Disclaimer: I don't own Spirited Away.
A Sappy Little One-shot With Absolutely No Plot
It's been eighty years since I saw him last. I still remember it as if it were yesterday - my askingif we would ever meet again, his reply that of course we would. He promised we would. And, like a fool, I swore to wait for him.
I did wait. He never came. I'm still waiting, even as I lay dying in this blasted hospital room.
My heart monitor beeps steadily. The IV, hanging happily from its stand, whirs. I put a wrinkled hand to my wrinkled face and sigh.
He promised. I waited. He lied. I hate him.
The constant, annoying beep moves to a steady, high-pitched drone. I look over at it in surprise. My heart's not beating? I look down at myself and I see two of me. I'm dead.
Well. Okay, then.
In a rush of sound and color, I find myself in a different place. I'm in the spirit world now. I feel lighter and more energetic than I have in years - decades. Imagine my surprise when I realized that I am a young girl again, only twenty or so.
"I promised we would see each other again."
Against my will, my heart soars. This is the voice that I have dreamed of for eighty long years. I look up, into his beautiful eyes, and find myself suddenly unable to hate him. I love him too much to ever hate him.
"Haku?" My voice is not raspy, like it should be, and I can hear the plea in it. Please, please, please, let this be real!
"Chihiro." It's real. His soft voice could never be the product of a dream. It's just as I remember, strong and gentle and frustratingly devoid of emotion, so full of feeling that I feel everything along with him.
He reaches out to me, offering me his hand. He's hovering above me and I have to reach up to take it. He's not smiling, Haku rarely does, but I know how happy he really is.
"You made me wait for so long," I accuse bitterly. I relish the contact of our hands, the contact I had been waiting for all this time.
"You should have died earlier, then," He teased, gently.
I push down on his hand and drift up to his level. Our faces move closer, cheeks pressing gently together like they had when Haku learned his real name. I'm crying.
"I missed you so much."
"I missed you," he echoes quietly. "More than you could possibly know."
We stood there, floating, just savoring the presence of the other for some time.
"What happens now?" I have to ask. He smiles in a way that is purely Haku, a slight lifting at the corner of his mouth that makes his entire face light up like a firework. A brilliant, beautiful firework.
"Whatever you want. The bath house is gone. I'm free. You're dead. There's nothing to tie either of us down."
He looks down at us and I know he means it both literally and figuratively. We've been drifting upwards, higher and higher. I suddenly remember how scared I am of hights. But I'm not scared at all. It's a wonderful feeling.
I release his hand and throw my arms around his neck.
"I want to fly," I whisper into his ear. His arms wrap around my waist. "Teach me how to fly."
He complies. We swoop and soar through the skies of the spirit world, carefree and happy just being together. Much later, as the sun decides that it's had enough for one day, we descend. I am finally at peace with myself and the world, the first time in eighty years.
"You thought I had broken my promise. You thought I lied."
"No. I knew you would never lie to me, Haku."