Hey all!
First off, I would sincerely like to apologize for the terrible cliffhanger last time. It was cruel and uncalled for! But whatever, I thought it was cool. And look on the bright side: Now you get to find out what happens! Sweet relief! Sorry this took so long, but you know it was the holidays and crud.
PLEASE REVIEW!
The faster you review, the faster I work- it's the truth.
I don't own Spirited Away and enjoy. (Sorry this chapter is short, I could have extended it but decided to save all that for the chapter five.)
* Spirited Back
By Rio Grande
Chapter Four: Casualties
*
The first thing she felt was shock. Bone numbing, heart stopping, fist clenching shock. Her legs even gave out and she collapsed to her knees, feeling her bones slapping the cold, tiled floor, completely numb to the pain.
The next emotion to fly through Chihiro's heart and mind with lighting speed. was anger.
Letting out a strangled choking noise that came from the back of her throat, she leaped for Kohaku's arm again, trying to lift him out of the bath with the pathetic amount of arm muscle she owned. Didn't he know this bath was poisoned!? Didn't he know what staying like this was going to kill him!? Did he not realize that this would turn him into a monster? A tainted spirit? That idiot!
However, Kohaku did not comply to Chihiro's mindless gurgling sounds and desperate yet very weak tugs on his arm, her very essence it seemed, shaking with fear. In fact, the boy looked nothing more than vaguely annoyed, shrugging his arm away and moving to the other side of the tub, eyeing Chihiro warily.
"What are you doing, servant? My time here isn't up yet. Tiko said at least an hour." Kohaku explained, as if this should be very obvious. Chihiro desperately willed the tears not to come as her befuddled brain tried to work out what Kohaku was saying. Servant? Tiko? An hour?
'The mask!' Chihiro realized, eyes wide. She was still wearing the servant's costume! No wonder Kohaku didn't understand what she was doing! He thought she was just another servant.
Relieved that everything that had just transpired was simply a misunderstanding, and that there was still hope for survival, Chihiro wrenched off her mask, revealing her unbound caramel tresses and familiar face.
"K-Kohaku!" she cried out. "It's me! Chihiro." From his corner of the bath, Kohaku's eyes widened considerably, he paled, and a look of something very un-Kohaku like flitted across his face.
Fear. Total, unadulterated and pure. fear. Though for what, Chihiro was unsure. Why would she scare him?
"Chihiro." he breathed, his voice holding the pain of someone who had seen many things, had lived many lives. and had never once experienced something so horrible as what was happening now. Chihiro scrubbed at the tears still diligently pouring down her face, suddenly feeling very helpless. She reached out a hand, and beckoned Kohaku to come closer, her eyes wide with unwavering hope. yet a deeper sadness.
"Come here, K-Kohaku. W-w-we have to get you o-out of here!" she croaked urgently, leaning over as far as she could, in an effort to at least touch Kohaku, still persistently sitting in the corner. Quick as lighting, Kohaku was by her side, taking her by the arm, and pushing her back. Chihiro's eyebrows furrowed together, and she made another grab for his arm, finally catching his hand, and trying to tug it towards her, her mind accepting to coherent thoughts except one: She needed to get her friend out of the tub at all costs.
"Chihiro, be careful, don't fall into the water," Kohaku explained, worried for her. Chihiro barely bit back a wail of confusion. Why was he worried for HER? What was going through Kohaku's head at that moment, and why in God's name was he not getting out of the tub? Chihiro's throat was almost completely closed up now as she tried to speak, her anger getting the better of her.
"Don't I fall into the water?!" she screamed, all out sobbing now, shaking her head back and forth furiously as she tugged on Kohaku hand for all she was worth, crying with frustration as he refused to budge. "LOOK at you! You're totally SUBMURGED in POISON!"
"Shhh. shh Chihiro don't yell. they'll hear you, and they'll come." Chihiro was hardly listening to him though, mouthing 'No no no' now, as the world itself seemed to stop spinning around her. She was getting dizzy and sick, finally understanding that it was too late. if Kohaku had even been in the water for the duration of the time she had been with him, he would be tainted now. On his way to becoming a demon.
He was going to die.
With this one soul wrenching thought, Chihiro lost her grip on Kohaku's slickly wet hand, and went slamming to the ground, colliding with the hard cold floor, slippery and filled with the musky warm scent of different bath medicines. all of which were filled with a vicious poison designed to kill unsuspecting spirits. and eventually take over the entire spirit world itself. the very thought drove the utterly depressed Chihiro to the very brink of insanity, the cruelness of it all bearing down on her worse than if she had just been punched in the gut.
"Get off me!!" she screamed, snapping up from the ground, and pulling at her robes, now damp with the water from the floor. The tainted water from the floor. The unnatural water from the floor. "Get off me! You'll kill me!" she continued, her voice hoarse and desperate.
Through her haze of pain and mutinous fear, a cool hand gripped her firmly by the arm, another one carefully supporting her back, as they resolutely wrenched her off the ground, bringing her to stand next to them, soulful eyes boring down into her very being.
"Chihiro," Kohaku said, his voice very calm and cold, but by the feeling of his pulse racing through his hands on her arm, he was anything but a serene sea inside. He was scared. Just like her. "Chihiro you have got to calm down," he ordered. Chihiro looked back up to him, her gaze not so much soulful as it was full of a passionate fire, and at the same time a dead emotion that should never have been there in the first place. Kohaku was willing to bear the brunt of that dark emotion, it was his fault she was back here at all, in any case. And it was killing her, to see her beloved Spirit World in such tatters. Obviously. His poor friend.
However, the fact that Kohaku was now out of the water, and standing there with her, seemed to calm Chihiro down considerably. She let out a long sigh of relief, letting her forehead fall onto his hard chest, closing her eyes and clasping her hands to her heart. She bit her lip as she tried to collect her thoughts after having them violently scattered without her permission just moments ago. What had come over her? She had been acting like a crazy person.
"I'm sorry." she murmured, her breathing still heavy and ragged, obviously not as composed as she was valiantly pretending to be.
"It's all right," Kohaku assured her, running hands through her hair in a comforting motion. "I'm sorry too Chihiro, sorry you had to see this. This isn't fair. Not to you, not to me. not to the rebels," he admitted, that all to familiar cool and unwavering voice of his, taking some of the pain of his words away for Chihiro. But not enough. She was still quietly crying, burrowing her head into him, uncaring that all he wore was a small towel around his waist.
"Why were you in that bath Kohaku?" she needed to know, trying to push aside the overwhelming despair long enough to get a straight answer out of him. "Why did you do this to yourself? Do you realize what this means?" she questioned harshly, looking up at him.
"Yes," he replied simply. Chihiro held back the urge to take him by the neck and shake all the answers out of him. Why was he so obviously eluding her queries?
"WHY did you do it Kohaku?! Tell me- please!" she whispered urgently, her face close to his as she stared into his deep, bottomless eyes that held years of wisdom and life of the likes she couldn't comprehend. However, for all that she knew Kohaku was a very clever God; he suddenly seemed like the stupidest person she had ever met.
"It was a trade," he said after a long moments pause, averting her graze. Chihiro tried to earn in back with an unwavering amount of curiosity.
"A trade..?" she asked, requesting he explain exactly what he meant when he said 'trade'. Whatever it was, Chihiro had a sinking feeling it didn't bode well for either of them.
". Did Rin tell you about the invisible walls that now surround the Aburaya's property, and prevent any of us from contacting the outside world?" he asked softly.
"Yes," she quickly assured him, shaking her head almost too hard as she waited with bated breath for him to elucidate.
"Last night, when I left you to fight that tainted spirit-it. it wasn't a tainted spirit," he sighed, lowering his hands down to her shoulders and embracing her, speaking with his head on her shoulder and his mouth to her ear, whispering everything so that it tickled her hair and made her concentrate on his words. "It was one of her entourage, one of her ghost men."
