Chihiro stifled a gasp as she was pulled in a familiar manner in a not so familiar direction. She felt in the darkness for the hand that she knew should be attached to her shirt's collar, pulling her. But there was nothing there. Only the invisible force pulled her in whatever direction it wanted, down what she supposed were the school corridors. And suddenly she was thrown bodily into a room and a second set of doors slammed shut behind her. Chihiro rubbed her head tentatively; this was rather familiar...the head-over-heels kind of literal scenario she had found herself in many times in the Spirit World. She chanced a glance up into the room's uninviting darkness.
The natural light from outside highlighted this darkness; and while outside the dark was there too because of clouds and rain, there was a faint grayish outline to the things in this room because of it.
"Ogino Chihiro." It was a statement of her name, not a question nor anything else, just a mere statement.
And it sent shivers down her spine. Steeling herself back to the stubborn resolve she had never quite lost in all these years, still willing to play the part of incessantly persistent brat, Chihiro stared defiantly in the direction of this unsettling voice.
"Who's there?" It wasn't the most intimidating thing she could have said but it was what she wanted to know. Eyes hyper alert and hands unconsciously clenched in tight fists at her sides, Chihiro was a bit disconcerted when a soft but strange laugh met her ears. A shadow made itself known to her and she stared. It was a boy, handsome yes, but that wasn't what was so different, what so captivated her. She was being forced to stare; she couldn't turn her gaze from his...
"Can't look away can you pretty?" he asked, clearly amused and Chihiro scowled in return. Pretty? She had a name...he obviously knew that, so why not use it?
"Chihiro," she corrected tersely.
"Sure, whatever you say, pretty." His blatant taunting was irritating but the fact that she couldn't turn her face from his was even more aggravating. The boy wasn't even touching her and he was controlling her...it was magic. Chihiro noted that his eyes kept changing color...strange. One moment they were a vivid amber-yellow and then, they were a piercing blue...
"What's wrong with your eyes?" Chihiro blurted out, at a loss for what else to say that wouldn't get her into more trouble than she was already in.
"Nothing's wrong with them pretty. They change from time to time, pay them no heed," he approached her thoughtfully, and circled her, as though she were some kind of animal on exhibition.
Chihiro was unpleasantly reminded of the Spirit World and her parents' experience.
"Would you...release me?" she attempted not to sound as contemptuous as she felt of this stranger.
"Sorry pretty, no can do. We have to wait for him to get here," the boy shrugged and then stopped right in front of her, leaning close to Chihiro's face...too close. Still examining her it seemed, he held her chin---with surprising gentleness---with his right hand, turning her head to the right and then the left, then to the front again.
Chihiro felt a juvenile temptation to backhand him.
"Who are you?" she questioned, all the while trying against all constraints of the spell to pull back from this boy's firm grasp.
"Kesuke," he replied shortly and released her chin. He walked over to one of the classroom's desks and sat on top of it idly, looking at her from time to time until Chihiro wasn't sure exactly how long it had been.
"How are you doing this?" she asked unexpectedly. Kesuke raised an eyebrow, as if to say he was surprised she was daring to even speak to him further.
"I need not tell you," he replied airily and Chihiro seethed.
"You seriously lack people skills," she commented flippantly and glared at him.
"It's magic," he allowed, and then was the epitome of silence once again, the patter of rain hitting the windows the only sound in the room.
"Why are you doing this?" Chihiro ventured.
"It's my mission."
Where had she heard that before?
I'm coming...I know, it's about my mission, right?
And Chihiro's eyes widened in recollection. Mission, magic, and an uncanny vibe about him that seemed to scream other world...he couldn't be and yet Chihiro found herself almost certain that he was...he was from there.
"You're a henchman for Yubaba?" she tried. He laughed at her in sheer amusement.
"My, pretty, you are a funny one. I'd like to keep you for myself. But no, the old hag is not my employer," he shook his head, clearly still entertained at the very thought.
Then who? Chihiro wondered.
Haku rounded another corner, heading in the direction he felt would lead him to Chihiro; she had a certain aura about her, maybe from being in the Spirit World all those years ago, maybe just because she was Chihiro. Either way, Haku's senses assured him he was going in the right direction. It seemed whoever had instigated this had done it well.
Powerful, Haku admitted mentally and grudgingly. Whoever did this was powerful.
