Note: Thanks for all those who reviewed! Sorry for the late update. My summer job was so demanding. More chapters regularly, I promise. And to explain, this story takes place years after the movie. Things will be clearer soon, hopefully.

She was flying again. This time it was not a fantasy. The air whooshed out of her lungs. Her mouth opened in a voiceless scream. Thoughts, a girl in a white robe, the dragon tattoo at her throat, and the inhuman force with which she picked Chihiro up and pitched her into the air. Thoughts froze, as the jagged stone walls of a temple came closer, closer…

Chihiro blinked her eyes, not quite able to focus. Certain every bone in her body was shattered, she concentrated on breathing. Her ribs seemed to be intact. So was the rest of her body. Puzzling.

The soft ground beneath her shifted and grunted. As her sight cleared, Chihiro found herself cradled in the lap of a young man.

"Are you hurt?" He asked. The green of his eyes shimmered like the river surface. A trace of a memory hummed in her mind. Before she could find her voice, quick footsteps interrupted them. The man looked up, snarling. As Chihiro stared wide-eyed, Kokei went to her knees and bowed her head.

"AHHHHHHHHHHHH!" Chihiro's voice was back. Pushing free of the man, she ran for the woods.

"Chihiro! Wait!" The man's voice. She did not stop. Desperate to get away from the white-robed girl, she dashed between the trees. Dazed, she did not know in what direction she was running. Somewhere deep in her mind, she knew she was not really running away from the girl, but the man. She did not know why.

Relief filled her when a cluster of houses emerged at the edge of the woods. Her lungs heaved. Her feet were scratched and bloody. She ran to the first door and knocked frantically. Receiving no answer, she tried a second. She was hysterical by the time she got to the third house and nearly knocked over the man in the garden.

"What the…?" Mouth hung opened, the man clutched his trowel with both hands in defense. Chihiro saw that it was a professor from one of her classes.

"Professor Hanawa, I'm so glad to see you!" Comforted by the familiar face, she tried to gather an explanation. "I…sorry…could you…tell me how to get to the university from here?"

The professor did not answer. He was still gaping at her, except now below the neck. A bit of drool threatened to dribble from his slack jaw. It was then that Chihiro realized she was still stark naked.