Hey! Thank you to everyone who reviewed, and encouraged me to write this
next chapter. Things are going to get a little weird from here on out, so
please tell me what you think of the story!
BUT, first there are some critical misspellings I have to work with here. It has been pointed out to me that you spell it Kohaku, and not Ohaku. which is what I thought originally! But nooo. my friend was all like, no way girl, its Kohaku! So I BELIEVED HER! AHHH!.But it's okay, it's cool. I'm not mad. (Valiantly ignores spasmodic eye twitching.) From now on, it'll be Kohaku. Sorry!
Oh. And someone said I spelled Chihiro wrong in the summary. Why didn't anyone tell me sooner!? Thank you, whoever pointed it out!
Last but not least: I don't own Spirited Away, (Does anyone know when it comes out on video?) (Ah! I can't wait!) and enjoy!
Spirited Back
By Rio Grande
Chapter Two: Tainted Spirits.
"You MUST go back," Kohaku insisted. "Things have changed, and now you're in grave danger!"
"Ah.heh. Kohaku, what are you talking about?" Chihiro asked, in as pleasant a voice as she could muster. Oh why oh why did things NEVER turn out the way she thought they would?
"Chihiro, I-" Kohaku started, his arms still placed firmly on her shoulders. Suddenly, his head whipped to the side, and he seemed to be looking out into the forest, eyes narrowed dangerously. Chihiro cautiously turned to look at what he was staring at, but found, not so surprisingly, absolutely nothing. Just the quiet forest, rustling with activity, dark and mysterious as ever. "We have to get out of here." Kohaku whispered fiercely.
"Whhaaaatt!" Chihiro wailed as she suddenly found herself being dragged along by Kohaku, into the deep woods themselves. However, unlike the woods that surrounded her home, this forest was different, magical. Chihiro could feel the mystical difference in the air, and she shivered at the feel of it. She hadn't realized she had missed feeling like this, like she could do anything if she tried hard enough, so much. "Kohaku, please tell me where we're going, and what's wrong!" Chihiro pleaded, struggling not to topple over and Kohaku swiftly and nimbly darted through the woods, just as graceful and powerful seeming as she remembered him being. If he didn't slow down, Chihiro didn't know how much longer it would be until she tripped over her own feet and broke something.
"There's a tainted spirit out there. Most likely after me. I don't think She knows you're here yet."
"Who? Yu-Baba?" Chihiro asked. She had thought she had settled things with that woman! She had been so sure!
"Hm, I wish." Kohaku cursed, pausing enough so that he could grab Chihiro under her knees and arms, to carry her the rest of the way. He obviously realized that Chihiro wasn't cut out for speed like that, and Chihiro was thankful for it, if not a little embarrassed that he was holding her so close.
Chihiro had never had a boyfriend before. She had never wanted one. And when she had first come to the bath-house, she had only been ten years old, and certainly not interested in things like that, especially not with her best friend, Haku. But now that she was older, and more mature, looking back on it. she and Kohaku HAD been pretty close. and he really was handsome. it was true that he hadn't aged at all since she last saw him, (Did spirits age?) but he had a sort of an ageless look. He could have been twelve years old, but at the same time, maybe seventeen.Well, however old, Chihiro suddenly found herself blushing deeply at the thought of Kohaku ever liking her like THAT! Yeah right, he was a river God! He probably didn't even know what a girlfriend was! And now was certainly not the time to be dwelling on such things. She turned her head so that the cool night wind blew her hair from her face, and she could get a better look at just where Kohaku was lifting her away to. However, everything just seemed to be a long dark blur. how fast were they going?!
Abruptly, Kohaku stopped in a clearing, with a small, gurgling creek running through it. He placed Chihiro down, not even out of breath, and looked back out into the distance. Worry lines were etched on his impossibly perfect face, and Chihiro collapsed to the mossy ground, still winded from running earlier. She looked up at him questioningly.
"Kohaku, what are we running away from?" Then it seemed that, for the first time, Kohaku realized that this might all be distressing the young girl very much, and he smiled down on her kindly.
"I'm sorry," he said softly. "I shouldn't have visited you tonight. I should have known you would have come to look for me. And on the full moon, when the spirit world is the most active! I was such a fool," he smiled bitterly. "But I had to see you. Sometimes. I just have to see you. Things are so painful around here." As flattered as she was that Kohaku just 'Had to see her', Chihiro was also terribly lost. Okay, there was definitely some unusual stuff going on in the Bath House, and it had Kohaku pretty upset. She didn't like that, generally. Now, the real question was, just what was wrong? And why wasn't he telling her?
"Kohaku, that's great, I've missed you too, but just WHAT is happening here? Crashing my boat? Running through the woods, some phantom woman who's after you...? I'm really confused here." Kohaku looked at her, taking one hand and running it through her hair, smiling warmly, as though he were reserving that grin, just for her. It made Chihiro feel strangely calmed, and immensely happy. There was a disconcerting, bubbly feeling in her chest.
"Someone new has taken over the bath-house," he said quietly.
"Who!?" Bubbly feeling? Gone.
"Lady Tiko. She." he considered which word could possibly describe this wretched woman. ".She's evil. And she's after me. By staying here with me, like this, you're putting yourself in grave danger. That's why you must leave. Go back to your world!" he encouraged. But Chihiro would have none of it. She shook her head firmly, the beginnings of tears forming in her sparkling eyes.
"No! Kohaku I wont leave you to be hunted down by some evil woman! Why would you think I'd abandon you? My best friend! We're still friends, aren't we?" Kohaku took Chihiro's hand, holding it tightly, his smooth voice doing wonders for her nerves.
"Of course. Always. But friends don't let friends get killed. And there's a tainted spirit coming this way. so I don't want you to be injured. Please, please listen to me. If you wont go home . follow this creek down as far as you can, stay along it, and when you reach the large tree at the end of it, knock three times on it's bark and ask to be let in. Don't look at me like that! I'll catch up with you as soon as I can, but until then it's up to you to stay out of trouble. These safe forests aren't what they once were, and if you get in trouble, I don't know if I'll be able to get to you in time. Do you understand?" By this point Chihiro was all out sobbing. This WASN'T how she imagined her trip back was going to be like. She felt as though she were in some sort of WAR movie, not her beloved spirit world! The hand Kohaku held in his own shook so badly he squeezed it tightly for comfort, his own heart wrenching at the sight of Chihiro so distressed.
But there it was . coming closer .
"Chihiro go! It's almost on top of us!" he ordered, letting go of her hand to stand in front of her protectively.
"No! I won't leave you!" she insisted, still shaking from head to toe, and still sitting on her butt.
"But you must! I promise we'll see each other again! Just go! Follow the creek!" he ordered.
"No way, that's what you said last time, and I didn't see you for FOUR YEARS!" she cried, really getting his attention. He turned his head back to her, his eyes filled with so much grief, she almost reconsidered the intelligence of saying those harsh things to him at a time like this.
"I'm so sorry I never came to see you," he said, his voice thick with anguish. "I wanted to. for all these years I wanted to, and I never forgave myself for watching you from afar like a coward. but now. if you get killed here? I don't know what I'll do. So, please, if not for your sake than for my heart, get out of here Chihiro. You don't deserve to be stuck in this battle."
His words held so much power, that Chihiro felt her legs get up and head towards the creek, moving on their own accord, it seemed. On some level, Chihiro knew that Kohaku was working his persuasive magic on her, and on another, she just felt compelled to do as he wished, so long as he stopped looking at her like that, as though he'd die if she were harmed in any way. She let out one last sob, before spinning on her heal and dashing away, following the narrow, twisting creek, as instructed, wincing as she heard an unearthly roar come from Kohaku's direction. That 'tainted spirit' he had referred to, had no doubt arrived.
The sounds of a battle followed her all the way through the woods, until she had, as Kohaku had guaranteed, reached a grand old oak tree at the base of the creek. The shimmering, icy water disappeared into the tree's roots, down into a possible cave underneath her. Chiharu hesitantly stepped forward, breathing hard yet again. Her cheeks were stained with dirty tear streaks, and grass stains practically covered the entire length of her body. No wonder Kohaku had wanted her to leave.
"Um. let me in! Please!" she tried, knocking three times on the trees hard, dark bark, thinking herself a little foolish for talking to a tree.
Of course, she felt immensely un-foolish as the tree's base quickly swung open, nearly taking Chihiro's nose off as it did so. She squeaked and backed up, peering down into the long hole that was now waiting for her inside of the tree. It looked so long! Chihiro was considering maybe just NOT going into the tree, and waiting patiently BY the tree, for Kohaku to come back, (And he would come back.) when she heard a loud rustling sound off to the side.
She froze up, eyes wide, as she remembered what Kohaku had said about these woods no longer being the safe, natural haven they once were, and him not being able to protect her just then. She made a whimpering sound, and decided to just do as Kohaku wanted her to, for once. She leapt into the tree, throwing caution to the wind as she felt herself fall down into the deep unknowns, screaming her head off. well, SHE had been the one who had wanted to come back!
"YEEEEEEEEEE-OUCH!" she cried, landing hard on her butt as she reached the end of the tunnel, feeling lucky that there was a stack of hay to break her fall, but sore none-the-less. Carefully cracking open her eyes to see where the tree had taken her, she took as much weight as she possibly could off her bruised behind. Unfortunately, she couldn't see anything. Her surroundings were completely shrouded in darkness, and she was seriously considering the intelligence of having not brought a flashlight with her. Oh well, knowing this place, it probably wouldn't have worked, in any case.
Someone struck a match.
Chihiro was suddenly met with the sight of three people, wearing the equivalent of modern day ski masks, holding spears at her throat, and not giving off ANY friendly vibes. Chihiro gulped and scurried backwards, feeling distressed as her back hit a brick wall.
"What are you doing here-human?" one of the people said, calling her human, once again, as though it were a major insult. It was the one holding the match that seemed to miraculously illuminate the entire room. Chihiro bit her lip and considered her next words carefully.
"Um. Kohaku told me to come here! I'm sorry, I didn't mean to barge into your home! Or anything." she said, trailing off as she wondered if anyone could really LIVE in a place like this. It was (Still) dark and dank, the walls all bricked up, with some earth seeping through the cracks. The floors were packed dirt, and there were boxes filled to the brim with random flotsam lined up all around the room. It looked like a bit of a storage closet, and there was an exit at the back, bright yellow light streaming through it. Chihiro curled her legs up to herself, swallowing hard.
"Se- I mean, Chihiro!?" One of the masked people cried, dropping their spear.
".Um, yeah, that's me." Chihiro offered cautiously, thinking the voice sounded strangely familiar. Quickly, the person ripped off their mask and threw themselves on Chihiro, engulfing her in a large bear hug that caught the girl off guard.
