Once they arrived back at the bath house Haku carefully helped Chihiro sit down on the small couch that resided in the living room. "Are you sure you don't want to lay down in the other room?" Haku asked as he began to make tea for the both of them.
Chihiro nodded, but then regretted it. The shaking of her head caused it to throb even more. She held her head, "Yeah, I'm okay here. I don't think I could sleep with my head in this much pain anyway."
Haku simply nodded once and continued to prepare the tea. While he was doing so Chihiro looked out the large window in the room as she rested on the couch. She watched as the cotton ball like clouds floated through the sky, the wind blowing slightly. She listened as the birds flew through the air whilst they cawed at each other, Chihiro imagined them talking to one another and it made her giggle.
"And what's so funny?" Haku asked with a smirk as he handed her a cup of tea.
Chihiro took the cup, it felt warm in her hands. "Oh nothing, I just had a random thought," she became silent for a moment. "What do you think about all this? I mean me learning magic that is."
Haku thought, he didn't want to discourage Chihiro, but he didn't want to lie to her either. "To be honest, I don't know if you can handle it. Don't take this the wrong way, I don't mean to offend you, I just worry that something may go wrong. Anything can happen with magic, and it can sometimes have very bad consequences."
The room became silent, nothing but the sounds of the water moving about below them filling the room. As Chihiro sipped her tea she began to think. She thought that learning magic would help her greatly, especially if a fight ever occurred, but she didn't know if she could handle it. With everything she had been through she knew she was strong, but she didn't know if she was strong enough mentally. She acted as though she was calm and collected on the outside, but on the inside she was a scared little girl, begging to go home.
"I don't know if I can handle it either," she sighed. "But all I can really do is simply believe in myself and hope for the best."
"I agree," Haku told her with a smile. "If you believe you can do it then I believe in you. Once you put your mind to something, nothing is impossible, right?"
Chihiro was about to respond but suddenly the room began to spin around her, and she collapsed onto Haku's lap. "Chihiro, are you alright?" Haku asked in panic.
Her vision faded in and out as her head rested on his lap. She didn't know what was happening to her, this odd feeling had suddenly washed over her out of nowhere. "I don't know, I just don't feel right."
"It might be the side effects of Zeniba's spell, it should pass in a few minutes. Just relax, you're going to be fine," Haku reassured her.
Chihiro breathed deeply in and out, trying to calm herself down. She closed her eyes as she thought about other things. Thoughts of her mother, her father, all of her friends in both the spirit world and hers, and Haku quickly flashed threw her mind. She could feel herself slowly calming down. When she finally opened her eyes she found that the room was no longer spinning and that she could see normally again.
Suddenly, she realized what she was doing, she was laying on Haku's lap. Her face burned bright red as she jolted off of his lap, and looked away from him. "Sorry," she whispered.
Haku laughed, "It's alright, nothing to worry about. Are you alright?"
Chihiro nodded, she still couldn't look at him, her face was beat red. "Yeah, thanks."
Haku slightly tiled his head. "Why aren't you looking at me? Are you sure you're alright?" Haku moved closer to her. "Chihiro?" he said almost at a whisper.
Chihiro slowly turned her head, her eyes widened in shock when she realized how close Haku's face was to hers. He was so close to her that she could feel the heat radiating off of his body. They looked at each other in silence, neither of them saying a word.
She watched as Haku's gaze moved from her eyes, to her lips, and then back to her eyes again. Chihiro knew her face was red, but she couldn't move under his gaze. "Haku," she whispered.
Haku could feel their faces slowly inch closer to one another, his heart was racing. He watched as her face turned bright red, it made him produce a slight smile. Their lips were only inches apart now, they both could feel their hearts racing a million miles an hour.
Haku began to close the distance between their lips, but suddenly someone burst through the door, her loud voice filling the small apartment. "Hey, is anyone here?" Hikari's voice echoed.
Both Haku and Chihiro jumped up in surprise as they moved to opposite sides of the couch, not looking at each other. They tried to act normal as they heard Hikari approaching, but both their faces were red.
"Oh, hey guys, are you alright? Why are your faces red?" she asked with a smirk as she looked back and forth between the two.
"N..Nothing's wrong, I think you're just imagining things!" Chihiro stuttered.
Hikari continued to smirk. "Alright, if you say so. Anyway," she changed the subject. "Do you guys want to do something fun tonight?" he face lit up.
Haku spoke up. "What do you have in mind?" he asked.
Chihiro and Haku looked at Hikari curiously. "Gambling!" she squealed. "Everyone gets together on our night off, and we play poker. You guys have to come tonight, it'll be so fun!"
"Absolutely not," Haku refused right away. "I didn't even know you gambled Hikari. What would Lin say if she were here?"
Hikari laughed. "You don't think she would be going? How do you think she got enough gold to leave this dump? Come on, take the stick out of your ass and have a little fun. What about you Chihiro, what do you want to do?"
"I'm not much of a gambler, but it sounds like it could be fun. I would be able to see everyone," she smiled.
Both girls looked over at Haku, Hikari giving him the puppy dog eyes. He tried to stay strong and resist, but he just couldn't deny them with the face Hikari was giving him. "Fine, but only for an hour, no later. Chihiro has training tomorrow."
"Yay!" Hikari squealed. "It starts in about an hour, meet me by the third floor elevator. See you guys!" She called as she rushed out, slamming the door behind her.
Chihiro looked over at Haku but then quickly looked away when he looked at her. She got up, "I'm going to lay down for a bit, see you later," she said quickly and rushed into the other room.
AN: You guys didn't think I was going to give you what you wanted so easily now, did you? Haha, anyway here is a nice long chapter for you guys. Sorry it's been awhile since I last updated. Okay, well leave a review and tell me what you think about the chapter! Thanks!
