Rivers Never Die
by LadyRainStarDragon
Chapter 3: Goodbyes, Revelations, and a Mystery
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 for the uncut scene in chapter 19 will remain on affnet.
On with the story.
:Zips off on broom-o-doom.:
Morning came soon enough for Haku. He had even woken up nice and dry, since sometime during his sleep he had gotten up and managed to barricade the door. With Lin acting so... weird, he would not put it past her to wake him up ceremoniously with a pail of water. This did leave a very important question in his mind though. "Lin! What did you do with my blanket?"
"I haven't even been in there yet. The door's stuck! I was just coming in to wake you up."
If Lin hadn't been in here yet... then where in the Spirit World was his blanket? Well, he would just have to get another when he got where he was going. He had no idea where that was, just that he would find his best friend. Maybe he could track that magic hair tie of hers or something, since the human world would be way too cluttered to use his dragon's sense of smell. Wait, Lin had just said she was here to wake him up, maybe she had a bucket of water after all.
He pictured her sopping wet as hard as he could, and was rewarded with a scream. Yes, his suspicion was right, and he was partially vindicated for the jokes last night. As he walked out of the room with his things, he was rewarded with "You jerk!"
"What are you doing all wet Lin? That's a very good way to get sick. Perhaps you should take some medicine to prevent that." Smiling to himself, he walked off. At the gate, Yubaba and Bou were waiting to have a parting word. Lin sloshed up as well, looking like a drowned weasel. Yubaba eyed her suspiciously.
"Lin, are you going to go crazy like you did after Chihiro left? I don't want to deal with that again, and neither do you. The bath house would not be able to take it."
"I'll be fine, as long as Master Haku sends word when he finds her."
"Did you hear that Haku?"
"Yes Yubaba."
"Good. Now, go to my sister's. She has an idea on where Chihiro might be, but wanted to tell you herself."
"Yes Yubaba."
Lin, still dripping water into a large puddle at her feet, puffed herself up. It struck him how much she looked like a mongoose about to fight a cobra.
"You take good care of her Dragon Boy, 'cause if you don't, Bou and I will have to hurt you."
Kohaku nodded, changed to his dragon form, and took to the sky. It was a short flight really, but it always seemed so long. Of course, it doesn't help when you have too much time to think about what might have been or what could be. So, he paid attention to where he was going. Then the last words she had said to him echoed through his head. "Don't worry, I'll take care of Chihiro. I promised."
Minutes later, Kohaku arrived at Zeniba's and found the door open and waiting for him. The solitary witch's garden was in full bloom, each herb or flower singing of it's magical or healing properties. Livestock lowed and clucked somewhere in a barn hidden in the swampy forest, waking for their daily routine of eating. The cottage stones radiated the heat of the early morning sun, beckoning the young dragon to come and partake of their warmth.
"Come in Haku! Come in. Sit down and have some tea."
'Tea so early in the morning? Looks like Lin owes me a bottle of sake, she lost the bet.' Kohaku walked through the door and made his greetings as Kaonashi shut it behind him. After the necessary greeting, he sat as asked and was blown away by the feast laid out in addition to the tea.
"You must be hungry my boy. Eat, you'll need your strength to make it to Chihiro by tonight."
"Yes Ma'am. Thank you."
Zeniba chuckled as he hungrily tucked in. Obviously the poor boy was so excited that he had forgotten to eat. It was gone rather fast, and she could see that Kaonashi was contemplating whipping up something more, since he was putting on his apron that had "Ah. Ah!" emblazoned on it. Dragons were known for their large appetite after all, even in their alternative forms.
"I suppose you would like to know where Chihiro is?"
Kohaku had his mouth full of food, so he could only nod and be grateful that this was something all of him could agree on. Swallowing quickly, he managed a more polite reply.
"Yes, please."
"As a River Spirit, I am sure that you are aware that rivers never truly die."
He knew this, there had been times before when his river had become a small stream, or gone underground and was unknown to the humans in his territory. A couple times, it had even dwindled to nothing during a harsh drought, yet always came back after the rains. How would that apply though to a river filled in? He nodded.
"How would this apply though if the humans had filled in the river?"
"Humans need rivers, eventually, your river will either re-establish itself during an earthquake, or the humans themselves will revive a body for the river for recreation purposes. Many rivers are being rerouted or recreated to enhance their parks."
Kohaku had never heard of humans doing something like that, but held his tongue to see if there was more. There was.
"I've been watching our little Chihiro for a while now, as you know. She's not so little anymore. In fact, she's in college now and is majoring in environmental science. She plans to become an environmental consultant." Zeniba decided to leave out how Chihiro was also training in the Shinto Priesthood. There was a surprise that would be spoiled if she revealed that.
"This pertains to the matter how, Zeniba?"
She chuckled. Haku was obviously shaken by just how much Chihiro had grown. Worried about competition perhaps? Time to change tack. "My boy, my sister says that you have had a problem with fading in and out lately. Is this true?"
He sighed. Then nodded, it was true, and he didn't know what to do about it. "It's like all of a sudden I'm somewhere else. It's familiar, but not. When I get back, I don't remember what happened, only vague feelings. Sometimes, things come back with me."
"Well, that's to be expected. She is reviving your river after all. Even though she doesn't remember that it's yours."
Kohaku dropped his tea cup, which luckily didn't shatter. However, he did receive a lapful of scalding hot tea spreading it's painful presence like a stretching cat. Kaonashi fell on the floor laughing as Kohaku was in far too much shock to feel anything.
