Chapter One
Eight…it had been eight long and especially uneventful years since Chihiro's last trip to the spirit world.
She was a young woman now. Not the scrawny, naïve, and frightened girl she had been back then. She had grown taller, curvier. Chihiro wore makeup and high heels, no longer hiding behind baggy t-shirts, shorts, and tennis shoes.
However, just because she was older didn't mean her life was anymore eventful than it had been before her adventures in the spirit world.
Moving to a new town and rescuing her parents from spending the rest of their lives as pigs had been the most rousing experience of her life. The rest of it had been filled with cold classrooms, obsessive-compulsive teachers, and mounds of homework.
The memories helped keep her sane throughout high school and college. If she had gotten through that, she could surely get through a two hour long class with well over two hours of homework waiting for her at the end of it.
Images constantly floated in the back of Chihiro's mind. They resurfaced when there was nothing left to think about. But they had begun showing themselves more frequently and more vividly than ever before. So vividly sometimes she felt as if only seconds had passed since she had left that dream for reality.
Chihiro realized just how much she had truly missed all those colorful characters.
Komaji, the boiler man, with his adorable yet sometimes stubborn sootsprites. Lin, the woman who had given her company and comfort. Granny, who had shared her wisdom and had taken her friend, the spirit No-Face, in when he had had no place to go. Chihiro even missed Yubaba, the witch who owned the bathhouse. The woman who had turned her parents into pigs. The woman who had attempted to imprison her forever. Chihiro missed them all, but most of all Chihiro missed Haku. Or Kohaku, if she was being technical. The young river spirit had stayed by her side through it all despite the rumors of him being cruel and conniving. Haku had been exceedingly kind. The relationship between them, if Chihiro dared say it, had been one of the closest of any she had, even her own parents.
It was easy to drift.
She would drift during important times and non-important times, alone or with people, at home and on the street. Chihiro would suddenly come to, not knowing how much time had passed and feeling embarrassed but feeling no regret over daydreaming.
Chihiro did worry though. The time she spent in her head was growing longer and longer. Before, she could recognize the familiar numbness, the darkening of the world around her and she could pull herself back. But now the blackouts came without any warning. Eventually her attention was drawn back to the present by a rough touch or the sound of someone's voice repeating her name over and over again, like a broken record player, "Chihiro…Chihiro…"
This time it was the traffic light switching from red to green out of the corner of her eye.
Legs moving of their own volition, Chihiro launched herself into the street even as her mind screamed for her to stay until it was safe again. The rev of the engines was loud in Chihiro's ears. With only seconds to spare Chihiro made it to her desired side of the street. She was breathing heavily and staring at the rush of vehicles in front of her. As she was attempting to catch her breath, a woman approached her, eyes wide as saucers.
The woman was short, back hunched as if she had suffered years of hard work. Her skin was thin and sagging. The little hair that was visible, as it was pulled back into a tight bun, was white with age. If Chihiro had merely passed the woman on the street she may have seemed a sweet, little old-lady, but the woman's steely eyes betrayed her true nature, and when she spoke her voice was harsh.
"Are you crazy?" Chihiro tried not to flinch away as the woman moved closer, expression incredulous. "You could have been hit and killed you know! Foolish girl, get your head out of the past and pay more attention." The woman scolded shaking her head in disapproval as she walked on, leaving Chihiro standing alone and extremely embarrassed. Sighing, she continued on her way, hoping that her cheeks weren't as red and warm as they felt.
|g|
Chihiro thankfully made it to campus and her class with no other mishaps.
She didn't, however, make it to her class on time.
The auditorim was silent save for the sound of steps on the hard marble floor as she made her way to her seat. Her seat that was high in the stands, away from the amused glances of her peers, but not away from the vicious glare of her professor which was burning into her forehead as she refused to look at the man. Soon enough the scratch of chalk on board filled the remaining silence and marked that class had resumed.
When she was sure it was safe, Chihiro leaned over to her best friend Runi and whispered, "Psst." No response came from the petite girl to her left. Runi's straight brown hair hung in her face, blocking Chihiro from her vision, though her small, straight nose peeked out from the smooth curtain.
Chihiro huffed and leaned a little closer, her "Psst" this time raised in volume. When still no response was garnered she flung herself towards Runi, her flailing hands interrupting the other's reading and a yet louder, more obnoxious "Psssssssst!" directed towards her ear.
Runi dropped her book in a rush, scrambling to pull her ear buds from her ears. The startled girl started to demand an explanation but quickly thought better of it. She instead craned her neck in a look around the classroom to make sure the thud of the book and their sudden movements hadn't attracted any unwanted attention. When Runi was sure there was none she turned back to Chihiro and hissed, "What's your problem?"
"I wouldn't have had a problem if you hadn't had both of your headphones in," Chihiro pointed out. "And in class no less!"
"NewS released their new single yesterday so I just downloaded it. Ah! It's so great! Massu's adorable like usual. You have to download it."
"What? Really? I didn't know it would come out so soon- That's not the point," Chihiro said, shaking her head.
"Okay then," Runi said as she settled herself on one elbow. "Spill it."
Chihiro was suddenly apprehensive, but she decided her best friend deserved to know. When she was finished explaining what had happened earlier on that morning, Runi's eyes were wide, mouth agape. She expected a firm talking to, but instead her shocked friend shot from her seat with an astonished, "You were what?"
