Kohaku (in his dragon form so he could teacher her how to speck at the same time) started teaching Sen the basics, like how to eat and walk were the only things they had time to do. She had mastered walking, but needed more time on using chop sticks with her now peculiar paws.

She was struggling to hold her chopsticks when they fell. She retched down for them the umpteenth time but her hand when trough them. Her eyes opened in shock, as well as Haku's.

"Oh no, COME ON!! We need to leave, NOW!" He then grabbed her slightly larger form and flew out the window, to her river.

They sped along, the river that Chihero first crossed was just now lengthening, and Haku new he wouldn't be able to come back tonight. They flew on. Just when Sen was thinning out so much that she was becoming just gas, they hit her rivers water. Instantly, Sen became one with the water, her form becoming liquid. Haku was about to leave the water when it was solid at the top, keeping him from escaping.

A thought entered his head, 'S-stay...' The voice was horse and very tired, but undoubtedly feminine. It was third word that Sen had learned that day, when he had to go get food.

And he did. It felt good to be in a river that wanted him again and he couldn't get back to the bathhouse anyway...

------

((In Japanese, 'R' is pronounced as 'L' so Rin, is Lin.))

"Come on, girl, come on you can do it!" Haku was slowly walking backwards, making Sen fly father then she originally thought she would. She then spurted her powers and toppled him over, her on top. She was much bigger then three days ago; she nearly tripled her size and was now as big as Kohaku. "Oomph! Dang, you're getting heavy! I don't think I can carry you anymore! " He was in his dragon form and was talking dragon. He still did not know her name. But she was getting really good at flying and had mastered walking. She was a fast learner. She now knew five words in dragon 'stay, food, bathroom, water, rest' and was using them like no other.

"Food?" quipped Sen, it was lunchtime and she was getting hungry, she kept on spilling breakfast (she was still mastering chopsticks in her new hands-er...paws.).

"Yes, food. Stay."

Sen then sat on her haunches and waited for him to bring back lunch, her tail swinging happily... until....

When Haku came back, he had an unhappy look on his face.

When she saw this, her face was interested; whatever made Kohaku unhappy, made her unhappy too. "Eh?"

"Nothing, its nothing. Food." He said, turning back into the white dragon once again.

"Hmm..." She mumbled but began struggling with her chopsticks again, Haku helping her. Eventually, she gave up and used her paws.

When they were finished, (Sen worse for ware) Haku spoke up. "I have to go on a mission, girl. Stay here, stay!" he said, turning back into a human form, that wasn't working because Sen was following him, "I have a mission, stay!" he said in Japanese. Sen stopped trying to follow him, and sat down again, a sad look on her face. "Good girl. See you by tomorrow. You'll have to fly to your river by yourself. Can you do it?"

She nodded. "Great. Now stay." (He completely forgot that she wasn't supposed to be able to understand him in this form.)

And she did stay... for a while.

It had been an hour since Kohaku left, and Chihero was board. So bored in fact, that she took to counting the ceiling tiles. With that done, she was even more bored (there were 2417 total, if you didn't count the half ones).

So, after a few minutes of doing nothing, she had an epiphany. Why not go and help Rin? She was much happier with that thought. All she would have to do, was to go to her old room, and sniff her out. If that didn't work, all she had to do was wonder around downstairs till she finds her! What a perfect plan! And Rin would surely love the help! Chihero then got up, and headed towards the door.

Earlier, Haku had taught her how to get airborne. But she could only fly for about five meters till she fell back to earth. He also had engraved the path to her river in her mind. He still would take her down there every night, but he didn't need to, it was just to protect her.

She was now walking towards the stairs. She was currently in the basement, even father down then the kitchens, in Haku's room. Despite being underground, it was enchanted so the sun would come streaming in the windows. Haku's room was buried under the main door. If you listened hard enough, you can just make out the laughter far above the ceiling. He made is own personal floor, so his room had its own bath, restroom, closet, and kitchen. It was very privet; Sen couldn't even smell anyone but Haku and herself down here! The hall and bedroom walls had golden wallpaper with red and green and purple designs painted on till about halfway, after that, it was a rich wood paneling. The floor was carpeted in a rich dark purple and the ceiling was a bright, welcoming gold. It contrasted each other, but also they complemented each other, each bringing out the others color. The kitchen was a tone of green and white; the restroom was the same. The closet was just all wood. The bath had wood panel walls, and on them was a painting of a fierce battle. Countless demons, humans, and spirits fought one another; bodies were spread everywhere, some had arrows sticking out of them. But, between the battling combatants, was a huge majestic river. Chihero, if she looked hard enough, could see Haku himself swimming its waters. But every time she thought she spotted him, the image would go to another part of the painting. Despite its gruesomeness, Sen LOVED it. It depicted the very aspect of a battle. Chihero could stare at it for hours, but Haku had locked the bath's door, so she wouldn't mess with the bath. She was sad that he did that but she now had a better plan.

