CH. 6

Everybody stood there on the rooftops for what it seemed like hours and there was not a change in Chihiro nor on her body. By the two hours, most of the workers and the customers had returned back inside the bath house and had resumed their daily activities.

Eventually, only Haku was left standing on the rooftop watching the Shinigami do his job. "Why isn't it working?" he mumbled under his breath, but the Shinigami heard him. "She has been here waiting for more than hour," he replied.

"Then why didn't you tell anything before?" Haku almost yelled. Why did the Shinigami had hidden her from him?

"I didn't tell anything because she requested it. She asked me to talk to you in private without letting the people know she was here. The only way to do that was to act as if I'm actually working to bore them out, and it did work." The Shinigami glanced at Haku playfully. "Now I'll leave you two alone to talk." The Shinigami got inside the bath house to and Haku was left alone in the rooftop.

Slowly, a fog figure started to form in front of him. At first it was shapeless, but it soon took the shape of his beloved. She was smiling, and she seemed happy and at peace. She wore a beautiful, long Kimono which color wasn't distinguished because of the same fog, but she look sparkling, dazzling. "Chihiro" he whispered under his breath, eyes widened in awe.

She giggled a little, and he thought that even as a ghost she was still the most beautiful girl he had ever met. She spoke in soft voice, it didn't changed despite her being death, but the voice seemed to come out of the wind around them, not from her mouth; in fact, she wasn't even opening it. "Hello, again, Haku."

He again was surprised by his voice. It was a beautiful and melodic sound; he the realize that she didn't spoke, she sang. She spoke everything in a beautiful tune. Haku didn't know she had such a voice. "You're an angel," it was all he could pronounce in his speechlessness.

Chihiro giggled again "Don't be silly."

Somehow, Haku snapped back to reality. "How long have you been here?"

"A while."

"So why didn't I saw you?"

"Because I didn't want you to. I can decide whether I'm visible or not, and I didn't want to be visible for all that people. You are the only person who I want to talk to right now."

Haku reached a hand to her face, to her cheek, but passed her through, deforming Chihiro's face a little in the process; it was like when somebody touch a reflex in the water: you can still see it's shape, but the details lose form. Haku retrieved his hand and Chihiro's smile erased from her face. "I'm sorry, Haku, I'm making you suffer right now."

"No, no... Don't say that. It's never been your fault," Haku replied frenetically. He tried to hug her, but stopped when he realized he would just pass her through. "I am the one who should be apologizing. It is my fault you were dragged into this mess, it's my fault you are dead."

Chihiro looked at him sympathetically "Haku, don't say that, you were doing you best to try to save me but I wasn't fast enough nor strong enough."

"No, Chihiro... I need to tell you the truth. It was my fault Gorr found out about you in the first place."

"What do you mean?" Chihiro looked puzzled.

Haku gulped loudly, nervous because he was going to confess his biggest sin. He knew that Chihiro might grew to hate him, and she had all the right, but he just didn't want that. Just imagining her hating him broke his heart."You remember why I was trapped here with Yubaba?"

"How can I forget? You were her apprentice; that's how I first met you." She smiled at the memory, but looking at Haku's serious face, her smile left.

"You taught me a very important lesson that time, Chihiro. You recovered my name and I was free again, but then I heard about Gorr. I had heard he was the most powerful of all, and again, greed and desire for power consumed me. I wanted to learn and to surpass him, but for that I needed a teacher. I asked him to be my teacher, so I was basically becoming, again, an apprentice."

"Why would you do that, Haku? Even after all you had to endure by being Yubaba's apprentice!"

"I know! And that's what I regret the most. She told me, Zeniba told me, Kamaji told me, even Lin told me not to do it; but I didn't listen. I went and follow my own selfish desires. I arrived at his palace, and he let me in. He listened to my request and seemed to be willing. I had heard he was the most powerful, but I didn't hear he was also, the most selfish, greedy, evil man that could ever exist. He is the most powerful of all because he uses dark magic; so basically, he sold his soul in order to control that magic... and I didn't know that." Chihiro was stunned, but she never interrupted. "Part of the deal was that I was going to run his errands, and not all of them were harmless. With Yubaba I did her dirty work but it never reached as far as to kill someone; Gorr was... is... different. He doesn't care who dies as long as he can achieve his evil goals. I was going to run those errands."