"But those are worse than tainted spirits!" Chihiro exclaimed softly, remembering Rin's depiction of the fearsome demons, which flocked the Aburaya like protective bodyguards.
"Yes, but they did not come to do battle with me, as they usually do. This time they came with a message, from Tiko herself," he continued. "She wanted to make a bargain with me." he trailed off at this point, as if pained.
"What was the bargain?!" Chihiro was beyond desperate to find out what had happened at this point: she was frantic.
"She said that if. I bathed in her poison. and thus submitted myself to become a tainted spirit. she would lower the invisible shield around the Aburaya, thus freeing all of the workers to tell the world about her terrible deeds."
There was a deafening silence, at which point Chihiro was positive her heart plummeted into her stomach.
"And you AGREED?!" she found herself shrieking. No sooner had the words left her mouth than Kohaku had his hand clamped over her lips, eyebrows knitted together.
"Shhh." he said, concentrating on the sounds outside, making sure no one had been alerted to check on him. Behind his hand, Chihiro's mouth was quivering, and large salty tears were slipping down her face again. Kohaku glanced at her, and looked immediately apologetic. "God, I'm sorry Chihiro," he quickly amended, hugging her close to him once more. Chihiro let out short, gasping sobs into his chest, shaking her head as she thought of how deeply unfair the trade had been. Who would ask something so vindictive of her Kohaku? It was unreal.
"She made me come to the Aburaya directly after I read the letter if I wanted to go through with the trade," he explained in a soothing tone. "That's why I wasn't able to meet up with you before I left. That's why I couldn't discuss it with you,"
"Would it have made a difference?" Chihiro asked honestly. Kohaku looked back down, thinking hard. What was his life compared to the lives of all those other spirits he could save by letting them know about the bath house's treachery? What was one river God's life compared to possibly hundreds of innocent spirit's? As he stared down at Chihiro, whose expression was filled to the brink with adoration and love for him, he admitted that no matter how much this one mortal cherished him, and would do anything to keep him safe. he would have still made the same decision, for the entire Spirit World's welfare. For HER welfare.
"I'm sorry," he tried, shaking his head at her helplessly. What more was there to say? What was done was done, and he didn't regret forfeiting his life for others. In the back of her head Chihiro knew she would have done the same thing if placed in Kohaku's position, but it made the situation no less devastating.
"I understand," she got out in a shaky voice, the volume of the situation settling down inside her as she tried furiously to come to grips with it so that Kohaku wouldn't have to see her so broken when there was nothing he could do to make it better. He had sacrificed more than she had, (His own LIFE!) and it was cruel to him if she didn't act as a strong support for her friend when he needed it most.
Nonetheless, she could not hide the sadness in her eyes, and it made Kohaku want to hold her until all of her grief had melted away and she was his old, happy go lucky, brave and wonderful Chihiro again. Free of real worries or regrets, free of the burdens of the terrible war he had dragged her into.
He wanted to take her pain away. and before he knew it his head was dipping down towards hers, eyes glossy with misery and the need to feel whole again after he had just soaked half of his soul away.
Chihiro resisted the urge to gasp as she realized what Kohaku was doing, compliantly closing her eyes and letting his lips graze hers softly. finding she much enjoyed the sensation.
'I've never kissed anyone before,' she admitted as he pressed his lips more firmly against her soft pink ones. 'But I can't think of anyone else I'd rather kiss more,' She leaned into his soft touch, trying desperately to let this kiss make her forget everything. Actually wanting its mystifying affect on her to render her dumbstruck- if not only so that she could pretend things were perfect once more, and not have to be conscious of the fact that the boy holding her in his arms had just damned himself.
"Mm-Eagh!" Chihiro gasped, surprised as she was wrenched away from Kohaku and then swiftly thrown behind him. "W-what are you doing?" she wheezed, still seeing from stars from the kiss, and notably disoriented.
"She's coming," Kohaku explained simply, apparently utterly unfazed by what had just transpired between the two.
"Who?" Chihiro asked, afraid to know.
"Tiko," No sooner had the young God uttered her name then the paper door was thrown open with a terrifying slam, and Chihiro looked up to find a . woman. Of sorts.
Her face, as it was appearing to be a trend in the new Aburaya, was covered in a mask. A metal mask with no holes, just designs representing any impossibly beautiful face. Her robes were bright crimson and clung close to her, accenting her curves and flowing past her ankles. Her hands were concealed by her long sleeves that were trimmed in gold, and her hair was a deep purple color, unfeasibly straight with not one strand out of place. Her aura radiated dark, tormenting emotions and cruel intentions. Just being near her made Chihiro quiver with fear.
Flocking around her were four or five demons of which Chihiro could only classify as her ghost men, since they fit the description Rin had given her of them perfectly; they were tall and wore dark black robes with a shining red film over them, masks that seemed to be carved out of bone with only hollow indents as faces. In addition, they all carried tall glaives with ancient writing engraved along the thin, sharp blades.
It was then that Chihiro realized she no longer had her own mask on, and was nothing but a trembling girl.
"Mortal," Tiko hissed in a tone that never rose an octave to express emotion, and seemed to be more of a hiss than a voice. She cocked her head at Chihiro with apparent interest, and raised one arm up to point accusingly at her. It was petrifying.
"GO!" Chihiro distantly heard Kohaku yell through her veil of fear and confusion that had covered her vision, and rendered her immobile. Why couldn't she move? Why was she so scared of this one woman, who had yet to directly hurt her? However she had no time to really ponder this, because before she could scream 'let go of me!', Kohaku had grabbed her by the arm, and hurled her through the, thankfully open, window behind the bath.
This action alone surprised Chihiro so totally, that she had no time to scream as she soared through the air, going back first perfectly through the square window. The last image she saw before falling rapidly downwards was Kohaku staring at her with a look that spoke on many levels. one of them saying he was sorry, the other that he didn't want her to worry. and one. one that he loved her. Chihiro saved that look, and engraved it in the back of her mind, to be resurrected when she had time to admire it.
The other thing the Earth girl saw so startlingly clear was Tiko, her glinting mask positioned directly towards her. And even though there was no real expression on it, she knew that the face was frowning furiously at her, commanding her to jump back into her clutches.
Suddenly Chihiro really was thankful she had just been tossed out a window.
"OOF!" Chihiro choked as she connected with a thick tree branch about a two flights down. She squeezed her eyes shut, holding back a cry of pain as she felt her back begin to flare up. Quick as she could she sat up, crawling along the branch towards the Aburaya, determined to get back into that room and help Kohaku, no matter how wretched she felt now. She couldn't leave him alone with that woman! Tiko was going to hurt him. Still gasping for the breath that had been knocked out of her, she grasped onto a ledge that was a good two floors below Kohaku's, wondering how she was going to possibly make it all the way back up to his window.
'Maybe I shouldn't' be trying to get back to him.' a little part of Chihiro was insisting. 'I mean. he DID go through all of the trouble of chucking me out a window, and I know Kohaku never likes to hurt me, so he must have been really desperate. Maybe I should just head his warning and stay out of the way. Tiko won't hurt him now that they have a deal, and he's already destined to become a tainted spirit.' Chihiro's throat closed up as she remembered that fact, it alone gaining the power to push her doubts to the back of her mind as she tried to scramble up the wall.
"Maybe if I can go through this window and make my way back up through the stiars," she decided, pushing the window closest to her open, after discovering it impossible to gain the height needed to get up two floors without a staircase.
However, there was no landing beyond the window Chihiro through herself threw, and she let out a terrified shriek as she found her self plummeting in the exact opposite direction she wanted to go in. Downwards.
"NOOOOO!!" she wailed the whole way down the surprise chute, thrashing her arms violently as she pictured Kohaku's last loving look. When would she see him next if not now? The tunnel she had haphazardly thrown herself through was dark and endless, and Chihiro found herself dreading the end, hoping there would be something soft to break her fall.
