Alrite, thanx everyone 4 the reviews! Here u get 2 find out a little mor of
whats been goin on, but I cant give it all away cos its part of the plot
(plot? What plot???)
Disclaimer: I don't own CCS (whoops ive forgotten 2 put that in agen) or Spirited Away.oh well, I can dream, cant I?
lalala -flashbacks
'lalala'-thinking
~~~ - Dreaming
"lalala"-out loud
Chapter 4: Explanations and Expectations
As Chihiro ran forward, the little fuzzy things dropped their loads and watched the girl run towards the boiler man. They started squeaking and jumping up and down when Chihiro turned around. She ran back to them and stood in the center of the stone floor.
"They're so cute!" Sakura exclaimed. "What are they?"
Chihiro grinned. "They're called Susuwatari. They work for Kamajii carrying coal to the boiler." While she talked the little soot sprites came forward and brushed against Chihiro's shoes.
Syaoran gaped at the little sprites. The six-armed figure had momentarily vanished from his thoughts. "They can carry that coal? But it's so heavy. What are they made of?"
A voice startled Sakura and Syaoran. "I put a spell on them to make them work. They were just soot, but if you take away their jobs they turn back." The voice was old and sounded like a perfect grandfather's voice. It was the boiler man. 'Kamajii,' Sakura thought to herself. He had on dark round glasses and a thick brushy brown beard (moustache-thing).
"Kamajii!" Chihiro cried. She hadn't seen him in so long! It was great to finally be back in the boiler room. She noticed that Haku's blood had been cleaned from the wood.
The old figure smiled. "You're not here to ask for another job, are you? I don't think I could pass you off as my granddaughter again!" He chuckled. "But I have to admit, I am glad to see you. We've all missed you very much. Haku.you must be especially pleased--"
Kohaku coughed, interrupting Kamajii. He looked at the floor for a moment and blushed slightly. Sakura was surprised, as this was the first big sign of emotion she'd seen from him that hadn't been directed at Chihiro. After recovering for a moment, he came forward, as serious as he always seemed to be. "No, we're here to explain things to these two over here." He gestured at Sakura and Syaoran. They drew back slightly.
"Ahhhh.two more humans. Now how did they get here, of all places?" Kamajii leaned towards the two. "Come here, come closer; I won't bite-you can just ask Chihiro and Kohaku here."
A trembling Sakura and a silent Syaoran walked towards Kamajii. Sakura summed up her courage and asked, "You're a spirit too, right?"
Kamajii smiled kindly. "Yes, I am a spirit, and a slave to the boiler that heats the baths!" Syaoran and Sakura managed a small chuckle, Kohaku smiled slightly and Chihiro giggled. He had told her this when she'd first gotten here.
Syaoran coughed. "Do you know what's going on? I mean, what's happening back in.our world. Kohaku mentioned something, but he said he wanted to explain it later." he trailed off. At his words, Kamajii and Kohaku's faces became very grave. Kamajii nodded in understanding and leaned back, staring into the fires. Even he Susuwatari stopped to listen.
"Something has been going wrong in the worlds. When I say worlds, I mean yours and ours as well. We do know that the people have disappeared from your world; one of the messengers brought news of it a little before you came."
"Messengers?" Chihiro questioned.
Kamajii nodded. "Yes, we started to watch the human world after-oh darn it these baths!" he grumbled as a few brightly colored wooden things on purple ribbons fell down a shaft. "Arg! Too much work especially with.well, you pick up Kohaku." He started grinding and the Susuwatari started on with their coal delivering. (A few sat and listened, only to receive a kick from another fellow worker).
Kohaku continued, "We started to send messengers to watch the human world because of things that have started happening in our own world. We thought the occurrences here could be connected to something in the human world. One of the most disturbing things we noticed when we sent messengers was that the time differences were completely out of whack. They used to be perfectly in sync, but now it's night here if it's daytime there."
('So that explains the sunlight,' Chihiro thought.)
Sakura interrupted. "Does that mean spirits started disappearing too?"
Kohaku shook his head. "Spirits aren't disappearing; something's happening to the water. It used to be clear and pure, but now it's becoming dirty and mucky and fish and things are starting to die. The forests too. It's like-"
"The world is falling apart? Yea, for us too. Even in space, things are happening. Holes in the ozone layer, diseases in plants and animals." Syaoran had interrupted Kohaku. Sakura looked at him incredulously. "I read stuff in the papers and on the net." He said in his defense to her look. She relaxed slightly.
