Hey! I forgot to write something befor eon the first chapter. Well, this is my first fanfic and I hope you really enjoyed the first chapter. Here's chapter 2...Enjoy!

Chapter 2: Entering the Spirit World

"We can't be here!" I yelled and ran to the building. I wasn't happy with their decision to bring me back. Memories flooded my brain, which made me place my hands on my forehead to make them go away. Something screamed in my head saying, "Stay! Don't run back!" I couldn't listen. If, and only if, the Spirit Gate opened, we would be trapped...again. "Let's go!" My parents glanced at me like I was ten years old again.

"Just like when you were ten, Chihiro! You didn't want to come through, remember?" My dad said and laughed. I just stared at them the whole time.

"Chihiro, relax," my mom told me, "We got this whole picnic set up to show you something. Please?" I stared at her, not parting her eyes. I sighed, as if giving in. We walked to a pleasant spot and they placed the blanket down. My mom had a picnic basket and set it on the blanket. My dad went head first. Even after the accident, he still was in love with food, especially meat.

"Akio!" my mom yelled at him and slapped his hands. I chuckled as his face turned red.

"Yuuko," he pleaded, "I haven't eaten in hours! Can't I get first pick?" My mom stared at him. He backed down and she took out the food. She made all my favorites! Kayu, Ramen, Miso soup, and even Gyoza!

"You made all this…for me?" They nodded and smiled at me. I took as much as I could and would not stop myself. I felt like the pig then. My parents, astonishingly, were slow eaters today. Maybe being back here gave them a slight reminder of what happened nine years ago. When I could not eat any more, my parents looked at each other and smiled. I gave them a quizzical look.

"What's going on?" I said. They looked at me and my mom handed me a letter.

"You know how you've always wanted to go to that art school for college? This morning I saw this." The letter was from my art school! "I didn't read; I wanted to wait until we all were together for us to hear the answer." I hurriedly opened it and read the first lines. I was about to burst into tears. Things were turning around in my favor.
"No way! I got accepted!" I gave them both a hug. The smile I had would not leave me face. I was too ecstatic. I laid down on the blanket and stared at the clouds. Things were turning out to be better than I expected. Even though I was back, I was not staying. If I saw everyone again, it would make me stay. And if I saw Haku again, it would make me love him even more. Getting into college was the first step in moving on. Though I wouldn't forget the memories, I would just pretend like I had never met him.

"Hey, I remember there used to be a restaurant here! Let's see if it is still open!" My father got up and ran in the direction of the Aburaya, and my mother followed. It took me a while to realize my dad was already halfway to the shop.

"No! Don't go!" I yelled. I got and ran after the two. I couldn't believe they were doing it again. I ran after them, hoping they would not get stuck here again, or else it will be up to me to save them once more. And, as I said before, I was not ready to come back. Surprisingly, my father remembered exactly where it was. The same food was there. I could not believe it was happening again, but I knew how to stop it.

"Mom! Dad!" I yelled. "I think I saw rats up by there!" My parents put down the food. It looked grotesque to them. It was working. They left the food and ran to me, thinking how close they were to getting a disease, or worse. Or worse would have been the answer, because Yubaba surely would have done something.

"I am so glad you caught that, Chihiro!" My mother said. "I think it might be best to go back now. Besides, we don't need to be pigs and eat whatever we see, Akio." I was about to burst into laughter. It was so ironic. But no matter how much I wanted to stay, to see everyone I love, to see Haku once more, I knew that wasn't an option. If I wanted to go back, there was no guarantee I would desire returning to the Human World.

"Oh, wait Chihiro!" My mother shouted and pulled me back. "Look at the sunset! It is so beautiful! We have to stay and watch it finish!" I thought that was fine. It was a beautiful sunset after all. Wait, sunset? I thought. That could only mean one thing when you were in the Spirit World. And we were on the other side of the river…

"Mom! Dad! We have to go!" I yelled. They looked at me with a befuddled look. I grabbed their arms and tried pulling them passed the river.

"Chihiro! What's the rush? It's a beautiful night!" I looked at the dark, night sky. It was already too late. The water was already here. The boat was coming towards us. And we were trapped in the Spirit World once again. Only this time, my parents weren't pigs.

"Um, Yuuko, Chihiro," My dad said, "you see the river, don't you?" We both nodded at him. "And the boat...coming towards us?" Once again, I nodded.

"What is going on?" My mom asked. I grabbed their arms and ran towards the shops. Shadows appeared, just like before. Although this time, I was not scared. I was determined to find someone. Someone I knew. Someone like Kamajii.

"Chihiro! Where are you taking us?" My dad said, "Why do I see ghosts!?"

"I'll explain later! Right now we have to find Kamajii!"
"Who?" They asked. I decided it was best to tell them later. We ran pasted shadows. They were so familiar. I was surprised at how my I retained from my last visit. however, my parents had no recollection of their time in the Spirit World. At last we arrived at the bridge. Spirits were crossing and being greeted by the workers. There was no way we were going to get passed them, especially with our human scent.

