Okay everybody! Sorry for the delay, but I was working out plot stuff, and
well, it was SUMMER VACATION! So I did vacation stuff! But I feel guilty
for posting so late. Anyway, I hope u don't find this chap borin cos I put
a lot of discussion and thoughts in it, but I had 2 hav them all talk about
what Chihiro was doing in her 'coma' thing. And stuff...okay then!
Disclaimer: Do I really need to put this up? We all know I don't own CCS or Spirited Away by now, it's the eleventh chapter for baloney's sake!
Oh yea, I changed the key thingamajig.
"lalala" = speaking, 'lalala' = thought, */ lalala /* = flashback
- - = scene change/in Spirit World, or Human World
~ ~ ~ = Gnimaerd or Ananda or Aiden
* * * = dreaming
Chapter 11: Clearing Things Up
"--HAKU!" Chihiro gasped, bolting upright and scaring the hell out of Sakura, Syaoran, and Kohaku. For a moment, everyone was speechless while Chihiro dazedly looked around her.
Kohaku recovered first. "Chihiro! You're...um...back!" (A/N: Well they didn't think she was DEAD, did they? He couldn't say she was ALIVE). He lunged forward and toppled Chihiro over as he hugged her. Chihiro grinned and hugged him, unembarrassed about their current position.
"Oh Haku," she said softly, using his old name. For a few moments they lay like that. Chihiro was surprised that she wasn't blushing, but at the moment felt the opposite---amazingly calm and collected. (Kohaku, on the other hand, was flushing furiously, but his head was buried in the pillow).
After a minute Chihiro gently disengaged herself from Kohaku and sat up. She looked at Sakura and Syaoran (who had waited awkwardly for Chihiro and Kohaku to finish) and smiled. The two of them grinned back.
Sakura rushed forward. "Thank god you're okay!" She gave the younger girl a big hug.
Chihiro smiled and whispered, "Thank you." She looked towards Syaoran, who was still embarrassed and wasn't sure how to greet Chihiro. He had only just started to relax around her. She only smiled, feeling his awkwardness, and stood up. A silent understanding passed between them.
"Good to have you back, Chihiro." He held out his hand and smiled hesitantly, and Chihiro shook it.
She took a deep breath and looked at the three of them. "So... how long have I been away?"
~ ~ ~
It was night in Gnimaerd, but Ananda was far from sleeping. She had work to do.
In order to enter people's dreams, there was a lot of preparation and it took a while to actually complete the working. It also tired her, but Ananda didn't want to waste time.
She waited, a little impatient, at the foot of the great steps. Then, three odd looking spirits floated up to her out of nowhere. With a relieved sigh, Ananda stepped forward to greet them.
"Do you have them?" she asked.
Each spirit held up a palm, and in each hand glittered what looked like a grain of sand. Those little grains were very important. Ananda raised her hands and the little grains floated over to her. She held out a small bag and the grains deposited themselves inside of it, for safekeeping.
"Thank you," she said to them, "and tell Aiden he's done a wonderful job on the new models." They silently nodded and disappeared. Ananda turned around and headed back inside the temple.
She briskly walked up a countless number of stairs, down a few hallways, and through quite a few doors. (One of them wouldn't open, and she had to persuade it to oblige). She finally came to what looked like an observatory room, with a large telescope in the middle.
Ananda walked over to another door and opened it to what looked like a closet full of vertical incense burners. She grabbed four of them and headed back to the observatory room.
She snapped her fingers and the four burners and the three grains flew in front of her, with the burners on the ground and the grains above three of them. 'That's right,' Ananda thought, 'I need Chihiro's Essence.' She turned and went to yet another door in the room and looked around the room inside of it. It was filled with tiny labeled jars. She snapped again and a jar flew to her hands. "Chihiro's Essence" it said.
Ananda went back into the room and let the grain float back to join the other three Essences. Checking that everything was in place, she sat down under the large telescope facing the burners.
"Emalf," Ananda intoned. The four Essences; Sakura's, Syaoran's, Kohaku's, and Chihiro's; settled themselves on the burners and burst on fire. The only thing was, the white flames pointed down, but the silver tendrils of smoke floated upwards.
