Spirit and Soul
Chapter 5: From Land to Sky
(A/N: Hello! I got it! I bought "Spirited Away"! Of course, I owe a sum of money now… but it is worth it! I can't watch it right now, because I'm sort oif sick so I can't watch television for long. Well, this is chapter 5. Chapter 5, these are the readers! Sorry, I'm sick, so therefore I have the right to act out of my mind coughcough. And to clear up some confusion, Sen did not mean to steal anything from Yubaba. The doorknocker was just being all… erm… melodramatic. Sen didn't steal the paper; she didn't even know it was there. It's a teenage reflex that she stuffed it into her pocket. You know, like when you're caught doing something you're not, you stuff whatever if is, if you can, into your pocket. 'Course she forgot all about it in her panic, but whatever. And Rin… unfortunately, we won't find out until later. Sorry! And now, our feature presentation… and thankies always for R&Ring! Ps: I wanted to put this up as soon as possible so I didn't really edit it. Sorry for it's bad grammar! )
"AHHHHHHH!" Sen felt dizzy as colours swirled and zoomed past her. She was falling, but she didn't know where. Trails of colours were blazing on either side of her. Sen felt very light. Then suddenly, the colours went forward a bit and then stopped. A forest and a house formed in front of Sen. She was suspended in the air for only a second on two before she came crashing into the ground. It took her a moment or two to collect herself, but she soon realized where she was. She was standing into front of Zeniiba's cottage. For some unknown reason, the portal was set off; the portal underneath Bou's bed. Sen breathed a sigh of relief. 'That was too close…' The falling to the ground bit had let huge dirt stains all over Sen clothes; she tried to brush them off, but it was no use. Before Sen could knock, she could hear voices inside. "No-Face, dear, could you get the door? The cookies are ready the take out of the oven."
The door opened letting the comforting smells of a bakery spill out. Sen was surprised to see No-Face wearing… an apron. It was pink with white, frilly piping and had messy patches of flour and dough all over it; very Martha Stewart.
(A/N: Oddly enough, I can imagine him wearing that…)
"Uh uh," was all he said, and probably all he'd ever say. Like the Kashira and the suswatari, No-Face was pretty much limited to making only sounds and not words. Of course the last time he did speak was when he went berserk. 'And we don't want that to happen again, even if it lets him speak.' Sen awkwardly bowed low. No-Face moved aside and gestured for her to come in. "Uh, uh."
"Thank you," said Sen as she stepped inside. Though it was still day, outside had been cool and damp. Inside, it was warm and very welcoming. The cottage smelled like a bakery. Sen took a deep breath and looked around. The inside of Zeniiba's cottage mainly looked like one large room split into section. One section was for the kitchen, one section was for eating, and one section was for Zeniiba's spinning. Sen couldn't help but wonder where Zeniiba and No-Face slept.
Zeniiba was in the kitchen taking out some freshly baked cookies. She wore a similar apron to No-Face, only it looked more appropriate on her.
"Sit down, dear." Said Zeniiba in the same scratchy voice was her sister's only much gentler. No-Face pulled out a large wooden chair from her at the equally large wooden dining table. Sen took a seat and nodded her thanks.
"Have some cookies, dear. You looked famished." Zeniiba's voices croaked but still had the friendly warmness to it, unlike her sister.
Sen shook her head politely, "no, thank you. I'm not—" As soon as she caught a whiff of the cookie platter, her stomach made a plaintive growl. Covering her stomach, she said sheepishly, "well, maybe just a couple of cookies."
"Good girl," said Zeniiba smugly. "Now, have some tea with those cookies and you can tell us why you've paid us a visit."
Sen raised up her eyebrows in surprise at the fact that Zeniiba didn't know why she was there. "I'm a witch, dear, not a psychic," she said while she poured some orange-looking tea into some delicate-looking china.
By the time a couple of cookies and a cup of tea became half a platter and one whole pot, Sen had finished telling them her predicament.
"Well…" said Zeniiba.
"Uh…" said No-Face.
"So…" said Sen.
