HAKU

Before any could call after him he produced his ring of keys. In seconds he was up the opposite flight of stairs and into Origa's dance studio. He left himself in through the back door. It smelled very strongly of wood polish, a scent he associated with Onsen. The dark interior was blissfully quiet, empty. Standing there in perfect stillness he took a deep quelling breath then headed for the locker room.

The flickering lights took a second to blink alive, illuminating the aluminum and concrete room as he tore the clothes from his body. These he tossed onto the floor along with his glasses. Naked he stepped into the middle of the three shower stalls at the end of the room, drawing the thin plastic curtain. Turning the water to the hottest setting he could stand he drowned himself in the soap dispensed from a plastic canister attached to the wall. Haku scrubbed himself until filth ran off his skin in rivers. But even as warmth soaked into his skin, even as the powdery stink of human perfumes diffused into the steaming air, he could still smell the blood on his skin.

Slowly he knees began to shake as all that had happened sank in.

Losing Chouchin; nearly being eaten by spiders; being overrun by Gods; all this and he had to go back to work and dance in just on short day. When that day dawned he would be human and spend all day long worrying about money, clothes, and food. Then at night he would spend every second listening for spiders and worrying whether or not any of them would last till dawn. Not surprisingly his legs folded. He sat on the cold tiles feeling utterly exposed. Exhausted, aching, and ashamed of himself, Haku cried quietly beneath the solid hiss of the shower's spray praying that no one heard.

Unfortunately his wish was not granted.

"Stop it," Kubi muttered over the shower.

Haku jolted, blinking through the spray as he realized she was sitting opposite him on the other side of the curtain. Her back was to him and he could see the fabric of her green kimono through the thin plastic. Slowly it was becoming soaked with the water spilling beneath. Mortified by the invasion, his temper got the better of him.

"I demand at least a small moment's solitude!" He snarled furiously, slapping his palm against the wet tiles, "Go at once! Go!"

"No."

Her matter-of-fact answer came back so swift Haku found himself gaping.

"I can't stand that sound," She continued huskily, "I can hear it all the way downstairs and it makes me want to break things. I can't go anywhere else so unless you want me to pull the chairs apart leg by leg I suggest you get a hold of yourself."

Haku blinked and blinked again as inside his head he saw terrible visions of smashed furniture. It was enough to sober him.

"Are you done yet? Your towel is getting wet."

Glancing over her shoulder Haku found a green towel folded in the exact spot she had been sitting. Switching off the water he dragged it under the curtain he dried himself only to realize he had not brought any clothes. Instantly his face flooded with heat and he spend an embarrassed moment wondering what to do.

"Are you there Kubi?" Haku called firmly, trying not to betray himself.

"Of course I'm still here," she called back peevishly, "Where else can I go?"

Through the translucent curtain he nervously watched her approach. She was an intense blot of green that slowly bled its way through the steam.

"I… uh… I have forgotten to bring clothes."

She snorted.

"I noticed. Not that you have anything to wear. Here."

Her pale hand flashed atop the curtain bar draping an emerald green garment inside. Gingerly Haku took it, pulling it over and holding it up. It was a long men's kimono of the softest silk, padded with extra layers for extra winter warmth. A subtle pattern of bamboo wove its way through the exterior fabric unlike anything he had ever seen. It was God-work, there was no doubt because the inside the aged silk was painted with a misty picture of green mountains footed by a crescent bay in which a red torii gate floated amidst waves like a boat. The image seemed to come alive for it was rendered with such skill. It whispered against his skin smelling strongly of wood smoke and sea salt as he pulled it on. Haku frowned as he belted it around his waist all the while fighting with his hair.

"Where did this come from, Kubi?"

"I made it a long time ago for my third husband," she returned almost impatiently, "Come on, then, let's see."

Haku blinked. Third husband? Before he could ask he cringed back as she yanked the curtain open, stirring up all his exasperation.

"Am I to have no privacy then!?"

"No. I'm lonely and so are you."

