Chapter 6
Spirited Away
A second chance for love
Elesterie
Chihiro...the name to remember
"Sen, that you?" the tall girl exclaimed. They stood opposite each other, 5 feet apart, staring with surprise and excitement.
"Lin, oh, how I'm glad to see you," the girls gave a hesitating glance before running over and hugging each other.
With their hug, they began dancing in a circle, shrieking like all girls do. "Sen!! You've grown!! Wow, you're an inch shorter than me...the last time I saw you, you were 5 inches shorter!!" "Lin, you've...er...changed!! But you're like my best friend...it's great to have a best girlfriend with me on my path in the spiritual world!" The girls shrieked with delight.
Kamaji cleared his throat, so to make the girls notice he was still present, "Girls..." he muttered, "they never change...it's either their crying their hearts out because their little boyfriends have dumped them, or their all hyped up and hugging a fellow girlfriend…"
"Oh Kamaji...sorry...so yeah, I know. Five years is a long time, y'know," Lin replied, her eyes caught Kamaji's.
Chihiro caught the look Lin gave Kamaji and asked, "What's going on?"
"N – nothing Sen, nothing really," Lin stammered.
"No seriously, Lin what is going on? You said 'nothing' twice in the same sentence, the sentence consisting of 4 words. That is equivalent to half wow, Chihiro knows her math!" Chihiro demanded.
"Sen, it's just…" But Kamaji didn't have time to explain.
"I want to know what's going on!" Chihiro shouted, "All this time, when you guys are making cat's eyes at each other, and when – when," Chihiro's voice faltered to a whisper, "Haku doesn't know me, I feel different." Chihiro crouched, her head in her knees.
"Sen," Lin's arm went around Chihiro, "It's not that bad. I mean, Haku knows you from somewhere, it's just that he…doesn't remember. And you've got to let him figure out for himself."
"Why? All this time, I have missed him. Day and night," Chihiro whispered, her eyes were full of tears.
Kamaji limped forward and looked down at Chihiro, "You have to let him do this. It's his turn. If he works it out, then I'm sure you'd live happily ever after."
"But I don't want to live happily ever after. I want to live happily ever after RIGHT NOW!" Chihiro sobbed.
"Shh...Chihiro...this is destiny's way of helping you guys get together..." Lin comforted, "But you can't get what you want easily. You have to work hard for it...y'know...girl power!"
"Aw shucks...back to the girl thing again, eh?" Kamaji muttered.
"And what if he doesn't remember me? Am I doomed for failure?" Chihiro looked up, he eyes red.
Lin shot Chihiro a nasty look, "You can't think that way. You have to have faith in Haku that he does the right thing."
"He didn't do the right thing the first time. He let me go with my parents," Chihiro weakly argued back.
"Do you think he regrets that?"
"But you said he doesn't remember…"
"Sen, I think it's time for you to go to Yubaba and ask for a job," Lin cut in across her.
"What's the point? Haku doesn't know me, so what's the point of working here?"
"You'll find that it will be hard for you not to get a job here," Kamaji replied.
Chihiro sighed and replied, "Does it really matter?" By the tone of her voice, you could tell that she had given up all hope.
-- -- -- -- --
"I can't believe I'm doing this," Chihiro murmured as Lin and her were going up the lift.
"Believe it or not, but you're doing this. Anyway, you must act as though you are new to here, and you have to pretend you don't know Yubaba...hmm...or Haku, for a matter of fact," Lin answered.
They stopped at the top floor and Lin pushed Chihiro out of the lift. "Good luck, Sen," and she was off.
Chihiro walked down the corridor, opened the door. Left, right, right, left. I know the drill. I know every little bit of this onsen...now can Haku remember me quickly? She found herself in a room, facing Yubaba.
"What?! A human?" In MY bathhouse?" Yubaba exclaimed.
Chihiro remained silent, remembering Lin's words: 'You have to pretend you don't know Yubaba.'
And I was about to go run up to her and yell 'Granny,' Chihiro thought miserably to herself.
"Do you have anything to say, little girl?" Yubaba sneered at Chihiro.
Chihiro opened her mouth and thought to herself, here goes nothing, ""Please let me work here!"
Yubaba was taken aback by Chihiro's outspokenness so she zipped Chihiro's mouth closed.
"This is a bathhouse where spirits come to rest. What place does a human have here?" Yubaba's voice was full of fury.
She unzipped Chihiro's mouth, only to hear Chihiro plead for work once again.
"Please! I beg you...I really need this job..." Chihiro cried, "Not."
"Why – " Yubaba's voice stopped when she heard cries. "My baby…" and Yubaba was rushing into a door.
"ONEGAI!! I WILL DO ANYTHING YOU WANT ME TO!" Chihiro shouted, this taking advantage of the situation. I can't believe I'm doing this...I don't even want to work in this hole anyway...well, if it's for Haku...I guess I have no reason to complain.
"Ok, ok! Just keep your voice QUIET!" After a few seconds, a piece of paper and pen flew to Chihiro. Chihiro took the pieces of stationery.
Yubaba reappeared. "That's your contract. You have to sign it before I let you do anything else."
"Do I sign it here?" Chihiro asked delicately.
"Yes."
