Written Rivers

A Home Amongst Rivers

Chapter 10: Unconventional Reunion

Chihiro awoke to a very loud, very firm voice the following morning, and it didn't sound like he was happy. The blankets that covered her were heavy and kept her from seeing the figure who had just practically slammed the wooden door shut. Not moving seemed like the best option right now.

"What is the meaning of this?" The voice practically yelled. It was low and tense. "Last I checked we were not giving out free residency here. Especially after Yubaba!"

Chihiro bolted up and looked at the man causing the noise, causing him to falter in his lecture. The man before her was tall and lean, an older version of the boy she'd met so long ago. His mossy green hair cut in the low bob and his piercing slanted eyes looking like he could read her thoughts, a mysterious emerald hue. It was him.

"Chihiro?" He whispered, any anger he had before, gone.

"Hi Haku…" Chihiro tried to give a smile but for some reason, it didn't feel right. She considered Haku's face, but it was unreadable. She couldn't tell if he were happy, sad, relieved, angry, confused. It was just blank. "Haku?"

"Oh no…" She heard a voice behind her murmur. She turned, and she saw Makoto had woken up, his head turned toward them from where he lay, his eyes fixed on Haku and his ears were flat to his head.

"Makoto? What's wrong?" She asked, concerned and confused. She'd never seen him behave in such a way.

"What were you thinking, Makoto?" Haku gritted.

Chihiro's head swerved back to the dragon, taken aback by his tone. This was not at all what she was thinking their meeting would be like. And who was he to talk to Makoto in such away?

"I apologize, Kohaku-Sama…" Makoto adjusted his laying posture so that his paws were facing Haku and his head bowed lowly. Chihiro knew this posture. It was a posture of submission amongst canines.

"I was injured, I owe him my life. I could have died that day, but he nurtured me back to health."

She was beginning to understand the reason for Makoto's high respect for the dragon spirit.

"Apologize?" Haku's stance was tense and rigid, he was not happy. "You let her come here at the worst possible time. Yubaba is now running around in a frenzy and highly unpredictable. Not to mention-"

"Now, now, Haku." Kamaji interjected, trying to pacify the dragon. "Let's calm down and hear them out."

"I should have been informed about this immediately." Haku said, his emerald eyes steely.

"Ummm… I'm still here." Chihiro chimed in. This wasn't really going as planned, even though there really wasn't one. He hadn't even fully acknowledged her yet.

Before Haku said anything, Rumi sat up, swaying a little from the sleep still clouding her mind. "G'morning." She grumbled. She rubbed the sleep out of her eyes and found everyone staring at her. She tensed. "Did I say something in my sleep again? Whatever it was, I'm sorry and I didn't mean it." Her eyes darted around at all the faces until they fell on Haku. "Hey, wait a minute… Is that who I think it is?" Her eyes narrowed at the river god.

"Uh-huh…" Chihiro answered absently, still trying to gauge Haku's reaction. Right now, he seemed a bit confused, almost amused, by Rumi's sudden outburst.

"Wow! So, this is the great Amber River! Nigihayami Kohakunushi! I can't believe Chihiro was really right all this time!"

"Rumi, this really isn't the right time…" Chihiro said between her teeth. "Read the atmosphere…"

As if on cue, Yuuka took over, seemingly just waking up herself. "Haku-San! I sincerely apologize about the timing. This was never the intenti-"

"When did you chose to take over a human body? I wondered what happened to you this whole time. Now I understand." Haku pinched the bridge of his nose. Upon inspection, despite his usually calm demeanor, his eyes held muted dark circles and his posture was kind of slumped. He seemed tired and exasperated, like he hadn't gotten any sleep in several days, maybe weeks.

"I-I had to take over someone close to her. I wanted to protect her." Yuuka tried to explain. "I didn't realize we'd come here so soon."

Haku considered her, before sighing. "I will be talking with you and Makoto later." The tension left his body and he turned back to Chihiro. His expression softened, regarding the young woman and smiling. "You have changed so much." He said examining her.

Chihiro considered him skeptically. What in the world just happened between the three spirits in front of her. "You're… you're one to talk. I thought you were a child, I didn't know spirits aged." She chuckled casually, trying to lighten the mood.

"I was merely a reflection of my state of mind. I was confused, lost and unaware of my status. As they say, the innocence of a child."

Chihiro smiled and despite herself and the current situation, tears welled up. "I'm so happy to find you again. I never thought I'd see you again." With that, her smile dissolved and she frowned. "Why didn't you keep your promise? I let go of your hand with the faith that I'd see it again, why didn't you come sooner?" Chihiro fumed.

Haku sighed and shook his head. "It was to protect you. That is why I sent Makoto. To watch over you in my steed until I could find you."

"And what would you have done after you found me? Come and get me? Leave me alone in the Human World?"

"No-"

"Then what?"

Haku's brows knit into a frown, "You need not worry now, it is in the past. All we need to worry about now is returning you to-"

"Returning me? To the Human World? I don't think so, Haku. I just got here, there's so much for me to do-"

"No. It is too dangerous, and you do not belong here."