Ananda closed her eyes and concentrated on the Essences, as well as her own (even a tiny bit of her Essence was large, and it was kept inside of the telescope thing). Everything was ready.
~ ~ ~
"HOEEE?" (A/N: Guess who that was).
Chihiro blinked at the reaction to her question. "Um, I said: how long have I been away?" she said slowly, so that her friends could understand.
"We heard you," Kohaku said, "but what do you mean by.away?" Syaoran and Sakura nodded in agreement.
Chihiro grinned in understanding. "Oh, well, you see, my physical body remained here, but my......um, spirit, I guess...well it went to a weird place called Uoyera which was a city in a place called Gnimaerd. See, I lost my memory after that accident, and then I met this really weird girl who owned this temple and called herself the Oracle, and she helped to me to recover my memory. But it wasn't working until Kaonashi-he's a spirit from here-came and then I remembered everything, and then she let me come back home. And there was a door that I opened and I saw my body, and it felt really odd and then I was back here." She said this all very quickly.
The other three stared blankly at Chihiro. She frowned slightly, and then said, "Oh yes, well I asked how long I was here because it felt like I was at the temple for ages and ages, and I didn't wasn't sure how long I was there for."
There was a confused silence.
Then Sakura said sheepishly, "Chihiro...I think we'll need a longer explanation of your, um, visit to...to..."
"Gnimaerd." came the answer.
Sakura grinned. "Right." Chihiro could tell that Haku and Syaoran wanted a full recount of her time there too.
"Okay guys. But don't ask me any questions till I'm finished. What I first remembered was just sitting there, existion on this bench in this park. And I saw a really big temple......"
(A/N: okay, passing time...)
Chihiro gave them a detailed account of her time spent in the temple of Ananda. Most of the time, Sakura, Syaoran, and Kohaku listened with rapt attention. When Chihiro got to Ananda's name and appearance, the three of them started, but didn't say anything; only passing wary glances. Syaoran felt a weird feeling, almost like he'd heard the word Ananda before, but he pushed it to the back of his mind.
The first person to speak when Chihiro was done was Kohaku. "So this girl helped you? Are you sure that was what she looked like?"
"Yes. Why?"
Syaoran said, "Because she was there the night that you got injured. She knew all of our names. That girl was the one who wanted to see us, when Rin came up. Remember?"
Chihiro wrinkled her nose in thought. "Yes...well she IS the Oracle." There was a thoughtful silence. Kohaku thought, 'I suppose she must be on our side. But still.she seemed really powerful. I'll be wary around her..."
Sakura asked, "Who was Aiden?"
"I don't know. Ananda said he was a friend of hers. I didn't really see him, but it seemed like he knew all about me." Chihiro added as an afterthought, "He was very handsome. Looked about 17 or 18." She didn't notice Haku frowning behind her.
"Right," Haku said, "So what did she say when you were in the room with the plaque?"
Chihiro sighed. "She asked me if I was dreaming, because that was the name of the place we were in. It was asking me a question, really, the whole time, but I didn't see it. So I said no---"
Sakura interrupted. "But I still don't get how you couldn't be dreaming when your body was here." "You said something about being a spirit." Syaoran said to Chihiro.
"Yeah, I asked her if I was a spirit, and she said I was MY spirit. So I got kind of confused there..." Chihiro screwed up her face and thought about it. 'She said I was MY spirit...maybe I did come here...me, not my body. Because maybe I don't need my body to go there. Look at Haku."
Kohaku thought aloud, "Maybe it was your spirit, then. But how did she come here, if in that world the people are spirits?"
"Maybe," Sakura said excitedly, "it's another world! Like some alternate universe or something, and Chihiro went there because...because..."
"Ananda brought her there?" Syaoran finished uncertainly.
Chihiro spoke up, "I remember when I first got to the Temple of Ananda she told me that it was a place of renewal. So maybe she brought me there because I lost my memory!"
