Haku had snapped the line tying her to the bath house workers, scooped her up and was carrying her out of the alley before Chihiro had a chance to realize her feet had left the ground.

"NO!" She all but screamed, fighting and pushing until he came to a standstill in the street. She might as well have been beating on a piece of stone! His skin was hard and unyielding, cold as ice. "Go back! Go back right now!"

"There is no time!"

"We can't leave them!"

"You could die!"

"And so could they!"

Again she pointed, making Haku glance back reluctantly.

Huddled together, the bath house workers stood in the mouth of the alley.

They were all eyes in the dark, looking like ghosts in the fog.

And she could feel him trembling again: he was shaking with indecision, holding her so tightly it hurt. Haku's heart was pounding inside his chest, but her heart was beating faster still as she tightened her arms around his neck. Tucking her face against the cold skin in the crook of his neck, Chihiro begged in no more than a whisper.

"Please, Haku… Please don't leave them!"

Once again he went perfectly still. And after a moment that felt like ages, he gently let her down to her feet. Although his arm remained resolutely fixed around her waist as he turned to the bath house survivors.

"Take hold of one another." Haku commanded. Mutely Chihiro watched as they hastily clasped hands. Then the dragon held out his palm to Aniyaku, who was at the head of the line, "Once we begin youmust not let go! I cannot come back for you, do you understand!?"

The former assistant foreman bowed shakily, "Y-yes, Master Haku!"

He came forward with outstretched fingers. But the frogman fell short as another distant explosion rocked the road. An eerie warm breeze breathed through the village as the fog overhead brightened with diffused golden light until it could have been day. But the brightness had nothing to do with the sun. And the yuna screamed as flaming debris rained down from above.

Chihiro sat down hard as Haku let go of her.

And time seemed to slow, bending around Haku as he dropped into a low stance, flowing forward to stomp his foot in the dusty road. At once time return, crashing down around Chihiro as the impact jolted the earth. It flattened her to the ground as giddy ripples of magic went eddying through the street. Haku struck the air with his other hand, unleashing an arctic wind as he blew between his pinched fingers. The screaming gale punched the sky, repelling the comets, billowing back to tear the fog from the streets. But the deflected shrapnel ricocheted off, obliterating nearby houses them as the third crashed down into the rear of the alley.

It hit the ground.

Shattering into writhing bits of molten black.

Disappearing into a great plume of dust and smoke.

At once the streets flooded with masked shadows as the ghosts fled their spectral homes. Everyone screamed, scattering about only to fall again in a tangled mess as seeking tendrils of black erupted from the clouds of dust, swarming from the rubble of the ruined houses. Pieces of Forgotten bleed free from the ruins, whipped up into a feeding frenzy as they chased the harried ghosts. Chihiro screamed, as the sooty blots snapped them up left and right, swallowing them whole, masks and all.

Thunder cracked the sky and lightening flashed as Haku leapt high. He threw out his hands, catching hold of the air, tearing it down only to hurl a lash of wind as the feeding monsters. The screaming gale moiled round the pack of fiends, ripping and tearing them apart. And Chihiro could only watch in horror as the divided pieces wriggled and spread, springing up anew. With a booming snarl, Haku tore at them with talons of wind.

"Ume-san!"

Yoshi's howl tore Chihiro's attention from the monsters. She looked over just in time to watch as spindly fingers caught the quiet yuna around the ankles. She was standing over the huddle mass of O-Natsumi and the girls, threatening an approaching group with the flashing white blade only to miss the ones slithering out of the alley mouth. Curls of tar yanked her off her feet, sending her sprawling to the ground.

Dropping his rake, Yoshi seized her hands as she dropped her knife, pulling with all his might. And the yuna screeched as her fingers went sliding through his, clawing at the ground as the hungry shades dragged her back into the clotted dust filling the mouth of the alley. Abruptly she silenced.

"No!"

