Oh my goodness…. I'm so excited! Chapter 11 is here at last! What did you think of the last one? Aah, it doesn't matter what you think, cuz I loved it! Now read chapter 11! And THANK YOU SO MUCH for the reviews! I'm honored that you all love it so much :D This chapter's got a lot of talking in it! Yay!
"You have failed me."
"Master, he was not alone this time…."
"That means nothing to me. When he was alone, you still could not exterminate him. Kosho, twice I have sent you to snuff out the flame of that damned boy's life, and twice you have misjudged his strength. What is your excuse this time?"
"He was not alone…"
As he answered, Kosho made his way through a dark cave, which he had been standing outside of. He came to an opening where light was let in through the top, and in the light was his master, floating in the air and surrounded by a dark smoke. He knelt humbly before his master, the light revealing her delicate features. That's right; *her* features.
She had very long, black hair that grew farther than her knees, and she wore a simple, silver, full-length dress with loose sleeves. Her skin was very pale, and her expression was blank. Her eyes were glazed over as if she were unconscious. She was holding a long staff with a stone at the top of it.
"Who was with him?"
"I think she may have been…"
"Tell me."
"Lady Yukiji, he had that girl form the human world with him. There was one other human, too, and a No-Face. But… it was HER….."
Yukiji's face grew pale and her eyes widened. "It seems as though we have more than Haku in our way of the seal now…"
In front of Zeniiba's house, Sen was lying on the ground, almost unable to breathe. Beads of sweat were dripping down her face. After all, she had run up countless flights of stairs, performed magic that had quite taken her by surprise, flown on a very insecure bubble, and fought a demon that had once came close to killing Haku. No-Face came through the portal, finally, but it wasn't his fault he had gone so slowly; he was still exhausted.
Everybody, including Zeniiba, was standing close by with concern.
"Sen, I'm very proud of you," Haku said as he got on his knees next to her.
"That was— how did I— Kosho— wasn't he the one…?" Sen stuttered between heavy breaths.
"Yes," he said with a smile at Sen, "He was the one who attacked me before I found you at the big tub. I'm very surprised that you could handle it so well. But I would really like to know how you got Boh into that bubble…"
"Yeah, really," Naomi agreed, "where did it come from? Kamagii never taught us that."
"Oh," Sen said, remembering about Boh and releasing him from the bubble. Then, just catching her breath, she said, "I really can't tell you."
Zeniiba chuckled to herself, trying to comprehend how Sen couldn't know the reason, and everyone turned their head towards her. Dayu jumped off of Naomi's head and onto the ground next to Sen.
"Oh, what a cute little critter," Zeniiba exclaimed as she bent down to Dayu. She had completely dropped Sen's new magic trick from her mind. It was okay though; she wasn't going to explain it anyway. Better to let Sen find out on her own. She always does. "What's his name?"
"Dayu," Sen answered. Sensing that Zeniiba wasn't going to say anything about the orange bubble (just as she said almost nothing about how to find her way home from her last visit), she changed the subject. "Why did you want us to come here so badly that you made No-Face walk all that way to get us?"
"I'll answer that in a minute. First, tell me what happened before you got here."
"Well," Haku began, "I was showing the portal to Sen when Kosho snuck up on us. So since he was there, I had to fight him off while Sen got Naomi, Boh and the key." He looked down at Sen and added, "When she came back with them and put the key into the portal, I had taken out one of Kosho's eyes. But still, he saw that we were about to leave, and he turned his attacks to Sen. She used the whistle she got from Gyukudo to defend herself, and she handled it very well."
Haku, at this point, was stroking Sen's hand in his own as she was lying on the ground with him kneeling next to her. He didn't notice it, since he felt so comfortable doing it, but Zeniiba did. She was about to say something, but then she thought that it shouldn't be any big deal. She remembered that if Sen had been older the last time, they would have been this deeply in love even then (Okay... you may think that this was pointless, but it wasn't. I had to somehow get the fact in there that now Zeniiba knows they are in love…). She just smiled at how Haku took care of Sen, and then resolved to tell Sen why she wanted them there.
"Well Sen, since you had to go through so much, I guess you deserve to know why I sent for you," Zeniiba said pleasantly. "First of all, I just missed you and wanted to know how you have been. But more importantly, I wanted your advice on what to do with my seal. Gyukudo must have trusted you, a human, with one of the seven magical items for some reason, so it may be helpful to know what you think I should do with it."
"What do you mean, what to do with it?"
"Well, come into the house and I will explain it more clearly."