"Chihiro!" My mom whispered, "What are those things? Where are we?" I looked at her with no expression. I had to be sure they were oblivious to what they were seeing.

"Do you remember anything from the day we came here?" My parents shook their heads, unable to bring back the memory of their times as a pig. In fact, they were more curious as to how I knew what was going on. They had not one remembrance of the Spirit World; nothing was left in their minds, not even being a pig.

"We have to get to the bathhouse, but Yubaba cannot see us, or bad things will happen."

"Yubaba? Who…what will she…What's going on?" I ignored my mother's questions as a spirit came along, one that really needed a bath. It was our only chance.

"Come on! We have to hide by that spirit!" I rushed towards it and my parents hesitated, but seeing me go along, they followed. All the spirits tried not to show offense to the spirit. Then, I saw the Foreman, greeting the reeking spirit. He has more guts than the rest of the workers. As soon as he looked away, my parents and I ran to the small door Haku took me to the last time I was here. It was hard getting my dad through it, though.

"Okay, this is what we have to do," I told them, "we will go down these stairs to Kamajii's boiler room. There, we will ask him what to do." My parents hesitated, but seeing as I knew more than they did about this place, they approved, although were scared by my extensive knowledge of this place they don't remember being at.

The stairs, as I remembered, went to Kamajii's boiler room. It was a long set of stairs, but I was brave. My dad, on the other hand, wasn't. He was slowing us down, and if we didn't get there in time, Yubaba surely would.

"Chihiro," He said, "if you expect me to go down there you're out of your mind!" I looked at harshly.

"Would you rather go down here, or be turned into a pig?" He looked frightened. I sighed. I didn't mean to scare him.

"I'm sorry," I said, "I just didn't want this to happen again." Before my parents could say anything, I continued. "Last time, when you two...were turned into pigs, I was so scared. I had no one to turn to until Haku helped me. But now that we're back I can show you everything you've been missing!" They looked at each other, and then back at me. My mother nodded, and nudged him to follow me. Going down the stairs undetected was hard. My dad kept slowing down because he thought he'd break a step. My mom thought she would fall down and practically fainted. Then, my dad tripped.

"Who broke this step here?" he asked. "I could've died!" I gulped. I remembered that step.

"Um, that was me...about nine years ago. I thought they would have fixed it by now." I tried to shake it off, but my dad just couldn't obtain all of this at once. I found it best to ignore them and continued down. It wasn't too long before we made it to the door. Everything was just as I remembered it to be. I opened the door and we walked in. I looked back at my parents who were utterly confused. If our lives were not at risk, I would have found that amusing.

"Hey, you little soot balls! Back to work!" I heard. I knew that voice, and only one person would say that. Kamajii.

"Kamajii!" I yelled and ran in. I gave the old spider-man an immense hug and he was entirely confused, as were my parents. I thought it was because of my knowing who Kamajii was, but then I realized they had never seen anyone with six arms. He didn't know whether to move me aside and return to work or wait it out to see who I was.

"Chihiro! Who is that?" My mom yelled. She spotted the soot balls and screamed. She ran over to me and was holding my arm. My dad just walked across, trying to miss the soot balls. He was hoping this all was a dream, but to his dismay, none of it was. This was reality.

"Wait, your name is Chihiro?" Kamajii said, "I remember years ago a girl named Chihiro came here. Of course I don't recall she was your age at the time..."

"Kamajii," I stopped him, "That was nine years ago, and that was me! It's Sen!" His eyes grew wide as he remembered the little ten-year-old human girl that wandered into his boiler room. He embraced me again, this time with the knowledge of who I was to him.

"Sen! Your back!" He said, grinning. But his grin slowly faded. "Oh no, this isn't good." I knew precisely what that meant. There was one person I knew who would not be happy with my return.

"Who's Sen? Chihiro, why is he calling you Sen?" My mother said. I gulped. Kamajii knew who they were, even when he never saw them. He knew my parents all too well.

"Ah," he said, "So these are your parents?" I nodded. "The ones who stuffed themselves like pigs? Well, you got what deserved then."
"Hey!" My mom yelled. I giggled so no one would notice. Too bad it was very conspicuous. And my mom was not going to take it from me. None of it was a joke to her.

"Chihiro! How is that funny? How is any of what has happened to us funny? We are in the middle of nowhere asking for help by a man with six arms!" Her facial expression looked angrier than before, so I stopped the jokes.

"Look, you may not remember anything, but I do. Nine years ago, that really happened, due to the wickedness of Yubaba."Mentioning her name gave me chills up my spine. I turned to Kamajii to ask the question I had been waiting for. "Speaking of her, do you think she knows we're here?"

"Well, it depends. Seeing that no one has told me a human is here, I would say you're cleared from everyone else. However…" I stared him down to tell me. He was hesitant, and luckily for him, we were soon interrupted. But it wasn't a rude interruption. In fact, I was glad to see this person.

"Kamajii, here's your dinner." That familiar voice. I knew it was her. It was Lin.

"LIN!" I screamed and ran towards her. She was a bit scared and ran to Kamajii. She didn't know how to react to us. She stared at my parents and me, wondering how we were down here.