Yoshi tried to chase after her only to have O-Nastumi seize him by the back of his belt. Aniyaku and Little Green Frog hauled the frogman and the yuna out of the path of the ravenous lines of tar, scrambling aside as they surged from the alley, climbing the walls and coating the ground. They reached, and reached, and reached until it seemed they would turn the whole world black.

"Haku!" Chihiro screeched, pointing at the flood.

He whipped around; dragging with him shredded whips of sky. Spinning and routing the swelling wisps round his lithe body, Haku cascaded forward, riding the raging edge. The bathhouse workers were knocked to the ground as the maelstrom roared over their heads, diverted into the alley. Snapping winds peeled the bladed fingers from the ground, scoring the darkness from the walls as snapping serpents of green-blue lightening plunged down from the boiling sky into the torrent's maw. Pacing back and forth as he wound and twisted his arms through the gusting chaos, Haku pulled back and parted the mistrals, revealing nothing had been left in their wake.

Ume-san was gone.

And so were the Forgotten.

Thunder broke again right over their heads, sending the air crackling with electricity as the churning clouds swirled low and angry. At once rain poured from the morbid sky. With wet slithering noises, the Forgotten regrouped, lifting out of rubble, clustering in the shadows only to fix their hateful ember eyes on Haku. But Chihiro wasn't about to give them that chance.

"Aniyaku!" She reached for the assistant manager. The foreman frog quickly formed line that he completed by taking her outstretched palm. Then she reached towards the young god. "Haku!?"

"There are too many!"Haku shouted back as he stepped between them and the clustering shadows. Whirlwinds eddied in the mud at his bare feet, "They will follow! We cannot risk letting them cross!"

All at once the ground trembled as somewhere in the distance a bell tolled.

Chihiro flinched as the force of it went vibrating through her soul.

Over the resounding boom, so shrill it could have been the wind, came the strident keening of a flute. And as the bell tolled again, the Forgotten stood bolt upright, swiveling in perfect unison to look towards the temple hill.

"W-what are they looking at?" Little Green Frog hopped forward, peering through the rain in the direction the fiends were looking. He flinched back as slowly, again in perfect unison, the Forgotten began nodding their heads in time with something.

"Do you hear that!?" Natsumi hushed, lifted her tear-streaked face from clutching Hiko and Ginka.

"Ah! Music!" Aniyaku slapped his hands over his ears, "Don't listen!"

"What are they doing!?" Haku hushed warily as he retreated beside her.

"Dancing…" Chihiro watched as the shades line up single file, going bobbing off down the road, heading towards the approaching music. "They're dancing."

As they did the flute swelled, scratching at the insides of her head and plucking at her legs as the overwhelming urge to run suddenly rattled through her body all the way to her bones. And it took her a moment to understand. Okesa was calling the Forgotten. But Suzume was sending everything else fleeing as they approached.

Chihiro saw the fox first.

He came sweeping out of the rain, bent over his golden flute as if the song flying free of his fingers weighed a thousand pounds. But all the color was gone from Suzume. Even his long hair was silver as moonlight. It clung to him like cobwebs, and his pale kimono was wet and muddy. He looked utterly exhausted beneath a golden crown of foxfires who dimly flickering in the rain, casting long lame shadows into the night.

Chihiro's heart clenched.

No. They weren't shadows.

Behind the fox, crisscrossing back and forth across the road to cover as much ground, make as much noise as possible, Okesa came dancing. Her make-up was running in the rain, her hair hung in bedraggled tangles, and the once brilliant red kimono was dark and sodden. But she kept dancing; dancing as if she'd gone mad with the music.

Because in her wake came a host of Forgotten.

"Get outta here! It's coming!" Cinna caught sight of them before Suzume, waving her fan at them as panic reflected in her mirrored eyes. The geisha lost the beat only for a moment. And the orderly black horde behind her twitched belligerently, shaking their heads as if waking.

"Shite!"

Cinna began whirling with renewed vigor, flashing her gold and silver fans, jangling her bells with each stomp and dip. And the Forgotten fell back under the spell of her movements. But Suzume stopped dead in his tracks, almost dropping his flute as he turned, looking back the way they'd come.