Again he had no words for her as she spit the truth at him. Her kimono was gaping at the front revealing the beads of water on her bare skin. Somehow she had found a shower before him. Realizing he was staring his face began to burn as she looked him up and down with a considering frown.

"Green is not your color, you know. It makes your eyes too bright and your skin too pale. It's makes you look too Godish."

Sputtering soundlessly he strode by to angrily confront the mess he had made of his personal affects. His shirt and pants hung in strips as he lifted them. Upon extracting the thin fold of money from the pocket he sighed and threw down the bills in exasperation for they were stained with soaked blood. So was his coat. Scooting the ruined rags into a pile he carefully lifted his gray cloak and glasses from the mess. It was the only thing that survived unscathed. These he carefully stowed in the front fold of his kimono. Everything else would have to be burned, shoes included. Once again he had nothing: no money; no clothes; no coat. Again his temper snapped as Kubi once again lit her pipe.

"Must you smoke!?"

"Yes," Kubi returned mildly, "Before you throw your usual tantrum you should know the fumes are the only thing that masks the smell of spider blood. Why do you think I smoke all the time? They can smell the blood of their kind and they'll follow it right back here. Unfortunately you stink like spider blood so now this whole place stinks too so hold your breath."

As he opened his mouth to question she blew a cloud of cloying vapor right in his face. Unfortunately Haku breathed it right in and crumbled to a seat on the bench coughing paroxysmally. Unapologetic, Kubi thumped him on the back, muttering around her pipe stem as she continued to smoke.

"I told you to hold your breath, didn't I? Gods, your hair is such a mess. You've got tangles the size of my fist."

She tousled it, making him fight off her hands as he gasped for breath.

"For the love of the sun! I just want to brush out the tangles! Are you like this every time someone is nice to you!?"

Kubi was holding up an ivory comb and glaring at him like he was an idiot. Exhausted and just glad to be sitting, Haku crossed his arms and submitted, try to breathe shallowly as she continued to fume. At least he could no longer smell the blood. Like Kubi he did not have anywhere else to go except downstairs to cook for the Gods. That would require he steal from the kitchen. He squirmed miserably at the thought.

"Hold still," Kubi commanded.

For all her hash words she was surprisingly gentle, slowly picking out tangles Haku probably could never have undone by himself. Kubi continued to brush his hair long after the tangles were gone. Haku was surprised to find having his hair brushed was more than soothing. Without knowing it he found himself leaning his head from side to side as she slowly slid the teeth of the comb through his smooth hair. Unfortunately the angry words Kubi and Aki threw at each other earlier came seeping into the emptiness inside his head. Floating atop them all was a name he did not know or understand. Slowly he realized he would never again have a moment such as this.

"For a moment there you almost seemed to be enjoying yourself," Kubi sighed in exasperation, "But now I can hear you thinking a hole in your head. You gonna stew all night or talk about what's bothering you?"

Haku took a deep settling breath and decided upon an indirect route.

"In the third level of Shitamatchi the kami keep a bat."

Kubi's hands stilled.

"Bah-Fuh."

It was not a question and he continued knowing he held her interest.

"Yes. They say she knows everything but her wisdom comes at a price. She wrote the answers to my questions in my blood and I barely escaped with my life. I asked her how to wake Chihiro and Bah-Fuh told me there was nothing I could do. I now understand and accept her answer. But that was not all she foretold. I left with something else I had not expected."

"What did she tell you?"

Kubi spoke hesitantly as if unsure of whether she wanted to know.

"Bah-Fuh told me I will die at Garuda's hands."

Her pipe clattered on the floor spilling red hot ashes at their feet. When she did not pick it up Haku turned to find the God-woman watching them smolder. She might have been wearing her mask again for her features were devoid of feeling. From this close he was reminded that her eyes were not just colorless. The color had been burned out of them, ripped from her along with most of her godliness. Her eyes burned him with their intensity as finally they turned upon him.

"Garuda is dead."

