"Run, Chihiro, run!"


Her eyes jolted open when she heard her mother's words in her mind, only to find herself no longer sleeping in her own room, in a foreign establishment that seemed so damned familiar to her… She knew that place… Yes, she was there before… The smell of cooking hot and hot, brewing tea… The windows that rattled in the wind…

She was once again at Zeniba's cottage! But before she could react any further, she felt a strange warmth surrounding her hand, and found Haku right beside her, his head resting on the edge of her bed as he was seated on a low chair by the bedside… Yes, she remembered now, she was being chased by two spirits that had no doubt killed her parents…

Haku saved her. As he had always done, and now, he had transported her to Zeniba's cottage, but why?

"Chihiro, you're awake!" he exclaimed when she moved her hand slightly, rubbing his emerald eyes. "Are you well?" he asked, looking into her eyes with those piercing ones of his. "Are you hurt?" And he would have continued on and on, if Zeniba had not interrupted him by clearing her throat.

"Go easy on her, boy," Zeniba said. "She's just woken up and there's no need to send her in another state of shock just yet!" Haku almost glared at the Witch, but Chihiro said nothing, only gazing at the both of them. "And now, child, how are you feeling?" Zeniba continued, adding to the questions that Haku had previously asked.

And even if Chihiro could collect her thoughts in a calm manner, she still cannot go over the shock of seeing her father's dead body. "Oba-san, my parents!" she exclaimed, the groggy daze that covered her completely gone already. And with the clarity that came, was also the pain of the realization that both her parents were dead. "That snake…" She remembered an axe-wielding snake-spirit, as well as a carp… What was going on? Why would they kill her parents when she had nothing to do with them at all?

"I think we'll need a big pot of tea to sort this out," Zeniba sighed, and left for the kitchen. She nodded towards Haku, a silent gesture telling him that he should lead her to the large dining-table downstairs where they could talk. The Dragon obliged, and put his arm around Chihiro, supporting her as she rose slowly from her bed.

"You… came for me," Chihiro said, raising her head so that she could meet Haku's eyes. He returned the glance, and tipped her chin with his finger and thumb. A smile graced his handsome features, and despite the uneventful turn of fate, she even found it in her to discover the sensations of butterflies fluttering in her stomach when he looked at her so.

"Chihiro, I owe you every single thing that I have gained," he told her, tucking a stray lock of her behind her ear. "Of course I will come for you when you are in danger." He knew what she would ask after that, he knew that she would inquire why he had not come to see her for twelve years, despite what they had promised so many years ago…

However, still, she remained silent. In fact, a smile graced her features as well. Her beautiful brown eyes were filled with confusion and sadness, and the smile was nothing like those of her childhood, given so freely and so generously. This one was bitter, a forced one, to lighten his heart as much as she could. "Thanks," she murmured into his shoulder, feeling his large hand gently stroking the back of her hair, finding every bit of comfort from his actions. "For saving me… again."

Then, with the authority of a God and the gentleness of a long-loved friend, Haku silenced her with a finger brought to her lips. "Hush now," he said, "I will have none of this foolishness, Chihiro. You are all that I have now, and I will risk everything to protect you."

When Chihiro descended the stairs with Haku, she was greeted by No-Face at the foot of the stairs. "Uh, uh," he said rather happily, and bowed to her in greeting. She did the same as well, and said, "It's nice to see you again." She could sense a smile from him, and she repeated the smile that she had given to Haku previously.

Now, the Dragon was already alerted. If she had been so quick to use this as a shield, she must have gone through a huge amount of pain… Either that, or she had already trained herself to be a great actress… "Chihiro…" he murmured her name once more, and placed a hand on her shoulder, squeezing it slightly to remind her that he would be there for her.

She looked back towards him, and put her hand on his, thanking him once again. "Uh, uh," No-Face continued, and ushered the both of them towards the dining-room, where an impressive feast was already laid out for them. Zeniba had outdone herself this time.

"Come now, child, you have to eat something to regain your strength," Zeniba said, placing Chihiro on the chair at the head of the table while she took the one on the other end. "And after dinner, all your questions will be answered, do not worry."


Dinner was a silent affair, where the only sounds were emitted during eating, and Zeniba's comments that Chihiro was still far too thin for her liking. Of course, in the eyes of a male, Chihiro was nothing less than a stunning beauty, and there was no word less for it. But despite Zeniba's constant barking that she should eat more, Haku knew that she just picked a few chopsticks full of rice and vegetables just to placate the kindly Witch.

"I think that we cannot hold the truth from Chihiro any longer," Haku said, when all of them had stopped eating. The tension between all of them had been so thick that he could have sworn that he was able to cut it with his very own claws. And thankfully, Zeniba agreed.

"Alright, what do you want to know, child?" Zeniba asked Chihiro, allowing No-Face to go on with the task of cleaning up after dinner.

"What were those things that… killed my parents?" Chihiro asked in return. "And why would they want me?" Brown eyes darted from huge, bulging ones, to clear emerald ones, and still, both of them looked reluctant to tell her what she needed and wanted to find out. "Please…"

Zeniba stood up from her chair and walked towards her. "Child, to know all this, we must go back the very core of your existence… Your coming to us when you were but a child was not mere coincidence or even a trick of fate…"

It was at this point that Chihiro interrupted Zeniba. "Then what was it?" she asked Zeniba. "I'm just a normal human!" However, from the expressions from all across the table she started to realize that it was not so. "Aren't I?"

