Chapter 1

Eternal youth. A blessing, his mother had said. A curse, he had thought.

Eternal youth was only a blessing when you didn't have the stature of a chubby baby! No, his hasn't been eternal youth. It has been eternity as a child who could barely stand up.

Which is why Boh was no longer Boh, but Arata.

Arata… It meant fresh-new. Which was the truth, in Arata's case. He was new. He had recreated himself, a new name to pair with his new image.

You see, Arata body had been kept young by a spell. A spell that had been castes by his mother when he was a baby, having not wanted her young man to become an old man. This is what Arata had managed to get out of the old woman, before he blasted her to the next world.

She did, however, give him a gift before her demise. Well, it was more of a forced gift, but still, it was a gift nonetheless.

It was the gift of his true self.

That is how he now looked…beautiful. Long blue hair, eyes…his mothers eyes. The chubby, baby body was thinned down, and now quite muscular. His voice was deep, with a rich accent.

Oh, he was beautiful! Now, he could finally feel worthy of her! Her… the 'her' being his one true love.

Chihiro…

A name he had never uttered to her face. A name which was beautiful, just like the girl it was given to.

A name that made Ararat want to both cry with despair and exclaim with excitement.

He loves her.

Arata loved Chihiro.

However, there was a rival in the midst. A rival who happened to be a river spirit, with dark hair and glittering eyes.

Haku .

A name which Arata said in disgust and hatred. He had been jealous of the river spirit, his thin body, his good looks. However that had been before Arata developed the looks he had now. And the power. Baku had been banished to the barren lands just beyond the spirit world, so he was no-longer a problem.

He had hated him for the love Haku also harboured for Chihiro. Arata had seen how Haku looked at her, how his eyes were overfilled with gratitude and love when Chihiro unearthed Hakus true name.

It made Arata fill with the illness that all people who were in love and jealous at the same time had: hatred.

Haku was a chip on his shoulder: so Arata did what was best for all parties; he was banished.

Which left a space for Arata in Chihiros heart.