(I'm really sorry for the delay! My computer's hard drive broke, and it took forever to find one that would work! Just makes me so mad, though I did get a lot of chapters written in the meantime. Anyway, from now on I'm uploading one chapter for A Bottle of Water every Monday. I wish I could upload twice, but since I'm doing three fanfics at once… So, if I happen to be gone on vacation or something, and don't get to upload, I'll upload two the next week, okay? I won't just abandon my fanfics. Anyway, enjoy!!!)

Haku began the story. "Chihiro, remember the spirit that you let into the bathhouse? The one that went crazy and destroyed everything?" Chihiro blushed, looking down at the dirt floor, and nodded. "There are more spirits like that. Most of the time, they never find their crazy place, and live their life normally. However, there was one of those spirits who was different. He was smarter, and, for reasons we don't know, he wants to destroy the bathhouse."

Chihiro looked up. "Why on earth would anyone want to destroy the bathhouse?"

Little smiled sorrowfully. "We don't know. Unfortunately, we may never know. This spirit, somewhere, learned some abilities, magic, if you wish, that the world should never see. I myself know some of that 'black magic', and every day I wish it wouldn't torment me." She frowned for a moment, as if considering what she had said, but continued. "He called himself Dark."

Lin snorted. "That is the lamest name I've ever heard. Dark. He might as well call himself 'Idiot' and get it over with."

Little laughed. A high, tinkling sound that was as light as a breeze. It was a beautiful sound. "You are funny…Lin? I believe you're Lin. Am I right?"

Lin smiled. "Correct."

Haku waved at all of them. "Nice bonding, but let's get back to the subject. Dark then raised up specters." Seeing Chihiro's blank look, he explained. "Specters are dead bodies reborn again. Because they have no souls in them, they can be used as puppets. They were the ones marching."

Chihiro shuddered. "That's really creepy. And kind of gross."

Little nodded. "Yes. I suppose it is rather unpleasant. I expect you know of the essence sucking?"

Chihiro's face lit up. "Thanks for reminding me, Little!" She dug around in her bag and pulled out the bottle of Haku's essence. She held it out toward him. "Here's your essence, Haku!"

Little's cloudy eyes widened. "Haku, you gave her your essence? Are you mad?"

Haku looked unapologetic. "We can trust Chihiro." He turned toward her, and took the bottle out of her hands. It lit up, and the water began to flow faster and faster, forming an upside-down whirlpool. It grew and grew, using up all of the water in the bottle, yet still getting larger, until it rose up out of the bottle and engulfed Haku. He was unseen among the flowing water. After it had completely surrounded Haku, the water grew faster, getting taller and taller. Then, it stopped.

The water was sucked up into the center of itself, and at the center was Haku. All the water flowed into him, and then he opened his eyes, which had been closed to avoid the water. Chihiro saw a sparkle in his eyes that hadn't been there before, and sighed with relief. The old Haku was back.

Haku smiled at her. "Thanks. It feels so good to be whole again." He took in a big breath of air.

Little rolled her eyes up to the ceiling. "You would've been whole if you hadn't decided to remove your essence in the first place."

Haku bared his teeth at her, in a kind of half snarl. "I needed to get past the guards. They couldn't sense me if I didn't have an essence."

Little raised her hands high above her head. "And if I hadn't spotted you, you wouldn't be here right now."

Chihiro blinked in surprise. "Wait… What? Haku, you would've died if Little hadn't been there?"

Haku nodded sheepishly, shrugging his shoulders. "Yes. Spirits can't last without their essences, but river spirits are a little more flexible. We can last a short while without our essences, and I had basically exceeded that limit. I would've crumpled into dust if it weren't for Little." He smiled happily at his sister. "Because we're siblings, our essences are almost the same. So, she gave me a bit of her essence, so I would survive. That wouldn't last forever, though, so I'm glad you brought my essence."

Lin had a puzzled look on her face. "Wouldn't that hurt?" When everyone (except Little) looked at her questioningly, she explained. "Wouldn't it hurt to give part of your essence away? I mean, after all, it is the core of your body."

Little nodded. "It did hurt, and now I have a little less power than I did before. But, it was worth it. I mean, I'd rather be weaker than let my brother die."

Haku sighed, shrugging his shoulders. "Yes, I owe her my life. Now, can we move away from the sappy stuff here, and talk about what's important." Chihiro blinked. Haku had changed. "We need to stop Dark. I wanted Chihiro to come here because of one important factor: She's a human. Dark's black magic can only be used on spirits, making her invulnerable to his attacks. However, she can still be hurt by his specters, so that's where we come in."

"Hold up a sec." Lin crossed her arms, frowning. "Do you have a plan?"

Little nodded. "Yes. We know where Dark's stronghold is. We try to sneak in, but, if that doesn't work, we battle our way in. Then, we find Dark."

"After th-" Haku was cut off, as he collapsed onto the dirt floor.

Chihiro leapt up in alarm. "Haku!" She raced over to him and knelt down on the floor.

Little laughed. "Chihiro, he's just tired. He'll be fine. Absorbing his essence must have been exhausting." She walked over to Chihiro and helped her up. "You two should get some sleep, too. It must have been a rough trip."

Chihiro nodded. "I have one question, though. Haku gave up his essence to cross the border, but we got over fine on the train. What's up with that?"

Little laughed again. "You're not over the border yet. We'll show you it tomorrow. For now, sleep." Chihiro lay down on the dirt floor next to Lin, who was sprawled out, already fast asleep. Little smiled, and then sat down next to Haku, pondering what had happened that day. I must ask Lin what she didn't tell Chihiro. It could be important. Also, she thought, looking down at Haku, I wonder if her meant to tell them… She shrugged. Not like I'll find out tonight. With that, she lay down next to Haku and closed her cloudy eyes. I hope he's not right, though…