Author's Notes
Okay, sorry this chapter is a bit late, but I battle a bad case of writer's block every time I sit down to write this thing. I usually just have to wait until I get an idea. I also have this nasty problem of changing my mind about the way I want a scene to go halfway through writing it, and then I have to go back and change it. It's not fun, but I think it makes the story a bit better.
NOTICE: Idiot me finally went back and read my own story trying to get ideas and figured out that only half of chapter four had ever loaded. So you might want to go back and read that...
Disclaimer: I do not own spirited away
Review responses:
Storm-Maker - You know, with your ideas for torture you'd fit in really well with the guardians. About the Chihiro thing... thanks for telling me. I didn't even really realize I was doing it but I guess you're right. She's kind of hard to write right now because she has no clue what's going on.
Smoke Angel - Yes, yes Chihiro and Kohaku will get another shot, sooner or later. However, Chihiro's little "I couldn't go out with him because he's a friend" comment will come back to bite her in the butt. Thanks for you review!
Cute Anime Kitty - Don't change your reviews. I love finding out which parts in the story you thought to be funny. It helps me get a sense of what I can put in where. The mirror image of Kohaku...well you'll find out....
ArikaPhantomess - Thank you! I work so hard to have plot. My friend and I constantly argue about how much fluff should be in a story, I say fluff is nice, but I need a plot. She disagrees.
Yumegrl820 - Thank you! It's so nice to get compliments like that... Good guess on the mirror image, but not quite right.
urban_angel809 - Thank you! I'm working hard on updating, promise.
Rachel - Thanks! I'm already ten chapters in and I've barely introduced the bad guy... how long is this thing gonna get?
Silver Petra - Thanks for your review. I'm working on the updates.
Lady Moon3 - Yes PLOT! I love plot. I've read and sadly done enough all fluffy love stories that I would no longer write a story longer than a one shot that didn't have some form of plot behind it. The mirror-copy? Read on....
Sonha - Thank you! My parents tell me to give up fanfiction and write original stories, but they don't get to read reviews like this. The movie is amazing isn't it?
The Clueless - Thank you! Tomoe will come in either next chapter or the chapter after that. It all depends, I'm really not sure yet.
Einstein09 - How's your male harem? What do you think Medical Michael thinks of your harem? You won't pester me about the end... yeah right. I should just stop telling you anything, but it's more fun to keep talking and annoy you.
Mitsuko Maxwell - Good guess. Not quite right. But good guess. Chihiro's parents will be out of the way for a while...I think... Thanks for your review!
Theresa L'Anne - Thank you! I'll work on the update speed. Or try to.
Kerei Kitsune - Thanks for reviewing!
GoldenRat - Tomoe will appear in a few chapters. You can wonder about her until then. As for Kohaku... keep reading....
The credit for this goes completely to the movie and Lin's line:
"Two Hakus? I can barely stand one."
Lin....welcome to your worst nightmare
Chapter 10: Had a Great Fall
The guardians of light had faced many things that most mortals would have run away from screaming. Demons, shadows, darkness itself. The had "died" in various painful and gruesome ways, including but not limited to drowning, arson, strangulation, implosion, and bleeding to death. Any fear that they felt was rarely for themselves, but more often for their baby sister.
But not this time.
No, this time they were filled to the brim with terror. Nausea sat in the pits of their stomachs. Sweat shown on their brows. Nothing in the entire universe was as frightening as what they were about to face.
"What on earth were you thinking?"
The ten-year-old form of Light didn't really suit her just then. She should have been taller. And green. And had several heads.
"I really never expected you four to do anything this stupid! But I suppose then this is my fault for overestimating you."
They cringed.
Light then did something odd. She began looking at each of then and pointing quickly, then looked puzzled and did it again.
None of the guardians really wanted to ask what she was doing, but they did want to get their punishment over with. Zepher was finally the one brave (or foolish) enough to ask.
"What are you doing sister dear?"
