Disclaimer: Spirited Away is owned by the genius Hayao Miyazaki and by Ghibli Studios. I am merely a fan of said movie and I do not gain any profit or whatsoever from making this story.
-OoO-
When Kohaku reached the boiler room, he was relieved to see Chihiro up and about. Sitting cross-legged, Chihiro nibbled on her breakfast quietly and listened to one of Kamaji's stories. The old man was telling the story of a fighter jet pilot, a tale that Kohaku had heard years ago from the same old spirit. Kamaji was swinging his arms left and right as he artfully narrated the story to capture the girls' attention. In the story, the pilot was cursed and turned into a pig like Chihiro's parents, and when Kamaji shared this to the girls, Rin's hand froze in mid-eating, a piece of pork held by her chopsticks.
The sable spirit looked at the meat, before making a face and deposited the piece to Chihiro's bowl. As soon as the human spirit realized the other girl's action, she immediately scowled and gave the meat to Kamaji who happily took it and ate it, before resuming his storytelling. The sootballs below also listened, although some rolled their eyes at Kamaji's overly done gestures to prove his point. The tiny black things were the first to sense someone behind them, and they immediately parted to give Kohaku a way to pass.
It was Chihiro who spotted Kohaku's approach, and she looked his way to give him a small smile before patting the space beside her. Clearly an invitation, Kohaku sat as quietly as possible so he would not interrupt the epic tale. Beside him, Chihiro was reaching for something from her side, and when she was able to get what she needed, she lightly patted Kohaku's arm and handed him his breakfast as soon as Kohaku looked her way.
Kohaku reached out to take the bowl, but in the process, his warm hands covered Chihiro's tiny ones. An automatic reaction occurred as Chihiro's cheeks turned pink, but Kohaku refused to let go of the girl's hands. Besides, the girl didn't seem to mind as well, because although she had gone pink, she also didn't withdraw her hands away from his grasp. They stayed in that position for a while, just looking at each other's eyes as they held hands, before Kohaku released a breath and asked, "Are you feeling alright now, Chihiro?"
Blinking, it took the girl a moment before she managed to nod her answer. Then she looked away and finally withdrew her hands from Kohaku's hold. With the bowl in his hands, Kohaku placed in on the floor for safety measures, and then watched as Chihiro clasped her hands together, as if seeking his warmth one more time, before she placed them on her lap and returned eye contact with the dragon spirit.
"I'm fine Haku," she whispered softly, "I'm okay now. Thanks to you."
The dragon shook his head, "I didn't-"
"No it was you," Chihiro reacted immediately and cut him off before he could finish his explanation. "Rin told me, but even if she didn't..." the human spirit trailed off and looked away as her blush intensified, "I just knew you would help. I-"she stopped herself, before putting a hand on her chest. "I felt it here that you would never leave me... that you would save me somehow."
Her face was already red now and she never returned her eye contact with the dragon again, but her declaration made Kohaku smile nonetheless. Actually, the dragon would have grinned stupidly had he no control of his emotions. After all, it felt good to know that Chihiro had faith in him; it made him feel like he was the most competent and powerful being in the whole Spirit World.
"You know I would do everything for you Chihiro," Kohaku answered honestly, and he experimentally reached out to cup her cheek. Chihiro jumped at his touch, and her eyes widened as she stared at his emerald eyes. And before Kohaku could regret his bold move, Chihiro reached out to grasp the back of his hand and leaned into his touch.
"Haku, I-"
"Alright, break it up you two!" Rin admonished suddenly, surprising both human and dragon instantly. "Or have you both forgotten we're here too?" She motioned to everyone present in the room to prove her point, and true enough, Kamaji and his pack of sootballs were eyeing Chihiro and Kohaku, their eyes gleaming in what could only be described as amusement.
"Ah Rin," Kamaji said as he scratched his head, "you didn't have to stop them, especially since they were getting to the good part." The spider spirit then shook his head wistfully as the sootballs squeaked indignantly at Rin's meddling.
Then, turning to both Kohaku and Chihiro, Kamaji grinned whimsically and gave the two a thumb's up. "Go ahead you two," urged the spider spirit, "pretend we're not here and continue." He chortled gleefully when Chihiro only reddened in response, although the dragon only scoffed as if unaffected by the teasing.
"Eh, speak for yourself," Rin grumbled as she crossed her arms on her chest, "I'm not an avid fan of romance like you."
"But you do admit that love is a very beautiful thing, right?" Kamaji asked and he chuckled when Rin's only reply was an indignant snort, before turning away to face Chihiro and Haku again. "Now then, Haku and Sen. You two cozy up, we're not going to interrupt your conversation this time."
