(A/N): Hello everyone!

Well, I'm not sure how many of you were referred here by an author subscribe, or you were just snooping on my profile, or you were looking at Spirited Away and/or Coraline crossovers, or you were referred here by my crossover 'The Pamphlet' that I finished a few days ago.

However you got here, welcome! Welcome, welcome, welcome! Congratulations! You may or may not be the first person to read this!

Oh, no, wait, I'm the first person to read it. Because I'm writing it. Ha ha. Loser.

*ends gloating moment*

So. If you want some information on it, this is Kaonashi (or, for those of you who don't really know his Japanese name, No Face) and Ghost Children centric. Neither of the 'canon couples' show up in this story. Zeniba makes a few appearances; Yubaba, Boh (Yubaba's kid - for those of you who can't read Japanese and don't like research), and the Yu-bird are mentioned once or twice; hardly anybody from Coraline shows up at all, for that matter. Chihiro is mentioned repeatedly (I hold on to the fact that Kaonashi/No Face - call him what you want; I like his Japanese name better - does care for Chihiro. While it may not be 'unrequited love'-esque, he does care for her. And then there's the fact that even though we never see her in here, she's... well, she's an 'important plot object').

Pretty much, if you're not exactly a Kaonashi fan, become one. Because he's the epikest character (what with him changing his form depending on what's inside of him, which is true on many levels), and in terms of 'Miyazaki Inside Jokes', you just CAN'T beat 'Projectile Vomiting'. You should know what I'm talking about.

So. I think that's it. Read, people!

Or not. I have a few things I want to comment on really quickly. Mainly dealing with my interpretations of things.

First thing. The black shadow-soul things with the whitish eyes? The creepy silent ones that walk all over the streets and come up out of the river and run the restaurants? I interpret them as lost souls - those that couldn't find their way to their afterlife, whether they were hindered or just lost their way - that slowly rotted in despair and now are trying to be filled (which is why they have the restaurants) unsuccessfully, as nothing can ease their hunger. They're similar to Kaonashi in that sense.

Another thing. I'm planning on making the chapters for this one a great deal longer than most of my other chapters in other stories have been. While most of my chapters average five hundred words or less, I'm planning on making these weigh in at around one thousand each, probably. I know where this is going to end, but a lot of soul-searching and past-defining is going to go on before that. This is really just a short 'meet the characters' chapter played for laughs (you'll see what I mean... XD).

CHAPTER ONE: EYES

Kaonashi sat at the spinning wheel in the empty cottage, turning jade thread into yarn, for lack of anything better to do. Zeniba was out at the moment, tending to some 'business' that required her assistance at the Bath House.

He thought about the events that had happened there all those months ago - the first time he had seen Chihiro, the things he had done to try to get her to be his friend.

He had to admit, Chihiro had been his friend the whole time. She had been his light of kindness and generosity in the darkness of greed and despair. She had led him here.

Kaonashi was very happy living with Zeniba; he could help her with her work in and around the cottage, and Zeniba was kind and caring. Boh and the Yu-bird visited occasionally, when time would allow - every few months or so. Yubaba would usually come with them, but would leave shortly afterward - she would make sure that Boh was safely inside the door before leaving immediately to attend to her business in far corners of the Spirit World - and pick them up a day or two later.

A hint of a smile played on Kaonashi's masklike face when he thought of the time Yubaba had come running desperately through the door, screaming something along the lines of "HAS BOH BEEN EATEN? HAS HE BEEN EATEN BY THAT MONSTER?", only to find that he and Boh were playing a simple card game at the table while eating some cake Zeniba had provided for them. Yubaba still didn't quite trust him, but she hadn't acted nearly as paranoid for any visit after that.

Nearly lost in memories, he barely heard the barely-there sound coming from outside the window.

"Cold... cold... there's light... light..."

That's what it sounded like to him, anyway - anyone who might have been listening would have heard nothing at all.

He stood up from the stool and slowly walked over to the window. He looked outside, and could see nothing at all.

Nothing except three pairs of formless greyish-white eyes.

(A/N): Isn't it just like Yubaba to panic over that? XD

I just HAD to put that in. XP

She may be grounded in her fears (what with 'Projectile Vomiting'... and the fact that she lost 'a fortune' on him... and that he ate three of her workers... Hey, at least he threw them up later!), but I don't think there's anything to worry about from Kaonashi anymore :)