Disclaimer: If it were mine, Chihiro & Haku would be married and Yubaba would be serving meatballs in some random school cafeteria. ^^

Author's Notes: This story's getting interesting! MWUAHAHAHA! Chihiro shall vanquish you, evil witch! *We hope…* Thanx 2 all who reviewed: Kimberly (sorry if I missed anyone)! If you want to read a Yuri poem, go read my The Empty Cup. I thank all who reviewed that: Reggaeshiko-tama, the poem IS creepy. I don't really like Yuri or Yaoi, I just wrote this for a friend. Deena70, dunno…just thought of it… Now…


Chapter 4


"That should hold you," Yubaba said with a laugh. Everything was ready. The only thing left to do was sit and wait.

"You'll never get away with this! And where's Zeniba?"

"My dear Haku, Zeniba is in good hands… my hands, that is!"

"Chihiro will find me! You'll see!" Haku replied with anger. He was partly angry because Chihiro had returned, but mostly it was because of Yubaba.

"I'll see… I'll see Chihiro fail to remember you!" Yubaba cackled.

"What do you mean?"

"Oh, that's right. You don't know. Chihiro can't remember anything before the accident when her parents died and her memory bank was damaged."

"What? How could that have happened?" asked Haku.

"By yours truly."


"I guess I should tell you a little more about myself, huh?"

"I don't know, but sure, go ahead," responded Chihiro.

"Well," Helene began, "it all begins with one simple fact: I'm Haku's sister." They walked into the forest that would lead them to the swamp.

"Haku has a sister? Why weren't you out there looking for him?" Chihiro asked as she stepped over a mushroom.

"Before Zeniba ruled, her evil sister named Yubaba was in charge. She put a curse on me so that I couldn't go out looking for Haku. But she said one thing that gave me hope. She said, 'The only way you can ever leave this cave and go looking for Haku is if someone asks you to.' Lucky thing you came along.

"Now, I'll explain it in more detail. A hundred years ago, Haku and I lived in the real world, where you're from. You see, I'm human, and so is Haku, or at least he was. We had a family and everything was going great, until one day.

"A couple of days before school started, Haku and I met an old woman. It was Yubaba, but off course at that time we didn't know that. The woman was trading wishes for people's most precious treasures. I said no thanks, but Haku asked how it worked. Yubaba said that you wished upon a magic stone. Then Haku asked how she got their precious treasure. She said that one day she'd just come up and take it away from you.

"The next day, Haku and I went to the river; the very river that used to be in the riverbed that you and your relatives were at. Suddenly, the river reached out and grabbed me. Haku tried to save me, but he couldn't, so he knelt down and prayed to river spirit. Even with all of his praying, I was lost. You see, I was Haku's most precious treasure. Haku thought Yubaba had meant possessions, not people.

"Then Haku did something foolish. He reached into his pocket and took out the wishing stone. He wished that he could be the river spirit so that he could save anyone else who would fall into the river. So Haku became the river spirit. His new name became Kohaku River. He forgot everything else, even about me. Yubaba then revealed herself to me and put me here to mine for real gold. She put a curse on me so that I didn't need food to live. It remained that way for ninety-seven years.

"Five years ago, however, humans drained Haku's river and he arrived here, since he's a spirit. He told Yubaba that his name was Kohaku River. She didn't want him to think about it, so she pretended to give him a new name, except it was his real name, Haku. I'm surprised he didn't remember anything.

"Then today, somebody told me I was the guardian of the first clue. They told me a Chihiro was coming and what I should do. Now I'm here with you!" Chihiro and Helene looked ahead. In front of them was a brown murky swamp.

"Is that where the mud man lives?" asked Chihiro.

"Yep," replied Helene. They started down the hill towards the quagmire.

"Helene?"

"Yes, Chihiro?"

"Have… Have I been here before? I mean, everyone seems to know me, but I don't know any of them."

"Chihiro," Helene began, but then she stopped. They had reached the swamp. A dark, murky bubble in the swamp began to grow until it was as tall as a tree and as wide as three people.