Embarrassed by the sly smile on Kamaji's face, Chihiro chose not to say anything, though her eyes would traitorously seek Kohaku's form instead once in a while. Unlike her, the dragon looked just as composed as ever; not even slightly affected by Kamaji's insinuations. Instead, Kohaku was busily eating his breakfast, his emerald eyes more focused on his food than anyone else in the room. He looked Chihiro's way though when he noticed that the girl was staring at him, prompting the girl to look away in haste.
Chihiro looked back to Kamaji again and saw the spider spirit raising his bushy brows teasingly. Rin seemed to enjoy the show as well, despite what she said earlier, as the sable spirit was grinning at the human girl too. Chihiro stuck her tongue out at both spirits, but Rin's smile only grew wider as she nodded her head at Kohaku's way. It clearly meant, "go ahead and talk", but Chihiro only shook her head fervently before standing up.
"We still need to work, right Rin?" Chihiro asked nonchalantly, though the scowl on the human girl's face proved otherwise. "Come on, or else Yubaba will get furious with us."
"Now aren't you just dedicated?" Rin countered sarcastically, although she stood up as well and began gathering the empty plates that they used. "But I guess, you do have a point, so let's start with the dirty dishes."
Chihiro sighed in relief, and just as she was about to pass her bowl to Rin, she felt Kohaku stand up as well, making her look at the dragon curiously.
"There is something I must do as well," Kohaku spoke, and before anyone could ask, he stacked his bowl on top of Chihiro's and gave the girl an apologetic smile. "I hope you don't mind if I ask you to wash this bowl for me Chihiro, but this matter is quite urgent and I must hurry."
With Chihiro's mute nod as answer, Kohaku's smile widened and his eyes sparkled merrily, before he gave a nod to the others and left to do his work.
Every pair of eyes followed the dragon spirit as he hurriedly went outside. When he was out of the room, all the inhabitants in the boiler room, except for Chihiro, heaved a relieved sigh, before turning their attention to the human girl. Chihiro flinched at the amount of stares she was receiving and gulped loudly when Rin and Kamaji grinned broadly. She even swore that if the sootballs possessed mouths, they would all be grinning just as widely as these two.
Mentally counting to brace herself, Chihiro waited for a moment before she managed to utter a "what?" to the others. They only snickered in reply, making the human even more confused than before.
"Oh nothing," Rin said casually, although her eyes were sparkling with mischief, "just a little secret between me and Kamaji over here." She gestured to the older spirit, and when Chihiro looked at Kamaji for further details, the spider only chuckled and turned his back. He then examined some of the herbs inside a particular jar, before barking his orders at the sootballs to get back to work. Gears started turning soon after, as the boiler man and his lackeys started their job.
Meanwhile, Chihiro was getting more and more frustrated by the lack of answers, and it didn't help that the sly grin on Rin's face never left the sable spirit's mouth. Chihiro decided that if she was going to retrieve her answers, she might as well resort to more drastic measures. Nodding to herself, Chihiro took a large breath of air and...
"KAMAJIIII!" She whined at the top of her lungs, making it a point to elongate the vowel at the end. "Tell me what's going ooooooon!" She was past the "annoying brat stage" now, as both spirits and the pack of sootballs in the room cringed at the volume.
Taking another large gulp of air, Chihiro was about to scream again when Rin suddenly clamped her mouth shut with a hand. "Geez Sen!" Rin exclaimed as she held on tightly to quiet the human. "Keep it down will you?! It's nothing serious! Kamaji and I were just messing up with you."
Chihiro's reply was a muddled, "Mhymrah," to which Rin translated as "yeah right."
"I'm telling the truth Sen!" Rin argued, and then glared at Kamaji's back for support. As if sensing the death glare, Kamaji turned to look at the girls and gave a nod of affirmation, before going back to work. "See Sen? Even Kamaji said it was nothing. Now stop being so difficult or you might break something! I don't want Yubaba to come down and give us a lecture! You know how annoying that can be!"
The human mumbled a "Mhpne," and Rin thought that perhaps the human was finally seeing reason, since the latter had already stopped struggling. Experimentally, Rin slowly let go and was relieved to see that the human had finally calmed down, but the girl still managed to demand an explanation from the sable spirit.
"I'll tell, but maybe later," Rin conceded before she took a good look at her hand. "Did you just lick me?!" She asked incredulously as she examined her slightly wet hand.
"I'm not answering that," was Chihiro's grumbled reply.
"Ew Sen! That's gross!"Rin screamed as she wiped her hand on one of Kamaji's blankets. "If you need to lick someone, lick that dumb lizard boy! I'm sure he'd love it."
