Disclaimer: Hayao Miyazaki created these characters, I just ran with them.
Bloodbath
Arata reached out a hand to the crumbled rocks before him, his fingertips came away covered in dust. Surely this hadn't just happened; they would have heard, if a bit of the tunnel had collapsed. But the last time he came here, there had been a room beyond this. He tried to find a crack, a fissure, anywhere that he could look through; to see if the whole interior had been crushed. There was no way Chihiro could be down there. No way. He could hear Chrissie praying, and Mei was calling quietly for their friend. "She's not down here," he croaked, "she can't be."
Chihiro was on the other side of the deceptively dry creek, when she came to a set of stairs; the doorway was in sight, but something inside her begged to turn around for the briefest glimpse back. Strangely she found herself both relieved, and disappointed, to see that the mysterious man had maintained his position on the stone steps across the dry river. His gaze met hers and her breath caught in her throat. For a second she saw an emotion flicker across his face. Was that hope? Her heart, that had just begun to calm, picked up tempo again as though dancing to a secret song. He took a step, and that broke the spell. Chihiro turned back to the stairs and gingerly made her way down the deep steps. She was almost free; she could collapse when she was safe and sound in her warm bed. Oh, how much she wanted a shower, and then a soak in a tub with a fizzy mango bath ball, to soften and perfume the water. When she got home, she would ask her mother for a cup of her famous lemon, ginger, herbal tea. Ask her father to take her to the hospital, so that she could have her forehead stitched up. Hopefully it wouldn't scar too badly. Meeko would be angry with her for leaving him to sleep alone. How she missed her annoying little furball. She was going to snuggle him to death. And once she got out of this horrible dress, she was going to burn it. Stepping into the cool shadow of the building she started to feel just how terribly wet and cold she was. Goosebumps pebbled her skin, and tremors spread from her spine outward, like grapevines. Her teeth chattered and she took a deep breath as she walked inside. She was not prepared for what she saw next.
Stepping into the column studded chamber she was expecting to see pastel colored circular windows, a decrepit bird bath in the corner, maybe even some leaves and dust lining the floor. She had not expected to see a cracked pillar and stone, and rocks blocking the opposite exit. Shaking hands covered her mouth, and she fought the desire to run to the opposite end and try to pry the stones out of the way. If it had collapsed once, what was going to stop the ceiling from crushing her too? What about the others!? Were they alright? Tears sprang to her eyes and it took all of her willpower not to drop to her knees. She knew that if she did that, she would not get back up again. It wasn't until the sun offered its comforting warmth that she noticed her body was dejectedly returning the way it had come.
Haku watched her head disappear from view. He sighed, he was glad she would be going back home; he wanted to help her, but the more contact they had the weaker his memory spell would become and he couldn't risk her coming back for him. Or worse, if she remembered him, and didn't bother to return. He didn't know how long he stood there. He was soaked to the bone, but the cold bothered him little. Turning away he spotted something out of the corner of his eye. Hair covered her face and she was climbing over the hill on all fours. He ran down the steps to the river's edge, he could go no farther. Why was she returning? What had happened? The sound of her broken sob reverberated in his mind and his stomach twisted in his gut. At the top of the hill she laid down and he watched horrified as she rolled down the other side nearly smashing her skull against a rock. Was she reckless or just stupid? Once she reached the bottom, she groggily got back onto all fours and crawled to the edge of the creek. Helplessly, he strained against the barrier of the spirit world, wishing he could stop her agony. She looked up at him then. She looked petrified and in such pain. Strange black tears lined her cheeks; he had never seen such an occurrence before. He couldn't help himself, spell or no, "Cross the river," he commanded. "I can't help you unless you come across!" She seemed to understand and she looked up and down the creek trying to find a pathway across. He pointed one out, where the rocks made a diagonal bridge, "There, cross over there." She made her way to the first rock but then she paused.
"Why are you doing this?"
"What?" Haku was at a loss.
"Why are you helping me?"
"Would you rather I didn't?"
"That doesn't answer my question," she accused. Her eyes were filled with distrust.
"I would never hurt you Chihiro. I could never hurt you," he said softly. So much for spells, he thought miserably.
"You know me?" she croaked.
"Yes," he said simply.
"Have I been here before," she asked delicately.
"Yes," he replied. Chihiro opened her mouth, but before she could say anything else, Haku interrupted. "No more questions, for now. Cross the river, and then we will talk." Chihiro looked at him suspiciously then. But she obediently moved to the next rock.
Chihiro was seated at a low table. She had been left in the care of a kind woman in pink work robes named Rin. The woman had a sweet face, shaped like a peach. Her brown hair was tied in a loose pony and her short cropped bangs stuck out like little spirals from her forehead. The most unusual thing about her was her eyebrows, they sat on her face like thick commas. Just now though, Chihiro was so busy wolfing down her meal, she couldn't have cared less if Rin had tentacles and a goat head. "Woah, slow down, no one is going to take it away," Rin chuckled. Chihiro put down her spoon and her rice bowl.