Chihiro bit her lip. Something was happening to both their worlds. This was serious. She couldn't let anything happen to her world or the Spirit World. "Do you know why?"
Kohaku shook his head regretfully. "No.only that if people are disappearing, it's only a matter of time before spirits start to disappear too. We could get sick, or just die or disappear. But it's going to happen."
She gasped, clapping her hand over her mouth. "NO! That CAN'T happen! Is there anything I can do?" She had to do something.
He frowned. "I don't even know what I can do. I don't know why you're even here, or why we had those strange dreams." He sat on the little ledge, shaking his head. Kamajii called over his shoulder, "Yes, well I think that we can ex---"
"CHOW TIME!" A small door in the side of one of the walls slid open. A woman (maybe in her twenties) stepped out from under the door. She was holding a plate of food and carrying a large wooden barrel on the crook of her arm. Her hair was long and dark reddish brown, tied in a ponytail at the end of her hair. She wore an orange shirt, baggy pants and a blue apron, and she was barefoot.
As she came forward she stopped in the middle of the wooden floor with a look of shock, happiness, and most of all confusion on her face. Her mouth opened in shock at the sight of the humans, and she dropped the wooden barrel and the tray. Sakura, Syaoran and Chihiro just stared at her. Kamajii's arm caught the tray, but the barrel's contents spilled on the floor. It appeared to be full of Kompeitou, and when it spilled all of the Susuwatari emitted squeaks of dismay.
The woman dazedly noticed the overturned barrel and moved to clean it up. Kohaku came forward. "I'll take care of it Rin." He bent over and started throwing the candy at the Susuwatari. Apparently they ate it.
Rin opened her mouth as if to say something to him, but she couldn't speak. She kept looking back and forth between the humans and Kohaku with a baffled look on her face. Suddenly her voice sliced through the silence. "Chihiro!" she cried, coming forward with her arms outstretched.
Chihiro ran towards her and let herself get swept up in Rin's hug. "RIN! Wow you're still the same!" she started to laugh from being with her friend again. Rin had been more of a mother to her, teaching her to work in Aburaya and acting gruff, although she really cared for the younger girl.
"Oh my gosh, you've grown so much! You were such a skinny gangly thing; now you could probably take on a customer all by yourself!" Rin exclaimed. She was right. When Chihiro had fist arrived in Aburaya and had had to work as Rin's apprentice, she hadn't exactly been up to all of the work.
"Geez, haven't you worked a day in your life?"
"Ach! You're such a klutz!
Chihiro laughed self-consciously. She never really got compliments. "Oh yea, this is Syaoran, and this is Sakura. We all kind of ended up here by mistake.or at least they had to come with me." She explained their situation to Rin, who took it pretty well, although she still looked confused.
Kamajii noticed. "Rin, what's on your mind?" The older woman shook her head slowly, as if trying to figure things out.
"Well, what time did you guys get here?"
Sakura knew the answer. "Around 12:30. I remember because I was.er.woken up around 12:10 and we were chasing Chihiro for at least twenty minutes."
Rin agreed. "That's what confused me. You see, the messenger discovered all of the people disappearing around 12:00 exactly in human time. That's what he told us since it still took him time to get here. And then you all arrived later."
Syaoran didn't see a point. "So? What does it matter?"
Rin stamped her food impatiently. "Well. I thought all of the people disappeared at 12:00, and if you only were awake at 12:10, they all vanished before you woke up. So why didn't you disappear?"
The levity of what Rin had said slapped them all like a rock. Even Kohaku had a puzzled look on his face.
Kamajii said through the stillness, "As I was saying before, I think we can expect something significant from these humans."
- - -
Later that night Chihiro sat on the balcony with Rin in what had been her old living quarters. Sakura and Syaoran were sleeping inside, still tired from the excitements of the night. But Chihiro was too wound up to sleep. She and Rin were catching up on things.
"So what's been happening at the bathhouse? Did you get anymore weird customers?"
Rin shook her head, eyes twinkling in mirth. When Chihiro had arrived, Aburaya had received visits from a stink god that turned out to be a rich river god, and also from the strange spirit Kaonashi (more known as No- Face). "No, things have been the usual. After you left Yubaba had to make enough money to repair the damage. She was in a hissy fit for at least a month. But it all turned out okay because with the money she got, she was able to make the ruined sections more tacky."
Chihiro giggled. Yubaba had slightly bad taste. "Well that's good."
Rin poked her playfully. "Come on now, what have you been up to in the human world?"
