The Wait 2.0: Silent Pleas

"...She'll be fine, go get some rest. I can stand watch here if you want."

"No, I'll stay here until-"

"You've been here for the past ten hours and you haven't eaten anything. At least get something to eat, man."

"I'm fine, Shou. I know my limits."

"If you insist on staying here I'll just head over to your room and burn it down. Or take all your gold. Or both."

"Shou, you... ..."

Chihiro stirred. She could hear two men arguing with each other in relatively hushed tones, but she was too tired to open her eyes and find out what was going on. She heard a growl next to her, and then the other man counting down from five with a taunting voice.

A chair to her left squealed in protest as its legs were dragged against the floor, and then she heard someone stomp out of the room, while the man remaining sighed. "That dragon really goes overboard sometimes..." she heard him mutter to himself.

He seemed to be uttering something else beneath his breath as he presumably sat on a chair next to her. She attempted to open her eyelids to see what was happening, but it felt as if her eyes had been cemented shut; she couldn't open them no matter how hard she tried. His voice slowly faded into a quiet buzz in the background, and succumbing to exhaustion, she drifted off to sleep again.

Chihiro felt herself floating in darkness and silence. She knew she was still asleep, so it seemed she was in a dream. There was nothing in sight, a faint, distant voice the only thing she could make out. She could not see who it was, but it sounded like a young woman whose sniffling indicated that she was crying. Curious, Chihiro followed where the voice was coming from, straining to hear what the woman was saying.

"Help..."

Chihiro flinched when she heard the voice suddenly distinct and loud in her ear. It was a haunting whisper that chilled her to the bone, a desperate cry for help from what she perceived to be a ghost. She could not recognize the it, even though it seemed like the woman knew her.

"Help..."

"W-Who are you?" she daringly asked aloud, wondering if she would even get a reply from this woman, whoever or whatever she was.

"Help..."

"Do... you need help?" she tried again, a little more hesitantly this time. The sobbing grew louder in response, as the invisible woman seemed to get closer to her. Terror seized her. She tried to run away, but the voice permeated the entire space she was in - there was no escape.

"Help..."

Chihiro was about to scream for help, but could only manage a muffled gasp when she felt an icy cold hand cover her mouth, silencing any cries in her throat.

"Help... Help..!"

The woman awoke with a start, a strangled scream catching in her throat as she shot up into a sitting position, clawing at the sheets of the bed that she was lying in. She took a moment to realize that she was no longer in darkness, and that she was in a brightly-lit room. There were curtains around her bed, and for a moment she thought that she was in the hospital. That idea was quickly shot down, for she was dressed in her own clothes instead of a hospital gown.

"Now that's one way you could wake up... Hey, are you okay?"

Chihiro jumped, snapping her head to her left. A man with bright, golden hair was staring at her with a worried expression on his face. He looked to be in his early twenties, slightly younger than Haku.

Haku.

Chihiro scanned the room anxiously and was dismayed to see that the dragon spirit was not in the room with her. The man next to her was watching her intently, appearing to be at a loss for what to do. She turned to him, asking, "Where is Haku?"

"Haku?" he echoed, dumbfounded. He was staring at her like she had grown two heads. "Did you just call him... Haku?"

"Do you know who he is? Where is he? I need to know that he's safe, please, tell me where he is," she pleaded, grabbing his wrist and squeezing it tightly. The last thing she remembered was fainting while Haku was still in the middle of a fight with that... that chameleon spirit. What had happened to him? Why was she here? What happened?

"Okay, first you need to calm down."

"Is he alright?"

"Yes, he's fine, now stop moving-"

Chihiro winced at a sharp sting in her leg when she moved it, and she grimaced when she realized that it wasn't just her thigh that hurt, but her ankle now. Flipping the covers off of her, she saw her left leg bandaged like a mummy. Gently, she patted the injury on her thigh, and was not surprised to find that it had yet to heal, even though the pain had lessened by now. The more alarming part was her ankle, which was wrapped thickly with bandages that went up to her knee.

