt a sense of déjà vu, but instead of running away from the scene with Kohaku, Chihiro stopped and picked up the backpack.

"I'm so sorry! I didn't mean to bump into you!"

"It's alright, no harm done." She looked down at the boy who was still on the ground. He looked strangely familiar…like a certain frog. She scrunched her eyes closed for a moment, and when she opened them bent down to help the boy up. He smiled gratefully at her, and scurried off. But the damage had been done: everyone was looking at her now.

Chihiro went into the building, hearing them chatter already.

"It's the new girl…"

"…looks like she's from another district…"

"…smells weird doesn't she?"

Chihiro sighed. She had 'smelt weird' all the rest of the summer. No matter how many baths she took, her mother kept saying, "She just doesn't smell human!" Finally, her father diagnosed it as "…some strange food she ate." Chihiro smiled slightly. They didn't know how right they were. She just hoped it would wear off soon, as whenever she went out in public people would complain.

Suddenly, up ahead, Chihiro saw a tall girl, obviously older, standing by the window. She was by herself, looking out into the distance. Chihiro got that sense of déjà vu again, until the girl turned slightly, enough for Chihiro to see her profile. Now she definitely knew who it was. Before she could help herself, Chihiro shouted out "RIN!!!"

The girl turned, surprised, and her eyes widened as she saw Chihiro approach. Then, a look of confusion crept over her face, as she studied Chihiro's appearance.

"Do I know you?"

Chihiro came up short. You mean…Rin didn't recognize her? Chihiro slowly shook her head.

"So sorry. I thought you were a friend of mine."

"How did you know my name?" Rin's look of confusion intensified, as if she was trying to remember the smaller girl in front of her.

"I suppose the two of you share the same name." Chihiro bowed once more. "Again, I am sorry."

"Would your name happen to be…Sen?"

Chihiro gasped. So she did remember something! But not much it looked like.

"Not really…but my friend, Rin, called me that. My name is Chihiro."

"Chihiro…What a pretty name! Nice to meet you, Chihiro-chan. You already seem to know my name, so we'll skip that part." Rin smiled at Chihiro, and bowed slightly. Chihiro returned the bow, and returned her welcome smile.

"Nice to meet you too, Rin-san."

Rin-san seemed an exact copy of the Rin Chihiro knew. Everything from the way her hair was styled, to the voice she spoke with. Her eyes were the very same shade, and her ears were the exact shape. Chihiro's memory filled with pictures and clips of Rin. Rin offering Chihiro a dumpling, Rin comforting her when her stomach felt upset, Rin taking Chihiro under her wing, and Rin feeding the little soot sprites.

Rin-san looked carefully at Chihiro. "Hel-loooo? Anybody home? Sen…I mean, Chihiro-chan, time to face the real world now…"

Chihiro was jerked from her thoughts. She laughed slightly at Rin-san's expression and demeanor. You mean she acted like Rin too? This just kept getting better and better. Rin-san, slightly unsure, began to laugh with Chihiro, entirely oblivious to the joke.

Then, the bell rung. Chihiro and Rin-san straightened up.

"Uh-oh. We'd better get to class. Say, do you want me to show you where to go?"

"Um…no thank you. I can manage. Where can I find you after classes?"

"Let's meet right by this exact window. I'll see you around, okay Chihiro-chan?"

"Yea. See ya, Rin-san!" With those parting words, Chihiro darted off to class, in noticeably better spirits.

Chihiro made it to her classroom just in time. She opened the doorway of her class, and entered the foreign room. The teacher looked up, and nodded to herself, as if silently saying 'new student: check!'

"Everyone! Settle down," The students obeyed after a while, and turned to the front. "This is Ogino Chihiro. She's new here, so everyone make her feel welcome. You all remember what it was like starting school, and some of our newer additions remember what the transition of moving to a new town was like. If you have any questions," she turned to Chihiro here. "Just ask. I'll be happy to provide answers for you." The teacher smiled widely. With her broad, wrinkled face, her large gold earrings, her prominent nose, and her gray hair in a large bun, she looked vaguely like Yu-baaba…or Zeniiba, actually, since she seemed so much friendlier than the evil witch. Zeniiba and Yu-baaba had been identical in looks, but the only person Yu-baaba cared about was her baby.

