A/N: YO. Update yay! I hope all of you enjoy it,

and a HUGE thanks to my beta TheRish, please check her out,

she's a fabulous writer and a wonderful person! 3

Anyways, here it is!

Chapter 5.

It was a sweltering hot summer afternoon. I wiped the thick film of sweat from my forehead and ducked down into the thick grass, looking around me. I had no clue where I was or what was going on. The sound of heavy footfalls approached me, and I swung my head around.

Legs thick like tree branches stood there, calves rippling and muscles straining. It didn't even process right away that the skin was a sickly beet red. I didn't bother to look at who – or what, rather – it was. I sprang up from my spot and threw my legs into the air, sending him a heavy blow to the – is that a stomach?

It toppled backwards three steps and let itself steady, letting out a snarl. I steadied myself as well, gripping the dagger tightly. I looked to the object, confused about when I had acquired a dagger. It wasn't a knife, but a large white scale, the tip sharpened and tipped with a rusty film. I knew what it was instantly, but the words didn't come to mind . . .

D-dra...dru...dro...drag...dreg . . .

I didn't have time for this. The...thing...approached me, its grotesque spurs digging into the hard soil behind it. With one fluid movement it swung out, trying to grab me with its pendulous ruddy arms. I managed to dodge them, except a blow to my side that toppled me over. I grabbed my stomach instantly, pulling away when I felt the sticky substance.

With a grimace I rose to my feet and lunged toward it, sticking the sharpened scale into the base of its boulder-thick neck, dragging across with a grunt. It sputtered blood, staggered backwards, and fell to the ground with an earthshaking thud.

I closed my eyes on impact and waited a moment until its deathly...noises...ceased. It wasn't until a few minutes later that I took a few shaky steps toward the body. Its head was hanging off its neck, tongue lolling from its saliva-crowned butcher-knife-teeth.

I couldn't look into its eyes, because someone stopped me. A hand rested itself across the wound on my abdomen, and I winced, shifting my weight defensively. With a turn of the head I calmed my staggered breaths and relaxed my limbs.

It was he. The boy with the raven hair. He stood there with a soft smile, trying to soften his tense facial muscles. His mouth was taut, eyebrows furrowed deeply across his forehead, but he was trying to hide it.

He spoke my name like it was water, bubbling from his rosy lips and into the air. "Chihiro," he said, moving another hand to the gash. "Chihiro."

I frowned. What? I asked. What is it?

Something rippled across my stomach, a light bubbly feeling, and when I looked down, the wound was gone.

I looked up to him again, racking my mind for his name. He just repeated mine, over and over. It was strange. More than strange. His lips moved, but all I could hear were the soft clinks of rock and metal. His muscles twitched, and his face contorted into a look of despair. It was heartbreaking.

"Chihiro."

He started to cry.

Slowly his bones started snapping and he yelped in pain, dropping his hold on me. The air grew cold, the grass and flowers wilted to a brittle gray, and the smell of rotting meat and smog filled the air. I couldn't get his name out. I simply watched in horror for what seemed like hours as he writhed in pain on the black ground, screaming out my name.

"CHIHIRO!" His mouth moved, lips forming things I couldn't make out. "CHIHIRO!" metal and rock, stone and brick and cement. It was the sound of construction but on a minuscule scale. By the time I knew what was happening, it was already finished.

A large dragon stretched out across the field, showing me its wet teeth. I couldn't make a sound, I couldn't move. I just gaped at it, frozen by its presence. Its hair bristled, a frail emerald color, and it sniffed the air. With one fluid pounce it jumped toward the body and began to devour it, holding its broken body in its thick jaws. Blood pooled everywhere, dripping into his mouth and onto the ground.

"Haku!" I screamed, falling to my knees.

I woke up.

A thin light filtered through the windows, illuminating the chandelier with a dim glow. Flecks of burning amethyst, lucid sapphire, and an iridescent opal splashed the walls – all dancing in front of my eyes. I watched them shimmer for a moment, amazed at the surrealistic quality they had, how they would swirl and clash one moment and disappear the next. I watched them for minutes or hours, for as long as it took for me to calm my breathing, to soothe myself. I kept repeating the same mantra: just a dream. It's only a dream. It's not real.

