BLAST THE INJUSTICE...I do not own Spirited Away. Bloody world's just not
fair. Oh well...read on if you please. ^_~ And REVIEW please LOL. For my
insignificant ego I put so much work into. ~_~
Ordinary World: Part Two: Omniscience
"Chihiro hurry up! You'll be late dear!" her mother's voice rang up the stairs and down the hall, through the door, straight into her room where she lay sleeping. Rubbing her eyes, Chihiro blinked slightly and her mother's words registered in an unbidden and harried manner. Scrambling out of bed, it was all she could do not to run around like a crazed lunatic attempting to get dressed, and gather her things, tying her hair up haphazardly in its high ponytail with her one and only hair band.
Its purplish sparkles were not of this world, too beautiful for a mere hair band, but no one else seemed to notice.
So Chihiro wore it.
As she ran down the stairs, thud, thud, thud, her feet effectively slapping them into place [the wood had begun to warp after the first two years so sometimes the boards popped up] she ran her tapered fingers absently through her bangs and the two sections of hair on either side of her head, untangling them.
She paused in the kitchen, grabbing the conveniently placed toast from the table, and waved to her mother, only just remembering to grab her bento too before scampering lithely out the front door.
Leave it to me, late on the first day of sophomore year and on a lovely diet of toast...Chihiro thought, mildly amused, to herself. Normally she was quite punctual, the spitting image of a model student for all the time she had been there. Why today was every different, she did not really know, but then again, she attributed her lateness to typical teenage oversleeping. Chihiro failed to realize that in all her years she had never been the victim of such typical behavior and also, failed to remember the dream that had kept her in such a deep sleep.
It had been a dream filled with green eyes and the feeling of a mild wind rushing against her skin, a feeling vaguely familiar that pulled at the invisible strings attached to her heart.
But as was said before, she did not remember it.
Still, as she sprinted lithely to her school, pleated black skirt providing easy movement range, there was the omniscient weight of someone watching over her that Chihiro was loathe to ignore.
For it felt like him.
Him.
When she was in the Spirit World, he had a gaze that could turn from unduly intimate to mildly friendly to unreadable in mere seconds, but it was a look that she was not soon to forget.
It was the only one that made her heart move like the wind, which is not to say it moved fast, rather that its beat had different patterns of currents, some slow, some fast, some moderate, and none of them better than the other. Each one as good as the next or the prior, simply because it was his eyes she would feel.
At the time, they were friends, best friends, a relationship forged in a rapid fire of days, mere and mortal days. And then they had parted by obligation, and she was left to return here.
Chihiro, out of breath and worried as she realized no students were in the halls, rushed to her classroom and threw the sliding door open, bowing shamefully to her teacher and apologizing before he could get a word in edgewise.
"I'm sorry instructor! For some reason I slept through my alarm and..." she trailed off, head still bowed, recognizing the undeniably pathetic tone her voice held. She knew if she was the teacher, she would not accept that. Lucky for her this teacher seemed more forgiving.
"It's the first day Ogino, just don't repeat this little mishap," the instructor smiled at her warmly. Nice guy, Chihiro thought as she slowly raised her head and he continued to talk.
"As I was saying though class, this is a new student in the area, so you wouldn't know him. What's your name please?" The teacher questioned and Chihiro stifled a gasp as a composedly familiar voice broke the silence and she lifted her eyes all the way from their previously averted position.
"Kohaku, Nushi Kohaku," that voice made her want to laugh and cry all at once.
It had been so long...
The boy was unmistakably him. There was no way he could be anyone else but him. Chin length, smooth black hair with bangs that fell listlessly just over the most amazing deep green eyes she would ever see, framed by a perfect porcelain visage. Tall, taller than her now by several inches. Time did that of course and six years was a lot of time. Chihiro was surprised he hadn't grown more, but was also secretly pleased. She would have felt awkward if he ever suddenly became a tower above her. It would make him seem physically unreachable and that, she was sure, would be one of the worst feelings ever.
Kohaku had been facing the class but slowly he turned to look at her, curiously though, as if he were re-memorizing every part of her, fearful that he might be ripped away from her again by circumstances. And she simply stared back, her eyes conveying everything her lips could not express, even if the class hadn't all been there, gaping at the two students at the front.
Apparently they stood there a mite too long because the teacher coughed politely before directing 'Nushi Kohaku' and Ogino Chihiro to their seats. For once, Chihiro praised alphabetical seating charts. N and O were right next to each other, and so she was placed next to Kohaku, her long lost river spirit, dragon friend, and best friend ultimately as all would agree who knew the duo.
