A/N: Okay, you can just imagine my delight when I return to my fanfic and have FIVE more reviews. Yay! (Action: Does Bumble Bee Dance!) I'd like to thank all you guys (esp Kaiba-Angel!), you are the people that make me want to write!

This update is late (sorry!) cos my laptop hates me! In the hope of answering a couple of questions: yes I am delaying Haku and Chihiro meeting once more. It's coming, I promise! Also, I know that most people believe and write as though Chihiro can remember her time in the Spirit World. That's cool, but I decided to do it this way (inspired by a fantastic SA fanfic called 'Beyond The Tunnel' by EtherealShadow).

Suggestions welcome. Please review, guys. Silver (In) Sanity

Chapter 3 - Anger and Boredom

"I will be gone for a week, in that time all the workers must take orders from you," Yubaba informed her gloomy looking apprentice. "Stand up straight!"

Haku rose from his slouched position, his empty eyes meeting the witches'.

"Whilst I am away I expect you to represent my establishment, so I would appreciate if you would stop skulking about like a terrible stench, you're rather depressing," Yubaba continued, eyeing him darkly.

"Don't you have to be leaving?" Haku drawled, raising a disrespectful eyebrow.

With a filthy glance at her apprentice, she wrapped her cloak around her shoulders and took off out of the french windows, soaring over the milky pink sunset. Haku watched her go, wishing he could leave so easily. Finally, once she had flown beyond his sight, he closed the windows and jouneyed to the heart of the bathhouse.

As the sky grew dark and the lanterns were lit, the bathhouse slowly grew into a hive of activity. Workers dashed about frantically, scrubbing and shining in anticipation of the soon to arrive customers. Haku liked to walk amongst the busyness, losing himself in the hustle and bustle of the oblivious workers. All thoughts of anger or loneliness were lost as attention was diverted to small crises and feuds. As he wandered, a hand suddenly caught hold of his arm.

"Haku!" A voice, which presumably belonged to the hand, cried.

Haku turned his head and found himself faced with a smiling Lin.

"Don't you mean Master Haku?" he asked, coldly.

Lin smirked. "Yeah right, Haku, when d'you get so pretentious?"

Haku sighed. He wasn't in the mood to deal with her.

"I'm sorry Lin, but I really don't feel like talking right now."

Lin narrowed her eyes. "You've changed."

Haku felt his temper rising. What gave her the right to talk to him like that? Why did he always have to be so cheerful, so strong? He was sick of being told who he should be, how he should behave. And he was especially sick of -

"Don't you ever want to talk about her anymore?" Lin demmanded, looking him hard in the eye.

"Lin, just leave me alone," he commanded, beginning to push his way through the crowds of workers.

Unfortunately for him, she didn't give up so easily. As he tried to escape, she pursued him, raising her voice so that he could not hide from her punishing words.

"Haku, you can't just erase those memories! You can't push everyone away!"

At these words he whirled around, grabbing her by the collar. She did not struggle nor look up at him fearfully. He hadn't expected her to. But he also had not expected her to look into his eyes with such sorrow and sympathy. It made him even more furious.

"Why not?" He snarled as the workers stopped and watched them, silently. "What's the point? What good will contact with others ever bring me?"

She had a million answers, but did not dare utter them. In her heart, she knew that he had changed, the years of loneliness gradually beating his fragile heart. But it was the hatred that burned inside of him that was so alien. So frightening.

"I thought so," he muttered, releasing her from his grasp and turning to the crowd. "Get back to work!" He yelled before storming away to seek peace.

Peace that he would never find.

It got boring. Every minute, the same pastel coloured clothes being sold to equally similar looking middle-aged women. What Chihiro really hated was having to lie and tell these women that yes, they did look good. She tried to console herself by remembering that she was telling these women what they wanted to hear and that they didn't really care what she thought anyway.

"Hey, we're only there for the money," Her friend Reiko assured her, soothingly, as they began to walk home.

She was referring to the jobs they had both started at the clothing store a couple of weeks ago. Being seventeen meant you were suddenly considered 'independent' by your parents. Basically this was their pathetic excuse for no longer needing to fund the necessities within Chihiro's life. CDs, clothes and other vital acessories.

So they had both accepted jobs at a clothing store that seemed to cater for women who had aged enough so that their vision could no longer allow them to realise how truly hideous the clothes they were purchasing were. Needless to say, after long afternoons and Saturdays of seeling such criminally disgusting garments, the hard earned cash in Chihiro's pocket seemed to be begging to be spent.

"Hey, do you wanna do something tonight?" Chihiro asked Reiko, waving her wage packet about, victoriously.

"Sorry, I can't. I'm going out with Jiro," Reiko replied, apologetically.

Chihiro sighed. "And three's a crowd, I get the picture."

"Well, if you'd start dating," Reiko hinted, "four's company."

"Don't you mean two's company?" Chihiro corrected, refusing the hint.

"Four is two two's, so it's still company, right?"

