Wow. I have quite a few reviews for this fic. More than I thought I'd get, anyway. o.o I'm glad you guys like it, really. Anyways, let's get on with the next chapter!
Thoughts - Italic
Lyrics - Bold
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It had been three days already, and now she was waiting for word from Yubaba to be able to get back to the bathhouse. She hoped it was soon. It wasn't like she hated spending time with Zaniiba, it was just that she was rather bored. Chihiro hadn't seen any sign of Mori, and she seemed to rather miss the wolf. She had nothing to do, and couldn't wait till she was able to get back the bathhouse to be able to see all of her friends once again. She missed Alyssa and Carissa... Her two friends. And she just couldn't stop thinking that something might've gone wrong, that she might have to stay here even longer then was said. Chihiro hoped to be able to get back as soon as possible, but her hopes seemed to be crashing down around her wherever she went these days.
A light sigh escaped the girl's lips as she sat on the window sill, watching the rain pour down lightly from the greying sky. Soft patting sounds came through the window as she kept herself lost within her thoughts about her friends. Zeniiba had gone to the bathhouse to see what was taking so long for her to get there, and she didn't even know where Kaonashi had gone. For all she knew, he could've gone with Zeniiba to the bathhouse..But she highly doubted that. He hated being cooped up in a place for too long. She smiled slightly as she remembered what happened the day that she had allowed Kaonashi into the bathhouse, and the mess that she'd caused in the process. But her thoughts drifted away from that and went back to Kohaku.. Her dragon...
MY dragon? God what is wrong with me! thought Chihiro furiously, shaking her head a bit to try and remove thoughts of the green-eyed dragon from her mind. She seemed to growl in annoyance. What was taking Zeniiba so long! She'd been gone for a couple of hours now. It really shouldn't take her this long to get a message.. Her thoughts then went to things such as what could've happened, what might've happened.. And if there were any problems in the bathhouse that she should know about.
Blowing a soft puff of air from her lips, Chihiro turned her eyes from the rain that poured down to the ground outside, and took a glance around the small cottage. The fireplace was lit brightly, and the only sound other then the rain outside, was the soft crackling of the embers from within the flames.
Once again, she found herself to be drifting back into her thoughts as she stared toward the fire. Chihiro then leaned her head back against the wooden frame of the window sill, and allowed her eyes to slip shut, finding herself to be sleepy for some reason.. She always found herself to be sleepy when she stared at the flames for to long.. In a way, she wondered why...
---Dream---
Deep chocolate brown eyes scanned the surrounding area and her breath caught in her throat as she took it all in. It was beautiful. That was the only way to describe the large garden that lay before her. Sakura blossoms fluttered to the ground, covering the lush green grass with their pink glow. Flowers seemed to be littered everywhere she looked; green ones, blue ones, violet ones, silver ones... She allowed a small smile to grace her lips as she stepped forward, being careful to walk along the cement path that lay before her. The path itself looked to lead toward the vast lake in front of her, making the entire place look almost angelic. The moons rays flashed across the trees, and the lake, causing it to look as if it were glowing.
"Beautiful, isn't it?" A soft voice said from behind her, causing Chihiro to whip her head around quickly, only to be met with a pair of aqua blue ones. Startled, Chihiro took a few steps backwards.
"Y-you're that woman from last time!" Chihiro said, pointing a finger toward her, before lowering it as the woman in question gave her a soft smile, the aqua eyes shining with hidden amusement.
"Yes, that I am." The soft ghost-like voice spoke again, as the woman slowly walked toward the lake, before stopping once reaching the edge, staring down toward the soft glittering surface of the water, "But do you know who I am?" She questioned, turning her head only slightly to glance toward Chihiro.
Frowning, Chihiro only shook her head, causing the woman to give a small sigh, before she returned her gaze to the water, "I see. Then the old witch has yet to tell you. I suppose I should be the one to tell you.. But, there's no way of knowing if you would actually believe me." The younger girl didn't know what to say to this, and the woman seemed to notice as she gave her another small smile, "It started along time ago, just before you were born.. But I guess I should tell you who I am first, hm?" A chuckle escaped the woman as she tilted her head up to stare toward the darkened sky, lit by the rays of moonlight, "I am a goddess. The goddess of the Spirit World, to be exact."
