Author's Note:
Sigh... I'm tired guys. I'm going to give up writing. It's too hard. I'll just give you this chapter aand be done with the whole darn thing...
Just Kidding! I won't stop 'til this story has played itself out! I myself am being carried away by the mystery! 'Tis the truth. I, the author, don't know what the next chapter will bring! (Until I write the inspirational poems that you will see under here. ↓)
Time
TOGETHER
I will stop running
From you and from destiny
So stay by my side
"So! How was you first day of work, Chihiro?" Yubaba asked.
"It was great!" Chihiro answered enthusiastically. "I love helping people!"
"I had a feeling this job would suit you," Yubaba laughed. "And so did Haku," she added.
"Many thanks to both of you!" Chihiro said, bowing repeatedly.
"It was nothing," Haku mumbled.
Chihiro shook her head. "No, both of you are always looking out for me. I have to do something for you."
"All you need to do," a foreign voice replied, "Is to keep gracing us with your smile." The person sighed, "Still see-through..."
"Granny!" Chihiro cried, whirling around and hugging a near-transparent Zeniba.
"Hello, dear. It's very nice to see you again, and you're all grown up, too!" Zeniba held Chihiro's shoulders and surveyed Chihiro with a very kind expression. "Goodness! You and Haku have grown like weeds! Both of you have grown into fine young people. Anyway, how has Yubaba been treating you, Chihiro? Do you have enough to eat? Is she working you too much? Did she turn your parents into pigs again?"
Chihiro chuckled. "You're too worried, Granny! Yubaba's fine! She even promoted me and gave me one of the deluxe rooms! Also, Haku has been helping me out since I'm new. Everything's great! And... my parents are dead... They died in a car crash three years ago..."
Zeniba looked shocked and figured that she had stepped on a land mine. "Oh dear... It's a touchy subject, isn't it?"
"No, it's fine. Uhhh... Yubaba, work is done for today, right? Can I take Zeniba and Haku to my room?"
"By all means! I'll send someone to bring tea in later, okay?"
"Thanks!" Chihiro took hold of Zeniba's and Haku's hands. "Let's go!"
Yubaba was left alone, smoking her pipe. The room was quiet, but Yubaba didn't notice the THING slithering up the leg of her armchair... until it was too late.
¢¢¢¢¢¢¢¢¢¢¢
"There's something that has been bothering me, guys," Chihiro said shakily, dropping her cheerful demeanor. "Ever since my memories came back, I've had the feeling that someone is watching me. Like when I'm idle, just standing or sitting, I can FEEL a gaze piercing me from all sides. But that's not all; sometimes I can hear something hissing or slithering behind me, but when I turn around to look, nothing is ever there."
"It may be that you have magical instincts," Zeniba replied, "Because I can feel it, too. I'm surprised that you can feel it since it's so slight. Haku, do you sense anything?"
"No, I'm afraid I don't, Zeniba," said Haku, "but I think I know what's causing it." He turned around to face Chihiro and added, "Chihiro, I think it's time you knew my past. All of it. It's too bad that I couldn't tell you the story at the bridge…"
%%%%%%
100 years ago, Yume no Shiro- The Palace of Dreams
The twins and Haku practiced transforming into a dragon with their older sister, Sakura.
"Come on, oneesan!" Hyou and Yuuko said in unison, "Teach us how to do dragon form!"
Sakura chuckled. "I have such impatient siblings! Alright, I'll teach you, but I can't guarantee that you'll get it right on the first try. My first try looked more like a frog than a dragon, so don't get disappointed if you look deformed."
Haku looked horrified. "Wha-what if I look like a blob?!"
"If you turn into a blob and can't transform back into your base form, Mother and Father will kill me when they get back, so don't turn into a blob. It's not likely that you'll turn into something other than a type of lizard, so just relax."
"O-okay…"
"Warm-ups, first!" yelled Sakura. "You can't transform with a tight body, so 15 pushups, 2 laps around the yard, 18 cartwheels, 12 jumping jacks, and do a split."
Haku, Yuuko, and Hyou just stared at Sakura, thinking it was a joke.
