Disclaimer: I don't own Spirited Away and never will. All credit goes to Hayao Miyazaki-the greatest anime genius ever!

Authors note: OMG! Thank you sooooo much for your positive reviews! I will try to improve my fanfic along the way, so pls r&r!

Chapter 2

"Chihiro! Wake up!"

Chihiro brushed away the hand that shook her shoulders and held up a finger.

"One more second there and I'll have to drag you down personally!" The voice hissed in her ear.

"One more minute please…" Chihiro moaned groggily.

"I said -" Yuuko was getting more and more impatient by the second.

Just then, her daughter suddenly shot up like a rocket. She looked at her furious mother, then down at herself and gulped. Oh shit.

Chihiro only had time to register those two words before her mother started rattling off like a machine gun. "What do you think you're doing?!" Yuuko screeched. Chihiro grimaced. (*ouch* her ears hurt) "Were you even aware of sleeping on the window ledge? Do you even know how many times you could have fallen off - and I don't mean onto the floor – and hurt yourself? Thank Kami that you're even sane and sitting right now! Seriously, what were you thinking, Chihiro? And don't even bother saying that you're alright because you're not!"

Chihiro stared incredulously at her mother's antics. What was all the fuss about? She felt absolutely fine-except for a back that could be likened to a floorboard-for goodness sake! Though in Yuuko's eyes, it seemed that her daughter had grown an extra head.

"Mom…"Chihiro began, but was unsurprisingly cut off by her fretting mother.

"Do you want to go to school today, dear? I can call up the school, but I will not be making any excuses -"

"I feel perfectly alright! In fact, I am perfectly alright!" Chihiro finally burst out.

However, at Yuuko's still worried look, she took a breath to calm herself and continued, "I'm fine mom, really. Everything will be fine."

Chihiro just hoped that her mother would not read too much into her words or notice how wrong that smile was on her face - though even she herself did not know the latter.


"Over here, Chihiro!"

Chihiro turned at the sound of her friend's voice. True to her words, Kana had saved Chihiro a seat in the lecture hall almost every morning for try as she might, Chihiro could never ever reach her first lesson on time. Although the oblivious teacher obviously wouldn't mind, she preferred not to be squatting on the dusty steps for the next hour. She vaguely wondered from whom she had inherited that undesirable trait when Kana called to her again.

"Ohayo," Kana greeted as Chihiro sat down. "You seem…different today."

"Hmm…really?" Chihiro replied absentmindedly as she skimmed through the various worksheets. Different?

Her friend nodded. "Yeah, like the bags under your eyes," she said.

Oh right. That. Of course.

Chihiro laughed airily. "You can expect that from someone who stayed up all night arguing with her mind and fell asleep on the window at one," she said.

Kana pretended to put on a disapproving look, but turned serious again almost instantly. "So you're alright now?" she asked, a definite note of concern in her voice.

Chihiro gave a little nod. So she had noticed after all…

Perspective, her inner agreed.

Still here? Chihiro sighed.

Of course, the voice replied indignantly, I'm part of you after all!

Chihiro turned towards her friend, who was still grinning. "Good," Kana said. "'Cos that weird look was really beginning to get on my nerves."

"Oh come on, it's not that bad!" Chihiro pouted.

Kana shrugged and they both laughed. Chihiro felt normal and sane for the first time in a long while then. Perhaps her decision was indeed for the better, but strangely enough, Chihiro could neither take pride in that thought nor find the will to argue with the protests of her inner mind.


They were walking in the corridors towards the classroom when Kana suddenly let out a un-Kana-like squeal.

"Chihiro-chan! Do you know what the next period is?" she jumped excitedly.

Chihiro crossed her arms and frowned. "And here am I thinking that the day you take an interest in maths would be the day hell freezes over," she said.

But Kana shook her head. "Not that! Who would take an interest in those wriggly equations!" she exclaimed, evidently appalled at the idea. It suddenly occurred to Chihiro how accurate her friend's description was.

"You should read the news more often, Chihiro," Kana said exasperatedly.

"News?" Chihiro echoed. The fact that Kana actually read newspapers ranked up to their principal organising a balloon party for the entire school.

