Spirited Away: Another Day in Paradise
A Fanfic by Viral Inque
Authors Note: My first Spirited Away fic. Well, one of my first in general. Any feedback, good or bad, would be greatly appreciated. More chapters coming soon. Hope you enjoy.

Chapter 3: A Fine Mess

Despite Chihiro's desperate pleading, Rin refused to have anything to do with a trip up to Yu-Baaba's offices on the top floor of the bathhouse. So she set off on the long trip up by herself, the initial exhilaration of coming back to the bathhouse replaced by the same kind of anxiety that had plagued her during her first visit.

This passed eventually as she concentrated on trying to remember how she had gotten to the top floor the last time she'd been up there. There wasn't an elevator in the entire building that went straight from bottom to top, so this took some work. She hoped she'd see the Radish Spirit, so she could ask for his help, but he was nowhere to be found. There were more stares and hushed whispers from the staff, but Chihiro didn't have time to pay them any mind.

As it turned out, she only took one wrong turn on her way up, which she corrected quickly, and after what felt like hours, she recognized the elevator that would take her the rest of the way up to Yu-Baaba's offices. She looked at it with trepidation for a moment, then tentatively stepped on and pulled the lever that brought it to life. It sped past floor after floor, moving so fast that you didn't have time to hear what was going on at a specific floor before it was already too far away. Finally, the car came to a halt with a jolt and the doors opened onto an open hall with high ceilings.

Chihiro stepped onto the landing and walked slowly towards a set of large double doors, her footsteps echoing loudly. The doors were embedded with every sort of jewel and precious metal imaginable. There were rubies and opals and sapphires, all set in solid gold and all too big to be real, but no doubt were. Just above her head, a golden doorknocker sat, its face staring at Chihiro menacingly.

"Good evening, Yu-Baaba-san," Chihiro said, bowing to the knocker.

The knocker blinked and spoke in Yu-Baaba's powerful, booming voice, "Chihiro! Come in, Come in!"

A clicking noise echoed from a mechanism on the door and it swung open. Beyond the doors, was another set, just as remarkable as the first. There was another clicking sound, and it swung open as well. Behind that, another set of doors, which led into another, and then another. Chihiro followed the path closely, as each door slammed shut behind her, admiring the remarkable lavishness of the place. Finally she came one last door, and as it swung open, Yu-Baaba's expansive office came into view.

Much like the rest of the floor, Yu-Baaba's office was lavishly furnished and filled with all sorts of glimmering jewels. At the other end of the room, Yu-Baaba sat at her desk, the smoke from her cigarette filling the room in thick plumes. At the foot of the desk, sat the three greenish heads that served under Yu-Baaba, though their actual function was mostly a mystery. At the sight of Chihiro, they rolled towards her, jumping up and down and speaking in an incoherent tongue comprised of hoots and grunts.

"Come child," Yu-Baaba beckoned, urging Chihiro closer with a long finger, in a subdued drawl that sounded oily and sinister. "Sit," she said, and a chair waddled from a corner, came to rest in front of Yu- Baaba's desk and bent low for Chihiro to sit.

Chihiro inched her way closer, unsure of what Yu-Baaba wanted with her. Yu-Baaba wasn't known for passing out hugs and kisses when she asked someone to come to her offices. Yu-Baaba waited patiently as Chihiro slowly made her way to the desk, taking lengthy drags from her cigarette, the ash dropping off in long cylindrical heaps. The heads followed her across the room, gazing at Chihiro intently.

"It's alright," Yu-Baaba said, as the two of them exchanged glances, "I mean you no harm. You are no longer in my employ. I have no particular power over you."

Sensing an uncharacteristic sincerity in her words, Chihiro slid into the chair, still eyeing Yu-Baaba suspiciously. She smiled as she leaned in close to her.

"If you ever repeat what we speak of here tonight," Yu-Baaba hissed, "It will be the last thing you ever do. Do you understand me?"

Chihiro tried her best to nod, but it felt like she was shaking too much for it have looked right. "Yes, ma'am," she whimpered.

"Very good," Yu-Baaba said, leaning back in her chair and slumping deeply into it, "I can't very well have my employees finding out that I can be civil. But you, Chihiro, I have a modicum of respect for you. You bested me, fair and square. Outsmarted and outwitted. There aren't many souls that can say that."

Chihiro tried to conceal her bemusement. She sat staring at Yu-Baaba, a look of complete confusion on her pallid face.

"Don't look so surprised," Yu-Baaba smiled, "After all, I'm not a monster, you know."

Chihiro moved her lips, as if she was trying to say something, but no words came out. The heads starting making a commotion as they rolled into the room, balancing a golden tray holding a pot of tea and a pile of large shortbread cookies. Chihiro wondered why she hadn't noticed them leave. They approached Yu-Baaba, who poured herself a cup of tea, then went into a drawer in her desk and pulled out a flask. She poured a yellowish liquid from the flask into her cup of tea.

