update dec. 2017: read at your own discretion. this story has been rewritten under the name Written Rivers. it you are still interested in this fic, please visit my profile. for more info check chapter 10. thank you and blessings!

Spirited Away: Memories of the Past

Ogino Chihiro is your normal high school student with some odd foggy memories. In her dreams she remembers a white dragon, an old memory from her past in a river, and a bathhouse? One night, the dragon talks to her and takes her to a familiar place after she builds a shrine for a forgotten friend. What will happen to her when an accident brings her to her senses?

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Chapter 1: Puzzles in the Rain

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All rights reserved to Hayao Miyazaki and Studio Ghibli.

I do not own Spirited Away. If I did, there'd be a sequel by now... T_T

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Black waters and lights. Weird creatures at an abandoned ghost town of an amusement park. Chihiro walked up to the black waters and touched it. Almost instantly, something grabbed her hand and pulled her under.

"Chihiro!" A voice called out to her.

Where am I? Am I falling? I can't remember anything? All I can see is darkness. My ears are ringing. Why won't it stop? Why is this all so familiar, yet so far away?

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Ogino Chihiro tapped her pencil on her desk as she sat her head in her palm and stared out the window. She had long sense droned out her teacher who was teaching something about the Nara Period, something like that. No, her mind was wandering elsewhere, somewhere deep within her memories. Why couldn't she remember? She'd heard that you can't dream about something you've never actually seen. So why was she having dreams about things she couldn't recall seeing?

And they weren't normal things! There were turnip spirit things, crows with weird faces, a bathhouse that totally didn't resemble the one she worked at now. But what really usually caught her eye was a white eastern like dragon with emerald green eyes that always showed itself near a river her family used to visit when she was younger. If she recalled it was filled and houses were built over it.

But the thought of not knowing was irritating and it distracted her from her school work. Her grades were slowly slipping and her parents were starting to take notice. She growned and pulled on her long brown hair that was left down and practically hit her head on the desk, gathering all the attention in the room.

"Sleeping in my class, Ogino-Kun?" Her sensei asked, raising an eye brow.

"Iie, Sensei, gomen." Chihiro apologized, sheepishly while rubbing her forehead. [1]

"Right, anyway..." Her sensei continued.

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Chihiro looked out the doors of her school and sighed. It was raining. No. Pouring. And she'd forgotten her umbrella.

Chihiro sighed and looked around at all the kids pulling out their umbrellas and not realizing that the Ogino had forgotten hers. What little friends she had had clubs to be at and she was pretty sure no one else on campus would stop to offer her an umbrella. So, she did what she had to. Ninja it.

She darted across the street and under a tree before resuming on to the overhang not to far away. Her school uniform sleeves were already drenched from shielding her face. At this rate she'd get sick. Chihiro found a bus stop and stopped to take a breather and get from under the rain.

The Ogino took sharp deep breaths as she looked around to see her surroundings. Now that she stopped to think about it, this was the route to that one place almost eight years ago. Out of curiousity, she figured it was on her way home anyway, so she'd go to check it out. Despite the discomfort of the rain, her curiousity wasn't smothered. Chihiro climbed the muddy trail up into the damp forest, passing small little shrines that told her she was on the right path. She considered who the shrines were for but didn't spend too much thought.

Before she could reach her destination, a large stream of water intercepted her path from the constant downpour. By then, her mother was calling her asking if she was safe and on her way. She simply sighed and replied that she was fine other than the fact that she was practically drenched and almost home. Her mother apologised for not being able to pick her up and hung up. Just as Chihiro turned to leave she looked up and saw a familiar figure in the stream. It had looked like it was reaching out to her and when she took a double take to see what was there, it'd vanished. Chihiro shrugged it off before sneezing and continuing on home.

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"Chihiro! You're soaked to the bone!" Ogino Yuko cried at the sight of her daughter as she walked in the house. She quickly grabbed a towel and wrapped it around Chihiro.

"I'm fine Oka-San." The young girl reassured. "I need to go finish my homework before I head down to work."

Her mother hesitated before smiling. "Alright, Chihiro, don't work yourself too hard."

"Yes, Ma'am." Chihiro smiled and headed up the stairs after kicking off her shoes at the door.

Chihiro dropped her bag in her room before retreating to the bathroom and pealing off the drenched second layer on her body and running a hot bath. As she impatiently waited for the tub to fill, she thought about the figure she saw earlier. Why did it feel so familiar? As if she knew who it was?

Her memories felt like a puzzle since that day. None of the pieces she found ever fit right especially lately. She'd been having practically the same dream everynight. That dragon. Chihiro placed her hand on her chin and hummed to herself as she thought about it. She knew him. Somehow it felt like she found another piece but it all seemed fuzzy. The river...

The girl got into the bath and dragged her finger threw the river to make a little stream in the water. It was like a miss led creature in the middle of the ocean. She giggle to herself at the thought. Suddenly the image of the dragon showed in front of her. Why wouldn't it leave her alone? Why didn't it get that this was her home not its home? Why couldn't it just move out of the back of her mind and leave! That's when she stopped...

What if it didn't have a home to go to?

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A/N: Okay, it couldn't be helped! And I've resisted from reading any other Spirited Away fanfic to try to stop from getting ideas and unintentionally stealing them. So I've tried to keep it original. However I've failed and my temptations in reading other stories have been severed. T_T = HaHa! No Face!

Anyway, The stories a bit sketchy and fast paced in my head and I'm not the biggest fan of this cuz I feel the reader doesn't like it. However, for now I'll leave it as is and if people review telling me that it is too fast pace or something, I'll rewrite it. But don't all stories not make sense in the beginning? So until I start getting reviews, I'll keep with my style...

And about Last Resort, I'm still working on it. I've hit a slight writer's block, but as soon as I get into the roll again, I'll be updating more often...I hope. O_o But I'll try to have something up within the week... No guarantees...

"Glossary":

[1] iie means "no" in Jap, and gomen means "sorry"