"Gossips, rumours, tittle-tattles, whatever," Kana said dismissively. Ah, figures.

"The point is that there's supposed to be a hot new guy coming to maths class today!" she finished happily.

"Uh-huh." Chihiro said uninterestedly. Somehow, every guy whom Kana found 'hot' didn't match up to Chihiro's standards. There was only one perfect image in her mind, though no human could ever look that good. Strangely enough, a certain dragon immediately floated to her mind, and Chihiro quickly forced it down before her inner could comment on it.

"Come on," Chihiro muttered and grabbed Kana's arm, pulling them towards the classroom, all the while repeating the words 'not that, not him' silently.


"Class…"

"Hey, did you hear? The lead cheerleader fell from the pyramid yesterday."

"Class…"

"No, it was that bushy haired guys fault. He started the fight!"

"Class…"

"The captain got a red card in the second quarter. No wonder the team got beaten up so badly!"

"CLASS!"

Everyone turned their heads to stare at the bony teacher, who was currently blowing steam out of her nostrils. It was rare that a teacher actually lost temper; and that was mainly the reason no punishments were usually issued out in the school. But the students had no idea what an enraged professor was capable of. Thus, the entire class took to their seats silently, while waiting for their teacher to calm down.

After a couple of deep breaths, she glared at the students and announced, "Now, we're going to have a new student coming today –" A few girly squeals were heard – "Let's hope that he will not be as wild."

As the class continued to stare at her, the teacher made a vague gesture at the doorway and the boy entered. The squeals grew significantly louder, but it was as if time had frozen for Chihiro. Dark forest green hair framing his pale face, a sharp chin coupled with high royal cheekbones, and those extraordinary emerald eyes that seemed to reflect a sea of deep secrets and truths; he was quite a few inches taller than she had remembered and his features were more refined and mature, but as much as Chihiro denied it, there was no doubt that it was him – Nigihayami Kohaku Nushi of the Kohaku River, otherwise known as Haku.

But how could it possibly be? I must be hallucinating.

Relax dear, you're perfectly sane right now, her inner assured her.

But –

Her train of thoughts was broken suddenly by the teacher's voice, "Class, this is Kohaku and his family name was not disclosed to me." She finished, casting a questioning look at the student beside her. But all he gave in reply was a vague shake of his head.

"Alright, Kohaku, please take a seat next to Aoi, the third pupil from the left," the teacher said.

Kana, meanwhile, was nudging Chihiro with her elbow. "See, I told you he was hot," she whispered. But Chihiro was barely paying attention; her eyes were fixed only on Kohaku as he maneuvered around the desks to his seat. A single thought was flitting through her mind: It is him.

~I would have ended it here, but I figured oh well, so enjoy! ~

It was as if a dam had been broken; causing all the stored water to gush out at an unbelievable speed and drowning everything in its path. At that point in time, Chihiro was totally unaware of her surroundings and neither did she deny her past any longer; for it was entirely the amazing truth and the evidence was right in front of her eyes. To throw away everything she had believed in as a child then would be a fool's mistake. At long last, she would have a chance to re-live her fantasies. She wondered absently if Haku would let her ride on him again as she cast her eyes over his still form. She would have rushed over to hug him then, yet she realised abruptly the strangeness of the situation; Haku had not even glanced her way once the entire time. His face remained blank and impassive; showing no emotion, no emotion at all. Perhaps he wanted to save the reunion until later in order to avoid awkward questions, but was a smile really that much to ask for? On the other hand, although it was true that Chihiro herself had grown a fair head taller over the years and her appearance was no longer that of a little girl, she was not completely beyond recognition.

Maybe he has forgotten, she thought sadly.

Rubbish! Why else would he come here, then?

But Chihiro would really like to disagree with her inner mind, especially when the boy turned to face her without the barest flicker of recognition in those beautiful eyes.


Hi! That was shorter than the first chap, but i hope that it would still be alright to you guys. I know there's a slight shift between the lecture hall and the classroom, but i felt that it was necessary. Somehow I love cliffhangers. The romance between haku and Chihiro will also develop slowly. i plan to make this a pretty long fanfic. Hope you don't mind:) Anyways-please r&r!