Once they sat down the teacher began his lesson but Chihiro could not stop staring at Kohaku. She was afraid he might fade away from her grasp if she even dared to blink and her heart wouldn't settle itself.
And then, Kami thank the long tables they were all seated at that conveniently hid anything below the tabletops, Chihiro felt a warmth encircle her right hand. It had been hanging limply, dully even at her side as she stared at Kohaku before. Now as she glanced down, another kind of warmth spread throughout her. A hand clasped hers, slightly larger than her own petite hand, but no less graceful.
He was always graceful, even when he was in trouble, he was so quietly assuring, Chihiro smiled softly at the picture their two hands together made and relaxed herself. She had been worried, perhaps, that he hadn't missed her as much as she had him. She had been worried even, that he had perhaps lost his memory of her in coming to this ordinary world.
But as her eyes moved upward, over his school uniform's shoulder, over his smooth neck hidden partially by the collar, up to his face and his beautiful eyes, she felt heat rise to her cheeks when she saw her smile reciprocated in perfect harmony on his face, his lips curved up into a slight smile.
That slight smile was there just for her and somehow she knew that. It might have been the way that warmth from their joined hands traveled mysteriously through both of their entire bodies to make them feel the most alive they had since they had last seen one another. It might have been the soft gaze that spoke volumes in silence that they shared. It might have even been the tentative smiles they laced together like well-strung melodious chords.
Then again it might have been Haku, for he was still Haku to her most naturally, it might have been him saying:
"Life was dull without you Chihiro."
And she only needed to respond softly, underneath the competitive lecturing of the teacher:
"Life was nothing without you."
That surprised him apparently, for his eyes widened slightly and he did in fact, look genuinely stunned. It was a moment only but Chihiro remembered that look clearly for the rest of her life. That look said that even he, the epitome of beauty in her mind, had his doubts about himself. That look said that her words meant as much to him as his did to her.
That look was the one that became a gradual expression of languid contentment for the rest of the class, all the way to the time when they were dismissed for lunch and exited the room.
And they were still holding hands.
As the crowds of other students dispersed to the lunch courtyards, Chihiro paused and turned to face Haku fully.
"I, I mean it you know. I really missed you," she managed and berated herself for getting emotional as her eyes watered just slightly. She had meant to be stronger than this by the time he came for her.
But he didn't seem to mind.
"I know, you know how I know?" his smile lessened the upset beating of her heart softly. She shook her head. No, she didn't know how he knew everything he knew. And that was a lot.
"I know because I thought of you everyday since you left, and saw in your eyes that to my good fortune, you did much the same thing," he laughed in good-natured amusement and pleasure. It was one time in a long time that Chihiro had heard him laugh and she would later be sheepish to realize that it made her have one of those awfully cliché "warm and fuzzy" moments.
"I never stop thinking of you," she admitted, averting her eyes from his face. He was somehow, too beautiful for her senses to comprehend in this world. In the other world spirits blended nicely together. Here he stood out with a brilliant aura of white goodness, a shroud of perpetual attraction that made him stand out from the rest.
It didn't help that he was handsome all on his own and Chihiro had already noted the many supposedly furtive stares he had received from more than his fair share of the female and male population at school. So when this beautiful angel, no, beautiful spirit gently tipped her chin up to look at him with his tapered fingers, and gazed wistfully into her own eyes [much less impressive than his by her standards, though he would refute that incessantly if she ever brought it up.]
"Like I said, everyday I thought of you. You've been my dream for some time now," his smile turned from the intimate one to the friendly one in a split second and Chihiro wavered mentally from the swift change as he led her outside to sit under the resident cherry tree with him. Somehow they were alone under it, even though there were other students around them, none seemed to come closer than several yards.
Chihiro wondered at that of course but did not complain. Steeling herself, Chihiro called on the boldness she normally held with dignity that Haku single-handedly vanquished with one fell-swoop...or smile. And she leaned softly on his shoulder, him leaning on the cherry tree's trunk.
He didn't mind.
"What took you so long?" Chihiro questioned and he sighed. She felt his heart beat in time with some unnamed life melody.
"Magical complications," his terse answer was enough for now as Chihiro unconsciously snuggled closer to her friend, returned to her at last on a wind of compassionate faith.
Across the way, a boy seemed to suddenly appear, silent and observant. His blue eyes skimmed the crowds before him as he found the ones he was looking for. His gaze was undeterminably focused on the lovely young girl and boy beside her, underneath the cherry blossom tree...
Smiling at each other.
