Hello!
Although I'm not that fond of writing, I felt like editing my short posts on the Dreaming of Sunshine crossover forum. Since it took me a while to find the story and the thread keeps expanding, (I'm not that good in navigating things) I've posted it like this solely for convenience.
Do not expect any updates in the coming years.
If you are wondering: This is a crossover story of Spirited Away and Dreaming of Sunshine. Spirited Away by Hayao Miyazaki is likely my favorite animated movie and DoS by Silver Queen is in the top ten on my list of favorite fanfiction works for multiple reasons. They are not something I can hope to surpass with this fanfic. Therefore it makes sense for you to have read and watched these before reading the story. If this is not the case, please give them a try before returning or moving on. You'll likely find them worthy of your time.
About legal stuff: The Spirited away setting, plot and characters in this work belong to Studio Ghibli, mainly director and creator Hayao Miyazaki, the, Naruto characters, settings etc. belong to Masashi Kishimoto and Shikako with all her assorted quirks belongs to Silver Queen. For the ones concerned about another type of fraud: I tried to change my username from HasSeen to CrawlR, but it shows strangely on the forum. I do not earn money from this work. Please do not crosspost or something like that. If you are tempted, I am sure you could likely write something much better.
Enjoy reading.
-o-
The red bridge slowly rolled into view as the car curved along the the winding mountain road. "Are we at grandma's yet?" Chihiro pressed her nose against the window, stretching arms casting shadows on Shikako's story book. Mom turned around and reached back with a puzzle book in an attempt to distract the younger twin. "Chihiro, settle down before you hurt yourself. The car is not getting there any faster even if you do that." Shikako, no she was Youko nowadays, didn't seem to mind and absentmindedly flipped the page. In a way reincarnating into a non-magic, non-sci-fi world felt like a breath of fresh air to six-year-old-again shikako and she planned to make the most of it. However, any pretended peace was interrupted by a series of low squeaks from rubber on glass and suddenly a strong wind rippled through the pages and flipped the end of Youko's short braid into her face. Chihiro, young and not one to shy away from danger, had loosened her seatbelt and stuck her head far out of the window. The fun was cut short as a firm tug of their annoyed mother immediately reeled the girl back in. As the youngest grouched through Mom's lecture, Youko smiled warmly, pulled their shoulders together and promised to read her some stories instead.
Chihiro snuggled closer. After all Shikako-nee told the best tales.
-o-
Their grandmas place was a small, worn cottage, nestled on the foot of the mountain. Youko was charmed by the building and ran around the house with Chihiro, toeing the blessedly cool stone floor and rolling around on the tatami in the summer heat. Their grandma laughed heartily, revealing the few teeth she had left, and beaconed them over with thick glasses on her nose. "Well, well, Akio, I see you've finally thought of visiting me today despite your ever busy work. That aside, your dear wife Yuko seemed to have brought me two adorable granddaughters!" Grandma scrutinized them thoroughly like she did every summer, causing Chihiro to tense up. A warm, wrinkled hand landed on Youko's head. "A wise child, fond of learning. This must be our dear Chihiro." The remaining hand plopped in Chihiro's hair. "A bright child, full of energy. This must be our Youko." As she did every year, Chihiro protested loudly and Mitsuko Ogino chuckled, before doing her best to muss up their braid and ponytail respectively. "Better stay the whole summer and come by often such that grandma Mitsuko doesn't forget." Dad laughed, chastised, while mother smiled at Chihiro's offended pout and Youko's promise to stay the whole summer.
As always, family was family and children were children.
-o-
At the end of sumer, the family took their yearly walk along the Kohaku river, a branch river flowing into the Yoshino river from a relatively young spring in the mountains. Shikako, no, nowadays she was called Youko, had perked up the first time her parents had mentioned a hike near the river in the Nara prefecture, anticipating it to trigger something spiritual and otherworldly. However, in this world her chakra coils and sense were shriveled and barely even there, so she had settled for pleasant family time during the mandatory character-building hike. This year however, Chihiro had asked all her questions three-quarters through the journey and started loudly complaining at every turn. Finally, they returned to the small cluster of benches on the platform near the car where everyone settled down. "I want to go home and watch Space Pirate Moon." Chihiro grumbled, then jumped up to defend her dreams as space pilot and moon sea diver from the realistic questioning, retreating to the railing near the river, tripping when her heel hooked behind a crooked stone, and tumbling past the safety fence, launching her dislodged shoe into the air. Youko had kept up her morning exercises from when she had been Shikako, but her short reach, coupled with untrained reflexes had made her late by quite a margin.
