Chapter 4: The Great Water Spirit
Yubaba's eyes flickered and glimmered with greed as the hairs on the back of her head slowly pricked up. Something was coming…something…rich. She could smell the gold so strongly that she could almost taste it on her wrinkled tongue. Her hands began to rub themselves together on their own accord as if preparing themselves for the weight of the riches she would shortly be holding and her face reflected that of a man who had not eaten for years and was placed in front of a glorious feast; greed. It controlled her and consumed her like a puppet on a string.
"Haku!" she called into the dark corridor while busying herself with perfecting her repulsive image just so that she could squeeze every last drop out of the rich visitor.
"Haku!" she called again, getting angry this time.
Still there was no movement from within the darkness. She muttered to herself something about him being too moody and how he should get over that damn girl. Deciding she was finally ready to be seen by a wealthy guest she proceeded into the darkness of the corridor leaving three, rather large and rather green, heads guarding her door.
The bath house was the same fluster it always was, only the workers seemed to be a little more at ease than usual.
"Yes, left earlier today so I hear!"
"You think he'll come back?"
"Hope not!"
"Hey come on…after all it is Haku."
She caught snippets of conversations as she walked past various workers. If her mind had not been transfixed on money she may have taken the information in. But, being the greedy ruler of the bath house that she was, she followed the smell of gold which finally led her to it.
Her eyes widened momentarily as she took in the sight of a simple of the Great Spirit of Water. He looked like a human, as most water spirits do, but had this air to him…like someone who had lots and lots of money. His face slowly turned towards Yubaba sending chills down her spine which yelled "money, money, money!" at her.
"I believe you are the one in charge of this bath house?" he asked politely pausing momentarily to adjust his suit.
"I am indeed, Great Water Spirit," she said bowing low and sweeping back her skirt at the same time.
"Then I should like very much to speak to you in private," he said ignoring the workers who had crowded around imitating their boss and slavering over the gold.
"Why of course good Spirit," even Yubaba could not take the shock out of her voice. Why was he not taking a bath? Why was he not showering her in riches?
She led him up to her office trying in vain to make small talk with a spirit who clearly did not want to talk to her informally. He walked a good few paces away from her as if he could smell some invisible sent which drifted wherever she walked. This apparently went straight over Yubaba's head…all she could think about was riches and gold even though she had more than she could handle.
He entered her office with a great manor of dislike. His nose wrinkled at the sight of the vulgar lampshades and the terrible wallpaper which surrounded him. He refused the chair she drew up for him and instead walked to the window where he gazed out over the moonlight water which shimmered and glittered below him. Naturally he was fond of water, seeing as he controlled it.
"Yubaba, I have been informed that you have the Spirit of the Kohaku River residing here," he said eventually, turning his back to the water and staring into her selfish, piggy little eyes.
She looked at him blankly before realising who he was talking about, "Ah Haku," she muttered.
The Spirit nodded showing no expression in his eyes or face.
Yubaba thought wildly for a moment. Why was he asking for the boy? And what did he mean by reside? Haku was a worker not a guest.
"Keep no secrets from me, I am a very bad Spirit to be on the wrong side of," he said sharply.
Yubaba's eyes widened with fear. From behind the great water spirit, out of the window, she could see the moonlight water but no longer did it rest on the ground but rose to a terrible height until it was higher than the bath house itself. It lurched and quivered with a dark force of anger controlled by the Great Water Spirit himself.
Gulping she made up her mind, "He is a worker here," she began.
"A worker!" the Spirit snapped, "The spirit of the Kohaku river is a worker at a bath house!" His face was a mixture of shock and anger. After all he was in charge, so to speak, of all water related things.
Yubaba was trying to hide her fear but being a rather old lady she was finding difficulties. Reluctantly she spun out the story of how Haku had lost the will to be the river spirit he was after Chihiro left. However she had not lost all of her talents and managed to seal the fact that she had imprisoned him by taking his name and had controlled him through a black slug.
He swallowed down the information with and angry scowl over his face which pierced into the eyes of Yubaba. Once she had finished he paused for a fraction of a second before continuing in the same important tone of voice which he conducted from the beginning.
"Then I must speak to him. I have a wonderful plan for the Spirit of the Kohaku river."
Yubaba gulped, "Of course, great spirit, I shall fetch him to you at once."
