Rivers Never Die

by LadyRainStarDragon

Chapter 6: Getting To Know You

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.:


Chihiro was fainting, the stormy grey of her eyes closing, but not completely. Being the closest one, Kohaku put out his arms to catch her, and lowered her to the ground clutching her tightly. Her gaze had never broken from his, and he was seriously unnerved by the unfocused glassy stare he was receiving. Definitely not the type of first meeting he had planned.

Luckily, she recovered quickly, and was rather surprised at her new position. Any other guy she would have smacked for holding her, but this felt ok somehow, safe and comfortable. Unfortunately for her, her grandfather had the camera at the ready and snapped a picture.

"Finally, a boy she doesn't try to kill for touching her!"

Chihiro had one thought and one thought only. 'If I don't get up, I'm going to be in an arranged marriage.' So, blushing a lovely magenta, she literally leaped from his grasp.

The humiliation fairy wasn't quite done with her yet today though. Several of the younger or more immature members of the group made kissy noises at them, which of course included Ryu and BlowingWind. Maybe there really was some credence to her old theory of her life being the gods' soap opera.

Kohaku felt kind of sorry for Chihiro. He had thought dealing with just Lin and her kitsune pranks was bad. Poor Chihiro had managed to get stuck with two of them. Shaking out of his temporary stupor he opened his mouth to acknowledge her question. Instead, out tumbled, "Are you ok?"

Chihiro meekly nodded. "Do I know you? How did you know my name?"

'Oh crap.' The hamster in the wheel powering the control room otherwise known as his mind, fell out. Haku ran the memory of Chihiro hugging and nuzzling his snout through his mind. Kohaku had somehow lost the ability to speak thanks to that lovely image. Nigihayami stepped forward to take control, silently berating his inexperience with attractive girls and the immaturity of the other two present portions of his mind. He guessed it had something to do with a certain traumatic event and this was Kami's punishment for being weak, but kept his cool like the wily dragon he was.

"I used to live around here a long time ago, perhaps you met me then. I know your name because it was told to me." Well, at least it wasn't a lie.

The humiliation fairy had smacked the ball back into Chihiro's face. Man, did she feel sheepish.

"Oh." 'Yup, really intelligent Chihiro. He probably thinks you're mental now. You finally meet a guy you're slightly interested in, and you choke.'

The news crew arrived at that moment, and for once she felt glad to see them. Putting a hand up behind her head, she laughed, "Well, looks like it's time to get to work. Better get to the spring." Taking advantage of the bustling, she took off to the said spring.

Ryu blinked twice. "Wow, you just met her and you got to hold her, and made her blush! Three guys have been trying that since the project began and she keeps smacking them. One of them she even put in the hospital. You have to show me how you did that."

When they got to the spring, poor Chihiro and Koji were being mauled by the reporter. Most of the questions didn't even pertain to the story, but were about Chihiro's lifestyle.

"Miss Chihiro, do you have a boyfriend?"

"Um, no."

"What makes you care so much about a river that was filled in when you were only four years old? There are lots of other rivers, why this one?"

"I don't know."

"How is it that you are going to be working at the new Kohaku River Shrine and attending University too?"

"Very carefully, with lots of planning."

"Why are you so concerned about the environment?"

"If we don't save it, we doom ourselves as well. Every bit of nature has a purpose. Take one thing away and you throw the whole deal off kilter."

The questions were interrupted by Kohaku, noticing the extreme distress Chihiro seemed to be feeling and approached her. "Miss Chihiro, the others are waiting for your signal."

Chihiro mouthed a thank you at him and excused herself, grabbed his hand and dashed over to their spot at the spring. The reporter noticed this and asked Koji, "I thought she said she didn't have a boyfriend?"

Koji opened his mouth to reply, but was interrupted by Ryu.

"She doesn't. That's just her new work partner and they are anxious to begin. He'll be groundskeeper at the Shrine."

Koji opened his mouth again, but Ryu signaled to him they'd talk about it later.

Kohaku was amused at Chihiro's display. When she was flustered, her energy began to swirl, and was very pleasing to his eyes. Bodily, she had taken on this little habit of brushing at her hair while shifting her feet.

