DiScLaImErAiyou…never did own Spirited Away, never will… T.T

ATTENTION! – There is an alternative ending at the end, for your umma…reading…pleasure? Hahaha…just in case you guys don't like that first ending. The second one is happier…take your pick, and hey, tell me which one you liked better too!

CaUtIoNHopefully not here to scare you away! But this one-shot deals/brushes with a death theme…but that doesn't make it bad, honest! U.u Kekeke…still here? Hope you'll enjoy the ficcie, and dunt forget to tell me what you think!!


Here I Take My Last Breaths


The days, the months, the years…

The moments have all gone by…yet I still remain here.

But for what reason?

I've watched my life slip away from me, second after second, all the while staring blankly at white wall after white wall…

Seeing nothing, hearing nothing…numb to all sensations…

Except to the silently falling tears tickling my chest as they fall, one by one,

Nonstop.

All the adventures, the laughter, the opportunities, the dreams of the past…vanished as though years pass by in an eye-blink.

What am I still doing here?

I turn towards the windows and lifted dull brown eyes, once bright with the brilliance of life shinning through them, towards the dark night sky. The stars wouldn't be shinning tonight, I know—because the nurses had told me the skies were ladened with thick, dark, grey clouds. The nurse had seemed saddened by it, for it was the night of the full moon.

Not like it mattered to me at all—not when I could not see it.

And soon, nothing will matter ever again. I can feel it.

I have accepted it.

So cold…it's so cold…

"Chihiro?"

Someone was calling my name quietly…someone with an aurora oddly familiar.

So warm…

A hand rose to brush my stubby, budding hair and caress my face, ever so gently. I turned to look toward my late-night visitor without really seeing them. When was it that I last actually saw?

"Chihiro." Said the voice again, uttering the same word. My name? I think that's it. Ogino Chihiro. My name. I closed my eyes, wishing and willing for my vision to clear.

It didn't.

The wetness grew on my cheeks—I know my tears had started again as I felt wet droplets invade the thin layer of skin protecting my bones.

Suddenly strong arms wrapped themselves around me and two new added wetness invaded my skin—one warm and one cold.

This person was wet—dripping wetness from their soaked clothing and body from the cold rainwater mourning outside my window, and wetted further by the warm streaks of liquid steaming down their cheek—pressed against me as they held me tight.

I leaned into their hold. I couldn't see who this person is—I don't know who this person is. But I feel their warmth for me…I feel their care as they whispered brokenedly into my ear, their words riniging with a pain of no physical origin. I felt my visitor release me slightly from their tight, possessive hold. Understanding that whoever it was must be trying to take a better look at me, I opened my unseeing eyes and lifted them towards the person…

And I smiled.

It felt so strange…yet so right at the same time. How long has it been since I last smiled? I had spend practically my entire life wondering "how long?" of every aspect of my life. How long have I been like this? How long since I lost capability in everything? How much longer will I need to endure this?

How much longer must I try to hang onto a thread of life that's already been cut?

At this moment, however, none of that mattered. None of that crossed my mind as I smiled at my visitor and uttered the first thing that's come to my mind—

"Haku…"

One syllable. That's all I can manage to whisper, ever so softly, after what felt like years of not speaking. Had it been anyone else, they might have missed such an insignificant word…but this unseen person once again tightened their hold around me, burying their head in my thin shoulders and rocking me gently back and forth in spit of the many IVs strapped in my frail arms.

I know it's you…it can only be you. I know you can understand what I'm trying to say.

"Don't leave me, Chihiro." He managed to whisper with a voice thick with tears.

Laying my head on his chest, I closed my eyes and smiled softly as my own tears resumed their course down my cheeks.

It's too late, Haku…it's too late for me to turn back now…too late for me to try.

It's too late.


The hospital was dark at night. The nurses on shift had seen the lone, dripping young man of about eighteen years run down their silent corridor, had allowed him to see the requested patient immediately, telling him to hurry…

Lest he miss his last chance to see the girl in life.

Everyday that passed by taught them that she would not be able to stay with them much longer. She had gone through too much—chemotherapy, radiotherapy…even surgery—but nothing had worked except to bring her more pain. Her tumor, discovered during the car accident that had cost her parents' lives, had kept growing, isolating her from humanity as it took more and more control. They had all watched as she faded from them; watched as her body became thinner than nothing more than a mere skeleton; watched her smile vanish as she lost the will to fight on, lost the will to live.

They stood outside her door now, watching the young man cradle her in his strong arms.