In this way, Chihiro silently dubbed her teacher Zeniiba-sensei, and became that much more fond of the nice old lady.

Zeniiba-sensei pointed out Chihiro's seat, and watched as the young girl went to sit. Zeniiba-sensei suddenly felt the urge to take the girl into her arms, and hug her. She knew perfectly well what the little girl's name was, but another name kept popping up in her head. Sen. Little Sen. 'No,' she told her mind. 'The girl's name is Ogino Chihiro, and what a beautiful name it is at that.'

The school hours passed quickly for Chihiro, and she found herself thinking of Rin-san again. At lunch, even when she had to eat by herself from her puny bento box, she looked forward to meeting her new friend. And if she had seen Rin-san…

Her thoughts, per usual, had drifted back to Kohaku and the spirit world.

Her classes ended with the ring of the bell, and Chihiro gathered her stuff, rushing off to the meeting place.

She spotted Rin-san's tall figure among the crowd, and ran toward it. Before long, she saw Rin-san chatting with a boy slightly younger than her. She laughed at something he said, throwing her head back. The boy only smirked in response. Chihiro's heart throbbed, and her lungs refused to take in another breath.

Cautiously, she approached, her hands gripped tight by her sides. Her hair band glinted once more in the sun, as she walked up to the one person that had continuously interrupted her thoughts ever since returning from the spirit world.

"Ah, Chihiro-chan! This is Haku-sama…I mean, Kohaku-san." Rin-san blushed at her slight blunder, which she had continuously made ever since meeting Kohaku a year ago.

"Chihiro…it's good to meet you again." Kohaku smiled warmly at Chihiro, who could feel her heart pounding.

"Kohaku!" she cried, and flung herself into his arms, shocking Rin-san into silence.

"I've missed you so. It feels like it's been forever, although it probably hasn't felt so long for you…" Kohaku returned Chihiro's embrace, and she pressed her face against his chest. When she lifted it, he saw her eyes were sparkling with tears, even though she had a beauteous smile gracing her features. Finally, Rin-san found her voice.

"You mean you two already know each other? I only meet Chihiro this morning, and you two just so happen to be long-lost friends! 'Snot fair!" Rin-san pouted, but her anger was short-lived. Kohaku and Chihiro-chan just seemed so cute together…

"Kohaku…do you live nearby?"

"Not that far from the school…why?"

"Can I come over to your house?"

"Whoa, whoa, whoa! If anyone's going over to anyone's house, you guys are going over to mine. And then you two are going to explain to me EXACTLY how you met." Rin-san glared her young friends down, and eventually they came to agree to her terms.

0o0o0o0o-0o0o

"Eeeehhh? What do you mean, you met in another world?"

Rin-san had pestered Kohaku and Chihiro for every last detail on how they had met. At first the two had made up a bogus story, but Rin-san's continual questions eventually proved the story false. They had come to the last option: tell Rin-san the unbelievable truth.

"We're not lying, Rin-san! And you look just like one person we both knew in this world!"

"You're kidding!"

"No. Chihiro and I are dead serious. Besides you were the one that wanted the whole truth. We've decided to give it to you."

"But, Kohaku, if you remember all this, why don't I? I mean, we've never been to the spirit world before, but you remember it as if you were there yesterday."

"I don't know how or why I remember it so clearly…but I also remember other things in my past life. When I was the spirit of the Kohaku River, and when I saved Chihiro."

"You—now hold up a second! You were the spirit of the Kohaku River? And you rescued Chihiro-chan?"

"Yes. And I turned into a white dragon."

"Okay, now this is starting to sound a little too far-fetched. You two really…c'mon, you guys can't be…" Rin-san trailed off, uncertain. One look at their serious faces, and she knew that what they were saying was true…besides, if they were lying, how come she remembered them as Sen and Haku-sama. Rin-san settled down, and looked her two younger friends in the eyes.

"I guess…I believe you. Tell me EVERYTHING!"

And so Chihiro and Kohaku launched into their tale, helping each other out when one got stuck on a part.

Rin was an excellent listener, oohing and ahhing at the proper times, and even squeaking somewhat at the scary parts. She became quite enthralled, and her only regret was her lack of memory. She wished she could remember this world as whole-heartedly as Chihiro could.