"EEYYAAA!" she cried, as she slammed through an open cabinet, flying out and landing with an 'oomph', onto a large pillow just beyond it. Chest constricting so much it hurt, she rested her head on the soft, purple thing, thanking all the Gods that it had been strategically placed there. She rested this way for a minute, hesitant to find out where exactly it was she had landed. Why did these things always happen to HER?
"Well, what mischief have you gotten yourself into now, eh?" a familiar, croaking voice asked with a slight twinge of teasing to their tone.
'That voice.' Chihiro thought, eyes widening, as she slowly lifted her head off the pillow. "Kamajii!" she cried, spotting the boiler man himself sitting atop his perch, numerous limbs pulling and yanking on the ropes, and stamping papers that surrounded him like a veil, a scowl still fixed on his face which was even then partially hidden by his dark glasses. The fourteen year-old leapt to her feet and scurried across the room, even though she was still trembling inside and out, eventually coming to throw herself at the spider-spirit's feet, unable to go any further. "Oh Kamajii." she moaned, covering her head and biting her lip.
"What's wrong with you, young one? Stop your whining and tell me what's amiss!" The elderly spirit demanded, arms diligently going about their work even as he tilted his head towards the girl at his feet. A mortal he had highly doubted he would ever see again.
"It's too horrible to even speak of Kamajii. everything has gone so wrong!" Chihiro cried, raising her head to stare at her old 'grandfather' with wide eyes that were blood shot red from crying so much in the past hour.
"Aye, well, I can't disagree with you there," Kamajii acknowledged, freeing one arm to make a sweeping gesture around the room. "The Aburaya isn't what it used to be,"
"B-but. it's Kohaku!" she cried, feeling as though the whole world should just automatically understand the grief she was experiencing, because the tragedy was just that big.
"Yes? And what's that young one gotten himself into now?" Chihiro closed her eyes, taking in the heavy smell of scents and medicines that were sent up to the baths, and the familiar odor of the boiler room, all coal and flame.
"He's going to be changed into a tainted spirit," she got out in a low voice that was thick with anger and helplessness. This seemed to give Kamajii pause, and he halted for a millisecond in his working, eyebrows furrowed together, as though he was considering stopping .
"I see," he said gravely, arms starting back up, as though they had never paused in the first place. "That's a shame,"
"It's TERRIBLE!" Chihiro bawled, head back in her arms as she rocked back and forth. "And there's nothing I can do to help him. he chose to go through with this," she sniffled, trying to calm herself as she admitted throwing herself into yet another tantrum would do little to nothing in aiding Kohaku. And above all she had to help her friend.
Little fluffy things moving around her ankles urged the girl to look down and see what was dancing around the floor. A miniscule smile graced her face as she spotted the Susuwatari swarming about her, their wide white eyes, the only part of their body visible besides their tiny spindly legs, sad and watering for their old friend. Chihiro let one jump into her palm and gazed at it affectionately. They remembered her!
Chihiro and the Susuwatari shared a bonding moment, all tiny peeping sounds from the tiny black balls and watery grins from Chihiro as she let them hop onto her new sneakers, hardly minding the sooty spots they left, until Kamajii decided that was enough of a break for his little workers.
"Hey- back to the job for you all!" he barked, thick mustache twitching in annoyance. The Susuwatari made little faces at the spirit, but got back to work hauling coal into the furnace anyway, with little glances back at Chihiro. She watched them resume their vocation silently, not as eager to help them out as she once had been, knowing they were fully capable of getting the job done, and not naïve to the fact, this time around, that Kamajii wasn't the slave driver he pretended to be.
There was silence in the boiler room, save the occasional worried mumble from Kamajii, for about five more minutes as Chihiro stayed seated and watched the Susuwatari work with eyes that were focused on something else. She was trying to organize her mind as she replayed everything that had happened previously in her head, and began to plan her next move while she still had her costume with her and was technically free to move about the bathhouse. She had just been on the verge of panicking when she remembered that all her comrades might be currently captured by the evil Tiko, when a door to the back slammed open, and Rin came bursting through, panting and sweating, cheeks flushed with fear.
"Chihiro!" she got out in a loud, scratchy cry, staggering over to the girl and grabbing her roughly by the hand. "Where have you been!? We have to go!"
"I'm sorry!" Chihiro was quick to squeak in her soprano. "But I was just walking down the hall with everyone when this important servant grabbed me and told me to watch a bath that-"
"Tell me later, we have to leave NOW. Everyone who is left is waiting by the boats, and we would have escaped without you if I hadn't figured you would be here." Rin explained, firmly tugging Chihiro along as they both reached a back exit, Rin pausing at the small wooden door, illuminated and orange by the burning furnace, to turn back to Kamajii. He hadn't stopped his working yet, but the Susuwatari had all halted, and were staring wide eyed at Chihiro had Rin, questioningly.
".Did you help her Kamajii?" Rin asked carefully, coldly. Chihiro looked up at her pretty friend with confusion. Why was she speaking in that tone to Kamajii? It wasn't her teasing admonitions from the days of old, when the two had worked together, but a distant and mean snap.
"No, my granddaughter just found her way here after she escaped from a tight fix, I believe," Kamajii said casually, still not turning to properly address either female. A scowl that had made itself a home on Rin's face darkened, and she spun on her heal so rip open the door, growling.
"Come on Chihiro, we best make haste. Who knows, Kamajii might have already told on us to his Lady Tiko," she hissed cruelly. Chihiro gasped. Kamajii was a traitor!?- giving her old friend one last glance before the door slammed shut, and she was dragged down a dark staircase, closing on the spider spirit and all his inquisitive workers.
"R-Rin. I don't under-!"
"Later," Rin called back to her friend, swiftly trotting down the stairs, eyes set on the next-door awaiting them at the bottom, but that, slightly sad, frown still on her face.
The couple burst through the door, Chihiro quietly shuddering in the cool night air even though she was very protected by the dark robes she wore, Rin leading Chihiro down to the boats that awaited them at the edge of the jagged rocks. It seemed as though it had been a lifetime ago since Chihiro had been desperately scampering up these same rocks, even though it had been most likely two hours.
'So much has changed,' Chihiro thought numbly as she was ushered back into her boat by the two enthusiastic twins, having replaced some of their rabid enthusiasm with bone rattling fear, sitting towards the back with Rin as they both picked up oars and began quickly paddling themselves to safety. The water made a soft splashing noise as they all pushed off the shore as a unit, everyone's masks still firmly in place even then, as if they were too petrified to remove them just yet.
"The invisibility spells are in effect!" One of the twins reminded Rin helpfully, eyes darting from the boat and back up to the rapidly retreating Aburaya nervously. Chihiro dimly wondered what had happened to the twins to make them so scared. to make Rin so shaken.
'Were they found by Tiko?' Chihiro suddenly did a quick head count, something telling her it was important she do so, heart momentarily freezing in her chest as she realized their little army was two short.
".Where's Po?" Chihiro was afraid to ask.
"He has been. kidnapped by Tiko's forces," Rin gritted out, her expression stony, but her tone pained. "He a well as Yo are lost to us, and kept with Yu-Baaba and the others now." Yo was one of the male sprits who had, in fact, been in Chihiro's group before she was separated from them. Chihiro halted her oar, quickly turning back to stair at the bright Aburaya, it suddenly seeming that much more sinister.
'Po. oh God. he's really gone? But- but he and I were just becoming friends, and he saved me from cracking my head on the rocks before! He was- he was-!'
"Keeping paddling," Rin ordered softly, her eyes fixed ahead towards the sanctuary of the covering forest, instead of at the bathhouse. Chihiro quickly resumed paddling, taking Rin's suggestion. Yes. She had to look ahead. Had to think of ways to make things right, instead of reminiscing on had bad they were. She had to think of a way to save Po and No-face and Baby Bou and all the others from Tiko's clutches. The girl had to focus on finding a cure for Kohaku and all of the other tainted spirits. And she could not cave in to the depression, or let her determination be dragged down by the hopelessness of it all.
