Author's Note: Well, you made it through the horrible first chapter (congratulations), hopefully this one is a little better! I'm still sort of setting things up in this chapter, but I promise there will be some "excitement" soon. Man, this fanfic stuff is harder than I thought it would be. More notey stuff at the bottom.
Disclaimer: Unfortunately, I do not own "Spirited Away" and am not making any money from this story (though I sure could use some…)
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It had been a month since her time in the Spirit World, and Chihiro felt something akin to homesickness when she thought of it. True, it wasn't her home, but being there had given her a sense of place and purpose that she had never felt so strongly before. With her mind wandering back to Haku, Lin and her other friends, Chihiro walked upstairs to her room. She took off her school uniform and changed into pajamas before crawling into bed and burying herself under the covers. She was doing well in school, and had made some friends in her short time in her new town, but couldn't help but feel lonely at times.
She reached up onto the dresser that sat near her bed and grabbed the hair tie that Granny had given her. She looked down at it affectionately and then made a tight fist around it and clutched it to her chest. A warm feeling embraced her, and she forgot her loneliness for a moment. She rested her head against her pillow and fell asleep, the hair tie still held firmly in her hand.
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Haku's lithe dragon form had allowed him to travel quickly and relatively comfortably, but after weeks of going almost non-stop, he was beginning to feel the wear on his body. In his excitement at the prospect of seeing her again, he'd pushed himself too hard, too fast. His muscles seized up painfully while he was mid-air, causing him to jerk his slender back and howl in discomfort. He descended quickly and collapsed to the ground in pain. He reverted back to his human form and lay still for some time, curled in a fetal position. As he felt himself slipping into unconsciousness, he mumbled one word, "Chihiro."
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Ugh, it's raining again… Haku thought to himself, why does it always rain when I'm trying to- he snapped awake suddenly and realized that he had been asleep, and that it was not, in fact, raining. He looked up just in time to see a very large, and very wet tongue lick him across the face. A cry of surprise threatened to escape his throat, but he suppressed it quickly.
He sat bolt upright and wiped off the slobber that coated his face, muttering to himself and looking down at the creature that had awakened him in such a "friendly" manner. What he saw was a small creature that resembled a fluffy white cloud in every way, except that it had four short little legs and two wide gray eyes that stared up at him happily. He searched for any signs of a mouth on the animal, but found none. Where is he keeping that tongue? Haku wondered nervously as he raised an incredulous eyebrow.
"So, what are you doing way out here? And where exactly is here?" he asked the little cloud-creature. The only answer he received was a blank look and a sneeze. "Alright, so you're no help," Haku sighed as he stood up and surveyed his surroundings. I wonder how long I was asleep; it could have been hours, days…I've lost enough time already. "Well, wherever I am, I can't stay here any longer. I have to find the Dream World, I must be close by now," he said absently. At this, the cloud-creature perked up and squealed excitedly at Haku and then sped off into the distance. Haku stood still for a moment, mildly confused, but quickly regained his composure and ran after the little fluff ball.
Within moments, he was standing before a large pearly white staircase that led up to an arch made of clouds a few hundred feet above the ground. "The entrance to the Dream World!" Haku mumbled in awe. He glanced over at the cloud-creature who was sitting at the foot of the stairs and looking entirely pleased with itself. Haku chuckled and shook his head, causing his hair to swish gently around his face "maybe you aren't so useless after all." He stretched and began his ascent towards the gateway that led to the Dream World.
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The Dream World was an odd place to say the least, even when compared to the Spirit World. The two worlds functioned in much the same way; daytime was the time for relaxing and sleeping, but once night fell, everyone was expected to get busy and do their share of the work. The Dream Masters, a brother and sister, presided over the lands, ensuring that everything ran as smoothly as possible. The male Dream Master was known as Kyo, and was easily the more eccentric of the two. He was a genius, no one would deny that, but he was also a little bit "cracked" as the more polite Dream World denizens put it. He acted as the creative consultant for dreams, crafting them and giving the Dream Players suggestions. Kyo's sister, the female Master, was called Lysha, and was the voice of reason. It was her duty to make sure that dreams ran smoothly and efficiently. If things weren't running like a well-oiled machine, she got upset, and no one was safe from her wrath until the problem was solved. Together, Kyo and Lysha made the perfect team, and were regarded with high esteem among the inhabitants of the Dream World.
The lesser inhabitants, the Dream Players, were the "actors" in the dreams. By day, all the players resembled humans, but their bodies were made entirely of cloud and smoke. At night, they shifted forms, and took on whatever shape was necessary for the particular dream they were acting in that night. A Player could become a monster, an animal, or any number of things. A Player was given assignments by the Dream Masters, and then took the appropriate form and entered the mind of the assigned human as he or she slept. Once inside, a player followed the carefully created script for the night, paying attention to each detail. A player had only one day to memorize the script for the night, so it was difficult work. It was hard to keep up, as there were a great number of humans, and not always enough dream players as were needed, but somehow they always pulled through.
It was a world unlike any other, and though few realized its full importance, its existence was essential. The Dream World was something of a crossroads between the Human World and the Spirit World; here, a spirit could be connected to a human within a dream. For this reason, the Dream World was the most important place in the universe to Haku at the moment.
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Once through the archway, Haku's senses were flooded with the sights, smells and sounds of the Dream World. The entire area around him was covered with thick clouds of blue and purple and the air was fragrant and heavy. It had the effect of making one drowsy and caused Haku to yawn widely. No, stay focused, you have to find the Dream Masters and ask for their help he chided himself. He looked down at the little cloud-creature that was still following him, "You've helped me get this far, and for that, I thank you, but I have one more request of you. Can you lead me to the Dream Masters, if you know the way?" The little cloud looked excited at the idea of another job, and hopped off in the direction that Haku hoped would take him where he needed to go.
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Author's Note: Ok, so it's still not all that exciting yet, but I'm still trying to establish some things. I promise that in the next chapter, Haku and Chihiro will meet again and there will be a nice little reunion for all the C/H fans out there. Oh, and Haku meets the Dream Masters too, which could prove to be interesting. Also, in the next chapter, the plot will finally reveal itself, and the actual story will start. Think of all the stuff so far as prologue. For those of you who have made it this far, thank you! I love you. And also, the Dream World and everything in it is just a bunch of stuff I made up, so…yeah. And I know that lots of people have done the whole "Chihiro sees Haku in her dreams" thing, but I'm just trying to give a different spin on it. I don't know. Please, leave a review if you have any comments, criticisms, etc. Thanks!