The boy smiled too, his vividly amber-yellow eyes flashing eerily in the light. He was as tall as Haku, no shorter no taller and his build was strong yet slender, flesh a healthy shade of tan that contrasted handsomely with his hair. His hair was a platinum blond, debatably white and it was short, parted on one side, unruly bangs hanging over his eyes that made him look almost otherworldly overall. Even in the boy's uniform that all boys wore at this high school: black pants, black tie, white collared shirt and a crimson red blazer if necessary for the weather, he stood out.
But for the moment, no one noticed him because he did not want them to yet. Not yet.
He eyed the young girl beside the boy under the cherry blossom tree pensively, noting every aspect of her, for his objective and partially, he admitted to himself, because she was lovely. Mostly though, he observed keenly for his mission, his reason for being here in this world rather than the one he came from.
My mission...he remembered it clearly.
His gaze never left the two dear friends across the way as he watched them undetected, memorizing everything about them, the way they moved, the way they talked, the way they carried themselves, and most importantly the way they acted and reacted with each other.
That would be his trump card undoubtedly.
How to play it of course was still questionable but, the boy smiled thoughtfully, that's what makes it interesting.
--------------------------------------------------------
REVIEW for next chapter okies? Thankies for taking the time to read and comment. It means a great deal to me.
AND NOW, THE THANK YOU'S TO THE WONDERFUL PEOPLE WHO REVIEWED THUS FAR:
*insane drum roll inserted here*
"MagRowan," thank you! I hope you like all that I have in store for our couple. Aren't they just perfect together? *dies of happiness*
*revives herself to continue her gratitude spree*
"Crazy," I am flattered *ego goes Up a thousand notches* ehehe. I see not very many multi-part Spirited Away fics centering around our favorite couple so I felt the need to do one. [despite the fact that my attempt is little more than pathetic LOL. ~_~ I'm trying though, so thank you for your encouragement!]
"Haru-chan," here's your next chappie. I am glad you enjoyed the first chapter; it means a lot to me when people are nice enough to review when they like my stories.
"Lana," LOL, I am GLAD you told me I must continue. It's those same crazy reviews I am known for somewhat that DEMAND more chapters, kindly of course. So thank you. I am honored. ^_^
"no name please," THANK YOU SO MUCH for reviewing. ^_~
"Dog Girl," thank you as well. I appreciate your insight on my piece thus far and am gratuitous for your compliments.
Alright, s'all for now folks. If you read this far, LOL, you MUST review. You have no excuse. ~_~
-Kaji
Ordinary World: Part Two: Omniscience
"Chihiro hurry up! You'll be late dear!" her mother's voice rang up the stairs and down the hall, through the door, straight into her room where she lay sleeping. Rubbing her eyes, Chihiro blinked slightly and her mother's words registered in an unbidden and harried manner. Scrambling out of bed, it was all she could do not to run around like a crazed lunatic attempting to get dressed, and gather her things, tying her hair up haphazardly in its high ponytail with her one and only hair band.
Its purplish sparkles were not of this world, too beautiful for a mere hair band, but no one else seemed to notice.
So Chihiro wore it.
As she ran down the stairs, thud, thud, thud, her feet effectively slapping them into place [the wood had begun to warp after the first two years so sometimes the boards popped up] she ran her tapered fingers absently through her bangs and the two sections of hair on either side of her head, untangling them.
She paused in the kitchen, grabbing the conveniently placed toast from the table, and waved to her mother, only just remembering to grab her bento too before scampering lithely out the front door.
Leave it to me, late on the first day of sophomore year and on a lovely diet of toast...Chihiro thought, mildly amused, to herself. Normally she was quite punctual, the spitting image of a model student for all the time she had been there. Why today was every different, she did not really know, but then again, she attributed her lateness to typical teenage oversleeping. Chihiro failed to realize that in all her years she had never been the victim of such typical behavior and also, failed to remember the dream that had kept her in such a deep sleep.
It had been a dream filled with green eyes and the feeling of a mild wind rushing against her skin, a feeling vaguely familiar that pulled at the invisible strings attached to her heart.
But as was said before, she did not remember it.
Still, as she sprinted lithely to her school, pleated black skirt providing easy movement range, there was the omniscient weight of someone watching over her that Chihiro was loathe to ignore.
For it felt like him.
Him.
When she was in the Spirit World, he had a gaze that could turn from unduly intimate to mildly friendly to unreadable in mere seconds, but it was a look that she was not soon to forget.
It was the only one that made her heart move like the wind, which is not to say it moved fast, rather that its beat had different patterns of currents, some slow, some fast, some moderate, and none of them better than the other. Each one as good as the next or the prior, simply because it was his eyes she would feel.