"I'm counting," she snapped. "I could have sworn that there were four of you. Which would mean that at least one of you could have stayed behind and watched Kohaku's back. But I forgot, even if there are four of you, you only share one brain."
Anyone else who had though to make that kind of comment to the elemental guardians would have shortly found themselves in a very uncomfortable and most likely painful position. But this wasn't anyone else or even Kohaku. This was their baby sister. And from the way it sounded, they were the ones who would shortly end up in a painful position.
"I'm thoroughly disgusted with the four of you. I-"
"GIVE IT BACK!"
"No!"
All five turned and raced into the room where they had left the two Kohakus that had arrived at the palace a short while ago. After a short interrogation that found that the Kohakus had no idea how they had gotten this way and could barely remember the battle they had fought, Light had pulled her guardians into the next room to 'talk.' They hadn't thought that there would be any problems, but seeing each Kohaku griping the crystalline katana and pulling it away from the other, they realized that they could have been wrong.
"It's mine!"
"No it's not, it's mine! Besides what do you need a sword for? You're a total coward!"
"So? At least I'll be a coward with a powerful sword!"
"You're pathetic." Kohaku pulled the sword up hard, wrenching it away from the other's grip and making him fall to the ground. The fallen Kohaku pouted. "And you're mean."
The 'mean' Kohaku strapped the katana to his side and the 'coward' Kohaku stuck his tongue out at him.
The guardians looked at Light.
"I know the four of you aren't looking at me like you expect me to take care of this." She warned, her eyes still on the bickering Kohakus.
The four turned away very quickly.
"Now, seeing as you four cannot do anything right, I am going to go search for a way to help Ko and Haku. You are going to take them back to the bathhouse. Got it?"
They nodded. "Umm… Ko and Haku?" Gaven risked asking.
"What else do you propose to call them? Haku is the one with the sword and Ko's the one on the ground." She turned to the guardians. "You better not think that I'm done punishing you. I'm just waiting until I come up the best punishment possible." She walked out of the room, leaving paleing guardians in her wake.
"So…" Kaz started, being the first to gain back his composure. "You're not mad at us are you Koha- uh, Ko? Haku? Not your best buddies in the whole wide world."
Haku cocked and eyebrow and Ko smiled.
"Should I be?" "Of course not!"
Zepher forced a smile. "Great, well, we should get going then. Get you back home and all."
The guardians were nearly a hundred feet above the palace (aka their own personal chamber of doom) before they realized that Ko and Haku weren't with them.
"What's the matter?" Akiro growled as they landed. He was not happy at being yelled at when he had wanted to stay and fight.
"Haku can't-" "Shut up Ko."
Well, at least they'd taken to their new nicknames.
"Haku can't what?" Gaven asked.
Ko shifted uncomfortably as Haku glared at him. "I can fly, but I can't turn into a dragon." He explained instead.
"So….?" Zepher was confused.
"Wait. Are you saying that Haku can turn into a dragon, but can't fly?" Kaz asked.
Ko glanced nervously at Haku who was glaring at the ground. Ko nodded.
"Great! Just great! We've got a flying human and a grounded dragon! What could possibly be more convenient?" Akiro spat bitterly.
"How'd you guys get here in the first place?"
"We-" "Shut up already Ko!"
"No! I want to talk! You can't keep me from talking to my friends anymore!" Ko stuck his tongue out at his counterpart again before turning back to the guardians.
"We walked most of the way. That's why it took so long. When we got to the ocean Haku swam and I flew. He wouldn't let me even try to carry him."
Haku growled and Ko edged away from him a bit.
"So what are we going to do now?" Zepher asked.
"You think?" Gaven said.
"We have to." Akiro nodded.
"I'll get the stuff." Kaz sighed.
"No! Please you guys, I hate teleporting!"
"Don't whine Zepher, you know we can't do it without you."
"But Akiro!"
"Stop it."
Kaz came back with 'the stuff' and the three of them set it up in a circle around Ko and Haku. Even as he joined the circle and rose his own fire light to meet the lights of his brothers, Zepher sighed.