"Don't like talking to him much?"

Chihiro eyed him while securing the legs of her red hakama around her knees with the drawstrings.

"I hate reporters. Ever since my family got on the news nine years ago after disappearing for three weeks it seems like they crop up everywhere. Grandfather says it's just because big things happen in my life and I do things most normal girls don't."

Finished with her hakama, she then secured her yukata sleeves with a second sash. "I don't know what I do that's so abnormal though."

"I don't see anyone dressed in the old style here except for you, myself, and your grandfather."

Chihiro shifted her position a bit. "Grandfather and I are responsible for the new River Shrine, so he dresses the way he does because of tradition. I dress this way because it feels right. I was a little over ten when I started going back to the old ways. My parents threw a fit. They kept saying that the world was becoming more modern and I should try to fit in, that no one did things traditionally anymore. All my schoolmates loved it, and wished they could wear kimono all the time when not in school. There just seems something wrong with letting another culture take over your life."

Koji had come over sometime during the conversation. He leaned in conspiratorially. "Chi-chan, they'll be leaving after a bit. I'm going to take a picture of you and your friend with the first rock for the records, and they'll be filming the start. So just go about working like they're not there." Chihiro nodded, and then as they began work, Koji took the promised picture.

As promised, the news crew left shortly. A collective cheer went up as the work pace increased since there was nobody underfoot anymore. First the rocks that dammed up the pool were removed so that the level would drop down.

The group sung traditional work songs to keep their spirits up, and while they weren't singing, Chihiro and Haku talked about things they liked. She discovered that there was much in common between them, and often caught herself watching the way he gracefully lifted even very heavy burdens.

Rocks were also removed from where the water bubbled up, but more that were deeper down needed to be removed. Long ago, the remains of an iron cap, destroyed by some freak lightning bolt before many of the local kids helping could remember, had been removed. No doubt it had been a drunken group of teenagers years ago looking for cheap thrills. An argument broke out over how best to do the remainder of their task between two very stubborn people.

"If we wait for too much longer on that, we'll be behind schedule. We were supposed to be able to finish today. I'll just dive down there really quick and see what we will need to get."

"No, it's too risky. You could get hurt down there."

"It's because I'm a girl isn't it? Girls can't do this, shouldn't do that. Guys have bigger lung capacity . . . blah, blah, blah. I've heard that all my life."

"That's not it!"

"I can do it, I've gone skin diving lots of times, it's not that different."

"Your robes will soak up a lot of water and get very heavy, believe me, I know."

"I'll manage."

"I'm telling you Chihiro. You are not diving down there to survey the size of the rocks. No." Kohaku glared at Chihiro and crossed his arms, looking very intimidating indeed..

"I'm not going alone you ninny. However, somebody does have to go down there and take a look. We'll need to know what kind of equipment will be needed, if any, to finish this. The whole team has come this far, I'm not letting a few rocks that unthinking developers tossed down there keep our river."

'Ninny? Ninny! She just called me a ninny. Why that little. . .! Arrgh! Why is she so stubborn!' Kohaku was furious, he would not let a girl call him names.

'You could show her who's boss you know. Women like a firm man.' Haku whispered to Kohaku.

Nigihayami cracked him over the head. 'Remember what Lin said you immature pubescent! They don't like it when you claim them first thing. You would think that you haven't had an extra nine years to mature. It's a good thing that she can't see what's going on in here. This is simple, we go with her.' The sudden silence in Kohaku's head was unnerving.

"No Chihiro, you're not going." Kohaku was staring hard into her eyes, willing her to obey him. Apparently Haku wasn't being perverted after all. Maybe he wasn't as pubescent as Nigihayami thought, just a bit more . . . animalistic and protective.

Ryu cleared his throat. He could tell he was going to get reamed for this. Maybe having another dragon around wasn't such a hot idea. Chihiro was looking rather fierce, and so was Kohaku.

"She's right, somebody does need to go down there and she is the best qualified out of all of us, since she entered University rather early and is halfway done with her studies. She'll know what to look for to tell the experts. We could go too, just in case of trouble."

