-Catgirl-of-Bavaria-: I know, I know, it's been too long, ne?...Wow, over a month! Jeez, I'm sorry. Been preoccupied with things in real life, my Oban story, and my Oban guild on Gaiaonline. Wish I could say I was busy with school and work, but alas, the Catgirl seems to have trouble getting hired. -.- She's very broke. Anyway, that has nothing to do with Haku and Chihiro, so rawr!

So, ze plot! She thickens!! We finally get some answers on why Haku was having crazy dreams and what it all means…Well, what some of it means. There's a little more to everything than what is revealed in this chapter.

So, onto the reviewers!

Tskuasa-magic: Well, actually, that wasn't the one I had in mind(HMC reference) but it could totally be true:D Good job on that one. The one I had in mind was actually how 'shadows seemed to sprout up on the walls, taking shape of odd little things that almost looked like creatures, and the room started to warp itself out of proportion…' I got that idea from when Howl has his slime-fit when his hair gets dyed the wrong color. Lol…gotta love Howl and his vanity…XD …And huzzah for German! And actually the girl in the mirror was Aikihara, Haku's sister Oo So, anyway, Thank you so much, I love your reviews, they're very supportive! .:glomps:.

StrugglingArtist: Ah, it appears it is I who is late this time around, ne? lol…Anyway, Thank you, I love your reviews and support, as always, and I still gotta get caught up on Nowhere to Go(there's an alert sitting happily in my mailbox) Oh, yeah, and now I even have another Oban fic! Lol…Hope you check them both out when you get some time X3

Mew Sakuranbo: Hee, or perhaps Trinity Blood…lately I'm all a flutter about that series and it's awesome art X3 Here's the answer to Aikihara, but Lin will come later…I think it's safe to say much later, in terms of what the Heck is going to be wrong with her :o

Manic-of-Forks: Kyaah! Thank you! I'm so glad you like! I think I may explode if you guys inflate my ego anymore! .:blushes:.

BlackWolf'sShadow: I do indeed intend to continue this story :3 It's fun to be dark every once in a while. I write so much fluffy romance…I realized this a few weeks ago, thinking on how every one of my stories is classified as 'romance' in one of the genre slots! Thanks, and here's some more plot stuff!

Prianime: Thanks so much, …wait, I don't think I've ever been called brilliant before…! .:hides behind a pillow:. You guys are too good to me! ToT .:splodes:.

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Chapter 4- A Dragon home, A Dragon Gone

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A tense batch of hours on the plane, and a long ride on the train had eventually led Chihiro and Kohaku back to the small town they called home, and Kohaku's nightmares had not been forgotten, nor heeded any less seriously. Nor had he shared these visions with Chihiro; He saw no use in worrying her if everything turned out to be alright, and there was even less need to involve her in something if it was potentially dangerous.

Tugging their luggage behind them on the platform, the couple bid their farewells and thanks to their supervisor and their fellow students as they headed out to the town. Chihiro stood at the curb, looking around expectedly. Kohaku knew she was looking for her parent's car, waiting for it to come up and relieve them both of their hefty luggage.

"Onee-chan! There she is!" a cheery voice called out, before the patter of footsteps rushed them.

Chihiro and Kohaku both turned to see a young girl running up to them, only to tackle Chihiro nearly to the ground in a hug. Chihiro regained herself and spun herself and her sister in a circle, laughing playfully the whole time, sending the younger girl's sienna hair to whirl around them. The seven year old was set down sharply in her over-sized and untied sneakers, and grey eyes turned to meet Kohaku.

"Hakuno-nii!" She cried affectionately before tossing herself into Kohaku's arms. Kohaku allowed himself a chuckle and lifted her in the air and into his own spin. Chihiro smiled at the interaction, and noticed now an approaching troupe of her mother and Rumi and decided to throw some affection their way.

"Okaa-san! Rumi-chan!" Chihiro ran to them, her arms outstretched. Rumi immediately ran into her friend's embrace, hugging her as close to her as possible.

"Five months is too long, Baka-chi! Don't ever leave that long again!" Rumi cried into her friend's shoulder, her grip only growing tighter.

"It's alright, Rumi-chan, I'm not leaving again! At least not for a long while!" Chihiro could only laugh and return the embrace. At long last, they broke apart, getting a good look at one another.