When I finally brought myself down from my adrenaline high, I stood up in my seat, blinking furiously to disperse my tears.

Then it hit me. Literally.

An easily-three-pound rock unstrung itself from the masterpiece and flung itself at my head. I whimpered for a moment, holding the swell on the back of my scalp in pain, before reaching out with my foot to drag the smooth emerald over to me. I picked it up gingerly, running my fingers over its seemingly unbroken surface, mesmerized by its beauty. At first I considered chucking it out the window; I mean, it had injured me. But after weighing it, inspecting it, and watching it, I decided to keep it. Its size, between the size of my palm and half my forearm, was going to be an issue. I couldn't simply carry it out in the open, and it was too heavy for that anyway. I didn't have any pockets big enough to carry it in. I thought for a moment, looking around and at my getup, and it eventually came to me. I could carry it in my food pouch, considering the small amount of food I had left. After slipping it in and arranging the riceballs, I closed the pouch with ease.

With a small yawn I stood up, stretching my arms out around me. The train was slowing gradually, probably a minute or so from the next stop. It was nightfall, the moon shining a sickly yellow.

I stopped myself with a shake of my head. I gave the room a once-over again, checking if I had everything I brought. It seemed like it, so all I had left was to wait. It was only a few moments before the stop, so I distracted myself by pulling my hair back into a messy bun, straightening my clothes, and tying my shoes. The train came to a shaky stop, sputtering and inching forwards until it stopped completely in its tracks. With seconds to spare I opened the door in the front of the car and gave the room a longing glance before stepping out, hopping onto the tracks.

The ground seemed familiar, though I couldn't see past my front feet. That lamp was missing, or at least it was late. I walked and walked, and still no sign of the friendly light that had guided me to Zeniba's house. Creatures similar to owls and other birds twittered in the forest around me, yellow eyes watching me move along the path steadily. It seemed like an eternity before I could hear the faint creak ahead of me, slowly bending and jumping through the woods, startling me at first, though I slowly came to the realization that it wasn't any monster coming to attack me. I hobbled to the nearest tree and leaned against it, trying to give my aching legs a rest. After a few moments I could make out a wavering light in the distance, the soft glow licking the trees and brushes, flickering every few seconds. I stood immediately and hurried toward it, reaching the aged lantern quickly. It sputtered and creaked to a halt when I reached its side, and I frowned, running a hand down it's rusting side. It turned its head toward me and glowed brightly, illuminating the trees and path with its golden light, before slowly dying down and back to its normal level. It brought a small smile to my face, reminding me that not everything out here wanted to kill me. Wordlessly I signaled for us to go back to the house as a light breeze rolled by, giving me goosebumps to accompany the soft flutter in my stomach. I sighed, and it creaked, and we began walking back to the house.

We arrived at the ranch a while later as the sun was just coming up behind the trees. The lamp hobbled over to the posts and hopped up after gaining some momentum, settling in after watching me for few seconds, shining its light at the ground before my shoes. I slowly crept up to the house, my legs inching underneath my body at a speed that seemed to get slower by the second. An eternity passed before I reached the front door and I barely had the power left in me to knock on the door. With whatever strength I had left, I tapped the door lightly with my fist, resolving to hit it with my head to make more noise. As my forehead connected to the wood with a clunk, another wind rose behind me, forcing my body closer to the door as I shivered. I heard footsteps, and I let out a groan. My whole body felt weak, my stomach empty, my legs giving out beneath me, my eyelids drooping low over my pupils. Maybe it was my exhausted mind messing with me, or maybe it was real, but I swear I could hear a low growl behind me, feel the prickle of hair rising on my neck – smell something similar to blood and salt water before I fell to my knees, collapsing into the house. I let out a long sigh and closed my eyes, pressing my cheek to the polished wood flooring, counting the seconds as I quickly drifted off to sleep. And as I did, I made out a faint rumble of noises – a gasp, a shuffle, a squeak, and my name spoken in a low whimper.