It was Rin!
"Chihiro! It's really you, I can't believe you're back!" she cried happily, body shaking with joyful laughter. Chihiro smiled too and hugged Rin back.
"Oh my gosh! Rin! I'm so happy to see you! I thought- well I don't really know what I thought, but I never thought I'd see you here!" Chihiro exclaimed cheerfully, happy to see yet another familiar face.
The other two 'villains' removed their masks too, revealing them to be friendly yuna* from the bathhouse. They smiled broadly and seemed to recognize Chihiro as well. Chihiro supposed she was pretty well known at the bathhouse, and felt all tingly inside at the thought of it. It was as though, in some way, they were all extended family, just waiting for her to come back into their lives. Or maybe she was just being sentimental.
"What were you thinking? Never visiting like that?" Rin asked, stepping back to put her hands on her hips, mock disapprovingly.
"I'm sorry! I tried, but I couldn't find my way back here!" Chihiro said, earnestly. At this Rin threw her head back, letting out ripe peels of laughter, genuinely amused.
"That's so sad, I believe it! It would be very Chihiro-like of you." Rin admitted. The yuna nodded in agreement, and Chihiro blushed a little.
"Umm. good?" she offered. Rin laughed again, and took Chihiro by the arm.
"Come on, what are we standing here for? There's places to go, people to see! Let's get you re-introduced to everyone!" Rin said, throwing her arm around Chihiro's shoulders. Chihiro nodded and smiled expectantly, but at the same time, she was thinking a mile per minute, still trying to work things out in her head.
First off, as overwhelmingly happy as she was to see Rin again, there was still the matter of Kohaku, up above her now, fighting that 'tainted sprit', an enemy she had never seen. She felt her heart tighten at the very thought of it, and her lips began to tremble ominously. She quickly stilled them, crying wasn't going to help anyone, and in her heart, she knew Kohaku would be able to take care of himself. She just would have been able to rest easier if he had let her stay with him. help him.
Second of all, she was clueless as to where Rin was leading her, and something smelled funny about the whole situation.
"But Rin," she finally had to ask. "Why aren't you at Aburya?" And why are you living in a tree? She wanted to ask, as well. Rin's all powerful and content grin faltered slightly, her eyes fogging over with some sort of unpleasant emotion, and, since Chihiro was just too happy seeing her old friend, she quickly wished she hadn't brought the subject up. There was obviously dark happenings going on beneath the surface of her Spirit world, and she was just beginning to scratch away at them. How much had changed? How much had stayed the same?
"Why don't we talk about that later, after you've seen everything. It will all make much more sense then," Rin said, leading Chihiro into the light, and revealing to the fourteen year old just what was underneath the innocent looking tree.
"Oh. wow." Chihiro got out, eyes almost popping out of her head, and all thoughts of Kohaku momentarily leaving her thoughts.
Below her, above her, in front of her, were houses, platforms, streets, haphazardly created stores, and people, all squished into warm corners and walls in the cozy looking expanse of space underground. All of the floor was dirt packed, but there were some cemented roads. And the walls were plastered and solid somehow. There were many platforms (such as the one Chihiro found herself to be standing on.) jutting out from them, with buildings on THOSE surfaces too. It made for a very complex and multi- leveled city. The whole place looked notably crowded, and quickly thrown together, purely for. survival.
"Rin?" Chihiro asked, as lost as ever. Rin didn't say anything though, just smiled pleasantly, and led Chihiro off the platform, down some stairs, with the yuna trailing behind them. Chihiro took cautious steps, still looking all around her with wonder in her eyes. It was like. some sort of Alice in Wonderland world, or a bustling ancient city.
Chihiro padded along the dirt streets with Rin, holding onto the woman's arm like a scared child, afraid if she didn't, the roaring crowds would swallow her up and she'd be lost forever in this shanty-town maze. Rin's placating smile was still in effect though, and Chihiro felt safer because of it.
As they walked quickly through a market, the fascinated Chihiro took time to glance into every cart, spotting many random spirit merchandise that baffled her, and her little mortal mind. While some of the goods looked admittedly magical and foreign, some of the merchandise just plain useless. Hundreds of pots of water? (Well, that wasn't USELESS, though it did seem a bit excessive.) Dirt? And rubber gloves? Why would spirits need a surplus of these things? And why was everyone eagerly stocking up?
"Look everyone, it's SEN!" someone cried from the crowd. Immediately, there was a mass turning of heads, as everyone in the market place, it seemed, came to stare directly at the scared Chihiro, Rin, next to her, sighing with agitation. Oh well, she should have seen this coming.
"WOW! I never thought she'd come back!"
"It's been so long!"
"Remember how brave she was with that filthy monster?"
"Sen, you were so courageous!"
"Where have you been? In the mortal world?"
"How is it? Do you smell like a human?"
"Ha! Sen could never smell like a human, she's the bravest and most caring thing I've ever met!"
Chihiro felt a heated blush rise to her cheeks, and she stared carefully at her feet. She hadn't realized she was THIS popular. These people really admired her, had really missed her! She wished she had come back sooner. though a little part of her was still reminding her that while she might be pleased over the fact that she was a celebrity now, something evil was happening at the same time. Something she had to fix. This was all just the icing on the cake, and she had this gut feeling that she hadn't just been re-invited to the spirit domain to converse with old buddies . of course, that didn't mean she couldn't enjoy it!
"Don't let this go to your head," Rin advised her, softly. Chihiro let out a guilty laugh, as Rin began to tug her along. They had places to go.
"Thanks everyone, I've missed you so much! I'll see you all later!" Chihiro called as she was led away. Faces she saw in the crowd were mainly more yuna, and some male bath house workers, and even that frog she had met before! It was so great to see everyone! She gave them her best smile, and then quickly trotted off with Rin, feeling slightly relieved as they broke through the crowd and could more easily obtain oxygen again.
"Aren't you the social butterfly," Rin teased, bringing Chihiro through an alley, past a curtain that hung across it, down some cold, stone steps, past a heavily locked door, and, finally, into a perfectly normal room with dim lighting, a sparse amount of furniture, and a poofy looking rug, that was as soft as puppy fur. Chihiro collapsed into a chair, throwing her head back, and exhaling.
"Whoo! You should warn me next time we do something like that. I don't think I've ever seen anything so amazing Rin! This whole underground town is- Oh my GOD!" she cried, head snapping back up.
"What?" Rin asked, worried.
"Kohaku! He's still out there! He told me to come here to stay safe. but he's still up there fighting a . a. tainted spirit!" Chihiro explained, her face ashen, as she kneeled in front of Rin, tears threatening to form in her wide eyes once again. Rin smiled kindly and tucked a lock of hair behind Chihiro's ear.
"He'll be fine. That dragon boy can take care of himself, he probably just didn't want to have to watch out for you when he was fighting. If it's just one tainted spirit. he'll be joining us soon enough." Rin said, confidently, throwing her ski mask onto a chair with her long dark robe, leaving her in a smaller and simpler pale yellow robe, and sandals. She turned around and skipped over to the fireplace, which Chihiro hadn't noticed was crackling away in the corner. Rin put a pot over it, acting very calm and controlled, while Chihiro was having a nervous breakdown of sorts. She needed to know what the Hell was going on!!
"Tea?" Rin offered.
"RIN!" Chihiro cried.
"All right, all right. I'll tell you everything; even though I'm sure Kohaku would have wanted to be here, that silly boy. I'll tell you anyway, since you're so insistent, and I'm sure you're also terrified." Well, Chihiro couldn't argue with her there.
After kettle was firmly placed over the fire, Rin turned around to grab a rolled up piece of parchment off a shelf. Chihiro sat back down, and began fidgeting with the hem of her large, sunny face shirt. Which was still all she was wearing. Quickly, Rin snapped the parchment out, and laid in across the table in front of Chihiro. The girl stared down at it with some degree of interest. It looked like a map of the Spirit World! She remembered the towns labeled on it from her train stops, when she had gone to visit Granny.
"It's a map," Chihiro acknowledged.
"Yes," Rin agreed. "And everything coated in red has already been tainted. The blue area belongs to the spirits." There was a long, hefty pause, as Chihiro tried to fully comprehend what Rin was telling her.
". There's a lot of red area."
"It's about equal between the red and blue."
"Rin! Can we please elaborate here? What's with this 'tainted' business, and don't the spirits own ALL of the SPIRIT land?" Chihiro asked, cheeks flushed with emotion.
"Correction, they USED to own it all," Rin informed her grimly.
"What happened? When did this . tainted . ness . start taking over? Is there some sort of war going on within the spirit world?" the girl asked softly. Oh no, her friends . had they been going through all this, alone, all this time? Rin's eyes narrowed thoughtfully, as she too, stared at the large map, of which she kept constantly updated, even though she could never actually partake in the battles that went on outside Aburya's property .
"You could say that," she admitted. "It all started about three and half years ago, now. only a little bit after you left us."
"Things were going great. Yu-Baba was acting like a normal person, instead of a money driven tyrant, I was really saving up for my own train ticket to get out of the bathhouse, Kamajii hadn't complained in a long while, which always meant things were going incredibly well, Kohaku was preparing to leave us as and start his own life, with you, I'd assume, everyone was feeling liberated and happy, and all thanks to you, at that. Do you know you're a bit of a celebrity around here?" the woman got out, almost all in one breath.
"Hadn't noticed," Chihiro sighed sarcastically, her heart still beating rapidly from that last note about Kohaku. Had he really planned to come stay with her? Live with her? Forever? For the love of God, what had stopped him?!
"Well, anyway, like I said, things were good. Our business was even doing well again. So well, in fact. that soon we attracted the attention of a particularly vile and wicked demon. Even now we're not exactly sure what classification of demon she is, since she keeps her face and true form wrapped in spells of illusion. but the people called her, from the very start . Lady Tiko." Chihiro's eyes widened
"Kohaku mentioned her! He said she was evil! And that she might come looking for me, or something!" she squeaked. Rin nodded gravely.
"That she might. She has a . thing . about mortals, you know. However, she has an even bigger thing about spirits. She hates them."
"She does?"
"Yes, and now she owns the bathhouse." Rin added.
"But why would she take over the bath house if!?-"
"I'll get there. Let's just start from the beginning. That taking place, one day, when she just waltzed in with all of her silks and fur, a literal tornado of jewels, and over threw Yu-Baba. Just like that, a wave of her hand, and poof, the old woman was gone." Rin said, emotionlessly, sounding much as though she had told this story one too many times before.
"Is she dead!?" Chihiro cried fearfully, thinking not only of old Yu- Baba, but of the poor, now motherless baby.
