Don't See Me Cry
"Go now Chihiro. Go to the tunnel and don't look back." Haku's voice was steady, but his eyes were trembling just the slightest amount.
Chihiro swallowed hard and turned away from him, raising a foot to begin the journey home. As she brought it down though, she hesitated. Did she really want to go back to the real world? Did she want to start over in the little blue house and the new school? The new life? Or did she want to stay in the Spirit World with everyone she'd met and become close to?
She only wavered for a moment before bringing her foot down towards the step, but that moment was enough.
A gust of wind sprang up, buffeting the two and throwing Chihiro off balance. She fell forward and down, her arms waving freely as she tried to regain her balance. Haku reacted instantly, grabbing her wrist and pulling her back in.
She wrapped her arms around him and buried her face in his chest, "I don't want to go! Don't make me go, don't do this to me Haku!"
His arms went around her in return, "Chihiro, your place is in your world. Not ours. It's by the side of your family in that world. Not here with us in this one." He gently pushed her back a few inches and brushed a stray lock of hair from her face, "I promise we'll see each other again, as soon as I can find passage into your world. I find that, and nothing is going to stop me from coming to see you."
Chihiro hugged him again, "Promise?"
Haku pulled her tightly to him, "I swear."
Chihiro didn't let him go, "I don't know if I can do it. I don't know I won't look back."
Haku pushed her back again, this time pulling a smooth river stone out of a pocket. He handed it to her, "Here, keep this with you, and I'll always be able to find you again. Doesn't matter where you've gone."
Chihiro sniffed and took the stone, then dried her eyes and looked up at him. Her voice was far from steady, but her words were strong all the same, "You'd better not be kidding about that. I'd hate to have to find my way back here to slap you for lying to me."
Haku smiled softly, "Have I ever lied to you Chihiro?"
"There's always a first time." They shared a laugh, and then she turned to leave again. This time, Haku grabbed her without her losing her balance. He pulled her back for just a moment, just to keep her there a bit longer. But this time, she didn't wait for him to talk, she pushed herself up onto her toes and kissed him. Haku's eyes closed and his arms went around her again as hers wrapped around his neck, both lost in the moment.
Neither of them really wanted to find their way back.
He reluctantly broke away, "The tunnel . . . don't look back until you're through. Once you're through . . . things might have changed some outside of this world. Our worlds are connected, but not parallel. Time flows differently between them, so don't expect it to be the same as it was when you entered.
Chihiro nodded and pulled away from him, then gave him a small smile before she hurried down the steps and across the dry riverbed before flat out sprinting across the field to the tunnel where her parents were waiting for her. As she left the warmth of the sun and entered the shadowy tunnels, she grabbed her mother's hand.
Haku blinked and felt a drop of water roll down his cheek. He watched as the three of them traveled slowly down the tunnel, watched as they faded away until there was nothing left but the light flashing from Chihiro's magical headband. The light that her parents would never see, that only a spirit could. Then that faded, and Haku finally let a sob wrack his body, collapsing to his knees and wrapping his arms around his stomach. He'd warned her not to look back. But if she had, she wouldn't have been pulled in by his world. He'd told her not to look back for a simple and selfish reason.
He didn't want her to see him cry.