Chapter 1
Haku woke up the next morning to a backrub. Chihiro. He smiled into his pillow, letting out a sigh as Chihiro worked her nimble fingers over his back. Haku loved Chihiro's backrubs. She had this way of finding every knot and tense muscle in his back. He had asked her where she had learnt how, and she had cheekily grinned and replied, "Everyone has their secrets."
"Mmh. A little to the left, yeah that's it." Haku murmured, as Chihiro obeyed and worked her magic on a particularly stubborn crank in his lower back.
"You're so tense," Chihiro said softly, "bad day at work?"
Damn. He hadn't told her about Nimokushi's escape. He had meant to, really. But he hadn't wanted to spoil a perfectly mundane evening at that time. Who knows how long those evenings will last, now that Nimokushi's loose. He shook off that thought. Where the heck had that come from anyway?
He turned around and sat up. Chihiro looked at him questioningly; Haku didn't usually voluntarily stop the backrubs. Her expression quickly shifted from curiosity to a "you-had-better-tell-me-what's-going-on-or-you'll-be-sleeping-on-the-couch" look. Haku sighed again, this time it wasn't a relaxed sigh.
"Remember Nimokushi?"
Chihiro gave a slight nod, and said stiffly, "Yes."
"Well, he sort of…"
"Sort of what?" Chihiro's voice sounded very dangerous, and Haku really didn't want to spend the night on the couch.
"SortofbrokeoutofprisonandnowIthinkhe'sgonnacomeafteryouforrevenge." Haku said everything in one breath, flopped down on the bed, and buried his head under the pillow.
Chihiro remained silent for a moment, and Haku lifted the pillow off his face to look at her.
"Well," she said calmly after managing to decipher what Haku had said, "I don't know why you didn't tell me earlier, but I'm sure you'll be able to handle it."
Haku smiled, and wrapped his arms around her. "Thank you."
"What for?" Chihiro asked, and buried her face in his shoulder.
"For believing in me." Haku replied, and ran his hands through Chihiro's hair, "For not being mad at me for not telling you sooner; for giving me hope, and confidence."
"Of course I believe in you," Chihiro pulled away from Haku and looked at him seriously, "You're my husband."
She added with a mischievous grin after a moment, and poked his nose lightly, "You'll protect me no matter what, Lord of the Spirit World."
Haku grinned back, and noticed that Chihiro had pulled on her blue bathrobe. The only thing he had covering him up was the blanket. He grabbed Chihiro and pushed her onto the bed, kissing her fiercely. She kissed back with equal enthusiasm, before breaking their lip-lock.
"You'll be late for work," she said, a little breathless.
"I'm the boss. They can't fire me for it." He smirked and went back to what he was doing.
One could say that they had gotten quite far, and were thus very annoyed when someone knocked on their door. They ignored it, hoping whoever was there would go away. The pounding on their door became more persistent.
Chihiro paused. "You'd better get that."
"Now?!" Haku asked incredulously.
"Yes, now. It may be someone from work."
"Whoever it is can just bugger off."
"I'm not saying you can't tell him or her that. I'm not having someone barging in because they think something is wrong while we're in the middle of something."
"We're already in the middle of something."
Chihiro glared and Haku. Grumbling, he got off the bed and hastily pulled on some clothes. He stormed to the door, pulled it open, and snapped, "What?"
"Well it's nice to see you too," the person at the door looked amused and raised an eyebrow, "My, my, I haven't interrupted anything have I?"
Haku shot a dirty look at the newcomer, "You know damn well you have Shinji."
Shinji grinned unremorsefully and shoved past Haku, paying no attention to the older man's protests. Haku had met Shinji when he was out on an errand in the mountains. The boy had been delirious and critically injured, and would have died if Haku hadn't found him and treated his wounds. Haku had brought him back to the bathhouse, and Shinji had fainted, sleeping like the dead for a whole week. When he woke up, he had no memories whatsoever, save his name.
Seeing that he had nowhere to go, Haku had made Yubaba agree to let him work in the bathhouse. The woman was a slave driver, but work would keep Shinji occupied, and give him a place to stay as well as food.
Haku hadn't realized that Shinji, despite his amnesia, could be a downright and utter pain in the ass.
He seemed to make it a point to get on Haku's nerves, and his goal in life was apparently to disrupt Haku's sex life as much as possible.
He told Shinji to wait in the living room while he went back to the bedroom.
"Who was it?" Chihiro asked.
"Shinji."
"Oh. Okay." Chihiro got up and began to get pull on her clothes. Her bathrobe had been removed sometime earlier. Shinji had interrupted their… activities… many, many times. She and Haku knew they weren't going to get anywhere with Shinji in the house, as he always showed no signs of leaving anytime soon once he got there.
"What do you want?" Haku went out to the living room again and asked Shinji irritably.
"Yubaba gave me a day off."
Haku gave Shinji a look that could have withered any living thing except Shinji. Yubaba couldn't have given Shinji a day off just so the younger boy could disrupt his morning sex. "So?"
"She wants to know why you aren't at the meeting."
"Meeting?" Haku stared at Shinji blankly.
"Yes, meeting. It's a conference where old fogies get together to discuss seemingly important issues like the weather."
Haku glared at Shinji again. "I'm not old. And I didn't know there was a meeting."
"Well now you do. So I suggest you get your ass there now."
"You're a real pest you know?"