Chihiro's sole reply to Rin's smart comment was to throw the first thing her hand could pick up, which was a sootball. It hit the sable spirit's face, leaving a huge black mark on the girl's features. Chihiro snorted a laugh and even the sootballs found it funny as well, for they began to jump up and down in excitement. Rin pouted and was about to throw a blanket, when Kamaji suddenly extended his hands to grab both Rin's and Chihiro's collars, as if he was separating two bickering puppies.
"No fighting," the old man said sternly as he addressed both the young girls, "or else you'll break something." He only released the two when they nodded honestly, and then ordered the sootballs to get back to work or else he'd turn them into soot. Rin and Chihiro found it the perfect opportunity to tiptoe away from the boiler room, unless they want Kamaji to scream at them both too.
-OoO-
Chihiro hoped that perhaps she would be given time to mull over what had happened last night while she worked; instead, she only felt the uncomfortable stares following her as she and Rin moved around the bathhouse hallway.
Maybe it was just her imagination, but Chihiro could have sworn that every yuna she and Rin passed seemed to stare at her. Others would giggle behind their sleeves while a few would stop in their tracks and initiate a chat with anyone near them. This strange behaviour alerted Chihiro, and when one yuna gave Chihiro a wink, the human spirit immediately rushed towards Rin and nudged her.
"Hey Rin," Chihiro called out and waited for a reply. The sable spirit only hummed, which prompted the human to continue. "Why is everyone staring at us?"
Rin looked back, noticed a few girls giggling their way though a few were kind enough to turn around and pretend to be busy about something else. "They're not looking at us. They're looking at you."
"Why would they do that?" Chihiro asked curiously, only to frown when Rin's answer was a shrug. "You know something, don't you?" She raised a brow when Rin shrugged again as an answer. It could be because of her experience last night, but Chihiro couldn't understand why they were giggling. Something bigger was going on, and Chihiro knew that she would stubbornly seek for the answers until she found them.
"You know, either way I'm still going to find out sooner or later. Might as well tell me now." Chihiro urged but was dismayed when Rin only shook her head.
"It's best that you leave it alone," Rin advised the girl, "people will forget about it soon, I swear."
"Forget about what Rin?"
"About the..." and then the sable spirit stopped when she realized she was about to tell Chihiro. Rin sighed exasperatedly and handed Chihiro a bucket. "Like I said, forget about it. We have work to do."
"But Rin-"
"I'm serious Sen. Leave it be. Yubaba's inspecting right now, she might see us chatting and turn us into pigs for not working hard enough."
That shut Chihiro up, but seeing the determination flash in her eyes made Rin know that the human was not going to drop the subject easily. Rin also knew that she should keep a close watch on what she will say from now on because Chihiro had gotten quite crafty t forcing the truth out from people. Shaking her head again, the sable spirit mumbled something incoherently before opening one of the baths for their task.
Their first customer of the day was a thin, waif-like young lady who looked younger than Chihiro or Rin. She even looked like a human, and Chihiro wondered if she truly was a human spirit too. She would have asked, but sadly, Chihiro remembered that she was not allowed to talk unless given the permission, so she silently followed Rin and approached the customer.
"Hello!" The girl squeaked shyly as she spotted Rin and Chihiro. "Yo-you don't have to help me, I'm already done with my bath anyway..." the girl trailed off and looked around, before anxiously fiddling the big red bow on top of her head as Rin and Chihiro stood firmly on the ground. "Such a beautiful place this is, don't you think?" She continued, hoping to dispel the awkwardness in the air. "Every room is artfully built. I'm sure Jiji would have loved it here, he likes pretty places... And uhm..." She stopped again to fiddle her bow before continuing, "It's really okay, I can manage by myself..."
"We beg your pardon, valued guest," Rin spoke softly which was a deep contrast to her loud and real personality, though it did stop their guest from her stuttered rambling, "but we are not allowed to leave the customer when he or she is taking a bath. However, the dear guest can order us to turn around if she is uncomfortable."
The girl was about to speak up, probably to apologize, judging by the way her eyes widening in realization, but Rin calmly held a hand up, which effectively stopped the girl. "Our valued guest need not apologize to us. We are happy to serve." When their guest smiled in relief, Rin also smiled back before introducing herself and "Sen" to the customer.
Chihiro mumbled a oft but fast, "nice to meet you," and gave a bow towards the guest, just as Rin had instructed her. When she looked up however, she was surprised to see their customer gaping at her, as if Chihiro was a foreign species in her eyes.
