Whahaha! The third chapter has arrived! The History of Gyukudo…. Now THAT doesn't give away the identity of the mystery person…. By the way, if you haven't figured it out yet, the parts in italics are always going to be either a quote from Spirited Away that Chihiro is reminded of by the things and events around her, or they are descriptions of what things are like after a chunk of time has passed. Please review on my story, guys! And again….. GO EASY! It's only my very first story!

"Hello, Chihiro," said the other person who was already in the room. "I knew I would find you here."

"Chihiro, who is he? Do you know him?" asked Ruby.

"My name is Gyukudo, Ruby. Chihiro met me earlier today while she was shopping with you. I don't believe I had introduced myself to you, though."

"Gyukudo, how do you know Ruby's name? And how did you know where to find us? Why were you even looking for us?" Chihiro interrogated.

"Well now, I have a long story to tell, which should answer all of your questions. First, I will start out by telling you who I am beyond my name."

As Gyukudo spoke, Chihiro and Ruby made beds for themselves, since it was going to take a while.

"Yes, make yourselves comfortable, that's fine. As I was saying, to understand who I am, you should first know this: There is more to the Spirit World than the area that lies beyond this room. There are many regions of it that each have rulers who are in charge. Yubaba, for example, is not only the owner of the bath house, but she is also the ruler of the region that you are familiar with, Chihiro. But anyway, each ruler must report to a single, higher being who is, in short, the king of the Spirit World. That being is me. I have the ability to do whatever I want. I can pass from the Spirit World to the human world as I please. I could even turn back time if I wanted to. You see, I can do anything."

There was a long silence. You wouldn't say anything either if somebody had just told you they were an almighty god……

"But sir, what does that have to do with what we wanted to know?" asked Ruby in a shaky voice. She was quite nervous, being with a… well… a god. Not as nervous as Chihiro though, who couldn't speak at all.

"Well to answer your first question, Ruby, I know your name because I know everybody's name. I'm almighty, remember?" he said, adding the last bit with a chuckle. "As for your second question, I knew you would be here because I planted the idea to come into Chihiro's head. I was there in town with the white roses on purpose, and that was all I had to do. In fact, I don't have a five-year-old daughter. I made her up as an alibi. I just needed to be there in town with the roses, and then my work was done. Everything else affected Chihiro the way it did because she could feel my magic, and that made her recall events from the past."

Regaining her voice, Chihiro said, "Did you have me come here because you needed to tell me something about what happened the last time I went to the Spirit World?"

"Yes, which brings me to your third question. I need to tell you something regarding Zeniiba's golden seal, and why Haku stole it from her. You see, the reason that Haku stole the seal in the first place is because it is a part of a collection of seven items. When all of the items are collected and assembled, they create a very powerful magic, even more powerful than mine. However, if anybody had even one of the items, then they could still have the magic from it, even though it would not be as powerful. I had Haku try to get the seal for me because there are others after it, known as the Xovio Cartel. (-------A/N- ok…. I would like to point out here that Xovio is not a word, or any name for that matter, that I have ever heard of. I made it up :P. Cartel, on the other hand, IS a word. If you wanna know what it means, look it up.-------) The Xovio Cartel is a group of spirits that only want to collect magic so they can do evil."

"But why not just use your magic to stop them from collecting some of their own?" Chihiro asked.

"Well when I said that I could do anything, that was true. In the very early years of the Spirit World, I felt that there should be balance in it. So, since I could do anything, I gave up my power that I would have used to destroy evil. Otherwise, there would be no heroes in our lives, and many people would not have role models. In addition to that though, I also made a promise to myself that I would not sweat the little things, such as you coming here before, Chihiro, because I knew you could deal with it on your own. But anyway, because of my lack of the ability to stop the Xovio Cartel, I decided that I had to get somebody trustworthy to do it for me. Chihiro, you still remember falling into the Kohaku River, and then being rescued by Haku when he was the river's spirit, right? Well, when I saw Haku save you like that, I knew that he would fit the part. So, I gave Haku a human and dragon form so that he could help me. With that, I also ordered Yubaba to give him his mission, and to make sure that he accomplished it while being under her rule. Do you two understand this so far?"

Ruby just nodded but Chihiro asked, "If it was Haku's job to get the seal from Zeniiba, why did Zeniiba get angry with him?"

"Well you see, I had not let Zeniiba know that I was sending Haku to her, so she did not know why he had taken her seal. But Haku couldn't tell her what was going on either because he was in his dragon form and could not take the time to turn to a human and explain himself, since Yubaba had told him to hurry. I'm sorry to say, Chihiro, but you being here the last time had made Yubaba very impatient, and she took it out on everybody else. But back to what I was saying before, while Haku was under Yubaba's rule, he not only had to get the seal, but he had to get all the other six items as well, which he managed to do. However, with Zeniiba's seal being the last item left, I fear that the Xovio Cartel may start a war with this region of the Spirit World. Chihiro, I knew before that you are very capable of doing what needs to be done. And what needs to be done now is that we need to defend this region. With that, I am going to trust each of you with a few of the six items that Haku has retrieved. There would be seven, if I had told Zeniiba about the circumstances……" With saying this, Gyukudo handed Chihiro and Ruby each their own item. The one he gave Ruby was a small key. Ruby could tell that it was old because of the way it was shaped: It had a loop at the end, a long, skinny middle, and two teeth at the other end. The item that Chihiro received was a small wooden flute carved into the shape of a dragon with a long string at the end of it that represented the tail. "Now Ruby, your item has magic that would be used to attack, so you may choose one of these two items for defensive magic," and with that, Gyukudo held out his hand, and in it was an emerald and a piece of amethyst.

"Which one should I choose?" asked Ruby.

"Whichever one you think should belong to you."

"Well……," Ruby closed her eyes, and picked one up at random. She had taken the amethyst. "What kind of power does it have?"

"You will know soon enough. But first, it is Chihiro's turn. Chihiro, your item has defensive magic, so you may choose one that may be used to attack." And holding out his hand once more, he revealed a ruby and a sapphire. Chihiro didn't ask which one to pick, because she knew her answer would be the same that Ruby got, so she picked up the ruby that Gyukudo had and decided to settle with that.

"Well now that you know everything you need to know, and you have what I needed to give you, I will leave you two so you may sleep until you have a chance to cross over to the Spirit World." Nodding towards a window, Gyukudo pointed out that the sun was already rising. "I will send somebody to awaken you two when the time comes. When they get here, you both must go outside and try using your items. That way you will know how to use them. I would tell you what they do myself, but I believe that people can learn better by doing rather than by hearing. Now go to sleep until my messenger comes for you."

"Kamagii lit the boiler already....? How long was I asleep?"