Chapter 8: The First Lie
"Master Haku?" Haku couldn't keep Chihiro's timid expression out of his mind. The way she bowed lowly at him at the hallways and the way she peered up at him, always a little fearful —that wasn't how he intended their reunion to be like.
And then there's Kenta…What's he doing here? Haku's brows creased in a frown. The last person he wanted to deal with at this point was the prince of the North.
This was completely his fault. His strong desires for Chihiro had literally dragged her out of her world into the spirit plane and she has lost everything. Her memories, her old life, even her name - it's all gone now.
Dreams bend reality. He could hear the old witch's crackled voice at the back of his mind. Her warning sounded more like a playful taunt now that Chihiro was really in their world.
"Shit," Haku groaned, covering his face with his hands in frustration. He tried to distract himself from the events with work but couldn't keep his mind off what he had done. Out of pure annoyance, he tossed the brush he was holding onto the table, ink splattered and stained his documents. He threw his head back and thought about Chihiro. The way she always fumbled a little scrubbing the big tubs, or the way she had a habit of fiddling with her blue headscarf when she felt nervous. He thought about their brief encounters along the hallways and slowly, his mind drifted to the memories of his first proper conversation with Chihiro, right here, in his office.
"I understand you must be feeling quite confused," he had told her, "so I think it's best if I took some time to give you a brief summary of how this world works."
Chihiro had nodded her head eagerly, her large eyes were trusting and never left his. Too trusting. Haku had felt the urge to wrap her up in his arms immediately, but instead, he had restrained himself. He had thought out an elaborate plan but her ingenuous expression threw him off. Haku cleared his throat and decided to go ahead with what he had planned.
"I know you've lost all of your memories, but if anything, I want you to remember two important things," He raised his fingers at Chihiro, "Firstly, you need an identity. Secondly, you need a purpose." Chihiro raised her brows at Haku but didn't say anything. Haku simply looked at her fixedly, allowing his words to sink in.
"You'll work here as an employee so you have a purpose to justify your existence," he continued, "but before having a purpose, you'll need an identity. Since you can't remember your name, as Master of the bathhouse, I'll gift you one." At this point, it was becoming quite unbearable and Haku could still feel his hair stand as he recalled what he had said next.
Standing up from his table, Haku moved towards the balcony and stared into the barren night sky. He remembered how he had turned his back to Chihiro as he said the next words.
"From now on, your name is Chihiro."
"Chihiro?" The human girl spoke up for the first time.
"Once you've accepted this name, you'll be bound under my authority. You must only work for me and not anyone else. Do you accept this contract?" These were the exact words Yubaba had said to him. And at that moment, these were the words he had said to her. Tears were building up in his eyes as he relived that conversation with Chihiro in his room.
"I accept the contract," Chihiro's soft voice rang throughout the room and shook him to his core.
"Good," he breathed, after a moment's hesitation. He didn't know how long he could keep this act up for. "It's extremely important that you only work at this bathhouse. Remember this: you're bound by a contract.
"And one more thing: drink this every day first thing when you rise," Haku had handed her a potion. "You need to drink this to recover fully," Haku had lied smoothly and passed the scent-masking potion to Chihiro. The last thing he wanted was for Chihiro's true identity to be revealed, or even worse — that spirits would smell his scent on her through the bond they shared.
"I understand, Master Haku," Chihiro took received the potion in both hands before taking a deep bow. Still keeping his back towards her, Haku made no move nor any further comments. When he heard Chihiro leave his room, he used his sleeve to wipe the tears that were flowing freely down his face.
He had bound Chihiro to a contract. A horrible thing to do, but at least he knew it would keep her safe. Haku knew that hiding her in plain sight was not a long term plan. His selfish desires had dragged her here and the last thing he wanted was to work her to death in the spirit world.
I need to think of something… anything…Even now, as Haku let the approaching cold winter wind caress his face, he could feel a deep ache in his chest.
After the mishap on Chihiro's first day of work, Rin decided that it was better for Chihiro to work in the basement and lower floors. Although the kitchen was hot and generally more laborious, it kept Chihiro out of sight from most guests. To Rin's surprise, Chihiro had nimble fingers and had no problems with keeping up to speed with orders — not quite the klutz she was her first visit here. A smile appeared on Rin's face as she saw how efficiently Chihiro moved about. The girl was like a little sister to her and a warm sense of pride rose in Rin's chest as she saw Chihiro in her own element.
She must have done lots of cooking herself in the human world… Leaning on the door frame as she studied Chihiro from afar, Rin wondered about the kind of life Chihiro led before she was dragged into this realm. How did she even get here anyway? Rin's brow furrowed and made a mental note to beat the information the dragon was withholding.
"So…how is she fairing?" Haku's voice spoke into her right ear out of nowhere.
"Shit - Oh god!" Rin spun around with a hand clasping her chest. Haku had been sneaking down to the bottom levels every day to check on the human girl for the past week, scaring her every time he made a surprise appearance. She had a sneaky suspicion that he got a kick out of scaring her too. Damned dragons.
Before Rin could say anything, Haku dragged her to a dark corridor next to the kitchen. Rin fought against his strong grip and the two looked like a pair of bickering idiots, drawing stares from a few passing staff.