"You look good, Chi! All that walking through Germany has done you good! You finally got some muscles on that skinny frame of yours!" Rumi teased, play-punching her friend in the shoulder.

"Oh come on, I wasn't that skinny before!" Chihiro joked, returning the punch as Kohaku joined them, Lin riding triumphantly on his back. Both girls were amused to see this, thinking immediately of how that was usually Chihiro's spot. Turning back to Rumi, Chihiro made her own observations; "Rumi, you grew out your hair! It looks great!"

"Thanks, you're not the first to think so," Rumi said proudly, sending the both of them a wink, a wink that they'd hoped would be explained later. She tossed her hair a bit, showing them its layers that proceeded to chin-length since they'd last seen her.

Chihiro nodded her approval. Her attention then turned to her mother, who looked about as brimming with excitement at the sight of her daughter as Rumi had been. They took each other up in a hug while Kohaku decided to entertain his adoptive little sister in a graceful twirl. With the laughter of Lin in the background, Chihiro noticed that there was one absent in their welcome party.

"Mom, where's daddy?" Chihiro grabbed a hold of her luggage, quite anxious to see her home again.

"Ah, he's still at home, he generously offered Rumi a seat in our car, since there's not enough room for all of us," Yuuko grinned as she set her hands on her hips. "Says he's getting things ready at home for your return." Chihiro laughed at this.

"There's a football game on today, isn't there?" She asked her mother knowingly. Football, Chihiro knew, was her father's favorite thing to do when he had no work to do. (A.N.- I mean soccer, because that's what it's actually called, least in other countries than the US)

"You got it," Yuuko winked at her daughter before turning to her younger one. "Lin-chan, time to get down now, I should think that Hakuno-san is exhausted from the trip!"

"Aw, mom, we were just having fun!" Rin whined, clutching around Kohaku's neck.

"No excuses, get down from there, he already has his luggage!" Yuuko scolded firmly. The woman then turned a smile to Kohaku as Rumi gave Lin assistance off of her 'brother's' back. "Hakuno, I hope you have time to come over for a bit, sort of a welcome home party, but only us," She suggested to him.

"I would like that," Kohaku nodded, and found Chihiro's hand with his own free one. Chihiro gave him a dazzling smile as the little family journeyed off to find the car they'd be traveling in.

He supposed a visit to his sister could wait, just a little bit longer.

---

Chihiro couldn't believe her eyes when she came home and into the front room. A long banner hung along the upper banister, reading, "Welcome Home, Chihiro and Hakuno!" With this decoration, several traditional Japanese party ornaments hung around, such as festive fans, paper lanterns, and of course, a large green dragon, also made of paper.

"Onee-chan, Onee-chan, do you like it?" Lin squeezed through the door, which was currently being blocked by her astounded older sister. "Look, look! I wrote the banner out with Rumi-nee!"

"It's awesome, Lin-chan! Your calligraphy's getting a lot better!" Chihiro beamed, leaning down to hug her seven year old sister. She had barely removed herself from the ecstatic Lin before she was swept into another hug, this one resembling more of a bear than anything.

"Here she is, my traveling Chihiro!" Her father beamed, squeezing his daughter tight.

"N-nice to see you too, daddy!" Chihiro managed. Akio released his daughter and turned to Kohaku.

"So, Hakuno, I trust you took care of my Chihiro all the way in Germany?" He slung a lazy arm over the boy, who was only just catching notice of the decorative green dragon slung along the upper railing. "Nothing happened that I'd have to punish you for, eh, boy?"

"Daddy!" Chihiro exclaimed, turning redder at this remark.

"Ha, I'm just kidding, Chihiro, relax, nothing's going to happen to your boyfriend." Akio laughed, leading Kohaku into the next room, which, coincidentally also held a television in it. "You been keeping up with the football over there, boy? Japan's been doing great!" Kohaku could only shrug and explain that he had no TV in his dorm back in Germany as he was pulled through the doorway. He gave a last smile to Chihiro and Rumi, who were laughing behind their hands at how the river god was so easily kidnapped by a football-crazed human.

