Chapter 2 – A Road to Somewhere

A driver honked his horn angrily at the careless children in front of him. "Get off the road!" he shouted out of his window. The kids scurried across to the side of the road allowing the vehicle to pass. "Sorry 'bout that boss." he apologised. "People around here aren't exactly the most courteous."

She gave the driver an I-know-what-you-mean look and returned her attention outside. The diggers, like they had been the whole day, were pulling away the twisted remains of dead buildings. Only hours earlier she saw the structure vanish in a plume of dust from her high-rise office.

"Are you feeling alright?" asked a curious Miyako. "You got that look on your face."

Chihiro sighed. "We never should have let this happen…" she trailed off.

"The project?" Miyako thought aloud. "It was your idea to begin knock this all down. After all these months of planning you can't be having second thoughts now."

She shook her head. "I don't have any regrets about restoring the Kohaku River." Chihiro lowered her head. "I just …don't understand why we didn't leave the river alone. They never should have built over it."

Miyako thought for a moment for a reason. "It was a busy time back then Chihiro. Everything was expanding everywhere."

Chihiro raised her arm to point outside at the line of demolished buildings. "And this is what they call expansion?!" she scowled, her voice rising with anger.

"Hey, it's not our fault Chihiro." Miyako defended. "We were all too young back then to even understand what was happening here."

She slumped back in her seat. "I understood but no-one would listen to me." she grumbled to herself.

The car came to a halt outside the gates of the construction site. One worker opened the door, allowing for Chihiro and Miyako to step out. Inhaling deeply, they felt the air outside was laden thick with the smell of concrete dust and rusted metal. The skies above glowed a warming orange as the sun began to sink below the horizon.

In front of them stood two people. One was a businessman covered in a reflective jacket and hardhat. Next to him stood a construction worker holding a pair of jackets and helmets for them.

"Ah, welcome to the river site Miss Ogino." The businessman welcomed, shaking her hand. "It's always nice to have you and your friends visiting."

"The pleasure is ours, Mr Kojima." Chihiro smiled, watching her friends' dejected look as she collected her construction site attire.

The other worker handed Chihiro her jacket and hardhat. "We know it's not exactly trendy, but it's site policy Miss."

"Of course." she replied, sliding the jacket on. "Shall we head in? There are some matters that need urgent discussion."

"Right away Miss Ogino." said Mr Kojima. "Please follow me. We'll head over to the site office."

Chihiro put the hardhat on her head and turned to her friend. She chuckled at the obvious discontent Miyako was in. "Yellow is definitely NOT my colour."

"Neither is that pink bag you take everywhere." Chihiro added with a smile. "Now come on. We've got a mystery to solve." She cringed slightly at how cheesy those words sounded.

The construction worker watched the three walking away from them with a puzzled look on his face.

Mystery? I wonder what they're talking about?

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Night-time is coming…I can feel it…

The pain was at last beginning to lessen. Haku slowly opened his weary eyes, briefly looking at the roof before tiredness closed them again.

You can do better than that Haku...

He opened them again, his head tilting to the side limply as he done so. Paikon was resting his head on the bedside drawer in a deep sleep. His eyes widened further at the sight of the item next to the resting boy. The glass of cool water looked highly appealing for his parched throat. All he could muster was a muffled groan as he tried to move.

That was enough to stir the young boy. Paikon's head straightened and his face lit up at the sight of Haku's half-open eyes. "Mum! Mum! Haku's awake!"

"Are you sure this time?" came the reply from another room. "I don't want to go there and see he's just rolling over again." Haku's senses lifted slightly at the sound of the familiar voice. Looking through doorway, the pair saw Lin peep around the corner of the door.

"Well, it's about time you got up!" Lin stated, sliding around the corner into the room. She walked up to Haku's beside and sat down on the chair next to her child. "You had us worried for a while."

"Yeah!" said Paikon. "Next time you're feeling sick you should tell mum! She knows how to fix everything."

Haku too, knew that Lin was a skilled healer. That however, didn't hide the look of obvious concern coming from her. "I…I'm sorry for not telling you, Paikon." he reassured him, his voice still sore and croaky. "Next time, I promise I'll tell both of you."

Lin took the glass of water next to Haku. Using one hand to prop up his head, she held the glass to Haku's mouth allowing him to take a much-needed drink. Paikon held out his hand and placed them over Haku's as he obligingly sipped from the glass of water. "Are you nearly better yet?" the boy asked.