"You were poisoned," the man next to her explained. "Kazune managed to fix you up with this and gave you an antidote, so you'll be fine, but you shouldn't move around too much or it'll get worse."

"How long was I asleep for?"

"It hasn't been that long. It's almost eight in the evening now."

Chihiro gasped. Not that long? She had to hurry back! Her mother would be so worried! Just the thought of her mother lecturing her about being irresponsible again made her shudder. "I need to get back home. It's late."

"Chihiro, the Mirror closes at night. You can only cross over in the morning."

"Who are you? How do you know my name?" she asked as he put the blanket over her again and helped her to sit up on the bed.

"Took you long enough to ask," he flashed her a toothy grin, standing up and nodding in greeting. "The name's Koushou, but you can call me Shou. If you're wondering, you're currently in the Kaigo Shelter, which is a home for lost spirits. Kohaku is one of the founders, and I work here. And I know your name because of Kohaku," he smiled, pausing a bit before adding, "Oh, and just in case you're wondering about my relationship with him, I'm his... man."

"Man..?" she repeated, not fully understanding him. "You mean, like his best friend?"

"We're... a little more than that. Don't tell anyone though, we haven't exactly made it public yet," he said with a small wink.

"O-Okay..." Chihiro was confused. She never knew Haku rolled that way. Oh well. It had been a long time. And maybe that would also explain why he was never interested in the yunas at the bathhouse, in spite of the way they would throw themselves at him, according to Lin. There had even been some rumours going around the sour yunas about him being impotent.

"Well, I'm Ogino Chihiro," she said, holding out a hand to shake his. He stared at it, slightly confused. "You... have a nice hand?" he ventured, causing Chihiro to chuckle. So there were some differences in social etiquette between spirits and humans too.

She cleared her throat, taking his hand and shaking it lightly. "This is how we greet each other in the human world. Nice to meet you." Koushou nodded in understanding and smiled. "The pleasure is mine, Chihiro."

"So... this is the Kaigo Shelter?" Chihiro asked. She couldn't really see much other than the gray wall in front of her because she could barely strain to see past the curtains blocking her view. She was likely in the shelter's sick bay. "I heard about it from Haku but I didn't think I would be able to come here and see it for myself, since I was supposed to have left this morning for good."

"Well then, consider yourself lucky. I think I'll be able to get Kazune's permission to wheel you out of here to look around. We probably won't be able to stay out for long, though. Where do you want to go first?"

"I want to see Haku," was her immediate response.

"Well," he said, chuckling, "why am I not surprised?"

Chihiro was mildly uncomfortable with all the attention she was receiving from the residents in the shelter. Shou had reassured her that it wasn't because she smelled bad, but rather that it was simply obvious to other spirits that she wasn't one of them.

Most of them, however, were remarkably kinder to her than the workers in the bathhouse. They were primarily shocked to see her in the shelter, but other than that, some of them offered her a courteous smile or a meek nod in acknowledgement, although thinking about it now, they were probably greeting Shou and not her. Shou introduced her to several spirits in the shelter. Most of them were children, who often started off by gaping at her like she were a strange specimen, before grinning and greeting her.

"They are really sweet children," she commented with a warm smile after waving goodbye to them.

"Well, if you want to be technical about it, I'm pretty sure most of them are older than you."

Chihiro turned around just to shoot him a flat glare behind her shoulder. It was strange how quickly she had warmed up to him. Shou was a very energetic, radiant young man. He had a rather impressive sense of humour, which had helped to break the ice between them in the beginning quite easily. It was quite fitting for him to be a phoenix spirit, as he had informed her just minutes ago. His primary element of magic was fire, while Haku's was wind and water.

"You could also say that I'm pretty hot," he had joked, to which she had given an exaggerated sigh as she wondered how old he was mentally.