Chihiro nearly threw up as she felt it again.

The bell in her heat rang clamorously.

And Suzume's dread-filled eyes found hers through the storm.

"RUN!" The fox shouted.

Yanking Cinna against him, he blurred, dissolving beyond the ranks of the sooty fiends. And the wind ran rank with the smell of rot as the houses behind the horde folded, exploding into a rain of rubble. Through them came trundling an enormous black shape. With a sonorous roar akin to tearing granite, the undulating monstrosity fell on the horde of terror-struck daemons scattered, trying to flee from the behemoth's gaping mouth. But it opened on them like an endless black pit, swallowing them in droves.

And Chihiro could only stare.

Because beyond the burned wood shards of its needle teeth.

The monster's tongue bled red earth.

Just like the hills beside her parent's house had bled.

Just like the torn swaths of mountain behind the resort development.

And the bell in her heart rang sonorously like the beast's hooting barks.

Because she'd seen this monster before.

But only in her nightmares.

"Go!" Suzume thundered as he appeared beside them. Cinna was clutching him round his middle, her red horror-struck eyes still looking back at the carnage. And the fox took a threatening step towards them, "There is nothing to be done, you fools! GO NOW!"

Haku's arm closed around her waist, dragging her back as an electric shock skittered over her skin. Chihiro couldn't help but scream as darkness swallowed her from behind. Her ears popped and her stomach lurched as she fell through the familiar weightlessness of the swirling funhouse passage.

Boom! Daylight popped on like someone had hit a switch.

And her senses swam in the piercing bright.

She heard the laughing of the creek out front of the Onsen.

They were home! They were safe!

Thank you…

She wasn't sure who she was thanking.

But she thanked them none the less.

And all at once gravity paid her a visit. It seemed to be happening a lot these days. Unfortunately the ground came with it, reaching up to hit her right in the face. But it did nothing to warm her. Because she was cold: so very, very cold. Chihiro could still taste the magic: the touch of electricity, like biting a piece of tin-foil. It tasted like blood, hollowing her out as emptiness swelled in her chest, robbing her of the relief that had filled her to the point of tears a moment prior.

"Lady Sen's fading!"

Someone was yelling.

Why was Little Green Frog yelling?

"Chihiro!?" Cold hands shook her, sweeping over her face.

Now even Haku was yelling!

But it was growing increasingly hard to concentrate. Her leg ached with iciness. It felt like it had frozen solid, but at lest the pain had gone numbing; so had everything else for that matter. Distantly she heard the little yuna girls screeching.

"Holy Gods and Goddesses!" O-Natsumi gasped, "Look at her leg!"

Gah…

More screaming.

She was so tired of screaming. Tired of everything for that matter. All she wanted to do was sleep. That sounded like a very good idea.

"O-Inari-sama have mercy!" Cinna was praying just like Mrs. Nikkou. Chihiro didn't like the shrill pinch in the cat's voice.

"All of you move! Cinna, will you let go?!" Suzume barked like a fox. His commanding tone snatched Chihiro back from the brink. "Give her to me, dragon!"

"No!" Haku all but roared. More screaming and the sharp sounds of splintering wood filtered through the dim cold.

"Then follow me,you stupid fool!" Suzume bit back; Chihiro heard the snap of his teeth. "Else she will die!"

"Stop arguing," Chihiro muttered irritably. The fox and the dragon fell silent, but try as she might she couldn't force her eyes to open. And her will to stay awake ebbed away into the silence.

Wind and rain.

That was all she could remember after that until the smell of camphor replaced them both. A tiny shred of peace came soaking through the numbness. And this time gravity's return was much nicer and the ground rolled out soft and springy under her head. Water splashed before a frozen stream trickled over her leg, colder than anything she'd ever felt in her entire life! Colder than the time one winter an entire load of snow fell off a tree right onto her!

"Ah!" Chihiro shrieked. "No!"

