Freezingsaphire, has started on his own sequel to the original fic that he wrote. Go read it. The opening is wonderful. Please keep in mind that the things that happen in his fic are not related to the events in this fic. Also, if you haven't read the prequel to this fic, Spirited Away: Saving the Spirit World, please go and read it. It will make everything in the story much clearer.

Chapter 9

Izumi stared at Chihiro, who was currently having uncontrollable fits of laughter. She tried to muster up a glare at her cousin. "What. Did. You. Tell. Him."

"Nothing," Chihiro said, and burst into giggles again, "nothing at all."

Izumi scowled. She did not like the way Chihiro was laughing. It meant something bad, really bad.

"Come on," Chihiro said when she finally stopped giggling, "We need to go make some food, Shinji's hungry."

"Uh," Izumi managed, before Chihiro towed her into the kitchen. Chihiro began taking cooking utensils out of the cupboards, while Izumi looked around the kitchen.

"Where's Zenibaa-san?" Izumi asked. She had assumed that the sorceress had been in the kitchen, since she wasn't in the living room or Shinji's room.

"Oh, she's probably out on an errand," Chihiro said absently, and muttered to herself, "I wonder if Shinji's up to taking solid food…"

"Uh, Chihiro?" Izumi said tentatively, "I, uh, can't cook."

"It's okay," Chihiro replied, "I couldn't cook at your age either. I only learnt how to after I married Haku. Zenibaa-san taught me. Haku's downright dangerous in the kitchen, he almost set the cottage on fire the last time he tried to make something, and Zenibaa's always out of the house, so it's kind of up to me to do the cooking."

Izumi blinked. "How did he almost set the cottage on fire?"

"He got tired of waiting for the food to cook, and tried to use his magic to make the fire bigger. Stupid of him, he could have just turned up the stove," Chihiro shook her head and went on, "Anyway. Zenibaa-san's stove is magical too, and their magics didn't mix very well. So, kaboom! Zenibaa-san had to get a new stove. We had to renovate the kitchen too. Haku put out the fire before it spread to the rest of the cottage; thank God his magic is useful for something in the house."

Izumi blinked again. "Uhm, right."

"Come here, I'll teach you how to make porridge, it's simple enough." Chihiro handed Izumi a pot and told her to put it on the stove. Izumi gingerly obeyed.


Izumi tried to balance the tray of food on one hand and push open the door to Shinji's room with the other. The cooking session had gone relatively smoothly, even though Izumi singed a bit of Chihiro's apron accidentally. Besides that, Izumi thought she had done pretty well for a first attempt at cooking.

Chihiro had persuaded her to bring the food into Shinji's room with a grin that scared Izumi. Not having any proper arguments to make, Izumi reluctantly agreed.

"Hey," Izumi said as she walked into the room, "I brought food."

Shinji had been staring at the mountains outside the window before she came in, apparently deep in thought. He started slightly as he heard her voice.

"Thanks," he said, watching her as she set the tray down on a table next to his bed. "I mean, not just for the food, for saving me."

"No problem," Izumi tried to suppress a blush as she replied. She frowned, and wondered if Shinji was up to holding the spoon for the porridge himself. "Uhm, are you up to eating by yourself?"

Shinji blinked, and shrugged. He moved his arm to reach the bowl of porridge, and winced. Damn, being injured sucked. "I don't think so."

Izumi dished out a spoonful of porridge and held it to Shinji's mouth, while he stared at her incredulously. "What?" she asked.

"Nothing," Shinji mumbled, seeing no alternative to being fed, as he definitely didn't want his arm to hurt anymore. "God, I feel pathetic," he thought, "First she saves my useless life, and now's she's feeding me. And I barely even know her!"

They sat in silence for a while, Shinji too busy eating. The porridge actually tasted rather nice. When he finished the bowl, Izumi stood, preparing to leave with the dishes. Shinji felt an urge to say something, to stop her from leaving. Chihiro was nice and all, but she would probably ask many uncomfortable questions and fuss over him if she came in again.

"Hey," Shinji said. Izumi looked at him. "Uhm, you don't have to go."

When he was met with Izumi's blank stare, he hastily continued, "I mean, we hardly got along nicely when we first met, and I feel kinda bad, since you saved my life and all. Maybe we could just chat or something. It's boring, being an invalid."

"Sure," Izumi said, sitting back down on the chair next to Shinji's bed.

Shinji racked his brain for a conversation topic, and finally came up with something he was confused over, he asked, "What's CPR?"

Izumi turned the colour of a tomato, "Chihiro didn't tell you?"

"No," he replied, "She told me to ask you."

"Uh," Izumi shifted in her seat uncomfortably, "it's, uh."

"Maybe it'll be easier if you show me?" Shinji asked, trying to make it easier for Izumi. He didn't know he had done the exact opposite of what he intended.