"I hate teleporting!"
***
Kawa-kami was not a happy river god.
He squinted as he looked down at the paper. Was that a 6 or a 3?
Ugh! Why couldn't the boy have finished with Yubaba's books before he decided to take his cute little girlfriend out?
And how had he gotten stuck doing them instead?
His attention (which really hadn't been all that focused on the books anyway) was quickly diverted by the small magical spark that appeared in the center of the room.
A flash and Light's guardians were standing in Kohaku's bedroom. Two other boys, both looking a little bit like Kohaku were unconscious in the center of their circle.
"Thank gods! They're knocked out!"
"C'mon Kaz. Kohaku's not that bad."
"I wasn't talking about Kohaku. I like Kohaku. I was talking about the halves from hell."
Gaven sighed.
"Zepher, are you okay?" Akiro asked the slightly green fire guardian who shook his head and plopped down onto the floor.
"Hey Kawa-kami!" Kaz turned to address the old spirit.
"Hello." Kawa-kami greeted him as he moved closer to their circle, quite confused.
"I suppose you're wondering what we're doing here. Well it's nothing major, we're just dropping off your apprentice-es…" Kaz explained.
"Those boys, they're both Kohaku?" Kawa-kami asked, not quite believing the guardians.
Gaven nodded and turned both river spirits so that Kawa-kami could see their faces.
The river god took in a harsh breath. "How did this happen?"
Kaz shrugged. "We dunno. Neither of them seem to remember."
Akiro hit Kaz over the head, which sent the wind guardian off to pout in the corner. "He was in a fight. His opponent did this to him. Light is looking for something to help. She's probably in the library right now." He amended.
Kaz glared at Akiro but Kawa-kami nodded. "Besides the obvious then is he alright?"
Kaz brightened. "For the most part, but he does have a splitting headache…"
All conscious in present company choose to ignore the really bad pun except Akiro who gave his fellow guardian another hit upside the head.
"We're calling them Ko and Haku right now. Haku's the one with the katana. They had a fight over it earlier. Haku's got serious attitude and Ko...well…Ko's a brat."
Kawa-kami just nodded, some more evil and devious part of his brain was far more concerned about which one of them he should wake up to finish Yubaba's books since she absolutely had to have them…
"We'll move them into the other room. You know it might not be the best idea for them to stay in this room… and since you seem busy anyway…"
Darn it!
***
Light sighed as she tucked away a bauble and summoned another forth. Researching through the library was faster this way, but also more straining.
She rejected the bauble she was holding and summoned yet another forth. All the knowledge that she had accumulated during her lives was stored here, shelved and categorized for her to flip through on a whim. She couldn't possibly keep it all within her while she held corporeal form.
She rejected that bauble as well and summoned four more to her. How she wished that she could look into his memories for this! He had always been much better with battle techniques than she was. But without his permission, it would be cheating… She really didn't want to resort to asking him, but it was something that seemed very much him…
Her guardians hadn't picked up on it, but her sense was better than theirs. Ko and Haku, but nothing in between. So much of what had made Kohaku himself…where had it gone?
She sent away the four baubles she had summoned, deeming their information useless. Where was the answer? What had happened to her warrior? And why couldn't she fix it?
***
Kawa-kami paced anxiously across the small room. What to do, what to do? Reality had set in and now he had to figure out what to do about Ko and Haku, forget Yubaba's books. Light had sent them to the bathhouse most likely to keep them out of the way, but perhaps she was also hoping that this was simply something that would wear off given enough time.
THAT would certainly be nice.
But he still felt that there was some other reason. They would be safer at the house of the moon then they would be here. So why…?
Kawa-kami shook his head, shelving the thought for the moment. Who should he tell? Ko and Haku were obviously vulnerable like this, and despite all their efforts they still weren't 100% certain that there weren't any spies in the bathhouse besides Ai.
Kawa-kami paled. Ai! How was he going to keep her from finding out? She would have to be sent away…somehow…
He rubbed his temples. He could feel a headache coming on. Yubaba would have to know. There was no way around that, but he wasn't too worried about her. Even if she resented Kohaku she respected the council more.