She sighed. "Life was SO boring! I kept trying to come back; I was so bored. I was doing well in school and stuff. I did all of the chores ("School? Chores?" Rin said.) and I made friends. But they weren't as good as you, or Kohaku or No-Face."
"What about those two? Sakura and Syaoran?"
"Oh yea! Well they were good friends, or at least Sakura and her friend Tomoyo were. But they were older than me, so they weren't in my er.year for school."
"What about Syaoran? Did you have any other guy friends?"
Chihiro blushed, thinking of her admirers. "Well, sort of. But Kohaku was my best friend ever."
Rin was silent. She knew how much Kohaku had missed Chihiro. She also remembered what Kamajii had told her the day she had come across Chihiro in his boiler room. Kohaku's blood had been everywhere, and Chihiro had been nursing him, with Kamajii watching silently.
"What's going on?"
"Something you wouldn't recognize. It's called love."
Rin knew Kamajii was right. She couldn't recognize love; it was as remote to her as the distance between the ends of the universe.
- - -
Sakura and Syaoran had woken up. They sat inside the bath workers' room, looking outside through the windows where Chihiro and Rin were talking. Sakura's mind was on what Kamajii had said. She was also thinking about her home.
Syaoran pondered over the past happenings. He could feel something coming, something important. And the worst feeling of all was that he knew they would be caught up in it somehow. He'd had enough of prophecies and quests, of magic and evil and good. Syaoran just wanted to be at home, training, where he could get his mind off of things and just be blankly oblivious to everything except the arc and precision of his sword. But then again.being stuck in another world was a whole new situation. Maybe he could do this thing, whatever some weird destiny of his was planning. And being with Sakura was just another plus.
Sakura wanted to do all she could to help the humans and the spirits, even if she was afraid of them. But she felt so insignificant; even the cards seemed weak compared to what she had seen and felt in this world. She sighed. "How long do you think we're going to be here?" she asked Syaoran.
He jumped, as if he had been thinking too deeply and her question had startled him. "Well.I think we have something important to do here. It wasn't by chance that we met Chihiro and got stuck inside the building. We were brought here for a reason; probably something to do with these problems in the spirit and human worlds."
".Really?" Sakura shook her head. Something like this was too big. They couldn't do anything.
Syaoran turned and took her by the shoulders. "Don't you feel anything? Can't you feel a sense of something significant coming? This whole escapade wasn't by coincidence."
Sakura hated to admit it. "You're right, I guess. I just want to go home. I don't want to have to go through anymore weird events. I was getting used to life being quiet and peaceful." she leaned against Syaoran. "But I'm glad that you're here with me."
His face turned crimson (thankfully Sakura's eyes were closed so she couldn't see him.) ".Yea.m-me too." he stuttered.
- - -
Kohaku stood in the ornate but tackily decorated room. At the other end of the space an old crone sat behind a dark wood desk covered in papers and jewels. Her eyes narrowed when she noticed him. Kohaku kept his composure.
"So.you brought three humans into my bathhouse. What do you have to say for yourself, Haku?" Yubaba casually scratched her neck with her long, ruby red nails.
"I didn't bring them, they came in themselves. They needed a place to stay." Kohaku was trying to convince Yubaba to let Sakura, Syaoran and Chihiro stay in Aburaya for free, without work. "I was hoping you could let them stay."
She grinned slyly. "That'll cost you. I just don't let humans stay in my high-class bathhouse. How about I take off your pay?"
Kohaku nodded calmly, not wanting to show his eagerness. "Yes, thank you Yubaba." He bowed.
She held up a finger. "I do want them to do some work. Everyone who lives here does something. They can be assistants or something.just let them scrub a floor or two."
He bowed again, his sleek black hair sliding past his face, hiding the smile. Kohaku knew this was a good deal, and that Yubaba wouldn't really check on them to see if they were working.
"You are dismissed Haku." Yubaba flicked her wrist, and the doors behind him unlocked and opened, showing him the way out. Kohaku strode silently forward, walking fast.
After passing through corridors and many elevators, he got to the workers' quarters. His own room was separate, under Yubaba's suite. Kohaku slid open the door. Sakura and Syaoran looked up from their spot on the floor against the wall. Rin and Chihiro had just entered from the balcony.
"Kohaku!" Chihiro cried, coming forward. She stopped herself suddenly, looking slightly embarrassed.
Rin asked, "So what did Yubaba say? Can they stay here?"
Kohaku smiled. "Yes, surprisingly. You girls can stay here; Syaoran.you can stay in one of the extra rooms in my place. This is the women's room. Right now, they're all working." He paused, noticing Sakura and Syaoran's looks. "In the Spirit World, we mostly are active at night. That's when all of the customers come. You'll get used to it."
