Woohoo! March 4! I'm so excited!

...why? Because... Wait for it, wait for it... IT'S MY BIRTHDAY! (Hurray!) Lol, I made this chapter birthday related, btw. Chapter 21: Happy Birthday, Chihiro Chihiro Ogino started intently at the clock. In six more minutes - no, now five, - she would be turning nineteen. She had expected her nineteenth birthday to be her best - after all, she would have been in a good college, with Shi and her other friends - but all that changed. The clock stuck midnight, and Chihiro sighed, She had planned so much for her nineteenth birthday. She and her friends were going to count down till midnight, and even have a sleepover. All that would never happen now. 'Oh well, at least I can stay with Haku,' Chihiro thought. A sudden memory came up to her mind and she blushed deeply. Maybe it was an early birthday present - yeah, that must be it. There was no way Haku would kiss her for his own selfish reasons. A questio troubled here, however. How did Haku find out that she liked - no, loved - him? 'I must've made it way too obvious,' she thought as she slipped into her dream state. ~Meanwhile...~ Shi sighed. Today was Chihiro's birthday. He had always celebrated her birthday with her. Now, today, however, Chihiro was celebrating her birthday with that stupid idiot traitorous Akuma. Shi clenched his fists. The fastest way to find Chihiro was going to the place she loved so much - the bathhouse. And that meant meeting Haku again. Shi shook his head. 'No,' he thought firmly. 'I am not to think about my happiness, but I have to think about Chihiro's happiness. Although I might not like it, I will have to look for that Haku boy.' He transformed into his dragon form and flew out of sight, leaving his stupid twin sister Jinsei behind with Tenshi. ~Later...~ Shi had arrived the bathhouse. It was early in the morning, so it wasn't surprising when he saw that no one was there. But he sensed... a presence. One who he did not like. "Come out," he ordered. Silence. Shi clenched his fists. "Now." Silence. Shi growled and pointed at the ground. A skeleton immediately dragged out of the ground. "One last chance." Silence. He snapped, and immediately, the skeleton disappeared. The next moment, Haku was pushed in front of Shi. "What do you want?" he growled. "I... need your help." Shi forced out the last words. Haku snarled. "Why would I want to help you?" Shi clenched his fists. "Chihiro has been kidnapped by Akuma. I need your help tracking her down." "I have Chihiro with me right now." "Give her to me." "Why should I?" "Please..." he begged. "Today is her birthday." "It is?" Haku asked in complete surprise. Shi nodded. "Yes." "How about you two work together for once?" Kanjo stepped out. "Yes, we can make her birthday a lovely one," Unmei stepped out with Kanjo with a smile on her face. Shi opened his mouth to say 'never in my life,' but stopped himself. 'Chihiro's happiness, not mine,' he reminded himself. "Fine." Haku blinked in surprise. He hadn't expected Shi to agree. Haku nodded. "I'm in it." Unmei clapped her hands together. "Great. Let's inform others about this lovely celebration." ~Later...~ Chihiro woke up. She wanted to tell someone - or even something - that her birthday was today. At least someone would acknowledge it. Chihiro was so into here thoughts that she didn't even realize that she had started walking out of the room until she bumped into someone. "Oops, I'm sor-" Chihiro stopped when she saw who she bumped into. Lin. Lin glared at Chihiro and muttered coldly, "Sorry, I didn't see you there. Ugh, take a bath, human, you stink." Chihiro clenched her fists. "Look Lin, I don't wanna mess with you today, cause today is my birthday, so please stop bothering me." Lin narrowed her eyes. "Or so I've heard," she muttered. "Oh? What a coincidence. Today's my birthday too." Chihiro nodded. "We don't want any trouble in our birthday, do we? Today, let's now fight with each other, 'kay?" Chihiro didn't wait for an answer. She just skipped out of the room. Lin clenched her fists. "I'll make sure that this birthday would be your worst one." ~Meanwhile...~ Haku clapped his hands together. "Ok, everyone. Quiet, please." Everyone, not including Lin and Chihiro, were at Boh's room. The big baby's room had proven to be the largest place in the bathhouse, and so they chose their meeting place to be here. "This meeting is regarding Chihiro's birthday." Spirits mumbled in surprise, and started their own private conversations. "Ahem. Quiet, please." The spirits stopped talking. "Here's the plan: at night, we will hold fireworks and have a giant birthday cake just for Chihiro. It's as simple as that. Questions?" Shi raised his hand. "You seem to be forgetting something. While we prepare for the surprise party, how do we keep it a secret from Chihiro?" "Simple," Haku said. "We'll just give her some nemutte iru (sleeping in Japanese) potions. We'll dip a tiny bit in her breakfast. Boh will keep h in his room and guard her." "What about the customers? Surely Yubaba would disapprove of this money losing situation," Shi countered. "The customers can pay an admission to join the birthday party. Those who attend will get a discount on their next visit." Another spirit raised his hand. "Today is also Lin's birthday. We have to give her something too." Haku flinched at her name, remembering her words and her slap. It hurt. A spirit shouted, "No one wants to celebrate a cranky old hag's birthday!" "Yeah!" another agreed. "Lin never did anything to help us, while Chihiro risked her life to do so!" another shouted. "No birthday party for Lin!" another shouted. "Quie-" Haku