Chihiro was having a nice dream. She was sitting by the water, studying her courses and munching on some rice balls. Where the rice balls came from, she had no idea and it didn't bother her that the plate kept refilling itself. They were good though, and since the little slip of paper said 'For Chihiro' on it, she ate them.
Something firm, warm, and fuzzy supported her back, an occasional shifting of powerful presence behind her as whatever it was stirred from time to time. As she was busy trying to understand her statistics homework she didn't bother to look around. Occasionally she would lean her head back and look up at the sky talking to someone beside her. Or at least, she thought it was beside, sometimes there would be a vibrating rumble against her back. Not a very exciting dream, but very nice none-the-less.
She had been having similar dreams for years, sometimes accompanied by the haunting refrain of flute music to caress her quivering eardrums.
She was just about to turn her head to see what she was leaning on, when suddenly, there was a river dumping on her head!
"Who's the jerk!" Looking around, she saw Ryu, clad in red dragon pajamas and standing with a bucket that had presumably been full of cold water. "Meanie. I was having a nice dream. I was just about to find out what the warm fuzzy was that I was leaning on too!"
"About Stat? How can anybody have a nice dream about statistics? Why would you even want to dream about that in the middle of summer? Did you know that you talk in your sleep? The sun hasn't even risen yet. I'm just glad I woke you before you started dancing in your sleep, that hurts."
Growling, Chihiro grabbed the bucket and smacked him with it, while half the camp threw shoes at them muttering about going back to sleep. Ryu went back to his bedroll, but Chihiro couldn't sleep anymore. She decided to go look around and find someplace quiet to mediate, since she needed to work on that a bit more anyway. Walking away, she didn't even notice that the blue blanket she had been covered with didn't belong to her. She also didn't notice that she had only been laying on her sleeping bag, instead of in it as usual.
Feeling a little hungry, she rummaged quietly in the chow goods for something that sounded edible. A few minutes later, she produced a small pop-top can of anchovies, a couple raisin granola bars, an orange and a can of Mountain Dew. Perhaps it wasn't the best of breakfasts, but she had fallen asleep last night while cooking her first hotdog. Consequentially, she didn't care and was very hungry.
The food was gone in a couple minutes and she was still hungry. However, everything else was canned and she didn't feel like finding the can opener amongst all the mess gear and instead muttered about the quality of food that had been packed. At least the edge had been taken off and she would be able to concentrate on her meditation.
The early morning was misty, and a little chilly. Wisps threaded in and out through the trees and the leaves rustled in a very light breeze, talking amongst themselves. The first gray light would just be touching the horizon if she could see it, so she had taken a flashlight to light her way through the still darkened woods. She could hear a little water trickling and some light yet sad flute music. This struck her as odd, so she followed the sound to investigate.
In the edges of her vision, she would sometimes see a long snaky shape in the mist and hear an almost encouraging growl. Strangely, she wasn't afraid, only felt a pulling towards the source of the music. The music wrapped itself around her feet, leading them around rock, root and stump.
'Notes to self Chihiro: get vision and hearing checked. Lay off anchovies. Next time pack a personal chow stash.'
What she found shocked and stunned her. There was somebody at the spring. He was sitting on a large rock, playing the sad song on his flute. A white haori coursed over his torso as blue hakama became twin streams encasing his legs. A purple obi wrapped itself around him, holding his garments in proper order. Green and gold waves played along the edges of both articles of clothing while curiously deep black hair calmly babbled down to his waist. A stray breeze touched his, stirring his flowing formal robes and revealing highlight to his hair that made her think of blue river water and hidden river grasses. The simple traditional wooden sandals once worn in the fuedal era graced a section of the rock he perched upon, one bare foot upon the same rock as the other merged with the Sacred Springs waters. An elegantly simple wooden staff rested against his rock as his slender fingers danced upon the bamboo lovingly placed between his lips set as a jewel upon a finely aristocratic face. He was far too comely to be a mere man, more like a god or spirit, but such were rarely seen even by the clergy anymore.
It wasn't how the man looked, or that he would put bare feet into such a cold spring so early in the morning that shocked her. What shocked her was that he seemed familiar somehow. She felt something stir inside her memories, a flash of the eyes that haunted her deepest and most sacred dreams as her heart began to speed.
'How can a man you've never met be familiar Chihiro. He's either the ghost, a crazy man, or a rapist. Either way, you don't have a weapon. Doofus!'
As the song came to an end, the man looked up with a sad and hopeful smile, like he was expecting someone and praying they would come. Jade eyes locked with grey and Chihiro was suddenly rooted to the spot as a wave of de ja vu threatened to drown her in its silky grip. A soft, soothing song was started, and the young man faded from view as he was slowly swallowed up by the mist, yet the melody was still hanging in the air. The mist cleared a little bit over by a tree and she saw a plate of rice balls, a white rose and a carefully made card. Shortly, the mysterious mist pulled away from the spring and the man was no longer present, not even a thread or shed hair to indicate his passing. Slowly walking over to the plate, she picked up the card and read the elegant kanji 'For Chihiro. Welcome back to my home.'
For some reason, this simple thing sent a molten ball to the very core of her being.
Review Shout Outs.
Bibliomaniac: Nope, not telling, well maybe, sort of. What do you think?
Dark Angel - The Doom: Well Akia, we don't know if Nushi was being a pervert or not. I didn't really go into his head, I hope it clears up for you soon just where Nushi is. If you want a hint though, think of some parapsychological phenomenons that occur from time to time with everyone (other than lost car keys).
Upcoming.
Who is this mysterious person that keeps popping up? When will Kohaku come out of his shock? How is he even going to get to Chihiro? Stay tuned folks!