Chihiro spoke up. "There's a catch, isn't there. She always does that!"
Kohaku nodded. "Yea, she wants you guys to do some work while you stay. Just scrubbing floors and stuff. But you really don't have to. It's not like she's going to check on you."
Chihiro shook her head. "No, I want to work here. I don't mind. I can help Rin!" She looked eagerly at her, and Rin grinned.
Syaoran said, "Whatever. It doesn't matter, I can work."
Sakura was embarrassed. She didn't want to work, but with everyone else saying they didn't mind working she couldn't just say no. "Well.okay then. I could scrub some floors, I guess."
Rin could see Sakura's predicament. "Like Kohaku said, you don't have to work. But it isn't like slave labor or anything." She chuckled.
Sakura nodded slowly. Maybe she could work. It wasn't like she was expected to build the pyramids of Giza or anything; it was only scrubbing floors. She could do this; she was used to doing housework anyway. "I'll give it a shot."
Chihiro beamed. "That's it Sakura!" She was proud of the way her friend was dealing with the whole getting stuck in another world and working for your pay thing.
Kohaku turned to leave. He had a mission to complete for Yubaba. "Then we're all set. I have to go now; don't make yourselves too conspicuous. Oh and Rin, get them some clothes." Kohaku walked out the door. Chihiro was disappointed to see him go.
- - -
So six days passed in the Spirit World. The human world stayed desolately empty. If anyone had been there, they might have been weighed down by the silence.
In Aburaya, Chihiro had started working again. She took care of lesser spirits by herself, and helped Rin with the bigger and more powerful ones. The workers didn't mind her working with them, although they still called her Sen, out of habit (which kept confusing Sakura and Syaoran when the Yuna asked them to fetch Sen).
Sakura and Syaoran were kept busy cleaning windows, washing dishes, helping out in the kitchen, and scrubbing floors. Occasionally Chihiro would invite them to tackle a spirit with her, but because of her fear of ghosts Sakura was very reluctant to help out in that department. Of course Syaoran stayed with her, and neither got to work with the customers.
Nothing out of the ordinary (or at least, in the Spirit World's terms of ordinary) occurred during the first few days of their stay. Sakura and Syaoran were constantly amazed and surprised, but even then they got used to the quirky and eccentric ways of the new life they were living after the first few days.
Kohaku was, much to Chihiro's disappointment, scarce. Yubaba had decided to keep him busy for her own amusement of having his little 'human friends' without his company. Still he found time to pop in and check on them, mostly to see Chihiro.
After the sixth day, Yubaba had run out of ideas to busy Kohaku with, and finally got bored of sending him off. It was good timing for what was going to happen on the seventh day.
- - -
The seventh day came.
Aburaya glinted in the sunlight. Inside, workers, sorceresses, a dragon, and some humans slumbered. Everything was silent in Aburaya's vicinity. The sunlight was boundless, stretching everywhere and turning the already lush and colorful scope of the Spirit World vibrant. It seemed that even the world itself was anticipating the arrival of something important.
The train rolled by on its tracks. It was the same train that Chihiro had taken all those years ago. It rolled into the platform near the bathhouse. The train had been transporting a very precious cargo, although it didn't notice. Neither did its passengers, who were just soft shadows.
The girl had glittered among the soft dark-gray shadows. Her hair was ornately done, with strands of hair woven in threads, beaded, or braided. On her head a complicated knot of hair rested, with two gold chopsticks sticking out of the elegant knot. Her hair was silvery-white, the color of snow. She sat perfectly still, like a fragile porcelain figure in her richly embroidered crimson kimono. But her feet dangled from the seat, and her face was young.
The train slowly halted by the platform. The young girl stepped out of the train with graceful ease only acquired with age. She stood and faced the bathhouse, her large gold eyes glittering in anticipation. As she moved forward, the elaborate dressing vanished, leaving her in a plain black kimono and her hair hanging straight down to her back like a long silver sheet of silk. 'For protection,' she thought. 'I would be too noticeable as I really am.'
She walked towards Aburaya.
@ - @ - @ - @ - @ - @ - @ - @ - @
Thanx 2:
YueMichiruNaragisawaMiko, shazaoblossom (yea Syaoran is kinda annoyin but I'll try to make him better), Meta Lise (yay I like Kamajii too! He's so kewl), and Persiphine (no, I don't kno how 2 do italics, I wish I knew how!!!), and Hotaru.