Haku blinked. Dead? The way the God woman spoke of him that did not appear to be the case. Dropping his gaze he stared at the glowing points of red scattered on the floor and tried not to see the glittering eyes moving in the trees. As he did his shoulder tightened, making him lean forward until his elbows were braced on his knees. Fear was winding its way through his insides as he realized something. Bah-Fuh foretold the spiders, had she not? She foretold that only Chihiro could break her own curse. What if it all was true?

"Aki does not seem to think that makes a difference."

"What does Aki know!?" Kubi snapped back.

He knew not what else to do. He knew not what he intended anymore. His devious plan to wheedle truths from Kubi had slid through his fingers. Why he had tried to exercise such guile was a mystery for he was incapable of such things. And so he told the truth. He could not disguise the fear in his voice as he spoke next; the possibility that it was true was far too real.

"I am a stranger here. I do not know the story of this place though it is long and old. I am afraid, Kubi-san, so very afraid that I have made a grave mistake by entangling myself in that which I do not understand. I must to know. Tell me who Garuda was."

"What will you give me if I tell you?"

At once he wilted at the hardness in her voice, dropping his face into his hands in defeat because this was exactly what he had been hoping to avoid.

"Kubi-san… You know I have nothing to give."

But then words poured out of her, all of them truth but not the ones he had expected. With his head in his hands Haku was bound to listen.

"I had a kimono business once," Kubi began in her matter-of-fact way.

"My kind was never shy of humans. Over hundreds of years we set up a front of willing business partners. We wove and dyed the silk and sewed each kimono by hand. These we sent with our humans to market. Nothing can compare with God-made silk and we made a solid profit: food for our bellies; oil for our lamps; wood for the stove."

"But when they built the cotton mills no one wanted kimono. Slowly our human's grew old and the young one's moved away to the city for better less terrifying prospects. The military moved in and the war began; the first and then the second. Humans forgot the Gods. I remember watching the ships sail in and out of the harbor. One of those tankers brought my third husband."

"He said that too, you know. He told me the first night we spent together that he had nothing to give me. I've married two humans before but neither was like my third husband. He was blind from birth. No family. No trade. He made his living as a wandering masseuse but there were fewer inns along the road now. Like us he'd become obsolete. But he must've had some God in him somewhere, because he gave me a son."

"I left the spirit world for my husband so our son could have a human life. My third husband was sickly and there were human doctors in town. So I took my favorite human and gave up being a God to be his wife. I wasn't the first and not the last. Our kind has been abandoning the other side for thousands of years now. Our neighbors thought I was lazy for making our maid do all the cooking. Back then I couldn't light a fire. I couldn't cook. But I worked harder than any wife. I made a living for us by my loom and my husband was proud and our neighbors jealous."

"I remember waking up that morning. August 6th 1945. It wasn't too early but it was terribly hot. He was sitting on the step with our son looking at the sky. The boy was about five and showing none of his father's illness and none of my unusual flexibility. I had hope for him. I had hope for all of us. Word had gotten out about my work and there was a market for small silks. Then my husband said he heard a plane which was strange because the military didn't usually fly over this time of day."

Haku jolted as Kubi smoothed her hands over his hair. Looking up he found her standing over him looking through him with her strange silver eyes.

"You remind me of him. I think that's why I'm so mean to you. He was just as stubborn as you are; just a proud and just as weak. You make me miss him too much."

Here her face fell and she was looking over his head, looking far, far away as if seeing something so very terrible it sent her to a seat at his feet as if she could hide from her past. Whatever she saw robbed her of voice for in the barest whisper she continued.

"They died that morning. I watched them burn when the bomb dropped. They crumbled to ash in my hands."

She held out her pale shaking fingers as if she did not understand.

"They all died. All the humans died. They all died except for us."

Hunkered over her heels Kubi hugged her knees as her voice began to regain its strength. Her eyes went round and wide with awe.

"Before I met Garuda I thought I knew what beautiful was. I was wrong. He wasn't kami but he was certainly a God. I don't know where he came from, probably brought over from the mainland by some monk to be enshrined in a Dharma temple hidden high in the hills. His wings were bright sunlight in a world of soot and fire. His voice was music when all I could hear were screams."

