Haku sat in the grass, acutely aware of the soft, rhythmic breathing that sounded from Chihiro who sat next to him, an inner strength radiating from her. She had told him not to worry, and for that peaceful hour, he had rid his mind of all thoughts and focused his attention on the form that lay an arm's length away from him in the grass. The dark chocolate hair spilling out in the grass, the aquamarine fabric against her creamy skin. Then she pulled herself up into a sitting position, as if she knew that the peace could not last forever. He felt obliged to do so too, and sat cross legged next to her, shaking himself from comfort to face reality once again. And his thoughts and worries automatically started listing again, much to his dislike. The saltworm supply must be running low…I need to have a word with Kamaji…Lin, didn't I tell her too make sure Chihiro was in bed? And the tree, I must remember to remove the tree the next time I visit… They had been sitting in silence, simply rejoicing each other's company, and now his perpetually occupied mind was buzzing once again.

"How are you feeling?" He murmured, voicing his first concern that he could no longer keep quiet. Even though she seemed much stronger built than last time, she must be feeling tired after all that running.

Chihiro swiveled her gaze from her feet to him. "I'm fine." She replied quickly, a little too quickly. Haku frowned slightly, biting his lip.

"You are not, however." He looked away, the untruthful answer biting at his conscience. So, she still does not trust me?

Chihiro noticed her mistake with her instinctual choice of words. She laid one hand on his arm, feeling the bone beneath. He's thin…just like Yubaba said. He needs to eat.

"Haku…" Chihiro took a deep breath, steadying her nerves. The boy didn't say anything. He is easily hurt, he has withering faith.

"Am I a strong person?"

He lifted his head in reaction to the question and was about to open his mouth to say fiercely 'yes, of course, Chihiro, how could you not be? You defied Yubaba, you helped me remember my name' when she continued slowly, a little fearful of what he would think of her. The troubles that she bundled up in her heart, was she ready to pour them out? The questions that bombarded her brain, would he listen and not stare at her aghast? Perhaps my faith is withering, too.

"I like to think I am strong. I try to act like I can endure and prevail." Her breath quivered almost unnoticeably, but he noticed and found her hand, giving it a small squeeze. She continued.

"Haku, you told me to look forward. So I did. Nobody listened to me. And I acted like I was fine, when inside, I was not. I physically move forward. My heart does not. I'm sorry, I'm a liar too. I broke my promise sometimes. I searched, everyday. Day after day. I couldn't help it…" Chihiro took a shuddering breath.

"Forgive me, if I seem vague, if I seem to not speak my heart—"

"Chihiro! I didn't mean-I'm sorry—"

"Don't apologize. You did nothing wrong. It's me. It's become a habit. I brush concern aside. I am afraid to speak my heart, I am a coward. I am scared I will be misunderstood. Because when I am, than I may convince myself everything was not how I viewed it. I am scared I will not remain strong. And brave. Ugh, I am a mess, an utter mess."

This time, Chihiro looked away, unable to bear the intensity of his green eyes.

"You liked me as a child, didn't you Haku, brave and rash like I was?"

"I did. And I like you now." He spoke truthfully. So what if Chihiro was more restrained? Her motives were still pure. Her heart was still pure. It didn't matter to him if she decided to keep some of it in. But it matters to her.

She tore at the grass, frustrated. "I've changed. Yubaba said so. And I know I have." She grabbed his hand and brought it to her forehand, for a second startling him with her bold gesture. "Look."

A warm glow appeared under Haku's fingers as he did, walking into Chihiro's mind. Colors surrounded him, their force buffeting him from all sides. He saw her scrubbing the tub in fury. He saw the mental battle with the stain. He saw the urge to run from everything that seemed to chase her. He saw the doubt, the confusion, the anger, some directed towards him, some directed wrongly towards herself. Practicability clashing with heart. Common sense clashing with dreams. Love clashing with hate. Determination clashing with doubt. He felt the multiple layers, tearing as he walked deeper. The thoughts were complex, with many sides, no longer black and white, no longer that of a child's.