Chihiro recalled Yubaba mentioning something about this, and eyed the woman for a moment, "I've heard about you.. Not in a lot of detail. Just that you died, and Deruku Moonu took over in your place.."
"Ah, yes. Him," the woman muttered, her voice showing her clear dislike for the man, "He had no right taking over the Spirit World, but I suppose nothing can be done about that for now." She turned to look toward Chihiro, who was eyeing her slightly. She seemed to be able to trust the woman, but she wasn't sure exactly why she trusted her so much.
The woman smiled, and shook her head, "I suppose I should tell you my name, ne?"
Chihiro blinked and furrowed her eyebrows, this being her only response. The woman took that as a sign to go on, "I have many names, of course. The Goddess of Light, protector of the Spirit World.. But my birth name, the one that my mother gave to me, is Serena. You may call me that, if you wish."
A nod from Chihiro told the woman to continue, "This would be where I'd ask you how much you wanted to know... But there's so much to tell, and so little time. So, I'll ask you this instead; what would you like to know?"
Chihiro frowned in concentration. What did she want to know? She had a ton of questions that continually ran through her mind, and the only thing was, she had to pick one, which was easier said then done. Finally she spoke, glancing back toward the woman, who called herself Serena, "I would sort of like to know who your heir is... Yubaba asked me to find her.. But I don't even know where to start looking."
Serena gave her a small smile, and raised her right arm, her hand extended toward Chihiro, "Take my hand, child. And instead of telling you, I'll show you. I guess it's time for you to know everything."
Hesitating slightly, and obviously confused, Chihiro took the hand extended to her, though she almost dropped it when a blinding flash of light envaded her vision. She closed her eyes against the light, and felt Serena's fingers slip from her own, causing Chihiro to give a light cry of protest.
Once the light faded, she was standing in the middle of what looked like a large room. She glanced around slowly, taking in her surroundings; the place was lit up by a few candles, a bed lay in the corner of the room covered with red silk sheets, and there was a large table with different supplies and healing herbs resting upon it. Chihiro frowned at the room, before squeaking as things seemed to fast forward slightly. She blinked, dazed as everything went flying past her quickly, before it finally stopped. Chihiro had to blink quite a few times afterward to get her bearings straight, until she heard the soft cry of a baby.
Turning her gaze to the side, she watched as a few human-like spirits bustled around the bed, who had a younger looking woman residing it in, tired from giving birth. She looked sort of like...Serena!
One of the nurses came over to the bed, and handed the small child over to the younger Serena, who smiled at the small child as it gazed up at her in wonder.
Chihiro slowly walked forward, and peered over Serena's shoulder to get a look at the child. It was a small girl with the same navy blue eyes of her mother, a small amount of dark blue, almost black hair showed on the top of her head.
"She's beautiful your highness," one of the nurses gushed as she looked at the small child, a smile lighting up her features.
Serena looked up from her child to glance toward the nurse before smiling back and looking down to her child once again, "She is, isn't she?"
Chihiro smiled a bit, staring at the small child before she yelped once again as everything around her spun around quickly, shifting out of focus as a bright light seemed to light up the area around her. Chihiro raised her arms to cover her eyes from the light, and slowly lowered them as the room came back into focus and stopped spinning around.
The room was a different one now. A long red carpet led up to a throne that had an older looking Serena sitting on the chair, talking quietly with a young looking man who stood just in front of her, a respectable distance away. The man would've looked completely human had it not been for the points that adorned the tips of his ears. An elf, thought Chihiro in wonder but her thoughts were distracted as a child ran past her, causing her to eep and jump back a bit. It was Serena's daughter. The young girl ran up the red carpet and past the young man, causing them both to stop speaking before she grinned toothily at her mother, "Mommy! Can I go play with Jonathon?" Her eyes were a bright blue now that she had grown up. She was five years old, or so it looked. Chihiro wasn't quite sure how old the girl was at the moment. She had shoulder length navy blue hair that looked almost like silk from the distance that Chihiro was from them, and she was looking at Serena with the cutest expression.