"Pfft. Football on TV is so boring. Let's go outside and play for real!" Lin suggested enthusiastically to her two older sisters after a little roll of her eyes for her father's behavior.

"Right, I'm game," Rumi said, rolling up her pant legs to above the knees for something of shorts. Chihiro insisted that she go upstairs to find something other than her current skirt to wear for such an occasion, and then insisted that Rumi come with her. Lin innocently agreed, declaring that she would be in the back yard, fixing up the football goal.

"Hmm, and why do I have to come up to see my best friend get dressed? I love ya, Chi, but not like that," Rumi teased with a goofy little grin as they entered Chihiro's ever-emerald room. Chihiro responded with a look that made Rumi's smirk only deepen.

"No, that's not what I meant." Chihiro said certainly, lifting her suitcase to her emerald clad bed with a grunt. Turning and heading for her closet, she shut the door on the way there. "It's about Haku." She said this seriously, causing her friend's smirk to completely fall off her face.

"What, trouble with Haku? I didn't think that was possible…" Rumi walked over and leaned between the closet and the door, and speaking in a hushed voice. "He didn't hurt you, did he? Cause if he did, it'll be the first time in history that a teenage human girl beat the crud out of a dragon!" Rumi asked, disbelieving.

"Don't be dense; Haku isn't like that." Chihiro scolded, digging through her drawers for suitable football wear. She found what she was looking for, a pair of baggy mid-thigh jean shorts, and straightened up. "There's something going on with him. Something he's not telling me about…"

"I thought you said he wasn't like that," Rumi raised an eyebrow and blew a tendril of her lengthening blonde hair out of her face.

"No, it's not like that," Chihiro grumbled, thinking about how there were too many 'like that's' in that short span of time. She yanked on her shorts under her skirt, and with the zipper, shed her skirt and tossing it haphazardly into her hamper. "It's just…like a bad feeling I'm getting. Like something is going to happen. Haku had a nightmare last night, and I swear I heard him wake up with a gasp," Chihiro hurried to explain.

"Then on the plane, he was definitely having another one, and he came close to mumbling in his sleep. He was covered in sweat, Rumi!" She hissed, desperate to keep the discussion from Kohaku's ears. Rumi watched the panic in her friend's eyes rise a bit, with worry of her own. "When I got him to come out of it, he looked…terrified…" She sank to her bed, and her face contorted at the thought, the thought that dominated her mind that told her that to be Kohaku was to not be terrified.

Rumi came quietly and sat down on her bed next to her friend. Chihiro entwined her fingers under her chin, and peered at the first dragon she could find, thinking in futility that it would tell her of what the real one was thinking.

"You think maybe, then ,that he was having some sort of premonition?" Rumi suggested. Chihiro thought a bit and shrugged.

"Maybe. I can't be sure. I know the first nightmare he just shrugged off like it was nothing, and he seemed to forget about it right away," Chihiro recalled, thinking of how quickly things had gotten affectionate between the two after the first occurrence. "But the one on the plane, it was different. Haku looked like he was freaking out. I know he's all calm on the outside, he always is, but even then, there was all out fear in his eyes."

"And when Kohaku the river spirit is terrified, that's usually not a good sign." Rumi completed Chihiro's thoughts with a weary sigh, leaning back onto the bed on her hands. "I totally get it now."

"Yeah…" was all Chihiro could think of saying. "You… you think we should ask him about it?" she asked her friend uncertainly. Rumi tossed herself off of the support of her arms, Brown eyes full of thought.

"Probably, but I can't say he'll say anything. He really doesn't like worrying you, you know, Chi?" Chihiro nodded at this, and let out a sigh. What was she thinking, she wondered; like asking him what he'd been dreaming about would make him provide an answer? He was a dragon, and dragons always had secrets, and they guarded them as if they were tangible bits of treasure. And Rumi was right after all; Kohaku never let his troubles reach Chihiro, lest she begin to worry for his sake. Her blank face suddenly scowled a bit as she thought of this.

"Sometimes I just wish he wouldn't be so stubborn as to hide everything from me!" Chihiro grumbled, standing and crossing her arms. "I'm not a child, I can handle it! Not to mention, I think I worry even more about it when he doesn't tell me a thing!"

Rumi looked at her friend affectionately.