Kohaku snapped his head to the side and gave Ryu the most terrible glare he had ever seen. If laser beams suddenly shot out of his eyes, he wouldn't have been surprised. Chihiro was glaring at him too, and she just growl at him? Did Chihiro even know what that could mean to Kohaku? Ryu knew that he was in deep shit, and him without his galoshes. However, he was a dragon and just couldn't look weak. It was a dragon thing. He saw what Chihiro was about to do anyway.

"Over my dripping wet body." Kohaku was very stern.

"That can be arranged." Then it happened. She pushed him. That's right. The Great Haku, good old Nigihayami Kohaku Nushi, pushed by a human. Okay, an attractive human that he really liked and just wanted safe, but a human none-the-less. To top off the utter and complete humiliation he had allowed her to do it with one finger while he was busy posturing with Ryu. His eyes were wide. SPLASH! He resurfaced and was glad he was a river spirit, so he wasn't sputtering at least.

Chihiro had her hands on her hips with feet slightly apart, a jubilant picture of victory. "Looks like I win."

Just where was the sweet, innocent, thoughtful, kind, shy girl that he had known? This was kind of scary. He had seen her stubbornness, felt her hand go right through him, and had heard more about said stubborn streak from the annoying bouncing heads that Yubaba kept around for who knows why, but this was ridiculous! Through slitted eyes he watched her survey him. Then she cracked an apologetic smile and held out a hand.

"Sorry, I got a little carried away there. It happens a lot, all that roughhousing with BlowingWind and Ryu I guess. Let me help you up." Chihiro couldn't stop smiling. There was something kind of cute in the way the water just rolled off of him and lingered in others as he pouted.

He looked at her hand as he took it. Something inside himself just couldn't let her get the upper hand. "Sure, CHIHIRO!" One small tug was all it took, and in tumbled Chihiro too. She didn't come up quite as gracefully, and sputtered quite a bit. Kohaku couldn't believe what he had just done, he felt awful about it. He didn't even know why he had done it, but being the stoneface he can be at times, didn't let it show. Uh-oh. What was that sound she was making? 'Oh, please don't let her be crying.'

He didn't expect the playful splash that managed to go up his nose.


Down below the water, some shouting, two loud splashes, and then some feminine laughter attracted the attention of Nushi and his friend the Spring Spirit.

"Just what the hell is going on up there?" grumbled the Spring Spirit.

Nushi went over to look in the chamber's view mirror. What he saw was definitely not what he expected. Sitting in the water was a dripping wet Kohaku and an equally soaked Chihiro. Kohaku was staring at Chihiro as she was laughing a stitch into her side and trying to get up. He looked over at his friend. "I think she pushed him in and then he pulled her in, Ten."

Ten turned up the volume.

Laughter filled the room. "Ok Kohaku, I deserved that. Since I'm already wet now, that just means we can go now."

Chihiro's big smile finished it for him, and Nigihayami won. "Ok, fine, we all go now." he rumbled. This caused her to cheer, give him a quick hug, and then fish around in one of her pockets. The hug of course, turned his cheeks a light pink as he could feel her body against him.

'What is she doing?'

She pulled out four flashlights with head straps and tossed two of them up to some other people, pinked one on her head and held the last out to him. He couldn't stop it, and wondered what else she kept in the folds of her outfit. Innocently of course, he just couldn't tell she'd had anything in there to begin with and wanted to know where she had hidden them. Then he remembered the flashlight and wondered if she didn't think he could see or something.

Observing him looking at it, she thought she heard him mutter something about pushy humans. 'Get your hearing checked Chihiro.' His hesitancy was amusing, like he thought she might burn him or something. "What's the matter? It looks dark down there, we'll need to see."

"And how do you plan to breathe?"

"I don't, I'll hold my breath." The cheesy grin she gave him couldn't get any wider.

More laughter filled the room, but it wasn't coming through the mirror. Looking around, Nushi saw Ten laughing. "Something amuse you?"

"Ah how cute. She's a perfect match for you."

"Very funny." Nushi was rather worried. Just how was he supposed to heal if his other three-quarters couldn't work together? He should at least be able to stand up to Chihiro. She was usually pretty calm.