"But, Kohaku, one thing that's been nagging me is…how are you able to remember this world as well as you can remember the Spirit Realm?"

Kohaku's brow lowered, and his face scrunched in deep thought. He stayed like that for several moments, before his eyes cleared. He straightened up, and began talking with deliberation.

"I believe it has something to do with Other Worlds. Parallel Dimensions."

"How?" exclaimed Chihiro.

"What are the Other Worlds?" Rin pondered.

"Why do they exist?" questioned both girls.

Kohaku took a deep breath.

"For every decision every being makes in life, there is an alternative one, or perhaps several. I could choose to study for a test, or I could choose not too. Either decision could change my very state of being. I could turn out to be an entirely different person based upon that one decision.

"Other Worlds, or Alternate Universes, or Parallel Dimensions are projections of these manifest decisions, as well as worlds where history or creation itself differed. The Spirit Realm is one such place, where all beings are spirits, or monsters, or ghosts. When Chihiro was spirited away to that realm, she was in fact entering into another world.

"In this world, we have alternate versions of the same people from the same location in space-time, but not in the same dimension. I believe I am the first to enter This Realm from the Spirit Realm, and my spirit form and my human form have thus intertwined into one. I actually do have real powers…only fewer and weakened. Instead of being able to weave the most complex of magics, I only have a few spells and curses to throw at an enemy. Despite my past ability to fly in the air, as a dragon or spirit, I now hover approximately two inches above the ground. And, although I used to become invisible at regular intervals in my previous life, now I can only turn extraordinary colors and patterns.

"Before Chihiro asks why she did not integrate with her spirit form, I should bring up that she doesn't have one. That's why she was at risk of disappearing in the Spirit Realm, and that's why she resonated as human. She has now eaten food from a different world, and thus she resonates as, once more, otherworldly. I've come to the conclusion that most people from This Realm do not have duplicates or doppelgangers. Your parents are also like you in that respect.

"Now, mind you, these are all just conglomerated theories of mine, as a result of reading certain books lately. I've basically copied and pasted this collage of ideas into one big hypothesis, and I can only assume that it's correct. Which is precisely why, Chihiro, why you have been seeing these people that remind you of your friends from the Spirit Realm. Keep a sharp eye out for them. They may act like your previous acquaintances, or they may differ greatly. They may have vague memories of you, like Rin here, or they may not even recognize your face. Brace yourself."

Chihiro and Rin sat on the floor, blinking, trying to digest it all. It all seemed like a load of wise, sage advice and confounding theories, and was rather much for a girl of eleven years to comprehend. Yet Chihiro got the basic gist, and was awed by it all. Imagine, a twin self, exactly like you in certain ways, but irrevocably different in others. It would be amazing to meet such a person. Only, she apparently didn't have one. At least, not within the Spirit Realm.

"Kohaku, I want to know more. What did you read that helped you understand all this?"

"Just a bunch of fantasy novels. Why? If you're thinking of reading them yourself, forget it. They are far too long and complicated for someone your age."

"I refuse to be told that I'm too young! Kohaku, please! I want to get this, especially since I might very well run into more of these people, like you said. Please?

"Oh…very well. But don't make a huge fuss if you can't read them all the way through, okay."

"Gotcha."

"I'll write down a list of titles. I hope you know what you're getting yourself into. These should all be at the school library."

0o0o0o0o-0o0o

Chihiro walked carefully between shelves and shelves and shelves of ancient tomes and worn out texts. She usually loved libraries, but something about this one scared her slightly. Turning a corner sharply, she was so internally involved that she ran into another library occupant, a boy. He dropped his books in his slow surprise, and Chihiro almost fell onto her back.

The boy grabbed her arm at the last moment, and hauled her upwards.

"I-I'm sorry! I should have paid more attention to what was in front of me!" Chihiro was quite flustered.

"It's…alright. Are you…okay?"

"I'm fine. What about you?"

"Just…my books."

"Let me help you with those! Again, I'm sorry."

"Don't…be." The boy knelt, and slowly began gathering up his stack of books. Chihiro copied.

"By the way…my name is Ogino Chihiro."