She couldn't succumb to Tiko as others had.
* "So, we did accomplish some things on this mission," Rin said, smiling halfheartedly as she finished applying the disinfectant to the small gash across her arm she had received while trying to save her fellow worker Yo from the ruthless ghost men. A group of them had attacked her group half way through their search for a cure to the tainted spirit curse. Chihiro sat on Rin's couch, basking in the safety of Rin's home, and letting the icepack she was resting on effectively numb her back, as it was currently colored black and blue from all the times she had been tossed around and had landed painfully on it that night.
'Although I suppose it's far better than being taken hostage like the others.' she acknowledged through the aching pain, hair back up in its ponytail. If it hurt now, how would her bruises feel in the morning?
After everyone had made it through the oak tree and into the underground shanty-town of rebels, the solemn group had slowly dispersed back to their homes, able to avoid crowds of interested friends since they had all returned far earlier than expected. They were depressed and upset, feeling as though they had failed their mission miserably with the loss of two valuable comrades, and had gone home dragging their feet. Chihiro had watched them leave with a disheartened attitude as well: She hadn't even told any of them about their 'Master Kohaku' yet, figuring she should let Rin be the first to know. This knowledge, she knew, would make everyone feel ten times worse, since Kohaku was apparently a very influential person in this town.
It didn't even occur once to Chihiro that the knowledge that the walls were going down around the Aburaya might bring cheer to some: The cost was far too high in her mind.
And now she was back in Rin's small home as they duo tended to their minimal wounds, recounting the nights events, and Chihiro waiting until it was the appropriate time to inquire about Kamajii, or discuss Kohaku.
"Like what?" Chihiro asked, raising an eyebrow.
"Well, first off, we know for sure now that Tiko is using a confining talisman to keep her prisoners," Rin said, getting out a length of bandage as she spoke. "The men in the other group saw it, since they personally encountered Tiko on their mission," she elucidated.
"And they got away?" Chihiro asked in wonder, thinking she would have never been able to escape that penetrating stare of Tiko's had it not been for Kohaku.
"Just barely, they DID loose Yo." Pain flashed across the young spirit's face now. "But. in any case, they saw that the talisman is a small metal orb."
"Okay,"
"This is good because now we can get working on a plan to free the people in that ball." Rin added, taping the bandage tight together, wincing slightly as it made her deep cut sting. She said nothing more as Chihiro continued to press the icepack to her lower back, eyes closed. Finally, the mortal had to ask.
"Is Kamajii really a traitor?" Rin paused, as she was putting away all of her first aid material, lowering her head and appearing to think this question over.
"Yes," she decided upon.
"Oh." Chihiro murmured, still unable to believe the admittedly eccentric spirit was capable of being as evil as someone like Tiko. How could he help kill all of those innocent spirits?
"Not to the point where he likes the idea of transforming people into tainted spirits." Rin was quick to assure Chihiro. "He's just. indifferent, maybe. He won't take the initiative to come stay with us in these refugee camps of sorts that we've created, choosing to stick with the bathhouse and be paid handsomely by Tiko who needs someone of his skill to work the boiler room."
"But, non-action is just as bad as him wanting to help Tiko in a situation like this!" Chihiro spat.
"I know," Rin agreed, sighing and slumping into a chair as well. "And that's why I can't forgive him." Chihiro sighed. She knew that Rin used to be friends with Kamajii. This must have been a real blow to her. Well, Chihiro knew better than to expect the expected at this point, and accepted the fact that Kamajii was not the spirit she once knew with a relative degree of calmness, and grim understanding. That was just the way it was. But speaking of harsh blows.
"Rin," Chihiro croaked, staring at the window intensely, and refusing to meet the woman's gaze as she spoke. "I. I have to tell you what happened to me while I was separated from the group,"
"Yes! You never got around to it, what- Chihiro?" Rin asked, cocking her head at the girl's pale, remorseful expression. ". Do I want to know what happened?" Rin questioned fearfully. Chihiro shook her head solemnly.
"No. It's terrible," she admitted. "First. I was brought by a servant to one of the baths to guard a . customer there. I didn't know it at first, but the customer was Kohaku," Rin's eyes widened to the size of ping pong balls, and she looked as though she was going to inquire if Kohaku was actually IN the bath, so Chihiro hurried along, hoping to get this all out before Rin had time to interrupt, or else she feared she might not be able to finish the retelling.
"I tried to get him out of the bath. but he told me he had-had struck a deal with Tiko, and that he was just fulfilling his part of the bargain. The deal was. the deal he had made that day he told me to go ahead with out him, and come here to see you. was that if he became a tainted spirit, then Tiko would raise the barriers confining the Aburaya workers to its property, and you would all be free to tell the world of her treachery. He agreed." She finished dully, already having told this story to herself one too many times. It was becoming torture to herself to repeat it constantly.
"Damn it! That's so like him!" Rin screamed, slamming a fist onto the table so hard that Chihiro felt the reverberations from the couch.
"He didn't have a choice. He would have killed himself if he'd said no, he would have thought it was selfish." Chihiro said in her friend's defense. A hand unconsciously strayed up to her lips at the word 'friend.' Could she call herself something more?.
'I shouldn't be thinking about this now, I have other things to worry about,' Chihiro acknowledged.
In truth, she still hadn't come to terms with the fact that Po was gone. She hadn't really known Yo, as sorry she was that he had been taken prisoner as well, but Po. had been so kind to her! The shock of having him be gone, kept in some magical prison was emotionally swamping, and unfathomable. Chihiro tried to understand it, but all the emotion she could draw up when she thought of all her friends' positions currently was pure rage.
'My mood keeps changing,' Chihiro realized. 'One second I'm all gung- ho and ready to go to war, and the second something startling happens I'm back on square one and ready to curl up into a ball. I'm weak,' she decided. 'The only reason I even started out on all this was because Tenchi helped me realize that it was the right thing. But Tenchi's not here now, and It's hard to keep on track when all your friends are in such grave peril,'
"I know, but I can't believe this! He's going to be a tainted spirit now? We're going to loose Kohaku? This is going to have a devastating effect on the community, on the council with all of the active rebels, on- !" Rin spun on her heal to stare at her small friend, coming to an abrupt halt as she realized the girl was sobbing silently into her hands. "-on you." She finished quietly. Wordlessly, the ex-bathhouse worker swooped down and captured Chihiro in a comforting embrace, rocking back and forth, a woeful expression of her own placed on her face.
"Don't cry Chihiro, we'll fix everything. we'll make sure things are all right. don't worry." Rin murmured, like a mother to her child. Chihiro drew in a high pitched, shuddering gasp. It was just too much. She could be strong tomorrow, for the next meeting they would have when they would discuss exactly what happened on mission, as there was much more that transpired.. But for just then, with Rin, in her house (That was feeling more and more like home as the days passed.) in Rin's embrace. she would be weak. And vulnerable. And upset. She could be the all-knowing wunderkind Chihiro for the spirit community later. Just then. she had to mourn. She had lost so much.
'What's happened to you Kohaku? Where are you now? I need to see you.'
Chihiro clung tightly to Rin, trying to remember the embrace her river-God friend had given her just hours before, as she realized, if he stayed in the bathhouse, she might never be able to touch him again.
*
Author's Notes:
I'm sorry again! But it had to be done. Don't worry; I won't keep Kohaku and Chihiro from each other this whole story, or even for the next few chapters, seeing as how that would be dreadfully boring. And about how it's all, you know, DEPRESSING right now, well that's just what I have to do in the beginning to give Chihiro some initiative to rise up and be this all powerful savior. But then afterwards most of the story will be dedicated to piecing everyone back together as best I can, and making them happy again. In any case, don't forget to review. THAT, above all, is what you should keep in mind. Heh, thanks for reading,
Rio~
First off, I would sincerely like to apologize for the terrible cliffhanger last time. It was cruel and uncalled for! But whatever, I thought it was cool. And look on the bright side: Now you get to find out what happens! Sweet relief! Sorry this took so long, but you know it was the holidays and crud.
