The Chronicles of the Shiroi Ryuu

Sora: Hello! I'm back again with another chapter for everyone again!! I finally got the Internet to work again, so I'll be writing more often! Aren't you glad?? (Crickets chirping in the background) Ha ha. Very funny.

Oh...and I figured out two mistakes in the story!! One is that I spelled Yubaba's name wrong (Sorry, I don't really have the DVD anymore, so I possibly couldn't know), and kawakami means 'upstream'...But please note that I meant 'kawakami' as if in kawa (river) kami (god/spirit). I couldn't really think of any other way to put it...

Also, thank you reviewers and the people who even read it! Your participation is highly appreciated!

'Hope you like it!

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Chapter four: The Dark Apprentices?

Two mortal years passed in the blink of an eye, and progress still remained the same in the magical bathhouse. The little girls constantly ran across the floor with the towels, polishing the wood to perfection until they glistened.... reflecting the hard work they put into it. The other, older workers of the bathhouse worked on the bathtubs and mainly the customers. No matter how much activity was in the enchanted place, it still remained just as lifeless with a whole bunch beings working without a soul or will. After a hard day of work, they all went to their dorms to rest for the night...but not everyone slept.

Walking down the dark and gloomy halls of the bathhouse were two spirits, both looking as if they were only twelve in age. One was a little boy and one was a little girl, one with forest green hair and one had hair as blue as the ocean. Each of them wore a really long coat with their names written in Kanji on their backs; the boy wore the character meaning Haku and the other wore the character Kou. They walked mindlessly down the halls, holding one candle in their hands, making their way to the 'Master's room'.

The door opened itself, and the mysterious pair walked in. Going down a few halls, the two opened another door and slowly walked inside the Master's room. Both gave a formal bow.

"We have arrived Mistress Yubaba."

(A/n: Thank you Micrll for telling me the right way to spell it! )

The old witch walked out of her son's room, sitting at her desk. She looked up at the two spirits.

"Shiro and Kou...Where is Haku?"

The two spirits looked at each other and then back at Yubaba. After a few moments, though, the spirit with the Haku character on his back stepped forward. His flowing blue hair covered his eyes a little and they gave an eerie glow.

"Mistress Yubaba...Master Haku has just arrived from his mission and shortly after that he went into his room."

"Call him up here. I want to talk to him alone...about the mission."

With that, she simply turned back around in her chair, looking at the daily profits and deductions for the week. Both of the spirits, the boy and the girl, bowed in uniform...and shortly after, they left the Master's room.

Going down the elevator, and walking down a few halls, the spirits sauntered once again down a special dark and cold hallway while holding their candles. The whole place was covered in shadows, with only the light of the moon entering a few windows here and there. A few more steps and they reached a heavy red and gold door.

Before Kou could even touch the knob the door opened by itself, revealing an almost empty room only brightened by the moonlight and blue flames on small candles. The room appeared very modest...a little too modest.

There, standing in on of the beams of sparkling light coming from the window, was Haku. The one they were searching for. Their Master. Glancing at his appearance, you could tell that he hadn't changed at all during the last two mortal years he had worked in Aburaya.

Haku slowly turned his head around to look at them...his eyes basically glowed a magnificent emerald hue from the moonlight. The two spirits in quickly gave a bow as he walked up to them. They stood in silence until Kou finally spoke up.

"Master Haku.... Mistress Yubaba seeks your presence in her main office."

(A/n: smacks forehead Man, I've been in school too long...)

"It's about my mission, am I correct? Hmph, it figures."

Haku began to slowly walk away into the darkness of the night, not even looking back or even slightly changing his posture. Shiro and Kou slowly followed him and together they walked in a perfect triangle to Yubaba's quarters. They went in formation through the semi-maze to her office, and opened the door quietly.

Yubaba sat in her chair as if she was expecting them to arrive at that very moment, narrowing her eyes as they entered. Haku soon stood in front while the other two spirits stood patiently in the back, still forming the perfect triangle. She motioned for Shiro and Kou to leave and they obediently did without any complaint. Yubaba then turned her attention to Haku.

"Did you complete your mission successfully Haku?"

"Yes, I did. I've gotten what you've asked for."

Without warning, he reached into his jacket and pulled out a small, polished, crimson colored prism with some symbols on the front. Yubaba gave a wicked grin and magically made the prism float over to her and she placed it on her desk, inspecting it carefully. She looked back up to Haku, obviously satisfied.

"Good work Haku... you did it perfectly. Now, as for your next mission, I want you to do the same thing."

Opening her drawer, she pulled out a crystal clear prism that highly resembled the crimson one Haku just had, and slowly made it float to him. With one hand he caught it and stuck it back in his jacket.

"I want you to go to the temple located in Setsuyama and use this prism on the guardian of that particular area. Leave tomorrow first thing in the morning."

"How many of these do I have to collect?"

"As many as I tell you to collect! Now, get out of my sight!" Yubaba said, turning around in her chair to open another drawer.