"I loved him the moment I saw him. He pulled me out of the ashes. He put a tattered coat on my shoulders and held an umbrella over my head when the black rain began. He took my hand in his and led me through the endless maze of rubble. As we went he gathered more and more of us. Hideous, lowly, and maimed: it didn't matter to Garuda, he took us all. He became a God among Gods and we loved him. We walked in his golden shadow along forgotten human roads until the world was green again. But even then we were lost."

"No one survived unscathed. The bombs ripped us from our world. They left us exposed in the wake of catastrophe the humans had made of us. Even as our burns healed we were marked. You could smell the human fire on us still. We were turned away at every crossing to the Spirit World. Kyoto chased us away with spears; Nagoya and Shizuoka wouldn't even open their gates. Our own people forsake us. They wouldn't even listen to Garuda because he was an outsider, a God not of this land. That was just as bad in their eyes as being unwhole. But Garuda wouldn't let us curse them. He cautioned us to forgive and be patient."

"Most of our kami didn't have the strength for patience. They just gave up. Too gentle and fragile, they faded away under the weight of despair and exhaustion. There were barely enough offerings at shrines along the road to sustain us. Garuda and I were the only ones left by the time we reached Tokyo. It looked little better than Hiroshima, but we heard a rumor that there was a place that had opened its gates and was welcoming all kinds. It was called Shitamachi."

Here Kubi paused with a derisive sneer, shifting herself to a more comfortable sitting position as she reached for her pipe. She lit a strange wad of tobaccos and herbs on a still glowing ember and pulled long curls of smoke from the stem. All Haku could do was stare at her uncomprehending as Kubi pulled another long curl from her pipe, blowing right at him.

""No one survived unscathed; not even Garuda. What he saw in the aftermath changed him. I didn't realize how much until we got to Shitamachi. The Second and third levels were completely blocked off. All those high Gods in their high towers could care less what happened below so long as food kept coming through the portal. The first level, if you can even imagine, was worse back then. The Gods called it Jigoku (1) and rightly so. It nearly ate us alive."

Haku tried not to remember the hells the first level held. He tried not to imagine about how it could have been any worse.

"I hide his feathers under a sack cloth. We were both so dirty and tired for travel no one looked at us twice. But Garuda was moved to horror when we walked through Shitamachi's gate. Even in the crater left by the bomb; even as our friend died all around us; he had been nothing but calm. But until that moment he had been hiding how much everything affected him. I never really thought much of that dharma junk he was always going on about. I think his faith broke in that moment. He reached the end of his strength and he just stopped."

Kubi shifted again, shoving the bloody remnants of his clothes further away from them with her bare foot before blowing another lung full of smoke over the rags.

"It was up to me from then on. I took his hand and steered him away from propositioning spiders and struggled not to let him get pushed into the stupid rut with all its black snapping bugs. We didn't have any food or money so we slept in the street. I was scared stupid, that's what I was. I was determined to get us out of there as soon as possible. I was willing to follow him back to his world if necessary, this world certainly wasn't for him. Unfortunately that night I saw him kill for the first time."

Sitting cross legged now Kubi began brushing her hair as if none of this was real, as if it was just a story. Haku could not fathom her calm. It made him doubt the truth of her words; it made him wonder if she could lie like he could.

"We woke up to screaming and this dumb oni came dragging this spider woman down the alley to where we were hiding. Garuda didn't even flinch. He just sat there staring at the demon like he didn't understand."

Kubi rapped out her pipe onto the clothes pile as her eyes flashed with fury.

"I was so angry at him! After all his talk about compassion he was just going to sit back and watch some poor God-girl get raped and murdered! Not me… Not me… I'd always had an unusual talent when it came to males soI stretched my neck out as far as I could and sucked half the life out of that oni before he caught me by the throat and dragged me into the open."

She drew her lips into a grim line and rubbed her neck as if it still hurt.

