11 YEARS LATER
Chapter 1: Like Mother, Like Daughter
A/N: This chapter has been revised. Nothing new really, just a bit better written. 600 new words. Enjoy! (6/21/13)
"Amma, amma! Abagha ma!"
Chihiro Smiled, and turned her head to face the small child.
"Yes Sweetie?" she said, forehead wrinkling as her smile reached her eyes. The baby pounded her little fists upon the colorful, woven picnic blanket the two were seated upon, before turning her head towards Chihiro's and reaching her hands upwards, flexing her fingers in a gesture that suggested she wanted up. Chihiro obliged and picked the little girl up and set her in her lap.
"Hi sweetie-pie," Chihiro cooed, nuzzling her nose against her child's cheek in response to her animated giggling. A gentle breeze ruffled the small child's little tufts of dark hair.
"Does Sen want to play?" she asked, lifting the baby up to her feet. The little girl squealed happily, as Chihiro gently lifted her up and down, keeping her feet dangling just off the ground. After several repetitions, Chihiro set her back down on the picnic blanket, next to her lap. 'She is getting so big, this little girl is going to wear me out!'
It was a beautiful mid-spring day, and Chihiro and her daughter were enjoying the warm sunlight and blossoming flora at the Kohaku River Park. They were sitting in a small, green meadow surrounded by trees, deep in the park. Bright green bushes dotted the base of the semi-circle of trees, large yellow flowers sending their musky, sweet scent across the gentle breeze. The river gurgled not too far away, rushing by with some speed as the snow melt added to the river's flow. The two had been enjoying an afternoon picnic, soaking in the warm sunlight.
Chihiro sighed contentedly. 'I couldn't have asked for a more beautiful day'
Chihiro, now 21 and with a daughter of her own, had blossomed into a beautiful young woman. Her shoulder length brunette hair had grown long. Her round, pudgy cheeks had given way to high cheek bones and an angular but delicate jaw. The gangly boyish frame she had once been well known for in her youth had blossomed into a lithe, elegant figure. She had not grown much in height, though she liked to think, despite her short stature, that she still had an imposing presence.
Sen crawled slowly and methodically off of the blanket, towards a white flower, or rather weed, growing by the edge of the picnic blanket. Clumsily, she grabbed the flower in her hand, almost crushing the petals as she pulled it from its stalk. Chihiro watched with amusement as her daughter brought the flower to her face, sniffing it, before sneezing and blowing it from her opened palm. She reached with her free hand for the flower, which had blown onto the blanket, and handed it back to the distressed Sen. Picking a flower of her own, she gently put it behind her ear.
Another breeze whispered by, a bit chilly this time. Dusk was beginning to set in, and it was a bit of a walk back to the car. Chihiro slowly stood up, her long locks flowing over her shoulder and swaying in the soft breeze. She looked over at her little girl who was sitting on their blanket with a handful of grass, flower forgotten. Chihiro chuckled.
"Come on Sen, time to go," said Chihiro softly. Sen looked at her mother with bright brown, curious eyes, her mother's eyes. She gurgled a few unintelligible syllables, and cocked her head to the side. Chihiro laughed. "Aren't you eloquent this evening!" Sen giggled as she Chihiro reached down tousled her hair gently. Sen resumed her grass-pulling as Chihiro turned around to gather their belongings. After successfully putting their food away, shaking, folding, and depositing the blanket inside her backpack, she put the backpack over her shoulders and turned for Sen. However, Sen was no longer happily picking grass a foot away from where the blanket had been. Chihiro's heart skipped a beat. 'I turn my head for half a second...'
"Sen?" Chihiro called, trying to suppress a note of panic. She quickly turned her head, scanning the immediate area which Sen had previously occupied. It wasn't until she turned fully around that she saw Sen stumbling off towards the river, chasing a butterfly.
"Sen! No! Honey, come here!" Yelled Chihiro, her panic skyrocketing. She ran after Sen, Heart thumping wildly, but she was mere moments too late, as Sen had reached the river and been snatched away by the quickly moving current.
"Sen!" Screamed Chihiro, as her little girl's head bobbed in the water. She stripped off her backpack, getting it caught on her jacket's buttons in her clumsy rush. Sen's Terrified screams echoed around the clearing. Finally extracting herself from her bulky backpack, Chihiro was getting ready into dive into the river when she slipped on a wet rock she hadn't noticed and landed hard on her hip. She watched helplessly as her baby's head bobbed beneath the water and didn't resurface.
"Sen!" Screamed Chihiro. Desperation laced in every chord of her voice. She stood up as quickly as she could, ignoring her aching hip, and bounded the few remaining steps to the river. Though she was not a particularly strong swimmer, and had almost drowned in the river herself as a child, she pushed her growing fear aside; there was no one around to help. Just as her feet had hit the water, a man's head bobbed above the quickly moving current 20 feet downstream, with her baby in his arms. Sen's screams filled the air once more. Relief washed over her being as she moved to the shore and sprinted down to where the man was swimming ashore with impressive fluidity.
Out of breath, and heart thumping wildly, Chihiro ran up to the man and greedily snatched Sen from his arms. She leander her head against the child, who, aside from her wails, seemed to be ok.
