Disclaimer: I don't own the characters from Spirited Away. However the plot is mine.
Happy reading! CR
Chapter 21:
Haku's POV
The cave that stood before me had some strange engravings on the boulder that stood as a door. This took me a little by surprise, because I was prepared to talk to do old man and be on my way. ' How can I talk to him if I can't even get inside the cave?' I asked myself feeling a little discouraged. I sat down on a rock near the door and thought of some way to decipher the symbols. It wasn't in any language that I knew so there wasn't any way I could open the damn cave. I started to push on the boulder, I even used some magic on it but it wouldn't budge.
I sat on the rock again thinking of how I could open the door and then it hit me: Zeniba must know something. After all, she is very old. I transformed into my dragon form but then remembered that I could teleport myself wherever I wanted. I changed back and then appeared in front of Zeniba's house. Unfortunately, the lights were all out, which meant that she must be sleeping. I thought for a moment about coming back in the morning at a more appropriate hour, but then I remembered Yubaba's threat about the land of the forgotten. ' I plan to keep my promise, Chihiro.'I said to myself and started to knock on the door only to be met by smiling Zeniba.
"Sorry to wake you up at such a late hour, Zeniba, but I really need your help!" I said feeling a little panic rising.
"Calm down, dear. Why don't you come in, we can have a cup of tea and you can tell me all about your problems." She said in her usual sweet and calming voice.
As tempting as the idea sounded, I remembered quickly why I was there so I started to speak quickly: "I can't come in. We have to hurry. There are a lot of things happening at the bathhouse and I went to the cave that's situated at the eastern border of the Kamikakushi to find the cure. At the cave I found some strange engravings and I need your help to translate them in order to enter the cave."
"Okay, we will go, but I'm not flying on you. How will we get there on time? It's a five day journey." She said in a concerned voice.
"We can get there in a matter of seconds. Yubaba granted me the power of teleportation until tomorrow evening. The only reason she did it is because I told her the bathhouse is losing money if we don't fix the problems as soon as possible." I finished saying and fortunately she understood that I was in a hurry because she vanished. A second later I teleported myself back at the cave and saw her study the engravings carefully.
She thought to be funny by asking me what took me so long. I didn't find that funny at all but couldn't get angry, because then she wouldn't help me.
I watched her for a few seconds while she mumbled something and then out of nowhere a book thick as a desk appeared. For a moment I thought she wanted to break the boulder with it. If she tried hard enough, I think she would have even succeeded.
But the book just floated there a little distance off the ground and opened itself so Zeniba started to look through the thick pages. I wanted to ask her what the book told her but I thought better of it and just the went behind Zeniba so I could peak over her shoulder.
I could hear her mumble from time to time and every couple of minutes she would turn and look at the engraving on the boulder. After about 10 minutes a notepad and pen appeared in the air and she spoke: "Write down the engravings on a piece of paper. We will have to translate it as soon as I can figure out in which language it is written."
I started to work and felt a little stupid at first. I felt like a kid who didn't understand what the lesson was about. As soon as I finished I handed the paper and pen to Zeniba and again I felt like the dumb kid because she threw me a look that said: 'I could write this better with my eyes covered and my hands tied behind my back.'
I didn't have time to sit back for long because after another 10 minutes she made an "aha!" sound. I went to stay next to her in hopes that it would be quick but seeing that the symbols looked very similar, I knew we would be there a while. I tried to help her a couple of times but she glared at me so I just stood there and watched the moon and the stars dance in the sky.
I was daydreaming when she placed a hand on my shoulder and said: "I think I am done." I took the piece of paper from her hand and read the message.
"The more he lengthen it, the shorter it becomes."
I couldn't believe it. It was a freaking riddle. It wasn't bad enough that we had to translate these darn engravings, now we had to find the answer to the riddle.
Feeling discouraged I let the paper fall out of my hand and went to sit down in front of the cave and started to speak for myself.
"What am I going to do, Chihiro? I have no idea how to answer this stupid riddle. I hope there aren't any more of these, because although I love you with all my heart, I don't know what kind of life..." but I didn't get to finish my thought, because a noise could be heard from the boulder. The engravings on it started to glow and the boulder moved a few inches to the left.
"What did you do?" asked Zeniba and came to stand near me.
"I was just trying to tell Chihiro about the riddle and that I love her but if I don't succeed I don't know what kind of life I would be able to live without her." I said not fully understanding what caused the boulder to move.
Zeniba took the piece of paper from my hand, looked at it and said with a smile: "Yes, my dear boy, the answer to the riddle was life."
We didn't have much time to celebrate because when we looked up at the boulder there were other engravings written there. These were in another language and the symbols looked menacing. I copied them again and gave the paper to Zeniba who started to look frantically through the book.
Knowing that I couldn't help her I thought of a better way to spend my time so I returned quickly to the bathhouse to get the list with the towns in the eastern part of Kamikakushi that I had to visit to get the ransom. When I returned to the cave Zeniba was still flicking pages and the little beads of sweat could be seen on her forehead. I don't think she even noticed I was gone. So I went on my first mission to Kihumaki.