Get out of my life, my world, my dreams…cheated from life…Congratulations, Haku. I knew you found somebody else…no, this can't be, he didn't do it on his own will…nothing I can do, calm before a storm…good or bad will remain to be seen…it was a façade…move forward, never look back…I have to find him, have too…but what to do…face it, don't shy away…withering trust, so easily scared….misunderstanding…

They chorused around him, loud and soft, clear and fuzzy, weighed and rash. And he comprehended her fear. Chihiro had developed two, very conflicting natures, both useful, but both trying to kill one another. She did not need to worry though, he would take care of her.

Haku could no longer stand seeing her in distress. He removed his hand and the glow faded.

"I have caused you pain." He stated as he saw, avoiding her eye, sorrow constricting in his chest. "Why did you come back for me?" She stared defiantly back, daring him to contradict, melancholy burning in her brown pools.

"I am the one who has caused you pain. I am the one who sound apologize. How many hours, days, months, years, did you spend building your bonding place, for me? How many times have you felt exhausted, for me? How many beatings, how many oaths, how many fights, did you take, for me? How much blood, did you lose, for me?" Her voice faded. "How many times, do you think of me, not knowing if you would ever see me again, not knowing if you were going to be married with the knowledge I would be forever searching? How many!" she cried, "and in the midst of your suffering, the least I could do was understand."

She folded her arms around herself tightly, another habitual gesture she used to shield herself from the harsh world. "All I could do was understand…"

"You forgot to ask me something." Despite the tension, the dragon smiled in spite of himself.

"What?"

"How many times did I rehearse the act for you? Which, I might answer with at least a dozen."

He was rewarded by a shaky chuckle.

"I loved the fat part. It was totally random." Her teeth flashed white.

It hurt him to be reminded, however, of the awful deed he had done, and it hurt him more too see how sweet and forgiving she was. "You're not fat, Chihiro," Haku breathed. "You're beau-" he cut himself off, blushing red, but Chihiro didn't notice.

"I'm as fat as you are fat. Promise me, Haku…"

He moaned, remembering his failure at the word 'promise', and reached into the folds of his shirt, bringing out the small piece of paper, placing it in her outstretched hand. "I didn't keep your promise, Chihiro. I'm sorry. I-I-just couldn't. See, I'm the weak one."

She whispered softly. "Weak, Haku? Stubborn, yes, protective, yes, but weak? Never." Her voice rasped, and she bent her head down to look at the piece of paper carefully before letting out a small gasp.

"I'm glad you didn't." She shuffled over and embraced him. "At least you kept your first one." Her breath tickled his ear, and he reminded himself to breathe. "At least, try to eat more, you are quite thin. Regain you strength. You're too hard on yourself."

"You are too." All he said was honest.

"I'll try to be strong." She pulled back and cocked her head to one side, looking at him.

"I'll try to trust. So, how are you feeling?"

Chihiro groaned. "Tenacious as ever, aren't you?"

"Scale one to ten?"

"A nine." Under his disbelieving look, she shot in her defense, "Hey, we've found each other, you being my best friend, surely that's supposed to make me feel better. But yes, I feel a little tired. Just a little, Haku, no need to round your eyes like that. Try to remember I'm sixteen, not ten, anymore."

"At least you let me take care of you when you were ten, instead of running all over the place," he grunted, playfully annoyed.

"I'm not feeble anymore. I run sixty something miles a week and swim thirty something hours and pour over 1,000 pages worth of books." Seeing the dragon's horrified look, she quickly added, "Hey, I do sports. I attend school. This is human life."

The distance had been bridged. The tension had dissipated. He now too, understood why. Why she had found him.

"Come run with me." Chihiro stood up suddenly, making Haku feel all alone in the grass.

"Run?"

She rolled her eyes. "Yes, run. Remember when you practically flew all the way to the bridge with me in tow the first time we met? I could barely keep up. I bet I'm faster now."

"Yes, but the speed was partially due to magic." Chihiro reached out a hand and Haku accepted it, pulling himself up.

"Then let's race. No magic allowed." Her spirit was bubbling within her, her legs wanted to pound in the soft grass. But Haku, always sensible, looked doubtfully at the girl, reluctant to just run around in circles like a child.

"What if I don't want to run?"