Thanx all u guys!! I cant believe ppl actually reviewed! Hope u liked chap 4!
silent H
Disclaimer: I don't own CCS (whoops ive forgotten 2 put that in agen) or Spirited Away.oh well, I can dream, cant I?
lalala -flashbacks
'lalala'-thinking
~~~ - Dreaming
"lalala"-out loud
Chapter 4: Explanations and Expectations
As Chihiro ran forward, the little fuzzy things dropped their loads and watched the girl run towards the boiler man. They started squeaking and jumping up and down when Chihiro turned around. She ran back to them and stood in the center of the stone floor.
"They're so cute!" Sakura exclaimed. "What are they?"
Chihiro grinned. "They're called Susuwatari. They work for Kamajii carrying coal to the boiler." While she talked the little soot sprites came forward and brushed against Chihiro's shoes.
Syaoran gaped at the little sprites. The six-armed figure had momentarily vanished from his thoughts. "They can carry that coal? But it's so heavy. What are they made of?"
A voice startled Sakura and Syaoran. "I put a spell on them to make them work. They were just soot, but if you take away their jobs they turn back." The voice was old and sounded like a perfect grandfather's voice. It was the boiler man. 'Kamajii,' Sakura thought to herself. He had on dark round glasses and a thick brushy brown beard (moustache-thing).
"Kamajii!" Chihiro cried. She hadn't seen him in so long! It was great to finally be back in the boiler room. She noticed that Haku's blood had been cleaned from the wood.
The old figure smiled. "You're not here to ask for another job, are you? I don't think I could pass you off as my granddaughter again!" He chuckled. "But I have to admit, I am glad to see you. We've all missed you very much. Haku.you must be especially pleased--"
Kohaku coughed, interrupting Kamajii. He looked at the floor for a moment and blushed slightly. Sakura was surprised, as this was the first big sign of emotion she'd seen from him that hadn't been directed at Chihiro. After recovering for a moment, he came forward, as serious as he always seemed to be. "No, we're here to explain things to these two over here." He gestured at Sakura and Syaoran. They drew back slightly.
"Ahhhh.two more humans. Now how did they get here, of all places?" Kamajii leaned towards the two. "Come here, come closer; I won't bite-you can just ask Chihiro and Kohaku here."
A trembling Sakura and a silent Syaoran walked towards Kamajii. Sakura summed up her courage and asked, "You're a spirit too, right?"
Kamajii smiled kindly. "Yes, I am a spirit, and a slave to the boiler that heats the baths!" Syaoran and Sakura managed a small chuckle, Kohaku smiled slightly and Chihiro giggled. He had told her this when she'd first gotten here.
Syaoran coughed. "Do you know what's going on? I mean, what's happening back in.our world. Kohaku mentioned something, but he said he wanted to explain it later." he trailed off. At his words, Kamajii and Kohaku's faces became very grave. Kamajii nodded in understanding and leaned back, staring into the fires. Even he Susuwatari stopped to listen.
"Something has been going wrong in the worlds. When I say worlds, I mean yours and ours as well. We do know that the people have disappeared from your world; one of the messengers brought news of it a little before you came."
"Messengers?" Chihiro questioned.
Kamajii nodded. "Yes, we started to watch the human world after-oh darn it these baths!" he grumbled as a few brightly colored wooden things on purple ribbons fell down a shaft. "Arg! Too much work especially with.well, you pick up Kohaku." He started grinding and the Susuwatari started on with their coal delivering. (A few sat and listened, only to receive a kick from another fellow worker).
Kohaku continued, "We started to send messengers to watch the human world because of things that have started happening in our own world. We thought the occurrences here could be connected to something in the human world. One of the most disturbing things we noticed when we sent messengers was that the time differences were completely out of whack. They used to be perfectly in sync, but now it's night here if it's daytime there."
('So that explains the sunlight,' Chihiro thought.)
Sakura interrupted. "Does that mean spirits started disappearing too?"
Kohaku shook his head. "Spirits aren't disappearing; something's happening to the water. It used to be clear and pure, but now it's becoming dirty and mucky and fish and things are starting to die. The forests too. It's like-"
"The world is falling apart? Yea, for us too. Even in space, things are happening. Holes in the ozone layer, diseases in plants and animals." Syaoran had interrupted Kohaku. Sakura looked at him incredulously. "I read stuff in the papers and on the net." He said in his defense to her look. She relaxed slightly.
Chihiro bit her lip. Something was happening to both their worlds. This was serious. She couldn't let anything happen to her world or the Spirit World. "Do you know why?"