"Chi, you are just as stubborn as that dragon and you know that!" She laughed, joining her hand with Chihiro's shoulder. "Now come on. We can corner that boy later, but we've got a football match to attend."

Chihiro nodded curtly, still turning things over in her own head, and filed out of her room after her friend, arms still crossed. Though she admitted that she'd willingly walk into the entertainment room and drag her beau out by the ear that moment if she could, she also admitted that she and her friend were expected in the backyard for a game.

Passing by said entertainment room, she caught a glimpse of her dragon, watching the television in almost mock-interest with her father. He didn't catch her throwing him a desperate look as she walked past.

---

The afternoon passed, and Chihiro, after a long flight across a continent, dealing with a stubborn dragon and possible premonitions, and now playing against her friend and sister in a game of football, was getting very exhausted. The jetlag was finally getting to her, she thought as she let out a gaping yawn while she was supposed to be guarding the goal posts. In this lapse, the ball flew straight past her and to the net behind her.

"Yeah! Score!" Lin threw her hands up in satisfaction.

"Right, nice one, Lin-chan," Rumi said, leaning on her knees to catch up with her breath. She noticed Chihiro's near-oblivious expression that signaled she only half-knew that the ball had just flown past her. "Your sister's tired though, I think that's good for today,"

"Come on, Chihiro-nee, let's get something to eat or something!" Lin tugged her tired sister from the goal and the three of them managed to saunter into the house, all of them refreshed but exhausted from the workout.

They found a pitcher of water on the table waiting for them, obviously provided by Yuuko, Chihiro's mother. After pouring themselves a glass and then each chugging down their share, the three girls let out great sighs, relieved at the iced drink's effect on their bodies. Yuuko smiled from the doorway as she was passing by, a basket of Chihiro's laundry from Germany on her hip. All three met that smile, before taking another chug of their water. Kohaku pulled himself into the room minutes later, looking back in the direction of the entertainment room, having just escaped it.

"Hey," Rumi held up a hand in a motionless wave. "How's Japan doing?"

"Ah, still winning, and the game's almost over," Kohaku told her with relief of being away from the TV. He sat down at the kotatsu table heavily, and tossed a smile at Chihiro, who returned it, albeit distractedly, the thoughts over her dragon still fresh in her mind and pestering her.

"Hakuno, what was Germany like? Was it really cool?" Lin set down her glass and went into full curious questioning mode.

"It was, Lin-chan," Kohaku replied with a chuckle. "In fact, I think you'd love it just as much as your sister and I did."

"You guys had a friend over there, right? That's what you told me in your letters," Rumi suggested behind her glass.

"Oh, Julia-chan!" Chihiro said, glad to have something else to think about before she could actually get Kohaku on his own to confront him about the dreams he was hiding. So Kohaku and Chihiro both recited their story of meeting Julia, and whatever events they had encountered together. Chihiro even ran briefly upstairs to retrieve some pictures of their new friend, and returned to find her mother in on the conversation as well.

"It sounds like you both had a great time, then, Hakuno-san," Yuuko was just saying. "It sounds like a beautiful place. I had the opportunity to go there myself on a business trip, but at the time I was expecting Chihiro."

"Please, mom, don't start telling them baby stories," Chihiro laughed embarrassedly as she came in, photos in hand.

"Whoa, she's really pretty!" Lin exclaimed, snatching one of the photographs off of the table where Chihiro was just setting them. A teenage girl with shining red hair that hung in waves around her shoulders beamed from almost every photo, though Chihiro and Kohaku noted that in every one, her eyes were either closed in her smile, or obstructed by her glinting glasses. Quite odd, but they didn't pay it any mind.

"Her eyes are really pretty, too, they're honey brown," Chihiro explained, sifting fruitlessly through all of the photos of their friend for a picture that featured those eyes. "Oh well, some people just blink involuntarily when they have their picture taken…" Chihiro shrugged and set the pile down.

"Hey Chihiro, thought you might want to see this," Akio strode into the room, a section of newspaper in his hand. "Oh, Japan won, again, by the way!" He then stated proudly, earning another roll of Lin's eyes.

"Thought I'd like to see what, dad?" Chihiro asked, eyeing the newspaper.