The shelter appeared to be quite big, because they took a good twenty minutes or so to get to Haku's room. That and maybe it was because Shou was considerate enough to wheel her slowly so as to avoid running over bumps that would cause her leg to move sharply.

Shou rapped lightly on Haku's door. "Kohaku, Chihiro woke up and I brought her. Open up."

When there was no reply after a while, the blond shrugged and opened the door, wheeling her in as well. "He's not here," Shou muttered as he scanned the room with a frown. "He said he had to come up and finish some paperwork... Where did he go?"

"Maybe he went to the restroom," Chihiro suggested. Shou stepped past her towards the desk on the opposite end of the room, and she followed behind him. Neat stacks of paper inhabited the table, and it would otherwise look clean and organized if it weren't for the startlingly huge dent on it which Shou was currently fingering with a frown.

"I doubt it. I think he went out for a fly."

"A fly?"

"He does that when he gets stressed," Shou replied, pursing his lips into a thin line. "This doesn't look good. I just hope he gets back soon. He's probably over-thinking your condition."

"Over-thinking?" Chihiro furrowed her brows. "He was worried?"

"Of course he was," he said in a matter-of-fact tone. "He refused to leave your side to even eat. It took a lot for me to convince him to take a quick break before coming back to see you. Man, how cold do you think he is?"

"I don't mean it that way. I mean, I just think it's strange for him to worry about me so much to... to punch his table in like this. Poor table. Besides, my injury doesn't warrant that much concern," she added.

"I think you remind him about someone."

She raised an eyebrow. "Who would that be?"

"Just an old friend of ours."

"Oh... By any chance, did she get hurt like me? What happened?"

"I don't think I'm in a position to say," Shou said sheepishly, scratching the back of his head. "Sorry."

"Oh, no, it's fine," Chihiro smiled. "I understand."

"Since it'll take Kohaku a while to get back, I think I'll just bring you back to the sick bay so you can rest."

"So soon?" Chihiro protested.

Shou paused his movement. "Aren't you tired? You should get all the rest you can to recover."

"I just woke up so I'm not tired. I want to look around a little more." She would have to leave soon anyway, so she may as well grab the opportunity to explore this new home that Haku had built for himself. At least she would be able to leave this world knowing that Haku was living a good life.

That seemed acceptable enough to the man, for he wheeled her out of the room and began chanting out different places that he could bring her to visit. "You know," he concluded, "I think I'll drop by the cafeteria for a quick bite first. I haven't eaten my dinner yet."

"Sure, let's head there first then."

Aside from a couple of spirits enjoying a conversation over a drink, the cafeteria was very quiet and empty. According to Shou, at this time most of the other spirits would be reading in the library or preparing to go to bed.

Chihiro was pleasantly surprised to see that spirits ate food that were very similar to human food - aside from the couple of rather unsettling exceptions here and there. Across from her, Shou was indulging in a large bowl of rice with karaage and tofu, although the pieces of meat were much larger than what she remembered they were when served in the human world.

"You sure you don't want to eat anything?" Shou asked, gesturing to the measly cup of warm water that she had in her hands. "You haven't eaten either, have you?"

She shook her head, replying, "I don't have much of an appetite at the moment."

"Still, you should eat something. Even an apple would do. Or would you like some of my food? Tofu?" He carelessly stabbed a large piece of tofu with his fork and held it out to her.

"I'm fine, really," she laughed, leaning back in her seat to avoid the incoming fork of tofu to her face.

"You sure?" he asked, unconvinced. "At least eat an apple or something."

Her eyes widened. "You have apples here too?"

"Gods, Chihiro," he exclaimed, throwing his hands up in the air and nearly hurling his tofu behind his shoulder in the process, "you need to stop reacting that way every time I mention food that is available here."

"But I didn't know that spirits and humans ate so many similar things! The first time I came here, Lin was watering over a piece of roasted newt," she explained, wrinkling her nose in disgust, while Shou laughed. "This is new to me. Stop laughing."

