Unrelenting. That was the best way the dragon could describe the human girl who now lived with Rin. Haku had taken heed of Yukaoi's words, and decided that it was best that he kept watch over her during the day, especially to prevent her from wandering too close to certain windows.
Although the plan was working, and nothing had been destroyed by any sudden monster attacks for four days, the human girl had been pestering him for the past two days non-stop, just to step outside. She had tried every excuse she could think of. She hadn't had enough sun. She felt sick. She wanted to get Chihiro. She wanted to make sure Rin was okay. The list just kept on going, and the excuses or reasons to leave getting more obscure.
"What if Chihiro was out there at this very moment, and we don't realise because you're imprisoning me here?" Ryumiko argued, feigning concern for Chihiro while pacing the length of her room over and over, the silvery hem of her grey dress fluttering behind her. Haku simply rolled his eyes at her tactic.
Noticing Haku had yet again wordlessly rejected her proposal to leave, she moved onto the next thing that came into her mind, "Oh come on Haku! It's not like I'm going to be alone! You'll be right beside me so I'm not going to get mauled by some demonic raven again if I have a dragon spirit on my side, right? Besides, what if my aunt comes here because she's looking for me? Then Yubaba would kidnap her and take her hostage, leaving you with an extra problem huh? That's it, you should really let me out to clear things with my aunt! You don't want another thing troubling you right?"
When the dragon remained silent, she huffed and tried to think up a new excuse, one that would definitely get her out of the stifling house. She finally stopped pacing and fixed excited blue eyes on his own green ones.
"What is it?" he asked impatiently, waiting for her to give up already.
The girl took a step towards him, "What's it like to fly?"
The dragon spirit raised an eyebrow. Had she finally given up? "It's - It's kind of like -"
Blue eyes waited expectantly at his answer.
"It feels like you can do anything," he said quietly, never really having to describe the feeling of flying to someone before. "You feel - stronger... and lighter at the same time. All your concerns seem to leave you as -"
He stopped abruptly, feeling like he was rambling nonsense. He glanced embarrassedly at the human girl, wondering if she thought he was strange for saying such personal things to someone that he had hardly gotten to know. Instead of seeing the judgemental expression he expecte, Ryumiko wasn't looking at him, rather staring wistfully out the window. She blinked up at him though, when she realised he'd stopped talking.
"Is there something wrong?" she asked him, concern suddenly plastering her face. When he exhaled deeply, she took it as a no. Instead, she let Haku gaze in horror as her expression slowly turned mischevious. "So, Haku..." she said, sauntering away from him, sitting on her bed, a calculating grin on her face.
"I think I want you to show me what it's like to fly!" she said.
Haku scoffed, "And here I thought you'd finished with your silly ideas to get out of the house..."
"Well this is for your benefit as well, because if you don't, I will begin to talk incessantly until you agree," she said smirking.
"You've been talking incessantly since I met you. It is nothing new and I have managed to keep my sanity quite well. I can easily decline to your offer," Haku replied haughtily, hardly thinking that the girl could prove to be anymore irritating than she alread was.
With that, Ryumiko inhaled loudly with a sly smile and began speaking as quickly and coherently as possible...
"Really Haku, you should really know better. I don't think you thought this through! I mean seriously I can talk like this for ages, since I used to use this on Chihiro when she was being unreasonable as well. It's funny though. I wonder how long you'll last? Maybe forever? But that's okay because remember I can talk like this for hours and hours and hours and hours and hours without needing to eat and my voice has never gone hoarse after talking non-stop. I really want to go flying, don't you think that it's unfair that you're holding all the glory of flying to yourself? That's selfish. I wonder what Rin's doing right now. Who knows? Maybe we'll never know! Just like the thing with my clothes and that red dragon. I wish I knew his name so I could say thank you. I really want to paint this room, it's really too bright in the morning because I forget to put the curtains up before I sleep! I like the moon. Do you? Do you like sweet stuff? Because you really don't look like the type to like them. And also you should know th-"
She was stopped momentarily by Haku's hand covering her mouth. He grinned when he'd thought he'd won, stopping her flow of speech with a simple gesture such as this proved her method futile. He marvelled at the sudden silence, the talking had been grating his nerves with every word that passed her lips. He watched her eyes narrow before she continued, even with his hand covering her mouth, "Mmmph ngh mimph yufuph rummum mpf, mummg gumph fum..."
Haku shuddered when he realised her continuous muffled speech was even worse.
