CH 11: Surprises and Weary Travellers
A/N: Second to last chapter everybody, thanks for hanging in with me and putting up with my strange way of writing.
Chihiro: Nyaa Nyaa, YuriFan5 doesn't own Spirited Away.
YF: Would you all stop reminding me TTTT!!
When Chihiro and Haku arrived at the gates to Granny Zeniba's house, they decided to drop by. When Zeniba opened the door, she was, needless to say, quite surprised to see the changed Chihiro.
"Well, this story should prove most interesting." She said, staring at Chihiro's waving tail as she let them in. "Please, join me for dinner, I just made it." Over dinner they discussed many things, not the least of which was their travels. "So Chihiro, now that you are a spirit, what does your non- human form look like?"
"Umm, you know, I actually never got a chance to try it out, he he."
"Well, no time like the present." Chihiro stood up and walked over to a decently sized area of empty floor space (just to be on the safe side).
"Umm… gomen, but, how do I change."
"Just concentrate Chihiro," said Haku, "feel within yourself for it. You don't control the change, you simply guide it."
"Ok, I'll try." She closed her eyes and searched her mind. She came across an unusual area, where it felt, almost, wild to an extent. It was a hard sensation to describe. She concentrated on that area with all her might.
"Chihiro, open your eyes, you've done it." She opened them, and was assaulted by sensations. She could smell the delicious soup they had enjoyed for dinner, as well as the shampoo Zeniba had used. She could smell the musk given off by the old wood making up the cottage. Her hearing was extraordinary. She could hear the scraping of the needles as No-Face knitted in the corner, the spiders weaving their webs up in the corners of the ceiling, the crickets chirruping outside, the gasp Haku
gave out when she changed, she would even go as far as to say she could hear his heart beat. All of this she had more or less expected. After all, it was common knowledge that cats had better hearing and sense of smell. What she hadn't anticipated was the sight. She lost a bit of color, but in return she gained magnificent detail. She couldn't see some reds and some greens, but the detail… oh the detail. She could see the tiny specks of dust floating slowly down in corner of the room. She saw the individual fibers of the yarn No-Face was using. She saw, looking out the window, the fire flies buzzing this way and that over the swamp waters. If she focused she could see the individual leaves on the trees outside. When she turned her attention inside, she could see the individual strands of Zeniba's hair, some of which, to her dismay, were starting to turn grey. What she didn't notice was the extra brain power that was available to her, she couldn't remember her human limitations very well, so of course she had nothing to compare her abnormally fast thought processes to, and therefore didn't think it out of the ordinary. She shifted back, "It's like nothing I've ever experienced!" She skipped
excitedly over to the table and insisted on relaying every detail, which she continued to do… for half an hour. After a while, she could tell she was wearing their patience thin, so she decided to switch to more general topics. After much meandering through several threads of conversation a clear end appeared.
"Ok well, I think that's enough excitement for one night, don't you?" said Zeniba, clapping her hands together and standing up. "I insist that you stay the night and rest, you will have the same rooms as you did last time, so off you go." She said, shooing them upstairs.
"Ohaiyo." said Zeniba, greeting a yawning Chihiro as she walked down the stairs. "Come, join us for breakfast (courtesy of No-Face one again). We just had a horrible deluge last night." She commented to Haku. Chihiro froze up, her foot stopping from hitting the floor at the last step. "Chihiro, you look uneasy." Both she and Haku looked at Chihiro, who was obviously un-nerved about something.
"Nani(1) Chihiro?" asked Haku, getting up and going over to place a comforting hand on her shoulder.
"H-Haku, we aren't gonna have to walk back are we?"
"Why do you ask?"
"Well, we used up our train tickets, so we can't go back that way, and for some reason, whenever I think about all that water, it… it frightens me."
"Hahahahaha, typical cat aversion to water." burst out Zeniba.
"Well, I was thinking something a little different." said Haku, trying to ignore Zeniba's outburst, with a wink.
"What do you mean?"
"Finish your breakfast and I'll let you know." Twenty minutes later they were outside the cottage standing side by side. "Well, this brings back memories." said Haku, as he strode forward and changed into his dragon form.
"Oh, Haku you're the best!" exclaimed Chihiro, running forward to hug his head. It was amazing how much faster her new mind worked. She had seen the solution right away, but of course, thinking back, she had always been this way, hadn't she?(2)
"You two be careful!" called out Zeniba as Chihiro grabbed their things and climbed on top of Haku.
"Goodbye granny Zeniba!" Chihiro waved as they lifted off and set their sights on the bath house.
(1)-Japanese for "What is it?"
(2)- You can see how much the transformation has altered her mind.
A/N: Well, you can all thank Stephanie Meyer for the sudden dramatic boost in quality from my original Ch 11. I stayed up for a full thirteen and a half hours straight, like some drug addict, reading all of Stephanie Meyer's Breaking Dawn (from beginning to end). When I got to Bella's transformation part, which was skillfully done if I may say so, I made a
promise to myself that I would put something up that was, well, I can't ever hope to be up to par, but if you water it down to my abysmal level of writing skill, then something to the equivalent of that. Well, off of depressing subjects like how I'll never be as good and onto the relevant news. Yes that's right, only one more chapter to go. Can't help but say (again) that I will kinda miss this. It was one heck of a ride. Remember, reviews make me happy. And when I'm happy, you get better quality work.