"Before it could break my neck Garuda was standing in all his gold glory. He must've startled the oni because it dropped me. They stood there staring at each other for a stupid moment then Garuda put up his wings asked it a fuckin' question. 'Will you change for the better?' That's what he asked! The goddamn oni just blinked at him like he'd been dazzled. He said no. No, he wouldn't change. And it was the truth."

Kubi made a cutting motion with her hand. It flashed white beneath the fluorescent lights making him jump back. He was so caught up in her story he had not realized how close he had leaned towards her.

"Garuda cut its head off with a feather, one brilliant golden feather plucked from his wing. Blood got on his face and he didn't even wipe it away. He watched the red run out all over the ground the way someone might watch a river. Then he looked at me with this terrible expression of awe like he'd seen some eternal truth in all that gore. That look sacred me more that death itself because it swallowed him whole. He disappeared into it and after that everything changed."

"Garuda started collecting Jigoku kami; all kinds; everyone was welcome. The spiders loved him. They left the brothels in droves. So did the tsukumogami; the little creatures that until now were ignored and left as prey for black mushi to eat. They installed him in an old tea house like some kind of idol. Kami were desperate for something anything to help them through the chaos after the bombings.

"We used to be worshiped and revered. We used to own the mountains and the sky and the sea. Now we've had our world ripped from us. We're crammed into the tiny pockets that're all that is left of the spirit world; oppressed and cast out by our own people. I suppose it made sense that they listened to Garuda even though he was an outsider. People will do anything for hope."

"He was still the most beautiful thing I'd ever seen, a bit of the sun shining in hell. He said we held the power to transform hell into paradise. He told us every being had a place in paradise: whole or otherwise. He said we all had a chance to save our world. The solution was simple: change our minds for the better. Anyone who would not be changed had no place in paradise."

"The Jigoku Kami took his word and went into the streets of Shitamachi soliciting answers from any God they could ask. We can't lie. We have to tell the truth. And if there's evil in our hearts we have to admit it. They killed anyone who answered no. And Garuda? Garuda who had always taught patience and kindness even when confronted by violence; he did nothing to stop them."

"After they purged the first level the Jigoku kami set siege to the second gate. Shitamachi retaliated calling us traitors and fools for being taken by the lies of an outsider. Shitamachi promised to kill every one of us for betraying our race. I'm one of the last alive from that time."

Kubi took her pipe from her mouth and stared blankly at the embers inside.

"The fighting intensified. The sky went black with smoke and fire. Distantly I could hear screams and shouts from the fighting. It rained black ash. And as our world fell down around us for once I had him all to myself. He was sitting at the window looking up at the second level like a bird might stare out between the bars of a cage."

"I'm not proud of it but I threw myself at his feet and begged him to tell the Jigoku kami to stop. If anyone could get them to stop it was him. He looked at me with the same serene sureness he always showed. Do you know what he told me? He said the spirit world is dying. He said there is no future for the kami. He said those who cannot change will not change. He said it was better that we die now trying to become more than to be crushed beneath the feet of those who cling to the impossible."

"And do you know what I told him? I told him I loved him. It was the truth, I did love him. His beautiful gold face fell like a star. His hands shook like any other man's as he reached for me. I kissed him as he lifted me in his arms. I kissed him with these lips and pulled his breath away."

Gingerly Kubi touched her mouth as her eyes brimmed with tears.

"I still don't know exactly why. It wasn't out of loyalty or anything so stupid; I just wanted the killing to stop. In the end I think it was because I didn't believe him. I wanted him to convince me the way he'd convinced the others. I wanted so badly to believe him. But when his hands shook I realized he was just like the rest of us."

Kubi bowed her head into her hands as her shoulders began to shake.

"I hated him so much for reminding me he wasn't a God among Gods after all. He had no right to tell our future or dictate our fate. He wasn't even kami so how could he know what we were capable of? It didn't matter how much I loved him; if he lived we all would've died; so I killed him; one life for a thousand."

Haku stared at her trying to absorb everything she said.