"Well, you said you were planning to start looking for an apartment once you graduated, I thought this might help," Akio held the paper in front of him, showing Chihiro that it was the apartment listings, that displayed available apartments in the area..

"Dear, she just got home, and you're trying to get her out of the house?" Yuuko crossed her arms, looking at her husband. "And she doesn't have to move out so soon, she's only just eighteen!"

"She's showing independence, koi, I think we should respect that! Our Chihiro is trying to be independent; it's better than some of those other lazy bums that stick with their parents 'til they're thirty!" Akio laughed. "Besides, there's a new apartment development, it'll be opening in a couple of weeks, and they'll be looking for people to buy their places! You'll have a good chance, there!" He turned excitedly towards Chihiro again.

"Huh, let me see," Chihiro said, holding her hand out for the paper while her mother kept grumbling about 'her first baby leaving the nest.'

Chihiro saw the sub-line that advertised a description of this new complex, and turned to the pages indicated. Kohaku was looking over her shoulder, and Rumi was crawling next to her in order to do the same.

Suddenly, something in Kohaku's emerald eyes shifted as he caught the apartment development in question. He gently snatched the paper from Chihiro, who hadn't had a real chance to acknowledge the article and stared after him, about to ask him about his actions, before catching an uncommon look in his eyes. Rumi caught it too, even from the other side of Chihiro, the look of pure fear that haunted those jade orbs.

"Haku…?" Rumi whispered uncertainly, leaning in front of Chihiro just slightly.

Jade eyes, full of anxiety, shifted up from the article to look at the two girls, not daring to admit that his hands were shaking.

This couldn't be happening. No, it had to be some cruel sort of joke.

He looked back at the paper, finding the same assaulting information right there in front of him. It was still there, and it made him sink deeper into fear, into anger, into dark feelings he couldn't even begin to describe.

How had he let this happen?

He forced his shaking hands to show Chihiro the article, and she began to read until her expression came close to a match with Kohaku's;

Aikihara Flats

Sitting atop a hill overlooking the town, this development provides residences for people of any living situation, first-time buyers, and for families of up to five. Provides a spectacular view of both the town and the nature around it. This new complex provides facilities such as a pool, internet and cable, even a natural creek running through it!

The article continued a bit after that, but Chihiro couldn't bear to read past that. Next to this, there was a pencil drawing of the buildings, both numerous and large. Whatever nature was 'around it', was only that which had survived the bulldozers. There had to be several buildings there, which would obviously take up space that trees and other natural things were taking up. There were certainly lovely-looking trees that served as the border of the forest there, and there was certainly a small, cozy-looking creek pouring between some of the buildings. But there was a haunting absence in the little rendering that left Chihiro feeling hollow and with a hatred for her kind.

Without a word, Kohaku rose from the table, and began to storm out. Akio gave him a look and asked what was going on. Kohaku didn't turn to look at the man, but stopped in the doorway.

"I…have something I need to take care of. My apartment, I just remembered. I need to go tell my landlord that I've returned…" Kohaku murmured, doing a miracle of a job in keeping his voice calm, considering that the feelings that swirled through him were far from that.

"I can give you a ride, then, if you want," Akio suggested, searching through his pockets absently for his car keys.

"No." Kohaku said, a little rougher than meant. He regained himself, and turned a fake smile. "It's alright, I am fine with walking, but thank you anyway, Ogino-san." With that, Kohaku didn't give Akio a chance to insist.

"Haku," Chihiro whimpered, shooting to her feet and running after him. "I'll be back, dad, sorry!" Chihiro whipped out the door, leaving her family and Rumi to look after her, only one knowing the reasons for both the teenagers' erratic behavior.

Rumi peered with sadness at the paper again, reading the title. 'Aikihara Flats.' Why hadn't she known about this development? She knew about Aikihara, of course, but how did she not know that her clearing was where those bulldozer's sounds were coming from?

"What's up with them?" Lin asked confusedly. With not a word from Rumi, the young girl shrugged and sifted through the photos of her sister's journey.

Rumi watched as Chihiro's parents exited the room in wonderment and confusion, and crumpled the opposing newspaper into as small of a ball as it would go, tossing it then onto the table top and burying her face in her hands.

