Chapter 11: Dreaming with a Broken Heart

A/N: Okay you guys, yes I'm back and please don't kill me! I'm sorry that it took so long to update but life has been a pain in the ass for the last couple of months. Just to show you guys that I DO NOT mean to leave this story, I'm posting two chapters back to back so please, enjoy!

P.S. Thanks to Strayphoenix; part beta, part cheerleader, part best friend!

P.S.S. Updates are going to be a bit sporadic from now on but hopefully not as bad this last one! 

Disclaimer: I don't own any of the characters from Spirited Away nor do I make any profit from this fanfic. Spirited Away belongs to Studio Ghibli and Hayao Miyazaki.

Also, I don't own the John Mayer song name "Dreaming with a Broken heart" I'm just borrowing the name! Please don't sue!

We had camped down for the night on a dry train station stop a few miles away from the village. The silence had yet to be broken since this morning when we left a grateful wolf youkai and her healing son behind to keep going on the mission.

Gina had climbed onto Akihiko's shoulder that morning and had fallen asleep there without a word. Akihiko had jut held her there and had led the way away from the village and towards the train tracks. We didn't even look back as we left and the spirits kept away from us as we left the place. They were probably happy to see the powerful strangers disappear back into the mist of the early morning.

All day we had walked through the water, following the semi-covered train tracks, not really wanting to talk. Sora, of course, never spoke but it was strange not to hear Akihiko and Gina bickering. It made the walk seem even longer.

We'd settled in for the night early since we were still tired from the work and the fight last night. The sky was still shades of blue and not the violets of twilight which was when we usually started looking for a place to stop.

Akihiko pulled out some of the food that Tatsuo's mother had given us to keep us going until we reached another settlement. He passed the bread and a bit of cheese as well as some odd, grape looking spirit food. Gina had decided to wake up by now and was eating with us in silence. A small fire blazed in the center of our small circle, courtesy of Akihiko.

Our dinner lasted less than fifteen minutes and then we were left to stare at the fire like it was a TV with static running across the screen The silence had grown so thick during the day that it seemed impossible to cut. It weighed down on us, full of questions and answers we didn't want to hear.

Gina cleared her throat, the sound startling all of us out of our reveries.

"You've told your story already around the fire, Sen-chan, I think it's my turn," she said quietly as she glanced at my shocked face.

"You don't have to…" Akihiko murmured.

"But I want to," she countered, focusing her eyes on me and taking a deep breath as if preparing to fight.

"My mother was an aristocratic water youkai. I remember her having the same white hair as me and being more beautiful than the sun. She always smiled like the world was a paradise and she was joyful to live in it. My father was a soldier and second in command to the pride leader of the largest group of neko youkai. He had the same black eyes as mine. My father loved to laugh and play around with me…"

She drew in a breath, "He…he would always tell me I was the best thing that ever happened to him. He would dance with my mother under the moonlit sky saying that it was a celebration of the night I was born under a full moon"

Gina paused, passing a hand over her face. She began again with an unsteady breath.

"My parents were in love. They—They were soul mates but their families and their people did not see that. All they saw was a cat getting married to a fish. They did get married but they lost their positions, their lives, their families. To get away from the ridicule, they moved to an isolated beach away from both of their people. I was born two years later"

"You grew up alone?" I breathed. Gina smiled at me and nodded, stopping her story and picking it up again fluidly.

"As a child all I knew was love and perfection. My parents loved each other, they loved me and I loved them. They gave me everything that I ever wanted. It didn't occur to me to question why we lived alone because I didn't think a world existed beyond us three"

She paused again and breathed out loudly.

"Until I was eight, they taught me everything they knew and kept me away from people. To my father's annoyance, I turned out to have a much bigger affinity for my mother's element than I did with his element"

"You have some fire in you?" Akihiko asked, scooting closer to her. Gina looked up at him and nodded.

"Very little, I used to be able to draw out a flame but not anymore." She bit her lip and stared at the ground intently. Suddenly as if coming back to reality, she shook her head and looked back at us.

Even Sora seemed to be interested now. She had scooted closer to us and away from her usual corner as Gina told her story.

"One day, though, they had to take me to the nearest village to buy some supplies. I was so excited the whole way there because my parents had told me that they'd enrolled me into a martial arts school and that we would visit the school that day. Imagine my surprise when I arrived at the village and everyone stared at me like I was a life size virus. Everyone stayed away from me and some even went to the extent to yell obscenities at me and my family. My mother and father ignored them but inside I was crying like a baby as each person stared at me with more and more disgust"

Gina's hand had started trembling and she couldn't look at our eyes anymore as she watched the ground with angry eyes.