There was no way he could, not now, not for a long while.

Suddenly Kubi was right. Watching someone cry was an impossible thing. The helplessness it inspired was unendurable. So Haku pulled her into his arms and held her close, gritting his teeth against the sadness overwhelming his heart. He ached and trembled with the strength of it as her breath hushed against his shoulder, tickling his neck with the frost of her lips and the searing cold of her tears.

"Don't worry, Nigihayami. You don't have to give me anything."

Awkwardly she drew back dashing at her cheeks as if ashamed and looking at anything but him. The resemblance struck a cord of affinity deep in his heart. He himself had done exactly the same thing on so many occasions. Haku was not sure why he put his hands on her shoulders in that moment. Perhaps it was because he was full of such grief he had to do something to be rid of it else he was quite sure he would die from sorrow. Kubi glanced up at him sharply, furrowing her brow as he slid his hands to her face, tipping it back as he leaned down toward her. She gripped his wrists to the point of pain as he kissed not her lips but instead each of her closed eyes. He kept her face in his hands as he drew back, letting his eyes carry the weight of his promise as finally she looked up at him with a conflicted expression.

"I do want to give you something, Kubi. I give you my word that I will never close my eyes. My home is your home; my food is your food so long as I draw breath."

She flashed a brittle smile as she ran her hands up to cover his.

"I would've settled for a proper kiss."

Haku smiled politely while sitting back slowly.

"Chihiro would not approve."

The tension between them broke as Kubi sighed dramatically and sat back onto her heels with a pouty moue.

"I hope she appreciates you. Otherwise I might spirit you away for myself."

Haku snorted mildly.

"She does."

Kubi picked up her pipe and she stood inspecting the stem as Haku stooped to truss the pile of rags that comprised all his possessions into his only coat.

"You never did tell me how she came by that curse."

Haku came to stillness as he picked up the bloody bundle. It was hard to remember that day without having his throat tighten painfully. He was forced to clear it before he could speak.

"A deity of the ocean placed it upon her to punish me for asking to be mortal."

With that he strode from the locker room to escape the memory only to find Kubi ahead of him holding open the door. Her silver eyes were pricks of light in the gloom, shrewd and sharp as they considered his admission.

"You should get her to go back to wherever it happened."

Haku blinked, not feeling the biting cold in the slighted as his feet stuck to the frozen landing outside. Impatiently he waited for her to close the door and join him on the landing.

"Why is that?"

Kubi paused to light her pipe again, striking a wooden match and proving she was no longer entirely kami. The embers lit her face up in eerie reds as she drew on them slowly before blowing the cloud over them as if for good measure.

"A curse is often a journey in disguise, Nigihayami. The only way for a journey to end is to find your way home."

CHIHIRO

She stared at the last words on the page long and hard.

How long she stared at them she wasn't sure.

Finally she saved the Word file and closed her laptop.

Stretching in her chair Chihiro stood and found herself a little light headed. Stiff too, especially her legs. The paint on the wall under her desk was beginning to get thin where she propped her feet up. Her stomach gurgled irritably, reminding her she hadn't eaten anything since Kou served her breakfast.

Glancing at the clock on the side table she realized it was 2:00 AM. Too late to be early; too early to be late; funny, her first instinct was to cal Kou. He didn't have a phone number and she wasn't about to wake up Shouta. She couldn't call her mom either. Yuko wouldn't be coherent and her dad would sleep right through the call. She couldn't call Lydia. Theirs wasn't that kind of relationship. She definitely wasn't going to call Kaatama. Yuck.

That was it. That was everyone in her tiny little world.

All that same she just had to tell someone.

Shifting her eyes to the bed she came to the side and watched Michio sleep. Her friend's acid green hair fanned out on the pillows but her face was hidden beneath the thick blue comforter. Chihiro was kinda glad otherwise she would've stood there stared at the bruises thinking all kinds of dark angry thoughts. When Michi turned up at the doorway halfway through the night with red eyes and a snuffly nose what else could Chihiro say but yes? Michi just wanted to sleep while she worked. She didn't want to be alone and Chihiro couldn't blame her. So she felt really bad for sitting on the edge of the bed and waking her up.