"Uh," Izumi repeated, "Maybe when you recover?" Maybe he'll forget about it and I won't have to embarrass the hell out of myself. Shinji was asking for a kiss! Even though he didn't really know it.

Shinji brightened at this prospect. "Okay," he said, too cheerfully for Izumi's peace of mind. "But what's it like? I mean. Chihiro said something about artificial respiration. How do you help someone breathe?"

Izumi resisted the urge to rub her temples in frustration. How was she to explain to Shinji that they'd… well, kissed? Damn Chihiro. It would have been SO much easier if she had explained it. She had a feeling that Chihiro had left it to her to tell Shinji about it because it would be even more embarrassing. And she was sure that if Chihiro ever heard her telling Shinji about CPR, her older cousin would be laughing her sorry butt off. But if she told Shinji while he was out and about, the chances of Chihiro being with him were higher. At least, now, Chihiro wouldn't be there to witness her mortification.

"It involves, er," Izumi began uncertainly, "erm…"

"Yes?" Shinji prompted. He just didn't understand why Izumi was finding it so hard to tell him.

"Mouthtomouth," she said in a breath, and fixed her gaze on the floor, still blushing furiously.

Shinji, not having caught that and still not really understanding, blinked rather stupidly, and gave the most unintelligent reply possible, "Huh?"

"Mouth. To. Mouth," Izumi said, slowly and deliberately, still refusing to look at Shinji.

It took a few minutes for this to sink in for Shinji. "Oh," he finally managed, "No wonder Chihiro was so giggly about it."

"I'm going to kill her," Izumi muttered, still blushing madly.

Shinji laughed, amused with Izumi's response, then stopped because it hurt his ribs to laugh. He made a mental note not to do it again, his list of things-not-to-do was getting terribly long. He said, "It must have been horrible, kissing an unconscious person."

Seeing that Shinji was didn't feel uncomfortable with the subject of kissing, Izumi relaxed slightly.

"So, any ideas? Of how to kill your cousin I mean," Shinji joked.

"Well," Izumi began, "I was thinking on needling her on issues regarding her sex life with Haku. I haven't done any needling so far."

A wicked grin spread across Shinji's face. "I know all about their sex life."

"Really," Izumi arched an eyebrow, "Do tell."

Shinji grinned even wider, and began spilling all the cough juicy (and rather explicit) cough (sorry, author couldn't resist) details of the… interesting… situations he'd caught Chihiro and Haku in.

"Wait, wait," Izumi cut in, "Information overload. I didn't want THAT much detail."

Shinji looked unremorseful, "Sorry."

"How do you know so much anyway?" Izumi asked, curious.

"That's for me to know and you to find out," Shinji said loftily. Izumi poked him lightly in the ribs, and he relented. "Well, actually it's because I keep interrupting them while they're in the middle of something."

"Right," Izumi said dryly. "So basically your thoughts run along this line. ' Wow! Chihiro and Haku are doing it now. I just HAVE to walk in and see exactly WHAT they are doing.' And you have some sort of sixth sense that tells you exactly when they're involved in something. Am I right?"

"It's not like that!" Shinji said, faking indignation, "The first time was an accident!"

"I'm sure," Izumi said sarcastically.

"Nooo! I'm serious! I knocked, and they didn't answer. I thought something was wrong, so I barged in and, well…"

"You got an eyeful?" Izumi finished helpfully.

"Ye—no," Shinji said, "I mean, yeah I did but. Not exactly. They still had some of their clothes on. And eyeful sounds… crude."

Izumi shrugged, glad that Shinji didn't mention just how much clothes they had on left. "So that was the first time. What about the times after that?"

"The look on Haku's face was so precious!" Shinji said, although he looked rather guilty, "I couldn't resist walking in on them again just to get that look on his face again. He threw me out of the house after the first time though. After that he just didn't bother."

"Right," Izumi repeated, "how did you know when to walk in anyway?"

"Trial and error," Shinji replied, "I realized that they were very partial to morning sex, especially Haku."

"Gods," Izumi muttered, "That's more about Chihiro and her husband than I ever want to know."

Shinji snickered. "Well you know it now anyway. So you can use that information to torture Chihiro and get revenge for the both of us now."

"Yeah," Izumi grinned, watching, enthralled, when Shinji ran a hand through his hair, trying to get it out of his eyes. "You should tie your hair up since it bothers you that much."

"Nah," Shinji shook his head, "I tried. It didn't help. There was too much hair."

"Why don't you try braiding it?" Izumi suggested, "It'll be neater that way, and not get tangled up so easily."

"You. Want me. To braid. My hair!" Shinji looked at Izumi like she was on crack. "Are you crazy? It'll make me look even more girly that I already am."

Izumi's lips twitched. She was amused by that fact that Shinji had admitted that he was girly. "It'll be more manageable, and it won't trail all over the floor when you're lying or sitting down."

