:::Chapter 12:::

They looked at each other, serious and sympathetic looks on their faces save for Chihiro. The birds chirped outside and the train ran past. The wind rustled the bushes and shrubs in the gardens as the sound of the greeting women at the entrance could be faintly heard.

"Come, child. Let's go see Baby Boh. Rin, can you please go down to the kitchens to bring us some food? I'll bet that we all are hungry." The soothing words, said in Zeniba's granny voice, broke the heavy sullenness in Yubaba's room.

Chihiro slowly nodded her head, but still refused to look up from the ground since she told the others of the little note, having no wish to let the others see the tears in her eyes. She had cried enough to last her a lifetime.

Haku, Rin, Zeniba and Yubaba were all assembled, when Chihiro had been so panicked as she ran around in the bath house looking for them, almost scaring all the customers half to death. She had been shivering all over, a piece of paper clutched tightly in her little white fists with the blood drained from her face. Rin was wiping the floors in a room when the door slammed open violently, and in rushed a small tornado in the form of a young girl…

:::Flashback:::

The water splashed back into the wooden pail as Rin squeezed them out of the cloth. She could hear raising voices outside the room she was cleaning in, and a few indignant shrieks. Disinterested, she placed the cloth back onto the slightly damp floor and couched down and started to wipe it again. She had barely made one step forward when the door slammed open and the vibrations made were so strong that it caused the water to hit the insides of the pail.

Rin turned around, an annoyed and irritated look on her pretty face, when a blurry form came speeding in. The piece of cloth she held fell on to the floor, when she took in the sight of Chihiro's wild brown eyes and her pale face and tousled hair.

Before Rin had any time to react to Chihiro's sudden appearance, the girl ran across then slid on her knees just in time to stop by her side. Throughout all this, she kept muttering, "No…no…no…no…"

"What's wrong?" Her voice was concerned as she abandoned her work and gave her full attention on the trembling human.

Chihiro slowly extended her hand and uncurled her fingers as a small note fluttered on to the ground; the written side facing up, allowing Rin to see the contents.

Abruptly, she hastily picked it up and, taking Chihiro by the elbow, led her to Yubaba's office where she and her sister were in. Zeniba had arrived in the bathhouse and had stayed for the past week since then.

Quickly ordering a girl to call Haku to go to Yubaba's office, she stepped into the lift and the doors closed behind her.

:::Flashback ended:::

The bowls of rice were taken up, Rin had left to go back to work and still, Haku remained seating stonily in his chair, Yubaba facing him at her jewel-laden desk. Her sister and Chihiro were outside, along with Baby Boh, as they played in the gardens. Yubaba had allowed Baby Boh to go out ever since her came back with Chihiro on her trip to her sister, five years ago. Amazingly, but a bit logically, it had left Baby Boh much healthier than before; being able to run about rather than stay cropped up in his room.

The hard expression on Haku's face gave way into one of rage when he heard Chihiro's light laughter floating in from the open balcony doors. He shot out of his chair, and began do something he had never done before a long time.

Thud-thud-thud-thud-thud.

Thud-thud-thud-thud-thud.

This went on for a long time and was starting to cause a headache in Yubaba's head. A Yubaba having a headache was not the best sight to see her be in. Gradually, smoke started to come out of her nose, followed by bright orange fire.

"Will you sit down and stop pacing in front of me? Maybe instead of wasting time on such a meaningless thing, you can help me to think! " She snapped irritably, the fire flaring out with each word.

Haku looked at her for a moment, a startled look in his teal-green eyes. He stood stock-still for a moment, standing there as though he was being in danger if he moved. Then, swiftly turning towards the balcony doors, he hurried over.

Yubaba looked at him, the fire disappearing with a burst of smoke.

"Where are you going?"

"Searching for more information on this Renshi guy. In order to put the note in Chihiro's pocket, he will have to be back in Spirit World. He's bound to be seen by other spirits." He replied nonchalantly, changing into his majestic dragon form and just flew off.

The mistress of the bathhouse sat there for a moment. Her eyebrows furrowed, causing more wrinkles to appear on her forehead. ' I hope that the customers aren't scared away by Chihiro,' the ever money-minded Yubaba thought absently, her hands absently turning the emerald gem in her hands over and over repeatedly.

Without warning, the gem was thrown back into the jewellery box and her fingers picked up the skeleton phone and called for the foreman in the bathhouse.

"Hello? I need you to send people all over the land to look out for a guy, called Renshi. His eyes are white, no pupils," Her voice drawled into the phone, as the jaw of the skeleton moved. "I want them to be people trustworthy. If not, no salary for three months!" The threat hung in the empty air as the other end quickly put it down.