Haku stopped for a minute, to catch his breath and to calm down. The worst part of the story was yet to come and every minute that passed he grew more nervous. He passed his hands through his hair in exasperation and continued. "I refused." Chihiro sighed in relief; because, apparently, she had taught that the worse had happen and that Haku had killed someone innocent. "But he wouldn't let me go that easily. He... he... kind of... read my mind; no, he read my soul... and he found you."

"Haku..."

"Don't... please don't say anything yet," Haku sighed "He found you and he also found out my feelings for you. If I hadn't feel anything then you would have been safe, but no, he could read my feelings just as he could read a book. He decided to hunt you down and use you as a hostage... or so I taught..."

"What does 'or so I taught' mean, Haku? Tell me..." There was a fierce fire in her eyes; even as a ghost, she still had the determination Haku always admired.

"He never wanted to use you as a hostage... He wanted to kill you from the very beginning because he wanted me to feel enraged, furious, desperate. With those feelings it was enough for him to pull me into the dark side, and that way I wouldn't deny doing his errands. He would then be my master, but he'd teach me everything in his own way, and I... I just didn't want to become like him. Right after you died, I went to his palace again; everything was going according to his plan and I didn't even know. He was about to transform me, I was already becoming like him... when I heard your voice."

Chihiro startled "My... voice?"

"Yes. You told me to fight back, you told me I couldn't give in to him. He mentioned something about forgetting love, and I didn't want to forget this wonderful feeling, and so I didn't, just like I didn't give in." Tears started running down his cheeks under the weight of the truth and he couldn't handle looking into her eyes. His own greed caused Chihiro to be the ghost that was standing in front of him, his own greed was the cause that every time he tried to touch her, he would just pass through.

Suddenly, he felt a warmness on his left cheek. He looked up and saw Chihiro with her hand on his cheek; well, a few centimeters apart, because she couldn't touch him neither. "I forgive you." Haku felt that same warmness extend all over his body, especially his heart. For a second, he felt like a massive weight was lifted off his shoulders and more tears came out as a reply to that felling.

"I am so sorry; it's all my fault," he sobbed and felt to his knees in front of her, looking down to the floor, while Chihiro smiled lightly and put down her hand.

"Just as you forgave the most despicable person alive, I forgive you now. Because that's what everybody needs once in a while. Now, I got to go. I've spent too much time away now."

Haku lifted his head quickly and begged her "Please, Chihiro, stay with me. Even for a little longer." Chihiro knelt so that her head was on the same level. "I can't. Imagine this world as a big kingdom. You, the spirits, belong to the nobility and I to the mob, so it's kind of illegal for me to be here."

"Then I'll go with you..."

Chihiro shook her head in denial. "It's complicated Haku, let's leave it like this." Haku looked to the ground, sadly. "Chihiro, there's something else I need to tell you... before you leave."

"What is it?"

"You remember I mentioned my feelings, right?" Chihiro nodded and Haku raised her head. He looked straight into Chihiro's eyes and felt his heart pounding in his ears. "Well, my feelings for you, ever since you left the spirit world when you had ten years old, stopped being of friendship a long time ago. Chihiro, I love you... I didn't know if you knew, but I needed to tell you because..."

Haku stopped when he saw silver tears running down Chihiro's cheeks. "What's wrong? Was It something I said?" He asked, feeling a bit disappointed of her reaction because he taught she'd be happy "I'll stop now, but please, don't cry."

"I... I am not crying because I'm sad... I'm... just... very happy to hear that... Ever since I came here for the first time... I loved you, and I love you even now, but I never taught you'd feel the same... especially towards... me..." Chihiro replied while drying her tears.

Haku stood up slowly and neared Chihiro; just like she did before, he reached his hand but didn't put it on her cheek, just a few centimeters away "Precisely because it's you" he said staring at her eyes. Chihiro melted inside, and it reflected in her fogyish figure.

"How long have I waited to hear you say that..." Chihiro said, then sighed. "Haku, I really have to go now, my time is up."

"Can't you stay a little longer? Can't you stay here forever?" Haku pleaded.

"No, this isn't my place and I must go back."

"Will I see you again?"

"Maybe. I don't really know."

"I'll wait, whatever time necessary, if that means seeing you."

Chihiro smiled sadly "I hope I can see you again too. But for now, it's goodbye." Chihiro faded into the night sky, leaving Haku standing alone. And out of the blue, it started to rain.