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Into Another World
Chapter 3
by Selene
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Hitomi sat on the ledge outside the sleeping quarters Chihiro had led them to, telling her it used to be where she slept in. They had found futons inside the storage cabinet and laid two of them out for them to sleep in. They hadn't been able to find anything to eat while exploring the bath house, but fortunately they had brought with them some bread and water inside their backpacks.
It was in the middle of the night and the world was still and quiet. Chihiro had already fallen asleep after a couple hours of tossing and turning. Hitomi found that she couldn't sleep at all.
She sighed and placed her chin on top of the wooden railing, staring up at the sky. The moon was crescent, shining brightly in the middle of an expanse of bright twinkling stars. She had not seen a sky this beautiful and clear in a long time. Tokyo, for as long as she could remember, seldom showed her the sky at all. Even in areas devoid of sky-scraping buildings, the city lights were too bright that stars from afar couldn't compete. The only time she saw this kind of sky was in Gaea, with its twin moons. She had only realized how she loved watching the night sky in its unobstructed form when she came back to her own world.
But the world she was in right now was different from Earth, different from Gaea. She had come to this world because Chihiro had no one else. She had come because, in her heart, she wanted to see Chihiro lived a happy life she herself hadn't been able to live after her other-worldly experience. It was not only because she had left the man she loved behind, not only because she had left people she cared more than most people in her own world in another world, it was also because of the horror she had experienced. She had spent many nights dreaming of the things she saw - the burning city, the screams of people dying, the acrid smell of burning, the smoke in her eyes, the blood...... and Van, always Van, dying in many horrifying way. She could close her eyes now and she still could see everything so vividly.
And she had really thought she would be alright. Wasn't that what she told Van when he appeared to her that day, her final vision, their last link to each other? After that, her psychic abilities had disappeared without a trace and she refused to dwell in anything related to it.
Yet, she had a vision earlier. She suppressed the chill running through her spine. If she had a choice, she wouldn't want to relive the experience of being able to see into the past nor the future again. Especially when there was only destruction and death to be found. Chihiro was distraught, she knew it, but she wouldn't let Hitomi know just how much. Hitomi admired the younger girl's strength and courage, whom at times seemed much wiser than herself.
She looked up to look at the moon again, shielded by a wisp of thin cloud that was still letting out some of the moon's light, and fear, anxiety, worry, gripped her heart with an unshakable cold fist.
------
The next morning, Chihiro's first words after she woke up were, "I want to try to go to Zeniba's place. She might know something."
"The train?" Hitomi suggested.
Chihiro nodded. "I don't know where we can get tickets, though. We don't have any money, either."
"We can try going to the stop first and ask about it when the train arrives," Hitomi said. "Someone should be able to tell us something."
They left the bath house and headed for the nearest train stop.
"You know, I don't think Haku is dead at all," Chihiro suddenly said when they were walking down the slope towards the train stop. "He was probably just hurt, wasn't he? I mean, he was quite badly hurt at that time too, but he stayed alive, didn't he?"
Hitomi smiled listening to Chihiro's rationale. "I hope so too, Chihiro."
"I mean, he's a god! He can't die!"
"Yeah, I really hope so, Chihiro," Hitomi said quietly.
The train stop was a mere platform with a wooden sign which could not be read anymore because the words had long faded. "You remember where Zeniba's house is?" Hitomi asked Chihiro to make sure.
"It's the 6th stop from here, I think. But it's quite a long journey from here. I hope the train is running today. It'd be a very long walk if the train is not coming."
Luckily Chihiro's fear didn't come true. They had only waited for around fifteen minutes when they heard the rattle of the train's wheels coming from the distance, followed by the sight of the train itself. When it stopped before them, the door opened and a semi-transparent figure appeared. Hitomi had to blink her eyes several times to make sure that she was really looking at something real. Chihiro, however, was already make her way to the figure. "Um... excuse me," she ventured slowly.
The figure, which was in the shape of a human being, made a movement as if to turn itself to face Chihiro fully.
"We want to take the train to Zeniba's house, but we don't have any tickets. Can we buy it from you? This is what we have," Chihiro continued. She reached into her pocket and showed him several folded Japanese yen money bills along with several coins on her outstretched hand. The figure reached out a shapeless arm and pushed the folded bills aside. He started to pick up the 100 yen coins from Chihiro's outstretched palm and he brought them towards (or was it into?) himself, where the coins disappeared entirely from their view. He made more movements as if reaching inside himself to find something before pulling out two tickets from within himself.
Chihiro smiled widely. "Thank you!"