Sen was now peaking around the door to the kitchens. Haku's door was located under the stares that led to the guest area. Everyone was cooking at his or her own pace. Sen chanced it and bolted up the stares. On the next level, the maids and formers and frogs were doing what they do best: as little work without getting fired as possible. Despite it being a spirit house, Sen knew that there were very few water spirits that worked here (only Kohaku); they were manly guests, so when she got to the guest quarters, she could move about freely. So, she looked around, making sure that no one was looking (occasionally ducking back behind the door) and snuck into the elevator that went to the level where the guests are.

Pulling down the lever, she watched the servant's floor disappear beneath her. But she didn't expect for the elevator to stop where it did. She sweatdropped as the radish spirit asked if it was going up. Giving a curt nod of her head, she looked at the floor and scooted over for him. He was squeaking as he walked into the elevator and pulled down the lever again. During the rid, he was breathing like he did, and she kept her eyes glued to the floor. Thankfully, they didn't stop again till they reached his the top level where the guests could stay. They both got out and bowed to each other before going their separate ways. She then tiptoed behind a couple of chick spirits and into the servers' elevator.

She stopped it once she reached her old rooms floor and got out. She then walked till she got to the balcony. It looked different then the last time she was here. There was no more water at all on the ground around the train tracks. Flowers were starting to pop up here and there, though she shouldn't have been able too see them from this distance; Haku would tell her about that later. She tore her eyes from the landscape and faced her old room. She nudged the door open to see a few beds lying still out, some cloths scattered about and she could still smell Haku's blood on the walls, even though she couldn't see any there.

'Now, to find Rins.' She then put her snout to the ground and took a big sniff. There, she found Rins scent. She knew it was Rins because Rin always washed her hair with a homemade blend. So, locking that scent into her memory, she followed it though the bathhouse. Ah, Rin got the big tub again.

People that she knew kept on asking her if she needed anything, but she just shook her head no. Once she neared the big tub, she noticed people were disappearing. It seems like after the stink spirit incident, they decided to let that area air out. Rins scent was the only fresh one there, but it was quickly replaced by the smell of Kanji. She shut off her sense of smell, so it wouldn't knock her out. Chihero could hear Rin grunting and complaining about doing frogs work again. She peered around the screen and saw that Rin was scrubbing off the slime on the inside of the tub. But Rin looked up suddenly. "What are you doing here?!" Sen quickly pulled her head back quickly, shocked about how Rin was dealing with her. But she peeked around again once she heard Rin scrubbing again. She then tiptoed over and peered over the rim of the tub. And Rin saw her again.

"This area is closed, please go back to your room or something." Rin glared up at the ANNOYING water spirit and then looked back at the sludge. She heard claws softly clicking farther and farther away, so she assumed that it left. She then divulged herself back into scrapping off the caked on muck again.

But then something splashed down next to her and started to scour as well, grunting rhythmically with each scrub. Rin just blinked. "Um... guests aren't supposed to work..."

The water spirit stopped and looked over at her. It whistled and began to scrub again. Rin smiled and scrubbed as well; it was good to have a helper.

After a while, Rin began to talk about nonsense. "So, what's your name?"

Sen chirped inaudibly while scratching at the slim with her claws.

Rin stopped scrubbing and turned to face Chihero. "Can you speak Japanese?"

Sen shook her head. Rin sweatdropped. "Can you even understand me?"

Sen nodded. "Ok then. My name is Rin, pleasure to make your acquaintance... err...what to call you?"

Chihero had a thoughtful look on her face, before it was replaced with a happy one. She then used her claw and scraped away the name 'Chihero' in the slim.

Rin looked at the name and replied. "Sorry, I only know five girl—you are a girl right? —names in writing; Mine, Lina, Filia, Sen, and YuBaaba."

Sen sweatdropped before scribbling the name of Sen into the slimy muck. "Sen, huh? Ya know, I knew a human girl by that name. She was such a klutz, but very nice." She turned back around and scrubbed again. "She had brown hair like yours and the same eyes. But she left about a week ago. Nice kid." Rin scrunched up her nose and tossed down her brush. "This damn crap isn't gonna come off any time soon. It'll have to be soaked off. Would you mind if you went to get a bath token?"

Sen nodded her head. "Great. I'll be here, ok?" Sen nodded and floated out of the deep bath. Rin could hear her nails clicking away at the floor till they disappeared all together. "If I didn't know better, I'd say that she WAS Sen." But she just shrugged her shoulders and hopped out of the bath. She popped her back, before cleaning up the stuff she and Sen used to try to scrub off the gunk there.

&&&&&&

sigh I am very sorry for such a delay in posting an up-date. Sweatdrop I hope I will get the next chapter up soon.

About the lemon; my Mistress has lost Her train of thought for it and completely scrapped the one She had written. I do not know if She will write a new one or not.

Also, She does not know how this story will end. If you have any suggestions, please review and tell Her. She knows how this story will go for a while, until Haku-sama figures out that Sen-sama is, well, Sen-sama and that is about it. Any ideas, mina-sama?

Have a good morning/day/evening/night.

Monkeys.