PLEASE REVIEW!
The faster you review, the faster I work- it's the truth.
I don't own Spirited Away and enjoy. (Sorry this chapter is short, I could have extended it but decided to save all that for the chapter five.)
* Spirited Back
By Rio Grande
Chapter Four: Casualties
*
The first thing she felt was shock. Bone numbing, heart stopping, fist clenching shock. Her legs even gave out and she collapsed to her knees, feeling her bones slapping the cold, tiled floor, completely numb to the pain.
The next emotion to fly through Chihiro's heart and mind with lighting speed. was anger.
Letting out a strangled choking noise that came from the back of her throat, she leaped for Kohaku's arm again, trying to lift him out of the bath with the pathetic amount of arm muscle she owned. Didn't he know this bath was poisoned!? Didn't he know what staying like this was going to kill him!? Did he not realize that this would turn him into a monster? A tainted spirit? That idiot!
However, Kohaku did not comply to Chihiro's mindless gurgling sounds and desperate yet very weak tugs on his arm, her very essence it seemed, shaking with fear. In fact, the boy looked nothing more than vaguely annoyed, shrugging his arm away and moving to the other side of the tub, eyeing Chihiro warily.
"What are you doing, servant? My time here isn't up yet. Tiko said at least an hour." Kohaku explained, as if this should be very obvious. Chihiro desperately willed the tears not to come as her befuddled brain tried to work out what Kohaku was saying. Servant? Tiko? An hour?
'The mask!' Chihiro realized, eyes wide. She was still wearing the servant's costume! No wonder Kohaku didn't understand what she was doing! He thought she was just another servant.
Relieved that everything that had just transpired was simply a misunderstanding, and that there was still hope for survival, Chihiro wrenched off her mask, revealing her unbound caramel tresses and familiar face.
"K-Kohaku!" she cried out. "It's me! Chihiro." From his corner of the bath, Kohaku's eyes widened considerably, he paled, and a look of something very un-Kohaku like flitted across his face.
Fear. Total, unadulterated and pure. fear. Though for what, Chihiro was unsure. Why would she scare him?
"Chihiro." he breathed, his voice holding the pain of someone who had seen many things, had lived many lives. and had never once experienced something so horrible as what was happening now. Chihiro scrubbed at the tears still diligently pouring down her face, suddenly feeling very helpless. She reached out a hand, and beckoned Kohaku to come closer, her eyes wide with unwavering hope. yet a deeper sadness.
"Come here, K-Kohaku. W-w-we have to get you o-out of here!" she croaked urgently, leaning over as far as she could, in an effort to at least touch Kohaku, still persistently sitting in the corner. Quick as lighting, Kohaku was by her side, taking her by the arm, and pushing her back. Chihiro's eyebrows furrowed together, and she made another grab for his arm, finally catching his hand, and trying to tug it towards her, her mind accepting to coherent thoughts except one: She needed to get her friend out of the tub at all costs.
"Chihiro, be careful, don't fall into the water," Kohaku explained, worried for her. Chihiro barely bit back a wail of confusion. Why was he worried for HER? What was going through Kohaku's head at that moment, and why in God's name was he not getting out of the tub? Chihiro's throat was almost completely closed up now as she tried to speak, her anger getting the better of her.
"Don't I fall into the water?!" she screamed, all out sobbing now, shaking her head back and forth furiously as she tugged on Kohaku hand for all she was worth, crying with frustration as he refused to budge. "LOOK at you! You're totally SUBMURGED in POISON!"
"Shhh. shh Chihiro don't yell. they'll hear you, and they'll come." Chihiro was hardly listening to him though, mouthing 'No no no' now, as the world itself seemed to stop spinning around her. She was getting dizzy and sick, finally understanding that it was too late. if Kohaku had even been in the water for the duration of the time she had been with him, he would be tainted now. On his way to becoming a demon.
He was going to die.
With this one soul wrenching thought, Chihiro lost her grip on Kohaku's slickly wet hand, and went slamming to the ground, colliding with the hard cold floor, slippery and filled with the musky warm scent of different bath medicines. all of which were filled with a vicious poison designed to kill unsuspecting spirits. and eventually take over the entire spirit world itself. the very thought drove the utterly depressed Chihiro to the very brink of insanity, the cruelness of it all bearing down on her worse than if she had just been punched in the gut.
"Get off me!!" she screamed, snapping up from the ground, and pulling at her robes, now damp with the water from the floor. The tainted water from the floor. The unnatural water from the floor. "Get off me! You'll kill me!" she continued, her voice hoarse and desperate.
Through her haze of pain and mutinous fear, a cool hand gripped her firmly by the arm, another one carefully supporting her back, as they resolutely wrenched her off the ground, bringing her to stand next to them, soulful eyes boring down into her very being.
"Chihiro," Kohaku said, his voice very calm and cold, but by the feeling of his pulse racing through his hands on her arm, he was anything but a serene sea inside. He was scared. Just like her. "Chihiro you have got to calm down," he ordered. Chihiro looked back up to him, her gaze not so much soulful as it was full of a passionate fire, and at the same time a dead emotion that should never have been there in the first place. Kohaku was willing to bear the brunt of that dark emotion, it was his fault she was back here at all, in any case. And it was killing her, to see her beloved Spirit World in such tatters. Obviously. His poor friend.
However, the fact that Kohaku was now out of the water, and standing there with her, seemed to calm Chihiro down considerably. She let out a long sigh of relief, letting her forehead fall onto his hard chest, closing her eyes and clasping her hands to her heart. She bit her lip as she tried to collect her thoughts after having them violently scattered without her permission just moments ago. What had come over her? She had been acting like a crazy person.
"I'm sorry." she murmured, her breathing still heavy and ragged, obviously not as composed as she was valiantly pretending to be.
"It's all right," Kohaku assured her, running hands through her hair in a comforting motion. "I'm sorry too Chihiro, sorry you had to see this. This isn't fair. Not to you, not to me. not to the rebels," he admitted, that all to familiar cool and unwavering voice of his, taking some of the pain of his words away for Chihiro. But not enough. She was still quietly crying, burrowing her head into him, uncaring that all he wore was a small towel around his waist.
"Why were you in that bath Kohaku?" she needed to know, trying to push aside the overwhelming despair long enough to get a straight answer out of him. "Why did you do this to yourself? Do you realize what this means?" she questioned harshly, looking up at him.
"Yes," he replied simply. Chihiro held back the urge to take him by the neck and shake all the answers out of him. Why was he so obviously eluding her queries?
"WHY did you do it Kohaku?! Tell me- please!" she whispered urgently, her face close to his as she stared into his deep, bottomless eyes that held years of wisdom and life of the likes she couldn't comprehend. However, for all that she knew Kohaku was a very clever God; he suddenly seemed like the stupidest person she had ever met.
"It was a trade," he said after a long moments pause, averting her graze. Chihiro tried to earn in back with an unwavering amount of curiosity.
"A trade..?" she asked, requesting he explain exactly what he meant when he said 'trade'. Whatever it was, Chihiro had a sinking feeling it didn't bode well for either of them.
". Did Rin tell you about the invisible walls that now surround the Aburaya's property, and prevent any of us from contacting the outside world?" he asked softly.
"Yes," she quickly assured him, shaking her head almost too hard as she waited with bated breath for him to elucidate.
"Last night, when I left you to fight that tainted spirit-it. it wasn't a tainted spirit," he sighed, lowering his hands down to her shoulders and embracing her, speaking with his head on her shoulder and his mouth to her ear, whispering everything so that it tickled her hair and made her concentrate on his words. "It was one of her entourage, one of her ghost men."