Serena seemed to melt just by the look on her daughters face and nodded, "Yes, it's fine. Just be careful."
The young girl nodded and ran off past Chihiro who jumped out of the way instinctively, and ran out the door. It was a memory, true. But it still seemed almost real.
Serena went back to her conversation with the man after her daughter left and she seemed to look grave. Chihiro let her curiousity get the better of her and she got close enough to hear the conversation.
"...going to take her away. I'm afraid it's the only way your highness," the man said, a small frown creasing his lips.
Serena sighed and shook her head raising a hand to rub lightly at her forehead, "I..." Another sigh escaped her lips as she stared toward the door that her daughter had just exited from, her eyes saddening considerably. Chihiro looked at the two curiously, glancing at the door only to see no one there, so she assumed that this had something to do with the small princess. "If it's the only way, then I will send her away. I do not want my daughter in the middle of a war," Serena said softly, closing her eyes for a moment, before reopening them and looking at the man once again, "I need you to get Marek here... He can change her memories, and I'll send her away from here... It's the only way to keep her safe."
Chihiro frowned and looked between the man and Serena. Send her daughter away? Why would she do that? A war...? What war? Chihiro's thoughts went rampant with all of these questions, and she sighed, shaking her head. "I'm so confused," Chihiro said aloud, before watching as everything began to spin around once again, before skidding to a hault. Chihiro blinked as she found herself back at the lake, with Serena gazing out at the water just in front of her. Chihiro shook her head and walked up to the woman, moving herself so that she was standing in front of her, "Why did you send her away? And...Where did you send her? How am I supposed to find her if she could be a thousand miles away from here?" Chihiro demanded, frustrated beyond belief.
Serena smiled sadly, and shook her head slightly, before glancing back out at the lake. She moved an arm toward Chihiro, holding out her hand. Chihiro eyed the hand wearily, before taking it. Serena then led her over to the lake, and released her hand, nodding toward the water, "Look into the lake, and tell me what you see."
Chihiro gave Serena an odd sort of look, before stepping forward and staring into the lake, furrowing her eyebrows slightly. She could see her own reflection staring back at her, and she sighed turning her gaze back toward Serena, "All I see is myself. What more am I supposed to see?"
Serena smiled, being quite patient with the frustrated teen, "Look deep into yourself, into your heart. And stare into your reflection. Believe in yourself, the real you."
Chihiro frowned but looked back into the depths of the lake once again, staring at the icy blue water. She tried to relax herself and her eyes seemed to glaze over slightly as she tried to find herself, as Serena suggested. She looked deep into her heart, and it was almost as if she were floating in a deep abyss of black and red diamonds. Her eyebrows creased as she concentrated harder, her eyes still staring down at the lake. She felt a small tickling sensation as she went deeper into the abyss, following a strand of blue light. After a while, as she seemed to get within five feet of the light, she felt like she was being jerked away from it. Frowning a bit more, she tried to push past the barrier that wanted to block her from the blue light, and after a few moments of pushing at it, it gave way and she flowed into the blue light. Her eyes fluttered shut as a white light flowed from her fingertips and surrounded her body. She shivered at the cold wind that blew by. She felt almost...naked. Shaking her head a bit, she opened her eyes and looked at Serena with a sigh, "See, it's not working. I don't know what I'm supposed to be seeing..." She trailed off seeing Serena's eyes slowly begin to fill with tears, and the woman gave a watery smile, nodding toward the lake once again.
"Just look," her voice sounded choaked, like she was trying to hold back tears. Not wanting to upset the woman anymore, as she figured it was her fault, she looked back at the lake and yelped stumbling back, before falling to the ground, eyes as wide as saucers. "See, you did do it," Serena said with a small laugh, a smile on her lips.