"She's fine, lizard…But you know you can't just hide her like that forever," Rin huffed as she broke away from Haku's firm grip, "you need to think of something or just… just… talk to her about-" Rin was gesticulating wildly with her hands, finding it frustrating to pinpoint exactly what Haku needs to do. Even she couldn't figure out what was going on, exactly. She was tired of Haku's silly antics.
"Shhh…I know, I know…" Haku ran a hand through his dark hair, "can you let her know I would like to speak with her some time this week?" His emerald eyes looked at her pleadingly.
"Fine, I will," Rin rolled her eyes.
Just as she was turning away to get back to work, Haku stopped her, grabbing her arm firmly, "…and don't make it sound like she's done something wrong. Or just… just don't make her feel nervous and-" he was fumbling with his words.
"Tell yourself that!" Rin smacked Haku with her clipboard and missed his head by a few inches as he ducked away."If you don't scare her half to death with your stone cold demeanour, I guarantee she'd feel ten times better." There was never an easy day working at the bathhouse but right now, being in the middle of Haku's stupid game was more draining than her never ending to-do list.
Kaeda sat at the balcony feeling the approaching winter winds caress her face. The moon was nowhere in sight and the sea was dark, illuminated only by a few passing ships. She was at the bathhouse for business negotiations but it's an open secret that she was really only here for Haku. He had whispered sweet nothings to her, promised her a second jade bangle and yet, something didn't feel quite right.
"That damn Hisae is in the way, as usual," Kaeda frowned as she took a long drag of her cigar. Many spirits speculated that the two were to be mated and she could see why. They shared a close knitted relationship and it is said that rivers fall in love with the tree that rests closest to their heart…
"Lady Kaeda, it's me," Haku's voice called from the door. With a smile on her face, Kaeda sauntered over to meet the dragon she's been waiting for.
Sliding the door open, Kaeda greeted Haku with a sultry smile, "I've been waiting for you, Kohaku, it's been a while since we spoke."
"So it has been…" Haku stepped into the room and closed the door behind him quickly. It was open knowledge that Kaeda asked 'special favours' from him and as master of the bathhouse, it was rude to decline. Earlier this evening, Kaeda had sent word to his staff, demanding to schedule an appointment to discuss "urgent matters" with him. He knew what she was after, and it had very little to do with any talking.
"I've missed you dearly, Kohaku," Kaeda walked towards the divan and reclined lazily on one end, "There are some… important things I've been dying to ask you." She winked at Haku and motioned him to sit with her.
Holding back a sigh, Haku sauntered towards Kaeda and lounged next to her on the seat. "My lady, what's bothering you?" He reached over and drew circles on the back of her hand.
"Who am I to you Kohaku?" Kaeda asked the question suddenly, as she stared into the burning fireplace. Light from the fire danced with the jealousy built up in her fiery eyes.
"Well, haven't I gifted you a jade bangle? Do you see me adorning another spirit, my lady?" Haku evaded the question and leaned in to Kaeda.
"Well…You've practically forgotten about me the moment she arrived," Kaeda responded coldly, looking away from Haku.
"Is this about Lady Hisae? Lady Kaeda, you know I don't intend to be mated with her, we've talked about this haven't we?" He whispered as he pulled her towards him. Leaning in closer, Haku cupped Kaeda's cheeks and tilted her face so their eyes would meet. As the daughter of the richest merchant in the South, Kaeda was not a spirit he could carelessly offend. Not only was the South his main supplier, Kaeda's family was well connected with royalty and crossing them would only bring more trouble for him.
"Then tell me, do you plan to be mated?" Kaeda asked, blushing at their close proximity.
"Why wouldn't I?" Haku cooed.
"And do you have someone in mind?" Kaeda raised a brow at him, her heart beating wildly with anticipation.
"I think you know who I have in mind…" Haku whispered, cringing internally.
"Don't play games with me Kohaku!" Kaeda stood up abruptly. Haku was a little taken aback at her sudden display of petulance — she usually bought his act with ease. "I've been hearing… things." She crossed her arm as she walked out to the balcony, away from Haku.
"Oh? Things… I wonder what rumour this is again?" Haku tried to put up an act of nonchalance but the image of Chihiro immediately appeared in his mind and every fibre of his being was on edge.
"They say your heart belongs somewhere else…To the tree that rests closest to your heart," Kaeda leaned against the railings, her head resting in her hands.
"Is this really the urgent matter you've been wanting to discuss?" Haku appeared at her side and touched the jade bangle he gifted her, "I thought you'd be more interested in talking about which jade bangle I should gift you."
Kaeda blushed and couldn't keep her smile to herself. Jade bangles were a sign of courtship; for a proper proposal to take place, the courter would need to gift his lady three bangles. The first bangle only signified an interest from courters and Kaeda couldn't wait to get her hands on the second bangle. Leaning onto Haku's shoulder, Kaeda sighed contentedly and thought about how powerful she would be as the daughter of the richest merchant and Lady of the largest bathhouse.
"There are some other rumours too," Kaeda said absent mindedly.
"Another rumour?" Haku scoffed quietly.
Kaeda giggled to herself but soon, she dissolved into laughter and wiped a tear from her eye. "You're going to love it, it sounds completely ridiculous!" Kaeda turned to Haku, trying to compose herself, "they say that you're still a bachelor because you're in love with a human. How stupid is that!"
If a grave look of resentment flashed across Haku's face, Kaeda didn't notice. "It's the silliest thing I've heard tonight," Haku said as he turned away from the fish spirit who was still trying to recover from her laughing fit.