Kohaku shook his head regretfully. "No.only that if people are disappearing, it's only a matter of time before spirits start to disappear too. We could get sick, or just die or disappear. But it's going to happen."
She gasped, clapping her hand over her mouth. "NO! That CAN'T happen! Is there anything I can do?" She had to do something.
He frowned. "I don't even know what I can do. I don't know why you're even here, or why we had those strange dreams." He sat on the little ledge, shaking his head. Kamajii called over his shoulder, "Yes, well I think that we can ex---"
"CHOW TIME!" A small door in the side of one of the walls slid open. A woman (maybe in her twenties) stepped out from under the door. She was holding a plate of food and carrying a large wooden barrel on the crook of her arm. Her hair was long and dark reddish brown, tied in a ponytail at the end of her hair. She wore an orange shirt, baggy pants and a blue apron, and she was barefoot.
As she came forward she stopped in the middle of the wooden floor with a look of shock, happiness, and most of all confusion on her face. Her mouth opened in shock at the sight of the humans, and she dropped the wooden barrel and the tray. Sakura, Syaoran and Chihiro just stared at her. Kamajii's arm caught the tray, but the barrel's contents spilled on the floor. It appeared to be full of Kompeitou, and when it spilled all of the Susuwatari emitted squeaks of dismay.
The woman dazedly noticed the overturned barrel and moved to clean it up. Kohaku came forward. "I'll take care of it Rin." He bent over and started throwing the candy at the Susuwatari. Apparently they ate it.
Rin opened her mouth as if to say something to him, but she couldn't speak. She kept looking back and forth between the humans and Kohaku with a baffled look on her face. Suddenly her voice sliced through the silence. "Chihiro!" she cried, coming forward with her arms outstretched.
Chihiro ran towards her and let herself get swept up in Rin's hug. "RIN! Wow you're still the same!" she started to laugh from being with her friend again. Rin had been more of a mother to her, teaching her to work in Aburaya and acting gruff, although she really cared for the younger girl.
"Oh my gosh, you've grown so much! You were such a skinny gangly thing; now you could probably take on a customer all by yourself!" Rin exclaimed. She was right. When Chihiro had fist arrived in Aburaya and had had to work as Rin's apprentice, she hadn't exactly been up to all of the work.
"Geez, haven't you worked a day in your life?"
"Ach! You're such a klutz!
Chihiro laughed self-consciously. She never really got compliments. "Oh yea, this is Syaoran, and this is Sakura. We all kind of ended up here by mistake.or at least they had to come with me." She explained their situation to Rin, who took it pretty well, although she still looked confused.
Kamajii noticed. "Rin, what's on your mind?" The older woman shook her head slowly, as if trying to figure things out.
"Well, what time did you guys get here?"
Sakura knew the answer. "Around 12:30. I remember because I was.er.woken up around 12:10 and we were chasing Chihiro for at least twenty minutes."
Rin agreed. "That's what confused me. You see, the messenger discovered all of the people disappearing around 12:00 exactly in human time. That's what he told us since it still took him time to get here. And then you all arrived later."
Syaoran didn't see a point. "So? What does it matter?"
Rin stamped her food impatiently. "Well. I thought all of the people disappeared at 12:00, and if you only were awake at 12:10, they all vanished before you woke up. So why didn't you disappear?"
The levity of what Rin had said slapped them all like a rock. Even Kohaku had a puzzled look on his face.
Kamajii said through the stillness, "As I was saying before, I think we can expect something significant from these humans."
- - -
Later that night Chihiro sat on the balcony with Rin in what had been her old living quarters. Sakura and Syaoran were sleeping inside, still tired from the excitements of the night. But Chihiro was too wound up to sleep. She and Rin were catching up on things.
"So what's been happening at the bathhouse? Did you get anymore weird customers?"
Rin shook her head, eyes twinkling in mirth. When Chihiro had arrived, Aburaya had received visits from a stink god that turned out to be a rich river god, and also from the strange spirit Kaonashi (more known as No- Face). "No, things have been the usual. After you left Yubaba had to make enough money to repair the damage. She was in a hissy fit for at least a month. But it all turned out okay because with the money she got, she was able to make the ruined sections more tacky."
Chihiro giggled. Yubaba had slightly bad taste. "Well that's good."
Rin poked her playfully. "Come on now, what have you been up to in the human world?"
She sighed. "Life was SO boring! I kept trying to come back; I was so bored. I was doing well in school and stuff. I did all of the chores ("School? Chores?" Rin said.) and I made friends. But they weren't as good as you, or Kohaku or No-Face."