At the time, they were friends, best friends, a relationship forged in a rapid fire of days, mere and mortal days. And then they had parted by obligation, and she was left to return here.
Chihiro, out of breath and worried as she realized no students were in the halls, rushed to her classroom and threw the sliding door open, bowing shamefully to her teacher and apologizing before he could get a word in edgewise.
"I'm sorry instructor! For some reason I slept through my alarm and..." she trailed off, head still bowed, recognizing the undeniably pathetic tone her voice held. She knew if she was the teacher, she would not accept that. Lucky for her this teacher seemed more forgiving.
"It's the first day Ogino, just don't repeat this little mishap," the instructor smiled at her warmly. Nice guy, Chihiro thought as she slowly raised her head and he continued to talk.
"As I was saying though class, this is a new student in the area, so you wouldn't know him. What's your name please?" The teacher questioned and Chihiro stifled a gasp as a composedly familiar voice broke the silence and she lifted her eyes all the way from their previously averted position.
"Kohaku, Nushi Kohaku," that voice made her want to laugh and cry all at once.
It had been so long...
The boy was unmistakably him. There was no way he could be anyone else but him. Chin length, smooth black hair with bangs that fell listlessly just over the most amazing deep green eyes she would ever see, framed by a perfect porcelain visage. Tall, taller than her now by several inches. Time did that of course and six years was a lot of time. Chihiro was surprised he hadn't grown more, but was also secretly pleased. She would have felt awkward if he ever suddenly became a tower above her. It would make him seem physically unreachable and that, she was sure, would be one of the worst feelings ever.
Kohaku had been facing the class but slowly he turned to look at her, curiously though, as if he were re-memorizing every part of her, fearful that he might be ripped away from her again by circumstances. And she simply stared back, her eyes conveying everything her lips could not express, even if the class hadn't all been there, gaping at the two students at the front.
Apparently they stood there a mite too long because the teacher coughed politely before directing 'Nushi Kohaku' and Ogino Chihiro to their seats. For once, Chihiro praised alphabetical seating charts. N and O were right next to each other, and so she was placed next to Kohaku, her long lost river spirit, dragon friend, and best friend ultimately as all would agree who knew the duo.
Once they sat down the teacher began his lesson but Chihiro could not stop staring at Kohaku. She was afraid he might fade away from her grasp if she even dared to blink and her heart wouldn't settle itself.
And then, Kami thank the long tables they were all seated at that conveniently hid anything below the tabletops, Chihiro felt a warmth encircle her right hand. It had been hanging limply, dully even at her side as she stared at Kohaku before. Now as she glanced down, another kind of warmth spread throughout her. A hand clasped hers, slightly larger than her own petite hand, but no less graceful.
He was always graceful, even when he was in trouble, he was so quietly assuring, Chihiro smiled softly at the picture their two hands together made and relaxed herself. She had been worried, perhaps, that he hadn't missed her as much as she had him. She had been worried even, that he had perhaps lost his memory of her in coming to this ordinary world.
But as her eyes moved upward, over his school uniform's shoulder, over his smooth neck hidden partially by the collar, up to his face and his beautiful eyes, she felt heat rise to her cheeks when she saw her smile reciprocated in perfect harmony on his face, his lips curved up into a slight smile.
That slight smile was there just for her and somehow she knew that. It might have been the way that warmth from their joined hands traveled mysteriously through both of their entire bodies to make them feel the most alive they had since they had last seen one another. It might have been the soft gaze that spoke volumes in silence that they shared. It might have even been the tentative smiles they laced together like well-strung melodious chords.
Then again it might have been Haku, for he was still Haku to her most naturally, it might have been him saying:
"Life was dull without you Chihiro."
And she only needed to respond softly, underneath the competitive lecturing of the teacher:
"Life was nothing without you."
That surprised him apparently, for his eyes widened slightly and he did in fact, look genuinely stunned. It was a moment only but Chihiro remembered that look clearly for the rest of her life. That look said that even he, the epitome of beauty in her mind, had his doubts about himself. That look said that her words meant as much to him as his did to her.
That look was the one that became a gradual expression of languid contentment for the rest of the class, all the way to the time when they were dismissed for lunch and exited the room.
And they were still holding hands.
As the crowds of other students dispersed to the lunch courtyards, Chihiro paused and turned to face Haku fully.
"I, I mean it you know. I really missed you," she managed and berated herself for getting emotional as her eyes watered just slightly. She had meant to be stronger than this by the time he came for her.
But he didn't seem to mind.
"I know, you know how I know?" his smile lessened the upset beating of her heart softly. She shook her head. No, she didn't know how he knew everything he knew. And that was a lot.
