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Author's Notes: Come on people, you know you wanna review it! And a special thanx to Kimberly Ador D for emailing me!


Chapter 2


At last, the train stopped and he could get off the smelly thing. Haku preferably didn't like the train, but train tickets were the only kind of tickets Kamaji had. Also, the train was the only vehicle available, and Haku couldn't very well fly there. People and spirits everywhere would see him, and this mission was supposed to be secret.

Haku stepped off the train and watched it drive away. Then he headed down the road.

Although Haku would've rather changed into a dragon and flown to Zeniba's house, he couldn't really change much anymore. Something had happened to him. Once fearless and determined, Haku was now sad and lonely. He knew something was missing, but he didn't want to admit what it truly was, or everyone would know that he was not a brave young man, but a little lovesick puppy dog that had been kicked around too much.

He told the other workers that he was depressed because of the fact that he wasn't called "Master Haku" anymore. Ever since Yubaba had been thrown out of office and Zeniba took her place, Haku had been Zeniba's nephew's teacher, not a henchman.

However, Haku knew the real reason why he was depressed. Ever since Chihiro had left, Haku had been down in the dumps. She was the only one who really cared for him. Kamaji took care of him, yes, but Chihiro did more than that. She saved his life. She rescued his soul from Yubaba's evil clutches. She risked her life for him. She cared for him even though he gave her nothing in return, something Kamaji called "true love." Haku didn't know exactly what true love was, but every time he thought of Chihiro, his heart skipped a beat.

Zeniba was the only one who knew about his true feelings towards Chihiro. She had helped him try to recreate Kohaku River so that he could return to being the river spirit and be with Chihiro again. Unfortunately, Haku was unable to create the exact amount of water. He went overboard and the river flooded. The flood would've caused a big scene in the human world, so Haku was unable to return.

The next time he was ready, the river had already dried up, and Haku didn't have enough magic left to create another river, so he just had to hope for a miracle if he ever wanted to see Chihiro again.

Haku finally reached Zeniba's house and sighed. This was it. He was going to tell her about the dream he had last night. The only thing that happened in the dream was that he and Chihiro kissed. It was strange, but he knew it meant something.

As he knocked on her door, Haku began to feel stupid. He told himself that Chihiro would probably never come back and he should just forget about her. The door opened and Haku walked in.

"Hello! Zeniba! It's me, Haku!"

"I know who it is," someone said from behind him. Haku turned around and gasped.

"Yubaba!"


"Why do I always have to be the one to get the life-risking jobs? First I had to take Sen to Yubaba, then Haku dumped her with me, and now I have to fetch No-Face?"

"Control yourself, Lin. You know that if Haku was here I'd have him go do it, but he's the one in trouble," Zeniba replied. Good help was getting so hard to find.

"Where is No-Face?" Lin asked, afraid of the answer.

"He's planting flowers in a field near the cottage. He needs someone who he's familiar with…"

"But I-"

"Someone who knows Chihiro."

Lin hastily walked down the hall towards the boiler room. She knew Kamaji would give her a ticket so that she could find No-Face and tell him to stay at the cottage and that everything would be all right.

Lin was one of the many people who worked in the bathhouse. Lin looked like a human, but appearances can be deceiving. She was actually a spirit, sort of. She and many others were created in the bathhouse by Yubaba for one reason: to work.

The spirit world appeared over a million years ago. Back then, it was a place where spirits roamed the land because in the human world they were considered evil ghosts. However, the buildings only appeared two thousand years ago.

Yubaba was created from millions of evil spirits. She appeared about ten years before the first building was set up. Yubaba decided to take action. She built huge buildings and made it look like an abandoned theme park. She created people to do all the work while she sat back, relaxed, and enjoyed the show. Yubaba hated humans, and because she was a witch, she cast a spell on all the food so that if any humans should come and eat the food, they would turn into pigs.

One hundred years later, a man discovered it and brought many tourists. Unfortunately, most of them ate the food and turned into pigs. Those who didn't were either caught by Yubaba and turned into coal or vanished because they didn't eat some food from the spirit world. There is some food designed for the workers. That food doesn't turn people into pigs. If a human doesn't eat that food, they'll disappear forever.

Everything had been going Yubaba's way until last year, when Chihiro came. Chihiro freed everyone in the spirit world from Yubaba. Then Yubaba was banished to the Wong Forest. Zeniba took over and made peace. Everyone enjoyed doing his or her job. She also had trees planted in front of the road so that it couldn't be seen from the freeway.

Yubaba was furious so she decided to get revenge only a few days ago. She crept up to Zeniba's cottage one night when Zeniba was alone. No-Face, a kind but scary-looking spirit, was planting flowers in a nearby field. Yubaba captured Zeniba and turned her into a pocket watch so that she could keep track of her. Then Yubaba disguised herself as Zeniba so that she could rule again. Fortunately for her, Haku had gone on a mission a few days before, and she was glad to not have to deal with him. As soon as Yubaba took Zeniba's place, things started to get back to the way they were a year ago. Nobody asked her why she became so mean because if they did, she'd turn them into coal.

However, yesterday night, she could feel that Haku would be heading over to Zeniba's that night, so she undisguised herself at the house and waited to catch him. The next day, after she had kidnapped Haku and turned him into a dragon key-chain, she reported that Haku had been kidnapped. She told everyone that a black figure had jumped out of the sky and took him just after she opened the door to let him in. Now she was having Lin tell No-Face about it.


"Whew! I'm glad he didn't eat me!" Lin said to herself as she walked along the tracks. No-Face had been happy to stay at the cottage. Now Lin was heading back towards the bathhouse. It would be a long walk. The train only ran in one direction, and unlike Haku, Lin couldn't fly.

When Lin finally reached the bathhouse, it was the afternoon. Lin took a bath and ate lunch. Then she told Zeniba that she had completed her mission and that she was heading out to look at the grassy field. Lin packed a snack and walked towards the field. A year ago it had been completely covered in water. Now it was dry and grass could be seen.

Lin sat down on the stone steps and looked out towards the tunnel. She imagined what it would be like to escape from the bathhouse and travel. She'd always dreamed that one-day she would get on the train and go away, far away. Lin wished she was like Chihiro, and had a family she could go to. Instead, the only place she could go to for peace was the boiler room where Kamaji lived.

Kamaji looked like a mixture of a spider and a man. In fact, he was a mixture of a spider and a man. He was created when Yubaba fused a spider and a man together. Kamaji has six arms and two legs. His arms can stretch at least five miles!

Kamaji has workers heat the boilers for him. All he does is turn the crank, which allows the boiler vent to open and close. His workers are tiny soot balls. Kamaji cast a spell on them to make them alive. If they don't work, they'll turn back into soot. The boilers are what make the water in the bathhouse hot. If Kamaji and the soot balls weren't working the boilers, the bathhouse would go out of business.


Yubaba (disguised as Zeniba) laughed to herself quietly. Everything was going according to plan: Haku and the real Zeniba were out of the way, the memory she'd stolen was hidden safely away in its box, and the hair-tie plan was working perfectly. Suddenly, Yubaba smiled.

"She's here…"


Lin opened her eyes and stretched. It was almost nightfall. She'd be needed in a couple of hours. Lin started to get up but sat down again.

Across the field towards the tunnel, something was moving. Lin looked closer. It was a girl with a long brown ponytail. The girl was running towards her very fast. Suddenly, Lin recognized the girl.

"Chihiro?"