- 2 -
'Why is this so cold?' Chihiro thought, her eyes still closed. She rubbed her eyes and gasped, realizing she was falling backwards.
'Is this a dream?' she wondered in the new found water. 'Noo…' she thought, swimming to the dark surface, choking on the water. She reached the air and gasped for breath, the moonlight embracing her figure. Her pink nightgown flowed with the waters light current as she laid back and let her hair entwine with the water.
'This could be a dream… I guess,' she closed her eyes. 'At least this feels good.' The water flowed through her fingers and hair, embracing her body like a sea of satin blankets.
'What is this light coming from?' A bright purple light came from under the water. She felt around for whatever it could be, but it seemed to follow her hand. Lifting her arm, she noticed the jade beaded bracelet was the object glowing; the purple changed to orange.
'Why…' before she could finish, she noticed the high beams of a car about to cross the bridge. She held her breath and dove under, shallow enough to watch the car and the bridge. The lights from the car lit a sign that had obviously been hammered into the ground after the worker's had finished placing the boulders along the sides of the river, but being underneath the water made it impossible to read.
The car had passed and her breath could no longer be held, so she swam to the surface once more, took a few deep breaths and swam towards the bridge. The sign was printed in large characters, but the bridge cast a shadow. She raised her hand - the beads now glowing blue - and used the glow as her light source.
'Welcome to the Kohaku River'.
"Kohaku River?" She said to herself, slowly. "Haku?"
Something found Chihiro's bare waist, beneath her gown that was encircling her at the surface. "What the?"
Whatever this new object was, it was soft underneath the water, but continued to surround her waist.
Trying to swim away, she noticed the entity would not let her move an inch. 'What is this?' Her arm dove under the water, reaching for the figure embracing her mid-section. When her hand reached the entity, she gasped. A hand grabbed hers, squeezing and pulling her under at a moderate speed.
"No, no, please, n…" she was pulled underneath before she could finish and hold her breath once again.
Under the water, the figure was obviously a human form. Whoever or whatever it was still held her hand and made sure she was under the surface. Chihiro continued to try and break free, but the body was too strong and she was losing strength and consciousness.
They touched her forehead, a warm feeling filled her face. Her consciousness was on its last try, with that her eyes closed and she felt the person slip their hands under her back and legs, holding her. She gave in.
The sun shone through the silk, blue tapestry's and Chihiro's eyelid's. She rolled onto her side and moaned quietly, wiping her eyes with her loose fists. Looking around the room, everything was decorated in shades of blue and green.
"Where am I?" she sat up quickly, her body sinking into the feathered mattress of the round bed. A pair of slippers softly made their way across the floor, but with the sun blinding Chihiro, she could not see who was walking.
"Chihiro, please, lay down," a familiar masculine voice kindly ordered her.
"What?" she asked, noticing his voice was deeper than it had been all those years ago.
"Lay down. You are not well and that is my fault," he sat down next to her, also sinking into the silk blankets and mattress.
"Ha-haku?" she asked, very much in shock. He put his hands on her shoulders, pushing her back into the mountain of pillows.
"Mhm. Hello, Chihiro." He smiled. "I didn't think you'd be this shocked." He laughed slightly, walking towards the cart holding the tea pot and vials of colored liquid. He pushed the cart next to the bed and sat down once again.
Chihiro couldn't take her eyes off of Haku, not that he looked much different. His hair was somewhat shorter than it had been years ago, his face was not pale and his features had become older with his age.
He laughed, "what are you looking at me like that for?"
She dropped her gaze to her lap, her cheeks turning red. He smiled and scooted closer, lifting her chin with his pointer finger.
"You can't hide from me, you know, Chihiro." He smiled, her cheeks still full of blush.
"I'm n-not trying to," she replied softly.
His hand moved up to her cheek, brushing her bangs to the back of her ear and caressing with his thumb. Her eyes closed tightly, hangs gripping together turning her knuckles and fingertips white.
"What's wrong?" he asked, continuing to caress her cheek.
She shook her head, her hands still clenching.
He sighed. "Look, you can either tell me or I can read your mind… I'm sure you can remember when I injected your mind with the way to see Kamaji."
"I…it's just…" she sat in silence.
"You what?"
"I don't know."
"I'm sure you do," his hand made it up to her forehead.
"Please… don't," she begged quietly.
"You know I'm not going to hurt you. I just want you to tell me the truth."
She sat up, taking a deep breath.
"No," he pressed her shoulders back into the pillows. "Chihiro."
She sighed, "I've just been, well, in a difficult position in the last few years."
His face matched hers, "Why?"
"A lot… a lot of things," she let go of a few tears. Haku wiped them from her eyes, crawling next to Chihiro and wrapping his arms around her shoulders, pulling her close.
"Mmph," she slightly moaned into his neck, continuing to cry.
"What has happened?" He asked, softer than before; he started to rub her back.
"Like I said, a lot of things have happened. Good and b-bad," she began. "But I guess the worst was when my parents… well, when they died on my 18th birthday."
Haku parted from her slightly, only to see her face. He wiped the salty dampness from her cheeks and eyes, "I'm sorry, Chihiro."
She bit her bottom lip and closed her eyes as her emotions only got heavier.
"Chihiro…" he said softly, lifting her chin once more.
She stared into his eyes, "Haku? Wha…" but she couldn't finish. The tip of his nose touched hers, and as she felt her heart beat speed up, her breathing became faster. His lips met hers, caressing them softly, her eyes closing without a thought.
The past few years of memories her mind had just been drowning in disappeared, his arms wrapping around her waist and hers around his neck. The kiss was warm and soft, filling her entire body with the same feeling; her stomach and chest being ticked from the inside to the out. And when Haku, pulled his face only centimeters away, they stared into each other's eyes again, interrupted by their lips joining once again.
His hands moved down to her hips, and rolling onto his back, she followed him into a straddle with their faces continuing in their embrace. Chihiro's hands found their way to his chest, allowing her to feel his breathing patterns. She pulled away, gasping for air; he kissed her jaw and neck, making her gasps become quiet moans.
"What's the matter?" He smiled again, brushing all of her hair out of her face and behind her ear.
Her eyes stayed tightly closed as she shook her head, blushing.
He laughed softly, "Chihiro?"
"Nothing!" She said quickly.
He laughed louder, "if there was nothing, your face wouldn't be so red and you wouldn't look like this."
Chihiro buried her face in his chest, "Mmph."
He lifted her face again, "I already know." He chuckled, "I just want you to admit something to me. You obviously have a hard time admitting things of embarrassment, sadness, and what not."
She shook her head and meant to bury her face again, but Haku caught her chin and pulled her into another kiss. His other hand met her lower back to press her body against his. She moaned into his mouth, allowing him to bite her lower lip gently. He pulled her into himself again, but she seemed to be used to this now.
Haku smiled, not separating them.
"Do you trust me?" He kissed beneath her ear and then where her jaw met her neck.
"Mhm," she nodded, her face even redder than before.
He matched her hand with his own, "I've missed you."
She found his contemplation once again, "Me, too. I wanted to return to the spirit world more than anything el…"
"But why?" The expression on his face also asked her if she was feeling alright and suggested the sickness had made it inside her mind.
She smiled slightly and blushed, "because of you."
He smiled, too, pulling her into and embrace and kissing her forehead.