Chihiro glanced at Serena, before edging back toward the lake, peering over at the water cautiously. Her breath caught in her throat as she stared into icy blue eyes. Long navy blue cascaded down her back, and some of it hung over her left shoulder looking like spun silk. A small glowing black star was in the center of her forehead, that parted her bangs. Though, that wasn't the thing that shocked her the most. It was the velvety black wings that were stretched out on either side of her, and her once normal ears now had noticeable points at the tips.
Chihiro looked back at Serena, her mouth hanging open a bit as she stared up at her, "Wha...what happened to me?"
Serena gave a soft chuckle, and a small smile as she looked down at the new appearance Chihiro sported, "You'll figure it out soon enough. Whenever you want your true appearance to show, just think of it. You will be told eventually, but for now... I must leave you."
As Serena slowly began to fade away, Chihiro quickly got up to her feet in an almost..Graceful fashion which sort of unnerved her, but she shook that thought away, "Wait! You can't leave! Tell me what's going on!"
Serena gave a soft laugh, and shook her head, as her form seemed to disappear, her voice echoing around the beautiful garden, "Speak to Yubaba when you next see her. She shall tell you all you must know. But for now, I must leave you. Goodbye, my child." Her voice was but a soft whisper before everything went silent once again. Chihiro shook her head slightly as she glanced around once again. Sitting herself on the ground, Chihiro glanced at the lake once again, staring toward her appearance in the lake, the thoughts rushing through her mind making things even more confusing. With a drawn out sigh, Chihiro slumped to the ground, laying across the grass as she now stared up at the sky. The seemed to shine and twinkle as the light from the moon shined upon everything below, reflecting off of the shiny white disks of light that were scattered across the sky. "I'm so confused...and frustrated. My life seems to love blowing up in my face, huh?" Chihiro said to herself, as she lightly trailed the pads of her fingers across the blades of grass. Slowly, her eyes began to drift shut and she tilted her head to the side. Everything then began to fade into the distance as she fell into a peaceful dreamless sleep...
---End of Dream---
Slowly Chihiro cracked her eyes open and she groaned at her stiff back. Sleeping in the windowsill really wasn't the smartest idea. As she sat up straight on the ledge of the window sill she only barely noticed that the rain had stopped and a bit of sunshine was now peeking out from the horizon as morning came. Images from her dream slowly began to materialize in her mind, and she blinked the sleep out of her eyes as she seemed to be more alert. Frowning, Chihiro rubbed at her forehead, and shook the thoughts from her mind to think on later, deciding to glance around the small cottage instead. Furrowing her eyebrows, she got up from the window sill, shivering a bit at the cold draft that swept across her bare feet. Peering around cautiously, Chihiro sighed. "Zeniiba?" She called out, waiting for a response, but not getting one. Shifting from foot to foot uncomfortably, she walked further into the room and tried to call again, hoping to get an answer, "Zeniiba..?"
"I'm...Sure she'll be back soon. Yeah, I'll just...Go for a walk and think, and then she'll be back," nodding to herself, Chihiro gathered a sweater and threw it overtop of her head, before tossing on her sneakers, tossing one last glance around the vacant house/cottage before sweeping out closing the door quietly behind herself. She folded her arms across her chest as she wandered away from the cottage, moving to walk into the entrance of the woods, not noticing the small flash of light behind her as she left.
While traveling through the woods, Chihiro was once again envaded by her thoughts, and just to make sure she pulled a strand of hair in front of her line of sight, giving a small sigh of relief as she saw that it was, indeed, still brown. Blowing a piece of hair from her eyes, she glanced around the forest slowly, taking in her surroundings. She then leaned back against an oak tree, her arms still folded across her chest, as she folded her ankles over one another as well. She then closed her eyes, allowing bits of brown hair to fall into her face. She decided to try and get the thoughts off of her back by singing, it usually helped...But she wasn't so sure if it would this time. Couldn't hurt to try, right? Chihiro thought idly.