"Sen!" she screamed, holding the child close to her chest, stroking her hair. Water soaked through her sweater, seeping into her dress as she continued holding Sen tightly to her as if she would disappear if she didn't. Chest still thumping, it took her several moments before she really took notice of the man who had saved her child's life.
Slightly embarrassed, she looked up to see him standing next to her, smiling down at the two of them. With her free hand, she took his and shook it vigorously. "Oh, Thank you, Thank you, Thank you!" She said, words tumbling from her lips in a jumble. Her vigorous thank-you was cut short by the screams of the child in her arms.
"Shh… shh… Honey, it's ok now," Chihiro cooed, rocking her back and forth. After several moments of gentle rocking and reassurances, Sen's screams subsided to terrified murmurs and hiccups. Chihiro turned her attention back to the strange man, gratitude plain on her face.
"Thank you," she said forcefully, "How can I ever repay you for your kindness?" She asked sincerely. He smiled.
"Your gratitude is payment enough," He replied in a deep, calming voice. For the first time, Chihiro really took in his appearance and her eyes widened with momentary recognition. He looked to be about her own age of 21, perhaps a few years older. He was wearing a now soaking wet white collared shirt and jeans which were starting to sag with the weight of the water. Though he was lacking shoes or socks.
He had dark shoulder length hair that rippled with an odd tinge of... blue? His eyes were the most intense part of his appearance, and they were... captivatingly beautiful; They shone a brilliant turquoise, hints of sea-green and aquamarine flashing when viewed at just the right angle. His eyes... ... She mentally shook her head. She had gotten a bit lost in them. They were just... enchanting. And the way he looked at her...
'Pull it together woman.' She shook her head. Though, try as she might, she couldn't shake the sense of familiarity. And she was pretty certain they had never met. Still...
"Have we met before?" Asked Chihiro, cocking her head. The man simply continued to smile.
"Have we?" He responded lightly. She paused. His tone struck her as somewhat cagey. She brushed it off.
"No, I'm sorry, I just... you seem so familiar," Chihiro smiled, and shook herself out of her reverie, changing topics. "I want to thank you. I'd like to treat you to coffee, are you free tomorrow morning?" She asked, smiling.
"That would be wonderful," He said, tilting his head and giving a radiant smile.
"How about that little coffee shop on the corner, by that fruit stand downtown?" she responded
"Sounds great," he agreed, "Would you like some help with your little girl? She seems rather cold, as do you."
Chihiro noticed shivering coming from her arms, and noticed her own goosebumps as well. She held Sen even closer to her now soaking torso. "That would actually be very helpful, thank you. My name is Chihiro by the way, nice to meet you." She extended her hand.
The man smiled, though the warmth that had previously occupied it seemed somewhat diminished "Nice to meet you. I'm Haku."
That same rush of recognition spiked once more, but Chihiro brushed it aside, focusing instead on the task at hand. "I left some of my things down river, and my car is a bit of a walk, I hope you don't mind."
"Not at all."
Chihiro strapped Sen, who had been changed out of her wet clothes into a spare dry set, into her car seat and wrapped her in a blanket. Her low warbling cries slowly diminished as Chihiro handed the child her favorite toy - a stuffed giraffe with a very bendy neck, the result of many months being grabbed around said neck by small but powerful fingers. Haku returned from the rear of the car, where he had set her backpack in the trunk as Chihiro set the child's wet clothes on the floor of the back seat and shut the car door. She turned to face him, and instead of reiterating her thanks once more as she had intended, caught herself taking in his appearance and, again, becoming overwhelmed by a sense of... familiarity? Deja Vu? He smiled warmly as she stared at him somewhat dumbly, and rather than finding his silent gaze disconcerting, found it strangely comforting.
"I can't thank you enough. If you hadn't been there, I don't know what would have happened to her," She said sincerely.
Haku smiled, and returned her sincerity. "You don't need to thank me, it was my pleasure."
He studied her intently, his eyes gazing into hers. As she met those turquoise pools, she lost track of what she was going to say. She found herself, instead, gazing back into them, entranced. Those eyes...
"I should get her to the doctor," Chihiro said absentmindedly, still caught in the depths of his eyes.
"Yes, absolutely," he said gently, "and rest, for you as well. You've had quite a day," he said. At the thought of rest, she refocused herself. Rest was one thing she certainly did need. After her last few weeks of working extra shifts, she was becoming regularly sleep deprived. And the day had turned out to be quite emotionally exhausting.
"Thank you, again. Will you be alright? Do you need a ride home, or to your car? You must be freezing."
The man only smiled contentedly and shook his head, "I'll be quite alright, but thank you."
As she was driving off, Chihiro looked in her rearview mirror and saw him standing where her car had been moments before, watching them drive off. She turned her eyes back to the road, and her mind wandered back to the overwhelming sense of familiarity she had repeatedly experienced. After giving it some thought, and combing through her memories, she reasserted to herself that she was sure she hadn't met him before. 'Perhaps he just has one of those faces...'
She looked back in her rearview mirror, back at the place she had just been parked and where Haku had been standing, but her daughter's rescuer was nowhere in sight.
A/N: Woo! First chapter revised! It's gone from its orignal 1400 words to 2000 words, and I think it conveys more of the feel of the scene (more of what I had in my head) than the original. Let me know what you think! I love me a good review :)
