A/N: Oh my gosh, let me count the ways in which I love my REVIEWERS! Thanks all you guys (esp Kaiba Angel, you rock!), I simply love reviews! Okay, so I've tried to make this chapter longer, you can all thank the most wonderful band in the world (InMe) for that! I don't know what you guys will think, so review and tell me! :) Enjoy!
Silver (IN) Sanity
Chapter 4 - Secrets from Mysteries
"Remind me how you conned me into this?" Chihiro asked Reiko as her friend handed her the bright orange ticket.
"I didn't. I simply explained it to you rationally. You teenager, need life," Reiko answered, clearly.
Chihiro glanced down at the ticket. She wasn't usually a party person. In her opinion, parties were for people who enjoyed spending hours getting dressed up, dancing to terrible music and generally all the things that she couldn't understand the appeal of. Reiko, ever the socialite, loved parties and especially loved parading Jiro, her new boyfriend who happened to be considered a "stud", around in front of the girls she had hated for years.
"Yeah, well, it's different for you. You have a date," Chihiro reminded her, glumly.
Reiko grinned but said nothing, for once.
As they walked through the double doors of the high school and out onto the quad, Chihiro spotted Cain. He was seated on the grass, his whole body curled over the sketchpad that was rested upon his knee. Ocasionally he would glance up at the school building in front of him, before his focus would return to the sketch, his pencil spiralling across the paper as his rusty brown bangs fell in front of his face. It fascinated Chihiro to see him concentrating so hard. Cain had been drawing forever, but it was a little piece of himself that he kept locked away, not allowing anyone to view his drawings.
Chihiro scowled as Reiko disturbed him, abruptly.
"Hey Cain."
She dropped down on the grass next to him as he quickly closed his sketchpad and stuffed it into his backpack.
"Hi," he greeted, looking up at Chihiro.
She managed a smile, but remained standing, her stance telling Cain that she wasn't in the best of moods.
"I'm guessing you two are going to the Halloween dance?" he added, noticing the tickets in their hands.
Reiko nodded, suddenly distracted. Chihiro followed her gaze and spotted Jiro, waving to Reiko. She was on her feet in a second.
"I'll see you two later, 'kay?"
She didn't wait for a goodbye.
"So," Cain continued, getting up and slinging his backpack over his shoulder, "what the hell made you want to go to the dance?"
"I like dances," Chihiro lied.
"Yeah, right."
She sighed as they walked out the gates.
"To be honest, I don't know. I mean, I'm sure it's gonna suck, but I'm still going," she paused, "without a date. Ick, I'm such a loser."
Cain swallowed, his smile vanishing suddenly.
"You're not a loser."
She laughed. "You have to say that."
"Look, maybe I could go with you," he attempted, nervously, "or we could go ... together?"
Chihiro felt her mouth grow dry as his words washed over her. Was he asking her on a date? Did she want to go with him? She took a deep breath, reminding herself that this was what growing up was all about.
"Sure, I'd like that."
As Cain's face broke into a happy smile, Chihiro braced herself for her heart to beat wildly with joy, but there was nothing but that empty feeling echoing inside her empty heart as she began to doubt whether acting as though she was a normal teenage girl would ever make her happy.
"Oh honey, this is wonderful!"
At least someone was happy about her going to the dance. But she had expected this of her Mom who, she secretly suspected, had been waiting for this opportunity to dress her daughter up.
"There's so much to sort out! How are you going to get there? Are you going with Reiko?"
Chihiro bit her lip. Her next statement might make her Mother explode with glee.
"No, I'm, um, going with Cain."
"Cain is escorting you? Oh how lovely! Well, we shall have to find out what costume he'll be wearing and then you can dress to match. Oh, what if you went as a famous couple, like ..."
Chihiro played with her hair as her Mother babbled on, excitedly. She had to admit that it made her feel quite good to have pleased her Mother so much. Sometimes she felt that she didn't live up to what her Mother had expected. Grades and doing well in school were what mattered to her Dad, so he had always been so proud of his star student daughter, but her Mother was a little harder to please. Still something nagged at her brain, that little voice that kept reminding her that she couldn't keep everyone else, Cain, her Mother, Reiko, happy if she didn't first make herself happy.
"Cain?"
She knocked on the door, but received no answer. Chihiro's hand shook as she pushed the door open. Cain was a very private person and she had only been in his room on rare occasions. The pictures that lined the walls rustled and clothes quivered, making Chihiro feel like an intruder. He wasn't there and she was about to leave when the sketchpad on the bed caught her eye.
Her hands shook more than ever as she reached out for it. It was like reading a diary. But Cain knew everything about Chihiro and she felt like he was sometimes a stranger to her. She felt sure that somewhere, within the pages of the sketchpad, there lay the answers to her ever accumulating questions about her best friend. She pulled back the cover, slowly.
The first sketch was of the view from his window at night. It was drawn perfectly, each little detail carefully added and given it's own character. The beauty of what he captured entranced her and she turned the pages of sketches, slowly, drinking in each one as she looked upon the soul of her closest friend.
Her heart jumped into her throat as she reached the last sketch. It was a tunnel carved into a red building, the walls crumbled slightly from age. It was nearly hidden by the leaves and branches that hung over it, but there was no mistaking it. It wasn't the drawing that shocked her, but what was taped to the bottom of the page. The purple hair tie. Her purple hair tie.
Chihiro's Mother gasped, her hand fluttering to her mouth and her eyes filling with tears, as Chihiro entered the living room.
"You look beautiful," she cried.