"I know because I thought of you everyday since you left, and saw in your eyes that to my good fortune, you did much the same thing," he laughed in good-natured amusement and pleasure. It was one time in a long time that Chihiro had heard him laugh and she would later be sheepish to realize that it made her have one of those awfully cliché "warm and fuzzy" moments.
"I never stop thinking of you," she admitted, averting her eyes from his face. He was somehow, too beautiful for her senses to comprehend in this world. In the other world spirits blended nicely together. Here he stood out with a brilliant aura of white goodness, a shroud of perpetual attraction that made him stand out from the rest.
It didn't help that he was handsome all on his own and Chihiro had already noted the many supposedly furtive stares he had received from more than his fair share of the female and male population at school. So when this beautiful angel, no, beautiful spirit gently tipped her chin up to look at him with his tapered fingers, and gazed wistfully into her own eyes [much less impressive than his by her standards, though he would refute that incessantly if she ever brought it up.]
"Like I said, everyday I thought of you. You've been my dream for some time now," his smile turned from the intimate one to the friendly one in a split second and Chihiro wavered mentally from the swift change as he led her outside to sit under the resident cherry tree with him. Somehow they were alone under it, even though there were other students around them, none seemed to come closer than several yards.
Chihiro wondered at that of course but did not complain. Steeling herself, Chihiro called on the boldness she normally held with dignity that Haku single-handedly vanquished with one fell-swoop...or smile. And she leaned softly on his shoulder, him leaning on the cherry tree's trunk.
He didn't mind.
"What took you so long?" Chihiro questioned and he sighed. She felt his heart beat in time with some unnamed life melody.
"Magical complications," his terse answer was enough for now as Chihiro unconsciously snuggled closer to her friend, returned to her at last on a wind of compassionate faith.
Across the way, a boy seemed to suddenly appear, silent and observant. His blue eyes skimmed the crowds before him as he found the ones he was looking for. His gaze was undeterminably focused on the lovely young girl and boy beside her, underneath the cherry blossom tree...
Smiling at each other.
The boy smiled too, his vividly amber-yellow eyes flashing eerily in the light. He was as tall as Haku, no shorter no taller and his build was strong yet slender, flesh a healthy shade of tan that contrasted handsomely with his hair. His hair was a platinum blond, debatably white and it was short, parted on one side, unruly bangs hanging over his eyes that made him look almost otherworldly overall. Even in the boy's uniform that all boys wore at this high school: black pants, black tie, white collared shirt and a crimson red blazer if necessary for the weather, he stood out.
But for the moment, no one noticed him because he did not want them to yet. Not yet.
He eyed the young girl beside the boy under the cherry blossom tree pensively, noting every aspect of her, for his objective and partially, he admitted to himself, because she was lovely. Mostly though, he observed keenly for his mission, his reason for being here in this world rather than the one he came from.
My mission...he remembered it clearly.
His gaze never left the two dear friends across the way as he watched them undetected, memorizing everything about them, the way they moved, the way they talked, the way they carried themselves, and most importantly the way they acted and reacted with each other.
That would be his trump card undoubtedly.
How to play it of course was still questionable but, the boy smiled thoughtfully, that's what makes it interesting.
--------------------------------------------------------
REVIEW for next chapter okies? Thankies for taking the time to read and comment. It means a great deal to me.
AND NOW, THE THANK YOU'S TO THE WONDERFUL PEOPLE WHO REVIEWED THUS FAR:
*insane drum roll inserted here*
"MagRowan," thank you! I hope you like all that I have in store for our couple. Aren't they just perfect together? *dies of happiness*
*revives herself to continue her gratitude spree*
"Crazy," I am flattered *ego goes Up a thousand notches* ehehe. I see not very many multi-part Spirited Away fics centering around our favorite couple so I felt the need to do one. [despite the fact that my attempt is little more than pathetic LOL. ~_~ I'm trying though, so thank you for your encouragement!]
"Haru-chan," here's your next chappie. I am glad you enjoyed the first chapter; it means a lot to me when people are nice enough to review when they like my stories.
"Lana," LOL, I am GLAD you told me I must continue. It's those same crazy reviews I am known for somewhat that DEMAND more chapters, kindly of course. So thank you. I am honored. ^_^
"no name please," THANK YOU SO MUCH for reviewing. ^_~
"Dog Girl," thank you as well. I appreciate your insight on my piece thus far and am gratuitous for your compliments.
Alright, s'all for now folks. If you read this far, LOL, you MUST review. You have no excuse. ~_~
-Kaji