She ran with all her might to chase the bleeding white serpent as it thrashed throughout the bathhouse. I have to get to him! I need to help him! He can't die! The girl thought as she burst through the door where the dragon lied on the floor, its breaths shallow and short.

Now she's soaring through the night sky on the same dragon, except this time it wasn't injured. The serpent's white scales glinted in the moonlight and the long green mane flapped through the wind. She remembered something and spoke to the dragon. "... River!" her words were drowned out by the wind but the dragon heard her and something amazing happened.

The white scales disappeared along with the dragon and now she's free falling into the night sky except she wasn't scared at all. She laughed and tears of joy welled up in her eyes as she looked into a pair of emerald eyes.

"I promise we will meet again."

BZZZZZZZTTTTTTTT!

The shrill sound of her alarm clock jolted out of her dreams and surprised her to the point she crashed on to the floor. "Owww," Chihiro Ogino groaned, rubbing her head as she groggily reached up to the nightstand beside her where the screaming alarm rested. She slammed her fist on the snooze and a calm silence finally returned to the room. Yawning, she stretched her arms above her head and got up. Chihiro looked at her messy bed and a dazed look came upon her face.

She had that dream again. It was a recurring dream she first had eight years ago when she first arrived in town with her parents. They were headed to the new house when her father got them lost and they ended up at an old theme park. Ever since then, she had this dream. It was more frequent when she was younger but time had taken its toll and the dream only occurred only every now and then.

Chihiro fell face first into her bed as she sleepily peeked through the gaps of her blinds to the world outside her room. It's been forever since I last had that dream. How long was it..? Oh yeah, nearly a year now. And here I thought it would finally stop. She thought without remorse; She was actually happy she had it again. It made her feel like a child again, that dream.

"Well, no use reminiscing when I have stuff to do!" Chihiro exclaimed in a loud voice as she jumped out of bed in an effort to wake herself up. She rushed through a quick shower and bolted out of the house with a packed lunch her mother prepared before she had left for work. She greeted some of the neighbors as she ran down the street while tying her hair in a new-looking purple hair tie she had since eight years ago.

"Chihiro! Your sock is around your ankle again!" A young man called out to her from his front yard.

Chihiro slowed to a stop in front of the man and bowed her head in greeting. "Good morning, Harada-san! How is your research going along?" She asked as she sheepishly pulled her sock up to her knees.

"Swell! Ever since I moved here in Japan, my research has been going rather smoothly," Bakal Harada smiled as he softly flicked her nose. Bakal Harada is a man in his twenties and studies Japanese history and culture. Currently, he is studying about Shintoism and moved from the Philippines to the Japanese countryside to have a closer look at Japanese tradition. A handsome man that was only half Japanese, he lives a few houses down from Chihiro and was a brotherly figure for her ever since he moved in a couple months ago. "It's amazing how closely tied Shintoism is to Japan's history, to the point that there is still an emperor! Even if he doesn't have any actual political power," Bakal added with a small laugh.

Chihiro rubbed her nose as she looked at his pleased expression. "Harada-san, why did you move to the country rather than the city? I'm pretty sure there's a lot of sources there and the city is buzzing with people unlike this quiet town!"

Bakal looked up at the blue sky thoughtfully. "Hmmm, I guess maybe it's because modern technology hasn't completely taken over the country. More history is preserved in the country where everything is simple and not overly exaggerated."

Chihiro nodded in agreement. "That makes sense, I guess."

Bakal laughed again. "It's not like I need your approval, little lady. Besides, shouldn't you hurry? You won't make it to school on time like that, you know."

Chihiro glanced at her watch and gasped at how long she had been talking to him. "Oh no, I'm gonna be late! All because you talk too slow!" She jokingly blamed Bakal. She waved at him and started running off. "Bye, Harada-san!"

"See ya, kiddo!" Bakal smiled to himself as he watched her dash out of sight. "Always lively in the morning. Hm?" A movement caught his eye and he looked down the street to see a mysterious boy in traditional Japanese clothing watch Chihiro. "Seems suspicious...I guess I'll go take a look," he murmured to himself as he went to approach the boy. He tapped the boy's shoulder and put on a friendly smile. "Excuse me, young man, are you looking for somebody?"

The black haired boy jumped back, a look of surprise written in his emerald eyes. "You can see me..?"

Confused, Bakal made an awkward laugh and nodded. "Why, yes, I can see you from all the way over there." He pointed to his house down the street. "Are you a friend of Chihiro? An enemy? Or...a secret admirer?" Bakal asked jokingly, trying to open the boy up.

The boy ignored his question as he looked him up and down. "You have a strange aura. Are you an onmyoujii?"