"No. She's not. Tiko has her somewhere, I'm almost positive, along with Granny," Rin assured the tearful looking Chihiro. Chihiro didn't whether to be relieved, or even more distressed by this news, so she settled for being morbidly fascinated. Rin continued, playing with her long, silky dark hair as she talked.
"She was a slave driver. Even worse than Yu-Baba! If you can imagine that," Rin laughed, though there was anything but humor in her tone. "And on top of it all, she was adding her own concoctions to the bath water mixes. We figured it was a little personal quirk, and even though we were highly suspicious of her after she had overthrown Yu-Baba as she did, we didn't really have the gall to question her. none of us. Except possibly Kohaku. He really did question her, and is still paying dearly for it."
"In truth, I guess, Kohaku was smarter than the rest of us, to spot it so early on. He suspected that Lady Tiko was doing some sketchy workings with our bath water that was eventually affecting our customers, in negative ways. Can you imagine? We couldn't. But Kohaku had his proof, and he went to confront the still new, and quiet Lady Tiko about his suspicions. Seeing how sharp, and powerful he was, and just how much evidence he had that she had been tampering with things that she had no right to, apparently, Lady Tiko flipped. Attacked him. Revealed a bit of her real, fearsome power. Kohaku was barely able to fend her off, and even when he did manage to escape, he was banished, and after that, hunted down by some of lady Tiko's men. She has her own entourage, did I tell you? Creepy, ghost like men, wearing black robs and carrying long glaives. they hunted Kohaku down like dogs for the longest time. though mostly now Tiko just sends tainted spirits out . which is a good thing too, because Tiko's ghost men are SCARY, let me tell you. Tainted spirits look like kittens compared to them."
"As it would turn out, Kohaku was right. Lady Tiko WAS tampering with the bath water, and not to make it smell better, either. She was infecting it, polluting it. And after a time, anyone who used it, soaked in it, turned into a terrible, disgusting and brainless monster. We now call them tainted spirits." Rin said, her voice dark and low. Chihiro gasped, biting her nails. This sounded like a camp horror story, not real life!
"But your customers!"
"I know. and soon, when we found out the horrid truth, other Aburya workers began to question Tiko's authority, her judgment, like Kohaku had. We saw what her water was doing to spirits, how they went insane, how they died! They look like demons Chihiro. repulsive demons. However, when a lot of us banned together to start a resistance, trying valiantly to overthrow her, and get Yu-Baba back. she retaliated. Many were killed, though just as many escaped. This was when the real war started. Most of the workers at the Aburya quit, and joined up in the forests, living there and watching the bathhouse, as our forest, and Spirit world in general soon came to be effected by tainted spirits, starting more than a bathhouse rebellion, but a much larger problem."
"Why don't people just TELL those spirits to stop coming to the bathhouse!?" Chihiro asked, her fists clenched, her eyes burning with fury. NOW she knew why Kohaku hated Lady Toki. This was disgusting.
"We can't. We're trapped." Rin said simply.
"In here!?" Chihiro gasped, eyes wide.
"Yep."
"But Kohaku came to see me in the human world!"
"Well sure, we could travel to the human word. but what good would that do?"
"I-I don't know. but it could do something!"
"No," Rin said, sadly, shaking her head, her pretty face slightly depressing to watch as it became darker, more upset. "It wouldn't do anything. And Lady Tiko purposely has us trapped this way. So that we can watch as everything dies a slow, agonizing death. Pretty soon there were battles going on all over the spirit world, fighting off armies of Lady Toki's tainted spirits, who infected other, pure spirits, just by touching them, and starting epidemics. Which, of course, urged spirits to come back to the bathhouse, and 'clean themselves'."
"Oh no."
"It was a vicious circle, and we could do nothing but watch in horror as the situation got worse and worse, the slightly odd, cold bathhouse owner we had once known, becoming a leader of her very own, dark army. She was, and still is, too powerful for us to confront head on, so in an effort to do our part for the war, we have been doing small things. Like building up our own armies of people who were left from the bathhouse, in underground cities, such as this one. We do little things, subtle things, to sabotage Tiko's bathhouse. Like mucking up the water supplies, getting people make a scene so that the customers will become angry and leave, even sinking the spirit ferry before it can make it across the river."
"But. that's just what Kohaku did to MY boat!" Chihiro said, realization crashing down around her with such a force she found herself breathing hard, even though she was sitting down. Everything was starting to make sense now, in a terribly, disturbing way.
"I figured he'd be trying that again tonight, it's been a while since he attempted a ferry sinking. Tiko usually catches on to our ploys, and if we try them to much, she'll send her ghost men, who are ten times worse than tainted spirits, over to stop us. We loose men that way." she admitted.
"Kohaku and I must have been lucky then, to only have one tainted spirit chasing after us, then," Chihiro determined, folding he arms. How could something like this have happened!? "You know, it looks like Tiko has taken over a whole lot of land," she added, referring to the map.
"She definitely has. And no one even knows it's HER doing all of this, since no one knows the tainted spirits were her perverted idea. Don't underestimate tainted spirits, they can be powerful when in large numbers."
"This is too frustrating! Why hasn't someone suspected the bathhouse yet? Someone should have noticed." Chihiro groaned, rubbing her head. Rin shrugged.
"Well, once your infected, it takes a while for the 'poison', to run its course, so it could be weeks after you left the bathhouse before you transform. And even then, already tainted spirits can spread the sickness just as fast as the bathhouse, so people usually assume they've just encountered something by a tainted spirit, and caught the disease that way."
"But that's so FRUSTRATING!" Chihiro whined, fighting off the urge to pull her hair out.
"YOU'RE telling ME it's frustrating? Try living with it for three years, knowing that every day, there are spirits out there, possibly friends and family, being killed by that bitch's hoards. Everyone out there's confused as to why this is happening to them, who's controlling this mysterious enemy, and helpless to stop it. Our world is polluted Chihiro. And it's only getting worse. Everyday I pray for a way to stop this," Rin admitted softly. It was then and there that Chihiro made a very important decision.
"I'm going to help." she said resolutely, eyes hardening, as she looked up to stare at Rin. Rin looked a little startled, and was about to say something, when the teakettle began to whistle, demanding attention.
"Kohaku wont like this. He's very protective of you, you know. Even now, after all these years. he's never once forgotten you, and isn't likely to let you risk your life for a battle you have no part in," Rin said, wisely, as she stood, and approached the fire.
"I know he's not going to like it," Chihiro agreed heartily. "But I DO have a part in this battle. I have a lot of friends here, and I'm not going to let them all be killed by some mentally deranged woman, who's messing with this world. I wont stand for it," she said, stomping her foot on the ground for emphasis. Smiling, Rin shook her head as she poured two cups of tea.
"You have such a big heart, you know it?" Rin mentioned softly. "And I DO believe you'll anything you possibly can, to help. And I know you'll make a difference," Chihiro blushed, staring at her feet, her steam sort of lost now.
"Don't talk about me like I'm so great," she requested.
"But you ARE great! Do you know what it means to us, all of us, to have you back here? You're like the prodigy girl who got her own freedom, not to mention OURS, just by being who she was." Rin handed Chihiro the cup of tea, and the girl thanked her softly, still embarrassed out of her mind. "Everyone still talks about you, tell their kids stories of your adventures. Even if things all went to hell after you left, that wasn't YOUR fault, and the people of Aburya can never forget how heroic you were," Rin said, enjoying Chihiro's discomfiture, apparently.
"Oh jeez." It was just as Rin had begun to chuckle lightly, rolling the map back up, when there was a harsh knock at the door.
"Who could that be?" Rin wondered, putting the map away. Chihiro tensed, obviously excepting there to be a roaring, violent tainted spirit at the door, after all she had just heard. Rin saw her stiff posture and shook her head. "Don't worry, we're as safe in this town as you would be in the human world,"
".Okay," Chihiro said, still cautious. One could never be to prepared, was how she'd found it.
"Rin!!" a high-pitched, excited voice sounded from the doorway.
"Kita?" Rin asked, letting a little yuna enter the room. Chihiro immediately sighed and relaxed her guard. Maybe she was just a wee bit high strung just then. But not without good reason! From what Rin had just told her, it sounded like the spirit world was in total chaos.
"Rin, I have a message for you, it's from Mr. Kohaku!" Kita the yuna squeaked. She was a small, fish like looking thing, with a cute pink kimono and wide, innocent eyes. Chihiro leapt to her feet at Kita's announcement.
"Kohaku?" she gasped. "Where is he? What did he say? Is he all right? Why isn't he here!" she yelled, flustered.
"Chihiro calm down, I'm sure everything is all right, and you're scaring Kita!" Rin said, shaking her head, and watching the little yuna stare with apparent morbid fascination at Chihiro. Poor thing had probably never seen a human before. She was very young.
"Is that.?" Kita asked, breathlessly.
"Yes. Kita, I would like you to meet Chihiro, THE Chihiro." Rin added, tauntingly.
"Oh, my!" Kita gasped, rushing towards Chihiro, and taking the girl's hand in her own, smaller one. She looked very thrilled to be meeting the girl her parents had told her so much about, and who was totally responsible for the liberation of the Aburya workers all those years ago. "It's such an honor to meet you!"
"You too," Chihiro said, out of lack of better things to say. What was she supposed to do? It was great that Kita was happy to meet her, but, on the other hand, she really wanted to know what Kohaku's message was. On this one, Rin helped her out.
"Kita, I think we'll have time for formalities later. Why don't you just tell us this important message from Mr. Kohaku for now?" she suggested sweetly. Kita nodded, standing back, and making herself looking very important.
"Mr. Kohaku says, and I quote:" she started out in her little voice, sounding amusingly important, "'Tell Chihiro and Rin I wont be able to come back home until a later date. Something has come up of a grave nature. Rin, please continue with all plans that have been discussed earlier, and keep an eye on Chihiro for me until I get back. Chihiro. I am truly sorry.' Un- quote!" she chirped happily. Rin looked vaguely worried, and was stroking her chin . while Chihiro looked totally crushed, eyes wide as she collapsed back down onto her chair. She clenched her fists, feeling as though she had just been doused with a cold bucket of water, as she furiously gnawed on her lip.
"He lied again," she said softly. "He told me he would come back and he didn't . he's such . he's such a." she was gasping now, a small sob threatening to burst from her throat. She knew she was being childish, unreasonable, and was perfectly aware that something important that needed Kohaku's attention probably really DID come up, and that he truly needed to be wherever he was. but . for some reason, this knowledge was doing little to comfort Chihiro. "He's such a jerk!" she cried, startling Rin and Kita both, as she bolted from her seat and dashed out of door, before Rin could make a move to stop her.