---

Chihiro sprinted down the streets that she knew so well, the ones that led her to that forest path that led to Aikihara's clearing. Kohaku was nowhere to be found along the way, which didn't surprise her; She had seen how fast he could run when he set himself to it. The words still slid across her vision, those terrible words that had sent this otherwise joyful day to a screeching halt, which had sent Kohaku's world crashing around him. Still, how could they have totally replaced Aikihara's river? This had to be some sort of misunderstanding, she still had to be there. Maybe the picture was just drawn at the wrong angle, and the buildings were hiding the river! Aikihara was strong!

Then again, so was Kohaku.

"No…" Chihiro murmured, gasping for breath and leaning against a wall to catch her elusive breath. "It has to be a mistake. It has to!"

If this was actually happening, if Aikihara really had been replaced, Chihiro didn't know how Kohaku would react. She even feared it.

Chihiro, steeled in her determination to get to Kohaku before he did something brash, pelted off until her lungs burned and until she reached that café at the bottom of Aikihara's forest. Already, she could see the apartments' effect on the landscape; Those terrible buildings peeked over the top of the trees, she could even see them all the way from the bottom of the hill. The dirt path was still there, but would undoubtedly soon be replaced by either a road or a sidewalk, maybe even both. Chihiro scowled at her species, and ran up the dirt path before she gave herself too much time to think about its fate. She ran all the way up the path, and just when it leveled out, she found a familiar rock, the large rock that had set itself in the middle of Aikihara's large clearing.

Just beyond that rock, stood a young man.

"Kohaku," Chihiro asked quietly and timidly, approaching the rock, and looking, with dismay at the extreme makeover the land had been put to. Where the friendly river once gurgled and purred over smooth rocks and sand, there stood a line of large buildings, new and fresh and still smelling of lumber and paint. The dirt had been sowed for the purpose of growing lush, green grass, and baby trees had been planted in pre-determined places, and the clearing had become a gaping one. And, true to the article, a small, natural looking creek wound through a few of the structures. Though Chihiro knew better, this creek was man-made. It didn't even flow the way Aikihara had.

Kohaku ignored the voice behind him, and took everything in, spitefully. This was what his senses had been telling him all along. Had he listened to his instincts…

"Kohaku, I'm so sorry…" Chihiro breathed, coming beside him, wondering if she should touch him. Again, she was afraid of his reaction. Those premonitions, the ones she was sure he was having, they must have been pointing to this. This sin committed against nature by her own kind. Her own kind.

"This happened while we were in Germany." Kohaku stated after a small moment of silence that was only broken by the distant grumbling of bulldozers finishing up whatever they had left to do. "It started a month ago, I'm sure." He sighed, feeling his fists tense at his sides.

"What? But how do you know that?" Chihiro asked honestly, not having sensed his well-hidden anxiety that had been plaguing him in that time. Kohaku didn't look at her, but continued.

"I've had this feeling, for the past month. This feeling of desperately wanting to be here at home. It's kept me up at night, Chihiro." He finally looked at her with this, showing his green eyes displaying anguish and anger. "I should have listened." He whispered.

"Your dreams. They were telling you too, right?" Chihiro asked quietly as Kohaku stared at the place in the ground that his sister had once flourished.

"My dreams. I should have put that together." He suddenly grimaced darkly, his fists balling even tighter. "The first one was more of a memory. I was reliving everything that happened to me when my own river got filled in. It felt too real to have just been a memory, though. Now I think I was feeling what Aikihara was feeling…"

"And the second one?" Chihiro urged.

"That one…Aikihara was there, in her human form. She was…bleeding." Kohaku went silent, leaving Chihiro to stare at him. Then he remembered the kanji. He gave a bitter laugh at the realization that the whole thing had been a message. "It makes sense now. She told me to return home, then…" He recalled the last Kanji that she'd displayed to him. "Then she died."

Kohaku felt a tear fall down his cheek, felt his blood running hot through him, his fists tightening so hard he was sure his knuckles were white and that there were crescent wounds forming in his palms.

"I can't believe I didn't see it. Why was I so stupid?!" He suddenly grew angrier, and was feeling a strong urge to punch something. "How could I let this happen!?"

"Haku, it's not your fault!" Chihiro quickly told him, grabbing him by the shoulders. He quickly tore himself from her.