Bakal blinked in surprise at the question. An onmyouji is someone who practices spiritual powers and summoning of spirits according to Japanese folklore. These people are granted the ability to see spirits and demons. But that's all a folktale, Bakal thought at first, but honestly, he didn't believe himself. His grandfather used to be a Japanese priest before he moved to the Philippines and married his grandmother. When Bakal was a young child, his grandfather always told him stories about the Japanese spirits and how he see them in the shrine he worked at. There were many stories about each spirit he befriended and how once, his grandfather was able to visit the spirit realm and met a witch who ran a bathhouse. But then his grandmother would come in nagging about how it's all a fairy tale and not to delve in too much about it. But no matter what, that's how his love and interest about Japanese culture sprouted, with his grandfather's convincing stories of the spirits.

Bakal shook his head a few times to break out of his reverie before answering the boy. "No, I am not an onmyoujii, but may I ask, might you happen to be a spirit?" He knew the question would sound outrageous to a normal person; most of his neighbors thought he was weird because of his love of the Japanese's folklore, but nevertheless, he had to know. No one else seemed to notice the boy, which gave him more reason to hope. Bakal held his breath as he waited for the boy to reply.

The boy stared into his eyes for a few minutes, a calm but calculating look on his face. After a while, he shrugged. "Yes. I am." This man seems trustworthy and still believes in the spirits. I can use him, the boy thought to himself.

Bakal gasped. He couldn't believe his luck, an actual spirit! The legends are true! It would help a lot with his research! "I'm Bakal Harada, it's a pleasure to meet you!" He said excitedly, grabbing the boy's hands and shaking it in his own. "I can't believe it! My grandfather was right! This is amazing, I have so many questions!" The boy looked at him, not knowing what to do as Bakal kept blabbing continuously.

Bakal felt someone staring at him and glanced over his shoulder to see some people looking at him strangely. "Oh, right, to normal people, it will seem like I'm talking to a wall, haha! Uhm, would you come to my house, I would like to chat with you. If we stay outside, I will seem even more peculiar by my neighbors!"

The boy glanced over his shoulder, looking after the direction Chihiro ran off to. "Oh, Chihiro? She's going to school, so she wouldn't be able to talk to you, that is, if she can see you. Stay at my place and I'll try to catch her for you," Bakal suggested, eager to take notes.

"...I guess it wouldn't hurt, " the boy murmured and, delighted, Bakal led him to his house.

Before opening the gate to his home, Bakal turned around with a smile. "I nearly forgot to ask, what is your name, young man?"

For the first time since he talked to him, the boy smiled. "Kohaku. Nigihayami Kohakunushi. Call me Haku."

Chihiro stared outside through the classroom window, thinking about her dream from earlier. Her bento box laid on top of her desk, the contents already devoured. I wonder what I said before River? She thought as she watched the lone cherry blossom tree in the courtyard rustle in the soft breeze. And who is the one with the emerald eyes?

"Chihiro-chaaaaaaannnnn!" A pretty wavy haired girl popped out in front of her with a big smile. "I heard the good news! Congrats!"

"Huh?" Chihiro gave her a confused look. "What are you talking about, Emi-chan?"

"That painting of that strange land you wrote a poem about, of course! You won the nationals with the art piece AND the poem! That's amazing!" Emi grinned, placing a can of tea on Chihiro's desk. "I'll treat you later as congrats."

Chihiro smiled and hugged her friend. "Thanks, Emi-chan. But don't you have supplementary classes to go to after school?"

"Oh, darn!" Her friend groaned, slapping her forehead. "Geez, it's a hassle but I have to go, or else, old man Yanagi will nag me about my grades." The bell rings, signalling the beginning of class and Emi looks at Chihiro regretfully.

"I have to go to class now, and I won't be able to see you after school, so tomorrow for sure, okay?"

"Okay! Bye bye, Emi-chan!"

After school, Chihiro drops by the library where her poem and painting are displayed. She gazed at the canvas where a strange world resided. A tall dynamic bathhouse sits in a vast blue sea and a train can be seen in the background chugging along submerged railroad tracks. A strange black figure with a white mask stood at a platform with a young girl, as if waiting for the train.

Chihiro then looks at a her poem, framed beside the painting. She had written it based on a part of her dream, and had submitted it to the national poetry contest.

A SEA OF DREAMS

There I stand

On a small patch of land

With a mouse and a bird

And my feet submerged.

A faceless figure stands beside me

On the platform in the middle of a vast sea,

Waiting for a train to come

And take me to a place far from home.

A place where I do not know

And to return is unknown.

The path ahead of me is not clear

But I know to never fear

For in that place I am destined

A loved one is waiting and

To him I must go

And my heart had already chose.

No matter how vast this sea of dreams stretches

I wait on for the train of lessons

With not a single thought of regret

Of him having met.

I do not look back at the tall red bathhouse behind me

to which Fate has taken me

and where I had grown and trained

From the frightened child of yesterday.

Instead I look at this glistening sea of dreams

And admire how the shining blue gleams

And there I wait

For the Train of Fate.

Something within her chest stirred as she read her poem over and over again, and somehow she knew that something is awakening within her. Chihiro looked at the painting again and one thought occurred in her mind. "The train of Fate is coming again."