Haku

I decided that I would try each of the weird looking buildings that resembled a house. It looked like a smaller version of the Aburaya, with only two storey and arranged orderly in a row.

The first house I entered was silent and dark. I traveled in the air, my transparent body did not made any contact with the any objects in the way. The house was gloom, light barely filtering inside. No one was inside.

After a little while, I flew out of the house and into the open. I went into the next house, which was painted sickly yellow.

Inside, a noise blared, echoing off the walls. I felt the electronic waves which prickled at my scales lightly, that came from downstairs.

A child, about 8 to 9 years old, sat on the couch in front of some sort of square machine, rounded at the edges. The machine flashed images which changed continuously, some of the light reflected on the child's eyes. He was completely mesmerized by it. As I neared closer, the electronic waves increased in frequency and the prickly feeling on my scales turned to a harder friction.

Suddenly the boy's head turned and he stared at me. He cocked his head slightly. I noticed that he looked pale and sickly looking.

"Are you a dragon?" he asked me.

I wanted to answer him but a woman holding something in her hand came in at that time. The boy turned to the woman, and pointed to me.

"There's a dragon there. Isn't he nice?" he asked the surprised woman, who stared at me; or where the boy was pointing, because she stared at me as if she couldn't see me at all. I knew she couldn't see me; few could in the physical plane.

I wanted to find Chihiro quickly. Going house to house was a bit too slow, since there were almost a thousand rows more, and every row had at least ten houses.

I expanded my presence; trying to feel around the house for Chihiro. Except for the woman and the boy, there was no one else in the house.

I turned and flew out. As I flew, I could hear the boy saying something to me that sounded like: "Sayonara!"

The next house I went was almost empty too. I found a presence upstairs and entered it. There was the square machine again, smaller this time. It was turned on too and images flickered on it. A man, who looked quite old, was sitting on the bed, pillows cushioning his back, and his lower weird clothing was opened, his hand on his---

Oh. Better get out of here quickly.

I spent the whole morning and afternoon searching. Most of the houses which I past where either empty or occupied by small children and elderly people. Where had all the people gone to?

But as the sun sank behind the horizon, I noticed that houses I went had more people to it. One house I went to, there was a girl hunched over the desk in her room. She looked like Chihiro from the back. But as I neared her in excitement, it wasn't her. She was wearing spectacles.

A few times I spotted little girls that looked like Chihiro too, playing or watching the images on the square machine. I found that the machine came in many sizes, big and small, to fit the room. Time passed differently in the spirit world and the physical plane; if I was right, she should be a few years older by now.

As night fell, the sun sank and finally disappeared. The routine here seem to be the exact opposite of the spirit world—morning, the people went out, presumably to work; night, the people came home for dinner and rest. Seems that I should search at night then.

Of the most houses I past, the occupants were either sitting on the couch watching the square machine or in their rooms. Most didn't even noticed me as I flew past them; some felt a small breeze flew past them and took no notice of it, but some stared at me open mouthed as I past. Those who did so were mostly children, and pointed excitedly at me.

I needed rest. I was tired from the hard work from morning to night, and since the routine here was the opposite of the sprit world I was used to, it would be very hard for me for the first few days.

I spotted a sort of park a bit further of the neighborhood. I flew towards it in relief. Some place near waters so I could rest. There was a small river running through it, with a bridge made of bamboos over it. I curled down there, finally something supporting me beneath. The gentle rocks of the water calmed me, and I dozed off.

Suddenly I was jolted awake by a blinding pain. It was all around me, coming out of no where at me. I growled and thrashed wildly, attempting to break away from it. Then I noticed with horror four eggs, each at the north, south, east, west direction around me, all connected with a thin red string that glowed. In the centre, a sort of puppet that looked like a dragon, had a needle inserted at the head, also connected to a glowing red string, which led to—

A low, grating voice laughed, cackling.

"Caught you, little dragon." It cackled.

In the midst of all the pain, it was a miracle I still could follow the path of the string. It went to a nearby tree, and a figure stood there, clad in matching colors to blend in, to the simple circle it made on the figure's wrist.

The figure stepped out, as I continued to resist the pain and struggled, growling loudly in my throat. In the moonlight, I made out an elderly woman, her long and frizzy hair wild behind her. She looked at me triumptly, holding up the red string that made a bracelet on her thin wrist. She laughed again, sounding more like a cackle like anything else.

"You can't get out of there, little dragon. You belong to me now," she wriggled her wrist, making the string moved. I growled and pushed harder against the red barrier around me.

"You're quite something. I don't know how that girl found you, but I must admit she is pretty lucky." She mused.

Girl?

Yuri betrayed me.

The truth hit me fully, and my fury raised a few notches. I struggled harder, pushing my body to resist the pain.

It almost worked. The red barrier wavered for a moment, and I had a chance. I clawed at it furiously.

The old woman's eyes widened slightly. Quickly, she walked forward, all the while wounding the red string around her hand. As the string shortened, the dragon shaped doll moved out of the barrier, and suddenly I was free. The next instant it hit me, I flew off.

But even as I flew, something pulled me back towards the ground again. In the old woman's hand was the doll with a needle stuck in, and she pushed the needle in further. A searing pain, like a needle being pushed into my eyes, and I thrashed around, howling.

"You belong to the girl, little dragon." I wondered why she kept referring to me as a little dragon. As I opened my eyes, tears trickled out in result of the invisible needle stuck in. She moved, her hand clutching the doll in her hand with the red string wounded.

"Until she comes to collect you, you're not going anywhere."

In my mind, where fury still rose like tsunamis, I knew I couldn't escape. The betrayal stung at me; how could Yuri betray me like this?

How could she?