"But those are worse than tainted spirits!" Chihiro exclaimed softly, remembering Rin's depiction of the fearsome demons, which flocked the Aburaya like protective bodyguards.
"Yes, but they did not come to do battle with me, as they usually do. This time they came with a message, from Tiko herself," he continued. "She wanted to make a bargain with me." he trailed off at this point, as if pained.
"What was the bargain?!" Chihiro was beyond desperate to find out what had happened at this point: she was frantic.
"She said that if. I bathed in her poison. and thus submitted myself to become a tainted spirit. she would lower the invisible shield around the Aburaya, thus freeing all of the workers to tell the world about her terrible deeds."
There was a deafening silence, at which point Chihiro was positive her heart plummeted into her stomach.
"And you AGREED?!" she found herself shrieking. No sooner had the words left her mouth than Kohaku had his hand clamped over her lips, eyebrows knitted together.
"Shhh." he said, concentrating on the sounds outside, making sure no one had been alerted to check on him. Behind his hand, Chihiro's mouth was quivering, and large salty tears were slipping down her face again. Kohaku glanced at her, and looked immediately apologetic. "God, I'm sorry Chihiro," he quickly amended, hugging her close to him once more. Chihiro let out short, gasping sobs into his chest, shaking her head as she thought of how deeply unfair the trade had been. Who would ask something so vindictive of her Kohaku? It was unreal.
"She made me come to the Aburaya directly after I read the letter if I wanted to go through with the trade," he explained in a soothing tone. "That's why I wasn't able to meet up with you before I left. That's why I couldn't discuss it with you,"
"Would it have made a difference?" Chihiro asked honestly. Kohaku looked back down, thinking hard. What was his life compared to the lives of all those other spirits he could save by letting them know about the bath house's treachery? What was one river God's life compared to possibly hundreds of innocent spirit's? As he stared down at Chihiro, whose expression was filled to the brink with adoration and love for him, he admitted that no matter how much this one mortal cherished him, and would do anything to keep him safe. he would have still made the same decision, for the entire Spirit World's welfare. For HER welfare.
"I'm sorry," he tried, shaking his head at her helplessly. What more was there to say? What was done was done, and he didn't regret forfeiting his life for others. In the back of her head Chihiro knew she would have done the same thing if placed in Kohaku's position, but it made the situation no less devastating.
"I understand," she got out in a shaky voice, the volume of the situation settling down inside her as she tried furiously to come to grips with it so that Kohaku wouldn't have to see her so broken when there was nothing he could do to make it better. He had sacrificed more than she had, (His own LIFE!) and it was cruel to him if she didn't act as a strong support for her friend when he needed it most.
Nonetheless, she could not hide the sadness in her eyes, and it made Kohaku want to hold her until all of her grief had melted away and she was his old, happy go lucky, brave and wonderful Chihiro again. Free of real worries or regrets, free of the burdens of the terrible war he had dragged her into.
He wanted to take her pain away. and before he knew it his head was dipping down towards hers, eyes glossy with misery and the need to feel whole again after he had just soaked half of his soul away.
Chihiro resisted the urge to gasp as she realized what Kohaku was doing, compliantly closing her eyes and letting his lips graze hers softly. finding she much enjoyed the sensation.
'I've never kissed anyone before,' she admitted as he pressed his lips more firmly against her soft pink ones. 'But I can't think of anyone else I'd rather kiss more,' She leaned into his soft touch, trying desperately to let this kiss make her forget everything. Actually wanting its mystifying affect on her to render her dumbstruck- if not only so that she could pretend things were perfect once more, and not have to be conscious of the fact that the boy holding her in his arms had just damned himself.
"Mm-Eagh!" Chihiro gasped, surprised as she was wrenched away from Kohaku and then swiftly thrown behind him. "W-what are you doing?" she wheezed, still seeing from stars from the kiss, and notably disoriented.
"She's coming," Kohaku explained simply, apparently utterly unfazed by what had just transpired between the two.
"Who?" Chihiro asked, afraid to know.
"Tiko," No sooner had the young God uttered her name then the paper door was thrown open with a terrifying slam, and Chihiro looked up to find a . woman. Of sorts.
Her face, as it was appearing to be a trend in the new Aburaya, was covered in a mask. A metal mask with no holes, just designs representing any impossibly beautiful face. Her robes were bright crimson and clung close to her, accenting her curves and flowing past her ankles. Her hands were concealed by her long sleeves that were trimmed in gold, and her hair was a deep purple color, unfeasibly straight with not one strand out of place. Her aura radiated dark, tormenting emotions and cruel intentions. Just being near her made Chihiro quiver with fear.
Flocking around her were four or five demons of which Chihiro could only classify as her ghost men, since they fit the description Rin had given her of them perfectly; they were tall and wore dark black robes with a shining red film over them, masks that seemed to be carved out of bone with only hollow indents as faces. In addition, they all carried tall glaives with ancient writing engraved along the thin, sharp blades.
It was then that Chihiro realized she no longer had her own mask on, and was nothing but a trembling girl.
"Mortal," Tiko hissed in a tone that never rose an octave to express emotion, and seemed to be more of a hiss than a voice. She cocked her head at Chihiro with apparent interest, and raised one arm up to point accusingly at her. It was petrifying.
"GO!" Chihiro distantly heard Kohaku yell through her veil of fear and confusion that had covered her vision, and rendered her immobile. Why couldn't she move? Why was she so scared of this one woman, who had yet to directly hurt her? However she had no time to really ponder this, because before she could scream 'let go of me!', Kohaku had grabbed her by the arm, and hurled her through the, thankfully open, window behind the bath.
This action alone surprised Chihiro so totally, that she had no time to scream as she soared through the air, going back first perfectly through the square window. The last image she saw before falling rapidly downwards was Kohaku staring at her with a look that spoke on many levels. one of them saying he was sorry, the other that he didn't want her to worry. and one. one that he loved her. Chihiro saved that look, and engraved it in the back of her mind, to be resurrected when she had time to admire it.
The other thing the Earth girl saw so startlingly clear was Tiko, her glinting mask positioned directly towards her. And even though there was no real expression on it, she knew that the face was frowning furiously at her, commanding her to jump back into her clutches.
Suddenly Chihiro really was thankful she had just been tossed out a window.
"OOF!" Chihiro choked as she connected with a thick tree branch about a two flights down. She squeezed her eyes shut, holding back a cry of pain as she felt her back begin to flare up. Quick as she could she sat up, crawling along the branch towards the Aburaya, determined to get back into that room and help Kohaku, no matter how wretched she felt now. She couldn't leave him alone with that woman! Tiko was going to hurt him. Still gasping for the breath that had been knocked out of her, she grasped onto a ledge that was a good two floors below Kohaku's, wondering how she was going to possibly make it all the way back up to his window.
'Maybe I shouldn't' be trying to get back to him.' a little part of Chihiro was insisting. 'I mean. he DID go through all of the trouble of chucking me out a window, and I know Kohaku never likes to hurt me, so he must have been really desperate. Maybe I should just head his warning and stay out of the way. Tiko won't hurt him now that they have a deal, and he's already destined to become a tainted spirit.' Chihiro's throat closed up as she remembered that fact, it alone gaining the power to push her doubts to the back of her mind as she tried to scramble up the wall.
"Maybe if I can go through this window and make my way back up through the stiars," she decided, pushing the window closest to her open, after discovering it impossible to gain the height needed to get up two floors without a staircase.
However, there was no landing beyond the window Chihiro through herself threw, and she let out a terrified shriek as she found her self plummeting in the exact opposite direction she wanted to go in. Downwards.
"NOOOOO!!" she wailed the whole way down the surprise chute, thrashing her arms violently as she pictured Kohaku's last loving look. When would she see him next if not now? The tunnel she had haphazardly thrown herself through was dark and endless, and Chihiro found herself dreading the end, hoping there would be something soft to break her fall.