"Okay," Haku said, "we've gotten that far. So what exactly is Gnimaerd? You know, Chihiro, Ananda never answered you question really. You never found out where it was. For all we know, Sakura could be right."
- - -
Everyone sat in silence, thinking. After discussing practically every aspect of Chihiro's story, the group felt it needed some time to ponder over everything so far. Chihiro and Sakura sat on the balcony, Syaoran lay on a mat in the corner and Kohaku sat on the floor (in one of those meditative positions).
(A/N: Just thoughts now. Maybe they'll even stimulate questions on the plot in your heads!)
'Why was Chihiro so important to Ananda? What does it all matter? Maybe it has something to do with all of the people disappearing. Why DID we not disappear? I wonder where everyone is right now. Ananda must be really powerful, Chihiro said something about asking her if she ran the place...maybe she does. And then she said she couldn't explain it to her then...I'll just have to ask Ananda if I see her. IF she comes here to the bathhouse...'
'I wonder who Aiden is. He must be friendly too, if he was friends with Ananda. Why does she call herself the Oracle? Was Sakura right about Gnimaerd being another world? But the Spirit World doesn't know about any other worlds besides this. And if Ananda's supposed to be an oracle, how come she didn't know that Chihiro was going to get hurt? Or maybe she foresees greater things that are going to happen way in the future. And how did Kaonashi get inside the temple? Did Ananda know he was good?'
'It's funny...I feel so at peace. Why didn't I tell them about that necklace? I can't believe it came with me from Gnimaerd. And what was with the glowing bit? It's stopped now. Did Kaonashi go back to Zeniba's house? I wonder what happened to him. What happened while I was getting my memory back...I'll have to ask Sakura later. Hmmm.that train I remember seeing looked a lot like the one I took before. But if Gnimaerd is really another world, then how did the train get there?'
'I have a feeling that whole predestined thing is playing up here. Stupid destiny. Why else would recovering Chihiro's memory be so important? And then that spirit tried to attack us...or was it just sick? I'm not sure...and why did Cerberus and Yue disappear? Eriol must've then. But he's so powerful! Maybe they didn't disappear. Then where would they be? Oh man, Sakura's looking right at me!"
- - -
On the balcony, Chihiro turned to Sakura. "Hey, Sakura, what happened in Aburaya while I was at Gnimaerd?"
Sakura smiled. "Quite a lot." She turned and looked at the two boys inside. "Well, Haku here just moped and moped for hours over you. Syaoran tried to get him to eat, but..."
Chihiro listened while Sakura spoke. But then Sakura stopped, right when she was saying, "...And they said it was an Iris Spirit, and-"
Chihiro, not noticing the pause, said, "Haha...an Iris Spirit...remember that email I sent you? The one with the flowers? An Iris tells of faith and hope..."
Sakura blinked. Must have been one of those chain letters. She hated that stuff, but Chihiro loved them. 'Ah! ' Sakura thought, 'I can't tell Chihiro about my magic! I'll have to say something else...but what can I say to explain how I cured it? Maybe I should just tell her---'
"Uh, Sakura? Are you okay?" Chihiro looked worriedly at the silent Sakura. She shook her head, thinking. "I'm all right..." she said vaguely. 'I think that something else happened in Aburaya. Something to do with Chihiro. Until I find out exactly what, I'll just keep my magic a secret. Besides, I don't know if Syaoran would want to bring that up with all of the stuff going on.'
She turned back to Chihiro and related a quick story of how she and Syaoran took care of the customer, and then were called up to Yubaba. Then, coming on another rip in her story, Sakura retold the meeting with Yubaba, only very unclearly. She held up a hand to keep Chihiro from interrupting, and told the rest of what had happened, from bursting in on Kohaku to her waking up.
When she was done, Chihiro squealed, "Granny! I can see granny agai---" Now it was her time to pause. "I mean, I thought that since Zeniba must be Yubaba's twin, then she looks like a granny too. And....yeah."
Sakura raised an eyebrow and decided not to ask.
Chihiro said, "So I guess that we should get going to Zeniba's as soon as possible then. I'm awake now."