"What about those two? Sakura and Syaoran?"
"Oh yea! Well they were good friends, or at least Sakura and her friend Tomoyo were. But they were older than me, so they weren't in my er.year for school."
"What about Syaoran? Did you have any other guy friends?"
Chihiro blushed, thinking of her admirers. "Well, sort of. But Kohaku was my best friend ever."
Rin was silent. She knew how much Kohaku had missed Chihiro. She also remembered what Kamajii had told her the day she had come across Chihiro in his boiler room. Kohaku's blood had been everywhere, and Chihiro had been nursing him, with Kamajii watching silently.
"What's going on?"
"Something you wouldn't recognize. It's called love."
Rin knew Kamajii was right. She couldn't recognize love; it was as remote to her as the distance between the ends of the universe.
- - -
Sakura and Syaoran had woken up. They sat inside the bath workers' room, looking outside through the windows where Chihiro and Rin were talking. Sakura's mind was on what Kamajii had said. She was also thinking about her home.
Syaoran pondered over the past happenings. He could feel something coming, something important. And the worst feeling of all was that he knew they would be caught up in it somehow. He'd had enough of prophecies and quests, of magic and evil and good. Syaoran just wanted to be at home, training, where he could get his mind off of things and just be blankly oblivious to everything except the arc and precision of his sword. But then again.being stuck in another world was a whole new situation. Maybe he could do this thing, whatever some weird destiny of his was planning. And being with Sakura was just another plus.
Sakura wanted to do all she could to help the humans and the spirits, even if she was afraid of them. But she felt so insignificant; even the cards seemed weak compared to what she had seen and felt in this world. She sighed. "How long do you think we're going to be here?" she asked Syaoran.
He jumped, as if he had been thinking too deeply and her question had startled him. "Well.I think we have something important to do here. It wasn't by chance that we met Chihiro and got stuck inside the building. We were brought here for a reason; probably something to do with these problems in the spirit and human worlds."
".Really?" Sakura shook her head. Something like this was too big. They couldn't do anything.
Syaoran turned and took her by the shoulders. "Don't you feel anything? Can't you feel a sense of something significant coming? This whole escapade wasn't by coincidence."
Sakura hated to admit it. "You're right, I guess. I just want to go home. I don't want to have to go through anymore weird events. I was getting used to life being quiet and peaceful." she leaned against Syaoran. "But I'm glad that you're here with me."
His face turned crimson (thankfully Sakura's eyes were closed so she couldn't see him.) ".Yea.m-me too." he stuttered.
- - -
Kohaku stood in the ornate but tackily decorated room. At the other end of the space an old crone sat behind a dark wood desk covered in papers and jewels. Her eyes narrowed when she noticed him. Kohaku kept his composure.
"So.you brought three humans into my bathhouse. What do you have to say for yourself, Haku?" Yubaba casually scratched her neck with her long, ruby red nails.
"I didn't bring them, they came in themselves. They needed a place to stay." Kohaku was trying to convince Yubaba to let Sakura, Syaoran and Chihiro stay in Aburaya for free, without work. "I was hoping you could let them stay."
She grinned slyly. "That'll cost you. I just don't let humans stay in my high-class bathhouse. How about I take off your pay?"
Kohaku nodded calmly, not wanting to show his eagerness. "Yes, thank you Yubaba." He bowed.
She held up a finger. "I do want them to do some work. Everyone who lives here does something. They can be assistants or something.just let them scrub a floor or two."
He bowed again, his sleek black hair sliding past his face, hiding the smile. Kohaku knew this was a good deal, and that Yubaba wouldn't really check on them to see if they were working.
"You are dismissed Haku." Yubaba flicked her wrist, and the doors behind him unlocked and opened, showing him the way out. Kohaku strode silently forward, walking fast.
After passing through corridors and many elevators, he got to the workers' quarters. His own room was separate, under Yubaba's suite. Kohaku slid open the door. Sakura and Syaoran looked up from their spot on the floor against the wall. Rin and Chihiro had just entered from the balcony.
"Kohaku!" Chihiro cried, coming forward. She stopped herself suddenly, looking slightly embarrassed.
Rin asked, "So what did Yubaba say? Can they stay here?"
Kohaku smiled. "Yes, surprisingly. You girls can stay here; Syaoran.you can stay in one of the extra rooms in my place. This is the women's room. Right now, they're all working." He paused, noticing Sakura and Syaoran's looks. "In the Spirit World, we mostly are active at night. That's when all of the customers come. You'll get used to it."
