This chapter might explain a few things, but all good chapters must end with a cliffhanger. Sorry.

I know this story is moving fast, but the interesting bits aren't even here yet!Where Are You?

Chapter 3

The day was very sunny, not a cloud to cover the brilliant blue of the sky. The warmth of the day did not suit the way Haku was feeling.

For the past few years, he had been free. Spirit's were immortal, so they aged very slowly. Haku did not look any different to how he had 5 years ago. But his life had changed much over those years.

He had quit his job at the bath house. Yubaba had no control over him now that he had remembered his name, since Chihiro had squashed the black bug that was placed inside of him.

He went searching for where his river used to be. It was true that the river had been filled in, and apartments had been put over it. Haku searched all over it to find some trace of his river, but he found nothing. He could still feel the presence of the river, yet he had no way of reaching it.

Haku didn't stay there long. It was much too depressing. So he left his old home at the river, and he had abandoned his job at the bath house. He had nowhere to go, but that didn't matter. He had his name back, he was free again. Yet, something was missing. There was that place inside of him that was hollow. He knew his name, but had lost his river.

So he started to wander. He wasn't in any one place for very long, because he never felt comfortable in one place. He mostly spent his time in the human world, because the spirit world was only a resting place for spirits, not a place that they stayed their long. Of course, some spirits did live there, but most free spirits lived in the human world, watching over their assigned places.

Haku came across many forest spirits, earth spirits, river spirits, and a few fire spirits. Some where spirits that had a certain species of animal to look over. Occasionally he came across a lost spirit, usually a spirit of an extinct animal species, and he felt sorry for them. They were worse off than him, they couldn't remember anything, and everything felt hollow and useless, pointless.

Some spirits he came across didn't belong in the human world, and they purposely stayed in the human world, to cause mischief and mayhem. Haku tried to stay out of their way, but it proved difficult, as they enjoyed annoying spirits that had found some sort of peace, to disturb them.

Haku often pondered whether he had actually found peace, or whether he just wanted to believe that. He had got his name back, he knew who he was, he had found his purpose on this world, but his purpose didn't exist anymore. Usually when a spirit realizes that their purpose in the human world is gone, they retire to the spirit world. But something kept Haku in the human world.

Chihiro.

No human could see him, not unless they were in the spirit world. But very few humans were able to return to the human world, and those who did had their memory swiped clean. But Chihiro was different. She was a human who had outsmarted spirits, and won her freedom, and saved her family. She remembered everything that happened in the spirit world, because she was young enough to believe. That's why most people don't believe in spirits, because they are too old to understand.

But Haku was yet to find Chihiro. He had searched, without realizing that he was searching. He tried to convince himself that eventually, fate will bring them together again, that it was out of his hands, yet he still searched. Sometimes he wondered whether Chihiro still believed in him, but something kept telling him that she did, some hopeful, optimistic part of him had to believe that she still remembered him.

He knew that she lived close to the bath house, but he was forbidden to go back there, even as a guest. He didn't want to go back to the bath house anyway, not if he didn't have to. So he had trouble finding her, but he wasn't suppose to look for her. He often argued with himself about this…

You'll see her again someday.

But how am I suppose to find her if I don't look for her?

Fate will bring you together.

How do I know that I can rely on fate?

Fate has always brought you together before.

But always at the worst times! She almost drown the first time, and then she had to save her parents during the second meeting!

Fate will bring you together when you need each other the most.

I don't want to wait that long!

You will spend endless days searching for her, and never find her. Only fate can lead you to her.

If fate will bring us together anyway, then what's the harm in searching?

You may ignore the call of fate if you are too busy looking for something you will never find.

Eventually, he always came to the conclusion that he couldn't search for her if he wanted to find her. It seems like a confusing notion, but it does make sense. If he tried to look for her, he would be able to find her, but if he didn't look for her, fate would eventually bring them together. But the only problem was that Haku didn't know if it was going to be in a day, a week, a year, five years, or fifty years. He would never know until the time came.

So he made a vow not to look for her, as much as he wanted to. So he wandered, sometimes walking, sometimes flying. Humans couldn't see him, and if they could, they would have thought him strange. Green hair, piercing green eyes, and traditional Japanese attire. He wore no shoes, yet his feet were always clean. Sometimes, if he walked down a busy footpath, humans would walk through him. The first time it happened, he was shocked, but he soon became use to it.

He spent much of his time watching human behaviour from a tree, where he would be camouflaged by any evil spirit or maybe a special human who happened to see him. He had seen many ordinary looking people stop and stare at a tree he was sitting in, and it made him wonder whether is was a spirit, or a medium, or perhaps just a cat that rustled the leaves.

He travelled to many places around the world. He went to India, and to most places in Europe. He found America interesting, and Australia had very spiritual places, although the 'civilized' places were tainted. He felt at home in most of Asia, although he found that Asian countries were against each other. He found that was rather strange, but then again, he could never understand human behaviour.

He found that while some places still held very spiritual vibes, they were tarnished by modern day life, such as advertising and such. He found places like Hawaii and Jamaica disappointing, as they were too commercial, and had lost their originality and spirituality. It was quite sad, especially to see the spirits had become like the people, materialistic.

When fate finally did call on him, he was quite surprised. It had caught him off-guard. He was in Australia's outback, mediating with the peaceful serenity of the place, when he suddenly heard a small voice in his ear.

Haku, help me…

He recognized the voice immediately. Chihiro was in trouble. Fate had finally called them together again, but only when she really needed him. It kind of annoyed him, but Chihiro needed him, so he must go to her.

It's not like he was upset to go. He wanted to see her again. He just wished that they wouldn't meet during a crisis. He wished they could see each other at a good time. But that seemed impossible.

So, following his instinct, he raced to where Chihiro was. It took him an hour, maximum, to get there. The urgency and the fact that he would get to see Chihiro again hastened him.

He arrived at Mr. Kaki's house, and slipped inside through a conveniently open window. It only occurred to him when he was inside the house how easy it was to get inside. By then it was too late. The window slammed shut behind him, and the walls were suddenly coated in a strange, blue-green electrical shield. He transformed back into his human-like form as a stranger emerged from a darkened corner.

"I see you've fallen into my trap, Kohaku." Mr. Kaki was grinning evilly.

"What have you done with Chihiro?" It didn't seem to bother Haku that a human could see him.

"Chihiro is fine, but it's not her I was really after. You see, she was just the bait, and you swallowed it whole, hook, line and sinker." Haku didn't dwell on this human humour for too long.

"If it's me you really wanted, then let Chihiro go!"

"I'm afraid I can't do that. It will spoil my plan. She might have just been the bait to get you here, but it's no good just having you without her." Haku was confused.

"What do you mean?"

"Oh, I can't tell you. You'll find some way to ruin my plan."

"Chihiro? Chihiro, where are you?" Haku was calling at the top of his lungs.

"She can't hear you, nor can she see you. It seems this little rescue is going to fail."

"Who are you? And what have you done to Chihiro?"

"Chihiro is fine. She's upstairs. As for me, I thought you might have guessed already, little brother."

Hope you enjoyed it, because it was rather boring to write.

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