Disclaimer: I do not own any of the characters in Spirited Away. If I said I did, Mr Hayao Miyazaki would sue me. That is all.

Chihiro stood as still as a statue, for she was frozen in place. Never, in the past four years, had she ever thought of coming back to the Spirit World. She fixed her gaze on the green field stretched as far as the eye can see. She started walking again, and kept right on, until she reached an area of what seemed to be a river without much water. She climbed on top of the many rocks and reached the other side, where she continued on to the small city that led into Yubaba's bathhouse.

***

Through the many round-shaped trees, and finally up in the light-blue sky, a dragon flew. It looked as if it were in a hurry, with its wild green eyes set in a determined way.  Its lithe, serpent-like body sliced through the air, leaving no trail behind. From far away, the dragon Haku was a dazzling sight. No one would ever think that he was hurt, but he was bleeding, both from the inside and out. He suddenly started slowing down, as the pain got the best of him, and lost momentum. In no time, Haku was plummeting a hundred feet into the ground.

***

Yubaba's bathhouse looked exactly as it did four years ago, when Chihiro got lost in the Spirit World and briefly became Sen. Sen, whose parents were turned into pigs because they ate too much of the Spirits' food. Sen, who had to work as a servant in the bathhouse so Yubaba won't turn her into a pig as well. Sen, who broke a deadly curse that nearly killed the one that she most loved. There was no Ogino Chihiro in the Spirit World. There was only Sen.

It was still light out, but the sun was ever so slowly setting. The horizon was slowly turning a shade of orange, with the sun a fiery ball. Chihiro walked across the decorated wooden bridge, noticing that steam was coming out of the pipes of the Aburaya. The paper lanterns were slowly being lit, and Chihiro looked on as one of the sliding doors opened, and a slug woman appeared, preparing for the Spirits soon to arrive. . .

***

The river spirit Haku slowly turned back into his human form, revealing various wounds and bruises. He was crumpled in an unconscious heap, bleeding and in serious pain. He was on his way to the sorceress Zeniba's house, when, while underwater, he was attacked by water demons called Kappas. They bit and clawed through his dragon hide before he managed to break free and swim out of the water, to fly as fast as he could to Zeniba. He had made it very far, but he was still in the forest, where help is hard to find.

***

The slug woman's face contorted in disgust, as if she had a bad smell to her nose. She looked around and finally spotted Chihiro. The slug woman jumped in alarm, startling Chihiro. The slug woman quickly ran back inside the Aburaya, screaming.

"A human! A human! There is a human outside the bath house!" The slug woman was shrieking. The sun was almost completely down, and chaos was quickly beginning to form. Frog men and slug women were running about frantically, screaming, "A human, a human!". Amid all the pandemonium, a woman of about twenty poked her head outside one of the doors, looking for the human. She finally spotted Chihiro and beamed in surprise.

"Sen! Sen! You came back! Oh, I knew you'd come back!" the woman ran out and hugged Chihiro as tightly as she could. Chihiro remembered her from when she was ten years old.

"Rin!" she said, hugging the woman back. Before she knew it, Chihiro was grinning, feeling happier than she'd ever had in the past four years, ever since she left the Spirit World. She had missed all her friends here, like Rin, Kamaji, Boh, No Face, Zeniba, and most importantly-

"Where's Haku?" Chihiro asked Rin after she had finally calmed down. Rin gave her a small smile as she led Chihiro to the Boiler Room, so Kamaji can see her.

"Well," Rin started as the two walked down the many stairs that led to the Boiler Room. "From what I've heard, Haku had finally broken his contract from Yubaba," she said.

"Finally? But, he found out his real name four years ago! Why did it take him that long to break free from Yubaba?" Chihiro asked, a confused look on  her face. Rin shrugged as she pushed the door open to the Boiler Room.

"Kamaji! Kamaji, guess who's here!" Rin hollered as the two went inside. The many-limbed man was busy ordering little round balls of soot around, while drinking from his tea-kettle. Rin and Chihiro stepped inside the Boiler Room, and Kamaji stopped abruptly when he saw Chihiro.

"Sen? Is that really you?" Kamaji's face wore a look of surprise, which soon turned into a wide grin. "Sen! It's great to have you back!" Kamaji's many arms extended and pulled Chihiro into a great hug. He finally let go of her, while she gasped for air.

"So," he said. "What brings you back, dear Sen?" he asked. Chihiro noticed that the balls of soot were watching them while carrying lumps of coal into the massive boiler.

"My world is lonely. I don't have such good friends, unlike here," a sad look crossed Chihiro's face as she remembered her world. The Human World, where no one understood her at all. There was no one to share her unique experiences in the Spirit World; everyone she told about it thought she was nuts. Her parents were just as bad, as they always forced her to do nothing but schoolwork. She hated schoolwork, as it was boring and routine. She needed to get away.

Kamaji nodded, meaning that he understood. He wasn't finished. "I bet that's not all, is it, Sen?" he asked. He could see that something else was troubling her. "You're wondering where Haku is." This wasn't a question, but Chihiro nodded.

"Do you know where he is?" she asked. Kamaji nodded, as two bath tokens dropped from above. Kamaji cursed as Chihiro waited for him to finish taking care of the tokens.

"Yes, as a matter of fact, I do know where he is. . . Or rather, where he should be," he said. Chihiro was silent. Kamaji continued. "He told me that he had finally broken his contract with Yubaba, and that he would be on his way to Zeniba, to ask her for help to keep a certain promise. Do you know, by any chance, what promise he was talking about?" Kamaji asked, peering through his sunglasses.

Chihiro thought for a moment, and then it came to her. Of course! "Yes, I know what he was talking about," she said. "He promised me that we would see each other again."

Kamaji nodded. "Hmm. I'm betting that Haku probably wanted to ask Zeniba for help to see you. Sounds like something he would do, that boy." Kamaji shook his head and muttered something that Chihiro couldn't understand. Rin, who was sitting on the floor for all this time, heard what he muttered and laughed.

"What's so funny?" Chihiro asked, giving both Rin and Kamaji odd looks. They both shook their heads as if they were saying "never mind". Chihiro scowled, and Kamaji started talking again.

"I'm a bit worried, though. Haku left a couple of days ago, and it takes only a few hours to get to Zeniba's house. He said that he'd send a message to me, saying that he got there safely. I'm worried that he may have gotten himself into danger," Kamaji said, his eyebrows knitted together. Chihiro looked downright dismayed, as Rin realized the time.

"It's so late! Sen! You must come with me to the sleeping quarters! I'm sure you're tired by now, with all that walking. I'm sure you'll hear from Haku soon. Come on," Rin took Chihiro's arm and dragged her to the sleeping quarters, where she soon drifted off into a dreamless sleep. . .

***

Haku's jade eyes suddenly flew open, realizing that he took a nasty fall. He tried to get up, but failed miserably. One word escaped from his lips as he fainted yet again.

"Chihiro."

~*~ Yippee! New chapter! Thank you so much for the kind reviews! I know that the first chapter was very short, because it was sort of a test, seeing how many people would bother to read my writing. The plot thickens, as Chihiro and Haku's meeting draws near. Reviews are greatly appreciated! Constructive criticism is welcome, but flames aren't. Again, thanks to everyone that reviews! =^_^=