"Oh, calm down, will you?", Zeniba snáps in her room, causing No Face jump up in surprise.
"Just a minute, honey. No need to rush okay?"
"Uh uh" Zeniba see No Face knocking at the door, she quickly hides the small red silk bag into the drawer. Quickly, she runs to No Face, pushing him out of the room:
"Darling, you come just in time! Can you help me plant these Wishful Roses in the North garden? Thank you darling!"
Confusing No Face just nods and then quickly goes to the garden.
Zeniba stands still a bit before turning to the shaking drawer behind her:
"See what you've done? What if No Face saw you?"
The drawer opens itself and the little bags flies out, glowing amber. Zeniba looks at it for a while before taking it into her small hands.
"Alright...I'll send you to the human world right away..."
oOo In the light, I find you oOo
Chapter 1: Strangers in their dreams.
Chihiro walks through the flower valley, through the high sunflowers shining under the sun and the little daisies growing beneath them. She walks slowly, not sure where to go until she hears jingles from the direction ahead. Chihiro follows it to find a girl in yellow yukata, dancing with what seem to be light balls flying around her. Her long chestnut hair swings right and left in her movement, making rooms for the mild breeze to flow through those locks in tender. The girl seems to have fun playing with those light balls. The sun starts going down and the girl surely shows no sight of letting go of the game.
"Who are you?", Chihiro starts impatiently, "Where is this place?"
The girl stops then turns to see her face. She's only a few step away from Chihiro but she hardly sees her face because of the long bang. Much to Chihiro's surprise, the girl soon glows in an amber aura and then vanishes into thin air...
"Chihiro. Chihiro! Wake up!"
Chihiro slowly opens her eyes to see her friend, Sakura, waking her up.
"What time is it?" Chihiro yawns.
"4pm. When did you come here?", Sakura looks at the statues in Chihiro's studio in amazement, "When does the exhibition take place?"
"7am...", Chihiro answers lazily, "an the exhibition takes place next Sunday. From 9am to 6pm...". Slowly, she walks to the wooden window and inhale the fresh air flowing into her studio. This studio was once an old storage that Chihiro's father bought two years ago. He gave it to her as a present as he knew his daughter loves drawing and always wished to have a private place to let her imagination go wild. Rarely did she realize that the studio is the last present her parents gave her before they passed away in a car accident three months later. Since then, Chihiro seems to lock herself in her own place, hiding her sadness within it. The studio soon became the new home for the art student Chihiro. All her works are kept here, most of them are models and paintings. Only a few sculpture are displayed in the main room of the studio, the rest are kept in the closet as they are unfinished or broken. The most impressive work of Chihiro probably is the sculpture of a girl riding dragon. The dragon is made with such delicate care that you can see every single detail of its scales, mane and claws. And the girl seems to speak on her own... Such a masterpiece made by a twenty-year-old girl, many people said so after they saw the sculpture. They many times asked her to put it on display but she refused, wanting to keep it for her own. They thought she was stupid for hiding such work but little did they know how precious this work is to her. It's her memory, her heart and her soul towards the world she once lived in: the spirit world. That was where she met him, Haku, the one that saved her twice. Ten years has passed since she left that world, but nothing about the land seems to fade from her memory. Chihiro always wants to get back there and meet Haku again. She has come to the gate many times but all her attempt seems to fail. The more she tries to get through, the strong barrier is created to lock her out. She broke down many times, realizing she may never be able to get back there. So all she has now is that sculpture and a pending question: How's Haku doing?
"Let's go out for lunch!", Chihiro gets back to reality when Sakura grabs her hand.
"I'm sure you're starving like hell now! Let's go!"
Haku finds himself lying on the snow-covered ground. He gets up hardly as his body seems to freeze under the cold weather. Sweeping away the snow on his clothes, Haku slowly walks towards the light ahead of him. He walks pass the snowdrops in their full bloom; pass the little snow spirits that are sleeping under the flowers near the path. And finally, he reaches that place: the floating palace that was made of the finest pine tree in the spirit world. Haku lets the wind pick him up to the palace and slowly walks into it. For some reason, a voice in Haku's head keeps telling him to go straight ahead and don't look back. Haku does the same, ignoring all the luxurious decoration and the cranes that are flying round the place as they are protect something important inside.