His mind flickered for a moment as he tried to find an appropriate answer.

I don't think so…

"He'll be up in a few minutes," responded Lin, taking the glass away from a replenished Haku. "How about you get the table ready for mealtime kid?"

Paikon hopped off his chair and ran to the door. "Mummy made your favourite: Fried Newt and Rice balls."

Haku chuckled as Paikon hurried out of sight down the hallway. "He's just bubbling with energy."

"Can't say the same thing about you." said Lin, her tone growing foreboding. She placed hand over Haku's, feeling the pulse of the spirit within. "Your spiritual aura is very faint. At the rate this is going you're gonna leave this world very soon."

"So you saw." conceded Haku. "Well, it's been like that for a few weeks now."

"I'm going to be honest here, Haku." Lin said disturbingly. "I've seen this happen before to someone. Can't remember his name…Krakatoa maybe?"

"And what happened to him?"

"No-ones seen him for a very long time, if you know what I mean."

"Well that's great!" groaned Haku sarcastically. "The healer can't heal the one who's going to di-" He froze as his senses picked up a strong spirit nearby. "Someone's coming…"

It was Lin's turn to act sarcastic. "Oh, like there's really someone at the door?"

"There's something waiting at the door." the two turned toward the sound of the scared voice. "Can you tell it to go away?" squeaked a frightened Paikon.

Lin stood up and sighed. "I wonder who else wants a free bed and meal today."

Haku rolled his eyes as Lin left the room.

At least they didn't see the worst of it…

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Chihiro lowered the report down. "I just can't believe it."

"Believe me, Miss Ogino. When I first read the report I thought it was some sort of onsite joke." added Mr Kojima.

"Shame they didn't get any proof." chimed in Miyako. "That would have been soooo… scandalous."

"Progress-wise what's the situation?" asked Chihiro. "Is this going to slow down the project?"

Mr Kojima held up the palm of his hand. "I can assure you Miss Ogino, even though we replaced a number of workers who quit, we are still well ahead of schedule."

"And the budget? Is it still in the green?"

The businessman gritted his teeth. "The signs aren't very promising. It's looking very marginal at the moment."

"Marginal?" wondered Chihiro. "Why?"

"Well, uh, while progress has been good we've been taking a hammering on the reputation front. It's all these headlines. They're scaring our workers and replacements aren't cheap."

"And making who's left ask for more money." added Miyako. "That can't be good."

Chihiro stood up and walked to the window, watching a large truck carry a load of debris away. "I'll need a financial report sent to the office. I'll get the accounts office to look for some extra funding."

"Of course Miss Ogino. As soon as possible."

"Mr Kojima!" bellowed a man from outside. Responding, Mr Kojima stood up as the man opened the office door and rushed inside. "You've just got to see this boss!" the man shouted. "Tokio caught something really weird on one of the security cameras."

Mr Kojima glared sternly at the worker for his untimely entrance. He cleared his throat and signalled for the worker to leave before looking towards Chihiro "If you'll excuse me, Miss Ogino. It appears I am needed elsewhere urgently."

Chihiro raised her hand. "Would it be alright if we accompanied you?"

"Well…" Mr Kojima seemed apprehensive. "…As you are the head project leader I don't see any reason why you can't accompany us." He raised his hand towards the door. "Please, this way."

"Looks like we're gonna get that scandalous proof after all." Miyako said, following her friend out of the office.

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A bolt of lightning outside blinded Lin as she approached the front door. The silhouette she saw in the window during that brief flash resembled that of a short woman. Opening the door revealed a soaked old woman with a dark cloak covering a familiar blue dress. "Well?" she snapped. "Aren't you going to invite us in?"

She trembled at the sound of the voice. "Y-Y-Yu-bub-bub-ba."

"I see my sister has scared another hapless spirit" she sighed aloud, giving Lin a warming smile.

The name rang a bell in Lin's memory. "Z-Zeniba?"

"That's right!" she nodded. "Now may we please come in? The weather isn't exactly pleasant."

Tilting her head to the side to see behind Zeniba, Lin could see the familiar transparent black figure. "No Face?!" she moaned. "What's he doing here?" The figure lowered his head, appearing to take offence at the remark.

Zeniba raised her finger. "No Face is my helper. Don't worry I'll keep him out of trouble."

"Well, I can't exactly turn you out back into a storm." she shrugged, trying to hide the tremble in her voice. Lin stood aside, letting her extra visitors enter.