Zeniiba paced in front of them. "Hmm, so you need a locator crystal to find out where the Bast is. To... ah, to get to Haku…"
"Yes, yes!" Sen nodded her head vigorously.
"Well," stated Zeniiba, shrugging. "I haven't seen it in years!" Then turning to No-Face, she asked him. "When was the last time we saw that little gadget, No-Face dear?"
No-Face tapped his hand against his chin and did what appeared to be a frown. Suddenly, his face brightened, "Uh, uh. Uh, uh, uh…"
"Of course!" Clapped Zeniiba. "That time when that poor kitty got stuck up the tree and we couldn't find the ladder! Oh, good times!" No-Face nodded his agreement.
"Why didn't you just magic the kitten out of the tree?" Asked Sen, suddenly curious.
"Why would one need to use magic if one could do it with his own two hands?"
"I don't know… Because it's easier."
"Ah, yes, dear. Easier it is, but life is not easy. So I prefer to do things myself if I can."
Sen thought that Zeniiba's response was very wise and just as important as what she had told her on Sen's last visit. "So you do have a locator crystal?"
"Yes. It's a very handy tool I might add. But I haven't seen it in a long time, Sen."
"Oh." Sen's hope deflated.
"Well it may be in the storage room, dear. Don't lose hope so quickly!"
'Storage room?' Sen looked around as she wondered where the other room could be. There was still only the knitting area and the kitchen and dining room. How could there possibly be another space for a storage room?
"Yes, the storage room. No-Face, dear, can you please open the door to the storage room? I think I need to clean up Sen…"
'Clean me up? What does she mean?' Sen looked down at her clothes. Big splotches of dirt clung to Sen's clothes here and there. Sen was pretty sure she couldn't find a spot on herself that wasn't the least bit dirty.
No-Face got up without comment, not that he really could, and went to the back of the cottage. He felt around the wall until he had found just the right spot. Then, he knocked three times on the blank wall. It reminded her of getting the bath tab door at the bathhouse. Out of nowhere a door began to appear. It wasn't like POP it's there; it was like some invisible hand was painting it onto the wall. When the painting of the door was complete, it solidified into a real door.
Sen was awed by this and didn't see Zeniiba go fetch a bucket and fill it with water. She gave Sen a start when she placed it on the table. Zeniiba squeezed a couple of fruits that looked like lemons and some shiny, orange goo into the water. With a large wooden spoon, she stirred the concoction until bubbles formed on top. Zeniiba then gestured Sen to stand up and come to the kitchen. Sen didn't have the faintest idea of what Zeniiba was up to, but she obeyed with only a little bit of hesitation.
"What are you planning to—EEEK!" The water in the bucket had been freezing cold. Sen knew because as soon as she stood in the kitchen, Zeniiba dumped the mixture over Sen's head. But Sen was only sopping wet for a few minutes. The mixture that pooled at her feet soon began to retract instead of leaking outwards. Sen's mouth hung is disbelief, as it looked like her feet were soaking up the water. Inch by inch, starting with her feet, the liquid began to retreat back; back into the bucket! By the time all the funny liquid had gone back into the bucket looking dirty and used, Sen was thoroughly clean. She could have even sworn that her teeth even felt cleaner. Zeniiba smiled as Sen took a peek at the contents of the bucket. Instead of the bubbly mixture it was before, it was now a murky, dirty colour.
"Wow," said Sen quietly.
"Yes, well, I would've gotten you to take a real bath. But I know we need to get you on your way as soon as possible," responded Zeniiba as she went to the window to dump the dirty water out. Again, Sen wondered where there would be room to have a bathtub, especially since Zeniiba would need an extrememly large one to fit her shape. 'It has to do something with that door'
The door was a pointed-arch shape with big, black iron hinges. It reminded Sen of the large wooden doors she'd seen in pictures of castles. This door had two huge, black iron panels going across it and shiny wood panels going horizontal. What was different was that there was a spade shape cut into the wood, like a peephole. On the other hand, unlike a peephole, the spade was the size of someone's palm and had an iron emblem inside and underneath the spade-shaped hole was a little antique-looking dial. At that moment, the emblem was of a simple flower.
