Chapter 2: Blind Path

By, azngurlenluv

A/N: **squeals** Thanks so much to those of you who reviewed! I really appreciate it! I was jumping around my room when I got my first few reviews, heheh…  This is the first ongoing fic that I actually feel a need to continue, and it's all thanks to you wonderful people who took the minute or two to review! =D But I feel bad cuz I sort of broke my promise… I got more than 10 reviews by the time I got to post this, so that's sort of a promise gone down the drain… I feel flattered though, so thank you all very, very much. ^^

TeaRoses: 1st person to review!!! **hugs** Thank you!!!

ElvenPrincessOfLegolas: I did reload the chapter, but not only because of that spelling mistake. I corrected some grammatical errors as well. Thanks much for your long review!!!

Ivy: Please don't kill me!!! **cowers** I'm sure many of you are wondering this, but the reason I made Chihiro have such a sad event happen to her was because I needed to have somewhere to put her parents and friends, if she had any. Other fanfic writers just leave the people in her life as a little thing for you to worry about when you have time, but I can't stand to do that in something that I created myself. So, I killed off her parents and made her a social outcast so that she wouldn't have anyone to worry about when she crosses over to Spirit World. And really, of course one would be sad in the case of unfulfilled love if the feeling is strong enough to take over your entire life, right? Or are my words falling on deaf ears/ blind eyes? Haku WILL make his debut!!! I can't say it'll be soon, but of course he's going to be in this fic! It's a C&H romance after all!!!

TO EVERYONE!!!: Thanks SO much for reviewing!!! **huggles** This first group of reviewers will always be kept somewhere in my mind! ^^ You know who you are!!!

Disclaimer: Once again, I do not own Spirited Away or any other related references. They all belong to the mind of Hayao Miyazaki and the people at Studio Ghibli… I WOULD settle for having Haku, but then again, so does the majority of the teen female population who's actually seen the movie in its entirety. =D

Once again, please lose yourself in my universe of words…

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The front door to the house was left wide open to the summer night, and the lights in the hallways and a bedroom were left on. The phone receiver was hanging off the hook with a repetitive beeping noise reverberating from the earpiece, and a blue pillow lay on the ground next to the table that the phone was situated on. Music flowed from the one lit bedroom, but there was no one in the house when the police arrived to bring the Oginos' daughter to the police station for all of the paperwork that she had to fill out.

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All that could be heard throughout the stillness of the summer night was the sound of the rustling of grass as bare human feet flew across them. She knew nothing but the pain that she felt and the sadness that flowed from her eyes.

"… forced off of a narrow road… involuntary manslaughter… both died on impact…"

Those cursed words ran throughout her mind over and over again as her feet took her to God knows where…

'Why…?' she thought to herself, 'Why, when they were all that I had left in this forsaken world…?'

She didn't even realize that she was running until she tripped on a loose twig and fell face-first to the ground. She lay there for awhile, her breathing ragged and the muscles in her legs burning with overexertion. Tears flowed once again from her brown eyes as her body was once again wracked with sobs.

There was a bright flash of lightning, followed by thunder that growled Chihiro's frustration for all of the nightlife to hear. Rain fell from the sky into the stifling summer night as if the heavens grieved for her misfortune as well. There was nothing left. There was nothing to live for in this stupid world of unfairness. This world…

The sounds that came from her ceased in an instant as the sky continued its protest on the unfairness of her life. This world... Thoughts ran through her head as the phrase repeated itself in her mind. This world… Realization struck her as suddenly as the news of her parents' death did. She didn't have to stay in this world…

She slowly looked up through her bangs as lightning flashed once again. It illuminated the short little figure that she had landed in front of. Recognition crossed her face, and she pushed herself up into a sitting position to stare at the statue that had greeted her and her parents when they'd gotten lost 10 years ago.

She almost smiled despite the tragic event that had just occurred in her life. Although she'd lost all sense of reality, her heart had known all along where she longed to be and had guided her accordingly. She stood up on her wobbly legs and made her way to the tunnel while the rain continued to soak itself into her bones.