"EEYYAAA!" she cried, as she slammed through an open cabinet, flying out and landing with an 'oomph', onto a large pillow just beyond it. Chest constricting so much it hurt, she rested her head on the soft, purple thing, thanking all the Gods that it had been strategically placed there. She rested this way for a minute, hesitant to find out where exactly it was she had landed. Why did these things always happen to HER?
"Well, what mischief have you gotten yourself into now, eh?" a familiar, croaking voice asked with a slight twinge of teasing to their tone.
'That voice.' Chihiro thought, eyes widening, as she slowly lifted her head off the pillow. "Kamajii!" she cried, spotting the boiler man himself sitting atop his perch, numerous limbs pulling and yanking on the ropes, and stamping papers that surrounded him like a veil, a scowl still fixed on his face which was even then partially hidden by his dark glasses. The fourteen year-old leapt to her feet and scurried across the room, even though she was still trembling inside and out, eventually coming to throw herself at the spider-spirit's feet, unable to go any further. "Oh Kamajii." she moaned, covering her head and biting her lip.
"What's wrong with you, young one? Stop your whining and tell me what's amiss!" The elderly spirit demanded, arms diligently going about their work even as he tilted his head towards the girl at his feet. A mortal he had highly doubted he would ever see again.
"It's too horrible to even speak of Kamajii. everything has gone so wrong!" Chihiro cried, raising her head to stare at her old 'grandfather' with wide eyes that were blood shot red from crying so much in the past hour.
"Aye, well, I can't disagree with you there," Kamajii acknowledged, freeing one arm to make a sweeping gesture around the room. "The Aburaya isn't what it used to be,"
"B-but. it's Kohaku!" she cried, feeling as though the whole world should just automatically understand the grief she was experiencing, because the tragedy was just that big.
"Yes? And what's that young one gotten himself into now?" Chihiro closed her eyes, taking in the heavy smell of scents and medicines that were sent up to the baths, and the familiar odor of the boiler room, all coal and flame.
"He's going to be changed into a tainted spirit," she got out in a low voice that was thick with anger and helplessness. This seemed to give Kamajii pause, and he halted for a millisecond in his working, eyebrows furrowed together, as though he was considering stopping .
"I see," he said gravely, arms starting back up, as though they had never paused in the first place. "That's a shame,"
"It's TERRIBLE!" Chihiro bawled, head back in her arms as she rocked back and forth. "And there's nothing I can do to help him. he chose to go through with this," she sniffled, trying to calm herself as she admitted throwing herself into yet another tantrum would do little to nothing in aiding Kohaku. And above all she had to help her friend.
Little fluffy things moving around her ankles urged the girl to look down and see what was dancing around the floor. A miniscule smile graced her face as she spotted the Susuwatari swarming about her, their wide white eyes, the only part of their body visible besides their tiny spindly legs, sad and watering for their old friend. Chihiro let one jump into her palm and gazed at it affectionately. They remembered her!
Chihiro and the Susuwatari shared a bonding moment, all tiny peeping sounds from the tiny black balls and watery grins from Chihiro as she let them hop onto her new sneakers, hardly minding the sooty spots they left, until Kamajii decided that was enough of a break for his little workers.
"Hey- back to the job for you all!" he barked, thick mustache twitching in annoyance. The Susuwatari made little faces at the spirit, but got back to work hauling coal into the furnace anyway, with little glances back at Chihiro. She watched them resume their vocation silently, not as eager to help them out as she once had been, knowing they were fully capable of getting the job done, and not naïve to the fact, this time around, that Kamajii wasn't the slave driver he pretended to be.
There was silence in the boiler room, save the occasional worried mumble from Kamajii, for about five more minutes as Chihiro stayed seated and watched the Susuwatari work with eyes that were focused on something else. She was trying to organize her mind as she replayed everything that had happened previously in her head, and began to plan her next move while she still had her costume with her and was technically free to move about the bathhouse. She had just been on the verge of panicking when she remembered that all her comrades might be currently captured by the evil Tiko, when a door to the back slammed open, and Rin came bursting through, panting and sweating, cheeks flushed with fear.
"Chihiro!" she got out in a loud, scratchy cry, staggering over to the girl and grabbing her roughly by the hand. "Where have you been!? We have to go!"
"I'm sorry!" Chihiro was quick to squeak in her soprano. "But I was just walking down the hall with everyone when this important servant grabbed me and told me to watch a bath that-"
"Tell me later, we have to leave NOW. Everyone who is left is waiting by the boats, and we would have escaped without you if I hadn't figured you would be here." Rin explained, firmly tugging Chihiro along as they both reached a back exit, Rin pausing at the small wooden door, illuminated and orange by the burning furnace, to turn back to Kamajii. He hadn't stopped his working yet, but the Susuwatari had all halted, and were staring wide eyed at Chihiro had Rin, questioningly.
".Did you help her Kamajii?" Rin asked carefully, coldly. Chihiro looked up at her pretty friend with confusion. Why was she speaking in that tone to Kamajii? It wasn't her teasing admonitions from the days of old, when the two had worked together, but a distant and mean snap.
"No, my granddaughter just found her way here after she escaped from a tight fix, I believe," Kamajii said casually, still not turning to properly address either female. A scowl that had made itself a home on Rin's face darkened, and she spun on her heal so rip open the door, growling.
"Come on Chihiro, we best make haste. Who knows, Kamajii might have already told on us to his Lady Tiko," she hissed cruelly. Chihiro gasped. Kamajii was a traitor!?- giving her old friend one last glance before the door slammed shut, and she was dragged down a dark staircase, closing on the spider spirit and all his inquisitive workers.
"R-Rin. I don't under-!"
"Later," Rin called back to her friend, swiftly trotting down the stairs, eyes set on the next-door awaiting them at the bottom, but that, slightly sad, frown still on her face.
The couple burst through the door, Chihiro quietly shuddering in the cool night air even though she was very protected by the dark robes she wore, Rin leading Chihiro down to the boats that awaited them at the edge of the jagged rocks. It seemed as though it had been a lifetime ago since Chihiro had been desperately scampering up these same rocks, even though it had been most likely two hours.
'So much has changed,' Chihiro thought numbly as she was ushered back into her boat by the two enthusiastic twins, having replaced some of their rabid enthusiasm with bone rattling fear, sitting towards the back with Rin as they both picked up oars and began quickly paddling themselves to safety. The water made a soft splashing noise as they all pushed off the shore as a unit, everyone's masks still firmly in place even then, as if they were too petrified to remove them just yet.
"The invisibility spells are in effect!" One of the twins reminded Rin helpfully, eyes darting from the boat and back up to the rapidly retreating Aburaya nervously. Chihiro dimly wondered what had happened to the twins to make them so scared. to make Rin so shaken.
'Were they found by Tiko?' Chihiro suddenly did a quick head count, something telling her it was important she do so, heart momentarily freezing in her chest as she realized their little army was two short.
".Where's Po?" Chihiro was afraid to ask.
"He has been. kidnapped by Tiko's forces," Rin gritted out, her expression stony, but her tone pained. "He a well as Yo are lost to us, and kept with Yu-Baaba and the others now." Yo was one of the male sprits who had, in fact, been in Chihiro's group before she was separated from them. Chihiro halted her oar, quickly turning back to stair at the bright Aburaya, it suddenly seeming that much more sinister.
'Po. oh God. he's really gone? But- but he and I were just becoming friends, and he saved me from cracking my head on the rocks before! He was- he was-!'
"Keeping paddling," Rin ordered softly, her eyes fixed ahead towards the sanctuary of the covering forest, instead of at the bathhouse. Chihiro quickly resumed paddling, taking Rin's suggestion. Yes. She had to look ahead. Had to think of ways to make things right, instead of reminiscing on had bad they were. She had to think of a way to save Po and No-face and Baby Bou and all the others from Tiko's clutches. The girl had to focus on finding a cure for Kohaku and all of the other tainted spirits. And she could not cave in to the depression, or let her determination be dragged down by the hopelessness of it all.