The rain continued their merciless splatter over the ground outside the hospital windows. Collectively, the nurses turned from the heartbreaking scene before them and went aside to give the boy some privacy.

At least she'll have someone with her before she joins her parents in the graveyard.


"I will give you my life." He whispered suddenly, his tearstained face pale yet hopeful in his last resort. "Chihiro…I will give you my life."

Knowing full well she couldn't hear him, he smiled sadly down at her thin face. Lifting her chin gently with a finger, he pulled her even closer and kissed her—a soft, gentle, passionate first kiss. His lips lingered on hers, as if never wanting to part, never wanting to lose that feeling which burned upon them as he sat and held the girl he loved.

Vaguely, she felt the tickling sensation of his dark grey hair against her forehead and an incredible warmth on her lips, making her heart beat faster, making all the pain disappear momentarily.

Haltingly, the warmth disappeared as her beloved withdrew his arms, seeming to stand. Comprehension seemed to strike her as she forced all of her strength in a desperate attempt to grab his arm.

"D-do..don't…d-do…t-that…Haku. On-onegai. Don't."

Pulling him beside her once more, she leaned into his arms and sighed contentedly.

Allow me to be selfish, my Love. I would rather die a million deaths, than to know that you would disappear from existence. Allow me to be selfish…I have what I want already—you're here, right beside me.

You're really here.

Lifting shinny brown eyes to stare unseeingly at him, images of the past flooded into the girl's mind: happy memories of better days, filled with laughter and joy. The promise they had made that day, so naïve and innocent…the promise she had made to him in her heart, steadfast until death and after.

I will always love you.

"Ha-haku…" I tried to gather my last breaths…

"Aishiteru, Chihiro." He whispered, "Itsumo…aishiteru."

Aishiteru, Haku.

The machines beeped loudly, their mechanical wails echoing in the seemingly empty room. Outside, the thick clouds parted for the first time in weeks; the heavy raindrops gave way to a fine, shimmery mist.

The moon shone brightly against the black sky, its rays gently spilling in the dark room, illuminating and reflecting off the mirrors of water.

The machines continued to beep.

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::beams:: well that certainly wasn't expected…oh…hihi minna-san!! Gomen nasai ne…since school has once again started, I don't think I'll have time to update my ongoing Spirited Away ficcie again till December… T.T ::ducks multiple flying objects:: BUT! Hopefully this one-shot (which I entirely didn't intend to write…on man, my first midterm is this Thursday!! o.O) will be of some consolation? Hehehe…

Just as a lil bonus…seeing how my other two one-shots have a choice of endings that I couldn't work into this one…here's the alternative ending I mentioned at the start of this ficcie! I won't blab again at the end…but thanks everyone for reading and reviewing!

Note: Read only if you hated the other ending, or want a happier ending…

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The tears fell from his eyes, irrepressible, uncontrollable. He couldn't move; he couldn't stop himself from shaking. Haku simply sat there, cradling the now lifeless girl in his arms and staring at her face, which had moments ago seemed so alive…

Which had moments ago shone with unmistakable love for him.

"No…Chihiro…nonononoNOOOOOOOO!!" He tried to scream as loudly as he could.

His voice came up a bare heated whisper.

He let his head rest against her forehead, unwilling to accept her death.

"You can't leave me like this…Chihiro…you can't leave me… Please…tell me this isn't real…come back to me…come back…"

The gentle rays of the moon illuminated the lonely hospital room, shinning with sympathy for the grieved young river spirit. A shadow blocked the moon's rays momentarily before vanishing again. Lifting his tear-streaked face, Haku gasped as the spirit of his angel stood before him—the face of the girl that he loves, restored fully to health, in the body of her spirit. Spreading her newly grown wings behind her, she smiled shyly at him.

Haku laid Chihiro's body gently on her bed. Looking back at the spirit before him, he felt his eyes afresh with tears all over again as the same emotion reflected back at him from the girl's eyes.

"Haku…" she whispered to him as tears rolled down her smooth cheeks, her eyes shinning with all her love for him.

And he ran towards her.

Embracing one another tightly, he, too, began to transform into his spiritual form.

"Let's go home, my Love." He whispered in her ear.

The nurses came into the dark hospital room to find their lifeless patient all alone, save for a glowing light pink feather drifting out the window.

In the distance, the glowing outline of a silver dragon and a lightpink-winged angel could be seen, flying together towards the unknown beyond.

Until death and ever after,

Let us never part…

For I will always love you.

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Aqua Sunshine n.n