(Draft 4)

The white dragon swam through a dark, narrow cave. The weight of the water and rock above him was crushing, but it was still water, and it could not hurt him. The water fought him, pulling him backwards by his tail and mane. Still, he made headway and approached a small opening in the tunnel. The current was the strongest here. The dragon waited a moment, shoring up his energy, and then shot forward through the hole into a shining lake. Everything was subtly different. He tasted the faint tang of metal and smoke in the air. The water had slightly too much nitrogen and was cloudy with algae. Chihiro watched as the dragon rose out of the water and turned into

"Haku."

Chihiro opened her eyes to find Kohaku staring at her inquisitively. She flushed, very conscious of the fact that she was not wearing makeup or nice clothes, and that she was sitting alone in the middle of the woods. It occurred to her that she was now alone with him in the middle of the woods – and her face grew even warmer at the thought.

"Oh, hello." Chihiro said a little sheepishly. "I must've dozed off. Good morning." How long has he been standing there?

"You were talking in your sleep." How much do you remember? Do you remember me?

"That's embarrassing…What did I say?" Was he just standing there listening?

"You called me Haku. How did you know that my friends call me Haku?" You used to call me Haku.

Chihiro looked up at him, but he was staring far into the distance. "Sorry, I didn't know. I didn't mean to be rude." If it had been anyone else, the situation would've been creepy. She'd only talked to him twice, but it felt like she could trust him.

"That's okay. You can call me Haku if you want to," he said. Please do. Calling me Kohaku sounds like everything that happened never happened.

"What are you doing out here?" Does that make me your friend?

"Funny," he said, with a strange look on his face. "I could ask you the same thing. I'm looking for someone."

"Really? I've been coming here for years, and I never see anyone out here," Chihiro said thoughtfully.

"She's not from around here, but this is where I saw her last. I thought I might find her here," Haku replied, then changed the topic. "You haven't told me why you're out here all by yourself."

Chihiro gestured to her research materials. "It's quiet out here. I like it. And there's never anyone else around." Was she just a friend? Or something more?

"Sorry to disturb your peace. I can leave now, if you'd like."

Chihiro looked up at the sun and decided it was a good excuse to go home. "Nah, I'll head back with you, if that's okay. Are you just going back to town?" She gathered her things and the two of them started down the track. "When was the last time you were here?" she asked as they walked.

"Probably about seven years ago. Why do you ask?"

"Because this is such a small town that if I was living here at the time, I'm sure I would've seen you around."

"Do I look familiar?" Please let me look familiar. Please remember me.

Chihiro looked into his face, examining it. He did seem strangely familiar, as if he was a song she had heard once long ago. And yet, there was something intrinsically different about him. She noticed that his eyes were mossy green, a color she had never seen before in eyes, like smooth sun-warmed pebbles…Chihiro blushed at the thought, and looked away, making Haku fight to hide a small smile. Staring at her shoes, Chihiro didn't notice. "Now that I think about it, maybe you do, a little bit. Your name seems familiar, too."

"I guess that makes it a little less strange that you were calling out my name in your sleep."

Is he teasing me? Chihiro thought, but Haku seemed completely serious. "Oh!" Chihiro stopped suddenly. "I was dreaming about you! Sorry, that's kind of creepy. But…I think…you were in my dream…" she stuttered. "I don't remember what it was about… Sorry, I'm sorry, that sounds so weird," she mumbled, flushing.

"That's okay," he said reassuringly. "Stranger things happen." Like a dragon being saved by a human girl.

"Do I look familiar to you?" Chihiro asked.

"Definitely not when we first met, but right now you do."

"It's the makeup, isn't it?" Chihiro half-grinned. She was bantering now, and enjoying it for once. "I don't actually look that different from when I was ten. Taller, maybe."

She did still have a boyish body, but Haku refused to answer her self-depreciation. "Definitely the makeup," Haku said seriously. "Why do you wear it? You don't need it. You're much prettier without it."