"Michi?" Chihiro hushed, "Can I tall you something?"

"Nnnn…" The comforter stirred, "Huh?"

"Can I tell you something?" Chihiro repeated in a shuddering voice.

"Wha'd you say? Sorry… I was dead asleep."

Michio surfaced from under the blankets blinking groggily. She paused, frowning.

"You okay?"

Suddenly Chihiro realized she was shaking.

"Yeah, m'fine. I just wanted to say it out loud, you know?"

Michi's face screwed up in confusion.

"Chihi-chan, you're not making sense."

"Sorry… Sorry, it's kinda a big deal."

Chihiro took a deep shuddering breath as she blinked back tears. She wasn't sad, not at all. It just felt like this huge weight had been lifted off her shoulders. For some strange reason it felt like she could finally move forward again. Whatever weird hazy wall that'd been put in front of her by what happened back in Kumomi was gone. It didn't matter if she never knew for sure what happened. She'd written her own ending.

"It's done."

Chihiro smiled as she sat back and straightened her shoulders baffled by the sudden feeling of freedom.

"What's done?"

Michio rubbed her eyes then winced, gingerly touching the purples and blues.

"The sequel," Chihiro continued in a quiet rush, "It's done. I just finished it."

"Really?"

That woke Michio up and Chihiro laughed ruefully.

"It didn't end the way I thought things would. It's really sad actually."

"Wha'dya mean?"

Michio was sitting up against the headboard blinking in sleepy confusion. So Chihiro took a deep breath and explained as best she could. Now that it was done it felt like it was okay to talk about it.

"You know all of this?" Chihiro waved her hand at Satako's drawings, "In the story it's real; really real. But I stopped believing when I was little, you know? In the story I buy an onsen in the middle of nowhere like I actually did. But it turns out this bath house belongs to a witch too. She's a really nice old lady. Then something bad happened at Yubaba's bath house, so bad that the kami have to come into our world. Some of them don't make it."

Chihiro looked up at the white dragon floating on the wall over her desk. She blinked as she found herself remembering the way Kou flowed and danced in the wind the first night they met in Shinjuku. No wonder she was falling for him so hard.

"Lots of bad stuff happens after that. Lots of good stuff too. But in the end of the story I get cursed and I forget everything. I leave them all behind without knowing it."

By now she realized Michio was staring at her with a worried expression.

"Sounds kinda depressing."

"Gee, thanks!" Chihiro snorted, "That's 'casue that's not the end. There's gonna be a third book, okay? I just haven't written it yet."

Michio wasn't paying attention. She was looking past her to the laptop.

"Can I read the second one first?"

"Maybe. Maybe not."

She was being a brat now to get Michi back for ignoring her.

"There's a lot of personal stuff in there. I dunno if I even want to publish it."

That was a lie. Chihiro already told Satako she wanted her to do the illustrations. Why the hell would she have spent all this time writing it if she didn't want to publish it?

"What're you gonna do with it?"

Chihiro sighed.

"Nothing for now. I'm just gonna let it sit for a while. I'm just glad it's over."

"What do you mean by over?" Michio asked uncertainly.

"I mean done," Chihiro amended, "I'm just glad it's done. No more shrinks. No more therapy. I wrote the ending to my own store and now I can get on with my life."

They sat in awkward silence for a long moment. Chihiro marveled over the fact that even this felt new. She'd spent her whole life with Michio and now they seemed like strangers. Then her stomach growled petulantly; Michi laughed, and everything was the same again.

"Wanna go hit up that 24 hour curry place in Shibuya?"

"Yeah," Chihiro tried not to drool, "I could totally go for some pork katsu."

"I hope that cute waiter's there. He was totally checking out your ass last time."

"Michio!"

"What? I'm just saying…"

Notes

(1) Jigoku is the Japanese word for hell.