Rivers Never Die
by LadyRainStarDragon
Chapter 2: River Beds and Embarrassing Discussions
Disclaimer: I don't own Spirited Away. There are some original characters in this and other stories I write. Corrected and expanded version, ffnet edition will remain in PG-13 format, R-rated forthe uncut scene in chapter 19will remain on affnet.Wow, four reviews. You don't know how much that makes me blush. You can thank my cat MoonBeam for the inspiration (yes, that's his real name) since he's the one that knocked down the book that opened up to a river restoration project.
This story comes to me in my dreams (ok, and daydreams) and what with my two little hellions, motherhood duties may occasionally slow the story.
On with the story.
Zips off on broom-o-doom.
After Chihiro and company finished their lunch, they went back to work. They could finally lay in the river rock to keep the river from washing away the surrounding land in case of flood. Everyone was very excited since it took years to get this far and this was the last section. Since there were so many bodies, this would not take long at all. Then they could decide on accommodations for the night. The team working on the Shrine took off, in order to avoid getting conned into helping. Some of those rocks did look pretty heavy after all.
"Ok people, we're gonna use the same method as all the other sections we did. One group will toss the rocks down, another will lay them where we want them. Just like before, we wanna leave some space, but not a lot."
"Okay Chihiro! I'll lead the rock chuckers and you do the placers." Piped up one girl with blue eyes and short brown hair. "Are we gonna use the same teams as last time?"
"Yeah BlowingWind, that way, there's no confusion. Now, let's get to work!"
The teams were all knees and elbows as they set to work, rocks practically flying to their places. So efficient was this motley assortment, you would have never known that one quarter of these people were not even from Japan. Shortly after word had got out about the river restoration project, people had even moved here to help.
That included BlowingWind, an Apache who left America purportedly wanting to be rid of the government that took so much from her people, as well as something she refused to talk about. You wouldn't know she was Apache though unless you asked her. She looked more like her Irish mother than anything and having grown up in California mountains, she tended to be a little gruff in her speech. Somehow, she had become Chihiro's best friend.
Their almost ever present side-kick and occasional punching bag was her boyfriend Ryu who BlowingWind had met on a trip to Mount Fuji. For a typical appearing Japanese man, he was rather outgoing at his best and stranding-worthy at his worst. BlowingWind often made cracks about him being nothing more than a scaly coyote, but refused to fill Chihiro in on why. There were also ten people from England, four other Americans, and one Spaniard. Everybody else was local.
Chihiro looked up. "I'm out of rocks. What's taking so long?"
"Ryu took some of the guys on a rock run. The final delivery is a bit late. He thinks your dad might have gone to the last section that we did instead."
Chihiro rolled her eyes and felt like banging her head. She loved her father very much. However, he wasn't the best with directions, and it would be something that he would do. She had been thrilled when he volunteered to help out, but maybe he should have brought mom with him. Just as she finished thinking this, up drove her dad... with Ryu navigating.
"Sorry I'm late guys. I got lost and took the wrong road. Here's your rocks!"
"Thanks Dad!" was followed by a chorus of "Thanks Mr. Ogino's."
Soon the rocks were unloaded, and even placed in the riverbank. The bed was restored! Six years of court battles, digging, heavy equipment, blood, sweat, tears and laughter had spawned this moment. Man, did it feel good!
The Shrine had been finished too, and it had been decided that the working teams for tomorrow would spend the night up by the old spring that was to be uncovered tomorrow. Even the old priest was going to go, in order to "awaken" the river god when work would be started. In reality, he just wanted to see the new shrine maiden achieve her moment of glory. He even had film in his camera for the occasion. He figured that it was definitely something that should go into the Shrine records and he was really excited since she had already accepted the position. The old man squeezed into one of the transport vehicles as well.
The site chosen for camp was near the spring, but not so near as to pose a danger of latrine pollution. The trees were old and exuded that quality of mystery that campers are so often drawn to. Everyone was grateful that it was early summer, so they wouldn't have to worry about classes to get to.
The camp was set up, and dinner was made over open fires. The priest told legends of the river and it's spirit to the youths, and BlowingWind told legends about the river spirits from where she grew up. They had a wonderful time comparing and contrasting information. Meanwhile, Ryu just played with the fire and pouted about his girlfriend paying more attention to a priest (an old one at that) than to him. He hadn't even gotten a rock in the head for his "Dragons make hot lovers" shirt.