Chihiro blushed furiously and looked down at her feet, suddenly shy. This guy, who was every definition of gorgeous, had just called her pretty. "It's kind of like a shield, I guess. Protection. What people say doesn't hurt because they're not talking about the real me. It makes me feel stronger."

"I see. It's not just your face, is it? It's your clothes, too. You're much nicer when no one else is around. And your hair looks different." He reached out and touched a strand of it. From anyone else, it would have been rude, but coming from him... Chihiro felt her face flush. It was such an intimate gesture.

How could he see through her so easily? It's as if he knew her, as well as Risuni did. "What about you?" she said a little defensively. "Your designer clothes, and your hair?" Then she realized that like herself, he was in worn jeans and a t-shirt. Unlike hers, though, his looked just as well tailored as his uniform.

"You're not the only one who needs protection," he replied.

You're much prettier without. The words repeated themselves in her head. You're much nicer when no one else is around. You can call me Haku if you want to. She wanted to see him again. My friends call me Haku. Do I look familiar? He was so easy to talk to. He had forgiven her when she blabbed insensibly. Where had she seen him before? Had they met? Your clothes are part of your mask, too, right? I was last here seven years ago.

Seven years ago. Back then, her hair would've been in a ponytail. That was the biggest change. It'd been short ever since that one trip to the salon... She'd cried after it got chopped off but everyone told her she looked so pretty with it short that she'd kept it. Before that...

Where was that hair tie? She opened a secret compartment in her jewelry box. This hair tie. She had worn this hair tie every day. She had kept it safe and well-hidden and protected it ever since she stopped wearing it. You're not the only one who needs protection. Chihiro had kept the feeling that it was very important, but no longer knew why. Why had she protected this hair tie so carefully? Come to think of it, she couldn't even remember where she'd gotten it. Back when she wore it, she had never needed anything else. Her friends and parents always bought her hair things, but they sat in a small drawer, still in their packaging, untouched. Three short encounters, and he had her thinking about things she hadn't thought about in years. Chihiro put a hand to her hair. Maybe it was time to grow it out again.

Her mother's voice rang from the hallway, making her drop the hair tie in surprise.

The train rumbled under Chihiro as the light outside the window dimmed. Meadows and trees rushed past. Her friends slept on her lap but she sat stiffly, showing no sign of tiredness. Adrenaline and determination filled her – she couldn't afford to miss her stop. The sixth stop. For Haku.

Chihiro felt something old and rusty in the water streaming down her face. It was so familiar. She pulled at it. A bicycle?

Haku! He's going to take me to my parents. He pulled her along by the hand and they ran through fruit trees and down the hill to a pigpen. You must never come here without me, understand?

And Haku held her while she cried because she was lost and she didn't know what to do. He was and telling her she should eat, it would make her feel better. It'll be alright. She would be alright.

She was standing at a window and there was Haku again, this time older, standing with his back to her under the tree on her school grounds. He turned to face her. Even though he was too far away to hear, she could tell what he was saying to her. "Don't you remember?" he said.

Chihiro woke up. She grasped at her dreams, but they were already on their way to where all dreams go. There was a train, and a pigpen...and a blur. A voice echoed softly in her head from the last scene. Don't you remember? There was sadness in that voice.

Five nights of dreams she couldn't remember. Five nights of visions so vivid and filled with hope that she woke up clutching at scraps of color and feeling like her heart would burst, but the pieces slipped away like water in her hands. She buried her face in her pillow in frustration. Her fingers brushed something lying under the pillow.

The hair tie.

Everyone should have someone who says to them "You don't need make-up. You're much prettier without." If that person hasn't walked into your life yet, I want you to hear it from me (or from Haku!) now. You don't need make-up to be pretty! Make-up has nothing on how a genuine smile lights up your face. Even if you still choose to wear it, like Chihiro, I want you to know that you are beautiful either way. :)

Much love,

Swansae