With a startled cry Chihiro would disappear under the waves, only to wash up on the shore unharmed, a little bewildered and with a strange story about a snake. It has been years since Youko's been reincarnated and she can't remember any stories about snakes, even if the event feels significant.
-o-
The car made a straight turn right and climbed uphill while Youko's parents tried to reassure her grouching sister that their new school wouldn't suck. Lately Chihiro seemed increasingly apatic, moping around on the couch and complaining about little things. Youko had been affected by it and was flipping through a history book absentmindedly, while Chihiro played with the flowers their friend Rumi had given them. Sometimes, like in the dim quiet this morning, Youko wondered if her dreams were real, but even if she hadn't truly been, her mind had seen and her heart had known. Sometimes, that was enough for it to be part of you. "Chihiro! Will you behave properly, today is a busy day for us." Chihiro removed her shoes from the back of the seat, slouching and throwing her sister a long-suffering look. Shikako laughed, startled at the resemblance with Shikamaru. "Youko, sit straight while reading. Your sister is picking up your bad habits." Youko shifted and put her book down, opting to stare at the scenery like her twin. The car climbed another hill and with building realization Shikako noticed how the scenery seemed strangely familiar as they neared their street, taking a shortcut past an old torii and hokora shrines.
As the siblings took in the large red gate and eerily smiling Dosojin, an ominous sense of dread had snuck up to them for very different reasons. Unlike to the reluctant Chihiro, her older sibling almost seemed invigorated by it it.
-o-
Chihiro's palms were damp as she clamped down on Youko's free arm, the other one was holding the history book to her side. It had been at the end of spring, weather teetering on the edge between pleasant and sultry, but here the summer heat gave way to a pleasant coolness. As the dim tunnel made way for amber light, tension seeped out of clammy hands and made way to curiosity. Here, the windows wore bright colors and tinted sunlight caught on stagnant motes of dust. While her sibling looked around, Youko's gaze drifted up, past Campanula lights, to the overcast ceiling. A sudden chill creeped up her spine.
Abruptly, with an insistent tug on her arm, stone arcs made way to a blue, cloudless sky and Shikako, no nowadays she was called Youko, blinked the dark spots out of her eyes. This was not Konoha and here the shadows remained unmoving.
The family set on a brisk walk up the hill, but the youngest dug her heels in beside her sister. "Mom-, Dad! You can't be serious, let's go back already!" Shikako agreed but mom dismissed her sibling. "You can complain all you want Chihiro, but some exercise is good for you, lately you've spend your time lazing on the couch." Before Chihiro could offer another argument, an insistent breeze rippled through long grass and snapped hair in their face from behind. The breath was eerie, so girls hurried. Soon they passed a lazy stream. Brightly colored facades rose while the clock tower disappeared behind the sauntering path.
It was lunch time, but the food stall they found was unattended. Despite their daughters' protests their parents settled for a meal without even offering a thank you for the meal. Steam billowed and briefly Shikako saw movement in the darkness.
-o-
There were streets and alleys filled with diners and the occasional shop selling increasingly strange trinkets and services. Youko spotted one in the distance that read "toe purification", but before she could point it out to her sister her gaze caught on a ramen stand and her feet faltered when she took in the nostalgic scent lingering behind familiar noren.
Then there was a tug on her shirt and they passed it by. Shikako swallowed briefly, grasping her twin's hand. "Thank you."
Chihiro made a face while they climbed the stairs. "You know, you're weird sometimes," she muttered.
