Author's Note: Here's chapter 7! Whee! I don't really have much to say this time so…
Disclaimer: Oops, I forgot this on the last chapter, oh well. I don't own the movie, just my story.
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Haku whipped his head around at the sudden burst of noise and gasped in shock. The seemingly impossible sight that met his eyes made everything else around him fade away into nothingness, becoming dulled and insignificant. At that moment, she was all that existed; Yubaba, Shen, the office, all the physical pain he felt drifted out of focus entirely.
"Chihiro?" he half shouted, half sputtered in his disbelief.
She looked up at him, and in her surprise she managed to gasp out his name, "Haku!"
He continued to stare at her, heart pounding in his chest as he struggled to comprehend the situation. She was there, in the Spirit World, and she'd come to find him. This girl constantly amazed him, and now more than ever that was true. Despite the abandonment she must have felt those nights he'd been missing, she had still come searching for him. His heart came close to breaking as he thought about the confusion, fear and hurt she must have felt those three days he'd failed to visit her. But now she knew. She knew that it hadn't been his fault, that he still wanted to see her as much as he had when they'd first found each other inside her dreams. That he still loved her.
Her hair was out of its usual ponytail, and hung gently around her face, though it was slightly disheveled from her fall. Haku noted that she was wearing a white shirt, somewhat smudged from her journey. He closed his eyes and pictured her the way she appeared inside the dreams, wearing a simple white dress that flowed around her softly with every move she made and with each breeze that danced by. Perfect. He sighed and opened his eyes again. There was no need to imagine her now. She was right there before his eyes. She was close enough to touch, crouched on the floor in much the same manner that he was, and only feet away.
He reached his hand out towards her, acting on pure impulse and not bothering to think. She mirrored the gentle action, leaning closer towards him with arm outstretched. Their eyes locked, and the tips of their fingers grew closer. They both longed for it desperately, their first real touch in years. Chihiro's heart ached as she thought of how long it had been since they'd really seen each other, in the flesh, they way they were seeing each other now.
The sudden movement from the two shook Yubaba from her dazed state, causing her to bellow "Guards!" loudly. Her screech snapped Shen back into reality, and he was immediately in action. Just as Haku's hand was only an inch away from Chihiro's, Shen tackled him, causing both boys to be thrown to the side and interrupting the intimate moment between Chihiro and Haku. Chihiro cried out as Haku and Shen hit the ground roughly. She heard the distinct sound of one or more bones snapping, though she couldn't be sure who's they were. She cringed and closed her eyes tightly, grabbing her head with her hands. Silence momentarily filled the room. After some hesitation, Chihiro opened her eyes again and looked around. Shen and Haku were still on the floor, neither one moving much, but both breathing hard, and Yubaba was sitting at her desk. The two women made eye contact, and Chihiro could see realization dawning on Yubaba's withered face.
"Sen…so you've returned after all," she muttered quietly with a smirk. In that instant, guards burst through the door to the office. Three ran towards Shen and Haku, helping Shen to his feet and grabbing Haku firmly. The other three stood, glancing around for a moment, and then made their way towards a frightened Chihiro.
"Wait!" Yubaba cried. The guards continued to advance on Chihiro, who was now curled up, grabbing her knees to her chest, on the floor. "I said wait!" Yubaba roared. She raised her hand in the air, and brought it downwards quickly. Chihiro watched in fascination as the scene around her froze immediately. The guards coming towards her were stopped in their tracks. She cast worried looks about her, and then glanced up at Yubaba, who was smiling wickedly down at her.
"It's so hard to find good help these days," she remarked absently, placing her hand on her chin, "you just can't find anyone who will listen anymore." Yubaba looked down at Chihiro who was still sitting on the floor some distance from the desk. "Well, if we're going to talk like civilized adults, you'd better come closer." Yubaba cast another spell and Chihiro was yanked forward, as if a hook had caught itself in her shirt. She landed with an unceremonious thud in the chair in front of Yubaba's desk.
"There now, that's much better, isn't it? Now we can have a nice little chat, Sen, just you and I." Chihiro sent her a poisonous glare. "Come now my dear, a pretty face like yours shouldn't be spoiled by such a nasty little look."
Chihiro's expression didn't change. "Why are you doing this? Let Haku go, they're hurting him." She glanced towards Haku, frozen in place as Yubaba's guards hauled him to his feet. His mouth was open in what was surely a cry of protest, and his eyes were clenched shut in pain.
"No, I don't want to," Yubaba replied in a manner that would have seemed almost childish had Chihiro not known the witch better. Chihiro let out a frustrated sigh as Yubaba continued. "Why did you return to the Spirit World, Sen?" Chihiro didn't answer, but merely turned her eyes to the floor. "My, my, you and Haku certainly are two of a kind, you're both so obstinate…Oh dear, that's it, isn't it? You came here to find Haku! How precious," she said the last word scathingly, and then laughed boisterously to herself. "Well, you certainly found him, it's just too bad you won't be able to save him."
She snapped her fingers and the scene returned to normal, as if it had never been frozen in the first place. The guards that had been rushing towards Chihiro looked momentarily disoriented at finding her in the chair now instead of on the floor, but quickly righted themselves and seized her. She was dragged to the floor by the guards, and she felt them tying restraints to her arms. In the background, she could make out Haku yelling fiercely and trying valiantly to escape, but somehow it all seemed muted, and very far away from her. Like a dream. Only not the beautiful dreams she was accustomed to, those days were gone now. This was more like a nightmare. She'd come here intending to save Haku, and now she'd sealed both their fates. She started to cry, steadily at first, but with building intensity. With each tear that spilled down her cheeks, she felt herself growing more emotional. She was angry; angry at Yubaba for taking Haku away and destroying their happiness, angry at the guards who surrounded her, angry at herself for her weakness.