"Chihiro!" Rin cried, chasing after the girl, and cursing the child's speed. She had forgotten how damned fast she was. "Chihiro come back!!"
But Rin's words didn't even make it to the fourteen year old's ears, as she dashed down allies, streets, turned corners, pushed through crowds, tears streaming down her face, and making her feel like that little girl all over again. blindly stumbling through the spirit world, lost and alone, confused and shocked.
She hated him.
*
"Hello? Hello there? Child? Say something," an old, withered voice croaked from above her.
"Hm?." Chihiro mumbled, reluctantly lifting her head, to see who was incessantly shaking her shoulder, and forcing her awake.
"Why, good lord! You're a human!" the old, withered spirit gasped, looking immensely fascinated.
Chihiro didn't even bother to respond to that statement, as the answer was quite plainly obvious, as she cracked her eyes open, and fully inspected her surroundings. Where was she?. she remembered running for a while, getting lost in crowds, and just lost in general, all the while thinking about Kohaku, and how angry she was with him. She experimentally flexed her toes, wincing as she found the bottoms of her feet to be thoroughly sore and calloused, even though she had been wearing sneakers the entire time. She just wasn't cut out for all this running . heck, it was starting to look as though she wasn't cut out for the spirit world in general.
"I'm so weak," she sighed, quietly.
"Oh, why would you say something like that, young one? It looks as though you're just in a spot of trouble. Nothing to make a mess of yourself over. Why don't you come in, and we can talk about it?" the old spirit offered, grasping Chihiro's hand, in an attempt to help her up off the cold, dirt packed ground. The girl rubbed a stray tear from her eye, and did as he asked. Ordinarily, she didn't feel comfortable being taken in by strangers, however the usual rules for Earth didn't seem to apply to the spirit world, and she felt totally confident that this old spirit wouldn't hurt her. She let herself be led out of the cold darkness of the late night, almost morning, (Had she really only been in the spirit world for one night so far.? It felt as though she had done so much, although she had forgotten that spirits were creatures of the night, by nature, and did most everything during this time of day.) and into a cozy looking little shop, where this old man seemed to sell a variety of useless trinkets, and other things she had seen merchants sell on the streets before, that still made no sense to her. Like shelves full of clear water, and rubber gloves.
"Now, why don't you sit down here, and I'll get you a nice cup of water, hm?" the old man, who was wearing a straggly old brown coat, offered, turning around and hobbling off to get a cup. Chihiro nodded numbly, and stared down at her hands, simply letting herself be babied.
Things had really taken a turn for the worst. She. she hadn't been expecting everything to be so chaotic in the spirit world, so different. She had just assumed all of her friends would simply stay the same, and never change if she wasn't there to help things along, like a never-ending dream that revolved around her convenience. Of course, that was just a self- indulgent way of looking at things. These people, her friends, had real lives, and just because she wasn't there to experience these things with them, didn't mean they wouldn't go on experiencing them, with or without her.
'I've been so naïve..' she admitted, her eyes slowly watering over again. The old man hobbled back over, a cup of cold water in his hand.
"Oh, my, dear, you're crying again, what's wrong?" he asked, his eyebrows furrowing together, as he looked generally worried for the girl. Chihiro took the water, sipping it shakily as her lips trembled, and her face scrunched up into an upset expression.
"N-n-nothing," she choked out, trying to swallow the water, which was, admittedly, doing wonders for her abused throat.
But she was lying again. Everything was wrong. It distressed her that her friends, her good hearted, strong friends should be forced into such a horrible position with this war, and that they should all have to go through the terrible things they went through everyday, fighting for survival, and not to be caught by that woman . Lady Tiko. She was the embodiment of evil, it seemed, through the girl's eyes, and a variable she had not seen coming into the equation, ever. Who would be so totally evil? It didn't seem as though this woman had a shred of goodness in her, she was just a sick excuse for a person. And that scared Chihiro.
And what about Kohaku? She was most definitely not having the happy reunion with her best friend she had hoped to, and now he, the River God, had broken his promise to her, again. Could Gods even break promises? Was it physically possible? Apparently so, and Chihiro felt a cold claw grip her heart now, whenever she thought of him. Why would he abandon her like this, when things were so messed up? When she needed him? She always felt so much safer when he was around.
'No, don't think about him! He can't help you anymore! You have to depend on yourself!' she thought, fiercely. And then, something else crossed her mind, something wholly disturbing, that she hadn't even considered when she had firmly told Rin she would do anything to help the spirit community win their war, but a few hours ago. 'I want to go home.'
This one thought started a literal avalanche of emotions, and soon Chihiro was sobbing again, the old spirit man looking distinctly uncomfortable, as he made little worried sounds, and patted Chihiro's back, awkwardly.
"Young one, girl. please stop crying, and tell old Tenchi what he can do to help . I can't help you stop crying if you wont tell me what's wrong," the man, apparently Tenchi, explained, piercing through Chihiro's haze of depression, and shedding some light on her. She was being childish. She had to stop.
'Last time I was this upset . was when I was her, in this world, and I lost my name to Yu-Baba, in order to save my parents . but last time . Kohaku helped me. He comforted me. And now I'm alone.' She thought, her sniffling pathetically. 'Of course, whose fault is that? YOU ran away from Rin.'
"Now, are you going to tell me what's wrong? Or are you going to sit here brooding all night?" Tenchi asked, taking Chihiro's hand. Chihiro studied Tenchi's old, curious and withered face for a moment, taking in his odd, slightly bohemian store, filled with the sweet sent of age old lilacs, and sandalwood. It felt good, reassuring, and it suddenly spurred Chihiro to take solace in this man, who was offering an ear, to listen to her pitiable little problems.
"I-I." she started, searching for the words that would most appropriately express the large hole that had been filled, and then quickly wrenched back open, leaving her gasping for air, in the past few hours. "It's the war." She settled for.
"Aye. yes, the war is a . terrible thing. What has you down then, a family member of yours been attacked? Transformed?" Tenchi guessed, his eyes so sympathetic Chihiro felt her heart rate begin to gradually return to normal. She took another small sip from her cup of water, that suddenly she realized had an odd, soothing sweet and energizing taste to it, sighing as it went down easier this time.
"No," she admitted. "It's just that, it's all happening so fast. I feel like everything's been turned upside down, and I'm scared. I want everything to be back to how it used to be . because I'm afraid my friends are going to get hurt," she had been feeling that way since the beginning, but now that she said it, it really struck home. What if one of her friends was killed, or transformed, and she couldn't help them? What would she do?
"I see . a bit of some emotional trauma there, then?" Tenchi asked, pulling up a chair to sit opposite of Chihiro now. "War always has a devastating effect on people. Some just can't take it. The violence, the raging emotions, the danger. But . we can't really help the way things are," he said, letting out a long, weary sigh, that spoke of the many terrible things he had seen personally, in his lifetime. "If we could stop this war, just end it and let things go back to the happy way they were, don't you think we'd do it? All of us? No one likes battles like these, especially the position we are in, personally, with these fights. Quite upsetting, quite." he mumbled darkly. Chihiro looked down, he was right. This must be very hard on everyone living in this cursed land now, unable to help loved ones outside Aburya's property. She was just a little human suffering from the shock of it all, but they had had to live with this for so much longer.
"What do you do? How do you go on, knowing everyone is in such peril?" she asked in a small voice. Tenchi seemed to consider this one for a minute, folding his knobby hands together contemplatively.
"Many people are torn apart by war, shell shocked, and can never recover from its stressful and wholly terrifying atmosphere. However, others are made stronger by it. They see how cruel and merciless it is, and can take from that experience, that they never want anyone else to have to endure what they went through, ever again. That they want to protect people from that terrible fate, and become strong hearted and fierce defenders. Better people. Courageous people. Of course, it's not easy becoming a braver person. You have to have your priorities straight, have a relatively strong heart to begin with , and something to love that will keep you going to matter what hand fate deals you," Tenchi said, looking deep into Chihiro's eyes. "Even if it means putting yourself at risk, to preserve other people, or even just future generations, some must go that distance to protect what they love. Do you see what I'm saying? How people can go on, as long as there's someone out there to protect?" Chihiro stared at old Tenchi with no small degree of awe. Everything he had said had really struck home. Really meant something to her . was she Kohaku's reason for going out and putting his life at risk?
'Could I have been blinded for my . love for Kohaku as well? I wasn't simply upset that he had abandoned me . I still have friends. I just was afraid HE would get hurt. But now I see . that sometimes you have to make sacrifices on your part to protect loved ones. I see why Kohaku had to do what he needed to do,' Her warm, large eyes suddenly hardened. 'But that doesn't mean I'm going to let him go through all this alone!'
Abruptly, she stood, slamming her cup of water down on the table beside her. Tenchi looked a bit startled, staring up at her now.
"Girl?" he asked, worried she might be angry with his response.
"You know something? You're absolutely right Tenchi. Not just war, but bad situations in general CAN make you into a stronger person, and I'm going to make sure I come out of all of this a better person!" she enthused, her old, exuberant self back. Tenchi smiled broadly as he saw an familiar light spark up in her eyes, one that he knew had always really been there. "And I'm also going to make sure the people I love aren't hurt! I meant what I said to Rin before, I'll do anything I can to help! And I'm not going to let Kohaku go either, I'll fight with him . I'll aid him with whatever he's doing! Because that's what friends do." she finished dramatically, paying no mind to the fact that Tenchi probably had no idea what she was talking about. Quickly turning back to Tenchi, who was still seated, and watching her with a slightly rye grin on his face, Chihiro smiled broadly for the old man, who she now felt oddly connected with, even though he still didn't even know her name. It didn't seem as though he needed to know it, though. He already knew her.
"Thank you, Tenchi!" she said, heading towards the door. "You've been such a help, I'm so glad I ran into you! I have to go back to Rin now, though, hopefully I'll see you around!" she said, gasping and dashing away, hoping that she would luckily stumble upon Rin's house again, even though she had absolutely no idea how to get back to the woman's place from . wherever it was she had come upon that night. A sanctuary, maybe, was what she could call Tenchi's little, run down shop.
"Oh, I think you might," Tenchi said, his deep green eyes, that moved like the ocean, twinkling with love. He closed them slowly, and when Chihiro turned the corner, loosing sight of the odd shop, it evaporated into the air, turning into nothingness, the only evidence of its existence a small dragon shaped design in the dirt, where it's door would have been.
*
Author's Notes:
Is this plot too weird, too annoying? I don't know how this is all going to turn out, officially, but I have a vague idea, and it's a wee bit weird. Okay, hungry now, have to go, bye! (Review! Review like your LIFE depends on it!)
