"Why does it matter so much that I have human blood?" her question caught him off-guard; fortunately, the pair had been silent for an hour or so, so Haku could keep his mouth shut a little longer to think over the question before answering. He felt Chihiro move her head against his chest.

Looking at me, waiting for a reply.

Well?

The dragon smiled. The bond he shared with the girl had its pros and cons, it seemed. Chihiro sat away, blinking at him as he sat up, eyes intent on the fire as he formulated a response. When the troubled glint returned to his green eyes, Chihiro reached out her hand, laying it gently on the man's upper arm, trying to give comfort against a distress she knew next to nothing about. Haku took her hand in his as he turned towards her; she looked up into his eyes expectantly, waiting for a reason to his strange behavior.

"Chihiro, remember when you left the spirit world the first time?"

She nodded, the moment vivid in her memory.

"Do you remember how I said I could not cross the river with you? That no spirit could?"

Again, she nodded, eyes narrowing slightly as she began her thought process using the bits of memory and what he was telling her now.

"The reason for that is because all spirits, once materialized in the spirit world, are bound to it. We don't have the option of going in and out of our world like you do your's, however rare the occasion."

"Wait. What do you mean 'materialized'?"

"I mean in the human world, before I looked like this," indicating his human form. "I was a river dragon, nothing else. I couldn't take any other form; not human, nothing. I was a River Dragon, the very spirit and essence of the Kohaku River. To humans, I was nothing but a feeling, an entity, a spirit to them. But once I entered the actual spirit world, this realm parallel with the humans, I manifested into the human form you see me in now."

"But that doesn't make sense. You can still transform into your river dragon form. I remember!" Chihiro's voice was taking on a panic tone; an edge of fear was creeping into her words as she spoke faster and faster. Haku realized she was beginning to panic because she could not fully understand what he was saying. Sympathy and gratitude welled inside him; she was truly, completely trying to understand his world and its laws. For that, he loved her all the more.

Chihiro had begun trembling again, but now it was out of stress and fear. Haku laid his fingers beneath her chin, brining her eyes up to his as he raised her head.

"The laws concerning spirits differ from the human realm to the spirit world. As a spirit in the human world, I was the soul essence of the Kohaku River, my home and source of life. A dragon was my only form. But since I was a dragon, as a spirit in the human realm, when I appeared in the spirit world I manifested as a boy. In both worlds I am a dragon; that is my true form and nothing can change that fact. But only in the spirit world can I transform into a human shape."

The panicked light in Chihiro's eyes suddenly extinguished; she understood. But soon the realization was clouded over again.

"What changes between the laws of our worlds is threatening my existence here?" Her question was well-stated, and Haku began to appreciate how much she'd grown since he'd seen her last.

"When a human enters the spirit world, they have an allotted amount of time before they're stuck in limbo between the two worlds. The only way to avoid this is to either become connected to the spirit world in some way or to return to the human world at the same port of entry they came in by."

Chihiro's body shot ramrod strait as she stared at Haku, eyes wide and afraid.

"For me, a connection to the spirit world would have been signing Yubaba's contract so that she controlled my name again."

The river dragon nodded, glad the girl had thought of this solution before he'd had to tell her.

"That's why I was so shocked to hear you were working without a contract. It not only surprised me that you'd manage to do that against Yubaba, but that you had no connection to the spirit world and I hadn't known how long you'd been here. Nobody really knows exactly how long each individual human gets to stay between the worlds without being thrown into limbo. Some guess it has to do with the condition of the human's heart; others say it's their age; still others insist all the times are the same, and it is only what the human does while in the spirit world that makes it seem differing for each. Most don't even know there's a rule. Not that they'd care; most people, once being stuck here for a few days at the most, are so desperate to return to the human world they take any opportunity to get back."

"How did you find out about it?" Haku gazed into Chihiro's innocent eyes a moment, before a soft smile curved his lips.

"I came across it while I was searching for a way to find you."

Somehow, your answer does not surprise me one bit. Both adults grinned at Chihiro's mental reply, before Haku bent down, kissing her lightly on the mouth.

I would have searched the ends of the earth until time stood still to find a way back to you.

A bit extreme. I took the easy way out; I came back to find you, to remind you of your promise.

Promise? Ah, yes. You asked …

"Will we see each other again sometime?" And you replied …

"I'm sure of it." You remember well, my love.