Fortunately for me the mayor of the city was smart enough not to mess with the Dragon so in a matter of minutes I was back at the entrance of the cave with the money. The situation wasn't any better because Zeniba was still flicking the pages of the thick book and now sweat was dripping from her forehead.
Seeing this, I decided to go to the next town in hopes that the mission would be just as easy as the previous one. I teleported myself to Tehinuka and after a couple of minutes of bargaining I managed to convince the mayor to give me the ransom.
Arriving back at the entrance of the cave I got a little scared when Zeniba started to scream for joy because she finally found the language she was looking for. I sat next to her for a couple of minutes hoping that she would translate the message quickly, but in that period she only managed to discover two of the letters.
Feeling useless and restless just sitting there, I decided to go to the next town. This way I could catch two birds with one stone. The city of Likazi was very beautiful and I would have enjoyed spending some time there, but I was in a mission. I found the palace rather quickly and fortunately the King agreed to give me the money.
I was feeling quite confident when I returned to the cave seeing that I managed to do three of my four missions. But my hopes got crushed when I saw how much of the message was there left to translate.
I sat again in front of the cave and was listening to Zeniba's grunts and whispers: "I wonder...maybe...what if?" I stood up and walked over to her. She was flipping the pages at an astonishing pace seeming to know what she was looking for. When she found the correct language, a huge smile crept across her face. Again she started to write furiously but this took her about 20 minutes. After she finished she handed me the piece of paper and I read the following riddle:
"A nightmare for some
For others, as a savior I come
My hands, cold and bleak,
It's the warm hearts they seek."
I stood there dumbstruck for about 5 minutes looking at that piece of paper, willing it to tell me something more, but it never did. I knew Zeniba couldn't help me any more so I went to stay in front of the boulder and started to talk in hopes that maybe I could find the answer this way.
"Oh, Chihiro, I don't think I can do this. The first one was fairly easy but on this one I don't even know where to start. I think I must admit my defeat and go back to the bathhouse and try to find the cures some other way. I know this will mean the death of..." but again I didn't get a chance to finish my sentence because the engravings started to glow again and the boulder moved a couple more inches to the left. I jumped to my feet and stuck my hand in the gap trying to force it open, but I knew it was useless.
"What did you do?" Zeniba approached me and asked what I was talking about and I told her that I was telling Chihiro about the deaths of the yunas.
Zeniba sumoned the piece of paper that laid on the ground and looked at the message again. "Yes, my darling boy, this language is connected to death."
I started to feel confident and looked up at the boulder to see that some other engravings where on it and this time they were on a different language. I copy them again and Zeniba started to look in her book. Meanwhile I sat again in front of the cave but this time I looked up at the sky to see that the stars were fading and that the sun was trying to peak over the horizon. So much for an easy night... 'And who knows how many more needles do I have to solve?' I thought to myself. She started to mumble something and flipped a whole lot of pages at once until she found what she was looking for.
I didn't even bother to help her this time seeing that she was writing furiously and after about five minutes she was done. She handed me the piece of paper and the inscription would like this:
"What is invisible makes people suffer from symptoms like sweating and nausea, yet people can't survive without it?"
I went and set down again next to the boulder but this time I rested my back against it and started to talk. "Oh, Chihiro, what am I going to do? If I can't find the answer to this stupid riddle I can't go back to the bathhouse and then I will be sent to the land of the forgotten. I wouldn't be able to see you again and tell you how much I love..." but I didn't get to finish my thought because the Boulder shifted all the way to the left and I found myself lying on my back inside the cave.
"What did you do this time?" asked Zeniba again.
"I was just trying to tell Chihiro about the riddle and the land of the forgotten and that if I was sent there I couldn't see her again and tell her that I love her" I said.
Again she started to smile and seeing my puzzled face she grumbled out an answer about her behavior. "You see, the first language was supple and the letters were beautiful and that was the language of gods. It is tied to life. The second one had ugly letters and signs and it looked very scary. That was the language of demons. It is tied to death. And the last and most important language is the one of love. So you see, my dear boy, we have life and death but we cannot succeed without love" she finished her speech seeing that I understood most of it.
"Okay, so now that we opened the cave, what do we do?" I asked feeling a little frustrated that I wasn't in the mood for stories.
"We don't do anything. I will go home and go about my business and you go inside and ask the old man what you came here for" she said closing the book and getting ready to leave.
"But... wait! You can't go! I can't do this without you!" I said in a whiny voice and I instantly remembered the time that Chihiro told me not to go after we crossed the bridge together.
"But I can't go either. Only the one who has come here with the mission can enter the cave. Why do you think I didn't help you earlier with the riddles?" she asked getting a little frustrated with the whole situation.
"Fine, you can't help me, but at least stay here so that I can ask you some stuff if I need to." I pleaded with her is the sweetest voice possible.
"Okay. But if I'm not responding you have to know that I can't" she said. "Here, take this..." She continued and handed me a small orb that shined brightly. " You will need this in the cave"
I took it and strode purposely inside the tunnel of the cave with a confidence I didn't actually have.
A/N: I know it's looooong overdue. Life got in the way and I didn't get the time and inspiration to write. I've seen some of your comments earlier today and they made me come back. So THANK YOU VERY MUCH FOR THE SUPPORT! I hope you like the chapter.