The heads now moved to Chihiro, and sat in front of her with the tray balanced on top of them. Chihiro's mind screamed for her to get up and run for her life. Instead, she resigned to her current situation and took a shortbread cookie and bit into it. It tasted magical, and it probably was.

"I must admit," Yu-Baaba continued, sipping her tea, "For a long time, I wanted you to come back here just so I can skin you alive. You've made a lot of trouble for me since you've been gone. Haku has been a constant thorn in my side. Tirelessly making demands. It drives me crazy. And my baby won't hear of me doing things that you might find too nasty."

"I'm sorry," Chihiro said honestly. She finished off her cookie and took another one. They were incredible.

"Don't give it another thought," Yu-Baaba said, waving the apology away, "You can say that I've, well, gotten over it."

So, tell me what you've been up to, Chihiro," she said, lighting up a fresh cigarette.

So Chihiro did, and found Yu-Baaba to be quite pleasant. She told her about school, and about her new house, and her concerns and thoughts about things going on in the world. Yu-Baaba listened to her politely, offering an occasional 'hmm' or 'uh-huh'. Mostly, Chihiro like listening to Yu- Baaba tell stories of things that had been happening in the bathhouse. She was a dramatic storyteller, and everything sounded so grand and impressive when she spoke of it. Chihiro asked her about the Stink Spirit and they both laughed about it.

Chihiro couldn't tell how long they sat there talking, but soon the tray of cookies was empty and the three heads rolled out of the room with it. Chihiro had become very comfortable in talking with Yu-Baaba and she felt a new closeness to her akin to the way she felt about her twin sister, Zeniiba.

"Can I ask you a question, Granny?" Chihiro said, confident enough now to ask her something that had been on her mind.

"But of course, child," Yu-Baaba said, smiling at her reassuringly, "What is it?"

"Why do you treat people the way you do?" Chihiro asked, feeling a little unsure that she should have said it as it came out of her mouth, "Like the people who work for you and stuff like that?"

"Well," Yu-Baaba said with a slight chuckle, "You have to be stern with your employees, otherwise they won't respect you. That's all I can tell you about that. You understand, don't you? Of course you do, you're quite the clever girl. You could even say you've taught me a thing or two about how to treat people and the like."

"Really?" Chihiro said, and she felt something weird, like the room was shaking, but didn't think much of it.

"Sure," Yu-Baaba said, pointing a finger at Chihiro and smiling, "Just don't let it go to your head."

Once more Chihiro felt a rumbling under her feet. Then a pair of chubby hands covered her eyes and a child's voice whispered into her ear, "Guess who?"

Chihiro whipped around and came face to face with the oversized child of Yu-Baaba. He smiled at her and with one large hand, grabbed Chihiro by the arm and picked her off the chair into a clumsy embrace. Chihiro's feet dangled a foot off the ground.

"Chihiro," the boy cried, squeezing Chihiro hard enough that she thought she'd crack a rib or two in a minute. "You came."

"Okay, please put me down," Chihiro moaned, and he put her down gently. "How are you doing?" she asked him.

"It's good to see you again, Chihiro," the boy replied. A bird, barely bigger then a thumbtack, sat on the boy's shoulder. Chihiro remembered it fondly from her first visit to the bathhouse. It chirped in agreement.

"Come, sit with me, baby," Yu-Baaba said, pointing to a spot on the floor next to her as she produced a jar of jellybeans from her desk, "Me and Chihiro were just catching up on things."

The boy walked over to where his mother had indicated and sat down. Every step he took shook the room, and when he sat down, Chihiro actually bounced off the floor an inch. The boy took the jellybeans from Yu-Baaba and started eating them contentedly.

"Now, where were we," Yu-Baaba said, going into her desk once more and producing a box of chocolates. She opened the box and offered it to Chihiro, who took one, before placing it on the desk between them. Chihiro bit into the confection, which was filled with creamy toffee, and tasted as mysterious and magical as the cookies.

"Uh, so why don't you get along with your sister?" Chihiro asked, getting back to what she had been wondering about since she had found out that Yu-Baaba wasn't actually all bad.

"Ha!" Yu-Baaba laughed loudly, "My sister. That's a little different. That goes all the way back to when we were both just small children. You must understand, I don't actually hate my sister. We just have a-"

Before Yu-Baaba could finish her thought, the antique found on her desk let out a shrill ring. She scoffed in annoyance and picked up the receiver. "What is it?" she growled, "Yes, what about them? Here? Now? That many? Damn! Fine, we're on our way."

"We have a small crisis on our hands, Chihiro," Yu-Baaba said, sighing heavily as she stood up, "A group of Ameki Spirits has just entered town. They're tree spirits, and a whole South American rainforest full of them have all decided to go on vacation at the same time. There's tens of thousands of them on the way. Get your apron, Chihiro, we're going to need all the help we can get."