They stepped up into the train and the figure of the train conductor stepped up behind them, closing the door with him. There were only three other passengers inside the train, which only had one carriage. All those three other passengers were sitting scatteredly inside the carriage and all of them, like the train conductor, were semi-transparent. Chihiro and Hitomi picked up a seat at the farthest end of the carriage, a fair distance away from the other passengers.
Chihiro's memory was right. The train journey was long. They saw the three passengers that were with them in the beginning of the journey stopping and going down the train before they did, and more people, all of them semi-transparent, got on the train. On the sixth stop, they got down the train after Chihiro proclaimed that it should be the correct one.
They decided to follow the road leading away from the train stop, it was the only visible road anyway. Chihiro lead the way, like what she had been doing all the time since they embarked on their journey to this spirit world. Hitomi smiled to herself. Chihiro, although younger than herself, was no doubt a very mature and capable person. She wondered whether she was ever anything like that when she had been Chihiro's age.
"It's just down this road," Chihiro said. The sun was almost setting, leaving the sky an ethereal blue colour. "See the litte house over there? There are lights inside, so Zeniba should be there."
When they reached the house, the door opened before they could knock. A figure cloaked in black from head to toe wearing a white mask appeared. "Hello!" Chihiro said. "How are you? Is Zeniba in?"
Kaonashi bobbed his head up and down, making several sounds of joy and assent.
"This is Hitomi. She's from my world too."
Kaonashi bobbed his head up and down again, making more sounds and gesturing towards the inside of the house. He moved aside and repeated the gesture.
"Alright, we'll go in now. Come on, Hitomi."
The room they walked into were bright and spacious. A short woman with an unproportionally large head was sitting at the head of a long wooden table. She smiled brightly when she saw them. "Welcome, children. What a nice surprise this is. But then I've always known you would be back." She addressed the last comment to Chihiro, looking straight into her eyes.
"Zeniba, do you know what had happened at the bath house?" Chihiro asked directly, walking to stand beside Zeniba's chair.
"Sit down, have something to eat, and I'll answer your questions."
Chihiro obeyed her and sat on the chair nearest to Zeniba's, but Zeniba got up. "You must be the Girl Who Sees. Come and have a seat too. I'll go and get some food for the two of you. I imagine it has been quite a long journey for both of you."
Hitomi took her sit opposite Chihiro and asked, "How do you know who I am?"
Zeniba was now stirring the laddle of the big black pot that was hanging on top of the fire. She laughed heartily hearing Hitomi's question. "I heard Chihiro mentioned your name outside. I knew instantly." She raised the laddle and grabbed two bowls from the pile sitting on the small table beside the fireplace and scooped a generous amount of thick soup into each of them. "Kaonashi, would you mind helping to bring these to our guests? I'll get the spoons and the bread."
Once the food was served and ready to be eaten in front of them, Zeniba returned to her seat by the head of the table and Kaonashi sat beside Chihiro. Starving, Hitomi and Chihiro helped themselves to the food in front of them. After several mouthfuls, Chihiro looked up and said, "Zeniba, you haven't answered my question."
The old woman smiled sadly. "I'm afraid it is as you fear, Chihiro. The bath house was attacked, its occupants slained, including my sister and her child."
"But how? Who?" Chihiro insisted, her steaming soup forgotten for a while.
"Eat it while it's hot, dear," Zeniba said, smiling while she pointed towards Chihiro's bowl. "The spirit world is filled with complexities and the undescribables, child. The best way I can explain it to you is that there was a powerful being who wanted something Yubaba had. To get it, the bath house had to be attacked and all the magic my sister possessed couldn't stand against it. She was defeated, the object changed ownership, and your dragon boyfriend perished while defending it."
"It's true then... Hitomi's vision..." Chihiro said in a whisper, staring blindly at the table's surface in front of her.
"Of course." Zeniba glanced at Hitomi sitting on the other side of her. "She is the Seer. Her visions never fail."
"Then it was useless to come back here... I can't see Haku anymore..."
Zeniba said nothing. The room was silent for a long time. Then Kaonashi started shaking his head violently: "Ah! Ah!"
Zeniba looked at him sharply. "That is not the business of human beings."
"What is it, Kaonashi? Zeniba? Is there something else?" Chihiro urged.
"I was thinking that ... if Haku is a god.... how could he die? Gods are immortal, aren't they?" Hitomi said slowly, looking at Zeniba for confirmation.
"You are wise, Seer. And you are partly right. Gods can't die."
"Then Haku....?!"
"No, Chihiro. In human's definition, he would be considered dead. He is not in this world anymore, he doesn't have a material flesh anymore, and he is out of reach to everyone in this world. Humans can't even understand the meaning of their own death and what happens to them when they die, how can you understand what happens to a god when he dies? It is far, far too difficult to understand with your limited mind."