*Knock-Knock *
"Hey Kohaku! You in there?"
Kawa-kami froze. Lin.
"If you don't answer I'm coming in."
Pause.
"You've got five seconds. Five…four…three…two…"
Kawa-kami did the first thing he could think of. He pulled the door open, yanked Lin into the room and slid it shut again.
"Hey what's the big idea? And why are you in Kohaku's room?" Lin demanded hands on her hips.
Kawa-kami made a shushing motion. "Quiet. That's not important."
Lin looked skeptically at the river god. "Whatever. Where's Kohaku? Is he back yet?"
Kawa-kami hesitated, but nodded.
"So where is he?" She asked.
Kawa-kami made another shushing motion, looking around the room nervously. "He's here. He's here…or rather they're here…"
"What are you talking about old man?" Lin was confused. Who on earth were 'they'?
Kawa-kami sighed. "Perhaps you should see for yourself."
He led her quietly over to a small door in the corner of the room and opened it to continue along the servants' passage. Lin ducked under a spider web that had formed in the little used hall and wondered what all the secrecy was for.
"Here." Kawa-kami declared, knocking on one of the wall panels, causing it to fall backwards. Lin gaped.
"I didn't know that this was here."
"Few do." He answered her making his way into the other room. Lin stumbled in after him.
"Okay." She stated brushing herself off. "Why is Kohaku here and why did we have to go through all…that…." She trailed off. There were two identical Kohakus sleeping quietly in the center of the room.
"What…what happened?" She breathed.
"He was injured in a fight." Kawa-kami answered, solemn at the sight of his halved apprentice.
"But…but how?"
"We don't know yet. Light is working on finding a solution as we speak."
"But…" Lin turned on the old spirit. "Sen said that the guardians came and got Kohaku. That he went with them."
Kawa-kami nodded.
"Then how did this happen? Why didn't they save him?"
The river god looked away. "From what they told me their opponent threatened Light. Kohaku told them to go and they left."
"That's not good enough!" Lin yelled, the control she'd had over her emotions breaking, "She's Light, she would have been fine! She is fine isn't she? And Kohaku's the one who's hurt and they don't know how to fix and they probably don't care…and this is all their fault!" Lin yelled. Kawa-kami shushed her again. "Come now, it wasn't like they wanted Kohaku to get hurt. They all care about him very much. As guardians, it's their duty to protect Light, and Light alone. They cannot be concerned about the safety of this world when she's in danger. That is why they chose Kohaku, to protect this world when they cannot."
"I don't care! He's too young for this. He's not ready… He's not…" Lin was holding back tears. This was the first time since Kohaku had come to the bathhouse that he'd come back injured in a fight. At least, that she knew about.
"You know that's not true. You don't need to get so upset. Kohaku is going to be fine."
"He'd better be." Lin answered, sniffling.
"Come now, I believe the boy is too stubborn to succumb to something like this."
Lin nodded, once again looking at the two Kohaku's on the floor. "I know he is. But I worry because he's stubborn about a lot of things, but I don't think that death is one of them. And when he does things like this…" She shook her head. "I just don't know what we would all do if he really left us like that. Annoying little brat that he is… I'd really miss him. But sometime I get the feeling that he just wants to give up. I don't know why…"
"You don't need to worry about things like that yet my dear. So don't. Kohaku will be fine and you can yell at him as much as you want when we put him back together again. Until then, I'd like to ask your opinion on something."
Lin wiped away the tears from her eyes as if she didn't know how they had gotten there. "Shoot."
"I was thinking that they should see Sen, but I don't know how she'd take it. They might have to be secluded for a while depending on whether we can get Ai away for a while…"
Lin's eyes widened. "Oh gods…Ai!"
Kawa-kami nodded. "I'm going to speak to Yubaba about it, but do you think Sen will be able to handle this?"
Lin nodded immediately. "Of course. She's Sen and he's Kohaku no matter what."