"NO!", Haku ducks to avoid a wooden table that flies straight to his direction. Haku regains his balance once more before steps into the dark room. He can smell it: the smell of despair filing the room. Smashes of flower vase scatters round the floor. Roses are crushed under their own pots.
There he is, the spirit that caused all these damages. His messy blue hair covered his face. His white yukata is stained of blood, a few days old blood. His fits hits hard onto the wooden floor, creates wounds all over his knuckles. He keeps shouting in despair:
"WHY? WHY? SHE'S DEAD! WHY?"
Follows it is a long loud piercing scream. A pain suddenly strikes Haku's heart.
"I know this man...", Haku thinks, "but I can't recall who he is..."
Haku steps one more step towards the spirit, his foot steps on a piece of fragile glass, making break into two pieces and create a small sound. The spirit looks up from his blue bang. Sapphire blues meet emerald greens. Haku's heart skips a beat: Deep in that sapphire color is a mixture of emerald green and amber. This man's eyes have three colors? No spirit can have two colors in one eyes, let alone three! What is he?
Suddenly, the man rises up in a fast pace. He draws out a sword from thin air and swings it right to Haku's direction. Haku tries to move but something freezes him. He can't move a muscle! He just can't move!
"Calm down Haku! Use your magic!", he thinks and tries to concentrate to form a protecting barrier but it's no use. No magic comes out. Not a single spark of magic comes out. The man's sword swings to Haku's neck and stop right there. He stares at Haku, it's vengeance that fills up those eyes:
"YOU! YOU MUST DIE!"
Haku wakes up, sweat all over him. This is the third night he has that dream, counting from the day he got his name back. Haku looks round his room again to make sure this is really him home. His own home, not the bath house or Zeniba's house or any where else. He closes his eyes. This time, the dream was so real he could feel the cool metal pointed at his neck. Haku tries to recall every little details: three-colored eyes, blue hair, white yukata and...a floating place? Haku opens his eyes. He then runs to the library and search for an old scroll places on top of the book shelves. Just like what he thought, the only person in the sprit world that has a floating palace is Master Hiraki_ the ruler of the spirit world. And the man in his dream surely was no Hiraki. Haku lets out a long sigh before going out to the lotus pond. It's a bright night thanks to the moonlight. His firm shirtless body seems to glow under the light while his hair is dancing up and down in the movement of the wind. Haku looks at the pond, his mind wanders in his memories. It's been ten years since he started living here. Ten years without Chihiro by his side. Haku remembers her chestnut hair and black eyes. He remembers how mature she became after her little adventure in the spirit world. He misses her. But he knows for sure, he can't and never ever be able to see her again. With his name back on, Haku can leave his world anytime, many people think so but not Haku. He knows that only spirits that haave home in the human world can go to the human world. He had a home there, but it was destroyed. So now he can only live in the sprit world where his river continues to flow. Chihiro can go back. But Haku does not allow that to happen. The sprit world has become a dangerous place since she left. If she comes back here, she'll die. Haku, himself, put a spell on the gate, preventing her or any human from entering it. The spell was made of his own blood, that is why only he can break it. His heart broke into pieces knowing he could never see his girl again. Zeniba knew it. She knew all along the love Haku swears to give to Chihiro only. So she taught him the "watch over" spell which connects him and Chihiro through the elements: Air, Fire, Water, Earth. With that, Haku and Chihiro can sense each other. But only Haku knows about this of course.
Haku sits on the bank of the pond. With only one wave, the moon reflecting surface turns into a mirror that shows a Chihiro combing her long chestnut locks.
"Chihiro...", Hakua leans down to kiss the reflection...
"I miss you, Haku...", Chihiro holds her pendant tightly. It was a gift from Sakura, she said she saw it in an antique shop somewhere in Tokyo. The origin is not what Chihiro cares about. What impressed her is how the sun and the moon were carved onto the transparent pendant. The pendant soon became Chihiro's favorite jewelry and she wears it everyday, rarely taking it off.
Tears roll down her cheek as she remembers her dragon. Why didn't he come to visit her? Why? Chihiro looks at the bright moon. Her mind gets lost in her memory.
Little does she know, the pendant in her hand starts glowing amber...
A/N: Hey guys! This is my first Haku-Chihiro fiction! Thanks for reading! :)
