Chihiro

Chihiro walked on the gravel path beneath her, uneasiness swelling inside her, growing as minutes passed. She bit her lower lip absentmindedly.

Yuri's furious face flashed back to her.

She looked so angry back there…maybe Murasaki shouldn't have told me after all…I guess people want privacy to their own past, and I'm not so close to her until she would tell me herself…

She stopped biting her lip and sighed unhappily. One thing after another… Yuri doesn't like me in the first place, and now all I've done is to make her even hate me. And I've dragged Murasaki into this too.

Is just wanting to find someone after years of not seeing them, such a troublesomely hard thing to do? First Murasaki, then Yuri, and then the spell that doesn't seem to work with me…

Na…Haku…where are you now?

Haku

Haku, by chance, isn't doing so well either.

In the small, limited space of the glass jar that was big enough to contain one of Yubaba's three little heads (sorry, I forgot what that's called.), I knew it was no use to struggle. The jar was sealed tightly, and the dragon figure was swimming in strong smelling oil that reeked even worse than the fish stored in the Aburaya freezer.

Through the glass, I watched the old woman moving and talking to herself, occasionally including me in the conversation. From there, I got a pretty clear idea of my reason here.

"The girl wanted me to have your memory erased…so she could make you fall for her." She quoted, reminding herself from time to time. She snorted after repeating it again.

"Why in the world, when you can have all sorts of man; want a spirit? Though I must say if I was given the chance to have found you in the first place, I wouldn't have used you only to make you fall in love with me. Cheh, what a waste." She tsk-tsked.

Yuri wanted to make me fall for her…I wouldn't have done that even if I had a physical body. The notion just made me sick in the pit.

Why…does everyone have to have some conspiracy or another to use things to their advantage? But remembering the days under Yubaba's, I did the same things.

Manipulating everyone to my use, destroying anything that came or blocked my way, to complete what Yubaba wanted me to do. In return, she taught me magic that could make me stronger, and which corrupted me slowly inside as days, months passed.

Fortunately, I had meet Chihiro just in time before I totally destroyed myself. But she was there for a mistake, and as much as I helped myself a lot from it, she had to get out of there, fast.

And then there was the thing I realized after she left. The strange emptiness, hollowness inside of me after she was gone. The unbearable pain in the chest whenever I thought of her. My eyes softened in sadness whenever I thought of her, even in between the missions Yubaba gave me. Finally, I couldn't stand it anymore and informed Yubaba of my intentions. As predicted, she was livid. I remained in my calm state throughout the screaming and shrieking session. It seemed to have carried down to the workers and rumors spread, because they gave me strange stares when I came down. Rin-san in particular, the friendly person that was always grumbling in disguise that I passed Chihiro to her care, was absolutely enthusiastic. Her teasing made me flushed and embarrassed, and she would laugh until her stomach hurt, still laughing. I would cover my mouth and cough consciously, repriming her for her talkativeness. But I didn't mean it, and she understands that. She gave me some strange information about Chihiro, though, and it played continuously over my mind.

"Wait a minute, that doesn't seem to be a bad idea after all." She suddenly said.

My attention was immediately focused on her, knowing that whatever she was planning was nothing good.

"…I think, little dragon," she turned and faced me. She smiled widely.

"I think…you won't be such a waste after all." She cackled crazily and moved to another room, where she closed the door.

Even though I didn't have a physical body, I felt myself went cold all over.

Murasaki

Night fell, just like everyday. By dusk, the park was almost empty, save for the poor guard that had to stay at his little room until it was time for him to lock up.

Deep down in the soft ground of my lake, I was confronted with emotions.

Disappointment, with Yuri; the girl had let her jealousy took over, and from now on things wouldn't be very nice. Especially for Chihiro.

Helplessness, that I am stuck in this lake and cannot even venture out of my energy space to help the young who are facing challenges that are more demanding everyday.

Hope, that I could at least do something for them. Haku has came no where near my perimeter, which means that I could do nothing but wait. He would come, sooner or later, if what Yuri said was true, and that he has entered this world. River spirits are always attracted to their home elements, even if it is gone, they will still seek it out.

I circled the ground a few times, and looked up. The full moon's round reflection was cast on the surface of the lake, bright and round. On days, having the moon's reflection on the lake was rare, and the beauty was always appreciated.

Tok, as the reflection was broken and the water rippled. Something dropped into the lake, and it was sinking steadily.

Curious, I swam towards it to have a better look. A huge, heavy stone was attached to the small silver nail by a red string. The red string glowed as the weight of the stone pulled it down and down. At that same instant I knew what it was, a sensation like burning covered my whole body.

I writhed around, trying to throw the sensation off me, off my scales which felt like fire was burning them. I scraped against the ground, grinding my body on the soft earth and stirring up sand, clouding the lake.

The stone hit the soft, dug up earth and the silver nail touched the ground, stone and red string.

Suddenly, as briefly, the burning sensation stopped. I stopped grinding, and swam around. It was truly gone.

By now, the lake was clouded with sand and earth. I swam up to the surface, wanting to fly out of the lake before the spell would take place.

But inches before I could touch the surface, the burning sensation hit me again. I turned and wanted to go back to the ground again, but just as I was nearing it, it disappeared again.

Oh no. I neared the surface once more, and the burning sensation was on me. This time I tried harder, and resisted it as well as I could. I was inches from the surface, before I felt a blinding pain on my neck. Pieces of charred scales floated up, blackened. It touched the surface, and with a sizzle, was reduced to ashes.

Hanging in the middle of the lake, my worst fears were confirmed.

I was trapped in my own lake.

"That takes care of it." Shazi closed the small bottle of salt and pocketed it. She looked around, breathing in the crisp night air. Then she moved again, and as she crouched down on a spot near the lake, producing four hard-boiled egg. Taking out a reel of red string, she pushed the thread through the needle hole. She took up one of the eggs, and pushed the needle through each one, connecting each of them in a circle. Then she spat on each of the eggs, and laid her trap. In every one of the egg circle, there was a doll that resembled a dragon, and she connected the strings other wrist. Those traps that were too far for the string, she tied it to a tree. If anyone of them had caught, she would know.

Each traps were set a few meters between the next one. There was a possibility that he would be lucky enough to evade her traps, but she only smiled.

"Luck isn't on your side, little dragon." She cackled.

A/N: Happy New Year, Haku, Chihiro and all the fans of

Spirited Away! Just in case you're wondering, Shazi is

a bomoh/pawang, which in Malay tougue means witch

doctor. All the her spells credit goes to the maid who

has provided me stories about her experiences and

similar happenings in her village. The spells here are

purely fiction, only a hint of reality in it after I

modified it according to my imagination. Thanks for R&R.