Chihiro is 22 and works as a waitress. She meets someone that she doesn't expect to see ever again on the job.

"Take this coffee and hot sandwich to table four please Ogino-san."

Chihiro sighed as she took the tray from her boss, Yamakazi-san. Her job really sucked. She hated everything about the café; the pink flare dress and white, frilly apron which made up her uniform, her boss and her shifts. To make it worse, her salary was shit too. How she missed the days when she was a carefree child.

She stretched over the counter to get the proffered tray, the top of her dress chafing her arms and squeezing her breasts uncomfortably as it was too tight. She winced; she swore that the dresses were specifically designed to emphasize chests as much as possible. It was a likely story; her boss, the chef, was the biggest pervert that she had ever met in her life.

"Well, step to it then! The customer cannot be kept waiting!" Yamakazi-san said to her left breast.

Huffily, Chihiro whirled around, slipped under the counter and set off into the restaurant area. The café had a very pink and fluffy interior with pictures of roses and puppies on the walls. Being a tomboy, this colour scheme made her want to vomit. The café was actually aimed at a female audience as a place where groups of girlfriends could come, buy tea and cake, and gossip about men. However, the owners actually found that the main profits came from the many men that turned up. They pretended to be baffled by this revelation but Chihiro knew exactly why the men came there a lot; it was the waitresses in their revealing uniforms.

As she squeezed her way between the tables, there were lots of whoops and wolf-whistles from lecherous men. One slapped her bottom as she walked past and her face flamed, the advances of the disgusting man making her feel disgusting herself. Her walking speed increased as she darted around the tables. Suddenly she saw table four and she dashed towards it desperately.

As she had expected, there was a young man sitting at the table. He was not cat-calling like the others but was reading a newspaper. Chihiro examined the newspaper's cover suspiciously, looking for eyeholes. She couldn't see any but still approached the table with caution.

"One tall latte and a toasted cheese and onion sandwich?" she asked the man desperately; the quicker she got this over with, the quicker she could get back behind the counter where she was safe from lecherous men.

Rustling, the newspaper slipped a little to reveal a young man not much older than Chihiro. He was very good looking, she could see, with stunning emerald green eyes and very dark green hair which reached his armpits. He had tied it up in a loose, low pony-tail and a fringe swept over his right eye. As far as she could tell, he had a nice, lean body underneath his white tunic. Chihiro swallowed once before shaking her thoughts out of her mind. He may have been above the usual standards that the café attracted but he was still there in the café which was the usual haunt of gross, middle-aged men. It spoke volumes to Chihiro.

"Ah, arigato" he replied. She plonked the tray down on the table in front of him. She did it a little too hard and his latte slopped over the side of the mug. She watched, shame-faced, as the puddle spread. He looked up at her with a slight grin. She was miffed at how smug he looked.

"I believe that you now owe me a drink, Chihiro." He said archly.

She flinched.

"How on earth does he know my name?" She thought suspiciously. Then she mentally face palmed as she remembered her name tag on her left side.

"I can't just give out free drinks. This is a café, not a soup kitchen!" She responded coldly, turning away from the young man.

"Wait!"

His commanding tone made her turn back to him. He stared into Chihiro's eyes and her mouth hung open a little bit. Who was that man?

A tense silence descended on the pair. All background sounds became fuzzy. Chihiro registered that there was a cheesy love song playing in the background, making an already awkward situation much worse.

'Cause all of me loves all of you,

Love your curves and all your edges,

All your perfect imperfections.

Give your all to me,

I'll give my all to you.

You're my end and my beginning,

Even when I lose I'm winning,

'Cause I give you all of me

And you give me all of you, oh oh…

She felt like she was going to throw up. The man was looking at her with eyes that were unmistakably lovey-dovey. She had never felt more uncomfortable before in her life. She preferred the wolf-whistling and mild sexual harassment to THIS.

"God you are so beautiful, Sen." The man murmured to himself softly. Chihiro froze, staked to the spot by the weight of her heavy heart. She hadn't been called Sen for twelve years, since she went to the Spirit World.

She peered at the man, who suddenly looked troubled.

"Could it be Haku?" she thought. She looked into the emerald eyes again and her grey ones widened.

She ran; it was all she could think of to do. She darted through the tables, under the counter and round to the kitchen.

She doubled over, panting, with tears in her eyes. She had put all of the Spirit World rubbish behind her. She remembered her friends, her adopted grandparents and Haku… Haku and his empty promise to her.

She loved that dragon and always would. She was such a pretty girl with her big grey eyes and soft chestnut locks that she got a lot of male attention that was not all wholly unwanted. She had been asked on dates by several lovely guys, some of whom she actually liked. But her heart belonged to the damn dragon and it wouldn't be fair to lead anyone else on. She loved him but hated him. He gave her his word that he would come and see her but she soon found out that it was an empty childish promise. She had resolved on living alone forever.

Why was he there now, torturing her?

She let out a sob and Yamakazi-san popped his head round the door.

"What are you doing there, Ogino-kun?!" he yelled at her, "You are supposed to be doing your miserable job that I pay you for!"

Hatred surged in Chihiro at the sight of the odious man.

"You know what! I quit! This is a shitty, badly paid job anyway and you treat your workers like slabs of meat you can prod and poke! You're a pervert!"

"Get out you bitch!" he growled, eyes flashing.