Zeniba made her way into the hallway. "I've come to offer some help for your friend." she said as she removed her cloak.

Zeniba threw her cloak up in the air. As Lin shuffled over to catch the object, No Face raised one of his short arms to hold her back. To Lin's amazement, the coat floated through the air, drying itself before coming to rest on the nearby coat rack.

"Wow! Did you see that mum?" the trio turned to their side, sighting an amused Paikon peeping around the corner of a doorway.

Lin nodded. "I sure did, kid. Can you get a few extra plates for our latest guests?" The boy slipped out of sight and made his way towards the kitchen.

"Your son?" asked Zeniba curiously.

"Yup. Been looking after him ever since I left that bathhouse." she smiled as she gestured towards the guest room. "I'll introduce ya after you've seen my patient."

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"This is the security office." said Mr Kojima, as he followed the worker. "All the security cameras are hooked up into this room."

The worker pushed the large double doors open revealing a small array of television screens across the wall. Below those stood a number of desks, computers, cables and tapes. A technician stood in front of the machines, watching the small group advance.

Mr Kojima shook his hand. "This is our lead analyst, Mr Ryudo. He's in charge of the security footage."

"Please, call me Tokio." he said as he shook the ladies hands. "And what can I do for you two ladies?" he asked, directing her to the nearby chairs.

"We're following up information from an incident report." Chihiro stated, sitting down. "And we hear that you've caught some interesting footage that could be related."

"But of course. Just a moment, I'll get the tape ready." The man turned around and scoured through a pile of cassettes nearby. "This is the one." Tokio slid the tape into one of the numerous cassette players. "We filmed this about an hour ago when we were reviewing the day's footage."

Across the myriad of screens in front of them, the fuzziness was replaced with a camera shot looking downwards at the ground in front. The image was fairly bland, only sporadic patches of grass kept the image from looking like a plain patch of dirt.

"There's nothing there." groaned Miyako. "Boy is this interesting TV."

"Hang on a moment. It's coming up." On cue the image flickered briefly followed by a faint crackling static sound. Listening closely, they could hear the static growing gradually in volume. Behind the static they could make out the noise of someone's voice.

"Does that sound like someone moaning to you?"

Tokio agreed. "Most of the audio sounds like that. I only made out one word- Oh hang on." he stopped. "This is the freaky part."

The screen flickered again, revealing a young man lying on his side. He was curled up in a ball, his hands clutching his chest.

"Oh my god!" Chihiro put her hand over her mouth.

"That things flippin' see through!" shouted a shocked Miyako, pointing at the glowing transparent blue figure on the screen.

The figure rolled onto his other side, the faint glow emanating from him fading slightly as he did so. Examining closely, Chihiro could see the figure moving his mouth as if trying to speak. Through the static she could read the words coming from his lips.

My name… he's calling my name…

"Is something wrong Miss Ogino?" asked Mr Kojima. Chihiro didn't answer. Her mind was enthralled in the footage before her.

Miyako tapped her shoulder, breaking her out of her trance-like state. "Snap out of it buddy, you're freaking out."

The screens went blank and the room fell silent. Looking towards the cassette player, they saw Tokio ejecting the tape. "That's all of it. The footage moves to another camera after."

"I must say that was very unusual." said Mr Kojima. "Can you offer any explanations for what we just saw?"

"Could be an equipment glitch." answered Tokio as he put the tape into its case. "I haven't checked it yet."

"I need to have a look at the place." Chihiro matter-of-factly stated.

"But Miss Ogino," Mr Kojima argued. "This was filmed out in Section A8 about 15 minutes walk from here. It's a bit late in the day to be heading out to that site."

"Noted." Chihiro said as she walked to the door. "Can someone give me the directions?"

Tokio stood up. "I'll take you there on the cart. It's faster that way."

As Tokio and Chihiro left the office, Miyako remained still, surprised by the turn of events. "Something on that tape got to her…"

Mr Kojima by contrast, was mildly worried. "This is going to be a major setback for the project."

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"It's been far too long Haku."

The man nodded his head. "Indeed."

Zeniba held her palm over the man's forehead, hoping to sense a glimpse of how sick he was. "Listen carefully, Haku. What I say may help you find out where your journey may end." she spoke with a hint of concern. "I knew a fire spirit who had the same problem as you did."

"Lin mentioned his name before." noted Haku, tilting his head towards her on a stool.

"Krakatoa." Zeniba confirmed. "His son Anak vanished from this place over 50 years ago."