The two girls realized their mistake much too late and soon the entire room had turned to stare at them. Runi slowly sank back down into her chair, cheeks fiery, and Chihiro attempted to make herself small and began writing nonsense in her notebook.
|g|
Walking out, their arms were heavy with extra work as punishment. The work was easy enough. With questions like, "What steps must be taken to start a river clean up," or "What is the average Ph level of a river." There were even questions about wildlife and weather cycles on top of the essay they had been assigned last week. Majoring in Environmental wasn't difficult; it was just that there was so much work.
"By the time I'm finished, I don't think I'll have a hand anymore," Runi complained, sitting down heavily. The two had stopped at a nearby café for an after class snack.
It was a quaint shop, though it was popular and rather packed from opening until closing. The reason why wasn't hard to guess. The atmosphere was pleasant, warm and friendly, as were the employees on top of being attentive. There was no reason not to be. The elderly couple who owned the place paid well and kept easy hours. They were almost as sweet as the desserts and drinks they served, all of the owner's old family recipes.
A waiter quickly took their orders, leaving Chihiro to Runi's wrath. They sat in silence for a moment before Runi spoke quietly, and though her voice was low, Chihiro could still hear the protective anger concealed there.
"What were you thinking?" The words drifted out over their initial glasses of water. The answer was obvious, of course, that Chihiro hadn't been thinking. Not of what she should have been, at least. Runi would have suggested taking her to the hospital if she had said, Hey! I secretly wish of staying at a bathhouse for spirits where I could get my name stolen and completely forget my past. But hey, it's more entertaining than living with normal human beings. Want to come with?
No. Instead Chihiro just sighed and said, "I just didn't get a lot of sleep last night. I was already late and the light was about to change. I don't know. I just don't know."
"Well, you're lucky you didn't actually get hit. Don't be so rash next time! Punctuality isn't worth your life. I don't know what I would have done if I found out my best friend had to be scraped off of the road.
Chihiro merely mumbled in agreement as she spotted their waiter headed towards them, plate in each hand. A small plate, decorated with banana slices and swirls of whipped cream around a pumpkin cake was placed before her. The same was done for Runi. Chocolate cake covered instead with strawberries. Their conversation faded after that. At least until every last crumb of cake and smear of whipped cream had gone into their mouths and to their thighs.
Runi sat back, the clanking of silverware mixing with her satisfied sigh. "Explain to me why we don't do this more often?"
"Because we're broke college students and if we ate junk like that more we'd have to waddle to class."
"Point made. Though, maybe if I got a boyfriend to help work off those calories I could eat here every day."
Chihiro tsked and threw her napkin at the giggling girl across the table. Runi always spoke highly of a boyfriend to dote on and be doted upon by, but she had yet to find a man willing enough to be squeezed into couple clothes.
"What about you, Chihiro," She was asked, getting a thoughtful stare. Chihiro, with a boyfriend. She nearly snorted at the suggestion.
Aside from having a major to worry about, Chihiro just didn't have the desire to troll around for a decent guy. Every time she began flirting with some cute boy on the rare occasion she was able to go out, something just didn't click. He was always trying too hard, or had a nervous edge. And their hair or eye color was never right. Various shades of black and brown with the occasional bleached blonde. Dark eyes were a good thing, but what she encountered was always brown. Now, dark blue eyes with dark hair, that if the light caught it just right, also took on a blueish hue.
Chihiro shook her head. "I know you're itching to set me up so we can double date, or whatever, but I'm just not up for it. I've told you that already."
Runi pouted, but knew the argument was hopeless, as they had had it many times. So the two stood and made their way to the front of the shop to pay for their desserts. The sun was setting quickly, the lights of Tokyo taking over the sun's job as it left to rest until morning. Chihiro hadn't realized just how long they had been talking. The commute home wasn't particularly dangerous if one stuck to the main routes, and Chihiro's dorm wasn't far from where they had strayed, but a city was a city.
She walked with Runi until their paths parted, considering their dorms were on separate sides of the street, hers even a little farther down than Runi's. The two said their goodbyes, promising the same schedule tomorrow, before Runi turned into her complex and Chihiro headed for the nearest crosswalk.
It was the same crosswalk as that morning, Chihiro thought a bit grudgingly. There was no Runi to distract her from her own thoughts, but she was determined. She did anything possible to keep her train of thought in the present. She checked her phone on and off, even playing a game until the red hand on the sign turned to a briskly walking, little, green man.
With a small sigh of relief, Chihiro practically jogged with the crowd out and onto the street. She was rather proud of herself and had almost made it across until she saw something that stopped her dead in her tracks. The woman, the same elderly woman as that morning was staring at her from between the last of the bustling bodies. Chihiro was frozen. Then the woman raised one, withered hand, pointing, and Chihiro felt compelled to follow it.
What she was met with when her head was turned was the blinding flash of a headlight and an excruciating pain originating in her abdomen then spreading to the tips of her toes and the top of her head. The horrified screams of those around Chihiro barely made it to her ears, before any sounds were cut off and her vision grew blacker and she tumbled into nothing.
A/N: Okay, so that's the first chapter! This is my first fanfiction, so please don't hold me to too high of standards. For my first fic I decided to write about something I figured I knew well and a story of Chihiro having to find her way once again was born. So though this is my first I hope this brought you some amusement. And that you stay with me! I'm not sure how long this will be quite yet, or a schedule for updating, due to school and such, but I'm sure that will unfold with time. So for now, thank you so much for reading!