Rio Grande.
BUT, first there are some critical misspellings I have to work with here. It has been pointed out to me that you spell it Kohaku, and not Ohaku. which is what I thought originally! But nooo. my friend was all like, no way girl, its Kohaku! So I BELIEVED HER! AHHH!.But it's okay, it's cool. I'm not mad. (Valiantly ignores spasmodic eye twitching.) From now on, it'll be Kohaku. Sorry!
Oh. And someone said I spelled Chihiro wrong in the summary. Why didn't anyone tell me sooner!? Thank you, whoever pointed it out!
Last but not least: I don't own Spirited Away, (Does anyone know when it comes out on video?) (Ah! I can't wait!) and enjoy!
Spirited Back
By Rio Grande
Chapter Two: Tainted Spirits.
"You MUST go back," Kohaku insisted. "Things have changed, and now you're in grave danger!"
"Ah.heh. Kohaku, what are you talking about?" Chihiro asked, in as pleasant a voice as she could muster. Oh why oh why did things NEVER turn out the way she thought they would?
"Chihiro, I-" Kohaku started, his arms still placed firmly on her shoulders. Suddenly, his head whipped to the side, and he seemed to be looking out into the forest, eyes narrowed dangerously. Chihiro cautiously turned to look at what he was staring at, but found, not so surprisingly, absolutely nothing. Just the quiet forest, rustling with activity, dark and mysterious as ever. "We have to get out of here." Kohaku whispered fiercely.
"Whhaaaatt!" Chihiro wailed as she suddenly found herself being dragged along by Kohaku, into the deep woods themselves. However, unlike the woods that surrounded her home, this forest was different, magical. Chihiro could feel the mystical difference in the air, and she shivered at the feel of it. She hadn't realized she had missed feeling like this, like she could do anything if she tried hard enough, so much. "Kohaku, please tell me where we're going, and what's wrong!" Chihiro pleaded, struggling not to topple over and Kohaku swiftly and nimbly darted through the woods, just as graceful and powerful seeming as she remembered him being. If he didn't slow down, Chihiro didn't know how much longer it would be until she tripped over her own feet and broke something.
"There's a tainted spirit out there. Most likely after me. I don't think She knows you're here yet."
"Who? Yu-Baba?" Chihiro asked. She had thought she had settled things with that woman! She had been so sure!
"Hm, I wish." Kohaku cursed, pausing enough so that he could grab Chihiro under her knees and arms, to carry her the rest of the way. He obviously realized that Chihiro wasn't cut out for speed like that, and Chihiro was thankful for it, if not a little embarrassed that he was holding her so close.
Chihiro had never had a boyfriend before. She had never wanted one. And when she had first come to the bath-house, she had only been ten years old, and certainly not interested in things like that, especially not with her best friend, Haku. But now that she was older, and more mature, looking back on it. she and Kohaku HAD been pretty close. and he really was handsome. it was true that he hadn't aged at all since she last saw him, (Did spirits age?) but he had a sort of an ageless look. He could have been twelve years old, but at the same time, maybe seventeen.Well, however old, Chihiro suddenly found herself blushing deeply at the thought of Kohaku ever liking her like THAT! Yeah right, he was a river God! He probably didn't even know what a girlfriend was! And now was certainly not the time to be dwelling on such things. She turned her head so that the cool night wind blew her hair from her face, and she could get a better look at just where Kohaku was lifting her away to. However, everything just seemed to be a long dark blur. how fast were they going?!
Abruptly, Kohaku stopped in a clearing, with a small, gurgling creek running through it. He placed Chihiro down, not even out of breath, and looked back out into the distance. Worry lines were etched on his impossibly perfect face, and Chihiro collapsed to the mossy ground, still winded from running earlier. She looked up at him questioningly.
"Kohaku, what are we running away from?" Then it seemed that, for the first time, Kohaku realized that this might all be distressing the young girl very much, and he smiled down on her kindly.
"I'm sorry," he said softly. "I shouldn't have visited you tonight. I should have known you would have come to look for me. And on the full moon, when the spirit world is the most active! I was such a fool," he smiled bitterly. "But I had to see you. Sometimes. I just have to see you. Things are so painful around here." As flattered as she was that Kohaku just 'Had to see her', Chihiro was also terribly lost. Okay, there was definitely some unusual stuff going on in the Bath House, and it had Kohaku pretty upset. She didn't like that, generally. Now, the real question was, just what was wrong? And why wasn't he telling her?
"Kohaku, that's great, I've missed you too, but just WHAT is happening here? Crashing my boat? Running through the woods, some phantom woman who's after you...? I'm really confused here." Kohaku looked at her, taking one hand and running it through her hair, smiling warmly, as though he were reserving that grin, just for her. It made Chihiro feel strangely calmed, and immensely happy. There was a disconcerting, bubbly feeling in her chest.
"Someone new has taken over the bath-house," he said quietly.
"Who!?" Bubbly feeling? Gone.
"Lady Tiko. She." he considered which word could possibly describe this wretched woman. ".She's evil. And she's after me. By staying here with me, like this, you're putting yourself in grave danger. That's why you must leave. Go back to your world!" he encouraged. But Chihiro would have none of it. She shook her head firmly, the beginnings of tears forming in her sparkling eyes.
"No! Kohaku I wont leave you to be hunted down by some evil woman! Why would you think I'd abandon you? My best friend! We're still friends, aren't we?" Kohaku took Chihiro's hand, holding it tightly, his smooth voice doing wonders for her nerves.
"Of course. Always. But friends don't let friends get killed. And there's a tainted spirit coming this way. so I don't want you to be injured. Please, please listen to me. If you wont go home . follow this creek down as far as you can, stay along it, and when you reach the large tree at the end of it, knock three times on it's bark and ask to be let in. Don't look at me like that! I'll catch up with you as soon as I can, but until then it's up to you to stay out of trouble. These safe forests aren't what they once were, and if you get in trouble, I don't know if I'll be able to get to you in time. Do you understand?" By this point Chihiro was all out sobbing. This WASN'T how she imagined her trip back was going to be like. She felt as though she were in some sort of WAR movie, not her beloved spirit world! The hand Kohaku held in his own shook so badly he squeezed it tightly for comfort, his own heart wrenching at the sight of Chihiro so distressed.
But there it was . coming closer .
"Chihiro go! It's almost on top of us!" he ordered, letting go of her hand to stand in front of her protectively.
"No! I won't leave you!" she insisted, still shaking from head to toe, and still sitting on her butt.
"But you must! I promise we'll see each other again! Just go! Follow the creek!" he ordered.
"No way, that's what you said last time, and I didn't see you for FOUR YEARS!" she cried, really getting his attention. He turned his head back to her, his eyes filled with so much grief, she almost reconsidered the intelligence of saying those harsh things to him at a time like this.
"I'm so sorry I never came to see you," he said, his voice thick with anguish. "I wanted to. for all these years I wanted to, and I never forgave myself for watching you from afar like a coward. but now. if you get killed here? I don't know what I'll do. So, please, if not for your sake than for my heart, get out of here Chihiro. You don't deserve to be stuck in this battle."
His words held so much power, that Chihiro felt her legs get up and head towards the creek, moving on their own accord, it seemed. On some level, Chihiro knew that Kohaku was working his persuasive magic on her, and on another, she just felt compelled to do as he wished, so long as he stopped looking at her like that, as though he'd die if she were harmed in any way. She let out one last sob, before spinning on her heal and dashing away, following the narrow, twisting creek, as instructed, wincing as she heard an unearthly roar come from Kohaku's direction. That 'tainted spirit' he had referred to, had no doubt arrived.
The sounds of a battle followed her all the way through the woods, until she had, as Kohaku had guaranteed, reached a grand old oak tree at the base of the creek. The shimmering, icy water disappeared into the tree's roots, down into a possible cave underneath her. Chiharu hesitantly stepped forward, breathing hard yet again. Her cheeks were stained with dirty tear streaks, and grass stains practically covered the entire length of her body. No wonder Kohaku had wanted her to leave.
"Um. let me in! Please!" she tried, knocking three times on the trees hard, dark bark, thinking herself a little foolish for talking to a tree.
Of course, she felt immensely un-foolish as the tree's base quickly swung open, nearly taking Chihiro's nose off as it did so. She squeaked and backed up, peering down into the long hole that was now waiting for her inside of the tree. It looked so long! Chihiro was considering maybe just NOT going into the tree, and waiting patiently BY the tree, for Kohaku to come back, (And he would come back.) when she heard a loud rustling sound off to the side.
She froze up, eyes wide, as she remembered what Kohaku had said about these woods no longer being the safe, natural haven they once were, and him not being able to protect her just then. She made a whimpering sound, and decided to just do as Kohaku wanted her to, for once. She leapt into the tree, throwing caution to the wind as she felt herself fall down into the deep unknowns, screaming her head off. well, SHE had been the one who had wanted to come back!
"YEEEEEEEEEE-OUCH!" she cried, landing hard on her butt as she reached the end of the tunnel, feeling lucky that there was a stack of hay to break her fall, but sore none-the-less. Carefully cracking open her eyes to see where the tree had taken her, she took as much weight as she possibly could off her bruised behind. Unfortunately, she couldn't see anything. Her surroundings were completely shrouded in darkness, and she was seriously considering the intelligence of having not brought a flashlight with her. Oh well, knowing this place, it probably wouldn't have worked, in any case.
Someone struck a match.
Chihiro was suddenly met with the sight of three people, wearing the equivalent of modern day ski masks, holding spears at her throat, and not giving off ANY friendly vibes. Chihiro gulped and scurried backwards, feeling distressed as her back hit a brick wall.
"What are you doing here-human?" one of the people said, calling her human, once again, as though it were a major insult. It was the one holding the match that seemed to miraculously illuminate the entire room. Chihiro bit her lip and considered her next words carefully.
"Um. Kohaku told me to come here! I'm sorry, I didn't mean to barge into your home! Or anything." she said, trailing off as she wondered if anyone could really LIVE in a place like this. It was (Still) dark and dank, the walls all bricked up, with some earth seeping through the cracks. The floors were packed dirt, and there were boxes filled to the brim with random flotsam lined up all around the room. It looked like a bit of a storage closet, and there was an exit at the back, bright yellow light streaming through it. Chihiro curled her legs up to herself, swallowing hard.
"Se- I mean, Chihiro!?" One of the masked people cried, dropping their spear.
".Um, yeah, that's me." Chihiro offered cautiously, thinking the voice sounded strangely familiar. Quickly, the person ripped off their mask and threw themselves on Chihiro, engulfing her in a large bear hug that caught the girl off guard.