Chihiro froze, taken aback by these words and deeply hurt. "Is that how you really feel Haku? Well I'll have you know that the Human World is dangerous too." Her eyes flitted to Rumi then back to Haku.

Realizing his words his face softened but made no attempt to reiterate his words.

"Makoto, Rumi... let's go." She stood and turned on her heels towards the door and headed up the stairs towards the garden.

Haku stood there and watched until all three were gone and he was left alone with Kamaji. He looked to Kamaji and the spider spirit simply shook his head and returned to his herb mixing table.

"You know, Haku, you probably could have handled that better."

Haku grimaced and pinched the bridge of his nose. "I know…" He then took inventory and returned to the Bathhouse, leaving Chihiro to let her head cool off.

Chihiro sat in the large garden overlooking the water and train tracks. All her memories were coming back to her. She remembered it all, the time her parents became pigs, the river spirit, Kaonashi, Yubaba, Zeniba, all of it. The promise… The promise. The promise that meant little now that she finally was reunited with the dragon that she called friend at one point. She sighed aggravatingly and pulled at the grass. Makoto laid next to her and Rumi sat beside her.

"Is this all you remembered it to be?" She asked Chihiro.

Chihiro looked over the hillside, reminiscing. "Sorta. There aren't that many changes honestly. Then again I haven't had the chance to really look around but it all seems to be the same."

"I think this is amazing."

"What?"

"The fact that this whole time, everything you said was more than a dream!" Rumi said in awe. "I guess I was right."

Chihiro raised an eye brow. "About what?"

"That you should write a book about what you saw here…" She looked at her friend. "I know you've already started. There's a reason you're such an environmental activist. You've seen behind the scenes of the actions of humans in the spirit world. I remember you telling me the story of that polluted river spirit when we were kids. Imagine what would happen if you wrote a story about how we humans are affecting the spirits! What kind of impact would that make!"

Chihiro looked out on the waters again and thought about it. It wasn't the first time she thought about this idea. She had notebooks stored in one the boxes at her parents' home of her writings when she was a child. There was something that inspired her to protect the environment. She looked to Rumi again and gave a small smile, nodding. "You're right. Maybe I can go around and ask how humans have affected the lives of spirits and how changes can be made for balance to return to the world between human and spirit."

Makoto laid quietly listening, seeming a bit worried. He was being quieter than usual, especially after being lectured by Haku. Chihiro's nose wrinkled at the thought of their encounter with the dragon before. What had happened to the kind boy she met eleven years ago? What had caused him to become so coarse? This is the person that Makoto and Yuuka had described to her. And she still didn't understand why Yubaba had been on the fritz lately or why there was so much danger in the Spirit World. Unpredictability didn't seem like a good enough excuse.

Chihiro looked down at Makoto, who was still in the form of the Shikoku mix of her childhood. She reached over and scratched behind his ears like she always did when she was thinking. She'd never seen him become so submissive before, even for her or her parents. Then again, he made no reason to be submissive because he was always an obedient dog and never caused trouble. They had found Makoto as a young puppy outside their home around the time Akīchirō said they'd be getting a dog and they decided that it was fate. Little did they know, they really had a some odd aged, wolf god in their home. It explained Makoto's ability to obey so easily and his protective nature over her, but now, she saw part of his true nature. Makoto was in debt to Haku and saw him as his true master, so seeing his master angry with him would surely cause him to react the way he did. Chihiro didn't know how she felt about it.

Rumi put her hand on Chihiro's knee. "Hey. It's gonna be alright." Her mahogany eyes seemed sincere, as if she truly believed the words even after all she'd been through. "I'm sure the Haku you know is somewhere in there. But judging from his appearance, he's been through a lot lately."

Chihiro's brows knit together. "I wonder what's going on? I haven't really seen many staff around. Not to mention, Kamaji wasn't preparing a whole lot of baths last night."

"Well, let's just say we've been having some financial and customer service issues lately." Rin poked her head in from around a hedge.

Chihiro jumped a little. "Oh hey, Rin. Please tell me that you didn't get yelled at too?"

"Okay. I won't." Rin said, sitting cross legged with the girls, a small basket swinging from her arm and onto the ground in front of her. Chihiro took the time to look over Rin. She looked the same, the only difference was the same muted dark circles under her eyes as Haku did.

"So." Rin pulled a grape out of her bag and popped it into her mouth. "Kamaji told me you guys saw Haku."

Chihiro averted her eyes. "Yeah, I guess." She grumbled.

"Hey, don't take what he said to heart." Rin said, absently offering Rumi some of her fruit from the bag, who eagerly accepted the offer. "We've been under a lot of stress recently. The Bathhouse has been a mess. Yubaba left literally the day before you showed up. Last night was the first night without Yubaba and it didn't really go well."

"What happened?" Chihiro pressed.