Yubaba smirked, knowing that right then, the foreman was already going through a list of possible spies. She ignored the three green heads thumping up and down on the carpet as she stared unblinkingly into the fireplace.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

"A black-haired man with the white eyes you mentioned was staying here two days ago. But I'm not sure if he's the one you're looking for, though I haven't seen one with such eye colour around here." The shopkeeper of the inn replied back nervously, Shifting on his feet as he remained in his bowed position in front of Haku,

Hands clutched tightly at his shoulders as the shopkeeper found himself looking into Haku's eyes.

"What else did he say or do when he was here?" Haku all but hissed it out, eyes spitting out fire. His fingers unconsciously tightened around the flesh he held in his grip.

"H-he said that he-he had so-something to at-attend to. He a-also borrowed a p-piece o-of pen a-and paper from m-me," The fat man sputtered, his eyes growing wide with fear.

The shopkeeper found himself thrown into a chair behind him, expecting to find places that hurt but was shocked that there wasn't, and looked up only to see a ribbon of silver in the blue sky.

One thing registered into his numb mind, ' Dragon…'

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

Haku landed gently onto the grass beside Chihiro. He memorised her soft laugh into his head and turned over to look at her.

'No one else's like you. You re unique, beautiful and worth much, much more…' He took in her face and expressive eyes. ' I'll tell you soon. After all this ends.'

"Haku…Haku? Haku!" He broke out of his stupor and looked up at her.

"What?"

"It's going to be dawn soon so there will be fewer customers. Let's go visit Kamaji. It's been a long time." Pulling him along, she headed towards the door that would take her into the bathhouse.

Walking along with her, his hand holding hers tightly yet gently, he felt a shiver went up his spine. A while after that, the shrubs near them rustled with the force of the blowing wind.

'It's just the wind….'

He turned behind to check the surroundings before the door closed and prevented him from viewing the outside.

The shrubs remained silent. A rat ran passed. Other than that…nothing was out of the ordinary.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

His fringe obscured his view slightly, yet he took no notice of it. His eyes were focused on the 'Dragon-boy's' back, as he so often called him. The fire blazing in them made the eyes turn a reddish shade.

He saw a rat nearby and tried to grab it to rid his anger on, but it ran out of his reach to the opposite end of the gardens. ' Damn animal.'

He looked up as the thud of a door resounding in the empty space, saved for only shrubs and him.

He looked at the rat, whose red eyes glowed in the dark, with only the faint moonlight showing the shadowy outline of the animal.

'I guess it's back to the cat-and-mouse game…' Renshi's eyes flickered with excitement. He flew upwards, and upwards till a balcony was in front of him. He slid the door open and landed inside the empty room.

" I see this is the where the working women sleeps in. No doubt she's sleeping here too."

He chuckled.

(*)(*)(*)(*)(*)(*)(*)

Okie, I know it's a long, long time since God-only-knows-when. I think one of these days I'm going to commit suicide. =) I've been going home late these few weeks 'cause of school, project meetings, or Guides activities. It's so darn tiring. *Phew* Anyway, typing fanfiction usually gives me satisfaction. But unfortunately, school life is taking up my time! Anyway, it's taken me roughly one and a half-week or more to type this chapter, because of time limitations and exhaustion. So I really, really hope you all can bear with my future chapters as they may take quite a while. =) Wow, long paragraph. =P

Anyway, back to these people :

Kaoru Gal : Yeah, it's fixed. Finally!! ^-^ *Distributes sweets*

Icy AngelWings : ARIGATOU!!! Thanks very, very, very much for liking this fic!!! Luv ya! *MUACKZ*

Hoshi-chan2 : Here's one for ya!

Irk : Thank you!! ^.^ I really appreciate your spending time to review!

Tamara-sama : Lol…Sorry you had to wait so ling for this chapter… Anyway, thanks for continuing to read the fic!

Lillie Frost : Arigatou!!!!! ^.^

Lillie Frost : Lol, maybe if you forget it, it's better? 'Cause you can forget all the pain. Hehe…Sometimes forgetfulness is a good thing! =D

Ujiji : Here it is! Tada~! Now gimme $1000 for writing this! Lol, just kidding! =P

Kintora : Arigatou for understanding!!!!! Aww… hope that school for you now is not so busy! And the answer to your previous question…it's in this chappie! *Hugz!*

IlHaruko : Thank you!! * Hugz~* Yup, not going to stop this fic ever! Not on my dead body! ^o^

Anyway, this chapter's to all of you reviewers and readers!! Hope you like! Hahaha…and always live each day with a smile~! =) P.S --- I have a new Rk fan fic! Please read if you're interested! Thankz!

Also, HAPPY VALENTINE'S DAY! Too bad I dun have a boyfriend... =P