It was Rin!
"Chihiro! It's really you, I can't believe you're back!" she cried happily, body shaking with joyful laughter. Chihiro smiled too and hugged Rin back.
"Oh my gosh! Rin! I'm so happy to see you! I thought- well I don't really know what I thought, but I never thought I'd see you here!" Chihiro exclaimed cheerfully, happy to see yet another familiar face.
The other two 'villains' removed their masks too, revealing them to be friendly yuna* from the bathhouse. They smiled broadly and seemed to recognize Chihiro as well. Chihiro supposed she was pretty well known at the bathhouse, and felt all tingly inside at the thought of it. It was as though, in some way, they were all extended family, just waiting for her to come back into their lives. Or maybe she was just being sentimental.
"What were you thinking? Never visiting like that?" Rin asked, stepping back to put her hands on her hips, mock disapprovingly.
"I'm sorry! I tried, but I couldn't find my way back here!" Chihiro said, earnestly. At this Rin threw her head back, letting out ripe peels of laughter, genuinely amused.
"That's so sad, I believe it! It would be very Chihiro-like of you." Rin admitted. The yuna nodded in agreement, and Chihiro blushed a little.
"Umm. good?" she offered. Rin laughed again, and took Chihiro by the arm.
"Come on, what are we standing here for? There's places to go, people to see! Let's get you re-introduced to everyone!" Rin said, throwing her arm around Chihiro's shoulders. Chihiro nodded and smiled expectantly, but at the same time, she was thinking a mile per minute, still trying to work things out in her head.
First off, as overwhelmingly happy as she was to see Rin again, there was still the matter of Kohaku, up above her now, fighting that 'tainted sprit', an enemy she had never seen. She felt her heart tighten at the very thought of it, and her lips began to tremble ominously. She quickly stilled them, crying wasn't going to help anyone, and in her heart, she knew Kohaku would be able to take care of himself. She just would have been able to rest easier if he had let her stay with him. help him.
Second of all, she was clueless as to where Rin was leading her, and something smelled funny about the whole situation.
"But Rin," she finally had to ask. "Why aren't you at Aburya?" And why are you living in a tree? She wanted to ask, as well. Rin's all powerful and content grin faltered slightly, her eyes fogging over with some sort of unpleasant emotion, and, since Chihiro was just too happy seeing her old friend, she quickly wished she hadn't brought the subject up. There was obviously dark happenings going on beneath the surface of her Spirit world, and she was just beginning to scratch away at them. How much had changed? How much had stayed the same?
"Why don't we talk about that later, after you've seen everything. It will all make much more sense then," Rin said, leading Chihiro into the light, and revealing to the fourteen year old just what was underneath the innocent looking tree.
"Oh. wow." Chihiro got out, eyes almost popping out of her head, and all thoughts of Kohaku momentarily leaving her thoughts.
Below her, above her, in front of her, were houses, platforms, streets, haphazardly created stores, and people, all squished into warm corners and walls in the cozy looking expanse of space underground. All of the floor was dirt packed, but there were some cemented roads. And the walls were plastered and solid somehow. There were many platforms (such as the one Chihiro found herself to be standing on.) jutting out from them, with buildings on THOSE surfaces too. It made for a very complex and multi- leveled city. The whole place looked notably crowded, and quickly thrown together, purely for. survival.
"Rin?" Chihiro asked, as lost as ever. Rin didn't say anything though, just smiled pleasantly, and led Chihiro off the platform, down some stairs, with the yuna trailing behind them. Chihiro took cautious steps, still looking all around her with wonder in her eyes. It was like. some sort of Alice in Wonderland world, or a bustling ancient city.
Chihiro padded along the dirt streets with Rin, holding onto the woman's arm like a scared child, afraid if she didn't, the roaring crowds would swallow her up and she'd be lost forever in this shanty-town maze. Rin's placating smile was still in effect though, and Chihiro felt safer because of it.
As they walked quickly through a market, the fascinated Chihiro took time to glance into every cart, spotting many random spirit merchandise that baffled her, and her little mortal mind. While some of the goods looked admittedly magical and foreign, some of the merchandise just plain useless. Hundreds of pots of water? (Well, that wasn't USELESS, though it did seem a bit excessive.) Dirt? And rubber gloves? Why would spirits need a surplus of these things? And why was everyone eagerly stocking up?
"Look everyone, it's SEN!" someone cried from the crowd. Immediately, there was a mass turning of heads, as everyone in the market place, it seemed, came to stare directly at the scared Chihiro, Rin, next to her, sighing with agitation. Oh well, she should have seen this coming.
"WOW! I never thought she'd come back!"
"It's been so long!"
"Remember how brave she was with that filthy monster?"
"Sen, you were so courageous!"
"Where have you been? In the mortal world?"
"How is it? Do you smell like a human?"
"Ha! Sen could never smell like a human, she's the bravest and most caring thing I've ever met!"
Chihiro felt a heated blush rise to her cheeks, and she stared carefully at her feet. She hadn't realized she was THIS popular. These people really admired her, had really missed her! She wished she had come back sooner. though a little part of her was still reminding her that while she might be pleased over the fact that she was a celebrity now, something evil was happening at the same time. Something she had to fix. This was all just the icing on the cake, and she had this gut feeling that she hadn't just been re-invited to the spirit domain to converse with old buddies . of course, that didn't mean she couldn't enjoy it!
"Don't let this go to your head," Rin advised her, softly. Chihiro let out a guilty laugh, as Rin began to tug her along. They had places to go.
"Thanks everyone, I've missed you so much! I'll see you all later!" Chihiro called as she was led away. Faces she saw in the crowd were mainly more yuna, and some male bath house workers, and even that frog she had met before! It was so great to see everyone! She gave them her best smile, and then quickly trotted off with Rin, feeling slightly relieved as they broke through the crowd and could more easily obtain oxygen again.
"Aren't you the social butterfly," Rin teased, bringing Chihiro through an alley, past a curtain that hung across it, down some cold, stone steps, past a heavily locked door, and, finally, into a perfectly normal room with dim lighting, a sparse amount of furniture, and a poofy looking rug, that was as soft as puppy fur. Chihiro collapsed into a chair, throwing her head back, and exhaling.
"Whoo! You should warn me next time we do something like that. I don't think I've ever seen anything so amazing Rin! This whole underground town is- Oh my GOD!" she cried, head snapping back up.
"What?" Rin asked, worried.
"Kohaku! He's still out there! He told me to come here to stay safe. but he's still up there fighting a . a. tainted spirit!" Chihiro explained, her face ashen, as she kneeled in front of Rin, tears threatening to form in her wide eyes once again. Rin smiled kindly and tucked a lock of hair behind Chihiro's ear.
"He'll be fine. That dragon boy can take care of himself, he probably just didn't want to have to watch out for you when he was fighting. If it's just one tainted spirit. he'll be joining us soon enough." Rin said, confidently, throwing her ski mask onto a chair with her long dark robe, leaving her in a smaller and simpler pale yellow robe, and sandals. She turned around and skipped over to the fireplace, which Chihiro hadn't noticed was crackling away in the corner. Rin put a pot over it, acting very calm and controlled, while Chihiro was having a nervous breakdown of sorts. She needed to know what the Hell was going on!!
"Tea?" Rin offered.
"RIN!" Chihiro cried.
"All right, all right. I'll tell you everything; even though I'm sure Kohaku would have wanted to be here, that silly boy. I'll tell you anyway, since you're so insistent, and I'm sure you're also terrified." Well, Chihiro couldn't argue with her there.
After kettle was firmly placed over the fire, Rin turned around to grab a rolled up piece of parchment off a shelf. Chihiro sat back down, and began fidgeting with the hem of her large, sunny face shirt. Which was still all she was wearing. Quickly, Rin snapped the parchment out, and laid in across the table in front of Chihiro. The girl stared down at it with some degree of interest. It looked like a map of the Spirit World! She remembered the towns labeled on it from her train stops, when she had gone to visit Granny.
"It's a map," Chihiro acknowledged.
"Yes," Rin agreed. "And everything coated in red has already been tainted. The blue area belongs to the spirits." There was a long, hefty pause, as Chihiro tried to fully comprehend what Rin was telling her.
". There's a lot of red area."
"It's about equal between the red and blue."
"Rin! Can we please elaborate here? What's with this 'tainted' business, and don't the spirits own ALL of the SPIRIT land?" Chihiro asked, cheeks flushed with emotion.
"Correction, they USED to own it all," Rin informed her grimly.
"What happened? When did this . tainted . ness . start taking over? Is there some sort of war going on within the spirit world?" the girl asked softly. Oh no, her friends . had they been going through all this, alone, all this time? Rin's eyes narrowed thoughtfully, as she too, stared at the large map, of which she kept constantly updated, even though she could never actually partake in the battles that went on outside Aburya's property .
"You could say that," she admitted. "It all started about three and half years ago, now. only a little bit after you left us."
"Things were going great. Yu-Baba was acting like a normal person, instead of a money driven tyrant, I was really saving up for my own train ticket to get out of the bathhouse, Kamajii hadn't complained in a long while, which always meant things were going incredibly well, Kohaku was preparing to leave us as and start his own life, with you, I'd assume, everyone was feeling liberated and happy, and all thanks to you, at that. Do you know you're a bit of a celebrity around here?" the woman got out, almost all in one breath.
"Hadn't noticed," Chihiro sighed sarcastically, her heart still beating rapidly from that last note about Kohaku. Had he really planned to come stay with her? Live with her? Forever? For the love of God, what had stopped him?!
"Well, anyway, like I said, things were good. Our business was even doing well again. So well, in fact. that soon we attracted the attention of a particularly vile and wicked demon. Even now we're not exactly sure what classification of demon she is, since she keeps her face and true form wrapped in spells of illusion. but the people called her, from the very start . Lady Tiko." Chihiro's eyes widened
"Kohaku mentioned her! He said she was evil! And that she might come looking for me, or something!" she squeaked. Rin nodded gravely.
"That she might. She has a . thing . about mortals, you know. However, she has an even bigger thing about spirits. She hates them."
"She does?"
"Yes, and now she owns the bathhouse." Rin added.
"But why would she take over the bath house if!?-"
"I'll get there. Let's just start from the beginning. That taking place, one day, when she just waltzed in with all of her silks and fur, a literal tornado of jewels, and over threw Yu-Baba. Just like that, a wave of her hand, and poof, the old woman was gone." Rin said, emotionlessly, sounding much as though she had told this story one too many times before.
"Is she dead!?" Chihiro cried fearfully, thinking not only of old Yu- Baba, but of the poor, now motherless baby.