She slammed the doors behind her and paused for a moment's breather for only a moment before rushing down into the baths to find Haku calling out his name and snapping at workers if they had seen him on the way. The hot red faces of the workers all stared at her wide eyes claiming that they had not seen him all day before rushing back to work to set a good impression for themselves.
Yubaba was getting angry, the vain in the centre of her head seemed to be throbbing with almighty power which stirred fear in the workers of the bathhouse. It was drawing towards daybreak and soon the Great Water Spirit may be leaving with bad reviews for her precious bath house.
"YOU!" she screamed to the floor manager, "Where is Haku!" she demanded her eyes wide with anger.
"H…He hasn't been here all night!" stuttered the poor manager who was having great difficulty keeping himself upright as her unusually large nose threatened to topple him over.
"Well I want him now!" she growled in anger.
"Wait!" squeaked a small voice, "Please miss!"
Yubaba turned around to be confronted by the small spirit of a child. She was a worker at the bath house and had not yet learnt not to talk to Yubaba out of line.
"What!" screamed Yubaba.
The child gulped and took a small step away from her ever growing power.
"I…I saw Haku land upstairs not twenty minutes ago miss…" she stuttered.
Yubaba's face turned from one of pure anger and hatred to one of sincere relief. She turned and ran up to where the child had pointed leaving the child un-thanked for her troubles.
It was the direction of Haku's room and as she spun around the corner she saw him turn delicately back from the great white dragon into the heart broken teenager. He began to flop onto his bed when Yubaba's powers grabbed hold of him and pulled him towards her.
"Where have you been!" she yelled at him.
No answer. His blank eyes stared at nothing.
"This is no time you're your love sick heart you fool! The Great Water Spirit has come to visit you!"
There was a pause before a flicker of life stirred from within Haku somewhere. Slowly he blinked and focused on Yubaba's face.
"He's come…here?" he said, hardly believing that the Spirit in control of all water elements was here to see him.
Yubaba half dragged half pulled Haku to the doors of her office where she turned on him with a fierce look in her eyes.
"Snap out of it Haku! If you dare make a fool of my bath house then I swear I shall banish you from here."
Haku remained silent, his head was a mess. Until now all he ever thought about was her, but now that something else was sitting in his head he was finding it hard to cope.
The doors creaked open in front of him and for a moment he was dazzled at the difference of light from the dark hallway outside and the well lit room which was Yubaba's office. Slowly his eyes focused in the new light and stood in front of him was the Spirit in control of him.
"Come in, Spirit of the Kohaku river," said the Great Spirit gently.
As Haku stepped into the room the doors magically closed before Yubaba could re-enter. The slam bounced around in Haku's mind like an echo.
"Well do you not have a bow for your master?" uttered the Spirit.
A bow? Thought Haku as a frown rippled over his face, Am I not a free spirit?
"Yes…a bow. It is what is accustomed when one meets it's master. And you should know by not that there is no such thing as a free spirit," said the Spirit reading his mind.
Haku's frown rippled over his face once again as he mentally locked his brain from his "master".
"…but there may be such a thing as a spirit who is rude enough to close his mind to his master," the Great Spirit continued with an air of annoyance.
"I apologise," Haku spoke, "but I find it is rude to read one's mind and know unconscious things about a spirit."
Silence rang through the room and bounced off the walls.
The Great Water Spirit breathed out heavily, "I came here Kohaku River Spirit, to tell you your future and I believe that you will be heavily impressed."
"Decide my future!" Haku said in shock.
"Yes, that is what I do you see," the Spirit continued, ignoring Haku's shock.
"But…I have already decided," Haku pleaded, "I wish to ask you if you could terminate..."
But he was interrupted, "You shall marry my daughter."
Silence hit the room.
A/N: Hello again everyone! Thank you so much for all the reviews you've been giving me! hands out chocolate chip cookies for a special treat
Ok so I'm having problems with my story and I need your help! I do have a plan for the story but it all seems a bit….bitty. Get my meaning? One minute its Haku, the next it's Chihiro and then suddenly its Yubaba (where did she come from?). Does anyone mind this? Its because I'm writing two different sort of stories, one about Chihiro and another about Haku. Soon enough it will all be one big story but I just wanted to check if the "bittyness" of the story was bothering anyone. Don't feel bad to say yes it is!
Thank you! throws out more cookies
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