"OKAY! I will show you what it's like to fly... outside of the house... As long as I can set rules!" Haku said, surrenderring, not quite believing how one girl could cause him to give up so easily.
Releasing her mouth, she smiled brightly. "That's fine! Just as long as you let me fly with you sometime!" she said chirpily, sticking out her hand.
Haku took the offered hand and closed the deal with a single shake, instantly regretting his decision, the moment Ryumiko silently leapt up and danced around the room. As he watched her dance of victory, he noticed the careful way she held herself as she flitted about the room.
"Do you by chance... peform dance in the World of the Living?" he asked, watching as the grey dress on the girl, slowly and reluctantly came to a stillness, the hem settling around her ankles.
Ryumiko giggled and scratched the back of her head nervously, "Uh - I guess that's what you could call it! Can I ask you something?"
When Haku nodded, she sat down, "Why do you and Rin still go by those names? Since you're free from Yubaba, don't you want to be called by your real names?"
Haku's lips pressed together in thought, "Well, for Rin, she hasn't been called anything other than 'Rin' for over half a decade. For me, I'm happy just knowing my own name. People may call me whatever they want."
Ryumiko's eyes had widened considerably in fascination, which made Haku worry for her mental state, as he'd given her a very uninteresting answer.
"Rin's over fifty years old?" she cried.
Haku shook his head in exasperation, "That is all you got out of what I just said?"
"No no! I understood everything else, but man! Rin looks exactly they way she did eight years ago in Chihiro's drawings! How can she be so... old?"
"Aging works differently in the Spirit World," he said dryly. "Although time passes, physical features generally take time to mature unless the spirit in question wishes to age." He was taken by suprise as she suddenly got too close to his face for comfort.
Her glittering blue eyes bored into his as she spoke, "How old are you then Mr. Dragon?"
Haku pushed her away a little, "That is nothing you need to know."
The girl sat back down and folded her arms across her chest. "I think I deserve to know! I can't have my dear eighteen year old cousin falling in love with an eight thousand year old guy, can I?" she said with an edge of humour in her voice. "I actually don't mind but hey, it would have been interesting to know."
"You crazy brat," Haku mumbled as she stood to get something to eat.
"And you're an ancient old man," she said back to him as she walked out the door. "When I've finished eating, I want to hear about these 'rules' before you show what it's like to fly!"
Elsewhere, Yukaoi was pacing the length of the large marble hall she was waiting in, her silver eyes clouded with worry. She hadn't expected to be seen when she'd gone to deliver clothing to the prophecised one... That was a mistake. But then again it was a fellow dragon so it might have been okay. The dark, night-coloured cloth of the dress she wore, made her stand out against the pale marble. She was dressed in her finest to meet the Dragon Clan's leaders, preparing herself for the interrogation she was about to receive.
The Dragon Clan's leaders had not all gathered like this for thousands of years, no enemy really being too powerful for any one division to handle. The Dragon Clan was really just the name for the race of dragons. Of course they had leaders but that was only because they were the most powerful where they lived, and thus were granted rule over all the dragons living within their territory. The Dragon Clan, also meant that all the dragons in the said clan, shared a great power source... one that was now in the hands of Yubaba.
Yukaoi had also been wondering what the two prophecies meant. Why were there two in the first place? The prophecy the Dragon Clan had been given was specific to the person in question, and they had easily discovered a human spirit that matched their description. However, the dragon Kohaku had said that it was a human spirit who had previously lived in the Spirit World before. Apparently the human had not done so. The thought that the dragon spirit Kohaku, had been so adamant that the black haired girl was not the one they were looking for, but was still protecting her for some reason... It seemed clear to her that the girl was important to finding this other human, based on the dragon Kohaku's actions.
"Miss Yukaoi!" called a messenger spirit, bowing to the dragon. "The clan leaders are ready to address you."
Straightening her back, she walked through the large marble door the messenger held open for her. She walked forward into the dimly lit room, seeing the leaders all seated before her, surrounding a glowing orb imbedded in the floor. Yukaoi's heart wrenched at the weak glow of the orb. This orb was the source of all the Dragon Clan's power, which once lit up the room as if it were always daytime, now diminshed to little more than the glow of a campfire. She took the seat opposite them, staring grimly at the orb.
The oldest and most powerful leader stood, beginning the meeting, "Yukaoi, what news is so urgent that you have requested our presence?"