"No. She's not. Tiko has her somewhere, I'm almost positive, along with Granny," Rin assured the tearful looking Chihiro. Chihiro didn't whether to be relieved, or even more distressed by this news, so she settled for being morbidly fascinated. Rin continued, playing with her long, silky dark hair as she talked.
"She was a slave driver. Even worse than Yu-Baba! If you can imagine that," Rin laughed, though there was anything but humor in her tone. "And on top of it all, she was adding her own concoctions to the bath water mixes. We figured it was a little personal quirk, and even though we were highly suspicious of her after she had overthrown Yu-Baba as she did, we didn't really have the gall to question her. none of us. Except possibly Kohaku. He really did question her, and is still paying dearly for it."
"In truth, I guess, Kohaku was smarter than the rest of us, to spot it so early on. He suspected that Lady Tiko was doing some sketchy workings with our bath water that was eventually affecting our customers, in negative ways. Can you imagine? We couldn't. But Kohaku had his proof, and he went to confront the still new, and quiet Lady Tiko about his suspicions. Seeing how sharp, and powerful he was, and just how much evidence he had that she had been tampering with things that she had no right to, apparently, Lady Tiko flipped. Attacked him. Revealed a bit of her real, fearsome power. Kohaku was barely able to fend her off, and even when he did manage to escape, he was banished, and after that, hunted down by some of lady Tiko's men. She has her own entourage, did I tell you? Creepy, ghost like men, wearing black robs and carrying long glaives. they hunted Kohaku down like dogs for the longest time. though mostly now Tiko just sends tainted spirits out . which is a good thing too, because Tiko's ghost men are SCARY, let me tell you. Tainted spirits look like kittens compared to them."
"As it would turn out, Kohaku was right. Lady Tiko WAS tampering with the bath water, and not to make it smell better, either. She was infecting it, polluting it. And after a time, anyone who used it, soaked in it, turned into a terrible, disgusting and brainless monster. We now call them tainted spirits." Rin said, her voice dark and low. Chihiro gasped, biting her nails. This sounded like a camp horror story, not real life!
"But your customers!"
"I know. and soon, when we found out the horrid truth, other Aburya workers began to question Tiko's authority, her judgment, like Kohaku had. We saw what her water was doing to spirits, how they went insane, how they died! They look like demons Chihiro. repulsive demons. However, when a lot of us banned together to start a resistance, trying valiantly to overthrow her, and get Yu-Baba back. she retaliated. Many were killed, though just as many escaped. This was when the real war started. Most of the workers at the Aburya quit, and joined up in the forests, living there and watching the bathhouse, as our forest, and Spirit world in general soon came to be effected by tainted spirits, starting more than a bathhouse rebellion, but a much larger problem."
"Why don't people just TELL those spirits to stop coming to the bathhouse!?" Chihiro asked, her fists clenched, her eyes burning with fury. NOW she knew why Kohaku hated Lady Toki. This was disgusting.
"We can't. We're trapped." Rin said simply.
"In here!?" Chihiro gasped, eyes wide.
"Yep."
"But Kohaku came to see me in the human world!"
"Well sure, we could travel to the human word. but what good would that do?"
"I-I don't know. but it could do something!"
"No," Rin said, sadly, shaking her head, her pretty face slightly depressing to watch as it became darker, more upset. "It wouldn't do anything. And Lady Tiko purposely has us trapped this way. So that we can watch as everything dies a slow, agonizing death. Pretty soon there were battles going on all over the spirit world, fighting off armies of Lady Toki's tainted spirits, who infected other, pure spirits, just by touching them, and starting epidemics. Which, of course, urged spirits to come back to the bathhouse, and 'clean themselves'."
"Oh no."
"It was a vicious circle, and we could do nothing but watch in horror as the situation got worse and worse, the slightly odd, cold bathhouse owner we had once known, becoming a leader of her very own, dark army. She was, and still is, too powerful for us to confront head on, so in an effort to do our part for the war, we have been doing small things. Like building up our own armies of people who were left from the bathhouse, in underground cities, such as this one. We do little things, subtle things, to sabotage Tiko's bathhouse. Like mucking up the water supplies, getting people make a scene so that the customers will become angry and leave, even sinking the spirit ferry before it can make it across the river."
"But. that's just what Kohaku did to MY boat!" Chihiro said, realization crashing down around her with such a force she found herself breathing hard, even though she was sitting down. Everything was starting to make sense now, in a terribly, disturbing way.
"I figured he'd be trying that again tonight, it's been a while since he attempted a ferry sinking. Tiko usually catches on to our ploys, and if we try them to much, she'll send her ghost men, who are ten times worse than tainted spirits, over to stop us. We loose men that way." she admitted.
"Kohaku and I must have been lucky then, to only have one tainted spirit chasing after us, then," Chihiro determined, folding he arms. How could something like this have happened!? "You know, it looks like Tiko has taken over a whole lot of land," she added, referring to the map.
"She definitely has. And no one even knows it's HER doing all of this, since no one knows the tainted spirits were her perverted idea. Don't underestimate tainted spirits, they can be powerful when in large numbers."
"This is too frustrating! Why hasn't someone suspected the bathhouse yet? Someone should have noticed." Chihiro groaned, rubbing her head. Rin shrugged.
"Well, once your infected, it takes a while for the 'poison', to run its course, so it could be weeks after you left the bathhouse before you transform. And even then, already tainted spirits can spread the sickness just as fast as the bathhouse, so people usually assume they've just encountered something by a tainted spirit, and caught the disease that way."
"But that's so FRUSTRATING!" Chihiro whined, fighting off the urge to pull her hair out.
"YOU'RE telling ME it's frustrating? Try living with it for three years, knowing that every day, there are spirits out there, possibly friends and family, being killed by that bitch's hoards. Everyone out there's confused as to why this is happening to them, who's controlling this mysterious enemy, and helpless to stop it. Our world is polluted Chihiro. And it's only getting worse. Everyday I pray for a way to stop this," Rin admitted softly. It was then and there that Chihiro made a very important decision.
"I'm going to help." she said resolutely, eyes hardening, as she looked up to stare at Rin. Rin looked a little startled, and was about to say something, when the teakettle began to whistle, demanding attention.
"Kohaku wont like this. He's very protective of you, you know. Even now, after all these years. he's never once forgotten you, and isn't likely to let you risk your life for a battle you have no part in," Rin said, wisely, as she stood, and approached the fire.
"I know he's not going to like it," Chihiro agreed heartily. "But I DO have a part in this battle. I have a lot of friends here, and I'm not going to let them all be killed by some mentally deranged woman, who's messing with this world. I wont stand for it," she said, stomping her foot on the ground for emphasis. Smiling, Rin shook her head as she poured two cups of tea.
"You have such a big heart, you know it?" Rin mentioned softly. "And I DO believe you'll anything you possibly can, to help. And I know you'll make a difference," Chihiro blushed, staring at her feet, her steam sort of lost now.
"Don't talk about me like I'm so great," she requested.
"But you ARE great! Do you know what it means to us, all of us, to have you back here? You're like the prodigy girl who got her own freedom, not to mention OURS, just by being who she was." Rin handed Chihiro the cup of tea, and the girl thanked her softly, still embarrassed out of her mind. "Everyone still talks about you, tell their kids stories of your adventures. Even if things all went to hell after you left, that wasn't YOUR fault, and the people of Aburya can never forget how heroic you were," Rin said, enjoying Chihiro's discomfiture, apparently.
"Oh jeez." It was just as Rin had begun to chuckle lightly, rolling the map back up, when there was a harsh knock at the door.
"Who could that be?" Rin wondered, putting the map away. Chihiro tensed, obviously excepting there to be a roaring, violent tainted spirit at the door, after all she had just heard. Rin saw her stiff posture and shook her head. "Don't worry, we're as safe in this town as you would be in the human world,"
".Okay," Chihiro said, still cautious. One could never be to prepared, was how she'd found it.
"Rin!!" a high-pitched, excited voice sounded from the doorway.
"Kita?" Rin asked, letting a little yuna enter the room. Chihiro immediately sighed and relaxed her guard. Maybe she was just a wee bit high strung just then. But not without good reason! From what Rin had just told her, it sounded like the spirit world was in total chaos.
"Rin, I have a message for you, it's from Mr. Kohaku!" Kita the yuna squeaked. She was a small, fish like looking thing, with a cute pink kimono and wide, innocent eyes. Chihiro leapt to her feet at Kita's announcement.
"Kohaku?" she gasped. "Where is he? What did he say? Is he all right? Why isn't he here!" she yelled, flustered.
"Chihiro calm down, I'm sure everything is all right, and you're scaring Kita!" Rin said, shaking her head, and watching the little yuna stare with apparent morbid fascination at Chihiro. Poor thing had probably never seen a human before. She was very young.
"Is that.?" Kita asked, breathlessly.
"Yes. Kita, I would like you to meet Chihiro, THE Chihiro." Rin added, tauntingly.
"Oh, my!" Kita gasped, rushing towards Chihiro, and taking the girl's hand in her own, smaller one. She looked very thrilled to be meeting the girl her parents had told her so much about, and who was totally responsible for the liberation of the Aburya workers all those years ago. "It's such an honor to meet you!"
"You too," Chihiro said, out of lack of better things to say. What was she supposed to do? It was great that Kita was happy to meet her, but, on the other hand, she really wanted to know what Kohaku's message was. On this one, Rin helped her out.
"Kita, I think we'll have time for formalities later. Why don't you just tell us this important message from Mr. Kohaku for now?" she suggested sweetly. Kita nodded, standing back, and making herself looking very important.
"Mr. Kohaku says, and I quote:" she started out in her little voice, sounding amusingly important, "'Tell Chihiro and Rin I wont be able to come back home until a later date. Something has come up of a grave nature. Rin, please continue with all plans that have been discussed earlier, and keep an eye on Chihiro for me until I get back. Chihiro. I am truly sorry.' Un- quote!" she chirped happily. Rin looked vaguely worried, and was stroking her chin . while Chihiro looked totally crushed, eyes wide as she collapsed back down onto her chair. She clenched her fists, feeling as though she had just been doused with a cold bucket of water, as she furiously gnawed on her lip.
"He lied again," she said softly. "He told me he would come back and he didn't . he's such . he's such a." she was gasping now, a small sob threatening to burst from her throat. She knew she was being childish, unreasonable, and was perfectly aware that something important that needed Kohaku's attention probably really DID come up, and that he truly needed to be wherever he was. but . for some reason, this knowledge was doing little to comfort Chihiro. "He's such a jerk!" she cried, startling Rin and Kita both, as she bolted from her seat and dashed out of door, before Rin could make a move to stop her.