"Yes it is, Chihiro!" He yelled, desperate to stop the tears that were falling uncontrollably down his cheeks. "I felt something was happening, my instincts told me something was wrong!" Chihiro shrank before him, never having Kohaku's rage directed at her. She knew he wasn't angry with her, but it was still frightening to her.

"If I had listened, I could have just flown back here! I could have stopped them! But I didn't, I …" His yelling faded, and he sank to a seat on the surviving rock behind him. "I didn't listen. Aikihara is gone, and I could have done something about it. But I didn't." Shaking hands ran through his hair, and he couldn't bring himself to look up at Chihiro. He wasn't completely hazed in rage to know that he'd just yelled at her, undeserving of it though she was. "I did nothing."

Chihiro felt her own tears begin to sting her eyes, her anger with him for keeping these secrets from her forgotten. Kohaku wasn't providing her with a face to look at, so the girl stared at the ground, finding dirt that was once foreign to Aikihara's clearing. She turned away at this; there was no escaping this horrible tragedy, even the dirt reminded her. Maybe this was her stubbornness that Rumi had told her about, but she would still never blame any of it on Kohaku.

"You must hate my kind." Chihiro suggested to Kohaku quietly, causing him to look up at her, despite whatever dignity he thought he was lacking due to the tears staining his cheeks.

"What?" Kohaku asked her.

"Humans. You must hate us. We took your river, and now we've taken your sister's river." Chihiro looked at him guiltily. "I'm sorry, if that means anything." Her voice grew a bit quieter.

Kohaku looked at her guilt and sighed. Standing up, he came to her, taking her face gently between his hands. Even with as much anger as he had now, his touch was soft and warm to her. It always would be this way, even if only to this one girl. His eyes still couldn't meet hers, however, and he simply stared sadly to the side.

"Don't be, Chihiro. It's not your fault what your kind does to mine." Kohaku whispered to her, as his hands slid delicately down her neck to rest on her shoulders. "I can't say that I don't hate certain humans, but…Let's just say there are good and evil beings in both worlds, spirit and human."

Chihiro looked at him, not knowing what else to say as he pulled away from her, and tread to put them shoulder to shoulder, Kohaku facing the new towering complexes instead of her or the path to town. Following his glaring gaze, Chihiro caught sight of a few workers, construction contractors, it looked like. If Chihiro had to guess, they were likely exploring the grounds of their new development, ensuring everything was in check. They didn't seem to notice the presence of the teenage girl and a livid river spirit.

Chihiro watched as Kohaku suddenly took a couple small steps towards the building, towards the men. She suddenly panicked at this, hoping that he wasn't losing it.

"Haku, wait, what are you doing?" She whispered urgently to him. She understood that these men were probably the target of his anger, but she couldn't let him harm them, no matter how much either of them believed they deserved it.

Kohaku looked sideways at her. "Don't worry, Chihiro. I won't harm them." He seemed to read her mind. "They do deserve this though."

Chihiro stared at him, bewildered, and wondering to the gods what he was talking about. His eyes turned to the accursed buildings, and then lidded with the river spirit's concentration. Yes, he could hear it perfectly. He could hear water pulsing through the walls of each building, the pipes were up and running. He could easily do something.

Kohaku's hand extended, and Chihiro saw a familiar silver light developing in front of his palm, growing larger and brighter by the second. Suddenly, she could hear it as well; the running of water. Water that seemed to rush through pipes with a hum. Even a rumble was starting to developers, the contractors and inspectors seemed to feel it as well.

"Haku," Chihiro warned, a little worried. She knew he was controlling the water. It was his element after all. And he was apparently taking advantage that the liquid was able to be circulated throughout the structures, much like blood in a body.

The rumble grew, the water sounded restless, then angry, then it matched Kohaku's own vengeful feelings. The men, still not noticing Kohaku playing with their creations, were becoming panicked, running around and trying to find the source of the new threat. Chihiro sensed it was close, now, something was going to give. And suddenly, something did.

The walls, to be exact.