"Oh, No-Face, that's not the right one. It's the one with the lamp remember? We need the storage room. That one leads to the garden, dear."
No-Face made a sad face and withdrew his hand from the dial.
Zeniiba went to his side. "It's okay, No-Face. We all make mistakes. Just try again, dear. Remember, the one with the lamp."
No-Face nodded and put his hand back on the dial. When he turned the dial to the right, a new emblem slid into the hole with a 'click'. Sen made a mental note of all the emblems that showed up.
Tub…
Paper airplane…
Flasks…
Bed…
Lamp…"Lamp!" shouted Sen. No-Face jumped and Sen apologized for having spooked him.
(A/N: It's like roulette or a slotmachine.)
"Uh, thank you, Sen. Okay, No-Face, open the door." No-Face nodded and pulled the door open. Sen had to gape at the room that the door opened to. Sen didn't even really consider it a room.
'More like a small house!' There were rows upon rows of chests. None of them were labelled and all of them were packed with various junk. A broken fan, some violin strings, various broken flasks, but no locator crystal. There was a chest of dark coloured crystals, but Zeniiba had told her to say away from those.
"Unless you want to lose a limb, you should stay away from that, dear." Sen quickly shut the chest lid.
Sen sighed. It would take forever to find the locator crystal normally. "Isn't there some kind magic you could do to find it?"
"Well, yes, dear. But I would need a locator crystal to do it."
(A/N: I am currently obsessed with the idea of Catch-22.)
No-Face popped up some distance away covered in various types of crawling things. They were black like No-Face, so it looked more like No-Face's skin was crawling. Sen didn't even want to know what THOSE were. "Uh, uh. Uh, uh, uh uh." He said while he made arm gestures. When he did this, the crawlies showered from his arms.
"No-Face, dear, you're absolutely right. We don't have the time to find it… I'm sorry, Sen dear… But we'll think of something. Let's go back into the kitchen."
They went back into the kitchen and the magic door melted away. Sen was too disappointed to even ask how the door worked. They sat in what seemed like hours, throwing about random ideas.
"How about you –"
"I'm afraid not, dear…."
"Oh, but we could –"
"No, that wouldn't work"
"Uh, uh, uh…"
"Maybe…"
"Uh…"
They never reached a plan that guaranteed that Sen would get there in one piece; and no one wanted to risk that. In the end, it was Zeniiba who can up with the master plan, almost master plan that is.
"I'm afraid the only possible solution at the moment is for you to actually search the skies for the Bast."
"But, that would be impossible!" protested Sen.
"Uh, uh uh…"
"No-Face is right, dear, though the skies may be endless, the Sisters of Heaven are notorious. You know what they do? They go to small communities of spirits and… well, I'm not sure really, but they get all the female spirits to rebel! I don't really understand why though, dear. But there have been rumours that they plan to return to our region."
This was some consolation to Sen, but there was still the problem of getting there, up into the sky. Sen presented Zeniiba with this little issue to which Zeniiba replied, "Sen, dear, leave that to me! Let's go out into the yard were we'll have space. No-face dear, could you please grab one white sheet from the paper room. Remember, it's the one with the paper airplane on it."
Thus, they proceeded to the wall and Zeniiba tapped on it. The magical door once again appeared. This time Zeniiba spun the dial so quickly that Sen couldn't keep up with the changing emblems. After a couple of seconds, the dial came to a dead stop and an emblem of what looked like a robin halted into the spade-shaped space. Swinging the door open, Zeniiba stepped outside into a vast clearing. She beckoned and Sen stepped out side with her. Behind Sen, No-Face closed the door behind her. Zeniiba caught Sen staring at the closed door and moved in to explain.
"Simple teleportation trick, dear. It's an enchanted door. Opens to plenty of additions to the house. It's quite useful. Now, we'll just wait for No-Face to come."
