Promise Me

Chapter 4

Fiery Ocean

Finding the Ever Vine didn't take too much work, Haku seemed to be in a very bad mood and just stalked through the leaves and grass like it didn't even exist

'I wonder what has him so riled up' I pondered. Haku stopped walking suddenly and I knocked my head on his back.

"Ow, jeez why'd you stop?" I whined I looked around him and saw why he stopped. A huge praying mantis was staring down at us.

"Umm hi there Mr. Mantis person bug guy thingy" I called, Haku glared down at me and muttered

"Don't make him mad, he is guarding the Ever Vine"

"Oh, ok" I whispered back "How are we going to get it through?"

"I'm not too sure about that yet"

"Well I have an idea, you distract him, and I'll do the rest"

"Huh? What are you-" I didn't hear the rest of what he was saying because I slipped away from him. I snuck over to where the vine was but I couldn't get to it without being found. I looked up to see Haku in his dragon form, flying around the mantis's head. I slipped over to where the vine was and tried to rip off a fork on the vine but it held strong.

I heard a thud and spun around to see Haku on with a bright red gash on his side.

"Haku!" I screamed.

He growled at me, and bit one of the mantis's legs. It was to late though, the mantis had seen me trying to take some of the leaves from it precious vine. Striding towards me, it raised a massive serrated arm, and swung it down at me.

I felt a gust of wing, and heard a sickening thunk, but instead of my body being torn in two. I saw Haku holding the blade in his teeth. Using all my strength, I yanked the vine toward the restrained arm and dragged it along the points. The vine ripped and I booked it. Haku let go of the arm and the other blade hit the ground where I previously stood, Haku caught up to me and when we were in perfect rhythm I jumped on his back.

"Let's avoid doing that ever again" I whispered into Haku's ear, once we were at a good height. He growled in agreement, and I buried my face in his silk mane.

"Hey, Haku? How far away is this Ocean of Fire place?" I asked, mumbling into his arm, which was wrapped around me. I had been cold so he hugged me to keep me warm, I heard him sigh.

"Not too far Chihiro, a couple days walk. And a day's fly, or do you have a deadline you must meet?" he retorted irritably.

"Okay, fine. I was just curious, Kami" I snapped

"Just sleep now, talk later" he yawned and fell asleep, with me soon following.

I woke up to a erection, and sat up to see who it was, when I realized it was me. Haku looked down at me questionably and I shrugged off the look and turned away from him.

"Hey, what's wrong? Another nightmare?" Haku asked softly.

"N-no I-it's nothing, don't worry"

"Are you sure? Talking can he-

"DON'T YOU DARE SAY THAT IT HELPS! IT JUST MAKES IT HURT MORE" I shrieked at him, I started rocking forward and back or a while, and Haku didn't say anything else, but he didn't leave. After a time Haku touched my shoulder and whispered,

"We should get a move on before its sundown"

"O-ok." I stood up and almost fell in the process. Haku steadied me and transformed, His eyes were clouded with worry, as he watched me. I crawled up onto is back, and griped his horns tightly. Haku took off slowly and rose to the sky. We travelled for a good number of hours, until I fell asleep.

Haku woke me with a grunt, and shook his head a bit, bringing me to consciousness. I looked down to see a body of water flickering with flames on the surface.

"Well, we are here"

When we touched down, I hopped off of Haku and ran to the water edge. It was so hot I had to step back. I gazed across the sea, and off into the distance. Haku pulled me from my trance, saying that we needed to gather the water and leave quickly, before it got windy. Haku walked forward and collected some of the water and screwed the lid onto the container. As he studied the liquid, I stepped toward the flames and touched my finger into the water.

The flames the water was lukewarm- perfect for swimming in- so I took off my shoes and slipped my socks into them. Diving into the water felt like a razor running over my skin, followed with a cooling sensation, I swam deeper and deeper until my lungs told me to rise back up. I looked up; the water was rippling with orange.

The flames danced above me, doing a tango with the water, a thought suddenly occurred to me. 'How do I get out now?' well I figure that out as I go. I swam up towards the surface and saw a rock jutting out of the wall of the ocean shore. I darted to it and launched myself to the surface, breaking through the water, I felt like a mermaid.

I sped to the shore to avoid being burned, when I reached dry ground I was wrapped in Haku's arms.

"Never do that again, I thought I lost you." His voice soaked with fear.

"H-Haku, I'm so sorry. I didn't think, forgive me?" I whispered, he pulled away, but kept hold of my hand. Haku nodded and turned around, dragging me with him. I intertwined our fingers and remembered falling in the sky. I faced Haku and gripped his hands tightly, crying with happiness as we fell to the ocean. Just like it came it was gone.

We set up camp for the night and slept in each other's arms again. I didn't ask Haku about the memory, I was too tired. I just ate and fell asleep.