Sakura nodded and stood up. She walked inside the room and told the guys. Chihiro looked through the glass panes and saw them nodding. She turned and looked up at the moon starting to set. 'We better get ready to sleep,' she thought, 'the workers will be up soon.'
~ ~ ~
Aiden too, was waiting, back in his library. It was the problem with the time differences between Gnimaerd and the regular universe (where he kept his House) that took so long. He was less patient too.
His ears perked up. A single spirit-servant of his was approaching. It was one of his newer models, too.
"The Oracle sends her thanks, and says that the new models are wonderful." It paused. "And what you asked for."
Aiden smiled. "Thanks." It was just what he needed.
~ ~ ~
Sakura was sleeping in her cot. Around her were the other workers, and Chihiro. Somewhere else in Aburaya, Haku was sleeping in his bed, while Syaoran dozed on a couch in Haku's suite.
In her sleep, Sakura tossed and turned. Her arms waved about, and then she sat up. But she was still sleeping.
* * *
'Oh, I'm back at the Tsukimine shrine!' Sakura thought as she looked around herself.
She was indeed back at the shrine, under a cherry blossom tree. In front of her, a large throng milled about various crowded booths and stands. The tents were striped and plain, floral and polka dotted. The crowd chattered and talked, none of them noticing Sakura. There were stands for food, games, and most of them were little shops. Tons of trinkets, clothes, mirrors, jewelry, books or boxes were on display in front of the booths.
Sakura grinned. "There must be a fair, or a bazaar here," she said aloud. Sakura walked forward, eager to eat something. She reached into her pocket, disappointed to find it empty. So Sakura just ambled about, getting jostled by people and little kids.
"Excuse me, miss." A voice said suddenly on her right.
Sakura turned around and looked into the nearest booth. This one had jewelry, mostly necklaces, on display. She eagerly looked at the pretty bangles and jewels. Then she glanced up, and saw herself looking at a young man. He seemed older than her, but she couldn't really tell because his face was partly in shadow. But she did see a pair of glowing green eyes.
"My, my, you're a pretty one," he said, "Ordinary jewelry won't work for you."
Sakura blushed and mumbled, "Well I don't have any money with me."
He smiled and said, "Then it'll be on me."
She watched as he pulled something out of his pocket. But before she could reach out and take it Sakura felt someone tugging at her.
She turned around and
* * *
found herself facing Syaoran. Behind him was the bathhouse.
"HOE?" she said. Sakura shook her head and looked around. She was at the end of the red-railed bridge in front of Aburaya. "I must have been sleepwalking," she said.
Syaoran didn't say anything. He was blushing too much. Sakura found that she was blushing too. 'Why am I blushing?' she thought.
Sakura turned away and asked, "Uh...how did we get here?"
"I heard you walk by my room. I couldn't sleep." Syaoran said gruffly.
"Oh."
Suddenly he said, "It isn't like you to sleepwalk. What were you dreaming about? Do you think it was a premonition?"
She sighed, grateful for something to say. "Well...I .....um....I don't remember?" Sakura frowned to herself, wondering why she didn't want to tell Syaoran.
He sweatdropped and muttered, "Just be careful, Sakura."
Sakura grinned and hugged Syaoran. "Thanks for worrying about me."
This made him blush even more, and he jerked back slightly. Syaoran found himself looking straight into Sakura's eyes, and felt like he couldn't move. They stood for what seemed like an eternity. Then Sakura felt herself leaning forward, and she thought, 'Hoe? What am I doing????' Syaoran's eyes widened and he leaned over to meet her lips.
All of a sudden a shadow passed overhead, and something overhead shrieked. "AHHHH!" the two figures on the bridge shouted, breaking apart hastily. Flying above Syaoran and Sakura was what looked like a giant bird with Yubaba's head.
"What the hell was that?" Syaoran gasped.
Sakura said shakily, "I have no idea. Um....we should be getting back now. It's still late." She turned, reluctantly, towards the entrance. Syaoran followed, rather jerkily. 'I was so close.' he thought.