She couldn't succumb to Tiko as others had.
* "So, we did accomplish some things on this mission," Rin said, smiling halfheartedly as she finished applying the disinfectant to the small gash across her arm she had received while trying to save her fellow worker Yo from the ruthless ghost men. A group of them had attacked her group half way through their search for a cure to the tainted spirit curse. Chihiro sat on Rin's couch, basking in the safety of Rin's home, and letting the icepack she was resting on effectively numb her back, as it was currently colored black and blue from all the times she had been tossed around and had landed painfully on it that night.
'Although I suppose it's far better than being taken hostage like the others.' she acknowledged through the aching pain, hair back up in its ponytail. If it hurt now, how would her bruises feel in the morning?
After everyone had made it through the oak tree and into the underground shanty-town of rebels, the solemn group had slowly dispersed back to their homes, able to avoid crowds of interested friends since they had all returned far earlier than expected. They were depressed and upset, feeling as though they had failed their mission miserably with the loss of two valuable comrades, and had gone home dragging their feet. Chihiro had watched them leave with a disheartened attitude as well: She hadn't even told any of them about their 'Master Kohaku' yet, figuring she should let Rin be the first to know. This knowledge, she knew, would make everyone feel ten times worse, since Kohaku was apparently a very influential person in this town.
It didn't even occur once to Chihiro that the knowledge that the walls were going down around the Aburaya might bring cheer to some: The cost was far too high in her mind.
And now she was back in Rin's small home as they duo tended to their minimal wounds, recounting the nights events, and Chihiro waiting until it was the appropriate time to inquire about Kamajii, or discuss Kohaku.
"Like what?" Chihiro asked, raising an eyebrow.
"Well, first off, we know for sure now that Tiko is using a confining talisman to keep her prisoners," Rin said, getting out a length of bandage as she spoke. "The men in the other group saw it, since they personally encountered Tiko on their mission," she elucidated.
"And they got away?" Chihiro asked in wonder, thinking she would have never been able to escape that penetrating stare of Tiko's had it not been for Kohaku.
"Just barely, they DID loose Yo." Pain flashed across the young spirit's face now. "But. in any case, they saw that the talisman is a small metal orb."
"Okay,"
"This is good because now we can get working on a plan to free the people in that ball." Rin added, taping the bandage tight together, wincing slightly as it made her deep cut sting. She said nothing more as Chihiro continued to press the icepack to her lower back, eyes closed. Finally, the mortal had to ask.
"Is Kamajii really a traitor?" Rin paused, as she was putting away all of her first aid material, lowering her head and appearing to think this question over.
"Yes," she decided upon.
"Oh." Chihiro murmured, still unable to believe the admittedly eccentric spirit was capable of being as evil as someone like Tiko. How could he help kill all of those innocent spirits?
"Not to the point where he likes the idea of transforming people into tainted spirits." Rin was quick to assure Chihiro. "He's just. indifferent, maybe. He won't take the initiative to come stay with us in these refugee camps of sorts that we've created, choosing to stick with the bathhouse and be paid handsomely by Tiko who needs someone of his skill to work the boiler room."
"But, non-action is just as bad as him wanting to help Tiko in a situation like this!" Chihiro spat.
"I know," Rin agreed, sighing and slumping into a chair as well. "And that's why I can't forgive him." Chihiro sighed. She knew that Rin used to be friends with Kamajii. This must have been a real blow to her. Well, Chihiro knew better than to expect the expected at this point, and accepted the fact that Kamajii was not the spirit she once knew with a relative degree of calmness, and grim understanding. That was just the way it was. But speaking of harsh blows.
"Rin," Chihiro croaked, staring at the window intensely, and refusing to meet the woman's gaze as she spoke. "I. I have to tell you what happened to me while I was separated from the group,"
"Yes! You never got around to it, what- Chihiro?" Rin asked, cocking her head at the girl's pale, remorseful expression. ". Do I want to know what happened?" Rin questioned fearfully. Chihiro shook her head solemnly.
"No. It's terrible," she admitted. "First. I was brought by a servant to one of the baths to guard a . customer there. I didn't know it at first, but the customer was Kohaku," Rin's eyes widened to the size of ping pong balls, and she looked as though she was going to inquire if Kohaku was actually IN the bath, so Chihiro hurried along, hoping to get this all out before Rin had time to interrupt, or else she feared she might not be able to finish the retelling.
"I tried to get him out of the bath. but he told me he had-had struck a deal with Tiko, and that he was just fulfilling his part of the bargain. The deal was. the deal he had made that day he told me to go ahead with out him, and come here to see you. was that if he became a tainted spirit, then Tiko would raise the barriers confining the Aburaya workers to its property, and you would all be free to tell the world of her treachery. He agreed." She finished dully, already having told this story to herself one too many times. It was becoming torture to herself to repeat it constantly.
"Damn it! That's so like him!" Rin screamed, slamming a fist onto the table so hard that Chihiro felt the reverberations from the couch.
"He didn't have a choice. He would have killed himself if he'd said no, he would have thought it was selfish." Chihiro said in her friend's defense. A hand unconsciously strayed up to her lips at the word 'friend.' Could she call herself something more?.
'I shouldn't be thinking about this now, I have other things to worry about,' Chihiro acknowledged.
In truth, she still hadn't come to terms with the fact that Po was gone. She hadn't really known Yo, as sorry she was that he had been taken prisoner as well, but Po. had been so kind to her! The shock of having him be gone, kept in some magical prison was emotionally swamping, and unfathomable. Chihiro tried to understand it, but all the emotion she could draw up when she thought of all her friends' positions currently was pure rage.
'My mood keeps changing,' Chihiro realized. 'One second I'm all gung- ho and ready to go to war, and the second something startling happens I'm back on square one and ready to curl up into a ball. I'm weak,' she decided. 'The only reason I even started out on all this was because Tenchi helped me realize that it was the right thing. But Tenchi's not here now, and It's hard to keep on track when all your friends are in such grave peril,'
"I know, but I can't believe this! He's going to be a tainted spirit now? We're going to loose Kohaku? This is going to have a devastating effect on the community, on the council with all of the active rebels, on- !" Rin spun on her heal to stare at her small friend, coming to an abrupt halt as she realized the girl was sobbing silently into her hands. "-on you." She finished quietly. Wordlessly, the ex-bathhouse worker swooped down and captured Chihiro in a comforting embrace, rocking back and forth, a woeful expression of her own placed on her face.
"Don't cry Chihiro, we'll fix everything. we'll make sure things are all right. don't worry." Rin murmured, like a mother to her child. Chihiro drew in a high pitched, shuddering gasp. It was just too much. She could be strong tomorrow, for the next meeting they would have when they would discuss exactly what happened on mission, as there was much more that transpired.. But for just then, with Rin, in her house (That was feeling more and more like home as the days passed.) in Rin's embrace. she would be weak. And vulnerable. And upset. She could be the all-knowing wunderkind Chihiro for the spirit community later. Just then. she had to mourn. She had lost so much.
'What's happened to you Kohaku? Where are you now? I need to see you.'
Chihiro clung tightly to Rin, trying to remember the embrace her river-God friend had given her just hours before, as she realized, if he stayed in the bathhouse, she might never be able to touch him again.
*
Author's Notes:
I'm sorry again! But it had to be done. Don't worry; I won't keep Kohaku and Chihiro from each other this whole story, or even for the next few chapters, seeing as how that would be dreadfully boring. And about how it's all, you know, DEPRESSING right now, well that's just what I have to do in the beginning to give Chihiro some initiative to rise up and be this all powerful savior. But then afterwards most of the story will be dedicated to piecing everyone back together as best I can, and making them happy again. In any case, don't forget to review. THAT, above all, is what you should keep in mind. Heh, thanks for reading,
Rio~