"Kamajii, who are these people? They smell like…like humans!" Kamajii took his dinner and gave her his bowl from the day before, like he had been doing for the past nine years, I pressumed. Lin was still interesting in knowing why a family of humans were in the boiler room. She couldn't recognize me because I had grown int he years, but she remained the same as always.

"I'll give you a hint," Kamajii said, "That girl who was about to hug you, she's my granddaughter." Lin stared at him like the crazy old man he was. I smiled, remembering that was what he called me.

"Granddaughter? But you don't have a granddaughter. You only said that when Sen was here because…" And her eyes grew wide. "Sen!" She ran towards me and picked me up. It was hard to breathe for a moment, but she put me down.

"Oh Sen, it's really you! What are you doing here? You look so grown up!" She asked, playing around with my long, brown hair, which had grown in the last nine years. It was now down to the lower part of my back. I looked at my Mom and Dad, who just stood there and watched. They were completely befuddled as to everything that had happened since the sunset.

"Ask my parents. They were the ones who insisted on a picnic here." Lin looked at the two people who were evidently mad at their daughter's comment. I didn't mind. It wasn't like they could ground me. I was my own person. I didn't have to listen to them if I wanted to, but they were my parents. I would stick by them as long as I could.

"So, these are the parents who got you stuck here in the first place? Well, I guess it wasn't all bad because I met you!" She continued hugging me and then my parents interrupted. They wanted answers, and they were going to get them.

"Um, Chihiro," My dad said, "I think you have some explaining to do." Lin looked at him and stared him down. I knew it. She was going to show her attitude towards him. Lin was a great friend, but when someone said something to her they shouldn't have, she went full-out bitch to them.

"Oh yeah?" She said with her cool attitude, "if it weren't for you two she wouldn't have become a slave to Yubaba, like the rest of us. If it weren't for you two she wouldn't have almost died multiple times. If it weren't for you two-" I stopped her from yelling at them. As much as they deserved it, she wasn't the one to do it.

"Lin, it's okay, it's not entirely their fault," I said, "It's also mine."
"How is ANY of what happened your fault?" Lin yelled. I calmed her down.

"If I had just listened to Haku I wouldn't have gone to Yubaba." I said, "I would've worked here with Kamajii, if he wasn't so stubborn and just gave me a job." I joked. He gave me a paranoid look. I just laughed. He was tradition, only using the soot balls as workers. He never would have given me a job.

"Chihiro," My mom said, "can you just tell us what is going on? Please?" I sighed and we sat down. It was going to be hard to tell them. They were not even going to believe me, but they needed to know. "Nine years ago, when we first moved here, we accidentally entered the Spirit World. You started eating the food meant for the spirits, and…Yubaba punished you by turning you into pigs." My parents didn't say a word. They were taking it well.

"I then met Haku, and he helped me evade Yubaba as long as I could, but I couldn't hide from her forever." I told them all about how Yubaba got me a job, stole my name, and even how I saved the polluted river spirit. I told them of No-Face and what he did to the bathhouse, as well as Zeniba, whom I still call Granny, and how I gave Haku his name back. By the time I was done, they had had enough.

"So," my dad said, "you're saying that when we saw the car all dusty, when the movers had already brought everything in the house, and when we realized a week had gone by we actually lost a week of our lives!" I nodded. It was a lot to comprehend, but it was the truth. We all heard a speaker turn on. "Excuse me, ladies and gentlemen; I do not want any of you to panic, but we have unwanted guests." Yubaba. I'd know that voice anywhere. And she knew we were here. No matter how long she had known, she knew now. "I would ask these intruders to report to my office, or you could be turned to pigs again. NOW!"

I looked at Lin, and then Kamajii. We had no choice. Yubaba had been waiting for them. My parents even knew what was going on.

"Is this what you meant by 'however'?" I asked Kamajii. He nodded.

"She could have been spying on you in the Human World. Maybe she sent someone to your world to make sure you'd return." He said. And then it hit me. Yu-bird.

"Yu-bird." I whispered, standing up and pacing, "I saw Yu-bird in the Human World. She was waiting. She knew we were coming!" I said and kicked the wall. The drawers opened and some of the items fell. Kamajii was going to clean that up later. I was angry, and Lin came to reassure me.

"I doubt she'll do anything bad this time. Maybe she'll make you clean the big tub again." I laughed. She was just like Emi. They both were great friends of mine, but Lin was the greatest.

"You remind me of my friend in the human world, Emi. She always can make me laugh." Lin laughed, but her smiled faded.

"Emi?" Lin said.

"Yeah, why?"

"I don't know. Never mind, it doesn't matter." I was confused then. I didn't understand most things she said. I ignored it and was about to cry. She then gave me a comforting hug.

"Where's that tough, dopey girl I knew nine years ago? She's in there and she can take on Yubaba any day." I smiled and thanked her for her support. We were going to have to face Yubaba sooner or later, so we may as well go prepared.

"Okay," I told my parents, "here's what we will do."

So what did you think? Chihiro has a big surprise coming up for her. Please review and tell me what I can do to make it better!

Anabelle ;)