"What are you waiting for? Get a move-on!"
15 minutes, later 3 breathless kids plopped down on the grass, exhausted. "Can you teach us how to do dragon from, now?" asked Haku, who was the only one who recovered from the warm-ups. Yuuko and Hyou were still to dizzy from doing cartwheels.
"Okay, first-" Sakura was cut off by the sound of a gong. "Oh, Mother and Father are home! They must have defeated those ruffians."
"YAAAY! Mommy and Daddy are home!" cried the twins, leaping up from the grass, where they had been lying, just seconds before, too dizzy to stand. "Let's go! Come on, Haku! Let's hope they got us souvenirs!"
Later that day, Haku was pulled aside by his father for a 'man to man' talk.
"Haku, do you know what Mommy and I were out doing, today?" Haku was asked.
"Onee-san said that you were defeating ruffians," Haku replied innocently. "Is something wrong?"
"Haku, I almost lost your mother today when we were fighting Kyu, the Yami no O," Haku's father said, he had crouched down so that his face was on level with Haku's. Haku, being the spirit equivalent of a 7 year old, had little knowledge of what his father was talking about, but knew it was something bad.
"Did something happen to Mommy?"
"Luckily, not this time. But that isn't the point. Since you are our first and only son, you have a duty to protect the Goddess of Light as her husband and partner. I know that you can't fully understand this, but it means you have to marry Sakura."
"Marry my onee-san?!"
"Yeah, it's weird, but it's tradition. I married my sister."
"Mommy is your sister?!"
"We are getting off topic. The point is, you have to swear to protect Sakura, even if it means your death," Haku's father was deadly serious. "If there is no Goddess of Light to counter the forces of the Yami no O, the worlds will become unbalanced, and there will be chaos. Swear that you will protect Sakura."
Haku knew that this was a very serious matter. But he didn't know anything about what was to come next.
"Yes, father. I swear that I will protect Sakura-oneesan with my life." And in that moment, Haku seemed to grow older; it looked like he going through a sort of metamorphosis. A dark cloud surrounded Haku, so that not even his outline could be seen. A moment later, the cloud disintegrated, revealing a Haku that appeared to have bypassed the equivalent of 5 human years. He was taller and looked more mature. He fainted on the spot.
"Haku!" His father shouted, rushing to catch his son. "What have you done to him?! Show yourself, Kyu! How did you get in here?!"
Dark laughter filled the room, bouncing off the walls and getting louder every second. "It was your son who brought me here, actually. He wanted to grow so that he would be good enough to protect your precious Sakura. That is black magic, a dark wish, and thus I was summoned here. It's strange how good intentions lead to bad decisions. While I'm here, I might as well curse your twins. Farewell, Hinote. Oh, and by the way, I've sent you some party guests soon. Good luck dealing with them." In a rush of wind, the dark presence dissipated, leaving and eerie silence.
"Party guests…?" Hinote murmured, wondering what Kyu meant. Then, the severity of the situation dawned on him. "Haku, wake up! We have to get ready for an attack."
Haku roused immediately and got up. "What do we do?" Haku asked calmly. "I am ready to fight and die for Sakura-sama."
"Can you fight? You look older, but are you any more mature?"
"I assure you, I can fight. My transformation seems to have matured my mind as well. I am not the same; I am not a helpless, clueless child anymore," Haku said.
It was true; Haku was never the same. But the attack didn't come.
"So, Haku..." murmured Hyou and Yuuko, both staring at Haku and poking him repeatedly, as if he still wasn't real. "What's with the freaky growth spurt?"
"It was necessary," Haku replied almost robotically.
Sakura just looked at Haku with wide eyes. "You look my age... this is certainly weird."
"Indeed."
"The way you talk to me now is weird."
"Indeed."
"Please stop saying 'indeed', and stop talking so formally."
"Alright."
The once close siblings started to grow more distant from one another. Hyou and Yuuko stopped talking to anyone except from each other, Haku mainly practiced magic and martial arts, and Sakura rarely spoke and would often watch Haku practice.