~ - ~ - ~
Oh I be u hate my for not letting S + S kiss! Ohohohohoo lol ^.^ I'm so evil.
hey, just sayin my thanx from all of the reviews, they really kept my motivation goin, thankees!
silent H
Disclaimer: Do I really need to put this up? We all know I don't own CCS or Spirited Away by now, it's the eleventh chapter for baloney's sake!
Oh yea, I changed the key thingamajig.
"lalala" = speaking, 'lalala' = thought, */ lalala /* = flashback
- - = scene change/in Spirit World, or Human World
~ ~ ~ = Gnimaerd or Ananda or Aiden
* * * = dreaming
Chapter 11: Clearing Things Up
"--HAKU!" Chihiro gasped, bolting upright and scaring the hell out of Sakura, Syaoran, and Kohaku. For a moment, everyone was speechless while Chihiro dazedly looked around her.
Kohaku recovered first. "Chihiro! You're...um...back!" (A/N: Well they didn't think she was DEAD, did they? He couldn't say she was ALIVE). He lunged forward and toppled Chihiro over as he hugged her. Chihiro grinned and hugged him, unembarrassed about their current position.
"Oh Haku," she said softly, using his old name. For a few moments they lay like that. Chihiro was surprised that she wasn't blushing, but at the moment felt the opposite---amazingly calm and collected. (Kohaku, on the other hand, was flushing furiously, but his head was buried in the pillow).
After a minute Chihiro gently disengaged herself from Kohaku and sat up. She looked at Sakura and Syaoran (who had waited awkwardly for Chihiro and Kohaku to finish) and smiled. The two of them grinned back.
Sakura rushed forward. "Thank god you're okay!" She gave the younger girl a big hug.
Chihiro smiled and whispered, "Thank you." She looked towards Syaoran, who was still embarrassed and wasn't sure how to greet Chihiro. He had only just started to relax around her. She only smiled, feeling his awkwardness, and stood up. A silent understanding passed between them.
"Good to have you back, Chihiro." He held out his hand and smiled hesitantly, and Chihiro shook it.
She took a deep breath and looked at the three of them. "So... how long have I been away?"
~ ~ ~
It was night in Gnimaerd, but Ananda was far from sleeping. She had work to do.
In order to enter people's dreams, there was a lot of preparation and it took a while to actually complete the working. It also tired her, but Ananda didn't want to waste time.
She waited, a little impatient, at the foot of the great steps. Then, three odd looking spirits floated up to her out of nowhere. With a relieved sigh, Ananda stepped forward to greet them.
"Do you have them?" she asked.
Each spirit held up a palm, and in each hand glittered what looked like a grain of sand. Those little grains were very important. Ananda raised her hands and the little grains floated over to her. She held out a small bag and the grains deposited themselves inside of it, for safekeeping.
"Thank you," she said to them, "and tell Aiden he's done a wonderful job on the new models." They silently nodded and disappeared. Ananda turned around and headed back inside the temple.
She briskly walked up a countless number of stairs, down a few hallways, and through quite a few doors. (One of them wouldn't open, and she had to persuade it to oblige). She finally came to what looked like an observatory room, with a large telescope in the middle.
Ananda walked over to another door and opened it to what looked like a closet full of vertical incense burners. She grabbed four of them and headed back to the observatory room.
She snapped her fingers and the four burners and the three grains flew in front of her, with the burners on the ground and the grains above three of them. 'That's right,' Ananda thought, 'I need Chihiro's Essence.' She turned and went to yet another door in the room and looked around the room inside of it. It was filled with tiny labeled jars. She snapped again and a jar flew to her hands. "Chihiro's Essence" it said.
Ananda went back into the room and let the grain float back to join the other three Essences. Checking that everything was in place, she sat down under the large telescope facing the burners.
"Emalf," Ananda intoned. The four Essences; Sakura's, Syaoran's, Kohaku's, and Chihiro's; settled themselves on the burners and burst on fire. The only thing was, the white flames pointed down, but the silver tendrils of smoke floated upwards.
