Chapter One: Dream or Reality

Author's Note: So the story may not make too much sense right now, but the next chapter will reveal more of what went on in the seven years since the movie took place.

Chihiro held the warm bundle close to her heart, and wept. This morning her small family of two that consisted of her mother and her had become subject to the game of fates, and her mother had rolled the dice, moved forward two steps, back one, and chosen the card that read a life for a life. The cold unfeeling walls of the hospital seemed to hold her in their embrace, stinking of death and cleaning solution. This was no place for a newborn child.

A hand came to rest on her should shaking her from the world of her thoughts that seemed to be constantly spiraling out of control. Chihiro looked up into a set of warm brown eyes and remembered the midwife that had delivered her little sister. The eyes were too warm however, unnervingly so and the girl felt herself instinctively stepping away from the woman. "The child, I'll hold her while you say goodbye to your mother," a compelling tone, very much honey laced with poison.

What was the woman saying, Chihiro couldn't quite make out the words from the mugginess inside her head, but she did feel her arms making the move to hand over the child. She watched as she extended her arms and the babe, swathed in pink moved closer to the eager woman. She struggled to speak, but couldn't, compelled by an inner strength to protect the small fingers and toes, the eyes yet unopened since a first weak cry, the small tuft of honey brown hair the sprinkled the head of her little sister. This child was the only family she had left, and she was going to protect her.

"No," the word was a small, meek sounding squeak, breaking something deep inside her. Chihiro felt strength and control return to her body, and she clutched the bundle close to her chest and started to make the retreat. Her shoes squeaked on the linoleum floor, and her step faltered. She walked backward, keeping her eyes trained on the midwife, whose expression appeared almost comical, turning first from surprise, to despair, to anger. The woman's eyes glowed red, and large boils began to grow from her skin. Wrinkles and cracks molded her face. She wasn't human.

"A spirit," Chihiro breathed. But that had been seven years ago, when she was eleven. It had been only a dream brought on by exhaustion and stress, maybe even the heat. Spirits did not exists, and even if they did, why would they be after her little sister?

"Mam is something wrong?" the voice was patient, soft, and completely human. Chihiro spun to find that she had bumped into a young attending. The man was holding her shoulder to steady her. She hadn't realized she'd been shaking. Could he not see the creature, the monster that stood only a few meters away? Could he not smell the acidic smell of the liquid which poured forth from the boils? Was she the only one who could see the spirit? She turned and the woman was gone.

When Chihiro did not respond and only stared at the doctor, he placed a hand to her forehead. "She's in shock," he muttered. She shivered; she mustn't tell anyone what she had seen. They would never believe her, they hadn't seven years ago, and they wouldn't now. She must not tell or they would take her sister from her. She must guard the child who came into the world without a father and the price of her mother's love and life.

"No, I'm fine," she said on a shaky breath. The man did not look like he believed her, the understanding dawned in his eyes.

"You're the daughter of the woman who passed," he muttered to himself. The coming to an internal decision he straightened and looked down at her. "Child how old are you?"

Chihiro was taken aback by the turn in the conversation. "I'm seventeen, going on eighteen." She realized he was thinking about her guardianship. She instinctively held the child closer. He almost laughed at the protective gesture. He had known their mother in passing.

"How would you like to stay with me until you're come of age legally? It would give you time to figure out what you're going to do about school and sort out your finances," he said. Chihiro wanted to grab onto the hand he extended, but she didn't know him. He didn't look like a spirit. He seemed genuine and harmless. Chihiro found herself nodding slowly at the idea. She of course would not stay for long. She would find a place, get a job, quit school, raise her sister, and find out more about the spirits and her "dream" from eleven years ago. Then another thought crossed her mind, if the spirit were real, then could her river spirit really be out there somewhere. A longing she had long since squished years ago, began to burn again slowly. But that was a dream for another night, another time, when she had time.