I do not own Spirited Away


When Chihiro opened her eyes she was standing on the bridge in front of the bathhouse. It was bright out, so it was quiet and there were no visible spirits. Chihiro quickly jumped and nearly sprinted into the bathhouse. A few spirits were still working away and greeted her, but she ignored them as she quickly slipped into an elevator, retracing her route from all those years ago.

Praying Yubaba hadn't left yet, she quickly made her way down the winding halls. She couldn't but take a big gulp of air before knocking on the large wooden door, the entrance to Yubaba's office. Silence. Chihiro let ot a desperate sigh and decided to try to open the door. Unlocked.

Chihiro stepped inside and inspected the office. Identical to how it looked from before, although it somehow seemed emptier than before. Maybe it was because the stacks of paper on the desk were somewhat smaller. Chihiro frowned slightly and walked around the office in a circle, inspecting any trace of Yubaba, before going to one of the windows and looking over the scenery. Just as beautiful as she remembered.

The woman found the urge to paint it, and began looking around from some blank paper and some pencils before stopping herself. She couldn't steal Yubaba's stuff, no way. She went back to the window and decided to call for Yubaba, maybe she wasn't too far away.

After a few minutes of shouting Yubaba's name she let out a small sigh and stepped back from the window, glancing around the room again. Maybe she could find a way to contact Zeniba, or even go to her? No, by the time Chihiro would get a message to Zeniba, Yubaba would be here. Chihiro decided to plop herself down on the ground in front of the window, shifting her position so she was sitting cross-legged and closing her eyes.

The best thing to do was wait.


Chihiro had no idea how long it had been, when she opened her eyes she was lying down in an odd position. She let out a small groan and began to sit up, soreness shot through her body. Damn, how could she have fallen asleep?!

Glancing up, she noticed it was not only slightly darker, but also two black shapes in the distance. Chihiro let out a gasp and struggled to get up on her feet, brushing off her clothes and trying to get rid of the wrinkles that had appeared while she slept. She really should have been more careful, she had wasted precious time.

It wasn't long before the black shapes got closer and she could tell it was Yubaba and her bird. The woman quickly jumped backwards to give them some space as they landed, Yubaba looking quite shocked when she was back to her normal, almost human looking self.

"Sen! I thought you would be showing up eventually." Yubaba had a rough and annoyed voice, not to any surprise, "I'm guessing you're here because of Haku. Well, I know next to nothing, so be quick."

Chihiro frowned a little but didn't back down, "Haku's name wasn't stolen. I think he's being possessed by something and can't say anything."

Yubaba nodded slightly as she sat down in her large chair at her desk, "I figured as much. You smell like him, so I assume you met him."

Chihiro nodded quickly, moving in front of Yubaba's desk, "I did, in the human world," Yubaba glanced up at Chihiro with a very doubtful look, "He's really weak, I could sense it, and he barely spoke at all. I know he isn't much of a talker, but talking that little was just odd, and… I met him at the Kohaku River. Which means his name wasn't stolen, it's something else"

Yubaba took a moment to process her words before speaking, "I see. Yes, he wouldn't be able to manifest in the human world if his name was gone."

Chihiro was getting a little frustrated, did Yubaba know absolutely nothing? The impatience was starting to show in her voice, "Has the Haku on this end been acting weird at all?"

Yubaba thought for a moment before frowning, "Lin has told me so. Apparently he's acting completely opposite to normal, even when he was under my control. I have no idea how exactly he's acting, but Lin will be up soon."

Chihiro lowered her eyes as a thought popped into her mind, "Was the Haku here working last night? Like a few hours before dawn?"

"Of course he was! No matter what happened to him he still works here"

Chihiro let out a slight gasp, causing Yubaba to make a somewhat surprised expression. It wasn't possible, was it? How could Haku be in two places at the same time? Unless… Chihiro raised her eyes to looked right at Yubaba, full of confidence, her theory had to be right, "Yubaba. I believe the Haku currently working here is not the real Haku. Either he is an imposter or a mirage of some sort."

Yubaba stared at Chihiro silently for a long moment before standing up, "Very well. I have my doubts, but you have proven in the past to have very good instincts. Go talk to Lin and get her to help you find him, I will try to find him another way, whoever he is."

Chihiro nodded and bowed quickly before rushing out of the office, not bothering to ask what Yubaba was planning, or whether Yubaba truly believed the theory. Chihiro had never personally met the Haku currently here, so she could be completely wrong, but she knew to trust her gut. She always had, it got her out of a lot of danger in the past, especially when she had been in the spirit world last.

Making her way down the winding hallways and quickly made it to the elevator and made her way down to where she thought she would find Lin, doing the prep to open the bathhouse. By the point the soreness had mostly gone away, thankfully.

Lin was where Chihiro had expected her to be, doing the prep. Lin hadn't noticed at first, jumping quite visibly when Chihiro approached. Lin whipped around with a big grin and hugged the much younger woman.

"Sen! I was wondering where you ran of to!"

Chihiro let out a little laugh and hugged her friend back, the other girls began gathering but she quickly became serious, ignoring their friendly gestures, "Lin, we need to find Haku, and soon. I can't explain right now, but we need to catch him."

Lin and the other girls went quiet but didn't ask questions and quickly set off to find Haku. Chihiro followed with them in the search, if her gut was right, Haku could be in much more danger than just being a little sick.