"Take them away," Yubaba sneered, "take them back to the room, but make sure they're separated, I can't have the nasty little things trying to escape while my back is turned. Keep them there until I've made my decision about how to deal with them. Now that this mess has been more or less cleaned up, I do have a business to run. Get those lazy workers back in here; I want this place up and running in an hour. GO!"
The guards bowed to her in perfect unison, and then began ushering Chihiro and Haku out of the office. They were dragged down a complex series of hallways and tight passages. By the time they reached the room were they were to be held, Chihiro had completely lost track of where they were inside the massive building.
The guards pushed Haku towards the eastern wall and continued fastening his bonds, tying him securely to the partition. They did the same with Chihiro, only she was taken to the western wall, a good forty feet from where Haku was restrained. The guards grinned cruelly at the two prisoners and turned to leave the room. Shen, however, remained behind.
"You're really in for it now," he observed, "I mean, Yubaba was angry before, but now she's very upset. Mistress doesn't take kindly to interruptions," he turned to look directly at Chihiro, who visibly flinched and looked away. Shen stared at her for a long moment, mouth open slightly and eyes wandering. "She's really very pretty, for a human, that is. You've done well for yourself, river spirit." He let his eyes drift off of Chihiro and craned his neck to look over his shoulder at Haku. "It's too bad you'll have to watch her die when Mistress Yubaba commands it."
Haku began struggling violently against his restraints, glaring venomously at Yubaba's new apprentice. Shen laughed. The sound was cold and bitter, sending a shiver down Chihiro's neck. "Why don't you change into your dragon form, river spirit, why don't you change and escape?" Shen asked mockingly, he turned back towards Chihiro. "You haven't told her yet, have you, that you've lost your ability. And do you want to know why he can't do it anymore, human? It's because of you." He walked up to Chihiro and put a hand against her cheek. "You just cause all kinds of problems, don't you?" he whispered in her ear slowly. She gasped, very near tears again. Shen let his hand glide leisurely down her face, staring into her eyes hard. Her breath caught in her throat and she felt a wave of nausea overcome her. Shen smirked one last time, planted a quick, rough kiss on her lips, and let go of her face quickly. He turned a walked out of the room without so much as another glance at Haku and Chihiro.
Chihiro succumbed to the rush of emotions and let a flood of tears escape her tired eyes. "Haku, I'm so sorry, none of this would have happened if you'd never met me. I wish I'd never stumbled into the Spirit World all those years ago. Maybe if I hadn't, you'd still be happy and safe, working for Yubaba," she whispered despairingly.
"I have no doubt that I'd be safe working for her, but happy…never. You make me happy, Chihiro, only you. Before I met you, I was stuck. I never would have had the courage to break away from Yubaba if I hadn't met you. You freed me, you saved me."
"And now look at where we are Haku! I haven't saved you, I've destroyed you! Don't you see, they're going to kill us! They're going to kill us both!" she cried out passionately. In all their years together, she had never yelled at Haku, but given her current situation, she couldn't help it. She would die in this place, a place where she didn't belong. She'd die far away from her family and the people who loved her. And perhaps what hurt her most of all, she knew that she would be responsible for the death of Haku, the young man she loved. Her first love.
Haku looked stricken by her tone and her demeanor, but kept his own voice steady as he responded, "I'm here right now as a result of a series of choices I made. Me, not you. You had an effect on those choices, but they were still my own. Chihiro, you really did free me. Whether you believe it or not, it's true. If I had the chance to go back and do all of this again, I still would have made the choices I did because I want to be with you. Always," he voice dropped down to a whisper as he finished.
Chihiro looked over at him across the room, and met his eyes, his amazing, green eyes. She sighed. "And I want to be with you to too. But not like this, not tied up to some wall, awaiting my death. And I don't want to be with you just in my dreams. Not anymore. I want to really be with you, Haku, in the same world, on the same plane of existence where I can actually see you and touch you, and-" she trailed off, thinking sadly of the moment in Yubaba's office when their hands had so near to touching. Being so close only to have it taken away made the physical separation that much more difficult to endure. She looked down at her hand and clenched her fingers together, imagining the feel of his hand on her own.
"I know, it's been hard, but we've made it this far. We'll get out of this, we always do," he replied comfortingly. "It seems like were always getting into dangerous situations and trying to save each other doesn't it? I guess we're just a pair of star-crossed lovers," he laughed sadly and gently at this.
"Lovers?" Chihiro asked, raising an incredulous brow and smiling at him.
He blushed and tried to hide the smile that threatened to creep onto his lips. He changed the subject quickly. "When we get out of here and escape Yubaba, things will be different. We'll find a way to be together, I promise."
"I believe you," she said softly, her eyes shining. They shared another smile and for a moment, they managed to forget the rest of the world.
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Author's Note: Ok, so this chapter is shorter than I originally wanted it to be, but I wanted to get something up. Sorry if this chapter was kind of sucky and sub-par, I had trouble writing it. Things should start getting better again by the next chapter. I'm trying to work on another Spirited Away story too, so we'll see how frequently I manage to update this one. Thanks for your patience and your support! Buh-bye.