As he seated back down, she told them of the meeting with Kohaku and aboutthe two prophecies about the Spirit World's saviour. She noticed the gradual darkening of the leader's expressions as she spoke, questions greatly rising.
"Are you sure the human has not lived here before?" one of the younger leaders asking.
Yukaoi sighed, "The dragon Kohaku has told me that she has not. It seemed Kohaku believed someone else was prophesised, but that the human we are protecting has some connection to her. If that is the case, I believe it necessary to keep protecting this human until certainty has settled."
The leaders all nodded, the eldest standing up once more, "We shall investigate further into these two prophecies and decide on a course of action later. Until that time, Yukaoi, find out more about the human Kohaku believes is the one we need."
Yukaoi nodded and was dismissed. She fled the room, finding it stifling. The loss of their power was still too raw. She was too proud, and she knew it, but to have her people's noble power in the hands of a greedy and filthy witch made her feel sick. She hated powerlessness. She wondered if this was how the dragon Kohaku had felt under the rule of Yubaba. Yukaoi had never met him before last night, but it had come as a surprise to the dragons she knew when they heard rumours that he was the servant of a witch. Surely he was famous for something extraordinary then. If that was the case, it must have been so excruciatingly difficult for him to bear being trapped in a cage.
She was going to talk to have to talk to Kohaku anyway, to find out this mysterious human he seemed to think was the real prophecised one.
Chihiro miserably rubbed away the pecil marks she'd drawn on the page. She hadn't been able to sketch anything else except for the pair of green eyes that currently plagued her mind. Why now of all times had Haku's face appeared, just when she was finally getting over him and starting to like someone else? She couldn't be feeling guilty for liking someone else, because let's face it, the dragon spirit had never come to see her in eight years, what did she have to feel guilty for? For not waiting oh-so-calmly and patiently for another unknown number of years? That would just be so unfair.
Though it still bothered her that all of a sudden she was seeing his face.
Tossing the sketchbook into the corner of the apartment, Chihiro sighed as she made her way to the wardrobe to get ready for her date with Allen. She really liked the guy, and he was, you know, human. They had the same art class together and over time they'd gotten to know each other. She had a good feeling about the date, even though she was nervous out of her mind.
Her mobile went off, just as she changed into a nice dress. Lookng at the caller, she noticed it was her mother.
"Mum?" she asked, answering the call.
"Ryumiko's missing! No-one can find her anywhere! You two are like sisters. She hasn't told you anything has she? It's like she just vanished into thin air!" her mother cried. Chihiro felt like dropping the phone, a sinking feeling coming over her.
"M-Mum! Calm down! Did she leave anything at home or is everything of hers still there?" she asked.
After a few sniffles from the other end, her mother spoke, "She left everything here except the clothes on her back. Last time we spoke she was going out for a jog! She said wanted to get excercise over the holidays."
"I need to go Mum but I'll come over there in a few days okay? Bye and don't worry!" she said hurriedly, quickly hanging up. She knew where Ryumiko was... Her cousin never excercised. Her cousin had multiple times told her that she'd rather become obese than force herself to do something she hated, and that something was any sort of fitness. Ryumiko had not gone out for jogs during the holidays, she was taking advantage of her absence. She'd been looking for the Spirit World... and she'd found it.
Chihiro glared at the sketchbook in the corner. She'd tried so hard to keep her younger cousin away from that world, not wanting her to meet the grotesque witch that ran the bath-house. Yubaba had been so furious that Chihiro had bested her in front of her entire staff, and was probably even more angry, since she'd told Haku his real name. If Yubaba still held a grudge against her, she didn't know what would happen if she got her hands on Ryumiko.
"Damn..." Chihiro mumbled as she dialled Allen to cancel their first date. Fate seemed to conspire against Chihiro to have a normal peaceful life...
YAY! Only one more exam to gooo! Haha! Now Chihiro knows! Oooh I'm so excited for the next chapter!
Also thank you for the birthday wishes! ^.^
Many thank-yous to:
Mysticbreeze327 (I think Chihiro's got eight years of pent up rage, ready to vent on Haku XD It will be interesting!)
InkWoven (I am very glad you like it! Don't worry I do that too with other stories XD)
Laugh. While. Crying (Did some of this clear up your confusion? If not please tell me ^-^)
cynthiarox66 (Thank you for reviewing! :3)
I loved getting reviews from you! Why? Because reviews are my life! Not really but they're like random gifts people sometimes surprise you with! PURE AWESOMENESS!
REVIEW PLEASE?
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