Ananda closed her eyes and concentrated on the Essences, as well as her own (even a tiny bit of her Essence was large, and it was kept inside of the telescope thing). Everything was ready.
~ ~ ~
"HOEEE?" (A/N: Guess who that was).
Chihiro blinked at the reaction to her question. "Um, I said: how long have I been away?" she said slowly, so that her friends could understand.
"We heard you," Kohaku said, "but what do you mean by.away?" Syaoran and Sakura nodded in agreement.
Chihiro grinned in understanding. "Oh, well, you see, my physical body remained here, but my......um, spirit, I guess...well it went to a weird place called Uoyera which was a city in a place called Gnimaerd. See, I lost my memory after that accident, and then I met this really weird girl who owned this temple and called herself the Oracle, and she helped to me to recover my memory. But it wasn't working until Kaonashi-he's a spirit from here-came and then I remembered everything, and then she let me come back home. And there was a door that I opened and I saw my body, and it felt really odd and then I was back here." She said this all very quickly.
The other three stared blankly at Chihiro. She frowned slightly, and then said, "Oh yes, well I asked how long I was here because it felt like I was at the temple for ages and ages, and I didn't wasn't sure how long I was there for."
There was a confused silence.
Then Sakura said sheepishly, "Chihiro...I think we'll need a longer explanation of your, um, visit to...to..."
"Gnimaerd." came the answer.
Sakura grinned. "Right." Chihiro could tell that Haku and Syaoran wanted a full recount of her time there too.
"Okay guys. But don't ask me any questions till I'm finished. What I first remembered was just sitting there, existion on this bench in this park. And I saw a really big temple......"
(A/N: okay, passing time...)
Chihiro gave them a detailed account of her time spent in the temple of Ananda. Most of the time, Sakura, Syaoran, and Kohaku listened with rapt attention. When Chihiro got to Ananda's name and appearance, the three of them started, but didn't say anything; only passing wary glances. Syaoran felt a weird feeling, almost like he'd heard the word Ananda before, but he pushed it to the back of his mind.
The first person to speak when Chihiro was done was Kohaku. "So this girl helped you? Are you sure that was what she looked like?"
"Yes. Why?"
Syaoran said, "Because she was there the night that you got injured. She knew all of our names. That girl was the one who wanted to see us, when Rin came up. Remember?"
Chihiro wrinkled her nose in thought. "Yes...well she IS the Oracle." There was a thoughtful silence. Kohaku thought, 'I suppose she must be on our side. But still.she seemed really powerful. I'll be wary around her..."
Sakura asked, "Who was Aiden?"
"I don't know. Ananda said he was a friend of hers. I didn't really see him, but it seemed like he knew all about me." Chihiro added as an afterthought, "He was very handsome. Looked about 17 or 18." She didn't notice Haku frowning behind her.
"Right," Haku said, "So what did she say when you were in the room with the plaque?"
Chihiro sighed. "She asked me if I was dreaming, because that was the name of the place we were in. It was asking me a question, really, the whole time, but I didn't see it. So I said no---"
Sakura interrupted. "But I still don't get how you couldn't be dreaming when your body was here." "You said something about being a spirit." Syaoran said to Chihiro.
"Yeah, I asked her if I was a spirit, and she said I was MY spirit. So I got kind of confused there..." Chihiro screwed up her face and thought about it. 'She said I was MY spirit...maybe I did come here...me, not my body. Because maybe I don't need my body to go there. Look at Haku."
Kohaku thought aloud, "Maybe it was your spirit, then. But how did she come here, if in that world the people are spirits?"
"Maybe," Sakura said excitedly, "it's another world! Like some alternate universe or something, and Chihiro went there because...because..."
"Ananda brought her there?" Syaoran finished uncertainly.
Chihiro spoke up, "I remember when I first got to the Temple of Ananda she told me that it was a place of renewal. So maybe she brought me there because I lost my memory!"
"Okay," Haku said, "we've gotten that far. So what exactly is Gnimaerd? You know, Chihiro, Ananda never answered you question really. You never found out where it was. For all we know, Sakura could be right."