Chihiro spoke up. "There's a catch, isn't there. She always does that!"
Kohaku nodded. "Yea, she wants you guys to do some work while you stay. Just scrubbing floors and stuff. But you really don't have to. It's not like she's going to check on you."
Chihiro shook her head. "No, I want to work here. I don't mind. I can help Rin!" She looked eagerly at her, and Rin grinned.
Syaoran said, "Whatever. It doesn't matter, I can work."
Sakura was embarrassed. She didn't want to work, but with everyone else saying they didn't mind working she couldn't just say no. "Well.okay then. I could scrub some floors, I guess."
Rin could see Sakura's predicament. "Like Kohaku said, you don't have to work. But it isn't like slave labor or anything." She chuckled.
Sakura nodded slowly. Maybe she could work. It wasn't like she was expected to build the pyramids of Giza or anything; it was only scrubbing floors. She could do this; she was used to doing housework anyway. "I'll give it a shot."
Chihiro beamed. "That's it Sakura!" She was proud of the way her friend was dealing with the whole getting stuck in another world and working for your pay thing.
Kohaku turned to leave. He had a mission to complete for Yubaba. "Then we're all set. I have to go now; don't make yourselves too conspicuous. Oh and Rin, get them some clothes." Kohaku walked out the door. Chihiro was disappointed to see him go.
- - -
So six days passed in the Spirit World. The human world stayed desolately empty. If anyone had been there, they might have been weighed down by the silence.
In Aburaya, Chihiro had started working again. She took care of lesser spirits by herself, and helped Rin with the bigger and more powerful ones. The workers didn't mind her working with them, although they still called her Sen, out of habit (which kept confusing Sakura and Syaoran when the Yuna asked them to fetch Sen).
Sakura and Syaoran were kept busy cleaning windows, washing dishes, helping out in the kitchen, and scrubbing floors. Occasionally Chihiro would invite them to tackle a spirit with her, but because of her fear of ghosts Sakura was very reluctant to help out in that department. Of course Syaoran stayed with her, and neither got to work with the customers.
Nothing out of the ordinary (or at least, in the Spirit World's terms of ordinary) occurred during the first few days of their stay. Sakura and Syaoran were constantly amazed and surprised, but even then they got used to the quirky and eccentric ways of the new life they were living after the first few days.
Kohaku was, much to Chihiro's disappointment, scarce. Yubaba had decided to keep him busy for her own amusement of having his little 'human friends' without his company. Still he found time to pop in and check on them, mostly to see Chihiro.
After the sixth day, Yubaba had run out of ideas to busy Kohaku with, and finally got bored of sending him off. It was good timing for what was going to happen on the seventh day.
- - -
The seventh day came.
Aburaya glinted in the sunlight. Inside, workers, sorceresses, a dragon, and some humans slumbered. Everything was silent in Aburaya's vicinity. The sunlight was boundless, stretching everywhere and turning the already lush and colorful scope of the Spirit World vibrant. It seemed that even the world itself was anticipating the arrival of something important.
The train rolled by on its tracks. It was the same train that Chihiro had taken all those years ago. It rolled into the platform near the bathhouse. The train had been transporting a very precious cargo, although it didn't notice. Neither did its passengers, who were just soft shadows.
The girl had glittered among the soft dark-gray shadows. Her hair was ornately done, with strands of hair woven in threads, beaded, or braided. On her head a complicated knot of hair rested, with two gold chopsticks sticking out of the elegant knot. Her hair was silvery-white, the color of snow. She sat perfectly still, like a fragile porcelain figure in her richly embroidered crimson kimono. But her feet dangled from the seat, and her face was young.
The train slowly halted by the platform. The young girl stepped out of the train with graceful ease only acquired with age. She stood and faced the bathhouse, her large gold eyes glittering in anticipation. As she moved forward, the elaborate dressing vanished, leaving her in a plain black kimono and her hair hanging straight down to her back like a long silver sheet of silk. 'For protection,' she thought. 'I would be too noticeable as I really am.'
She walked towards Aburaya.
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Thanx 2:
YueMichiruNaragisawaMiko, shazaoblossom (yea Syaoran is kinda annoyin but I'll try to make him better), Meta Lise (yay I like Kamajii too! He's so kewl), and Persiphine (no, I don't kno how 2 do italics, I wish I knew how!!!), and Hotaru.
Thanx all u guys!! I cant believe ppl actually reviewed! Hope u liked chap 4!
silent H