"Aw, you're just cranky because I interrupted something I shouldn't have again."
"Jerk."
"That's why you people love me," Shinji finished the conversation smugly, and smirked, "Now go take a cold shower before you leave.
Haku rolled his eyes. The meeting had to be about Nimokushi's escape. Muttering impurities under his breath about ungrateful people he'd saved in the mountains, he went grabbed his work clothes and stormed into the bathroom. He came out fifteen minutes later looking less annoyed than he felt and went to tell Chihiro he was leaving.
"Chihiro? I have to leave. There's a meeting someone neglected to tell me about." Haku walked over to Chihiro and gave her a peck on the cheek.
"Okay. Be safe."
"I'm always safe." Haku grinned and hastily left the house for work, ignoring Shinji, who was in the living room. Yubaba never was happy when he was late.
Dear Diary,
I cannot believe what just happened to me. It all seemed like a dream, but not exactly. I know the events of the past few days weren't just parts of my imagination. Haku, Yubaba, Zenibaa, No-face,… I have the hair band to prove they're real. Haku… Haku made a promise. We will see each other again. Won't we?
Izumi finished reading the first page of Chihiro's diary. It was a very short entry. Who was Haku? Or those other people? Chihiro had never mentioned them around her. And Chihiro told her everything. The hair band? Could it be the one Chihiro wore everyday? She frowned, and turned to the next page.
Dear Diary,
I guess I should tell you what happened a few days ago. We were moving to our new house, far away from the old one. I miss my friends, but I'll probably never see them again. Anyway, we were driving to our new home, and as usual, dad just had to take a short cut. Predictably, we got lost. And ended up in this forest not too far away from our present home. We stopped at a huge red gateway that leads into a tunnel, and dad and mom went in to explore, despite my protests that we should leave.
At the end of a tunnel was a field, and some other structures. Dad said that it was an old abandoned theme park. We strolled across the field, and jumped over a stream. We came to a restaurant, but there was no one there. Dad and Mom sat down and began to eat, saying that they would pay for the food later when someone appeared.
I wandered off to explore the place, and found that it was weird that there was no one in sight…
Izumi continued to read the diary, her eyes widening at every event Chihiro described.
Haku made a promise. I know he'll keep it. He'll come and find me… Someday.
By the time Izumi had finished, she didn't even know what to think; a boy turning into a dragon. It was absurd! Chihiro sounded like she really had a thing for this Haku guy too. "Haku"… Izumi frowned. "Haku" written in Kanji was "white". Dragon. "White dragon"? Chihiro had a painting of a white dragon in her room.
Izumi hurriedly stuffed the diary into her backpack and grabbed her fishing rod. She took off at a run. Chihiro found the red gateway in this forest. It had to be somewhere. Izumi knew this area remarkably well for a girl her age. She would find it, then find Chihiro, and bring her cousin back even if it killed her.
"You're late." Yubaba said coldly as Haku strolled into the room.
"Why yes I am," Haku stated as-a-matter-of-factly, sat down in his chair at the head of the table, and surveyed the situation. The council, and every single important sorcerer or spirit, and a few minor gods, had gathered in the room. It wasn't surprising; Nimokushi was a serious threat to the safety of their world. "I wasn't informed about the meeting."
"As I was saying," Yubaba glared at Haku, "We need to be prepared when Nimokushi strikes. We know neither his motives nor what he's planning; so this is going to be difficult. Are there any suggestions?"
"We could gather an army to fight him." One of the gods, Tsukiyoshi, spoke up.
"We've never done it before. The troops will require training, and that will take time. We don't know how long Nimokushi will wait before he strikes."
"An army is feasible. But we will need more short-term means of defending ourselves."
"We should send someone to hunt Nimokushi down." A sorceress by the name of Reikuya suggested.
"We don't have anyone strong enough." Another spirit protested.
"Send a group of powerful magicians."
"We don't know how powerful he currently is. It would be stupid to waste any potential firepower."
Haku watched and listened as they debated over different decisions. Somehow or another, the debates grew more and more heated, and turned into full-out arguments not exactly related to the topic at hand.
"Oh so now my suggestion is absurd?"
"Of course it is you brainless twit."
"That is the most ridiculous thing I've ever heard!"
"My great-great-granddaughter has a better grasp on strategy than you do."
"Shut up bitch."
"How dare you! Shriveled up, senile old newt!"
Haku resisted the urge to thump his head on the table while he watched the council snipe back and forth. Without warning, the God of Knowledge popped up next to him and murmured, "A troublesome lot aren't they?"
"Good God," Haku jumped about ten feet in the air, "With all due respect, sir, please don't do that again."
"I'll keep it in mind," the God of Knowledge said dryly, watching the council bicker. He looked highly amused. Haku hesitated, if the God of Knowledge wanted to make his presence known to the rest, he would have done so earlier.
After a good ten minutes, when things got physical and one sorcerer picked up his drink and hurled it at another, Haku decided that he'd better put a stop to this before things got any uglier.
"People, settle down," He tried lamely. They ignored him, no surprise there. Haku saw the God of Knowledge's lips twitch. Haku got up from his chair, picked up a stack of heavy books, and slammed them down onto the table. The noise got the attention of the rest, and they stopped what they were doing to stare at Haku.
"Now that I've gotten your attention," Haku gestured to the person now standing next to him, "Perhaps you would notice we have a guest?"