- - -
Everyone sat in silence, thinking. After discussing practically every aspect of Chihiro's story, the group felt it needed some time to ponder over everything so far. Chihiro and Sakura sat on the balcony, Syaoran lay on a mat in the corner and Kohaku sat on the floor (in one of those meditative positions).
(A/N: Just thoughts now. Maybe they'll even stimulate questions on the plot in your heads!)
'Why was Chihiro so important to Ananda? What does it all matter? Maybe it has something to do with all of the people disappearing. Why DID we not disappear? I wonder where everyone is right now. Ananda must be really powerful, Chihiro said something about asking her if she ran the place...maybe she does. And then she said she couldn't explain it to her then...I'll just have to ask Ananda if I see her. IF she comes here to the bathhouse...'
'I wonder who Aiden is. He must be friendly too, if he was friends with Ananda. Why does she call herself the Oracle? Was Sakura right about Gnimaerd being another world? But the Spirit World doesn't know about any other worlds besides this. And if Ananda's supposed to be an oracle, how come she didn't know that Chihiro was going to get hurt? Or maybe she foresees greater things that are going to happen way in the future. And how did Kaonashi get inside the temple? Did Ananda know he was good?'
'It's funny...I feel so at peace. Why didn't I tell them about that necklace? I can't believe it came with me from Gnimaerd. And what was with the glowing bit? It's stopped now. Did Kaonashi go back to Zeniba's house? I wonder what happened to him. What happened while I was getting my memory back...I'll have to ask Sakura later. Hmmm.that train I remember seeing looked a lot like the one I took before. But if Gnimaerd is really another world, then how did the train get there?'
'I have a feeling that whole predestined thing is playing up here. Stupid destiny. Why else would recovering Chihiro's memory be so important? And then that spirit tried to attack us...or was it just sick? I'm not sure...and why did Cerberus and Yue disappear? Eriol must've then. But he's so powerful! Maybe they didn't disappear. Then where would they be? Oh man, Sakura's looking right at me!"
- - -
On the balcony, Chihiro turned to Sakura. "Hey, Sakura, what happened in Aburaya while I was at Gnimaerd?"
Sakura smiled. "Quite a lot." She turned and looked at the two boys inside. "Well, Haku here just moped and moped for hours over you. Syaoran tried to get him to eat, but..."
Chihiro listened while Sakura spoke. But then Sakura stopped, right when she was saying, "...And they said it was an Iris Spirit, and-"
Chihiro, not noticing the pause, said, "Haha...an Iris Spirit...remember that email I sent you? The one with the flowers? An Iris tells of faith and hope..."
Sakura blinked. Must have been one of those chain letters. She hated that stuff, but Chihiro loved them. 'Ah! ' Sakura thought, 'I can't tell Chihiro about my magic! I'll have to say something else...but what can I say to explain how I cured it? Maybe I should just tell her---'
"Uh, Sakura? Are you okay?" Chihiro looked worriedly at the silent Sakura. She shook her head, thinking. "I'm all right..." she said vaguely. 'I think that something else happened in Aburaya. Something to do with Chihiro. Until I find out exactly what, I'll just keep my magic a secret. Besides, I don't know if Syaoran would want to bring that up with all of the stuff going on.'
She turned back to Chihiro and related a quick story of how she and Syaoran took care of the customer, and then were called up to Yubaba. Then, coming on another rip in her story, Sakura retold the meeting with Yubaba, only very unclearly. She held up a hand to keep Chihiro from interrupting, and told the rest of what had happened, from bursting in on Kohaku to her waking up.
When she was done, Chihiro squealed, "Granny! I can see granny agai---" Now it was her time to pause. "I mean, I thought that since Zeniba must be Yubaba's twin, then she looks like a granny too. And....yeah."
Sakura raised an eyebrow and decided not to ask.
Chihiro said, "So I guess that we should get going to Zeniba's as soon as possible then. I'm awake now."
Sakura nodded and stood up. She walked inside the room and told the guys. Chihiro looked through the glass panes and saw them nodding. She turned and looked up at the moon starting to set. 'We better get ready to sleep,' she thought, 'the workers will be up soon.'