Rin shrugged. "Yubaba had been acting stranger than usual for the several months. She was doing well after she renegotiated Haku's contract and things sort of changed around the Bathhouse, it was calmer and less tension amongst the staff. Haku was no longer completely tethered to the Bathhouse and still helped, but was more focused on his river. It was all fun and good for a few years and then she started going back into old habits. It escalated pretty slowly at first, to the point neither Haku or I really took notice and thought a need to seriously deal with it. Then several months ago things just explode, and she started acting all sorts of crazy. Haku started hanging out around the Bathhouse a lot more again. Yubaba went into hiding in her loft for the last several weeks and then reappeared to chase out the last of our guests and set an even worse example on the staff. She went around freaking out and after that she left. Leaving the Bathhouse in Haku's care."

Chihiro blinked. "Wow." That explained a lot. No wonder Haku and Rin looked so tired, they probably hadn't rested in not just days but months.

"Yuuup." Rin drawled, popping another grape in her mouth. "Haku and I have been pretty much in charge of the Bathhouse for the last several months. Last night though… We were more concerned with the lack of guest and cooperation of the staff. Because of Yubaba's recent behavior, it kind of rippled onto the staff and they've become unruly and impossible to deal with. Last night we were just trying to get guests to come and stay and make sure the staff did their job the right way or didn't leave their post." She made a sour face.

Chihiro nodded and considered this, pulling a bundle of grapes from Rin's basket.

"Yuuka wanted to know if we knew what was causing Yubaba to freak out?" Rumi asked.

Rin grimaced and shook her head. "No clue. Haku was going to go consult Zeniba in the next few days after we get things to settle down. He'd talked to her about it before, but Zeniba didn't give him much to go off, so he's going back again."

At the mention of Zeniba, Chihiro's eyes lit up. "Obaa-Chan? How is she?"

Rin waved her hand dismissively. "I haven't seen much of her, but from what Haku has said, she's doing fine. Kaonashi still lives out there with her."

Chihiro smiled to herself. She'd have to go see Zeniba while she was there in the Spirit World. She wasn't quite sure how she'd get there, with tickets being hard to come by, but she at least wanted to try to see her. She had a lot to be grateful for because of the old witch in her last visit. Chihiro tugged at her ponytail, where a purple hair tie still held her hair back. She never did let it go, she always did treasure it despite her time of disbelief and lack of memory. She remembered what Zeniba had told her "Once you meet someone, you never really forget them. It just takes a while for your memory to come back to you." She never truly wanted to forget, even when everything in her told her to forget.

Rumi spoke up again. "Yuuka asks if you guys need any help around the Bathhouse as you get it under control? She said she'd help whip those…" She paused as if listening to an earpiece. "Umm… I'm not saying that!" She said aloud and rolled her eyes. "Yuuka said she'd whip them into shape." Paraphrasing whatever the yosuzume really said.

Rin hummed thoughtfully. "Haku might not say it, but he's exhausted. We could definitely use the help though honestly."

Chihiro scoffed bitterly. "Last I checked though, we don't belong here." She looked back out at the water.

The weasel spirit looked at Chihiro sympathetically. "Sen. Not to get all sappy, but despite the things Haku said and his poor behavior, he really does care and he really did miss you. Just like the rest of us. He wouldn't have sent Makoto if he didn't care. So seriously, don't take his words completely to heart."

Chihiro's eyes rested back on Rin and she let out a sigh. "Thank you, Rin. I appreciate it." She smiled at her long-lost friend.

Rin smiled back and then eyed the two girls with a raised eyebrow. Her smile turned into a boastful smirk. "Y'know." She said standing, stretching her arms in front of her. "Now that Yubaba's gone, I am now second in command of the Bathhouse." She looked at the girls from the corner of her eyes, mischief dancing in her chocolate colored orbs. "And as second in command, I can offer you and Rumi a temporary job at the Bathhouse, assuming Haku doesn't kick you two out first."

A warm feeling of hope spread across Chihiro's chest. Maybe this wouldn't end too bad after all. She glanced over at Rumi, as if asking for some sort of permission. Rumi nodded with a reassuring smile.

Chihiro grinned and turned to Rin, rising to her feet as well and bowed. "We accept your invite, Rin."

A/N: Wohoo! Chapter 10! We be in the double digits! *blows kazoo* Ok ok ok, so their reunion wasn't all sunshine and roses, but we'll have to see what happens! ;)

I'm not going to lie; this chapter was actually kind of hard to write and I've been stalling to post it. Capturing Haku's… anger was a bit hard since I was still trying to keep him in character and show just how exhausted and aggravated he has been. I had parts of this scene written already but then filling in the intro and some of the dialogue was haaaard.

Thanks for reading and don't forget to review! And for those that do review, I thank you a bunches!

Thank you for the reviews from: Amidstsnow, Firetail Finch, Prismae, RSBCS, Sofrick16, Spirited-PKMN Ranger, Luin-fanel, xxvampirebitexx,and Picklesisadeadcat!

God bless! KawaChou