When Chihiro finished signing her name, the contract flew to Yubaba's hand.
"Chihiro, what a nice name. But now it shall be mine. From now on, your name is Sen and Sen only."
Yeah yeah...I know what you do...you try to make me forget everything...well bad luck, because ever since that incident five years ago, I have intelligently pinned a namecard on the other side of the top I'm wearing. It says 'Ogino Chihiro.' Ha, try and beat that Yubaba, witch of the spiritual world.
At that point, Haku came in. "You called for me?"
"Yes. Take this girl and show her where she is to work."
Haku bowed and asked Chihiro sternly, "What is your name?"
"Sen." This is too easy.
"C'mon."
--- ---
Chihiro eyed Haku with intensity, while they were going down the lift. He glanced at her, saw her eyes on him and turned away.
"Haku…" she was lost for words. She wanted to tell him everything.
Haku shot her a nasty look and snapped, "No idle chatter, and it's Master Haku to you."
The lift continued going down but Chihiro felt an unusual tense between the two of them. She felt as though she was going to cry.
The lift suddenly stopped, making Chihiro rocket into a wall of a lift and black out.
But before she did, she felt a hand in her hand, grasping onto it tightly.
-- -- --
Chihiro's eyes flickered opened. She sat up, and startled everyone except Haku. There was a whole crowd around her, all the servants and spirits. Haku was the only one not staring at her, and he was right beside her. Instead was staring at his hands. He looked up at her and saw she was awake.
"Lin, where are you?" Haku called out.
"What! You're leaving me with her!" Lin appeared and, judging by her face of disgust, she was annoyed.
Haku didn't even utter a word. He swept off but turned around hastily. "Sorry Sen, I didn't mean to hurt you." He left without a word.
"What was all that about?" Lin muttered, shaking her head, "Well, come on now, can't keep waiting all day."
"Sorry Lin…" Chihiro muttered, "He's sure changed."
"Haku, changed? I don't think so, he's still that arrogant pest."
"No, remember how you told me…" Chihiro started but didn't have time to finish.
"Sen, I knew you were a dreamer as soon as I saw you! I'm not falling for that one. Come on, we both know that I haven't met you before this," Lin laughed as they walked down a corridor.
Chihiro was confused. She had talked to Lin, hadn't she? But as she was pondering into her mind, she knocked her arm into a wall and felt it sting with pain.
"Oww," Chihiro shrunk down into a crouch. Lin stopped and took a look at Chihiro's hand.
"No wonder it must have hurt, look at that," Lin thrust Chihiro's hand in front of her eyes. Her whole entire hand was purple from swelling.
"Spirits and their powers…just look at that, is that why he said sorry?" Lin asked.
"I – I think so. I felt a hand grasp me before it went black, but how can a tight hold cause any pain?" Chihiro explained.
Lin stopped and cast Chihiro a dark look, "Master Haku is a weridspirit and spirits are stronger than humans. He has some unknown magic powers because he is Yubaba's henchman. That is why nobody argues with him. Nobody gets in his way. The best thing you can do is keep out of his way. But with this," she pointed at Chihiro's hand, "I think the only thing that will cure it, is himself."
Chihiro was lost for words. Lin saw the look on Chihiro's face and slowly repeated the important facts, "Master.Haku.is.Yubaba's.henchman. Stay.out.of.his.way., that's all I can say."
"I know, I'm not that ditzy...I'm just tired, is it possible if I can sleep?" Chihiro asked.
"Of course, why not? It's been a pretty long day for you…I'm sure the swelling will feel much better tomorrow. But still, that baka better be sorry or he won't know what's up my sleeve until a expose it to him..."
"Yeah," Chihiro mumbled.
-- -- -- -- --
Chihiro was shivering, as she felt her skin being exposed to the cold. It was in the morning and the mist from the ocean became diappeared. Just as so, a door slid open. The footsteps made their way to Chihiro.
As they came closer, Chihiro closed her eyes, hoping the person would not notice her. But a sweep of a hand came down and said, "Come to the bridge. I'll show you your parents."
After the footsteps left, Chihiro waited a minute before getting up. She quickly ran to the bridge and met Haku who was gawking at his feet, rather than looking straight into Chihiro's eyes.
"C'mon."
Chihiro followed Haku to a barn.
Haku stopped, turned and sat down. Chihiro knew nothing to do but follow in his suit. She sat down as well.
"Don't you want to see your parents?"
Chihiro shook her head. Where was this going?
There was an awkward silence between them. Haku suddenly took held of Chihiro's swollen hand. She yelped with pain.
"I didn't mean to hurt you," he said hastily, "I just didn't want to lose you…like I lost a part of myself a long time ago."
He scrutinized Chihiro's hand and said, "This injury may have been caused by me, but I do not know how to heal it. But there's one thing I want to ask...do you forgive me?"
"Of course I do...it wasn't done on purpose..."
There was silence between them for awhile.
Chihiro gulped some air, "What do you mean that you lost a part of yourself a long time ago?"
Chihiro stared at his face. His face was pale, his eyes were steely.
Haku clasped her hand said, "I have a missing memory, Chihiro, and I don't know why. But for some reason, I think you may have had a part of it. Why would I know your name for nothing?" Haku managed a grin.