"WHO DISTURBS MY SLUMBER? I AM THE GREAT MUD MAN OF THE SEVEN SEAS!"

"Uh, one problem there, buddy," said Helene, not afraid of the mud monster at all. He looked at her. No one had ever spoken to him. They had all just run away whenever he spoke.

"WHAT?"

"You're not the great mud man of the seven seas. In fact, you're not even in a sea. You're in a bog! Now, we've come for the second clue that will help us find Haku."

"WHAT? YOU'RE NOT AFRAID OF ME? OH WELL… YOU WANT THE CLUE TO FINDING HAKU, DO YOU? WELL, THE LITTLE GIRL MUST SHOW THAT SHE'S TRULY DEDICATED TO FINDING HAKU!"

"What does he mean?" Chihiro asked Helene.

"Oh, mud man, how can Chihiro show you her determination?" asked Helene.

"CHIHIRO MUST CLEAN MY SWAMP!"

"Are you nuts?" Helene replied. "This is a swamp for crying out loud! It's supposed to be dirty! You better-"

"It's okay, Helene. I'll clean the mud man's swamp."

"WHAT?" they both said at the same time, one shocked and one happy.

"You see, sometimes I have these weird dreams. Once, I dreamed about a white dragon. And yesterday, I had the best dream that I can remember.

"I was running from something; I can't remember what. There was a cackle and then I fell down. I remember hearing a voice saying, '…and remember Chihiro, I'm you're friend.' Then I looked up and saw the most… Well, I don't know how to describe it, but there was a boy. He had the most beautiful green eyes I've ever seen. Then he disappeared, and I woke up." Somebody started to cry. Chihiro turned around.

"THAT'S THE SADDEST STORY I'VE EVER HEARD. GO AHEAD, HERE'S THE SECOND CLUE: ME."

"You're… You're just giving it to us? Uh… thanks. Bye!" Chihiro and Helene left. Chihiro looked back and waved. The mud man had been nice. He was probably just lonely.

"Uh, the next clue says, 'you are the dolls: beware.' What does that mean?" Helene asked.

"Hmm…" said Chihiro as she pulled out her map. "The only place that I know of that dolls would be is in a doll house." Helene gasped and grabbed the map.

"Uh oh," said Helene. She had a grave look on her face. "There is a place in the Yuvaleville Village. It is a house as huge as the bathhouse, only bigger. Giants live there. To them, we are but a child's mere play thing: a doll."

"So we have to go there?" Chihiro asked, even though she knew the answer. "How are we going to get there?"

"We'll walk; it's not that far."


"Excuse me, do you know where we can find the giant's house?" Several people shrieked. Everyone in the market stopped what they were doing and looked at the young woman and the little girl.

"Are you crazy?" one man cried. "The giants will eat you for breakfast! If you really want to risk your lives, go north. Of course if I were you, I'd already be dead just thinking about the idea of going up there!"

"Helene," Chihiro said as they approached the humongous house, "are the giants… mean?"

"I don't know," she replied. "I've never met one before." They stopped and looked at the house. It was as tall as Mt. Fuji.

"Come on," said Helene, pointing to the vine wall that crept up the side of the house. "We've got to get into that dollhouse!" Chihiro looked up. The bottom floor window looked so far away, and the second floor window looked like the moon! Chihiro could see little pink curtains fluttering in and out of the open window.

"Hey, Helene, I think that window with the pink curtains could be a little girl's room," Chihiro pointed out. They began climbing. When they reached the first window, Chihiro peeked in and saw a big, beefy man sitting on the hugest chair she'd ever seen. Everything else in the room was big, too. There was a young boy playing with several trucks the size of houses.

"Let's keep going," Chihiro said. They climbed for another hour. They finally grabbed a hold of the windowsill and slipped inside. In a corner next to the door was an old Victorian style house.

"OKAY MOM! I'M GOING BACK TO PLAYING WITH MY DOLLS!" Chihiro and Helene lay on the floor as stiff as they could.

"OOOOOH! NEW DOLLIES! GOODIE!" A huge girl picked them up. "WELCOME," she said with an evil smile. "LET'S HAVE FUN…"