Disclaimer: Chihiro Ogino, Mr. Ogino, Kohaku (Haku), and all other characters pertaining to Spirited AwayÓ are soul property of Mr. Hayou Miyazaki and Ghibli StudiosÒ. Any other made up characters (which are totally easy to figure out) are mine.

Chapter One

Chihiro Ogino sat in front of the window and stared off into the dusk, star-dotted sky. It had been seven years since her visit to Aburaya. She doesn't really remember anything. It was more like watching your self in a dream, but you wake up and don't remember what the dream was about.

She slid off her window seat and ambled over to the vanity mirror in the corner of the room. She sat down in front of it and removed the glittering violet hair elastic from her ponytail. She held it gingerly in her hands and examined the fine craftsmanship. A quick flash of a face appeared in her mind, but it only lasted for a split second.

Chihiro shrugged the imaged off and put the elastic in the top drawer of the vanity along with a pink shoe from when she was really little, her melon colored pants, and green and white tee-shirt from when she was ten. All these items seemed to have an importance to her for some reason. She didn't know why, but she knew she couldn't bear to part with them.

The brown haired seven-teen year old rose from her chair and pulled on a pair of deep-green pajamas and climbed into her new, western-style bed. When she pulled the chain on her bedside lamp the darkness enveloped her, as if beckoning her to sleep. The crescent moon was beginning to peak out from behind the mountains in the distance and it's dim light illuminated the room.

Chihiro closed her eyes and waited in perpetual silence for sleep to take her. The cool, night breeze fluttered the curtains as the moon played shadows across the walls and floor. Sleep finally came to Chihiro in the form of strange dreams that she wouldn't remember in the morning.

"Haku!" Chihiro shouted, "HAKU!" She ran forward, her melon colored pants and white and green striped shirt flapping madly behind her and kneeled before the white and green dragon spitting blood all over the elegant room. "Haku, are you okay? Haku!" The dragon thrashed wildly at her and they both fell into the square hole in the floor of Yubaba's living quarters. Haku flew blindly through the winding passageways and crashed into a large fan that sent him flying into rows and rows of drawers containing Kamaji, the six armed boiler man's, herbs. Chihiro flew smack into Kamaji himself. She scrambled to her feet and rushed to where the dragon poised ready to strike, blood pouring from his mouth. "Chihiro?" a voice whispered. "Chihiro!" It repeated a little louder. "CHIHIRO! -"

"GAH!" Chihiro jolted upright in her bed, her father stood in front of her, hands on his hips and looking more than a little smug.

"If you sleep any longer you'll be late for work." He informed her. Chihiro's eyes were the size of grapefruits.

"AH! I'M GONNA BE LATE!" She shrieked. Chihiro leaped out of bed and dived into her walk-in closet. She emerged seconds later wearing a light blue, cotton baggy sleeved shirt, matching pants, and a navy blue apron. She quickly tapped her feet into her orange and blue sneakers, pulled her hair into a high ponytail, and streaked out the front door to catch the bus.

Chihiro had barely caught the bus and rode it six stops to her work. The Shinrokaku bathhouse looked strangely tall and menacing to her for some odd reason. She checked her watch. It read 7:15. The bus drove off and Chihiro hurried over to the bathhouse. She, along with her assistant and co-workers, began the long and strenuous task of cleaning the bathhouse, before it opened at ten.

"Hey Chihiro, hurry it up! You got customer's waiting." Chihiro and her assistant, Meichi, stopped scrubbing the large tub.

"Now hold on a minute! This is clearly harassment!" She shouted, throwing down her cleaning brush for emphasis. She stopped for a second… 'Whoa…déjà vu.' She thought to herself. The two girls quickly finished with the tub and filled it for customer usage.

"Excuse me Miss." Chihiro turned to face a middle-aged man with balding hair.

"Yes?" She asked with a fake smile plastered of her face.

"Um… yes, uh, where is the… uh…?" Chihiro, knowing what is was he wanted to ask, pointed down the hall.

"Down the hall, third one on the left." She said and continued on her way.

Finally Chihiro's shift was at its end. She cleaned the hallway once more and left for home. She stopped at the local fast-food place for some dinner. She sat at a booth near the back of the restaurant and was just about to dig into to her burger when a couple of people were chatting rather loudly about something in the booth behind hers. Chihiro stopped to listen.

"I'm telling you, Niki and Erebisu went to that weird place and never. Came. Back." Said a male voice.

"Well, personally Deru, I think that a nice, white padded room and a straight jacket would do you some good." A feminine voice replied icily.

"Naw," another, lower male voice added, "Deru just needs to lay off the Sci Fi's."

"Anyone who went to that abandoned amusement park never came back. Remember Ashiri?" The conversation went silent for a moment giving Chihiro ample time to take a large bite out of her burger.

"You're point?" Said the female voice, more chilling than ever.

"That is my point! Something weird is going on and it has to do with that theme park. You believe me, don't you Sukiru?"

"Hmm… well, I definitely think it's odd, but I don't think it has anything to do with that place. What happened to Ashiri was pure coincidence. Nothing more."

You're kidding!" Anger filling Deru's voice, "Are you just going to sit back and ignore the truth? Just… brush it off!"

"Hey man," Sukiru said defensively, "take it easy."

"No! You take it easy!" Deru shouted. The whole restaurant was now watching the threesome. "All my life you've told me to 'lay off the video games' 'lay off the Sci Fi's'! Well, I'm not making this up and I'm not imagining things! If you don't believe me, fine, but I just want you to know that I'm not going to let Ashiri's death go in vain!" Deru stormed away, the door slamming behind him. After a few minutes of silence, the buzz in the restaurant returned. Chihiro finished her meal and caught the ten o'clock bus home.

"Theme park?" She asked herself as she brushed her hair, sitting in front of her vanity mirror once more, "What theme park could they possibly be talking about?" She pondered this for a moment. All of the theme parks she could recall weren't abandoned like the threesome in the MacDoyal's were implying… She shrugged her shoulders and climbed into bed. "I'll think more about this tomorrow…" She told herself through a yawn.

Once again the night took hold of Chihiro's imagination filling it with witches, giant babies, spirits, and strange green-haired men…

Well, now for a few explanations…

Aburaya is the name of the bathhouse owned by Yubaba

Ogino is in fact Chihiro's last name

Shinrokaku is a real bathhouse in Japan. It's extremely elegant and is usually for high-ranking guests.

MacDoyal's is my rip-off version of McDonald'sÒ

Niki is myself (Nee-Kee)

Erebisu is my friend Elvis (Eh-Reh-Beess)

Deru is my friend Drew (Deh-Roo)

Ashiri is my friend Ashley (Ah-Shee-Ree)

Sukiru is my friend Skyler (Skee-Roo)