A/N: Yay, another chapter. I had a bit of writer's block and made my friend help. But now, for the time being, it's all good :-) And since a number of you asked for kodama, I couldn't help but put one in ^_^

Disclaimer: You people should know by now that I don't own Sen to Chihiro no Kamikaushi. Sigh.

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Chihiro made herself tear her eyes away from Haku as the guests finally reached the doorway of Aburaya. Haku walked with her and Rin to the tub, which had a wonderfully musky smell drifting up from its steaming waters.

The tree spirits, however, all paused before they entered the bath. The lead tree spirit, a sakura tree with its blossoms in full bloom, paused, staring at Chihiro from eyes of gnarled tree bark. "One moment," it said, in an odd voice that was a cross between the rattling of its branches and a deep, yet smooth, rumbling. It turned back to its companions and rustled its branches a bit, then resumed glaring at her while it addressed Haku. "Master of Aburaya, we will not be served by a human."

Chihiro couldn't help but gape. She hadn't done a single thing whatsoever to deserve the tree's contempt, and yet, it glared and rattled its branches as though she had killed one of its kind or something. Behind the lead tree spirit, the others were twitching leaves in what sounded to her like assent. "W-what did I-"

Haku silenced her by swiftly upraising his hand. Chihiro trailed off, confused and a bit hurt. The master of Aburaya bowed politely. "It shall be as you request, great spirits. Rin shall tend to your every need." The spirits turned and, one by one, settled themselves down into the steaming waters of their bath.

Without a word to her, Haku turned and began walking away. "H- er, Master Haku, what's wrong? Why won't they let me work?" Chihiro found that she didn't like the tone of hurt that permeated her voice; as much as she didn't want to admit it, being discriminated against because of her race (well, at least she assumed that was the full reason; if there was more to it, Chihiro had not the slightest idea) stung her.

He turned, hair swishing about his beautiful and calm face. His eyes held something indefinable in their depths. "I do not know why the spirits do not wish for your assistance. But do not lest it bother you; it is impossible to know exactly what their reasoning is. They have lived ten times the number of years as you or I. Be contented with that."

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Haku couldn't help but reassure Chihiro, despite knowing that he had acted… unfavorably the last time they had come in contact with one another. He did not want to admit, even to himself, that he still loved her with all the feeling in his heart as he had the day that she had given him back his name. He simply could not help it. She had changed him, given him back all that made him… him. She renewed the hope that in his immortal life he may be able to find happiness. She had saved him.

Chihiro looked so disheartened by the way that the ancient tree spirit had treated her. Part of him went out to her, making him feel even worse about lying to her just to keep her near. The years that they had been apart had been torture, plain and simple. His heart ached for her without a moment's respite; his consciousness registered each and every second that she was gone, a feeling that the spirit of the Kohaku River could not ever remember experiencing in all the long years of his life. He did not want to live without the human girl that had won his immortal heart.

But the fact that the tree spirits had shunned her so was a cause for concern. Though they were the most conservative of spirits that normally dwelled far to the west, even they should not have such hatred for a girl that had not wronged them in any way.

He said what he could to make her feel better, but he knew that it did not help as much as he had hoped. With a sigh that stopped at his lips, he turned and made his way to the upper levels, leaving Chihiro to do as she wished until the main contingent of the spirits arrived. There seemed to be a common agreement between them all that the normal patrons of Aburaya would not come until the ancient tree spirits and their entourage of spirits had gone on their way. Granted, the nameless spirits that manned all the restaurants that composed the small town surrounding the bathhouse must be delighted beyond measure, for they were receiving many times the volume of business as normal.

The spirit of the Kohaku River was deeply troubled by the arrival of the spirits. It would take much pondering on his part to discover why they had left their home forests and come, against all expectations, east. Until then, he would have to be content with keeping Aburaya running as normal and watching his love from afar.

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Chihiro gave a gusty sigh and tried to decide what to do. As the spirits didn't want her anywhere in their general vicinity and none of the normal spirits had apparently come yet, she was really at a loss.

Haku's words did make her feel a bit better, though she realized that it was only because she had wanted to see him for so long that any words coming from his mouth would have sounded wonderful. She just could not shake the feeling that she knew him very closely. His calm, always so very calm face seemed to agree and yet disagree at the same time. Needless to say, she was very confused.