Sen turned away from the door and inspected the yard before her. The grass was bright green and looked neon at times when the sunlight hit it just right. A cool breeze sent ripples down the fresh grass. Here and there, the uniformity of the green grass was broken by bunches of bright flowers that Sen couldn't name and in the distance mountains and masses of trees could be seen. While taking a breath Sen noted that it was fresh mountain air, not at all like the swampy air she was first welcomed with when she arrived at Zenniba's.
Within a few minutes No-Face returned with a small sheet of white paper. Sen recognized it immediately as the same material that was made to make small paper birds.
'What's Zeniiba planning now?'
"Oh, thank you, No-Face dear. Really, Sen, I don't know how I got along with out him." No-Face smiled at the compliment. He probably would have blushed as well if he were able to. Zeniiba walked further from the house and into the field, muttering to herself.
"Now, we'll need some leg room… A place to sit… Can't make them like last time…"
Sen and No-Face followed. "What do you think she's planning to do, No-Face?" Sen was starting to worry. 'How useful can a small piece of paper be?'
No reassurance came from No-Face, instead he answered the only way he could: a shrug and an "uh."
"Sen! Sen, come here! I have our solution!"
"Great!" Exclaimed Sen as she manoeuvred herself in front of Zeniiba to see. "What have you come… Er… Zeniiba, what is that?"
"Why, Sen, can't you see? It's how you're going to find the Bast!" Zeniiba was beaming at her handiwork. On the other hand, Sen's expression was one mixed with confusion, disappointment, and disbelief.
(A/N: Imagine this face: oo" )
Zeniiba held out in her enormous, wrinkled hand a small origami crane! Sen could crush the thing between two fingers. With dismay she gingerly picked it up with two fingers by its tiny paper wing. Hoping that there was something more to the origami fowl, she shook it lightly. Nothing. Coughing she finally said, "ahem… um… Zeniiba, I don't understand. Is it supposed to find it for me? Do we send it off and it'll come back with the Bast's location or something?" In her mind, Sen reflected 'Maybe Zeniiba's finally lost it… I mean she's probably very, very old.'
The corners of Zeniiba's mouth deepened as her lips curved into a smile. Her eyes squinted and twinkled with what could be described as a spark magic and mystery. "Silly girl, you're going to RIDE it!"
"WHAT!" Sen held the origami crane as far away from her as possible. No-Face seemed pleased with the old witch's solution for he clapped his hands and grunted his approval. However, he didn't seem to consider that Sen was over hundred times too big to actually ride the thing. 'Oh no! Zeniiba REALLY has lost it! What am I going to do now?' Sen turned to Zeniiba. The old witch's eyes were closed and she was smiling her secret smile.
"Of course you can't ride it just yet," said Zeniiba.
By now, Sen felt hopeless and frustrated. "What? You're going to attach a tiny origami basket for me to sit in?" Her tone was caustic. Immediately, Zeniiba disciplined Sen's disrespect by smacking her upside the head with a paper fan out of nowhere.
"Now that you mention it, that's not a bad idea. But there's no time for that. The sun is setting and you best be off before it does. I'll just ignore your rude remark, Sen."
Rubbing her head Sen immediately apologized. "I'm so sorry Zeniiba. It's just, I NEED to get to Haku. And I don't think riding a paper bird that I can crush with one toe would be the best way of…"
Zeniiba raised her wrinkled hand to cut Sen off. She let out a sigh and looked Sen squarely in the eyes. "Sen, how pessimistic you are! You really think I would waste you time by making a tiny bird that is of no use? How little faith you have in me and in yourself! Now, dear, please before the sun goes down, place the bird on the ground. Right there. That's a good girl." Sen bowed her head in guilt. She should've known Zeniiba would come through for her. Zeniiba took a step back from where the bird was placed and Sen followed suit. With curious eyes she watched on as Zeniiba spread her aged hands over the origami bird. Sen saw Zeniiba's lined lips moving but not a single sound came out. To Sen, it seemed like the world was put on mute, but she dared not break the silence.