"Hold her!" Suzume splashed her leg again. She couldn't help but cringe. It burned! Burned worse than the time the black thing touched her.

"What are you doing!?" Haku started up furiously.

"No questions!" Suzume snarled back, "Just hold her!"

"S-s-stop!"Chihiro pleaded as her eyes fluttered open. A blurring dome of green glittered down at her between blinding shards of daylight. Even the light was cold! She shut her eyes against the pain worming its way through the numbness. But Haku held her down as the freezing bath continued, and she plucked at his hands weakly, "P-please stop! It's c-c-cold!"

"Chihiro, the water is hot," Haku tried to murmur soothingly, but his voice shook, as did his hands. And his panic bled through, "Just… Just please lay still." He growled furiously as he addressed the fox, "You're hurting her!"

"It cannot be helped! The shrine water will assist in purging the seed they planted! It must come out otherwise it will continue to spread."

After what seemed like ages the biting deluge ceased. Exhausted, Chihiro sagged back into Haku. But his did anything but relax.

"W-why did you stop!?"

Chihiro's eyes fluttered open for a moment. And she caught sight of Suzume. Still muddy and wet, he was bent over her knee with his forehead braced on folded hands. The fox's lips were a grim line of determination as they moved with silent words.

"D-don't just sit there! Do something!"

"I am praying for her life, you idiot! This is beyond my ability to heal!"

Haku went absolutely still behind her. Chihiro could feel the shock pouring out of him. It seeped through her back, chilling her heart. Because she didn't want to sleep anymore, but she couldn't seem to open her eyes.

"No…" Haku sounded so very small, "No."

"Now is not the time to argue!" Suzume growled tersely, "Pray! Beg if you have to! Do whatever you must to earn O-Inari-sama's consideration, because there is nothing more I can do!"

Haku's arms tightened around her shoulders until they hurt. And she felt the fringe of his hair tickle her face as he gathered her against him.

"Please?"

It took Chihiro a moment to recognize the emotion thickening his voice. Fear was not something she'd heard in him before. Panic, anger, and sorrow: yes she'd heard all of these things. But fear? What did Haku have to be afraid of?

"Please? Please, do not take her from me?" He hushed, "She is everything to me! She is all that is good and kind in this world!"

A drop of rain fell onto her cheek. It traced a long line of warmth across her cold skin as she felt herself slipping, teetering on the edge of bitter cold and endless sleep.

"Please?!" He begged hoarsely, holding her so close she could feel his ragged breath stirring against her face.

Something bloomed against her chest.

A warmth she'd felt before.

And a shock went through her as Haku's lips brushed hers.

The prick against her chest flared until it seemed to pierce her heart, catching it on fire as it beat against her ribs like a bird caught in a cage. Molten and alive, it broke free! Surging through her body, chased by the furious beating of her heart, burning away the cold that had gripped her once before. Her hands gripped the front of his kimono as she rose up to meet him. As she moved her mouth against his it felt as if she'd burst into flames. The sensation permeated her until she was trembling with the strength of it! It surpassed her because there was no end, no limit.

Gasping to catch her breath, Chihiro finally broke free. And she opened her eyes, blinking against the brightness that flooded around them. But all she could see was his vibrant green eyes. Once again they swallowed her whole world. Such an expression of amazement overtook Haku. It transformed, overtaking even her as joy spilled from him, flooding her until she was swimming in the splendid ocean on his affection.

"You're alive!" He gasped. "You're alive!"

Clutching her to him, crushing her until she squeaked, Haku laughed.

Laughed!

Still laughing uncontrollably, he hoisted her up into the air as if she was nothing, spinning her in a wide circle. A merry wind ripped around them, stirring the branches of the camphor tree high overhead, plucking at her hair and clothes as all the weight dissolved from her body. Floating like a bit of dandelion fluff, she gaped down at him, because if anyone was alive it was Haku. She'd never seen him like this. He always looked like he was carved out of marble or something. But now he was alive! Wide green eyes were absolutely effervescent, face flushed with elation as his generous smile set loose the sun.

