(NOTE: I do not own Spirited Away or any of its characters, quotes, ideas, etc.)
"A human! You're in trouble; you're the one everyone's looking for!"
Chihiro's heart sank as she shrank back against the wall, her limbs suddenly feeling heavier than the coal that had been deposited at her feet. That was it, then – it was all over. She would be taken to the witch and turned into a pig, just like her parents. All that bravery that she had mustered up, all the mysterious kindness given to her by Haku… wasted. She looked at the young women with wide eyes, waiting for her to do something. Apparently, though, the young woman was also waiting. They stood there for a long moment, frozen, watching each other and waiting.
"She's my granddaughter."
It was Kamaji who broke the tense silence, though casually enough. Chihiro's eyes widened in confusion as she whipped her head around to face the boiler man. What she had heard couldn't possibly have been correct. The young woman seemed startled, as well, eyes growing round with disbelief. "Granddaughter?"
Kamaji went on to tell the young woman something about work, and then Yubaba, but Chihiro was still lost in the word granddaughter. What had he meant? Was he trying to make up an excuse of some sort? A secret explanation, perhaps? There had to be some method to the six-legged man's madness.
"Come on."
The young woman snapped Chihiro suddenly out of her thoughts, and she struggled to climb out of the pile of coal and back into reality (it couldn't be too far away, could it?). The worry dissolved quickly enough, replaced by anxieties of traveling through the bathhouse among the spirits and meeting the witch. Still, somewhere, the thought lingered.
Granddaughter?