Chihiro grinned. "Forget it Reiko, I'm being a one for now."

Reiko glanced over at her friend. She simply could not understand why Chihiro wouldn't date. It was clear that she was naturally beautiful enough to have any boy she wanted. In fact, Reiko slightly envied Chihiro, with her long, flowing brown hair, perfectly defined figure and big brown eyes.

"What about Cain?" Reiko asked, curiously. She knew for a fact that she was't the only friend of Chihiro's who had noticed her blossoming beauty.

Chihiro snorted. "Why must everyone assume that no girl could possibly be just friends with another boy?"

"Don't dodge the question."

"Cain is my best friend, therefore I would never even consider such a prospect," she replied, primly.

"I would!" Reiko exclaimed, her nose crinkling mischeviously. "Cain is so cute! Oh yeah, and there's the fact that he's the sweetest guy on the planet!"

"Whatever."

Chihiro was used to dismissing the issue. She'd been questioned enough to have all her replies and excuses perfected by now. To be honest, she wasn't sure why she didn't date. There had been offers and there had been boys. Just no one special, no one her made her heart beat wildly or captured her thoughts.

She grinned, telling herself she'd seen too many movies. Maybe Reiko did have a point after all. She was seventeen and had never been kissed, wasn't it time she dated? Still, even if she was to date, Cain was the last person she'd consider. Sure, he was very handsome and they did get along very well, almost like their thoughts were connected sometimes, but that didn't mean he was right for her ...

...did it?

Though it was an oppressing pit of stifling heat and gruelling work during the hours of darkness, during the day, the boiler room was really quite peaceful and cosy. As Lin dragged the shutter across to grant her entrance, her eyes landed upon Kamaji, the seemingly fierce but truly gentle, boiler man.

She crept inside, pondering the best way to wake him. As the floorboards creaked, a flurry of black sootballs shot out their holes in the wall, squeaking and chirping, adorably. Lin scowled as Kamaji's head rose sharply and squinted in the daylight, looking for what had caused the commotion. Lin smiled, sheepishly, as his beetle black eyes adjusted to light.

"Quieten down!" He growled at the sootballs, which immediately calmed before scuttling away. His eyes returned to Lin.

"Sorry to disturb you at this unearthly hour," she apologised, glumly. "I wouldn't have woken you if this wasn't important."

Kamaji muttered, incoherently, under his breath, but Lin knew he wasn't annoyed by the awakening.

"What is it that's bothering you?" he asked, obviously curious about her reason for visiting.

"Haku," Lin answered, settling herself upon the wooden floor.

Kamaji nodded. "Ah, I see."

"I tell you, the older he gets, the more self-absorbed and arrogant he becomes," Lin complained, bitterly.

"Now, Lin, you know that isn't true. The boy is suffering, his pain increasing with every second."

"Look, I know it must be hard for him, but he acts like he can't trust anyone anymore. It drives me crazy to see him wandering about like a lost puppy," Lin argued.

Kamaji shook his head. "You don't understand. The boy has lost any reason he ever had to trust anyone."

Lin's forehead creased in confusion. She understood that he missed Sen, she maybe even comprehended that he had loved her, but that was no reason to reject people. It wasn't like she had promised to come back.

"Go on then, explain it to me."

Kamaji shifted, uncomfortably. "This information came from Zeniba. It is to go no further than this room, understand?" His tone was firm.

Lin nodded, solemnly.

"A few months after Sen left, Haku went to Zeniba seeking help to eascape and find her. It was around that time that a child was found, wandering the land around Swamp Bottom. A human child, the same age as Sen. Zeniba couldn't help Haku find Sen as he is bound by his contract until he comes of age. So she decided that they would send a spy into the human world, the purpose of which being to protect and watch Sen so that, once Haku reached eighteen, he would be reunited with her, easily."

"Who could they possibly send?" Lin interrupted, abruptly.

"Well, the child, of course," Kamaji answered.

"Bit suspicious, don't you think, a human just happens to appear right after Sen left?"

"Indeed," Kamaji agreed, pausing before he continued. "All seemed to go as planned, the child entered the human world and Haku waited in eager anticipation of any news."

Lin felt a sudden wave of nausea hit her as she sat, frozen, awaiting the turn of events that she felt before it came from Kamaji's lips. Something had gone wrong.

"What happened?" She whispered as Kamaji remained silent.

"The human never returned," Kamaji answered, quietly. "The track that Zeniba had kept upon him was broken. She couldn't understand it. Haku was devastated. It was around then he began to distance himself, trying to stop all emotion within him."

"Why? I don't understand. Why didn't the human return?" Lin questioned, both confusion and realisation flooding through her at once.

"That's the mystery. The only thing Zeniba can tell us, which only causes Haku more pain, is that the child lives."

Lin looked down at her hands, her head buzzing with the new information. "Poor Haku," she murmured.

"Yes. Poor Haku. It's almost as if he's cursed."