"Zeniba..........." Hitomi said slowly. "If there is a way, any way, for Chihiro to meet Haku one more time...... just please help her!"
"Hitomi!" Zeniba barked sharply at her. "Do not try to lead Chihiro into oblivion just because you want to live through her by letting her have what you can't have."
"She deserves it!" Hitomi shouted. "What's wrong with wanting to meet someone you love? If I can't meet Van, then at least Chihiro can meet Haku! I'll do all that I can to help her to do that!"
"Human beings are foolish," Zeniba said bitterly, making her sound more like her twin sister.
"Zeniba, I am not afraid," Chihiro said. " I -want- to meet Haku."
Zeniba closed her eyes. "You will fail. But if you don't try, you won't understand. Very well. Tell me now, what do you think happens to a god in the spirit world when he dies?"
"I don't know. I don't know! You said he would no longer has a material flesh, but if this is a spirit world, then he shouldn't have it in the first place!"
"Ah, but you have flesh, don't you? You didn't leave your body outside that tunnel before you came here, did you? The same thing, my dear. This world is called the spirit world because this is where the gods dwell. When they are not meddling in human's affairs in your world, this world is where they choose to be in. My sister set up the bath house because she was greedy for money and power. She knew it would be a successful establishment that would lure many powerful gods to enjoy themselves with baths, entertainment, food.... This world is as material and as physical as yours. So when a god dies in this world, he merely leaves the physical world behind."
"In our world, some people believe in the existence of Heaven and Hell after they die. Other people believe that the souls would be reborn into a new body, a new life." Hitomi said.
Zeniba nodded. "The soul is eternal, whether you're a human or a god."
"So where is Haku?" Chihiro asked in a whisper.
"I don't know the answer. But there is someone who knows..." Zeniba stopped and sighed deeply. "Rest here for the night. Tomorrow morning you may begin your journey again. You will go to the end of the world and it will be decided there, whether this is the knowledge you need to know......"
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TBC
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Author's notes:
Ack! Sorry, sorry, I know it's been too long since my last update. My update rate seems to be a chapter every 6 months or so ^_^; Anyway, thanks for reading and please give some critics and comments!
Into Another World
Chapter 3
by Selene
---------------------------------------
Hitomi sat on the ledge outside the sleeping quarters Chihiro had led them to, telling her it used to be where she slept in. They had found futons inside the storage cabinet and laid two of them out for them to sleep in. They hadn't been able to find anything to eat while exploring the bath house, but fortunately they had brought with them some bread and water inside their backpacks.
It was in the middle of the night and the world was still and quiet. Chihiro had already fallen asleep after a couple hours of tossing and turning. Hitomi found that she couldn't sleep at all.
She sighed and placed her chin on top of the wooden railing, staring up at the sky. The moon was crescent, shining brightly in the middle of an expanse of bright twinkling stars. She had not seen a sky this beautiful and clear in a long time. Tokyo, for as long as she could remember, seldom showed her the sky at all. Even in areas devoid of sky-scraping buildings, the city lights were too bright that stars from afar couldn't compete. The only time she saw this kind of sky was in Gaea, with its twin moons. She had only realized how she loved watching the night sky in its unobstructed form when she came back to her own world.
But the world she was in right now was different from Earth, different from Gaea. She had come to this world because Chihiro had no one else. She had come because, in her heart, she wanted to see Chihiro lived a happy life she herself hadn't been able to live after her other-worldly experience. It was not only because she had left the man she loved behind, not only because she had left people she cared more than most people in her own world in another world, it was also because of the horror she had experienced. She had spent many nights dreaming of the things she saw - the burning city, the screams of people dying, the acrid smell of burning, the smoke in her eyes, the blood...... and Van, always Van, dying in many horrifying way. She could close her eyes now and she still could see everything so vividly.
And she had really thought she would be alright. Wasn't that what she told Van when he appeared to her that day, her final vision, their last link to each other? After that, her psychic abilities had disappeared without a trace and she refused to dwell in anything related to it.
Yet, she had a vision earlier. She suppressed the chill running through her spine. If she had a choice, she wouldn't want to relive the experience of being able to see into the past nor the future again. Especially when there was only destruction and death to be found. Chihiro was distraught, she knew it, but she wouldn't let Hitomi know just how much. Hitomi admired the younger girl's strength and courage, whom at times seemed much wiser than herself.
She looked up to look at the moon again, shielded by a wisp of thin cloud that was still letting out some of the moon's light, and fear, anxiety, worry, gripped her heart with an unshakable cold fist.
