Chapter Nine: ENDING SCENARIO NUMBER TWO

Haku woke with the morning sun on his face. Kii was already gone, as usual; he didn't have the time to stay with Haku through the night, but now, feeling the cold indentation Kii's body had made in the futon, Haku wished that he had stayed until morning. He frowned slightly. Kii hadn't even waited to be paid.

Haku dressed slowly, thinking about what things he had to do in the coming day. When he looked out at the rising sun, something just below it caught his attention: it was Kii, standing at the edge of the bridge in front of the bathhouse, looking down onto the railroad tracks below. Haku watched him for a moment, then, without thinking, leapt deftly from his balcony down onto the bridge, nine stories below. He landed softly, then came up behind Kii and laid a hand on his shoulder. Kii started.

"Haku?" He said softly. "What are you doing out here?"

Haku put an arm around Kii's waist from behind. "I could ask you the same thing."

Kii stepped away from Haku's touch. "I... need to be alone."

Haku looked from Kii's downcast eyes to his white-knuckle grip on the bridge railing, then reached out and took his wrist in a firm grip. "No."

"What?" Kii tugged, but Haku held his grip. "What do you mean, no? Let-- let me go."

Haku pulled Kii gently towards the center of the bridge. "Come away from there. Come on." Kii looked up at Haku, then wordlessly buried his face in his shirt. Haku froze, startled; it was the most emotion Kii had ever shown towards him. He put his arms around Kii and found that the young man was shaking. Haku touched Kii's hair, then loosed it from the bit of ribbon that kept it tied back. Unbound, Kii's silky black hair tumbled down past his shoulders. Haku pushed it aside and bent to brush his lips against Kii's neck; he felt Kii relax a little and lean into him. When Haku pulled away, he saw that Kii had tears in his eyes, which were spilling down his cheeks.

"I... hate all this. I hate it," Kii moaned brokenly. He started to turn away, but Haku caught him.

"Tell me what's wrong." Haku wiped Kii's tears away with one finger, but still more spilled down to replace them. "I thought things were all right between us. Or is this about that room on the fifth floor...?" He blinked in surprise as Kii's sobs began anew. Abandoning his questions for the moment, Haku drew Kii to him once again and let him sob quietly against his chest. Haku heaved a sigh, helped Kii to straighten his kimono, and said, "Come on. Let's go somewhere more private where we can talk."

He led Kii through the garden and down the rickety wooden staircase, to Kii's room next to the boiler. Kamaji was awake, but he made no comment as he silently watched the two boys pass. The soot-sprites moved to clear a path for them. Kii was pale and quiet the whole way, staring down as though to make sure his feet were working properly.

Haku let Kii enter his room, then followed him and shut the door gently. He gestured to the futon, and Kii looked up to glare at him. "Sit down, so we can talk," Haku said, and, reluctantly, Kii did so.

Silence descended. Haku sighed. "Kii..."

"I don't want to talk," Kii said softly.

"There's things I need to know about you," Haku insisted.

Kii looked away. "Like?"

"Everything," Haku replied, and Kii looked at him again. "We meet, we kiss, and we make love, but I know almost nothing about you," he went on. "I want to know. I love you."

Kii drew his knees to his chest. "No you don't. You don't love me. I'm just... just sex. I'm just a whore to you." He swallowed, and his eyes brimmed with tears once more. "That's all I am. Just a whore."

Haku stiffened, taken aback, then his hand darted forward and he jerked Kii's head over to face him. "You are not a whore. You are Kii-- Kione, a musician. I want to help you. I want to know everything about you, your music, your life. I want to make that life part of mine. I love you. Do you understand?"

Kii stared at him, wide-eyed. "But-- the gold--"

"I paid you because I thought you might get in trouble with Yubaba," Haku said. "But not any more. No. Not ever again. I don't want you to be some lifeless doll that I force myself on every night. I want you to be you."

Kii slumped a little, still moon-eyed, then suddenly put his face in his hands. "Oh-- Oh Gods," he whispered. "Oh Haku..."

Haku moved closer to Kii and wrapped his arms around him, leaning down to smell his hair and kiss his ear. Kii turned in Haku's embrace and kissed him passionately. He pulled away, then hugged him hard, shutting his eyes tight. "Oh, please don't go away. Don't ever go away... Don't let this be a dream."