The siblings settled on the bridge, watching the train pass and the bathhouse banner rise and fall in the wind. "This is strange." Chihiro mentioned, voice unusually silent. Youko squeezed her hand in return and they were quiet as they listened to the sound of water. Soon shadows sprouted from the railing and a set of feet stilled on the bridge. "You-" The boy paused at the sight of the twins in bright summer clothing, casting Youko a look, then focussed on Chihiro. "Hurry and go, it is dangerous here at night-leave before it gets dark!" Chihiro startled and froze, but Shikako took off running, hand around her wrist, a stranger at their back and colored lights warping shadows on the path before them. "N-Nee-chan, What is wrong with Y-!" They came to an abrupt halt before the stall as Youko observed distantly how her parents grew fatter, their skin glistering and ears twisting in the brightening amber lights while Chihiro shook her father's arm in horror.
Shikako tore out of the alley, pulling her crying sister behind her as the owner whipped the two pigs behind them, tainted liquid and left-over food littering the street.
-o-
Youko rushed her sibling past ghostly kami, but their path was abruptly cut off at the former stream where cold, inky water was pooling at their feet and trickling up the stairs. Shikako had been a decent swimmer, but in this world the girls never progressed past simple floating and Shikako hesitated, rising river forcing the twins to retreat.
"No. No, this is a dream. Youko, wake me up. You have to wake me up!" Youko swallowed thickly as her sister shook her almost violently, then sunk down on the stairs. "Nee-chan, wake me up like you always d-d-" Shikako crouched next to her, a warm, tense arm reassuringly around her twin's back. In the movie, her sibling had been the protagonist. Chihiro was strong, had done something and would return to the human world with her parents. Had her presence changed the events? Across the shore, past the water, lights neared, and Youko was tugged up and away before she could move herself, her sister pulling them up a hill and under the shadows of a nearby house in fright. Close behind them grass rustled and Shikako looked up sharply at the intruder, tensing in a crouch before Chihiro. The boy from the bridge froze mid motion, glancing around before raising his hand soothingly as if they were wild animals. He was holding something out with his other hand -was that her history book? "I come in peace, children," He said. In the movie the boy had been an ally, but this world had tricksters and having found them so soon, he could be anything. Shikako stood slowly, but continued to eye him warily as he approached and handed her the paperback. After a moment of consideration, he held out his palm, clearly offering her the berry in it. It was however the next words that made her startle badly, almost dropping the food. "Make her ingest it, Shikako. Your sister is disappearing."
Chihiro had grown transparent, but when Shikako checked her own hands frantically, an inky hide had sprouted up her arms, pale dots disappearing under her short sleeves.
-o-
Youko had swallowed part of the bitter berry before handing a huddled Chihiro the bruised other half. As promised, her sister was solid once more, but Shikako's hide remained. "Do not worry," The boy told her upon seeing her confusion. "It is your true form." Before she could ask for clarification, he pulled her down with him, over her sibling and Shikako realized with a start that his sharp eyes were following a harpy like creature in the night skies.
As soon as it circled out of view, he pulled her up, but her twin remained rooted. "What will happen to mother and father? Will I be able to meet them again?" Chihiro asked, eyes darting between the two. "I'm sure you will, you have to hurry, they are looking for you from the skies, we have no time." He offered his arm again. "I can't put any strength in them-" "Calm yourself and take a deep breath." The boy crouched, muttering a spell, but Shikako focussed on his glowing palm and there was something there, not chakra, but something else. Then it was over and he pulled the girl with him in a sprint, Shikako taking their back. They rushed past deserted back alleys, through some type of food storage and a slaughterhouse. Youko's stomach rolled when they ran through musty stables, past rows and rows of squealing pigs.
They slowed to a stop in the flower gardens before the bridge. It was the same bridge they had lingered on just this afternoon, but now it was crowded with beings of different shape and size. "You with the spots, you'll blend in," he told her, "But you, you feel human." The boy said without turning, scanning for an opportunity in the steady stream of passerby. "So when we're on the bridge, hold your breath. If air escapes your lips, they'll notice you." Just like that they slipped into the crowd, Chihiro stepping between them.
There were workers and with the gozaimasen added when others addressed him, Shikako wondered what he had to gain from helping them.
*Adding gozaimasen to an expression is a very polite form of address. It's used by the torkers just before Haku enters the bridge with Chihiro.