"I'll make you." Chihiro was already pulling ahead, looking over her shoulder and asking him silently with her eyes to come.

"I'm a God, Chihiro."

"A stubborn one on that note." She stuck her tongue out at him. The nerve. With a growl, he launched himself at her and unwillingly found himself to be sprinting after her. He felt carefree in the wind, he felt like what his age appeared to be, 17 and young. First, rolling down a hill. Now, running with no purpose. What's next? I'm becoming soft. But Haku had to admit that with the arrival of Chihiro, he was actually beginning to enjoy each moment of life. And live it to its full potential. Nothing, it seemed, could bog him down today.

God, is she fast. He struggled to keep up, running as fast as he could, restraining himself from the urge to use magic to make himself faster. Her long legs moved in a blur, a spring to her step. Her laughter filled the air.

"Come on, Haku, you can do better than that!"

With a growl, he ran even faster, the grass soft beneath his feet. They were heading back in the direction of the bathhouse, the afternoon sun twinkling in the sky.

Slap-slap-slap, went Chihiro's shoes as she sprinted across the bridge, with Haku hot on her heels. She turned sharply to the right and suddenly stopped in front of the descending flight of rickety wooden steps, replaying that awful scene with her unknowingly running down the steps and crashing into the concrete wall at the end. Her abrupt stop caused Haku to crash into her. She gave a squeak as she felt herself teeter over the edge, but strong arms wrapped around her middle and brought her back to safe ground. He breathed through her hair, breathing rapid both from the exertion of trying to catch up and from fear of watching her fall.

"I've got you." Haku noticed she wasn't even panting, feeling ashamed at his pathetic physical state.

"I win. You're a slowpoke." Chihiro smiled despite her shaking and realized that his arms were still wound tightly around her. She exhaled and twisted her neck so that they were nose to nose, faces an inch apart. "Hey, thanks for catching me back there, thought I was dead for sure."

Haku narrowed his eyes at her, and said with finality, "I'll never let you die."

Chihiro's POV:

I admit, Haku was just a wee bit over protective. I appreciated the fact he had caught me because for a moment, I was really scared it would happen just like last time, but he wouldn't let go of me, and about the dying part? All mortals die, and I thought he knew that. I was fighting for air.

"Um, Haku, you can let go now, I'm ok, don't worry." Instantly, he looked at the arms that were still wrapped around my waist and blushed faintly, quickly removing them and snapping the limbs to his side.

"Sorry," he muttered, shame prickling his voice. It was really quite cute. Once again, he was judging himself too harshly. I hoped I might lessen the habit over time.

Deep inside, I knew the protectiveness was part of the dragon that I loved, but could it really hurt for him to lessen it? Hope not.

I knew he wasn't going to make any effort to take my hand after that, so I reached for the limp one by his side and grasped it, slipping my fingers through his like we had always done as children. My action caught him unaware, he probably wasn't used to be forgiven so quickly, yet I wasn't the one likely to hold grudges. Moving forward involves forgiveness.

"Come with me. I want to visit Kamaji." We silently walked down the stairs.

"Chihiro?"

"Yeah?"

"You are really fast. And sorry, about not letting go."

I laughed at the compliment. "Are you sure that I'm really fast, or are you just trying to cover up the fact that you couldn't catch me? And really Haku, don't mind. I—"

I blushed at what I was going to say next in hopes of boosting his confidence. And it was 100% true. "I find your protectiveness kinda cute."

Silence filled the air once again as he pondered on my words. We finally reached the bottom and I exhaled a huge sigh of relief. Haku noticed and murmured into my ear, "I wouldn't have let you trip, you know that, right?"

"Yes, I trust you wouldn't have, but all the same, I don't like those stairs."

"Chihiro, while you remind me that you are no longer a child, I remind you that I am a dragon. A powerful, dangerous dragon, on that note. And I am definitely not to be categorized as cute." He pulled his lips back to show me sharp canines and unnaturally white teeth. He exuded a sense of authority and control, but I wasn't ready to get ordered about by a dragon, no, not after all those years of surviving without him, my own determination pushing me on. I rolled my eyes.