"I begged my parents not to enroll me in the school because I just knew that the kids would hate me there. They wouldn't hear it and I was left at the school a week later. Just like I thought, the kids hated me and did everything to make my life miserable. Only the head sensei believed in me and just for him I trained my tail off. He pushed me to try harder and to show everyone that I could be just as good as them"

"Oh Gina," I whispered, not reaching out to her because I knew she would see that as pity and hate me for it.

"The things they did to me are still etched into my brain. They'd beat me as the other teachers watched with snickering eyes and as I grew up the boys would push me around, not caring that I would protest. The girls would steal my stuff and put poisonous stuff in my food"

Gina looked up at me and snickered a bit.

"It was amazing on graduation day when I graduated top of my class and I watched all the bastards and their parents staring at me as I performed the royal katas perfectly in goodbye. They never messed with me after that but they never liked me either. It wasn't long after that my parents fell sick. I had taken up a position as a healer because I'd shown some skill for that in school. My father was the first to fall."

She trailed off and this time there was no way to hold off the tears. Akihiko picked her up and cuddled her against his chest, murmuring softly in her ear as she trembled. I scooted forwards and sat there, my hands useless as I watched my friend suffer.

"No amount of pleading brought any medics to my house and without any medical attention, my father died two months after contracting the vile disease," Gina whimpered and clutched Akihiko closer to her.

"My father, my daddy," she sobbed, "he was so perfect and so full of life! He said he wouldn't let such a stupid disease kill him and yet he died!"

A vision of Yubaba dying filled my mind. Had Gina been there when he died? Had she seen the horror of the death? Oh God! Tell me she had been spared that nightmare!

In my mind, a man with eyes like Gina's died convulsing and screaming in agony as his little girl watched in horror. My eyes over flowed with tears and I couldn't help the whimper that escaped my throat.

"My mother seemed to deflate with my dad's death. He'd been her light and everything that kept her going after her people shunned her. She let herself go and began to sleep all day and sit up crying all night. The beautiful woman she had been died with my dad so it was no surprise when she started to get sick too"

My hands trembled as I reached out and placed unsure fingers on her head. Gina looked up at me with pain filled eyes. She was in hell and there was no way for me to get her out of the pit she had dug herself in.

"Again I pleaded for a medic to come help her but they all refused, saying that they wouldn't help the woman that had spawned a 'useless half-breed'. My mama, two people that had ever loved me, died the same as my dad"

Gina shook apart for the second time in two days. She screamed at the sky, tearing at her hair.

The little thing cried until it seemed her tears would form another ocean and still the tears kept coming. Akihiko rocked her back and forth looking up at me, his jaw clenched and, for once, he was clueless as to what he should say.

My brain was turned off so I'm not sure how it came to me but, suddenly, I knew what to say to the best friend I had wished for since I was little.

"We love you Gina," I murmured, brushing her hair and remembering that this hair carried the memory of the mother who had loved her unconditionally. Gina looked up at me and I couldn't stop the tears. "You're not alone Gina, I promise you're not alone"

Gina trembled all the more and grasped my hand between hers. Akihiko rested his head on top of hers and she rubbed up into his chin.

"I love you too, koishi," he whispered. "You're not alone as long as we're around. Especially as long as I'm around"

Akihiko's words landed like a silent explosion. My eyes widened as I stared at the two of them.

Oh, of course.

I guess I'd been too preoccupied to see it before. He loved her. But maybe that wasn't exactly right either. It was more like they were connected beyond anything that could be described in words.

The little white haired youkai looked up at Akihiko and stared at him with unbelieving eyes.

"I'm not going anywhere," he murmured, "not as long as you need me"

"I've heard that before," she muttered, frowning.

"Seriously, Gina. I mean it. And I'll do anything to keep my promise"

He looked at her intensely, meaning every word that his eyes were confirming.

"I'll be there whenever you need me, too" I promised, knowing that my promise didn't count as much as Akihiko's but she needed as much support as she could get.

Wind whirled around us and almost instinctively we turned to look at the wind youkai who was seated beside us. She stared between us, frowning, before letting her gaze land on Gina. Almost hesitantly, she bowed to Gina.

"You…promise the same thing?" Akihiko asked incredulously as Sora sat up. The queen of the wind youkai nodded once and kept her eyes on a shocked Gina.

Tears streamed out of her eyes again as she stared at each of us, saving Akihiko for last. She smiled up at him. His eyes widened and he smiled back at her. A small smile crossed my face. He was totally hooked. With only one smile, Gina had just beaten Akihiko into submission.

A/N: Angst! Not again! Oh who am I kidding? I love angst! Anyways, reviews are appreciated. My characters won't talk today 'cause they're exhausted and are sleeping from all the emotional water works. Until next time!

~~Kikyo