"Okay, okay, I'll stop," he said, shutting himself up with a spoonful of rice to his mouth. "But you should grab an apple at least," he added while chewing his food. He stood up. "Stay here. I'll go get you one."

"Shou, there's really no need-"

"It's fine," he dismissed, "I'll be right back."

Chihiro smiled to herself as she watched him rush off towards the kitchen behind the empty food counter. He was a very nice man. Absently she wondered if how many women would have wooed him if it weren't for his relationship with Haku. Surely, if their relationship were to be made known, many hearts would end up shattered.

Feeling a little bored, she habitually reached into her pocket and pulled out her purple hair tie, twirling it around her index finger. She twirled it a little too vigorously, however, causing the hair tie to fly and land on the floor a fair distance away. Chihiro wheeled herself over, close enough so she could pick it up with her fingers. Bending down, she attempted to scoop up the hair tie with her fingers, but she could barely reach it.

Just a little more...

Chihiro leaned forward a little more, and was momentarily delighted when her fingers managed to touch the hair tie, except in her carelessness, she ended up losing her balance and crashing to the floor.

She groaned, grimacing as pain shot up her leg. Black spots appeared in her vision as she sat up, trying hard not to make too loud a sound that would disturb the other spirits in the cafeteria. She really was too clumsy for her own good.

"Chihiro?" She heard someone call her name, and then footsteps as the person rushed over to her, easily helping her up.

"Thanks Shou, I'm fine-" She paused when she registered that the man helping her was actually Haku. He was panting, hot breath fanning onto her face as he held her by her shoulders. He had bandages around his arms, and his dark green hair was a mess, likely from his fly, as Shou had put it.

"Haku, you're here," she managed, confused as to why he was still holding her up in standing position instead of helping her back onto her wheelchair. "Shou was just bringing me around-"

"Why did you leave the sick bay?" he demanded angrily, his grip on her shoulders tightening. "Do you have any idea how worried I was? How could you leave like that?"

She frowned, hoping that would get him to loosen his grip, but to no avail. "I was feeling fine after waking up and Shou was with me the whole time. He just left to get an apple for me."

"I instructed Shou beforehand not to let you go anywhere in your condition," he muttered through gritted teeth. "When I see him I'm going to-"

"Don't get mad at him," Chihiro protested, not wanting to be the subject of a lovers' quarrel later. "It's not his fault. I insisted on going to see you after waking up, and since you weren't there he was going to bring me back to the sick bay but I asked him to bring me around. So don't be mad at him."

That seemed to pacify him a little. "You should take care of yourself more," he said, before pulling her in for a tight hug. "I was so worried that you would... that you would have... that I would have lost you then."

Chihiro hesitantly returned the hug, wondering what would happen if Shou were to come out and see them in this tight embrace. Haku's shoulders began to shake and his hold on her grew stronger. "Haku, you're holding me a little too tightly," she winced.

He didn't seem to hear her. "You can't... You can't leave me again. I thought I'd lost you... just like before. I can't lose you again."

"Haku," she repeated, trying to push him away. "Haku, you're hurting me. Let go."

"I'm not letting go of you. You can't leave..."

"Sorry it took so long, I couldn't find- Hey, stop it, you're hurting her!" Chihiro felt someone roughly shove the dragon spirit away from her and catch her with an arm around her waist before she could lose her balance and fall a second time. She looked up, relieved to see that it was Shou.

"She's not her, Kohaku. Get a grip," he continued sternly, before handing her an apple and helping her back onto the wheelchair. "You okay?" he asked.

"Y-Yeah... I'm fine," she muttered in reply, rubbing her sore shoulders, vaguely wondering who Shou was referring to. Shou marched up to the dragon, and Chihiro was alarmed when she saw him raising a fist. Haku stopped Shou's arm easily, however, saying something and shoving his arm away. The two exchanged a short conversation that she couldn't hear from where she was, and when they pulled away, she noticed that the pained look on Haku's face had vanished, replaced with a blank, poker face that reminded her of the time when he was "Master Haku" in the bathhouse.