Chihiro had fallen asleep at the fire, hot dog long since roasted to cinders. Nobody noticed the jade-eyed man putting a blanket over her, nor did they hear his comment to her about being able to sleep anywhere. They did notice however when he picked her up and carried her to her bedroll. When he tucked her in, it was with a blue blanket that had been draped over his arm.
At first, nobody thought anything of it, just a friend helping out a friend. Then the old-fashioned clothing and the fact that he was not part of the group provoked comments about the apartment ghost from the crowd, but the funniest reaction was the priest dumping out his tea and asking Ryu what he put in it.
At Aburaya, Kohaku had finished packing. He had set everything up for his departure. His replacement was working out well. Consequentially, there was nothing for him to do. He offered to help Lin. She was assigned to big tub though, and if he had known, he wasn't sure he would have offered.
He was rewarded for his kindness by Lin, who made up a lovely song about a work-a-holic dragon. It was so annoying, he succeeded in scrubbing off all of the caked-up grime in record time. Unfortunately for him, she had now switched to spouting advice about human courtship rituals. He had no idea how she got there, since the last time he listened, Lin was singing that dreadful song at full-volume.
"...And they don't like it when you claim them first thing."
'Oh yes Lin, like I'm going to just deflower her right then and there.' 'Hmm, I wonder if she'd let me?' Bad Haku! Don't even go there, she's just a friend right now, and she hasn't seen me in nine years.' 'So? She's got all of those hormones raging around, just like you do oh Master of Self Control.' 'Shut up Haku!' 'Don't deny it Kohaku, you know that you'll want her as soon as you see her.'
Internally, Kohaku began strangling Haku until Nigihayami piped up with a wisecrack about arguing with himself about a young woman who probably didn't even remember him. Poor Kohaku was beginning to wonder if he was going mad when all three inner aspects of Nigihayami Kohaku Nushi were rudely pulled out of his deep and profound thought process by the lovely Lin, who obligingly bludgeoned his head with a broom.
"Were you even listening to me Haku?"
Surprisingly, the Nigihayami aspect had been, and had even been taking mental notes.
"Small talk first, forge a good strong friendship. Give little gifts, like flowers, but not jewelry. Once having gotten to the dating part, start small. Don't even bring up the subject of mates until after several dates, when it looks like the relationship is becoming more serious."
"Good. And what about sex?" Here, his mind promptly hit a brick wall. He choked, trying to come up with something intelligent. Just what was she up to? You didn't just talk about something intimate like that out in the open!
"I'm not ready for sex yet! I don't know her nearly well enough yet for that!" He squeaked.
'Smooth, real smooth. A dragon afraid of a little hypothetical question.'
Several workers in the next stall snickered at him. The little demon in the back of his mind was busy with manufacturing lovely images to torture him with later, and he briefly wondered if all males had this problem of insanity and self-torture. Lin was having a hard time breathing with how much she was laughing. Finally, she managed to calm down enough to talk. He, however, was a bright red for several minutes despite his best attempts to disguise it.
"Close enough Dragon-Boy. I was going to say not till she was ready. With that reaction though, I think she'll be ready long before you. It's just a natural process for crying out loud. Good thing for you I didn't know this was the chink in your cold and impervious armor earlier, like say, a few years ago."
Kohaku hoped the ground would swallow him up and finally managed to get his face schooled back into normalcy. This was definitely a subject he did not want to talk about, especially with Lin. He knew the basics, after all, he was centuries old. He'd had The Talk long ago, but never really found any interest in it until recently when he'd found out many girls Chihiro's current age would have lost their virginity long ago.
Young adulthood was a pain. He was much more comfortable with the idea of providing for her and being her friend. He had unknowingly chosen her when she was very young, and still wasn't sure how that one had worked out. However, since he hadn't seen her since she was ten, he would wait. It just wouldn't be fair to deny her a life after all.
Getting back into work mode, and now polishing the floor, Lin began wondering out loud. "Hey, Haku, Did you ever figure out how it was she came here in the first place? None of her family should have been able to come."
"I have my suspicions, but I don't care to share them." That said, Kohaku went to bed. He'd have an early day tomorrow, and wanted at least a couple hours sleep. He didn't see how Chihiro had so much energy to spare after her work with the big tub and was very glad he would be leaving. He had also learned why Lin went through so many assistants. Falling on his futon, he dreamed dreams of campfires, a talkative priest, dry river beds, and a young woman with grey eyes and a tendency to sleep anywhere but her bedroll. Little did he realize he would be waking up without his blanket in the morning.
Haku's internal argument courtesy of some of my husband's thoughts to himself during our courtship. As for Lin, I don't know. Dad getting lost, well, we all get lost sometimes.