Her Father nodded, prepared for his Wife's reaction.
It had been Cain's idea for them to go as Guineviere and Lancelot, much to her Mother's delight. The dress was a very medievil style, with a white lace bodice with red ribbon laced across the middle and a long red, velvet skirt. Chihiro's only sticking point had been her hair. She had refused to have it styled, preferring to keep one part of her usual appearance, her long brown hair, straight and untouched.
Automatically, her Father handed the camera to her Mother, who began snapping away, immediately.
"Don't use all the film, dear, we need some pictures of Cain and Chihiro together."
Her Mother waved her hand, dismissing the reminder.
"I have two more rolls for that. Smile, honey!"
Smiling had not been so easy lately, probably because of the several thousand questions that weighed so heavily on Chihiro's mind. Had he stolen the hair tie? If so, why had he stolen it? What was the importance of that tunnel? And why was it so frighteningly familiar to her?
The doorbell rang as Chihiro's face began to ache from forcing a smile for so long. Her father grinned and went to answer it, returning a moment later with Cain behind him. She felt even more confused as she realised that he did look amazingly handsome. His unruly hair fell into his smiling face. His costume was perfect too, a crisp white shirt with a loosely laced collar that showed a peak of his well toned chest, black pants, with a belt that held his sword and black boots. As he moved to stand beside her, whispering a greeting in her ear, her mind told her they were perfectly suited, to forget the sketch and the hair tie and lose herself in this night. Her first night of teenage normalcy.
Haku fell into the pillows, his aching body sighing at the long awaited comfort surging through the river spirit. He was exhausted. It was already sunrise and he was only just able to lay down. It was the times when Yubaba went away, that he realised how much work she actually did.
The comfort wrapped itself around him, like a warm, soft blanket on a cold night, and his eyelids began to droop. His final thought was one of rare contentment as he reminded himself that sleep brought him his only time of peace.
But he would be denied even that this night, as destiny began to work it's magic...
"Do you want me to walk you home?"
They had reached Cain's house.
"No, that's okay, but thankyou."
"For what?"
"For a great time."
He smiled, leaning in and kissing her cheek, shyly.
"Goodnight," she whispered as he released her hand and backed up to his door.
"Night," he replied, closing the door.
The memories of the evening washed over her as she began to make her way home. Arriving, after the seemingly endless photo shoot her mother had insisted upon, dancing, laughing, talking and forgetting all the worries that had been consuming her so much, lately.
She looked around her, realising suddenly that she hadn't been paying attention and had strayed onto a foreign path. She glanced up at the stars and then across the horizon. Her house wasn't far off and it was a beautiful night. She decided to take a walk before returning home so that she could secure the memories before having to retell the details of the dance for her Mother.
The breeze toyed with her hair as she wandered amongst the trees of the forest below her street. The moon shone down upon her, as if keeping a watchful eye over her. The tranquility of the night had the effect of soothing her mind completely so that, when the tunnel suddenly loomed before her, the shock was almost painful.
It was just as Cain had drawn it, a dark, sinister tunnel, scooped out of a red building. The tree brances swayed so low in this part of the forest, that they brushed the crown of her head, sending shivers down her spine. The warm breeze had intensified, curling in the air and encouraging her to step closer. She watched as green leaf slipped from a branch and danced into the darkness of the tunnel. It didn't return.
The steam was rising, dreamily, almost eerily in the empty Aburaya. All was still and silent, the only sound the quiet pad of Haku's bare feet on the shiny floorboards. He was unsure of how he had arrived back here when the last thing he could remember was falling onto his bed before sleep gently cradled him. His eyebrows furrowed with confusion and his feet moved as if free from his will.
He reached the main doors and pushed them ajar, expecting to see the long bridge, stretching out like an arm into the night. Instead, he walked into a corridor. He looked down, noticing the ugly orange floor underneath his feet, so cold it made him reach down to brush warmth from his fingers into his toes.
The corridor was dully lit and there were brightly coloured posters on the walls. But it was the double doors at the end of the corridor which captured the River Spirit's attention. Haku turned his head to one side in fascination. He had never seen such an unusual place. Was he still dreaming? And was it possible for his subconscious to conjur up a place so far from his own realm of possibility?
The sounds of laughter and animated chatter drifted towards him as he wandered to the doors, each step the sounds becoming clearer and enticing him more. Finally, his hand reached out and he pleaded in his mind for entrance to what lay beyond. His wish was granted and the doors swung open once he had nudged the steel bar that lay across them.
He was greeted with music and a sight full of such a rainbow of colours, that he squinted for a few moments, his eyes darting, desperately. He was shocked as he saw the crowds of teenagers, dancing. They were all dressed strangely, but differently from each other.
Slowly a girl emerged from the crowds, alone. Haku could see that she was exquisitely beautiful. Her eyes were deep brown and seemed to glitter with a secret. The soft features of her face were accentuated as she smiled, leaning her head to one side so that her long, brown hair graced her shoulders.
He watched, unable to move his feet, as she passed by into the corridor. Her eyes were focused upon something behind him. When he regained the use of his body a moment later, he turned to see her wandering through the door into the Bathhouse.
The River Spirit awoke from his dream sharply, panting from the shock of what he had seen. Sweat trickled down his face and he clutched the sheets, trying to make sense of what had just happened.
Chihiro had stood before the archway for what seemed like hours, when the sun began to rise, her heart had raced and the breeze had become more urgent, pushing her through. Now she stood before the amazing building before her and wondered aloud,
"Where am I?"