attempted to silence them. "Lin the mean old hag gets nothing! It's only fair!" a spirit interrupted. "That's right!" another agreed. "QUIET!" Haku hollered. "All spirits are created equal. Lin deserves something too." "No!" "Who would want to celebrate her birthday?" "I would!" Haku shouted. "Don't you know that she has feelings too? She's a spirit too, you know! She deserves something!" "She's barely a spirit!" "That is so true," another agreed. "Anyways, who else other than you would want to celebrate her birthday?" "Yeah! Who? We need a majority vote!" "I would!" A hand shot up in the air. "And who are you?" someone sneered. "I am Itachi," he announced. "You look so ugly!" "Just like Lin!" "I am a weasel spirit. Got a problem with that?" "Ooh, a weasel spirit, eh? A weasel and a weasel would be a perfect pair!" (Lin is a weasel spirit, according to the book 'The Art of Spirited Away.') "It is decided, then. We will hold a celebration for Lin also." "No!" everyone shouted. "We won't help with Chihiro's party if you do." Haku rolled his eyes, deeply troubled about this. 'Lin or Chihiro?' he asked himself. 'Chihiro,' he decided without question. He resigned. "Fine." Little did they know that Lin had been listening the whole time, since it was very hard to ignore all the commotion. ~Later...~ The radish spirit gave Lin a bowl of food and grunted, pointing to Chihiro. Lin growled and grabbed the bowl, slightly spilling the food. Slamming the bowl onto the table, she shouted, making everyone hear her. "Eat up, you stupid stinky human!" Chihiro rolled her eyes. "Please, I don't want to fight you." Lin glared at her. "Whatever you say, princess," she huffed, and stomped out of the room. Chihiro took a bite out of the food. Suddenly, the world spun around her and she started to get really tired. She yawned and put her head down. The dream Chihiro had was weird. She dreamt that she had returned to the spirit world. She dreamt that Shi was a spirit and was considered to be evil. She dreamt that Haku kissed her and that Lin loved Haku. She dreamt that Lin started acting obnoxious towards her. All of that was a dream... right? Later Chihiro would tell Shi about it, and they would laugh about how foolish that sounded. It was all just a dream. ~Meanwhile...~ Jinsei growled. After she had gone to get the iyashi herbs, Shi had left her. "Whatever," she grumbled. "Jinsei," Tenshi muttered. Jinsei snapped her attention towards him. "Yes?" "Let's go to the bathhouse." Jinsei cocked her head. "Why?" "I will heal faster there." Jinsei nodded. "Ok, then. Let's go." She transformed into a dragon and nodded towards her back. Tenshi stumbled towards her and slowly climbed on her back. 'Hold on tight,' Jinsei singsonged in her thoughts. 'This is gonna be a rough ride.' ~Meanwhile...~ Everyone stared at the sleeping Chihiro. Was she asleep? Would she awaken when they carried her to Boh's room? They doubted the nemutte iru potion even worked. All that, however, didn't matter to Haku. He carried Chihiro, princess-style, as if he didn't give a care in this world. Lin snarled at this scene obviously annoyed by it. A few spirits backed away from her as she cracked her knuckles. She walked towards Haku and tapped his shoulder. He turned around and she said sweetly, "I can help you carry her, Haku." But Haku sensed some bitterness in her voice. "No," he said. "I am strong enough to carry her. A lady like you should just rest." Lin fake-smiled. "You should get the party preparations." "Are you saying that I am weaker than a girl?" Haku asked, a bit of anger in his voice. "Are you doubting my strength?" Lin shook her head. "No, no, of course not." She didn't want to annoy Haku, so she just slipped out of the room. ~Later...~ "Hurry up, hurry up!" Haku shouted. "Chihiro will awaken soon." It was already the evening. Chihiro was guarded by Boh all day, and Boh swore to god he heard her mutter 'Haku' in here sleep. "CHIHIRO, YOU'RE AWAKE!" Boh shouted, sending the signal that it was time. The spirits huddled into their places. Haku turned the lights off. "Where is everyone?" Chihiro asked. Boh shrugged. "I don't know. They said something about an emergency meeting or something. Besides..." Chihiro cocked her head. "Besides what?" The spirits jumped out and they all shouted, "SURPRISE!" Haku was right in front of Chihiro. He was smiling as he said, "Happy birthday, Chihiro." Shi jumped out and swung an arm an arm on Chihiro's shoulder. "Happy birthday, buddy." "Shi!" Chihiro shouted, flinging her arms around him. "You remembered." Shi smiled. "Of course. What kind of best friend would I be if I forgot." "Thank you, thank you, thank you!" Chihiro thanked. Haku scowled, annoyed by their closeness. "Cone on, let's eat the birthday cake," he said loudly, separating them. The cake was huge, barely touching the ceiling. Nineteen pink candles decorated the cake. On top of the cake, the words 'Happy Birthday, Chihiro!' was written in a fancy handwriting. Next to the words, there was a small sculpture of Chihiro. There was a magical picture on the cake, kinda like a slideshow. The images flicked on the cake: No-Face, Boh, Haku, Shi, and a bunch of other random spirits. The cake was covered in roses, showing the spirits' love and care for her. Chihiro gasped and shouted, "Thank you, thank you, thank you!" After finishing the cake, they watched fireworks. The beautiful fireworks lit up the sky. She was sitting next to Haku and Shi. "Thank you so much!" Chihiro shouted, thanking them again. "This is the best birthday ever!" Btw, if it wasn't obvious, itachi means weasel in Japanese, so yeah...