"I apologize for my actions earlier," he said, walking up to her together with Shou. "I was... I got carried away."

"It's alright. You were just worried, I understand." She wheeled herself over to where he was, the skin on her forehead crinkling in worry as she lightly touched his bandaged arm. "Does it hurt? Are you okay?"

"It is but a minor injury. There is no need to worry," he said, waving it off and brushing her hand aside.

"We should get Kazune to check your head. You might have gotten a screw loose in there after that fly," Shou spoke up, earning himself a sharp glare from the dragon spirit.

Chihiro watched uneasily as the two men exchanged cold stares. "Shou, I believe I told you to make sure she stays in the sick bay," Haku spoke sternly.

"I know, but she was fine by then. And I got Kazune's approval before moving her out."

"You should have known better than to do that," he argued, pointing an accusatory finger at the phoenix spirit. "She fell and got hurt earlier while you were gone."

"Well, at least I didn't add to the pain by hugging her like a snake spirit," Shou countered with a roll of his eyes.

"Guys, please don't fight," Chihiro said, getting their attention in an instant. "Haku, I already said it's not Shou's fault. Why don't you two just- just kiss and make up? Hmm?"

Both of them stared at her like she had grown two heads. "Kiss?" Haku echoed, frowning, and if she didn't know better, she would have thought he looked disgusted by the idea of kissing his own boyfriend. "Is that another saying that humans use?"

Chihiro raised an eyebrow. "Not really... Do spirit couples not kiss and make up after a quarrel?"

"Spirit couples?" Haku remained confused, while Shou, on the other hand, looked like something clicked in his head, prompting him to make a strangled sound of barely contained laughter. Haku seemed to finally register what she meant when a scowl appeared on his face and he grabbed Shou by the collar, asking him in a menacing manner, "Exactly what did you say to her?"

Now it was Chihiro's turn to be confused. She stared at the blond expectantly, wondering what was going on. The phoenix spirit threw his head back in a loud laugh, but was quickly cut off with a coughing fit when Haku tightened his grip around his shirt. "Okay, okay! I'm sorry!" he pleaded, grabbing Haku's wrists and trying to stop his imminent death.

"What did you say to her?" Haku growled, not letting up in the least.

"Haku, let go of him," Chihiro spoke, worried that he would end up killing the poor man.

"I just told her that we- we had a special relationship- Oh gods, you're killing me- Save me, Chihiro!"

"L-Let go of him, Haku! He's really going to die!"

A great deal of shouting, struggling and begging later, the three of them were finally quietly settled around a table. Chihiro had never seen Haku look this annoyed before, and frankly, if she didn't know better, she would have been giggling along with Shou. The blond was finishing up with his meal, still smiling gleefully to himself for the self-declared ingenious prank he had just played on the both of them.

Chihiro was beginning to understand the dynamics of their relationship.

"Haku, I'm really sorry for this..." she said for the third time.

"It isn't your fault, Chihiro," the dragon spirit muttered with a sigh.

"Yeah, you're not to blame. We just look too good for each other- Ouch!" Shou glared at the dragon as he rubbed the sore spot on his arm where Haku had just punched him. "Hey, that's a compliment to you, Kohaku. There's a long line of women out there who wish to marry me."

"You should do just that and move out of the shelter for good," Haku replied coldly.

"You'd be lonely without me, admit it, dragon," Shou countered smugly.

"Whatever, Shou." He turned to the woman. "Are you feeling tired? I'll bring you back to the sick bay."

"Not really..."

"What's wrong?" he asked, noting the worry on her face.

"I'm just wondering when I can go home. I've been away for too long, and my mother will be worried about me."

"If it's about that, I already took the liberty to send a letter to your home saying that you have some unexpected matters to attend to and hence your return will be delayed slightly."

Her eyes widened in surprise. "You did? When? How?"