"You've improved, Haku."
"Thanks."
Sakura shook her head, stood up, and walked to Haku, placing her hand on his (which has on his sword). "But, you have to make sure to hold the katana like this," Sakura whispered, twisting the sword a little. "Or else you won't be able to slice things cleanly."
"Thanks, Sakura." Sakura blushed so slightly that is was barely noticeable.
"No problem, Haku."
Weeks passed with no sign of attack. Then, seven months later...
Haku was practicing combining magic and combat in his room on a straw dummy. He took a break and gazed out of the window at the sunset, which was beautiful in a terrible way. The sunset was in the many shades of blood red, hinting about what was to come. Haku cocked his head, as if listening to something. "I hear screaming... Sakura!"
Haku hurled himself out of his window (which, thankfully, was near to the ground), and broke into a run down the countless steps that led to the garden, and met with a terrible sight. His twin sisters were on the ground, in pain, and snake-like runes were curling and intertwining themselves all over their bodies. They were screaming; the runes were burning hot, like a branding iron.
Between him and his sisters were about 2 dozen men, about a dozen around the twins, and another dozen were surrounding something else. The men were dressed in black, like ninjas, but were anything but silent. They were laughing and jeering at the little cringing form that they were kicking and stabbing. The form was Sakura.
"No! Sakura!" Haku roared. The wind started to howl, tearing at everything it could find. Haku's rage was felt by all those around, and some of the thugs ran away. The others drew their weapons at the boy- no, at the dragon as it lunged at them, teeth and claws clashing with steel. Terrified at the thought of fighting a dragon, the rest of the men fled, throwing down their weapons.
Haku returned to his human form and raced to where Sakura laid, completely still. "Sakura! Sakura!" Haku cried as he scooped up Sakura and shook her gently.
"Haku… " she mumbled weakly. "Wow, good transformation technique."
"Don't talk. I'll get help."
"Don't bother; it's already too late. Their weapons had poison," Sakura lifted her hand and touched Haku's face. "You should have stayed as my cute younger brother."
"Please, Sakura, I swore to protect you. Don't leave me alone."
"I will always watch over you from up there," she pointed to the sky, and then added, "You really should have stayed as my little brother. If you had, maybe I wouldn't have fallen for you and this would have been less painful for you."
As soon as she said those words, Sakura wrapped her arms around Haku's neck and kissed him, then disintegrated into delicate pink scales.
Back to the present.
"They looked like sakura petals as they floated away on the wind," Haku said sadly. "After that, I found out that my mother and father had been killed as well. My sisters, Yuuko and Hyou, had been cursed and ran away, so I was alone. I was by nature a river-spirit, so I went to my river and hid there for about a hundred years."
There was a moment of silence at the end of Haku's tale. It was Chihiro who broke the silence. "You must have been so lonely, Haku…"
"Yeah…"
"I understand how you felt."
"How could you possibly understand?!" exclaimed Haku. "I was left alone in a palace running with the blood of my family-"
Chihiro leaned in and kissed Haku, tears streaming down her cheeks. "I understand. I watched my parents being driven mad by magic and killed before my very eyes. I even saw how mangled their bodies were when our car was smashed into a tree. It was enough to have driven me insane, so I sealed my own memories. I understand what pain and suffering are."
"Chihiro, I'm sorry."
"Don't be. I was all alone, too. But we're not alone now; we have our friends, and we have each other."
They kissed again, not aware of Zeniba looking away and muttering, 'That's love, for you' to the wall. Nor were they aware that they were being watched through a crystal ball…
Author's Note:
*Sigh* They finally kissed. I hope you liked Haku's little background story. You'd better like his little background story- it took me TWO HOURS to type this up! Just kidding (not about the two hour part, though)! Make sure to keep reading!
Ok. I edited it. Please note: 'Haku' is Haku's family's nickname for Haku. How would you like calling your little brother to dinner like: "Hurry up, NIGIHAYAMI KOHAKU NUSHI! Time to eat!"
That would be weird. So Haku's family calls Haku 'Haku'. Just wanted to get that straight. :)