------
The next morning, Chihiro's first words after she woke up were, "I want to try to go to Zeniba's place. She might know something."
"The train?" Hitomi suggested.
Chihiro nodded. "I don't know where we can get tickets, though. We don't have any money, either."
"We can try going to the stop first and ask about it when the train arrives," Hitomi said. "Someone should be able to tell us something."
They left the bath house and headed for the nearest train stop.
"You know, I don't think Haku is dead at all," Chihiro suddenly said when they were walking down the slope towards the train stop. "He was probably just hurt, wasn't he? I mean, he was quite badly hurt at that time too, but he stayed alive, didn't he?"
Hitomi smiled listening to Chihiro's rationale. "I hope so too, Chihiro."
"I mean, he's a god! He can't die!"
"Yeah, I really hope so, Chihiro," Hitomi said quietly.
The train stop was a mere platform with a wooden sign which could not be read anymore because the words had long faded. "You remember where Zeniba's house is?" Hitomi asked Chihiro to make sure.
"It's the 6th stop from here, I think. But it's quite a long journey from here. I hope the train is running today. It'd be a very long walk if the train is not coming."
Luckily Chihiro's fear didn't come true. They had only waited for around fifteen minutes when they heard the rattle of the train's wheels coming from the distance, followed by the sight of the train itself. When it stopped before them, the door opened and a semi-transparent figure appeared. Hitomi had to blink her eyes several times to make sure that she was really looking at something real. Chihiro, however, was already make her way to the figure. "Um... excuse me," she ventured slowly.
The figure, which was in the shape of a human being, made a movement as if to turn itself to face Chihiro fully.
"We want to take the train to Zeniba's house, but we don't have any tickets. Can we buy it from you? This is what we have," Chihiro continued. She reached into her pocket and showed him several folded Japanese yen money bills along with several coins on her outstretched hand. The figure reached out a shapeless arm and pushed the folded bills aside. He started to pick up the 100 yen coins from Chihiro's outstretched palm and he brought them towards (or was it into?) himself, where the coins disappeared entirely from their view. He made more movements as if reaching inside himself to find something before pulling out two tickets from within himself.
Chihiro smiled widely. "Thank you!"
They stepped up into the train and the figure of the train conductor stepped up behind them, closing the door with him. There were only three other passengers inside the train, which only had one carriage. All those three other passengers were sitting scatteredly inside the carriage and all of them, like the train conductor, were semi-transparent. Chihiro and Hitomi picked up a seat at the farthest end of the carriage, a fair distance away from the other passengers.
Chihiro's memory was right. The train journey was long. They saw the three passengers that were with them in the beginning of the journey stopping and going down the train before they did, and more people, all of them semi-transparent, got on the train. On the sixth stop, they got down the train after Chihiro proclaimed that it should be the correct one.
They decided to follow the road leading away from the train stop, it was the only visible road anyway. Chihiro lead the way, like what she had been doing all the time since they embarked on their journey to this spirit world. Hitomi smiled to herself. Chihiro, although younger than herself, was no doubt a very mature and capable person. She wondered whether she was ever anything like that when she had been Chihiro's age.
"It's just down this road," Chihiro said. The sun was almost setting, leaving the sky an ethereal blue colour. "See the litte house over there? There are lights inside, so Zeniba should be there."
When they reached the house, the door opened before they could knock. A figure cloaked in black from head to toe wearing a white mask appeared. "Hello!" Chihiro said. "How are you? Is Zeniba in?"
Kaonashi bobbed his head up and down, making several sounds of joy and assent.
"This is Hitomi. She's from my world too."
Kaonashi bobbed his head up and down again, making more sounds and gesturing towards the inside of the house. He moved aside and repeated the gesture.
"Alright, we'll go in now. Come on, Hitomi."
The room they walked into were bright and spacious. A short woman with an unproportionally large head was sitting at the head of a long wooden table. She smiled brightly when she saw them. "Welcome, children. What a nice surprise this is. But then I've always known you would be back." She addressed the last comment to Chihiro, looking straight into her eyes.
"Zeniba, do you know what had happened at the bath house?" Chihiro asked directly, walking to stand beside Zeniba's chair.
"Sit down, have something to eat, and I'll answer your questions."
Chihiro obeyed her and sat on the chair nearest to Zeniba's, but Zeniba got up. "You must be the Girl Who Sees. Come and have a seat too. I'll go and get some food for the two of you. I imagine it has been quite a long journey for both of you."
Hitomi took her sit opposite Chihiro and asked, "How do you know who I am?"