And she missed her family and friends terribly. Time seemed to be flowing at the same rate at Aburaya as what she had come to think of the normal world- that meant that she had been gone without a trace for quite some time now. Her heart was torn between her home and the bathhouse of the spirits.

"Outta the way," a spirit carrying a gigantic tray laden with food said, trying to get by Chihiro, who was still standing in the middle of the hallway.

She moved to one side, dimly noticing that the area around the tub was filling with workers, most of which weren't doing anything but gaping at the tree spirits like they were not real or something along those lines. It reminded Chihiro just how little she knew about the realm of the spirits and only increased her desire for home.

Finally, Chihiro decided just to go back up to her room and sit on the balcony. She sat at the edge and stared down at the train as it passed, bored for once. Gradually, time passed and the tree spirits left, going through the town in their beautiful procession until they were out of sight. As the normal patrons of Aburaya started flooding in, anxious to bathe before the sun rose, Chihiro meandered back downstairs and found Rin.

She, and the other spirits that had served the trees, were as happy as Chihiro had ever seen them. As soon as she was seen by her friend, Rin rushed up grinning broadly. "You won't believe how much they paid all of us! And the best part is that Haku is letting us keep all of it!" Chihiro couldn't help but laugh at Rin's excitement. "I'm just going to run this upstairs and then I'll be back," Rin informed her, and dashed off.

She was back momentarily and they set about serving some of the spirits. The rest of the night passed as normal, but for the air that seemed to have permeated the bathhouse ever since the tree spirits had set foot into the town. Most of the spirits were edgy and more demanding than usual. It was nothing too painstaking, but by the time the night was over and the sun threatened the horizon, Chihiro was exhausted.

With a sigh, Chihiro glanced around the large tub once more to check that everything was in place for the morning. Everything was fine but for a white rag that had been shoved into one of the corners. She bent down to pick it up, but just as her fingers were about to touch it, there was a sudden click from it.

The human girl jumped back with a small shriek as the spirit (at least, that's what she assumed it was; it most certainly wasn't a rag) clicked again and raised its head to look at her. At the sound of her shriek it pushed itself a bit further into the corner and started to dim, though it did not disappear. The overly tired Chihiro hadn't meant to scare it, she was just tired and not expecting there to be another spirit around after all had already left.

She did feel guilty for scaring it, though. She addressed the little thing as politely as she was able. "Excuse me, I really didn't mean to scare you, I was just surprised. Will you come out of the corner? I can get you food, if you'd like."

Its head turned and spots of black stared up at her. Apparently deciding she really wasn't going to hurt it, the spirit solidified, uncurled and stood up. Its head was cocked to one side. Chihiro figured that it was just thinking, and was surprised when, in a series of clicks, its head returned to normal.

The sight of it made Chihiro giggle. It was small, plump, and white, reminding Chihiro of the American Pillsbury Dough Boy quite a bit. It had a head that looked too big for its body, and it's eyes and nose were black dots, with its mouth the same, though at the moment, it had stretched out into a smiling shape. It was really very adorable.

Chihiro squatted down before it. "How come you haven't gone home?" The thing saddened at bit, its smile fading. I gave a sad series of clicks. Chihiro thought hard for a moment and then remembered the multitude of spirits in the procession. "Were you with the tree spirits?" More disheartened clicks.

Now she felt really bad for it. Chihiro didn't know if Rin would approve, but she offered anyway. "Well… would you like to stay here?" It started grinning and clicking like mad as it bounced around on the floor. Chihiro laughed again and scooped it up. She settled it on her shoulder where it sat, bouncing more. It was so light that if it had not been clicking, she probably would not have known it was there.

They wandered upstairs, the spirit clicking in contentment all the way. She had no sooner reached the balcony next to her room than Rin appeared behind her, carrying food. "Oh, good, I thought you'd be up here." Rin stopped and blinked a bit as she noticed the spirit perched merrily on Chihiro's shoulder. "You have a kodama on your shoulder."

Chihiro nodded. The kodama wound up and clicked. Rin laughed. "You never cease to surprise, do you?"

She smiled as she took food from her friend. "Of course not. What's the fun in that?" They chatted a bit while they ate, the kodama periodically moving from Chihiro to Rin and back.

With the kodama by her head, Chihiro soon fell into a deep slumber, plagued by dreams of the tree spirits and nightmares which she did not remember upon awakening.