Unkind Mankind

Disclaimer: I do not own Spirited Away.

Chapter 12 – Pants

Everything? My hope dissolves into nothingness and my faith in my friend has been crushed into a million pieces. One wouldn't think that such a simple word could do such a thing to a person, but unfortunately for me, it can. I can already feel the salty tears working their way up to my tear ducts, but before the dam walls in my eyes have a chance at overflowing, Hatori speaks up again.

"I did tell you everything, didn't I Akira?" Without moving my head, my eyes shift to look back at Akira.

"Yup, right from when that Haku guy found Chihiro and that deer in the forest to him staying at her place." His dark eyes flick up to meet mine, and it gives me a bad taste in my mouth. He spoke like I wasn't even in the room. I don't like it.

But, the fact that he didn't mention anything about my companion being a spirit or dragon, well, I'm not exactly sure to be honest. And he mentioned something about a deer? What's up with that? Though the confusion I feel must be clearly written on my features, as Hatori decides to speak up once again.

"Yup! And now all of their clothes are all bloodied up, which brings us to why you're here now, right?" Apparently I was way off. Hatori hadn't even been looking at my confused face. But she did, however, wink at me mid-sentence. Something clicks in my brain and I can't thank the heavens enough for what my friend is doing for me. I look at the expectant gaze Hatori offers me, and I comply to answer.

"Erm, right. Haku needs a pair of pants to wear, since his other pair is covered in blood. Would it be okay if he borrowed some of yours?" Looking back at Akira, he seems to be mulling over something.

"Sure." He gets up from the loveseat, and heads down the small hallway, mumbling something about old jeans.

A few minutes later, he comes back with a folded pair of jeans in one arm, and his other hand stuffed into the pocket of his pants. Akira hands the folded material to me, and I quietly thank him, stepping back a little, wanting to get as far away from the man as possible.

"I should uh, get back to my friend now. He's probably waiting for me." Noticing my awkwardness, Hatori grabs my arm and pulls me along with her towards the door.

"Exactly! You shouldn't keep him waiting too long, Chi! Who knows if he'll have a temper when you get back for making him wait too long?" Before I know it, I'm outside again, and Hatori is standing a foot away from me, the door closed behind her. "Sorry about that. I know how uncomfortable you can get around him." I sigh, looking up into the hazel eyes of my companion.

"Thank you. And thanks again for the jeans; I really appreciate that you'd help me. Somehow it's kind of awkward to ask for something as simple as this."

"But Chi," She nudges me on the elbow. "What's Haku wearing right now if he hasn't got anything to wear?" Feeling my cheeks heat up immensely, I cough a little, hoping she wouldn't notice the sudden redness of my face.

"A towel…" I mumble. Apparently Hatori still heard me, nonetheless.

"In that case, are you sure you want to give him some pants? He's quite the catch, you know." I look up at her, and she winks at me again. I open my mouth to retort, but Hatori beats me to it. "Don't you try to deny it! He is hot and you know it! You're so lucky to have someone like him as a friend. I'm jealous of you, you know." Every sentence Hatori utters, I feel my cheeks burn even more. "I betcha he's got abs." I can see she's trying to look thoughtful, but I know better than that; she's only trying to embarrass me further. And by god, it's working. I look at the decking, an attempt to ignore her teasing. Obviously, though, it doesn't work at all. "But of course, I wouldn't know, would I? I'm sure you would, though. Tell me, Chi," Hatori grips my shoulders tightly, forcing me to look at her once more, and see that she's now only inches from my own face. "Does he?" The question throws me off, and I have no idea how I'm supposed to respond to such interrogations.

"He um…" I try to look elsewhere, and somehow I feel my cheeks are burning more than ever. Images of my shirtless male companion flash by in my mind. "Maybe…"

"I'll take that as a yes." Hatori giggles. "You're lucky to have someone like him, you know. And besides," She smiles knowingly. "You two would make a great couple. You're perfect for each other, if I do say so myself."

"But we're just friends, and we haven't seen each other in eleven years." I furrow my brows.

"Exactly. It sounds like something from a romance novel." Hatori moves back slightly, clasping her hands together and sighing. No doubt she's having some sort of weird, mushy fantasy about Haku and I.

"Sounds more like something straight out of a tragedy." I add. "Haku's a spirit, and I'm a human-"

"Not anymore!" Pointing an accusing finger towards me, I watch as a wide smirk grows on my friend's face. "Remember what Haku said; you're a spirit now." I sigh.

"That may be true, but even so, we're just friends. Haku wouldn't think of me like that."

"The look on your face says otherwise." My eyes widen, remembering back to less than an hour ago, when I had obliviously given him a nosebleed. I feel my cheeks heat up once again from recalling the embarrassing and awkward memory. Needing to say something, anything, I finally find my retort. "But, you don't even know if I like him!" Lame as it was, at least I tried.

"Once again, it's written all over your face. You don't need to spell it out for me." Hatori gives me a soft, comforting and encouraging smile. "Go after Haku, you deserve him after all you've been through. You deserve a happy ending." For a while I'm speechless; I have no idea what I'm supposed to say to her. I can only stare at her gently smiling face whilst my mouth opens and closes, making me look similar to that of a fish.

For a while we just stand here on the deck outside of Hatori's apartment, not saying a word. The silence is a comfortable one, in a way. We both move to the railings, looking out at the night sky.

"Thank you." Is all I can manage to think of.

"What for? For saying you deserve happiness?"

"No, no. Not that. For not telling Akira about Haku being a spirit, or the Spirit World for that matter. I don't know what it took for you to lie to him, but I really appreciate it. Thank you." I hear Hatori chuckle beside me.

"I knew that you wouldn't want me telling the world about dragons and spirits, Chi. I'm not so thoughtless as to not consider your feelings, or your sanity for that matter." I laugh lightly. "Don't mention it, it was nothing."

"But what was all that stuff about a deer?" I furrow my brows.

"I had to come up with something as to explain why you were both soaked in blood. I told him that you'd found a wounded doe in the forest and tried to save it. Haku found you and tried to help, but it was no use."

"How depressing." We both laugh a little at the statement. "Thank you though, really. I don't know how I can repay you."

"No need. Besides, what else are friends for?" I turn to look at her then, really appreciating what a great friend I have. "Now," She states. "You best not keep that dragon waiting any longer; I hear they can have quite the temper." We hug each other tightly, before we each head off back to our apartments. A small smile graces my lips, remembering the conversation Hatori and I just had.

Things are going to get interesting from here onwards.

~o~o~O~o~o~

A/N: *cracks knuckles* Ah, I'm so proud of myself! That only took a day to write! *self-five* I'll be working on chapters 13 and 14 tomorrow, and then I'm going to be updating weekly again, I think. It's way too stressful having to pressure myself to write as much as possible when I have school and musical rehearsals, and today I was even asked by the school music teacher to join the school band! I don't know if I should, though. I haven't played clarinet in about four years, and I only brought mine today for fun. So yeah.

Feed me your thoughts about this chapter, whether I should join the school band or not, how much you hate maths, or anything! I need your reviews to live!

Once again, thanks to those wonderful people who reviewed chapter 11! Those people are:

Heartz4Jesus, Ryu no Kokoro, Ialiceiamgodness, WhiteTiger246, PianoPanda12 and diety! Thanks guys!

Thanks to PianoPanda12 for following my story, and I welcome you to my wonderful fanficiton family!

Also, if I didn't send you a PM reply to your awesome review, I apologise. For some reason not all reviews are going to my emails, so I had to refer to FF. net to get the names.

That's all for now, I'll update again on Saturday (Australian time) at the very latest.