"Oh my gosh, you're Sen!" The girl exclaimed brightly, and squealed in delight when Chihiro could only nod dumbly. "I've heard so much about you here in the bathhouse!" The girl continued excitedly, and Chihiro had the oddest suspicion that if she weren't naked, this red-bow girl would have engulfed her in a tight hug, as if they were long-time friends. "You're the Sen everyone's been talking about! You're Kohaku's girlfriend!"
'What on earth are you talking about?' was supposed to be Chihiro's reply. Instead, she only ended up opening her mouth without saying any words. Chihiro caught herself and lightly slapped her cheeks to organize her thoughts before opening her mouth to ask again.
"How did you know about Haku?" Chihiro asked curiously, before her eyes widened. It sounded too much like she was an overly attached girlfriend already, and judging by the way Rin's eyebrows shot up concluded Chihiro's suspicion. The human girl immediately wanted to rectify the situation but their customer beat her to it.
"Because I'm a witch too! Or rather, a witch in training but..." the customer mumbled the last part to herself before she smiled at Chihiro's way. "We witched tend to know how everyone in our community, and since Kohaku is training under a witch, I know of him."
Their customer's smile by now looked absolutely radiant, that Chihiro wouldn't be too surprised if she ends up getting blinded. The bathhouse employee was just about to explain her current relationship with the dragon (they were just friends, there was absolutely nothing "special" going on!), when the customer continued.
"He's a dragon spirit right? I heard they can be quite overprotective over their chosen mates."
Chihiro glared when Rin snorted and muttered something like, "tell me about it." Again, Chihiro opened her mouth to tell their customer that she and Kohaku were just friends when the young witch in training spoke up again.
"Of course, they can be quite romantic too! But I'm sure you already know that," the witch winked at Chihiro, causing the latter to choke on her own saliva. "I mean, I heard from a few bathhouse employees that he kissed you on the lips just yesterday because you were feeling sick. You are alright now, aren't you?"
The witch looked at Chihiro and was frightened when the human spirit only stood there dumbly. The girl also looked immensely red when just a few moments ago, her complexion looked normal. Blinking rapidly, the little witch asked again if Chihiro was feeling okay now, and was alarmed when the latter remained unmoving and silent.
Meanwhile, Chihiro's mind was in a never-ending jumble as her brain processed over and over again the newest information she just received from their customer. She tried replaying yesterday's events in her mind one more time, trying to remember any kiss that Kohaku initiated. Sadly, her mind blanked after Kohaku cast the sleeping spell.
'Then perhaps he did it when I was already asleep?' Chihiro thought, but she immediately erased it. Kohaku would never do something like that. Of course not. She glanced at Rin questioningly, hoping to find some answers. As if sharing one thought, Rin also looked her way... and gave her a sheepish grin.
"Uhm, Sen? Are you-"but even before their customer could finish, Chihiro mumbled a hasty excuse and fled the room before anyone could see her scarlet red face. Chihiro could have sworn as well, that in her haste, she might even have left a trail of dust along the way. But she didn't even worry about it as she ran along the halls, cautiously evading any employee or guest in the way. She needed a place to recover, because she was sure that her face now resembled a bright red tomato.
Meanwhile, Rin was left in the room with their customer, who looked quite lost when Chihiro just left the room in lightning speed. The witch turned to the sable spirit and was about to ask if she did anything wrong, when the bathhouse employee shook her head only and smiled apologetically at her.
"Worry not valued guest. Sen was just... overwhelmed by the sudden barrage of questions. She is quite a shy person, you see, and she tends to just... lose it when she feels cornered. None of this is your fault, I assure you. Sen just needs some training in handling awkward situations, that's all."
ยดA hell lot of training,' Rin thought secretly as she looked at the empty space where Chihiro just stood mere moments ago.
-OoO-
Oh my... is anyone even still reading this?!
I apologize for the super late update. My work schedule was changed to 6am-2pm, and after that, I would go home and babysit my little nephew until he falls asleep at 9 in the evening. By then, I would also get ready to go to sleep as well because I have to wake up early in the morning. I wasn't able to find some time to write. -cries a bucket of tears-
Anyway, a huge shout out to all those who read and reviewed. PeachtreeAmuto, Team Tahnobotdf, proud to be forever alone (who actually left six reviews in one sitting. Thanks a lot!), Heart-fractured21, PeanutGallerySama, michelle88222, HakuFanGirl (an anonymous reviewer, but I love that penname of yours ^o^), Genie2130, and madin456.
I'm sure you guys already know this, but still, YOU ARE AWESOME!
Last note: Watched Lilo and Stitch with my nephew, and the whole "Lilo-licks-her-sister's-hand" made me laugh, so I thought I might let Chihiro do it too. She may be sixteen in this story, but she can get childish too, you know. ;)