Haku was the one who answered her question. "You are the very personification of Light, Chihiro," he answered. "Humans of this nature are born every few thousand years or so, and although we do not know your true function, but it is said that whoever drains your blood is able to access power that surpasses even the knowledge of any one of us here…"

"And to protect you before you reached maturity, in body and in soul, the World created illusions to protect you from being preyed upon by those who would seek your blood," Zeniba continued. "And even then, the magic around you was so powerful that all of us just thought that you were just another human that managed to somehow touch our lives."

Chihiro, however, was not going to accept anything that has been said so easily. "You're lying!" she exclaimed, placing both her hands to her head. She shut her eyes and crouched her head to her knees, as if everything would go away whenever she did that. "I'm just a normal human! I'll be going back to London at the end of the summer!"

Zeniba, on the other hand was relentless. "Child, it's highly impossible to run away from the truth!" she said, her voice increasing in aggressiveness and urgency. "You may still be a human, but you are more than you seem to be, as you always have been!"

Still, Chihiro refused to listen. "They're my parents, Oba-san!" she shouted back. "They can't be fake! They loved me, and they cared for me…" And then her latest memory of her father surfaced. "There was blood when that… snake killed my father!"

At this point of time, Zeniba had almost lost her patience. "Your parents were only a protective enchantment that Nature had given to you, child!" she replied with the same fury that Chihiro had. "They were meant to disappear sooner or later, and it's better if you knew sooner!"


"No!"


Within seconds, Chihiro was out of Zeniba's door after angrily flinging it open. Haku just looked at the Witch icily. "I hope that you have achieved what you wanted, Witch," he said, and started to go after Chihiro. In her current state, and the knowledge that the carp easily locate her, Haku knew it best that she did not go anywhere unescorted.

Luckily, she did not go far. In fact, she had went only until Zeniba's front gate, where was crying by herself. That was so like her, and he walked up towards her, saying nothing. "You knew, didn't you?" she asked him, her tear-stained face looking at him. It pained him to see her in such a state, but he knew that any sane person would have reacted the way that she had. "Haku… please…"

Haku took a deep breath and nodded. "I knew since you fell into my river," he told her, casting his eyes away from her. He knew that in keeping such a secret, he would have already started his betrayal of her, but at that time, she did not need his protection, for as a River-God, he knew that he could never override the will of Nature as it flowed. But now… everything was different. "Chihiro, listen to me…"

"Then answer me this… How did the carp know you?" she asked him further, completely disregard his attempts to calm her down.

"He claims to be my adversary," he told her in all honesty. "When I discovered the waters of my river had been redirected into his lake, he fled without a word… It's the first time I've seen him ever since then, Chihiro, you must believe me…"

"Why should I?" Chihiro countered. Fury was so evident in her entire being that Haku realized that she did not even know that it was her that was making the surrounding trees sway as if they were dancing some violent dance… With her supposed parents dead, the seal of protection over her had ended, and soon, she would be the most hunted person in the Spirit-Realm. Such a display of raw power, however accidental, might easily give her location away, but Haku knew that it was a risk that he had to take. She had to realize for herself that every single thing that she had been told that night was only the truth and nothing else.

"Because you know that it is the truth!" Haku replied, holding both shoulders of hers in his hands. "Chihiro, you do not have to walk this path alone… I can help you. I will protect you with my life if I have to!"

"My life… was perfect without you!" Chihiro spat, pushing him away. Her voice cold, her tear-filled eyes filled with anger, such great anger that even Haku had stilled his tongue. It was not before long when she curled into a little ball as she had done so a long, long time ago by the pig-pens of the bathhouse after locating her parents. She did not mean those words, she had only said them in anger, only out of pain. It was a long, long time before she stopped sobbing. She looked at him, and asked, "My whole life has been a lie, hasn't it?"

"No, Chihiro," Haku said, taking her hands in hers. "It has not… You had come into existence just by the will of Nature. For the millennia to come, you are the single source of power unchallenged and untouched, even if you cannot use it yourself. And thus, your parents are actually illusions that She has given to you, for you are made to be human. For that reason alone, they were real, because they existed, just not in the manner of all other beings. Your life is still yours, Chihiro. No matter what you are, or what you may become… you are still Ogino Chihiro…"

He had meant to continue further, but he stopped his own tongue when he still could control himself from uttering anything that he might regret because the most important thing that she was safe, and that she was brought into a stable condition. Slowly, he coaxed her back into Zeniba's cottage, wordlessly casting a barrier around it, to fend off any evil that might be on the prowl of her.

"How is she?" Zeniba asked him as he laid her on the bed she had previously slept in, already fast asleep.

"She is alright," Haku replied. "Keep her safe. I have to return to my lake." A Witch could never properly defy a God, but as Zeniba was a revered and honored figure amongst the spirits, he held a tremendous amount of respect towards her. "Please, for your sake and hers, do not rattle her any more than she is. I will return tomorrow."


HAN: Ahahhaha, so I have fulfilled the prompt! Yay! Take that, Capital E! And now all that remains is that I continue on with the story!

Also, I want to bring to light the song I've been listening to whenever I'm writing this fic: It's Angela Aki's Tegami (Haikei Jūgo no Kimi e), which is a highly beautiful song. It reminds me of Chihiro reminscing on her childhood adventures in the bathhouse as an adult. ^.^

Thank you to all who has reviewed this fic, and I hope you like this chapter as well!