"I'm not a dream," Haku said, just as Kii whispered, "I love you."

They drew together to kiss again and again, with a fire and passion that they had never known before. There was also a desparation: Kii held Haku tightly, not wanting to let go, not wanting it to end. Haku reached down under Kii's kimono to touch him, and Kii closed his eyes and kissed Haku's skin, trembling. "Oh. Oh yes."

Haku bit down gently on Kii's ear, his hands still working. Kii moaned. "I want to leave this place," Haku whispered. "With you."

Kii was gasping, kissing Haku's neck, his hands gripping and releasing. "Oh I-- I can't," he said. "N-no. Don't stop. But I can't," he went on, torn between two needs.

Haku braced Kii against him, one hand on Kii's lower back. He kept his fingers moving. "Tell me, then."

"Nnh. Don't... ah. Th-- the Lotus Spirit. The woman in the gray kimono-- fifth floor. She-- ohh!" Kii tensed.

Haku kept his fingers stroking, massaging, while Kii took a few ragged breaths. "Sh-- she-- I'm repaying a debt to her. I can't leave her until I-- hahh-- until I've repaid her."

"What did she do?" Haku asked, using his free hand to wrap Kii's hair around his fingers. "What kind of debt?"

"I--" Kii sighed, then cried out in pleasure as Haku began his work anew. For a few moments, Haku let Kii lean against him and moan in ecstacy, then quickened his movements until Kii gripped him hard and gasped, his muscles quivering. Haku withdrew his hand. Kii drew several shuddering breaths, then let go of Haku to lay back on his futon. He closed his eyes. "I... owe her my life. She and I... have been here even before the bathhouse was built. I-- she--" Kii put a hand over his eyes. "I need to sleep."

"Sleep, then." Haku smiled as he leaned down to kiss Kii's forehead. He lay down next to him and stroked his hair, murmuring in his ear, until Kii's breaths were shallow and even, his body relaxed. Haku stood up and laid Kii's blanket over his sleeping form, then stepped quietly out of the room.

Kamaji was doing his best to act like it was not strange at all to see two men enter a room, hear muffled gasping and moaning, and see only one come out, looking somber. He watched Haku out of the corner of his eye as he stepped over and around the soot sprites at work.

"Kamaji."

"Eh?" The old man turned to look at him, his many arms still working.

Haku smoothed down his shirt as he looked up at Kamaji. "Who-- or what-- lives in the room on the fifth floor? A lady in gray? Have you seen her?"

Kamaji thought for a moment, using a free hand to scratch behind his ear. "Hmm... No, she hasn't come through this way asking for a job, if that's what you want to know."

"Have you heard anything about... a Lotus Spirit?"

"Lotus Spirit? Ah." Kamaji extended an arm out to poke Haku in the chest. "I don't know what you're up to, hanging about with that fishy musician character, but don't you go getting into trouble with a Lotus Spirit. They're dangerous."

Haku blinked. "Dangerous?"

Turning back to his work, Kamaji nodded. "Lotus Spirits aren't really spirits at all-- they're more like demons. They live at the bottom of ponds, waiting for someone to stop by to admire the lotus blossoms on the surface. And when someone gets close enough-- kachak-splash!" He darted a hand out and grabbed a soot sprite to demonstrate. The sprite squeaked and squirmed in his grip. "They pull you right in and suck the life out of you. It's said that sometimes, the spirits can emerge in a human form, but seeing as I've never been to a Lotus pond..." He flicked the sprite back down to the floor, where it fled in terror.

"Thank you, Kamaji." Haku bowed. "Now, I have to go. If Kii wakes up before I'm back, tell him to wait here."

"Eh? Hey!" Kamaji shook a fist at Haku's retreating back. "What did I tell you! Fool!" He snorted as Haku disappeared around the corner. "Feh. Fools in love... Nothin' you say to 'em makes any difference." He looked down at the soot sprites, who were staring out the way Haku had went. "Hey you! Get back to work, you lazy balls of soot!!"

Haku took two elevators to get to the fourth floor, then climbed the stairs to the fifth. He realized, now, that although there were stairs through all of the floors, all of the elevators skipped the fifth floor altogether. There were no baths here, no guest rooms, no restaurants-- it was just four blank walls and the one ornate door, and the stairs urging the traveller onto the next inviting floor.