Swinging her back down, he returned her to her feet.

And her knees folded as a twinge ran up her shin.

"C-Chihiro!"

Haku eased her down, flowing beside her like water, looking on anxiously as she drew back the filthy edge of her yukata to grimace at her leg. The burn was healed over, nothing now but a thick red scar. It wasn't oozing or sending that horrible black mark beyond its perimeter. But it still hurt! Mercurial as ever, Haku went grim as he placed his cold palms to either side of the mark.

"Does it pain you?"

"A little…" She lied, trying not to wince.

Leaning down until his hair tickled the skin on her thigh, Haku gently blew on the scar, soothing it with his cool breath.

"Mmm…" She hummed, surprised by the lick of heat kindled in the pit of her stomach at his proximity. "T-that feels really good."

Haku sat back. But he remained hidden behind the fringe of his hair. Her cheeks burned as he slid his hands over the mark, covering it as if willing it to disappear. She could feel his fingers trembling.

"This…" He hushed morosely, "This is my fault."

Before he could wallow any deeper, Chihiro grabbed him, wrapping her arms around him as she hugged him as hard as she could.

"Stop it." She murmured, feeling him go stock still under her arms, "Don't you dare blame yourself for this or for anything else, got it? You saved me! You saved all of us!"

"Did I?" It was more denial than question.

"Yes! You did!" Chihiro rested her cheek on his shoulder. And all the blood in her body seemed to flood into her face as she recalled the sensation of his cold lips moving against hers. It was like… Like kissing the wind! Like kissing rain and rivers and sky all rolled into one! Her insides shivered at the memory. "You brought me back."

"I did?" He hushed uncertainly.

Chihiro paused; drawing back to timidly look into his face.

Hadn't he been the one that'd called her back?

His kiss had woken her like something out of a fairy tale. And she recalled the confession he made among his prayers. But he was frowning at her, confusion and concern plain in his even emerald gaze. For some reason she found herself far too shy to lean in and kiss him again.

You didn't just lean in and kiss a God, now did you?

Abruptly she remembered the fox. "W-where's Suzume!?"

"I…" Haku looked around, frowning even deeper, "I do not know…"

Chihiro cast about, looking for the surely kami, but the fox was nowhere to be seen. She and Haku were reclined between one of the deep forks in the gnarled roots of the camphor tree. Dappled green and gold light filtered through the humid air that buzzed thick with dragonflies. At least she thought they were dragon flies. They could have been mushi. At their feet deep pools of steaming water gathered among the mossy rocks, trickling down the slope to run over the lip of the hill top. Serenity permeated the quiet grove. It seeped into her through the ground as she let out a long breath, setting back beside Haku.

But it was short lived.

A jolt went through Chihiro as she realized it was daytime.

"H-how long was I gone?"

"Three days."

Chihiro rounded on him, "W-what!?"

As always, Haku absorbed her outburst far too calmly, "Time moves differently in the Spirit World, Chihiro."

"B-but that means Lin's been here by herself for three days! She must be worried sick!"

Haku was on his feet, standing over her with an expression of blank shock.

"Lin is here!?"

"Y-yeah…" Chihiro produced the burned bath tiles from the sleeve of her yukata, holding them out, "How do you think I found the others?"

Haku gaped at the bits of wood. And as he did that infuriating expression of cold detachment clamped over his face. It might as well have been a door slammed in her face. Suddenly shut out, Chihiro could only stare up at him in bewilderment.

"We should return," He softened a fraction, offering his hands; "Can you stand?"

"I think so," Chihiro grimaced as he helped her up. She tried walking and had to do so with a heavy limp.

"No. You cannot walk in such a manner. I will carry you."

She prickled at his cool pronouncement, because he used that voice at Yubaba's with the bath house employees.

"I can walk just fine, Haku." She shot back stubbornly, putting a hand on the tree as she hobbled towards the lip of the hill, "I'm just a little stiff."

Haku gave her a fright as he appeared right in front of her, "Chihiro, you can barely stand."