Soon enough, Zeniiba's hands began glowing a bright pale yellow. The light almost appeared white and blinding. Sen had to squint in order to keep looking. After what seem liked hours, but surely must've been seconds for the sun hadn't moved from where Sen saw it last, Zeniiba backed away from the bird. She clasped her hands in front of her and her eyes gleamed with satisfaction. Sen looked at the spot where she has placed the origami bird and saw…. The same tiny fowl just sitting there in all its origami-glory! However, this time Sen fought back her disappointment. 'Maybe there's more to this than I thought.'
Slowly she inched her way towards the paper crane, not heeding Zeniiba's warnings to stay back. Sen bent over the crane and examined it closely. Her eyes widened. 'It's vibrating!' And suddenly, like a balloon being blown up it grew three times its size. Sen stumbled backwards and crawled backwards as the crane grew. Five times… fifty times… a hundred times. The crane's neck gracefully stretched outwards and its wings expanded to take up the vast space. Sen began to worry that its rapid growth would not stop, but suddenly it stopped shaking and the growing ceased. It was a good thing too for the crane had grown to the approximate size of Zeniiba's humble cottage. Sen stood up, her jaw almost touching the ground. "Wow," was all she could say.
Zeniiba smiled. "Believe in the impossible, my dear, and you will be able to do it. Now come, you haven't got much time." The wise woman took Sen hands and led her to the side of the crane, which had not only considerably grown but had also become animate. The crane lowered it white neck so that Sen could go up onto it's back. Sen had more than enough room on the crane's back but had nothing to hold onto to prevent her from sliding off.
"Uh. Ah. Uh." No-Face motioned to Zeniiba this little dilemma.
Zeniiba nodded. "Of course. No-Face, dear, you're perfectly right. We don't want Sen here to fall off. What we need is.. AH!" Zeniiba backed away from Sen. Her lips became a thin pink-brown line and the wrinkle between her eyebrows deepened and she knit them together in concentration. Sen jumped as Zeniiba unexpectedly clap her hands together. She then quickly pulled them apart and a long, thick leather cord seemed to materialize from her separating hands. She had made a rein. Skilfully, she looped the rein onto the crane's lowered head, and handed the other end of the loop to Sen.
"That should do the trick." No-Face grunted his similar opinion. "Now, Sen, I want you to be careful. There are spirits up in the sky. Some are harmless and some are not. Be on guard." Sen wanted to hug Zeniiba, but she was already on the crane's back. Instead, she clasped Zeniiba's hand in gratitude. Her eyes watered and she thanked her. "You don't know how much I appreciate this, Zeniiba, No-Face. Thank you…"
"Dear Sen, you're so grown up now. I can tell. I just wish you the best of luck. Be safe."
"Uh, uh." No-Face gave a weak smile. He was never good with goodbyes. He stepped up to Sen and placed something in her hand, a dark mossy green ball. A medicine ball. Sen remembered its usefulness well. She had used it once to help save Haku's life long ago. Smiling and shedding happy tears, she tucked it away in her pocket.
Finally, Sen took a firm grip on the reins. The crane instinctively knew it was time to take off. Slowly, it's paper wings began to beat faster and faster. It blew a strong wind so Zeniiba and No-Face had to back away, their arms held over their heads to protect from the debris the crane's wings were blowing about.
(A/N: Imagine a helicopter taking off… all that wind and stuff.)
Sen mouthed her final thank you and goodbye to the two people who had showed her so much kindness. She looked down as their waving figures became smaller and smaller. And finally, when they were nothing but mere specks in the green sea that was the field, she turned her eyes forward and watched as she flew upwards and towards the setting sun.
'Haku… Haku… Please hold on… I'm coming for you…'(A/N: Hi, it's me. Laney. OKAY, so it took me 2 years to start writing again. I AM SO SORRY to all my readers… you don't know how happy it makes me to thinki actually have readers! I apologize to the umpteenth degree. It's just… stuff got weird over the last two years and I didn't have any time. But I'm back now.. and hopefully some of you will forgive me and continue to read. Thankies)
(PS: Reader's poll! How many of you wouldn't mind if the story went a little mushy? Let me know ;) )
Love Laney .