Haku strode to the door and flung it open, then stepped inside. "Show yourself!" He called. "I know you're here, Lotus Spirit! Come out!"

Come into the pond, and I will speak with you, rang a feminine voice.

Haku frowned. "No. You come out, or I'll blow your pond and your garden apart! What have you done to Kii?! What does he owe to you?"

Aaaahhhh. The pond rippled, causing the lotus blossoms on the surface to sway. Then the water parted, and a woman with black hair in a gray kimono emerged. She had porcelain skin and a dreamy smile. "You are Haku, then."

"Yes," Haku replied. "Now tell me what he owes to you."

The lady smiled. "Kione the musician was walking by my pond one day, on his way to a concert. He was very famous, and very beautiful-- everyone loved him. He loved himself the most. He knew that my pond was dangerous and had no interest in looking at the lotus blossoms, but as he passed he saw his reflection in the water and, forgetting all caution, drew close to admire it. I pulled him in, of course." The lady chuckled. "He begged for his life, at such length that I had to allow him to live, if only to keep him quiet. Allow him to live, but in my service. Many travellers knew of the dangers of my pond, and I was growing weak with hunger. So I kept him, to send him out to lure travellers back to my pond with his beauty and song. He is bound to me, now. He is mine. As are you!" The lady shouted, and darted forward. Haku staggered back, but not fast enough; the lady grabbed him around the throat and her mouth opened wide, wider, revealing long white teeth. Haku struggled, trying to wrench away, but the lady's grip was too powerful. He then did the last thing he could think of: he dove into his dragon form, and his sheer mass broke the Lotus Spirit's grip. She grabbed him again, but Haku whipped her with his tail, driving her back. He snarled at her, tail lashing. Growling, the lady began to retreat back to her pond, but Haku leapt forward and sank his fangs into her, and felt her spine snap in his jaws. He shook her once, twice, then spat her out, leaving her to slump onto the ground, bleeding and gasping in pain.

"Gluh... kahk... demon-- fool!" The lady said hoarsely, then was silenced by Haku's tail once more.

Haku watched her still body, to make sure she would not rise again, not ever. When he was satisfied, he dumped her into the pond. Her body melted into a thick black ooze that sank to the bottom of the pond. As it did, the Lotus blossoms on the surface shimmered into light, then drifted away.

Haku slid back into his human form, panting. He wiped the sweat from his forehead, then, barely able to contain his excitement, raced out the door and down the stairs to the boiler room.

Kii was there, arguing with Kamaji. "What do you mean, he left? Where did he go?"

Kamaji sighed, irritated. "For the last time-- ah, Haku! There you are!"

Kii looked to Haku, then ran to him. "Haku! What--" he looked down at Haku's clothes, which were stained with blood. "Oh, Haku, what happened?"

"I did it," Haku gasped, hugging Kii. "I did it. I freed you."

"You-- what?" Kii blinked, then smiled as Haku hugged him harder.

Though it took a few minutes to explain everything to Kii (and to Kamaji, who insisted on knowing the whole story), when Haku was finished, Kii broke down sobbing again. "Oh Haku," he sobbed. "You might have been killed."

Haku smiled at Kamaji, then led Kii back into his room. "Pack all your things," he said. "I want to leave here with you."

Kii sat down very suddenly on his futon. "Oh, I feel dizzy. I-- what about Yubaba?"

"I can take care of her," Haku insisted. "Hurry; I want to leave as soon as we can. We can go and-- and build a house. We can walk along the railroad tracks until--"

"--Oh, I can't bring everything, what can I leave behind--"

"--Ms. Zeniba can lend us a hand--"

"Oh, Haku, I--"

There was a loud knocking on the door.

Kii and Haku froze, silent. The knocking sounded again, and Kii rose to answer it. Before he reached it, though, the door slammed open and Kii was forced back by a wall of flame, at the center of which stood Yubaba.

"Haku!" she growled. "You can take care of me, eh? Why, you ungrateful little newt! I'll turn you into a toad!"

"I'm leaving here," Haku said. "Today. And I'm not going to let you stop me." He turned to face her.

END of the Lullaby Fanfiction.