~ ~ ~
Aiden too, was waiting, back in his library. It was the problem with the time differences between Gnimaerd and the regular universe (where he kept his House) that took so long. He was less patient too.
His ears perked up. A single spirit-servant of his was approaching. It was one of his newer models, too.
"The Oracle sends her thanks, and says that the new models are wonderful." It paused. "And what you asked for."
Aiden smiled. "Thanks." It was just what he needed.
~ ~ ~
Sakura was sleeping in her cot. Around her were the other workers, and Chihiro. Somewhere else in Aburaya, Haku was sleeping in his bed, while Syaoran dozed on a couch in Haku's suite.
In her sleep, Sakura tossed and turned. Her arms waved about, and then she sat up. But she was still sleeping.
* * *
'Oh, I'm back at the Tsukimine shrine!' Sakura thought as she looked around herself.
She was indeed back at the shrine, under a cherry blossom tree. In front of her, a large throng milled about various crowded booths and stands. The tents were striped and plain, floral and polka dotted. The crowd chattered and talked, none of them noticing Sakura. There were stands for food, games, and most of them were little shops. Tons of trinkets, clothes, mirrors, jewelry, books or boxes were on display in front of the booths.
Sakura grinned. "There must be a fair, or a bazaar here," she said aloud. Sakura walked forward, eager to eat something. She reached into her pocket, disappointed to find it empty. So Sakura just ambled about, getting jostled by people and little kids.
"Excuse me, miss." A voice said suddenly on her right.
Sakura turned around and looked into the nearest booth. This one had jewelry, mostly necklaces, on display. She eagerly looked at the pretty bangles and jewels. Then she glanced up, and saw herself looking at a young man. He seemed older than her, but she couldn't really tell because his face was partly in shadow. But she did see a pair of glowing green eyes.
"My, my, you're a pretty one," he said, "Ordinary jewelry won't work for you."
Sakura blushed and mumbled, "Well I don't have any money with me."
He smiled and said, "Then it'll be on me."
She watched as he pulled something out of his pocket. But before she could reach out and take it Sakura felt someone tugging at her.
She turned around and
* * *
found herself facing Syaoran. Behind him was the bathhouse.
"HOE?" she said. Sakura shook her head and looked around. She was at the end of the red-railed bridge in front of Aburaya. "I must have been sleepwalking," she said.
Syaoran didn't say anything. He was blushing too much. Sakura found that she was blushing too. 'Why am I blushing?' she thought.
Sakura turned away and asked, "Uh...how did we get here?"
"I heard you walk by my room. I couldn't sleep." Syaoran said gruffly.
"Oh."
Suddenly he said, "It isn't like you to sleepwalk. What were you dreaming about? Do you think it was a premonition?"
She sighed, grateful for something to say. "Well...I .....um....I don't remember?" Sakura frowned to herself, wondering why she didn't want to tell Syaoran.
He sweatdropped and muttered, "Just be careful, Sakura."
Sakura grinned and hugged Syaoran. "Thanks for worrying about me."
This made him blush even more, and he jerked back slightly. Syaoran found himself looking straight into Sakura's eyes, and felt like he couldn't move. They stood for what seemed like an eternity. Then Sakura felt herself leaning forward, and she thought, 'Hoe? What am I doing????' Syaoran's eyes widened and he leaned over to meet her lips.
All of a sudden a shadow passed overhead, and something overhead shrieked. "AHHHH!" the two figures on the bridge shouted, breaking apart hastily. Flying above Syaoran and Sakura was what looked like a giant bird with Yubaba's head.
"What the hell was that?" Syaoran gasped.
Sakura said shakily, "I have no idea. Um....we should be getting back now. It's still late." She turned, reluctantly, towards the entrance. Syaoran followed, rather jerkily. 'I was so close.' he thought.
~ - ~ - ~
Oh I be u hate my for not letting S + S kiss! Ohohohohoo lol ^.^ I'm so evil.
hey, just sayin my thanx from all of the reviews, they really kept my motivation goin, thankees!
silent H