"Oooo, I'm so scared of you, big, intimidating dragon." My voice had taken on the quality of mock fear and dripped with sarcasm.

"You are going to be sorry." He hissed through clenched teeth, furrowing his beautiful brows with supposed anger.

I wasn't about to let myself get defeated by the 17 year old looking spirit, and took off before I could even take in the threat. I slammed the door open that led into boiler room and tried to shut it, but his magic kept it open.

"That's not fair!" I yelled over my shoulder as I dashed into the steaming red room, always bathed in that orange yellow hue of dancing flames. The sootballs twittered at my feet, making quite a racket, covering my shoes to the point where I could hardly walk. Staggering out from their act of love, I stood once again in the same place I had six years ago, after Haku bid me to go and find Kamaji. I was really out of breath, panting with my hands resting on my thighs.

"KAMAJI!" I shouted above the roar of the furnace. The six legged spider like man was busy at work, wrapping up different herbs that all looked the same to me in small pieces of parchment paper. His many arms orchestrated absurd motions that were probably impossibly for a human to do.

"EH? Speak up! I'm getting a little deaf." He didn't even lift his head to see who it was. Great, Haku's going to catch me any minute.

"KAMAJI! IT'S ME, CHIHIRO!"

He took off his odd spectacles and wiped them before putting them on again.

"Chihiro…Sen…is that really you?"

"Yes!"

He raised his arms, joy breaking out on his face, looking like a child who had just discovered chocolate. I opened mine, smiling like an idiot, about to run into the waiting embrace, when somebody tackled me from behind and lifted me right off my feet, one arm under my legs and one arm cradling my neck. I feel downright helpless, like a doll. I struggled with no avail. He was, despite being lean, very very strong.

"Put me down!" I hissed in the most furious hiss I could muster. "You are unbelievable."

"Do you take it back then?" He smiled devilishly down at me, the locks of green black hair only inches away from my face.

"You are so rude, I was just going to greet someone very dear to me who I haven't seen in SIX YEARS. I thought gods had manners." I spat quite viciously, but he remained annoyingly cheerful and calm, not relinquishing his hold.

"No, no, Chihiro, take you time." Kamaji sighed with blissful remembrance. "Ah…youngsters." He picked up his teapot and took a long slurp.

Chihiro was slightly horrified at what the spider man was hinting at, and Haku seemed not to notice his words, but noticed the expression on her face.

"Chihiro, I swear on my river I'll put you down the minute you take back your words."

"Who, me, insulting a river god?" I batted my eyelids, feigning innocence. Then a plan popped into my head. I sighed and turned in his arms so I was facing his chest. He smelled so pleasant, so Haku. Like the fresh turned earth after a nice pounding rainstorm. Then I rested my head at the crook of his neck, letting out another sad little sigh. He stiffened and became rigid. I felt his concern spiking the air. He hesitated for a second before speaking softly.

"Chihiro…what's wrong?" His grip slackened, as if he was scared he was hurting me. I took my chance, seeing the gap in his armor, jerked my head. I bit him on the neck, not hard enough to puncture the skin, or to even leave marks, but hard enough to startle him. He dropped me instantly, a shudder passing through his body, and I fell lightly to my feet. I faced him, and he looked at me as if I was a stranger, his clothes slightly rumpled, his demeanor rubbed the wrong way, very un-Haku like. Maybe I was pushing his pride a bit far. Kamaji was hooting in his seat, a crackling sort of chortle escaping his mouth. Time to push some humor into this.

"Hey, you're not the only one who has handsome fangs." We burst out into laughter. He double upped, holding his middle, hair swinging to hide his face, and I was leaning onto his back with an arm for support, both of us laughing too hard to notice the arrival of another spirit, who quietly slid shut the small wooden door before standing up and brushing off her salmon pants, before turning to face us with a mouth hanging open in shock. She snapped it shut with a small hmph.

We both stopped, and I instantly snapped up straight, not leaning on Haku anymore. He looked disgruntled, but amusement still glittered in his warm green eyes. Lin stood before us with her hands on her hips, a small smirk flitting her lips.

"Sorry to intrude on the social gathering here, guys, but dinner's ready."