Catch me as I fall, say you're here and it's all over now. Speaking to the atmosphere. No one's here and I fall into myself. This truth drives me into madness... I know I can stop the pain if I will it all away...if I will it all away. Don't turn away, don't give into the pain. Don't try to hide, I know there screaming your name... Don't close your eyes, god knows what lies behind... Don't turn out the lights, never sleep; never die... Chihiro opened her eyes, pushed off the tree and wandered over to a small river bank and glanced down at the water, seeing a flash of the image that had plagued her dreams. The navy blue hair and bright sky blue eyes... I'm frightened by what I see, but somehow I know that there's much more to come. Immobolized by my fear, I'm soon to be blinded by tears. I can stop the pain if I will it all away...if I will it all away... Don't turn away, don't give into the pain... Don't try to hide, I know there screaming your name... Don't close your eyes, god knows what lies behind... Don't turn out the lights, never sleep; never die... Fallen angels at my feet, whispered voices in my ear, death before my eyes.. Lying next to me I fear. Chihiro merely shook her head and glanced up from the water to the sky, watching as a reddish tint took over it. Don't turn away, don't give into the pain... Don't try to hide, I know there screaming your name... Don't close your eyes, god knows what lies behind... Don't turn out the lights, never sleep; never die... Don't turn away, don't give into the pain... Don't try to hide, I know there screaming your name... Don't close your eyes, god knows what lies behind... Don't turn out the lights, never sleep; never die...
With a sigh, Chihiro looked down from the sky, took one last glance at the water, before wandering off out of the woods, heading back toward the small cottage, hoping that Zeniiba was now back. As she walked through the woods, she breathed in a breath of fresh air that blew by. She nearly choked as she caught the smell of smoke within the whiff of air that she took. She furrowed her eyebrows, glancing around slowly, before beginning to quickly make her way back to the cottage, almost at a run. She stopped once she got to the entrance of the woods, her eyes flickering toward the cottage...which was encased in flames. Eyes widening a fraction, Chihiro quickly ran toward the cottage, cursing her stupidity for leaving in the first place. She stopped once she was just a few feet away from the cottage and shook her head, "Fuck..." She swore, watching as the cottage slowly burnt to the ground.
"You know, it's not very lady-like to swear," A voice said mockingly from behind her. Chihiro whipped around quickly, her eyes quickly catching sight of a slim figure of a woman...or what she thought was a woman. Chihiro frowned, looking at the bottom part of the woman, noticing that she had what looked like a horses body. It was pure white, and a black tail flicked back and forth from just behind her, "Admiring my beauty? How sweet."
Chihiro returned her gaze toward the woman's face, her own chocolate brown eyes meeting the pale violet ones of the creature, "A bit full of yourself, hm?" she returned mockingly, eyes narrowed toward her.
The centaur merely smirked as it stepped forward, the hooves smacking against the ground with each step she took. Unconsciously, Chihiro took a step backwards, keeping a fair bit of distance between herself and the creature. "Aw, do I scare you?" Chihiro scowled in response and the woman chuckled softly, and said in a purr, "It'll make it easier to take you to my master if you are scared... That way you won't struggle as much."
At this, Chihiro's eyes widened a fraction, before they went back to being narrowed, "You're the one who set fire to it then?" Her hands clentched into fists at her sides as she shifted her feet a bit, still scowling toward the chuckling violet-eyed woman. "You'll pay for that.." She whispered softly, her nails now digging into the palms of her hands from her uncontrolled rage. How dare this woman just prance in and think that she'd be able to take Chihiro from the only place she'd ever felt safe in! The nerve...
Her thoughts were cut short as the creature lunged toward her, catching Chihiro by surprise. She let out a startled yelp and jumped to the side, barely catching her balance. "Ah, ah, ah... None of that. Now, be a good little girl and come with me..." The creature growled and lunged toward Chihiro again...
I know, cliff hanger. Whoooo. Sorry, my internet's not exactly...Hooked up yet as I've just moved. I got dial-up now. Oh god it SUCKS. And I'm bored off my ass as I'm living in the country now. There's really nothing to do around here.
Anyway, enough of my excuses and blabbering, I'll try to get the next chapter up as soon as possible...Just have to write it. o.o
Please review:)