Zeniba was now stirring the laddle of the big black pot that was hanging on top of the fire. She laughed heartily hearing Hitomi's question. "I heard Chihiro mentioned your name outside. I knew instantly." She raised the laddle and grabbed two bowls from the pile sitting on the small table beside the fireplace and scooped a generous amount of thick soup into each of them. "Kaonashi, would you mind helping to bring these to our guests? I'll get the spoons and the bread."
Once the food was served and ready to be eaten in front of them, Zeniba returned to her seat by the head of the table and Kaonashi sat beside Chihiro. Starving, Hitomi and Chihiro helped themselves to the food in front of them. After several mouthfuls, Chihiro looked up and said, "Zeniba, you haven't answered my question."
The old woman smiled sadly. "I'm afraid it is as you fear, Chihiro. The bath house was attacked, its occupants slained, including my sister and her child."
"But how? Who?" Chihiro insisted, her steaming soup forgotten for a while.
"Eat it while it's hot, dear," Zeniba said, smiling while she pointed towards Chihiro's bowl. "The spirit world is filled with complexities and the undescribables, child. The best way I can explain it to you is that there was a powerful being who wanted something Yubaba had. To get it, the bath house had to be attacked and all the magic my sister possessed couldn't stand against it. She was defeated, the object changed ownership, and your dragon boyfriend perished while defending it."
"It's true then... Hitomi's vision..." Chihiro said in a whisper, staring blindly at the table's surface in front of her.
"Of course." Zeniba glanced at Hitomi sitting on the other side of her. "She is the Seer. Her visions never fail."
"Then it was useless to come back here... I can't see Haku anymore..."
Zeniba said nothing. The room was silent for a long time. Then Kaonashi started shaking his head violently: "Ah! Ah!"
Zeniba looked at him sharply. "That is not the business of human beings."
"What is it, Kaonashi? Zeniba? Is there something else?" Chihiro urged.
"I was thinking that ... if Haku is a god.... how could he die? Gods are immortal, aren't they?" Hitomi said slowly, looking at Zeniba for confirmation.
"You are wise, Seer. And you are partly right. Gods can't die."
"Then Haku....?!"
"No, Chihiro. In human's definition, he would be considered dead. He is not in this world anymore, he doesn't have a material flesh anymore, and he is out of reach to everyone in this world. Humans can't even understand the meaning of their own death and what happens to them when they die, how can you understand what happens to a god when he dies? It is far, far too difficult to understand with your limited mind."
"Zeniba..........." Hitomi said slowly. "If there is a way, any way, for Chihiro to meet Haku one more time...... just please help her!"
"Hitomi!" Zeniba barked sharply at her. "Do not try to lead Chihiro into oblivion just because you want to live through her by letting her have what you can't have."
"She deserves it!" Hitomi shouted. "What's wrong with wanting to meet someone you love? If I can't meet Van, then at least Chihiro can meet Haku! I'll do all that I can to help her to do that!"
"Human beings are foolish," Zeniba said bitterly, making her sound more like her twin sister.
"Zeniba, I am not afraid," Chihiro said. " I -want- to meet Haku."
Zeniba closed her eyes. "You will fail. But if you don't try, you won't understand. Very well. Tell me now, what do you think happens to a god in the spirit world when he dies?"
"I don't know. I don't know! You said he would no longer has a material flesh, but if this is a spirit world, then he shouldn't have it in the first place!"
"Ah, but you have flesh, don't you? You didn't leave your body outside that tunnel before you came here, did you? The same thing, my dear. This world is called the spirit world because this is where the gods dwell. When they are not meddling in human's affairs in your world, this world is where they choose to be in. My sister set up the bath house because she was greedy for money and power. She knew it would be a successful establishment that would lure many powerful gods to enjoy themselves with baths, entertainment, food.... This world is as material and as physical as yours. So when a god dies in this world, he merely leaves the physical world behind."
"In our world, some people believe in the existence of Heaven and Hell after they die. Other people believe that the souls would be reborn into a new body, a new life." Hitomi said.
Zeniba nodded. "The soul is eternal, whether you're a human or a god."
"So where is Haku?" Chihiro asked in a whisper.
"I don't know the answer. But there is someone who knows..." Zeniba stopped and sighed deeply. "Rest here for the night. Tomorrow morning you may begin your journey again. You will go to the end of the world and it will be decided there, whether this is the knowledge you need to know......"
----------------
TBC
----------------
Author's notes:
Ack! Sorry, sorry, I know it's been too long since my last update. My update rate seems to be a chapter every 6 months or so ^_^; Anyway, thanks for reading and please give some critics and comments!