Chihiro turned and ran back the way she came. People cheered when she ran through the café, having heard what happened in the back. As she dashed out of the door, she noticed that Haku had left, his newspaper folded up on table.

She crashed out into the street and ran up towards the bus stop. As she ran she pulled her apron off and binned it. She pulled her hair out of its hairnet and let it stream in the wind. Her bag bounced on her hip as she ran.

In one fluid movement she pulled her bus pass out of her bag and held her hand out for the bus. She boarded the bus and rode it until the cross roads near her home.

When she got off she saw a tall figure with long green hair tied in a pony-tail standing with his back to her. Now he was standing up, Chihiro could see that he was lean but defined and wore blue trousers and a blue sash with his white tunic. She tried to back away but Haku saw her.

"Chihiro!" he called after her as she run up the edge of the only road through the village.

Halfway up the hill, she turned to look at him, her pretty eyes livid.

"Fuck off Haku!" she screamed. He stopped chasing her, taken aback. With a snort of disgust she continued up the hill at double to speed of before.

Haku continued to chase her. He could have easily caught up with her but he didn't find it appropriate to the situation.

"What did I ever do to you?" he yelled indignantly.

They followed the road round to the left.

"What did you do to me?!" she sobbed, "You told me that you would come and see me. You gave me your word! I saved myself for you! I could have had my pick of boys but I didn't!"

"Why didn't you?"

"You really don't know?" she muttered sadly. She laughed an empty laugh and once again picked up her speed.

"No I don't. I'd like to find out though now!"

She stopped outside her old elementary school, breathing slowly in and out. Haku caught up with her and stood nearby, eyes fixed intently on her.

"I loved you…" she said in a small voice, the wind picking up her hair and her petty-coated skirts.

"Pardon?" Haku asked, his expression unreadable.

"I loved you. I love you. I love you! I LOVE YOU!" she started hitting him, pummelling him with her fists to hurt him as he hurt her. Haku looked numb.

Suddenly she made a guttural noise in the back of her throat and she ran away from Haku, leaving him stuck to the pavement.

She staggered aimlessly and when she was three quarters of the way up her street, she tripped and landed on her ankle. She lay in agony, face-down on the ground. The tears of pain were all knocked out of her, leaving her a hollowed out husk.

She lay there for about a minute when she felt a hand gently touch her bicep.

"Chihiro?"

"Go away." She snivelled like a child.

"Chihiro, allow me to explain myself."

When the defeated girl didn't protest, Haku sat next to her on the floor and gently turned her over. He laid her head in his lap and sighed.

"When you left I knew that I cared deeply for you. I watched you every day and saw that you were living a normal, happy life. Eventually you moved on and I assumed that you thought about us less and less. You threw away all of your drawings and put the hair tie away. I was hurt because after a couple of years of watching you develop into a young woman I realised just how much I cared for you. I stopped watching you because I figured you'd be better off with nothing to do with the Spirit World. Then, recently, I visited the bath house and so many people asked about you. I realised I had made an enormous mistake and I looked everywhere for you. Then I found you by accident, right where I should have looked first, by the gate. I stopped off in that tacky little shop because I was thirsty and it was cheap. Then I saw you coming towards me, so grown up and so beautiful in your cute uniform and it all came back to me."

Chihiro looked up at him, unimpressed.

"It doesn't make letting me down right, you know. You almost destroyed me with that wait."

"I'm sorry Chihiro-chan. There's nothing more I can say to that and I'll understand if you don't want to forgive me."

Chihiro looked at him with softer eyes.

"I want to but I'm not sure if I trust you anymore."

"I don't blame you. Can you walk?"

"I'm not sure. My ankle is in agony."

Haku took Chihiro's head in his hands and gently lowered it onto the ground. He shifted sideways and stood up, reaching a hand out to her. She took it and attempted to stand but collapsed in pain.

"OW! OW!"

Haku suddenly swept her up in his arms, bridal-style and she giggled a bit.

"Did you just laugh at me?"

"Yes. I have never been held like this before. It's something that I had only expected someone who loved me to do." Her eyes grew cold and her voice trailed off a little. Haku bit his lip and shifted Chihiro a bit in his arms.

"When I saw you earlier I couldn't believe your transformation. It was a transformation worthy of a butterfly. It brought a lot of nostalgia back to me and I realised that I can't leave you again. I will not be able to take it."

"What do you mean?" she said almost wearily.

"Shall I put it in simpler English? I love you." He answered with a grin.

She flamed right up and couldn't look him in the eyes for a minute. She was so relieved that he felt the same.

"What now?" she whispered.

"Huh?"

"What are we going to do about it, our relationship, I mean?"

"Well if you're up to it, I'll be your boyfriend."

"I think I'm up to that." Chihiro blushed.

"Can I give you a kiss?"

"If you like"

He pressed his lips to hers then and a whole display of fireworks went off in her head. Her mouth smiled as their lips moulded together.

He moved her closer to him and she yelped, her lips still touching his. He pulled away quickly.

"Your ankle is swollen," he declared, examining it, "I think we need to get you to a doctor or a hospital so they can save that ankle of yours."

"I don't need saving by a doctor. I was saved by you."

"True but if you don't get that treated you'll never walk again." He said cheekily, kissing her gently on her nose.

"Fine."

He turned round and walked back up the street, holding Chihiro with no intention of letting her go again.