"Thank you."
Rin blushed, "Well of course, you are Master Haku's guest afterall." Haku had instructed Rin to keep all knowledge of her past relationship with Chihiro a secret. She couldn't help but feel affection for the poor girl though. She had grown so tall! "Ahem, are you finished?"
"Ummm, well I am still hungry, but I don't want to have a stomach ache; could I maybe have more later?"
"Oh, but of course!" Rin smiled kindly, "Come on, let's go get you cleaned up and then you can take a nice bath." She gently held out her hand and led Chihiro to the bath house. They went to her designated room, and she sat Chihiro on a large fluffy bath mat. Kamaji had been roused early and had already prepared a nice bath of oatmeal and jasmine, specifically for her. Rin took a beautiful ceramic bowl, emblazoned with shimmering white dragons and scooped out some of the water. Then she got some small hand towels and kneeled before Chihiro. The girl looked like she still wasn't able to relax. Rin took a towel and soaked it in the perfumed water. Then she rung it out and leaned forward, measuring Chihiro's reaction with her eyes. Chihiro flinched, as Rin stroked the towel over her cheek; slowly she relaxed her face but her shoulders remained tense. "So, if you don't mind my asking, what happened?"
"Hmm?"
"Your eyebrow, you look like you got in a bar fight," Rin clarified. She tried to keep it light, and not make Chihiro feel obligated to share anything she didn't want to. She continued to clean off her face, washing off some odd green and black stuff that was caked around her eyes. She looked distastefully at the water in the bowl that had changed from clear to pink, to brown, to a grosser murky brown. Rising to get a second bowl with clean water and fresh towels, she heard Chihiro take a breath. She seemed to wait until Rin came back beside her before deciding to speak.
"Close, I got in a fight with a chair leg." At Rin's raised eyebrows, Chihiro laughed softly, "I was trying to get down from an oversized rocking chair, and I hit my head pretty hard."
"Wow," Rin said and made a face. "I thought I had a rough wake up call." She was remembering Haku shove clothes in her face and ordering her to get up for an emergency. She had, on this one instance, agreed. One look at the girl's face and she had lost all anger towards the dragon lord. "Come on, if you need a second bath we'll just get the boiler man to make up a new one for you, he won't mind." She couldn't stand watching the poor girl shiver in that poor excuse for clothing. Chihiro only nodded. Rin got up and circled Chihiro and went to help her remove the strange robe. It was tied up in ribbons, and clasped with many small metal teeth. She looked at it in confusion unsure of where to start.
"You can just cut it off," Chihiro said, she must have sensed her apprehension. "I hate this thing; it's been nothing but trouble."
"But you will need it to get back," Rin said, and then she clasped her hands over her mouth. Chihiro didn't seem to notice however, so she quickly tried to move past that slip up by undoing the strange laces.
"Press the cloth together and the clasps should slip free," Chihiro advised, and she compressed her shoulder blades to make the task easier. Rin did as she suggested, and the little hooks slipped free of their holsters surprisingly easily. When she was finished she pushed the dress off of Chihiro's shoulders and was going to help her step out of it but Chihiro clutched the fabric to her chest. Her blush was evident. "I can bathe myself, if you don't mind."
"Master Haku wouldn't like it if I left you alone," Rin responded gently.
"Well as much as I appreciate his hospitality, I don't really care what he wants," Chihiro grumbled.
At this she laughed, the girl still had the fire in her that Rin had admired, even when she was still a child, "Alright, but he won't hear that from me." Chihiro looked relieved."Tell you what, I'll sit outside the screen, and that way I'll be right here if you need me."
"Thank you," Chihiro said sincerely, and as she watched Rin walk away, her tears flowed freely. Once the woman was behind the screen, Chihiro peeled off her dress and made quick work of her undergarments. She stepped into the beautifully scented bath. At first she had been afraid that it would only further sting and pain her injuries, but from the second she touched her skin to the water a soothing, numbing, warmth took over her body. She let her whole body sink into the bath and dipped her head and face in. When she reopened her eyes the water was stained red.
Author's Note:
Ok I know, I'm horrible, I'm sorry. But sometimes you have to break down a character before you can build them back up again. And what doesn't kill you, makes you stronger… blah blah blah and whatnot. I'm not really into that I just wanted to show that even at her most vulnerable Chihiro knows who she is, and I find great strength in that.
Anyway, the appetizers are done, most of our main characters have been introduced, (yes we still have a couple to meet, but that comes later, don't be hasty) and now we can move on to the main course, yay!
As always thank you for reading!
(And I do apologize, and I feel low for doing this; but I am honestly going to keep the next chapter hostage until I get at least 10 more reviews. I have no idea what most of you think of my story or my interpretations of the characters. I need feedback people!)
To those of you who have been commenting regularly or who have just discovered this fic and commented recently thank you for all of your wonderful words of encouragement and for enjoying this journey.
Take care,
Boots