Haku turned around and left mumbling a few things under his breath, magically shutting the door without touching it. Letting out a weary sigh, he managed to control his anger and began to make his way down the moonlit halls of the bathhouse. He hated Yubaba with a passion, but he had not the power to confront her at any time; this was her bathhouse, her territory, and to go up against her in her own magical world would definitely be suicide. He growled a little in frustration at the thought...

His train of thought was suddenly broken when he accidentally bumped into someone and they both landed on the floor at the same time. Haku shot a glare at the other person but as soon as he saw who it was, his expression softened. It was his fellow apprentice of light...Kou. He immediately stood and helped her up as well, giving her back her candle that she dropped. She bowed and started to apologize; her voice automatically let Haku know how scared she was of him, and the outcome of the situation.

"I-I'm so sorry Master Haku!! I promise I'll never do it again!"

"Shh...it's okay Kou. I'm not going to do anything to you."

Kou's eyes widened as he rested his hands on her shoulders and gazed right into her eyes with an understanding look that reflected kindness....and not the usual hardness that she was familiar with. Involuntarily, she could do nothing but hold her breath.

"Listen...Kou...Don't be afraid of me. You are on the same level of power as I am as far as I'm concerned, so as long as Yubaba or any of the workers of Aburaya aren't around you can just call me Haku...okay?"

Haku's voice was unusually light and gentle, yet Kou could only stare at him...and her body so stiff it was to the point that she was trembling. She tried her best to try to obey the statement he had just said, but for some reason she could not bring herself to not fear him. Was it because she actually afraid of him she could not tell; she couldn't even bring herself to even look into his eyes anymore, and persistently made an effort to avoid them as much as possible.

Haku noticed what was going on the second it starting happening, realizing that his 'don't be afraid' speech made her even more fearful. He gave a defeated expression and slowly pulled his hands off of her shoulders, resting them at his side. He took a few more steps to where he was standing beside Kou and not facing her direction.

"Kou...I could never bring myself to hurt you. You might not feel the same about me...but deep down, somewhere in my heart I feel safe around you, Kou. Somewhere in the depths of my soul I feel a force pulling me toward you that I cannot understand...It is though I know you, but at the same time I don't," He said quietly, "And to see you so afraid of me as though I had the power of life or death over you hurts me. If I could just ask one thing Kou...please don't be afraid of me..."

As if it was an instinct, Kou could actually feel Haku walking away into the darkness of the end of the hallway without turning her head; as soon as he was gone completely, she ran her fingers through her hair, crying in pure frustration it seemed. The echoes of her soft sobs could were the only thing heard in the bathhouse during this silent night.

"Kou!!!"

Kou quieted down to hear the sound of sliding socks on the polished wooden floors of the magical bathhouse, and not even looking up to see who it was, she immediately ran in the direction of the sound. She ran into the person calling, and in return she was given a soft, yet protective embrace. Right then, she knew who it was by the long silky strands of blue hair coming from their head, and the loose, white clothes they wore...

"Kou...Kou...What is the matter with you??"

"Shiro, I disobeyed him!! I failed in following the master's orders!!"

"Kou, you disobeyed the master's orders?? Which master?"

"..."

"Answer me Kou! Which master?? If it was Yubaba then..."

"No. It wasn't her. It was Master Haku."

Shiro gave her a questioning look; what in the world did she do to disobey Master Haku?? It wasn't like her to do such a thing! Shiro turned her around to force her to look at him.

"What did you do?"

She looked away as if she was a pup caught doing something wrong.

"I was afraid.... that's what I did. He told me not to fear him, and I did."

The reply had hit him like a rock. Master Haku was especially known for giving the workers a hard time, and that was the reason why some of them didn't like him...but why the sudden change in his personality? Shiro had always been around him, and this definitely didn't sound like the 'Master Haku' that he had known for two mortal years. There had to be something wrong here. Were there two Master Haku's? No. Was he acting against his will by some kind of magic spell? No, he was spiritually too powerful for that kind of thing...Shiro surrounded in swirl of thoughts and conjectures that were yet to be confirmed.

"Master Haku..." He thought, "Who are you?"

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Sora: And that concludes chappie number four! Don't worry, the fifth chappie will come soon, or you can pellet me down with cheese balls and pretzels! Of course that wouldn't feel very good...

Well...time for the dictionary thingy! I got a totally new book that will help me with it entitled "Kanji and Kana" by Wolfgang Hadamitzky and Mark Spahn (Holds it up for everyone to see). It's a new book of the modern Japanese writing system, so my dictionary will be more accurate!! Huzzah!

Anyway, here it is:

Yubaba- bath crone

Shiro- white

Kou- light (from hikari)

Haku- after doing research, I figured out that in the Joyo Kanji list it means white as well!! (Huggles new book)

Aburaya- the name of the bathhouse thingy

Setsuyama- a name I made up for the place Haku is going to next chapter. I put two kanji's together and came up with 'Snow Mountain'...so that, I assume, is what it means.

Like I said, I'll post the next chapter as soon as I possibly can. Until next chappie, mata ne!