They went into Zeniiba's house, and there was fire going with some tea boiling over the flames. They all sat down at the table and Zeniiba continued her explanation.
"Sen, as I was saying, I don't know what to do with the seal, and I wanted your advice. The way I see it, it isn't safe with me. My home is out in the open over here, and very easy to spot. If the Xovio Cartel gives up in trying to get Haku out of the way and moves on to take my seal, it would be very easy for them to send as many troops as they needed to come down here and get it from me. As strong as my magic is, I'm only one old lady, and I wouldn't be able to keep the seal safe."
"I see what you mean now… The only thing that I can think of would be to give it to Yubaba."
Zeniiba didn't say anything. She just gave Sen a look; the kind of look you would give somebody if they addressed you by your name, then asked you what your name was as if they never knew it at all.
"You could give it to Gyukudo," Boh said.
"Well I thought of that too, but one can't really summon him as one pleases. He goes to people when he feels like it; there isn't really a way for anybody to go to him. I wouldn't know what to do with it
"What if you gave it to Kamagii?" Naomi suggested.
"I think that would be best," Haku said, "Nobody would expect it to be under the protection of a boiler man."
"That's a very clever idea, Naomi," Zeniiba said gratefully. "Well, do you think you three could give it to him? You are welcome to spend the night here while you recover your strength. You seem to be worn out from the battle with Kosho."
"Thank you very much," Haku said. The others thanked her too.
They stayed with Zeniiba for the rest of the day and the fallowing night, not really doing much at all. When they weren't laying down to rest, they were knitting with Zeniiba, or in Naomi's case, being taught to knit. When it was finally dark and they were all in their own cot, they turned out the lights and went to sleep (but not before Haku gave Sen a kiss good-night ;)). It didn't take long for Sen to fall asleep…
"What is this place?" she thought to herself. "It's so dark… where am I? What's that light…?" She took a few steps forward and then stopped, afraid of stumbling over something in the darkness. "It's coming closer… what is it? And what's that sound?" Sen started to hear a voice that sounded very familiar. It sounded so welcoming and happy… she strained her senses to make out the sound and light. "I can almost see it… is it a person? It's Haku! But what's he holding that could be making that light?" She took a few more steps towards Haku. By now he was only a few feet out of her reach. She held out her hand and just barely opened her mouth when… "Huh? What's happening?! Haku!" His body began to disappear, beginning at his feet and continuing up to his head. Suddenly, she was alone again, which wasn't a great feeling, especially when your loneliness is from losing a loved one. "Haku…" her voice became fainter as she, too, was swallowed into the darkness…
"Haku!" She only just woke up when she hit the floor between hers and Haku's cots. She lifted her head to see him. "Haku," she said sleepily, "promise you'll never leave me."
"Huh? Sen, I would never leave you for anything; I love you. You know that."
"Please promise me!" By now she was on the verge of tears.
"I promise. Here, put this closer… that's it," he said as he got up and put their two cots right next to each other. "Get back to sleep now before we wake the others. It's late; we need to rest for our walk tomorrow."
Sen got back into bed and started to feel safer. Haku nudged her to have her back facing him. Then he put his arm over her and buried his face in her hair, next to her shoulder.
"I love you, Chihiro."
Chihiro? She looked at the bracelet Haku had given her. It had her name on it. HER name. Not Sen, but Chihiro. Haku remembered her name and had made her that bracelet. What's more though is that he called her by her name when she should be known as Sen. He called her Chihiro. She loved him for that; she could always count on him to be there for her, whenever she may need him and for whatever reason.
She sighed, overwhelmed with the relaxation of being held the way Haku was holding her. She fell back asleep.
"Thank you for everything, Granny," Sen said as she finished putting away her cot.
"Any time. I'm sorry you have to walk all the way back, but Yubaba's portal was a one-way thing. Are you sure you'll be alright? Do you want some food to take along?"
"Ah. Ah."
"That would be great, thanks," Sen replied. Then, to Haku, she asked, "You know the way by land, right?"
"Well I don't know what the path is like, but I know the direction to travel in. We should be able to find our way."
"Okay," Sen said as Zeniiba came back into the room with a sack of food for the four of them. Boh looked a little disappointed when Sen took it instead of letting him (hehe).
"Is there anything else I can do for you before you leave?"
"I don't think we need anything else, but thank you," Sen replied.
"Ah, ah," No-Face said, opening the door.
"I hope we meet again before you leave this world," Zeniiba said to Sen and Ruby as they and the other two grew more and more out of sight.
"Thanks for everything, Granny."