A sense of nostalgia passed over her as she entered the pitch-black tunnel. She remembered how she had clung to her mother's arm as her father went ahead, how she had had a feeling of foreboding as they had advanced further and further into the tunnel. The memory made her smile and cry all at the same time. How hopeless her father used to be, but oh, how she missed him and her mother already…

She emerged from the tunnel into the room that held the benches and the lone fountain. Lightning struck once again, allowing her to make out the vague outlines of the benches as she weaved her way in between them and through the room. She ran her hands lightly over the back of a bench and rubbed her fingers together, the dust a reminder of all the time that had passed.

She came out into the rain once again, but she could have cared less. She was just that much closer to the Spirit World, the bathhouse, her friends… and Haku… She trekked across the rolling hills, slipping now and then because of the wet grass, but she still kept herself from falling. As she came to the top of a hill, lightning lit up the area so that she could, for an instant, see her surroundings. The river was filled, but it was somewhat shallow. She guessed that the reason it was shallow was because it was close to daylight.

The lights of the small town across the river made their presence known through the oppressive blanket of night, and she used them as her guide as she descended from the top of the hill and plunged into the water. She was soaked, so it mattered not to her if she was to get a little bit wetter.

As she reached the steps upon which the statue of a frog sat, she collapsed upon the gray stone, her body exhausted from the amount of energy that she'd used throughout the night to run, cry, and swim. She turned on her back and looked up at the night sky. It had ceased to rain as suddenly as it had begun, and the clouds began to part to reveal the sky of a coming dawn. The lights of the town began to dim, and there was a flurry of beings that rushed to get inside or back to the areas that they ruled over.

She just lied there, listening to the rush of beings that passed all around her. She heard the sound of the ferry pulling away from the dock, taking the spirits within it back to their rightful places. A soft breeze blew and caressed her cheek as she lay there, sprawled across the gray stone. Her eyes were closed, and she was almost to the point of passing out from being sleep-deprived and fatigued. She could feel her body getting warmer and warmer as she began burning up.

She heard the sound of footsteps gently making their way across the ground. Someone gave a slight gasp, and the footsteps began to approach her at a quicker pace. She felt someone stop next to her and sniff the air in a rapid manner.

"A human!!!" she heard a female voice exclaim, "You're not supposed to be here!"

Chihiro gave a weak moan and moved to cover her face with her forearm. Her head throbbed as her body started burning up even more. She felt a cool hand come to rest upon her forehead and jerk away as it felt the heat that emanated from her forehead.

"You're burning up!" the voice said in great urgency, "I've got to do something about you; I can't just leave you here!"

The voice sounded all too familiar… It had a saucy quality that made it sound a bit whiny as well… Chihiro felt herself being gathered into the arms of the someone that was by her side. She strained to open her eyes to see the one who was kind enough to help her in a world where humans were despised. As her blurry vision focused a little bit, she could just make out the face of the one who was helping her.

"Sen?!" the voice exclaimed as its owner got a better look at the human in her arms.

"Lin…" Chihiro whispered as her memory finally came up with a name for the face that gazed worriedly at her own. Her world then turned into blackness as the fever took over her. She fainted and came to rest in a dreamworld where her parents were still alive and happy and her one true love was by her side…

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A/N: Sorry, another cliffhanger… This chapter took me awhile to write. I had no idea where I wanted to go… I made the lightning come at such convenient times, didn't I? ^^ I have some ideas spinning around my head, so it might take awhile before the next chapter is posted. I said might! I'll try to get it up ASAP, but if you don't see it up before the beginning of July, please don't expect anything from me until August because I have to visit my grandparents for an entire month. They don't have a computer, but hell, I promise that if that happens, I'll do some mass posting whenever I get back because I still have the tools that we call pens and paper. And one more thing: I always try to keep my promises, so don't come after me with a knife! ;_;