AN: hey guys, this is the last chapter!! ::sniffs:: yes, this story was really fun to make, and it was awesome that you guys liked it too much!! I will make another post for the replies after this chapter, so I can get a final word to all of you. Before I get on with the story, I want to say thanks to you all for reading and reviewing! It means a lot to me, especially because if it weren't for you guys even reading this, I wouldn't be writing it at all!!! So, thanks guys!! I will do the replies at the end of the chapter so you don't have to wait anymore, okay?? Wells, on with the chapter!! OH! And most of you might not like this chapter... HINT: genre is tragedy.

Mandi-Solo

DISCLAIMER: I do not own Spirited Away.

Epilogue

If I let him go without saying something... I may never get to see him again... but... He's a spirit... he can be around me all the time, so I would never be alone... But that doesn't change the fact that I love him... and that he went through so much trouble to come back to me, and I almost turned him down. I have to stop him from going... I have to say something to stop him!

But... what if he doesn't want to stay with me? With the way I acted yesterday, I wouldn't want to be around me either... But... he still loves me, I know it! I could tell in his voice, I could tell by his actions, he still loves me, and he doesn't want to leave me!

But if I go... what becomes of my body? I cannot take my body to the spirit world... I would appear as a dead body to my family and friends... all the people I care about on Earth would be filled with sorrow for my death... I can't let them go through such pain...

Yet... I can't just forget about Haku... Damn... all of this thinking is making me blind on the road! Get out of the way dog! Move! Darn it! I'm late! The sun's almost risen! It won't be long until it's over the mountain... and Haku will be gone forever from me...

NO! I will not let myself think such a thing! I will not let him get away from me! I love him too much to let him just walk away from me! Haku! Wait just a little bit longer! I'm coming!

(Haku)

I don't blame her for not coming... with the way I treated her yesterday... I wouldn't come either... I practically snapped at her, forced her to make choice of a lifetime within minutes... how could I be so stupid? This is her world, her life, her family and friends... How could I ever think that she would give it all up for me? Me? A spirit, not a human, not a man to give her what her heart desires, what she craves, what she wants from a man...

I will never be able to fill that hole in her heart for what she longs for... I will only be able to tell her words, not show her actions of how much I love her... I could never do what she is expecting me to do for her... I could never be able to touch her... feel her... memorize her body... I would never be able to do anything that she requests...

What am I saying? If she comes to the spirit world with me... we would both be spirits, and we can do whatever our hearts demand! But... she doesn't know how to live the life of a spirit... I, however, know. This is who I am, what I was made to be... she is a human, a body of flesh and bone, and I am a body of air and spirits...

Oh no! The sun! It's coming! Chihiro, HURRY! I don't have much time left!

(Chihiro)

I saw the lake just a few more yards, but the sun's rays were peaking over the mountaintops. I pressed my foot harder on the gas, hearing the engine growl, and the dirt on the road peel. I turned left, right, and I finally stopped, seeing Haku standing at the edge of the lake, his eyes cast upon the rising sun.

I jumped out of the car, and yelled with all of my strength, "HAKU!"

He turned around, his face showing more color, and a small smile forming on his small lips. I ran up to him, wrapping my arms around him tightly. He began to kiss my head, my cheeks, my lips, and my ears, whatever part of my body he could manage. I kiss him back, feeling my heart long for this moment.

We finally stopped, just remaining in each other's arms, and I finally looked up at him, seeing tears in his eyes as he looked down at me. Tears of my own formed in my eyes, and I forced back my wave of emotions to speak.

"Haku... I've done a lot of thinking in the last few minutes..." I said, my voice shaky, but firm. I had to tell him my decision... "But... as terribly sad as I am... I am afraid I cannot go with you to the spirit world."

Before he could open his mouth to speak, I continued. "Now, don't get me wrong, I really want to go with you! I love you with all of my heart, and I remember the promise I made to you years ago! I remember everything, the moment I first fell in love with you, the moment I left you to return to this world... the moment I had thrown away my last bit of memories of you into this very lake.

"But I don't want to forget... if I return to the spirit world with you... I may forget my real life... my real identity... my very existence... I could not let myself go through that... Even if I am with you for the rest of my life."

He smiled, and ran his fingers through my hair. "I understand completely, Chihiro. You are a human, and I am a spirit... two different beings..." tears rolled down his face. "How could we possibly ever have fallen in love..."

I shook my head, "just because I am not going with you... doesn't mean I still can't love you as much as I do. After I die... I will be with you as a spirit... we will always be together then..."

His tears still remained, and my own fell down. "Chihiro... I don't know if I can live-even as a spirit-without you in my life... I feel so much pain in my heart right now... knowing that I may never get to hold you like this again for a long time..."

I smiled, "that's how I felt when I left you the first time... but I lived just knowing that I would see you again, and that we would love each other so very much, that time and everything else wouldn't matter. Because that's how I feel about you, Haku. Nothing else matters to me anymore... and I am willing to live out my life for you... showing you my life as it could be... so when I finally die... we will be in an even grater love than now."

He smiled, and brought his lips on mine, kissing me so deeply, I wished we never had to part. It was like all of my sorrows were being drowned from my very existence... my entire life meant nothing to me anymore... I felt so my pleasure, his arms moving around my body, holding my tightly, yet softly... his lips felt so warm... his tongue fighting mine... it was a moment I would hold onto forever.

He finally parted... and the pleasure vanished from my heart. I looked at the mountains, the sun was nearing. I wrapped my arms around him tightly, wanting to hold onto him until he was finally gone.

"I'll wait for you forever, Chihiro," he whispered softly in my hair.

"I'll wait forever," I whispered back, and I continued to hold onto him.

The sun began to shine brightly over the mountain, and slowly, very slowly, Haku began to fade from my arms. From his feet up, he began to vanish, and I began to cry. I cried out what tears were left from my heart, and he cried as well, but he was smiling... as was I. We would be together again... we just had to wait a little while longer...