"And who, pray tell, will braid it? Because I certainly can't be bothered to do it," Shinji arched at eyebrow at Izumi.

Izumi shrugged again, "I'll do it, I don't mind. Even though I'll only be here for a couple more days. You can see if Chihiro will do it for you when I leave."

"Are you looking for an excuse to play with my hair?" Shinji asked jokingly, ignoring the disappointment he felt when he heard Izumi would be leaving soon. They were getting along pretty well.

"Maybe," Izumi said nonchalantly. "Or maybe I just can't stand it when hair looks messy. How do you keep in it good condition if you can't even be bothered to braid it?"

"Magic," Shinji answered smugly. "I came up with a spell to keep my hair looking good no matter what."

"I didn't know you had magic," Izumi said, laughing. "'Hiro-neesan never mentioned it."

"I'm not that powerful," Shinji said, "Definitely not as powerful as Haku or Zenibaa. I only have enough for some self-defense and every-day spells. Though most of the time I don't use magic to defend myself because it takes so much energy."

"Ah," Izumi said.

Just then, there was a knock on the door, and Chihiro poked her head into the room.

"As much as I am loathe to interrupt your little romantic chat, Zenibaa's back, and she says she wants to check on Shinji's wounds again, and probably do more healing," she said.

"Firstly, we were just talking. It was not a romantic chat. Secondly, I thought Zenibaa said the rest could heal naturally," Shinji pouted, "The healing is ticklish."

"Too bad," Chihiro said, "the rest could heal naturally, and Zenibaa thought so too, until I pointed out to her that you're too weak to go to the bathroom by yourself, and I don't think you would want any of us to help you in there."

"Fine," Shinji muttered. He had thought about this issue; he had just been to embarrassed to say something about it. He was somewhat glad that Chihiro thought of it, and saved him the trouble of having to mention it himself.

"Oh, and Zenibaa-san went to tell Yubaba-san that you wouldn't be going to work for an indefinite period of time, so you don't have to worry about that now." Chihiro added.

Shinji grinned, "I bet the hag threw one hell of a bitch fit."

"Well, Zenibaa did mention something like that. She also said something about a shouting match," Chihiro said dryly.

Shinji turned to Izumi and offered her one of his rare, genuine smiles. "Thanks again for saving my life, and well, just for keeping me company."

"Yeah, no problem," Izumi managed to keep her voice even, trying not to pay attention to the somersault her stomach did at the sight of Shinji smiling at her. She resolutely ignored Chihiro, who looked like she was going to burst trying to control her laughter. She picked up the tray of food and walked towards the door, smiling at Shinji before closing it behind her.


:Are you looking for an excuse to play with my hair:

:Maybe. Or maybe I just can't stand it when hair looks messy…:

Nimokushi tuned out whatever was said next, his eyes fixed on 'Chihiro'. He snarled at the thought of what she had done during their previous meeting. It was because of that human that he had landed in this state now; a runaway, an escaped prisoner, and outcast, when he could have sealed off the human world for good, and gained honor and glory in the spirit world. It was because of her, that he had failed; she had thwarted his flawless plan.

The curse he had placed on Shinji had worked just as the God of Knowledge had planned. He could see their every move. Nimokushi watched as 'Chihiro' laughed at one of Shinji's jokes. His lips curled into a sneer. She would not be laughing so after their next meeting.

Everything was about to change.


Haku stared at the glowing jewel in his hand. This had to be one of the magical items. The journey so far had gone pretty well, it fact. It had only taken him a little more than three days to locate the item and get his hands on it. Really, one of the good things about being the Lord of the Spirit World was that he had all sorts of nice connections he could use to obtain information on the sacred items.

The only snag he had met was the grumpy fire deity that had guarded the treasure. The spirit had been asleep for centuries, and it did not react well to the water spell Haku had used to wake him up. Haku hadn't had a choice but to dump cold, icy water on the deity to get him to move. The jewel had been right under the sleeping deity. The deity had attacked him, and his right forearm had been slightly singed by the fire the deity had thrown. He managed to coax the deity back into slumber with a sleeping spell after grabbing the jewel, and gotten off relatively unscathed, except for the minor burn.

He was going to start hating fire soon. He remembered all too well the time when he had blown up Yubaba's kitchen with her stove while trying to make the flame on the stove bigger.

He uttered an incantation, and the jewel's red glow turned bright blue for a moment, before turning back to its original color. He slipped the jewel into his bag, and fingered the ring that hung on the chain around his neck.

One down, two to go.

He set off to find the second treasure, wondering where Nimokushi was right now, and if Chihiro was safe. The wards he had put around the house were unlikely to hold Nimokushi at bay if the ex-lord really wanted to get in. He just hoped that Nimokushi would strike later, rather than sooner.


I know the dialogue in the second scene was pretty pointless, but I had fun writing it anyway. And for those rooting for the Shinji/Izumi pairing, you can just see their cute little relationship budding.