"Look," She almost stomped her foot, but that would have been a very bad idea, "I know we just went through something awful and scary, but I'm okay now, alright? I don't need to be carried around all the time."

Haku let out a heavy sigh as he dropped his head, crossing his arms. "You are so stubborn at times, Chihiro. Will you please let me carry you home?"

She colored hotly as he called her out.

Because he knew her too well.

He was right, she was being stubborn. Now that she thought about it, it was a long way back to the Onsen from the Camphor Tree Shrine. But she wanted to be sure. Chihiro wanted to be sure she could walk. Wanted to be sure she was okay. And she tried not to look at the burn mark. Her brain shied from the very real fact that she did just almost die.

Almost.

And an icy prick pierced her heart. Suddenly she very much wanted to call her mom. She even wanted to talk to her dad! Even if it just mean letting Akio yell at her. She could hold the phone away from her ear and just listen to him fume. She craved hearing Michio yak it up about boys and computer upgrades and other mundane nonsense like mascara and Miyavi concerts. All she wanted was to just hear their voices. Just to know they were there.

All she wanted right now was to go home.

"Fine." Chihiro held out her arms, "You can carry me."

And her insides tightened giddily as Haku closed the distance between them, making her still with awe as he flowed around her. Gentle wind breezed all around her as he picked her up so gently it felt like she'd just floated up off the ground into his arms. Maybe she had? And her heart squeezed until it hurt. The way she felt, she could have just kept going, floating right up into the sky.

"Are you comfortable?"

Going beet red, she stared straight ahead, because once again his face was right next to hers. His soft voice resonated against her skin, brushing against her tangled hair.

"M'okay."

Once again gravity dissolved as in a single bound he was atop the huge root cluster. She squeaked; seizing his kimono as Haku glided down the slick crest of the behemoth tree leg, leaping into the air at the last moment as the root went plunging over the edge. The hill fell away as they went drifting through the shafts of sunlight. And Chihiro's insides stilled as she watched ferns and pools of misted water whisk by under her feet. Down they drifted, until the world ceased to be so small, until Haku touched the ground amid the moss and bracken, walking among the twigs and branches without making so much as a sound, surmounting each swelling hills without pause.

For some reason he had decided to take the long way home: walking instead of flying, picking a path unknown to her among the tall ceiling of the pines. Chihiro began to doze in the heat, her head lolled against his cold shoulder.

But movement in the undergrowth tugged her awake.

The bell in her heart hummed as small creatures moved among the ferns.

She saw their tiny masks watching them intently.

Chihiro frowned, "There are more of them than before."

"Even more will come." Haku had gone cold again. He did not look at the lesser kami, "They seek the protection of the camphor tree. But what good it will do them I do not know."

"Huh?"

"The longer they stay in the mortal world the faster they will fade."

Chihiro started stock still in his arms. "What d'you mean they'll fade!?"

"The rules of this world apply to all kami, Chihiro. Large and small, great or weak: if they are not strong enough to endure they will tire and fade."

"T-that's awful!"

"It is life, Chihiro. At least here they will find peace before their end."

For once his seemingly unbreakable calm did little to soothe her. She couldn't help but think about the maskless things in the Spirit World. The Forgotten? Was that what Cinna called them? Chihiro shuddered at the memory of their empty burning eyes.

"W-what were those things? The ones without masks?"

He stiffened almost unperceivably, as if shrinking from the subject, "They were once kami. Kami who have suffered so much their pain comes alive. It has consumed them, which is why they have no masks. They have forgotten themselves. All they know is hunger and pain." Cold seemed to emanate form Haku until it pushed back even the humid heat of the day, "They eat other kami in an attempt to ease that pain, but in doing so they move even further from peace."

It was a selfish question, but she had to know. "T-they can't come over here, right?"

"No. The way is closed to them. They can only cross if someone opens the way for them. They are a disease. A horror among my kind. And one that has grown more and more prevalent as of late."