Kawa-kami smiled slightly at the answer and nodded.
***
"Ugh…"
"Your head hurts?"
Haku looked down his nose at his counterpart, who regarded him curiously.
"No, I'm groaning because it feels splendid!" He spat in return. Why did he have to deal with this idiot so early in the morning?
"My head hurts too." Ko admitted, oblivious to the sarcasm.
Haku sighed. "So, where is everybody?"
"I don't know." Ko shook his head. "This isn't our room, but no one has come in here yet."
"Can you sense Kawa-kami?"
Ko closed his eyes. "Yes." He answered. "He's upstairs talking to Yubaba. You can't sense him?" He tilted his head to the side and blinked curiously.
"I thought we went over this already. You've got the magic, I've got the fighting skills."
"I know…I just kind of thought that I would check…"
Haku snorted. "You would think something like that."
Ko looked slightly hurt. "Please don't be mad at me."
"'Please don't be mad at me.'" Haku mocked. "Why shouldn't I be mad at you? This whole thing is all your fault! If you had just dodged…It's just all your fault!"
"No it's not!" Ko returned. "Because-because I'm you and you're me and therefore this is your fault!"
"What kind of argument is that?"
"An intelligent one!"
Haku glared and Ko attempted to glare back, but he just really wasn't that good at it. Haku finally rolled his eyes and stood up walking towards the door.
"Where are you going?" Ko asked, any trace of anger he had at his other half completely forgotten.
"I'm going to go find something to eat."
Ko blinked. "Wait for me!"
***
Kawa-kami scowled at his apprentices. What had happened to Kohaku when he split that made him completely forget the idea of keeping a low profile?
Apparently being halved made you hungry, because he had found the two of them making a very conspicuous mess in the kitchens and being none too quiet about it. Thank Light that nobody had noticed before he got the two of them out of there….
If he had a physical heart, it would have probably stopped beating when he found Ko and Haku had left the safe room. He had warded the room when he and his apprentice had come to the bathhouse to be used for private discussions and communications with Light because they didn't know who in the bathhouse was watching them. After he had dragged the two of them out of the kitchens (but not before they both scarfed down a considerable amount of food) Ko had apologized meekly, looking deathly afraid of punishment. Haku on the other hand had scoffed at the idea that he could be in danger and said:
"Worry about the wimp. I can take down anyone who gets in my way."
Well, it was quite obvious which of them had gotten Kohaku's ego. No…that wasn't right. Kohaku didn't really have an ego. It was…pride maybe? Confidence? Haku just seemed absolutely certain that he could defeat anyone he needed to. But Ko seemed equally sure that if he himself ever got in a fight, he would lose. It was interesting…Where did Kohaku himself lie amongst that spectrum of absolute confidence and paralyzing fear?
Oh well, it didn't really matter right now.
"So, I've told Lin to bring up Chihiro."
The reaction was instant.
"Yay!" "You WHAT?!"
There was a knock at the door.
"Kawa-kami? You ready for us?" Lin asked.
"Sure, come in."
Ko looked excited. Haku looked like he couldn't decide whether he wanted the floor to swallow him, or if he wanted to kill someone.
The door slid open and Kawa-kami noticed with some amusement that the two took up almost an identical posture.
Lin entered the room first, followed by a very confused Chihiro. The younger girl stopped dead when she saw the two Kohakus.
"What happened?" She asked, like a lot of people seemed to have been doing lately.
"It's nothing to worry about. It just happened in the fight. Light's looking for an answer right now." Haku answered before anyone else could.
"You promised me that you would be okay."
Haku shifted uncomfortably, not sure how to answer.
"In time, we will be." Ko answered instead.
Chihiro started to walk forward hesitantly. She stopped a foot from them.
"Are you okay?"
Neither of them could look at her, because neither knew the answer.
Both were then shocked to find her hugging both of then as best she could at one time.
"I'm sorry." She whispered.
Ko and Haku glanced at each other and hugged her back.
"So are we."
***