Chihiro gasped as cracks that seemed to follow the path of the piping formed in almost every building, allowing an exit for the water that was frantic to get out. Water sprayed from the walls, and obviously from the pipes inside of those walls. Suddenly, everything was louder, would-be strong pipes were still rupturing, walls were giving way to pressure building inside the frames. The water rushing, being pulled by Kohaku from the ground, was deafening among everything else. The cries of the confused and frightened developers only added onto the chaos. Even the glass panes of the windows shook and rattled in the attack, and some even shattered if the stress of the walls was set closely enough to them.

Kohaku watched as he conducted the water through the places, and his lips shifted into something of a heinous grin. They deserved it. They deserved every last ounce of that water to pour through those stupid walls, to destroy the creations that had been so recklessly built on top of his sister's rightful place in the world. He'd tap into every last drop of water available to him to get his point across, if he could.

"Haku, you have to stop!" Chihiro managed to collect the courage to grab the elbow of his magically active arm, trying to lower it. Emerald eyes looked at her listlessly, before turning back to his task. "Please, Haku, at least stop before they see you!" Chihiro hissed, her grip on his arm tightening.

"I couldn't care less if they saw me." Kohaku murmured icily, but still called his magic back to him, watching the water's pressure ease, the sprays from the walls dying into mere dripping into the vast puddles of mud below the cracks. As lost as the men before them were about the occurrence in the first place, their confusion only grew with its sudden stop.

Kohaku decided to have one last sport of fun before he left them alone, though, as he saw one of the men approaching a gaping crack, cautiously. He peered into the crack fearfully, and Kohaku had his fun.

Chihiro caught sight of this man getting sprayed square in the face and stared back at Kohaku as the man was blown backwards into the mud behind him. Emerald eyes were suddenly blank again, but he again sported a grimace, that look of betrayal on his face.

He turned towards town without a word.

"Haku, wait," Chihiro whispered loudly, still concerned about possibly being discovered here. Kohaku walked on, though.

Chihiro had never seen him this depressed before. He didn't even say anything to her. Somehow, silence was far worse than having him vent his anger. She knew her dragon was just keeping this anger inside of him, even if he had just taken a bit of it out. But she knew, those men weren't the ones that he was most angry towards.

Kohaku held the most anger for himself.

"As if it was your fault…" Chihiro said bitterly, crossing her arms and kicking viciously at the foreign dirt beneath her. Kohaku was gone, and she worried for him.

Looking over her shoulder to the hopelessly confused men, who were apparently yelling something about a poltergeist, or angry spirits, or some sort of curse on the land. Well, they had it right at least. The root of their problems was indeed a very angry spirit.

She wondered off silently to hide herself amongst some trees. Leaning against one, she sank to the ground, wrapping her arms around her knees, bringing them to her chest. And there, she lost all sense of time, crying and mourning for the loss of Aikihara, the loss of a beautiful patch of woods, the loss of Kohaku's happiness. Not to mention a good chunk of her respect for humanity.

-Catgirl-of-Bavaria-: Oh my, I'm so sorry, Aikihara-chan, I luff you!! .:sobs at her own cruelty to her characters:.

A couple of useless notes here… first, I think I did it again with the Howl's Moving Castle references. This time it was when Haku was playing with the water in the buildings…I had him pull the pose Howl did when he was sabotaging the warship in the flower field…along with that awesome little evil grin! .:Swoons at the thought of Haku wearing such a grin:.

Oh, yes, and another thing I did again, was use a Simba's Pride reference. For anyone unfamiliar with that movie, it's sequel to The Lion King, and features Jason Marsden as Kovu. How is this relevant? Well, Jason Marsden also does Haku's voice. I also did this same thing back in LtLA back then, I took one of his lines from Simba's Pride and suited it for the story: 'You'll never hurt Chihiro, or Rumi, not while I'm here.' This time it was 'I did nothing." Yeah, I'm a real nerd like that. .:nervous laughter:.

Also, just thought I'd share this, but when me and my friend went to Germany, my friend's partner actually did shut her eyes automatically when someone took a picture of her. so I really got that idea from there. More explanation later on why Julia does this same thing…remember, most everything happens for a reason… .:shifty eyes:.

So, see you guys later, do check out my other stories, and I'll see you guys again soon, hopefully! I really gotta find a job…and get into college….Rawr!! ToT

Love to all of you from the Catgirl!!