"Misaki Hayoi. Pleased…to meet…you."

"Same here. Do you work here?"

"No. I'm…a student…like you. I just…help."

"Awesome! Can you help me with something? I'm looking for some books."

"Sure."

"One's entitled The Lives of Christopher Chant. I don't know the author's name. Can you find it?"

"I know…where it is. Follow…please."

Chihiro followed at a distance. As she walked, she observed Hayoi. He was obviously a few years older than her, and much taller too. He was very pale, and for the first time, Chihiro noticed his black school uniform. He had square-framed glasses, and chin length, messy, parted-down-the-middle, black hair. He was slightly handsome, and if Chihiro had never met Kohaku, she would have fallen for this haunting specter.

Hayoi stopped abruptly, jerking Chihiro out of her thoughts and to a halt.

"These…are popular…among…fantasy readers. Diana Wynne Jones…is…awesome. These are…the Chrestomanci…Chronicles. Anything…else?"

"Um…a strange British novel: A Crack in the Line."

"Follow."

And so they went, grabbing books off the shelves, mostly following the list, but finding other books by the same authors that looked interesting as well. Along the way, Hayoi shelved the stack he had been carrying, and became more involved in helping Chihiro, though his speech was still slow and careful.

Within a few minutes, Chihiro had a stack of twelve books. She joked about reading them in twelve days, although she was a little apprehensive about some of the thicker works.

Chihiro headed for the checkout, chatting lazily with Hayoi about the upcoming soccer season, only to be greeted by another ghost from her past.

Kamajii, in full flesh, was behind the checkout desk. He even had the same glasses and mustache, although he obviously did not have three fingers on each hand, and was limited to four separate limbs, instead of eight. Chihiro gasped at seeing her old friend, and hoped beyond all hope that he would at least remember her name, even the name of Sen. Rin had. Couldn't he?

Hayoi said his slow goodbyes, and went back to his task of shelving. Chihiro walked solemnly up to the desk.

"E-excuse me, but…would you happen to be Kamajii-sensei?"

The old man paused, then nodded briefly.

"I am? Who are you? You know me?"

"Oh, no sir. I've just heard so much about you. My name is Chihiro, although my friends call me Sen."

"Chihiro, hm? I think I've heard of you too, my dear." Kamajii smiled an undisciplined grin, revealing a set of large, white teeth. If it had been anyone else, Chihiro would have been frightened, but as it was, she laughed softly. Kamajii's grin only grew wider, and he began to scan her books. Chihiro saw that he was sitting on a tall stool. His legs barely reached the floor. Meanwhile, his arms could scan several books in quick succession, and could stretch quite a bit. He was definitely a lot like the old Kamajii.

Chihiro promised herself that she would befriend all her old spirit friends, even if she had to search for them out of hundreds. As she walked out of the library, books clutched to her front, she wondered exactly where she would find the next doppelganger. And, if she found one, would they be as friendly to her as the past three had been.

Chihiro sighed. Life had been so much simpler as the new girl.

0o0o0o0o-0o0o

Hello there! I'm trying something new. An author's note at the BOTTOM of the page (dun dun dun)!

In all seriousness, I hope everyone enjoys the first chapter of my new fan fiction on the GREATEST ANIMATED MOVIE OF ALL TIME. I hope I did it justice.

Sorry about all the extremely long words. I know, I know, people don't usually speak like that. I tried to keep it simple, but my vocab was burstin' out of me. ;

Some notes about the characters' ages: Chihiro is around eleven the time this fic takes place. Kohaku and Rin are about two years older, placing them at thirteen. And, finally, Hayoi is fourteen. Speaking of, Hayoi ISN'T just an OC. Brownies, cookies, or pie to anyone who can guess who he really is.

Additional: I do NOT own Spirited Away, and I would thank my lucky stars if I did, instead of writing dubious fan fiction. I also do not own the few books mentioned in here, The Lives of Christopher Chant and A Crack in the Line, although I do recommend that you read them. Anything by Diana Wynne Jones is amazing, as amazing as Miyazaki's best animated features…which might be why he animated one of her more well known books, Howl's Moving Castle. Please…watch and read both.

Again, sorry for the long words, and sorry for the book rants. Please do not tar and feather this humble writer.