"It was right before I brought you here to be treated," he explained. "I just needed a shikigami to do that. It recognized your scent and traced it to your home. I hope that helps a little."

"It does, thank you so much," she breathed, relief washing over her. Aside from the fact that the letter would come across as weird to her mother, this was a huge load off her chest. Hopefully Haku's letter would be able to appease her, even if a little, until she made it back home. "I haven't been able to contact home because there's no signal here."

"Signal?"

"It's uh, just a human thing. Never mind that."

He nodded. "In any case, Kazune said you will likely be well enough to go home in two days, since the poison has been sucked out of your blood. You should rest early. I'll bring you back to the sick bay."

"I'll come too," Shou piped up, but Haku gestured to the plates on the table. "I'll take Chihiro there. You stay here and clean up." His voice left no room for arguing and before Chihiro could say anything he was already wheeling her out of the cafeteria and back to the sick bay, away from Shou's protests.

Once outside, Chihiro let out a chuckle. "What's so amusing?" Haku questioned from behind her.

"Nothing, it's just that Shou is a really great person. I'm glad you have someone like him with you."

"I already said, it's not like that between us."

"I know, I know," Chihiro laughed, amused by how defensive Haku was getting over this topic. "I meant that it's good that you have a friend like him by your side."

"He's more like an annoying pet than a friend," Haku muttered gruffly, provoking more laughter from the woman. "I would highly recommend spending less time with him. I fear he will plant more misleading ideas in your head."

"Well, it's not like I have much time to spend here anyway," Chihiro responded with a small sigh. "But in a way, I'm glad that I got attacked; I wouldn't have been able to come here otherwise."

Haku remained silent for a while as he wheeled her through the dimly lit corridors. The sound of crickets chirping and a light evening breeze accompanied them. Chihiro's lips curved into a tiny smile at the sight of the pearlescent, half-moon illuminating the blanket of night above. The moon reminded her of the sleek, elegant dragon behind her, and suddenly she was itching to draw again, except that she was getting sleepier by the minute.

She didn't realize that she had dozed off in the chair until she woke up and found herself being lifted back onto the bed in the sick bay. Haku pulled the covers snug over her and sleepily she muttered a word of thanks before closing her eyes once more. Just before she drifted back to sleep, however, she thought she felt something like a pair of lips meeting her forehead.

"...she's not her."

"I know. Stop bringing that up, Shou. I've gotten over that a long time ago."

"Oh please. I've known you long enough to recognize when you're lying. Sora isn't coming back. She's gone."

Chihiro stirred, but her eyes remained closed. Faintly, she could hear two men arguing softly. Was this a dream? What did they mean 'the sky isn't coming back'?

"I know." There was a low, pained growl. "I was there when she... in my arms... Look, I know what I'm doing."

"You sure? You were losing it back there in the cafeteria."

"Do you not trust me?"

"It's not that. I know you'll control yourself from doing anything stupid, but I worry that you'll start treating her like a substitute for-"

"That's enough. No one can replace Sora. And she is but a human; I know where the boundaries lie."

"Fine, if you say so."

"...Stop looking at me like that. I don't need your pity."

"You wouldn't get my pity even if you begged me for it. But you could at least be more honest with yourself. Stop pretending to be fine when you're not."

"I am fine, and you are simply being paranoid. Leave me alone, Shou."

"Man, you're really stubborn... ..."

Chihiro began to drift back to sleep, the men's voices gradually fading into nothingness. Her mind lingered on the dragon, half worried and half wondering if she had simply been dreaming or had overheard a conversation she wasn't supposed to listen to.

She began to slip into the darkness once more, just as another voice sounded in her head, the haunting voice that she had heard before.

"Help... him..."

A/N: 'Sora' in Japanese means 'sky', hence Chihiro's mishearing of 'Sora'.

I couldn't stop writing simply because Shou was finally introduced in this chapter and Shou is definitely my all-time-favourite character in this story :D I hope you liked this chapter and yup hopefully I'll see you soon with the next one! (: