Disclaimer: I don't own Spirited Away...as if you didn't know that. Otherwise I wouldn't have to be a fanfiction author ^.^ ohohohoho...
Rant at the end. =)
Never Forget
Chapter 3: Silence
by Nereix
As the world slowly spun back into focus, Kohaku opened his eyes to find himself lying in the middle of a grassy forest path, blinking in the early afternoon sun that filtered through the trees.
For a few blank seconds, he had no idea what he was doing there.
Then everything rushed back in a mad dash that set his head throbbing with the overload of it. No, that couldn't be it. He sat up slowly, careful not to move his head too quickly. Fingers that probed gingerly at the side of his head came back smeared a dark red. He winced as a wave of fresh pain lanced across his skull. The offending area had nearly stopped bleeding, but a large bump was doing its best to make its existence known. In addition, he had gained a number of smaller bumps and bruises on various parts of his anatomy.
Clumsy idiot! he berated himself. What is with you today? And judging by the sun, you missed school altogether!
His school case was lying a few feet away where he had dropped it. Reaching in, he fished out his handkerchief and dabbed at the side of his head. When the bleeding had been reduced to smudges of dark red on the white cloth, he looked around, trying to get his bearings. Behind him, the path stretched out for a good distance, ultimately curving around to disappear into the trees. Had he managed to run the entire way?
With a slight frown, Kohaku turned back around. He looked up then, and the handkerchief dropped to the grass, momentarily forgotten.
Looming up over him less than a hundred yards away was a giant wall, its faded bricks overgrown with vines and moss. Realizing that his mouth was hanging open, he abruptly snapped it shut and picked up his school case, dusting off his handkerchief and doing his best to not jar his head.
Some minutes later, he was standing before the structure, gazing into darkness. Leading deep into the interior was a tunnel that seemed to have no end. No matter how he squinted, he couldn't make out anything on the other side. Was he supposed to go in?
Where were those voices when you needed them?
His head had stopped bleeding. He stuffed the handkerchief back into his school case and left it at the base of a large moss-covered stone, directly in front of the tunnel.
Underneath the vines, the bricks were cool to his touch. Flakes of old paint indicated that the wall was once a bright red color. How many years of time had passed for the sun to bleach it gray?
Kohaku ventured inside with some caution. He didn't have any alternate light source with him, and as the daylight slowly faded to the small circle of the tunnel mouth behind him, he couldn't help an increasing feeling of nervousness. He couldn't explain it, but the very air seemed to be quivering. And the light kept dimming. Soon, there wasn't even enough light for him to make out his hand in front of his face...
Said hand hit something hard and solid.
It was another brick wall, though without the dense vines that covered the one outside. As far as Kohaku could tell, it stretched all the way to the perimeter of the tunnel, blocking the rest of the way.
Of all the...Now what was he supposed to do?
With a start, he realized that he was waiting for something—some voices, or visions, or hallucinations or whatever—to show up and answer his question, because they were what had led him here. But the voices stayed quiet, and he was left with only an empty expectation. Frustration washed over him.
The feeling that he was missing something crucial was still there. Just when he had almost closed his hand over it, he had to take that twice damned fall, and then those thrice damned voices had shut up. His guide had disappeared, and he was still empty. Kohaku trudged out of the tunnel to stand next to the stone, glaring up defiantly at the entire construction.
Why did you bring me here!?
Silence. Kohaku was left glowering at a brick wall, filled with an irritating frustration and a heart-tearing yearning that he couldn't even begin to explain.
Something tapped his shoulder. "Ano...sumimasen?"
Kohaku almost jumped in surprise. He hadn't heard anyone approach him.
The person was a girl around his age, brown hair pulled back into a simple ponytail. Her dark eyes widened at the sight of him. She was pretty, he decided, in a sweet, subtle way.
Her voice sounded a bit strange: hesitant and hopeful, all at once. "Haku...?"
Kohaku blinked. He
hadn't been called 'Haku' since...how many years
ago?
Since he was a child.
And how did she know his name?
She was wearing the uniform of his new school. Did she look it up or something? But why 'Haku'? She didn't
look familiar to him at all.
"I'm sorry. Do I know you?"
It was the girl's turn to blink. "That's not funny, Haku."
"Uh..."
She looked confused. "...It's me. Chihiro. You don't recognize me?"
"I'm sorry. I...don't know anyone named Chihiro."
The girl took a step back. "Huh? But...it's you. You're Haku. Why..."
"My name is Nigihayami Kohaku," he said cautiously; the girl—Chihiro—looked so hurt. "I'm a transfer student, but I haven't been to the school yet. Are you sure you have the right person?"
A myriad of emotions crossed the girl's face, too quickly for Kohaku to divine. She finally took a deep breath, whispered "I'm sorry," and ran.
Kohaku stared after her, unable to shake the feeling that he had just done something terrible.
To be continued.
----------------
Yes, yes, another short chapter, and kind of pointless too...gomen, gomen. ^_^;; At least it's not so much of a cliffhanger as the other two were, ne?
In any case, I am very pleased to announce that I did a bit of research and have managed to work out a rough timeline that this story will (hopefully) be following. It's not gonna speed up updates, sorry, but at least the story is, believe it or not, going to go somewhere, ne? ^_-
This chapter took a while to finish. I got stuck for a bit until I worked something out (added some detail at the end of chapter 2!!) Plus I wanted to work on my other Rayearth fic, which no one is reading cries There was also the fact that I did the draft while I was half asleep, and when I edited it I practically had to rewrite the whole thing ^_^;; Gomen ne, I'm something of a perfectionist. Usually if I don't like what I write, I end up either doing a major rewrite or discarding the entire thing. I'm moderately satisfied with this one...hehe. I'll try to keep edits down to a minimum, but sometimes I just can't help myself. -_-;;
By the way, I tried drawing Haku with short hair, and it came out funny. His hair is really fine and like a girl's, so it's meant to be longer. But when I tried drawing a modern version of that, he ended up looking exactly like Touya Akira from Hikaru no Go!! Gah...I must be a terrible artist.
Wow, this rant has stretched out pretty long. I'll end your torture here. =) Please review! I love my reviewers, all seven of them! =D
bows Minna-san, arigatou gozaimashita!