"Chihiro!" Rin cried, chasing after the girl, and cursing the child's speed. She had forgotten how damned fast she was. "Chihiro come back!!"
But Rin's words didn't even make it to the fourteen year old's ears, as she dashed down allies, streets, turned corners, pushed through crowds, tears streaming down her face, and making her feel like that little girl all over again. blindly stumbling through the spirit world, lost and alone, confused and shocked.
She hated him.
*
"Hello? Hello there? Child? Say something," an old, withered voice croaked from above her.
"Hm?." Chihiro mumbled, reluctantly lifting her head, to see who was incessantly shaking her shoulder, and forcing her awake.
"Why, good lord! You're a human!" the old, withered spirit gasped, looking immensely fascinated.
Chihiro didn't even bother to respond to that statement, as the answer was quite plainly obvious, as she cracked her eyes open, and fully inspected her surroundings. Where was she?. she remembered running for a while, getting lost in crowds, and just lost in general, all the while thinking about Kohaku, and how angry she was with him. She experimentally flexed her toes, wincing as she found the bottoms of her feet to be thoroughly sore and calloused, even though she had been wearing sneakers the entire time. She just wasn't cut out for all this running . heck, it was starting to look as though she wasn't cut out for the spirit world in general.
"I'm so weak," she sighed, quietly.
"Oh, why would you say something like that, young one? It looks as though you're just in a spot of trouble. Nothing to make a mess of yourself over. Why don't you come in, and we can talk about it?" the old spirit offered, grasping Chihiro's hand, in an attempt to help her up off the cold, dirt packed ground. The girl rubbed a stray tear from her eye, and did as he asked. Ordinarily, she didn't feel comfortable being taken in by strangers, however the usual rules for Earth didn't seem to apply to the spirit world, and she felt totally confident that this old spirit wouldn't hurt her. She let herself be led out of the cold darkness of the late night, almost morning, (Had she really only been in the spirit world for one night so far.? It felt as though she had done so much, although she had forgotten that spirits were creatures of the night, by nature, and did most everything during this time of day.) and into a cozy looking little shop, where this old man seemed to sell a variety of useless trinkets, and other things she had seen merchants sell on the streets before, that still made no sense to her. Like shelves full of clear water, and rubber gloves.
"Now, why don't you sit down here, and I'll get you a nice cup of water, hm?" the old man, who was wearing a straggly old brown coat, offered, turning around and hobbling off to get a cup. Chihiro nodded numbly, and stared down at her hands, simply letting herself be babied.
Things had really taken a turn for the worst. She. she hadn't been expecting everything to be so chaotic in the spirit world, so different. She had just assumed all of her friends would simply stay the same, and never change if she wasn't there to help things along, like a never-ending dream that revolved around her convenience. Of course, that was just a self- indulgent way of looking at things. These people, her friends, had real lives, and just because she wasn't there to experience these things with them, didn't mean they wouldn't go on experiencing them, with or without her.
'I've been so naïve..' she admitted, her eyes slowly watering over again. The old man hobbled back over, a cup of cold water in his hand.
"Oh, my, dear, you're crying again, what's wrong?" he asked, his eyebrows furrowing together, as he looked generally worried for the girl. Chihiro took the water, sipping it shakily as her lips trembled, and her face scrunched up into an upset expression.
"N-n-nothing," she choked out, trying to swallow the water, which was, admittedly, doing wonders for her abused throat.
But she was lying again. Everything was wrong. It distressed her that her friends, her good hearted, strong friends should be forced into such a horrible position with this war, and that they should all have to go through the terrible things they went through everyday, fighting for survival, and not to be caught by that woman . Lady Tiko. She was the embodiment of evil, it seemed, through the girl's eyes, and a variable she had not seen coming into the equation, ever. Who would be so totally evil? It didn't seem as though this woman had a shred of goodness in her, she was just a sick excuse for a person. And that scared Chihiro.
And what about Kohaku? She was most definitely not having the happy reunion with her best friend she had hoped to, and now he, the River God, had broken his promise to her, again. Could Gods even break promises? Was it physically possible? Apparently so, and Chihiro felt a cold claw grip her heart now, whenever she thought of him. Why would he abandon her like this, when things were so messed up? When she needed him? She always felt so much safer when he was around.
'No, don't think about him! He can't help you anymore! You have to depend on yourself!' she thought, fiercely. And then, something else crossed her mind, something wholly disturbing, that she hadn't even considered when she had firmly told Rin she would do anything to help the spirit community win their war, but a few hours ago. 'I want to go home.'
This one thought started a literal avalanche of emotions, and soon Chihiro was sobbing again, the old spirit man looking distinctly uncomfortable, as he made little worried sounds, and patted Chihiro's back, awkwardly.
"Young one, girl. please stop crying, and tell old Tenchi what he can do to help . I can't help you stop crying if you wont tell me what's wrong," the man, apparently Tenchi, explained, piercing through Chihiro's haze of depression, and shedding some light on her. She was being childish. She had to stop.
'Last time I was this upset . was when I was her, in this world, and I lost my name to Yu-Baba, in order to save my parents . but last time . Kohaku helped me. He comforted me. And now I'm alone.' She thought, her sniffling pathetically. 'Of course, whose fault is that? YOU ran away from Rin.'
"Now, are you going to tell me what's wrong? Or are you going to sit here brooding all night?" Tenchi asked, taking Chihiro's hand. Chihiro studied Tenchi's old, curious and withered face for a moment, taking in his odd, slightly bohemian store, filled with the sweet sent of age old lilacs, and sandalwood. It felt good, reassuring, and it suddenly spurred Chihiro to take solace in this man, who was offering an ear, to listen to her pitiable little problems.
"I-I." she started, searching for the words that would most appropriately express the large hole that had been filled, and then quickly wrenched back open, leaving her gasping for air, in the past few hours. "It's the war." She settled for.
"Aye. yes, the war is a . terrible thing. What has you down then, a family member of yours been attacked? Transformed?" Tenchi guessed, his eyes so sympathetic Chihiro felt her heart rate begin to gradually return to normal. She took another small sip from her cup of water, that suddenly she realized had an odd, soothing sweet and energizing taste to it, sighing as it went down easier this time.
"No," she admitted. "It's just that, it's all happening so fast. I feel like everything's been turned upside down, and I'm scared. I want everything to be back to how it used to be . because I'm afraid my friends are going to get hurt," she had been feeling that way since the beginning, but now that she said it, it really struck home. What if one of her friends was killed, or transformed, and she couldn't help them? What would she do?
"I see . a bit of some emotional trauma there, then?" Tenchi asked, pulling up a chair to sit opposite of Chihiro now. "War always has a devastating effect on people. Some just can't take it. The violence, the raging emotions, the danger. But . we can't really help the way things are," he said, letting out a long, weary sigh, that spoke of the many terrible things he had seen personally, in his lifetime. "If we could stop this war, just end it and let things go back to the happy way they were, don't you think we'd do it? All of us? No one likes battles like these, especially the position we are in, personally, with these fights. Quite upsetting, quite." he mumbled darkly. Chihiro looked down, he was right. This must be very hard on everyone living in this cursed land now, unable to help loved ones outside Aburya's property. She was just a little human suffering from the shock of it all, but they had had to live with this for so much longer.
"What do you do? How do you go on, knowing everyone is in such peril?" she asked in a small voice. Tenchi seemed to consider this one for a minute, folding his knobby hands together contemplatively.
"Many people are torn apart by war, shell shocked, and can never recover from its stressful and wholly terrifying atmosphere. However, others are made stronger by it. They see how cruel and merciless it is, and can take from that experience, that they never want anyone else to have to endure what they went through, ever again. That they want to protect people from that terrible fate, and become strong hearted and fierce defenders. Better people. Courageous people. Of course, it's not easy becoming a braver person. You have to have your priorities straight, have a relatively strong heart to begin with , and something to love that will keep you going to matter what hand fate deals you," Tenchi said, looking deep into Chihiro's eyes. "Even if it means putting yourself at risk, to preserve other people, or even just future generations, some must go that distance to protect what they love. Do you see what I'm saying? How people can go on, as long as there's someone out there to protect?" Chihiro stared at old Tenchi with no small degree of awe. Everything he had said had really struck home. Really meant something to her . was she Kohaku's reason for going out and putting his life at risk?
'Could I have been blinded for my . love for Kohaku as well? I wasn't simply upset that he had abandoned me . I still have friends. I just was afraid HE would get hurt. But now I see . that sometimes you have to make sacrifices on your part to protect loved ones. I see why Kohaku had to do what he needed to do,' Her warm, large eyes suddenly hardened. 'But that doesn't mean I'm going to let him go through all this alone!'
Abruptly, she stood, slamming her cup of water down on the table beside her. Tenchi looked a bit startled, staring up at her now.
"Girl?" he asked, worried she might be angry with his response.
"You know something? You're absolutely right Tenchi. Not just war, but bad situations in general CAN make you into a stronger person, and I'm going to make sure I come out of all of this a better person!" she enthused, her old, exuberant self back. Tenchi smiled broadly as he saw an familiar light spark up in her eyes, one that he knew had always really been there. "And I'm also going to make sure the people I love aren't hurt! I meant what I said to Rin before, I'll do anything I can to help! And I'm not going to let Kohaku go either, I'll fight with him . I'll aid him with whatever he's doing! Because that's what friends do." she finished dramatically, paying no mind to the fact that Tenchi probably had no idea what she was talking about. Quickly turning back to Tenchi, who was still seated, and watching her with a slightly rye grin on his face, Chihiro smiled broadly for the old man, who she now felt oddly connected with, even though he still didn't even know her name. It didn't seem as though he needed to know it, though. He already knew her.
"Thank you, Tenchi!" she said, heading towards the door. "You've been such a help, I'm so glad I ran into you! I have to go back to Rin now, though, hopefully I'll see you around!" she said, gasping and dashing away, hoping that she would luckily stumble upon Rin's house again, even though she had absolutely no idea how to get back to the woman's place from . wherever it was she had come upon that night. A sanctuary, maybe, was what she could call Tenchi's little, run down shop.
"Oh, I think you might," Tenchi said, his deep green eyes, that moved like the ocean, twinkling with love. He closed them slowly, and when Chihiro turned the corner, loosing sight of the odd shop, it evaporated into the air, turning into nothingness, the only evidence of its existence a small dragon shaped design in the dirt, where it's door would have been.
*
Author's Notes:
Is this plot too weird, too annoying? I don't know how this is all going to turn out, officially, but I have a vague idea, and it's a wee bit weird. Okay, hungry now, have to go, bye! (Review! Review like your LIFE depends on it!)
Rio Grande.