"W-why?" Chihiro stole a glance at his grim face and was disturbed by his disquiet. And she did not miss how he slowed, turning inward as lines pinched his usually smooth brow.

"Our worlds are one. They are the two sides of a coin, separate planes that always touch but never co-exist. One cannot exist without the other. But our world is far more fragile. What happens in the mortal world echoes far more loudly in our world. Humans once knew that and took care. But no more," Her heart sank at the quiet despair in his voice. "Your world has forgotten us."

Chihiro tried to imagine a world without kami. In spite of the terror and the thousands of unknown dangers she now faced, Chihiro couldn't fathom living in a world devoid of wonder and magic.

She'd almost lost that once.

Never again.

"Not everyone's stopped believing. I meet children at every book signing who say they still believe. I meet some adults too. I'm sorry I got lost for a while, but I've found my way again." She tightened her hands on his kimono, breathing in the smell of rain as she turned her face into his shoulder, "And I meant it when I said I'd take care of this place. That means the kami too, even the little ones."

"I know, Chihiro." Her insides thrilled as the gentleness in his voice even if he remained still as stone, "That is why I must take care of you."

Haku carried her in silence after that. And the trees began to thin. From the crest of the ridge she looked down into the west side of the property. Over the tangles of wide wasabi leaves, rice stalks, and tall nodding grass she could the blue tiles of the Onsen's roof. That was something else she needed to fix.

"Home."

Chihiro hadn't realized she'd spoken aloud until Haku answered.

"Yes. Home."

The fields seemed to blur by as they dropped down the hill like they were riding the south wind, cutting up the worn path to the back porch. A gust hit the maple trees as the dragon set her down. Limping forward, she turned the latch and came into the kitchen only to hear an argument come rolling in from the hall.

"Do I look like I give a damn what the fox says!?" Lin was close to a panic, "Tell me where she is and tell me now!"

"Wot makes y'think aye know!?" Cinna yowled back furiously, "Y'think aye'd be 'ere if aye knew?! Aye gotta wait, same's you!"

"I've been waiting three days, you stupid cat! Where's that fox anyway!? Suzume! Suzume!"

"Leave off!" Cinna hissed, "'E ain' stupid, y'shrew! 'E's exhausted!"

"Who you callin' a shrew, shorty?!"

"Oi! Aye ain' short!"

"Ladies! Ladies!" Aniyaku started placating as Chihiro struggled up the stairs, coming down to the great hall, "Can we please calm down?"

"No!"

Chihiro watched Lin and Cinna bellow in perfect union as they rounded on the squat frogman. The poor fellow sat down hard, cowering as he threw up his hands in surrender. She didn't miss that the cat was still wearing her tail and ears, which swiveled to the hall as she hovered in the archway. As Cinna turned her eyes dilated, going completely black as her tail bristled out into a perfect brush.

"CHIHIRO!"

The cat leapt over the table and tackled her, sending Chihiro sprawling backward. Wind eddied through the hall as Haku caught her before she fell, holding them both upright. But the cat couldn't care less who was holding them up. She was purring and purring, rubbing her face in the filthy yukata, squeezing her waist until her ribs creaked.

"Aye'm s'glad yer alright, kiddo! Aye w'worried sick! Suzume came back bu' he didn' say nothin'! 'E just disappeared so all aye c'do wuz think t'worst! Aye though aye wuz never gonna see y'again!"

"H-hi, Cinna." She hugged the cat back, smoothing a hand over her silky black hair.

Chihiro faltered as Haku let her go.

And the cat dragged her to a rude seat on the floor.

Curling up in her lap as she continued to purr.

But they both came up short.

Looking up at Haku as he flew back against the hallway wall as if shoved.

That stupid unfeeling mask slapped over his face until it seemed he had hardened to stone. But in his jade eyes was such intense expression of shame Chihiro didn't know what to think. She followed his gaze back to the great room and was almost burned again by the blistering hate in the Lin's eyes.

"You!" She spat at Haku, all the while trembling with fury. "You left us!"