"What has that got to do with me?" Haku frowned, unsure what was so relevant about it.

"My boy, in the days before he vanished he suffered the same way as you." The witch answered. "Like him, I suspect someone had a hand in your suffering."

There was hesitation in replying. He didn't want to believe the truth. It hurt him as emotionally as it did physically. "…Chihiro."

"Who's Chihiro?" asked Lin, surprised by the mystery name.

Paikon tugged his mothers' arm. "Uncle Haku said a really long time ago that it was Sen's real name."

"Sen?!" gasped a shocked Lin. "It can't be her. She left this place over ten years ago!"

"You can feel it, can't you Haku?" continued Zeniba. "The pulling sensation during your times of pain."

"I…do. I feel like I'm being taken to…the human world?"

"That's crazy!" Paikon shouted, hopping off Lin's lap. "Spirits can't live in the human world."

"The boy's right." Said Zeniba. "What you need to do is warn her what is at stake."

"But what can I do? Chihiro is in the human world!" he moaned frustratingly.

"Oh come now Haku!" said Lin. "The answer is right here." She prodded him between the eyebrows.

"Close your eyes Haku." Zeniba suggested.

"But…"

"Just close them!" Lin snapped. Reluctantly, Haku closed his eyes.

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Elsewhere, two people drove along a dirt path towards their destination. Chihiro had remained silent as they journeyed along the path, clearly distracted by something.

Tokio glanced briefly as the passenger and returned his eyes to the path. "Do you want to talk about it?"

"…Not really." Chihiro sighed. "It all sounds really crazy…"

"Crazy that you believe in spirits?" he pondered aloud. "I always thought something was watching over all of us."

Chihiro sat up, caught off guard by his comment. Perhaps there was some truth in his words. "I know there is."

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This is stupid! I'm surrounded by people think closing my eyes is going to save me…

Drip…drip…drip…drip…drip…

That sound…

Opening his eyes, Haku found himself surrounded near darkness. Two spotlights pierced the darkness. One shone down from above on him, while the other shone down on an unfamiliar scene.

Illuminated by the light was an expensive bed, laid out with stylish blankets and pillows. To its side lay the culprit of the suspicious sound. A spilt glass of water lay on the bedside drawer, leaking its remaining contents slowly onto the ground.

Oh my…

Looking up from the spilt drink he spotted a person silhouetted in a window frame. While the shape of the figure was of a young woman he didn't recognise, the voice from her was.

"I'll see you again soon Haku, I promise…" she uttered, staring outside at what looked like a flowing river.

Not in the real world you won't…but there's…

Haku snapped his eyes open. Still standing above him were Zeniba, Lin and Paikon. He looked into Zenibas' eyes with the knowledge in mind. "I understand now."

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Chihiro knelt down near where the camera had pointed and rested her hand in the air above it. Closing her eyes, she inhaled deeply, hoping to catch a scent of someone who once may have been there.

Haku? …Are you alright?

Her mind envisioned him as the young man he was all those years ago, lying on the ground resting in front of her. His face portrayed signs of pain she had seen once before, when he was on the brink of death following Yubaba's orders. She shivered at the thought of it.

A short distance away Tokio stared with a muted look. He had a good suspicion now of what she was doing. Something similar to him happened a few years ago…

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"How far away is this place?" Haku asked, resolve etched in his face.

Zeniba nodded, noting his newfound confidence. "At least a few days. In the state you're in, most of the travelling will have to be during the night."

"Won't I need some sort of key to get in?"

"You do." answered Zeniba. "Unfortunately I don't have a pass. But, I know someone who does. An old friend you haven't seen in years back there."

"Kamaji?" he pondered. There was a sense of anger at the thought of returning to the place of his entrapment. He still bore some scars from the witches' dirty work. "Yubaba had better not try to stop me."

"I'll make sure she isn't a problem Haku." Yubaba's twin said. "Just remember, time is important."

"We'll make it to the gateway. Be sure of that."

"We?" Haku's heart skipped a beat. "You can't be serious Lin."

"No way you'd make it there without help from a healer like me." she smiled. "Besides, me and Paikon here always wondered what the Gateway of Dreams looks like."

He closed his eyes briefly and gave it a thought. "Tomorrow then." Haku agreed. "We'll head off to the first train station on the rail line."

"Dreamgate…"

Authors Comment
It's been over 3 years since the 1st chapter was posted (proving I am the master of unfinished fanfic business). Here's hoping newer chapters come even sooner