He continued to edge his way along the locker sides.
Kesuke rolled his eyes in a temperamentally bored fashion and sighed in a melodramatic manner.
"He's taking his sweet time isn't he pretty? Let's speed him up a bit, he just doesn't seem to realize the mortal position you're in," he shook his head in a decidedly disappointed manner. He hopped off the desk, eyes currently that amber-yellow so eerie to this world and touched his index and middle finger to her forehead, just slightly. Then, as an afterthought, he added, Chihiro thought perhaps even sincerely, "I'm sorry pretty."
There was an excruciating pain throughout her entire being for one torturous moment and Chihiro bit down on her tongue to keep from screaming. She only managed to stifle the scream to a strangled cry before her body went limp and she knew nothing more. The spell holding her up disintegrated and Kesuke was the seemingly lifeless girl's only support then. Her breath was somewhat uneven and her pallor had gone slightly pale.
Normal humans were much more susceptible to this kind of thing and she wasn't a normal human...not since she had went to the Spirit World. And that annoying keepsake talisman...that hair tie had made Kesuke unsure of how much power to use on her. He had known both would offer her extra protection and so knowing had used more than he would use on three truly normal mortals...apparently he'd used a bit too much.
But that was why he had done it; surely the one they were waiting for had heard her scream. He'd come running no doubt.
Kesuke shook his head again, almost sadly. He hadn't wanted to do that. But if the dragon-boy didn't get there soon they'd miss the loophole and he'd have to get them back here at the same time tomorrow. Frowning, his eyes became the deep blue they were when he wasn't casting magic and he sighed, gathering the unconscious Chihiro into his arms more comfortably. Her head lolled to one side to inadvertently nest itself against his torso and Kesuke wondered what kind of a reaction this would render from the river god.
Haku heard her and for a moment was hit with a sharp stab of pain throughout his entire body. It was a fraction of what Chihiro had gone through though, so he regained his senses fast, ignoring the fact that this was not the Spirit World as he set to his human-mode of flight, speeding down corridors to his best friend and the one he knew he'd loved since forever.
Reaching the supposed door, he threw it open, eyes sharply darting around to find familiar piercing blue eyes staring at him as he stepped in. To his discomfort, the door slammed shut behind him again, and there was a locking noise. Trapped. He'd supposed it would be something of that kind but not really considered all the possible escape routes if it was. And then he saw Chihiro in this stranger's arms, not moving.
"Give her back," he demanded, something cold about his voice that had not been there since he was referred to as 'Master' Haku.
"Who? Pretty? I don't think so. I rather like her and besides, I have to make it up to her. I didn't mean to hurt her that badly." Kesuke admitted. And though he was oddly sincere, his ever-present smirk did not help his case any and as far as Haku could tell, well, that sincerity was measured on a lenient scale.
"It wasn't a request," Haku commented and stepped forward. Kesuke, likewise, stepped forward. Haku paused, questioning the actions he could take. Whatever happened, he would not stand for allowing Chihiro to be hurt again...she shouldn't have even experienced that first attack...Haku pushed his remorse and self-loathing for later. Right now he needed to get her away from that...other person.
"I know," Kesuke replied and shrugged. "I don't recall saying it was. But you know what? You want her, come and get her," Kesuke challenged, a hint of a dangerous undertone in his voice as he held out his left palm and a white vortex formed out of the air. Then without waiting, he threw a smirk at Haku before slipping into it smoothly, Chihiro still in his arms.
And thinking of nothing but the one he needed to save, Haku followed suit. I promised her again...and I meant it...I'm not letting her go...Haku resolved for the millionth time as the silvery-white vortex swallowed him into its endless depths to the world he had only just left...
A flash of silvery light and the clouds parted, the sun shone, people walked in the hallways, classes commenced and a wind carried more of the cherry blossom petals away.
Chihiro was unconscious. That much she knew. Yet here she was...in a dream? She looked around. There was nothing but stars everywhere, below her, above her and to both sides. She seemed to be walking in a starry sky. There was an imminent feeling of unease about her, one she couldn't ignore. It told her that soon something would happen, it was the same dream she had been having for a while now...one she had guessed only partially was connected to the same Spirit World she left when she was ten.
And like all the times she'd had this dream in the past, she heard a voice, very androgynous and displaced, as though it didn't have a body. Chihiro thought wryly that she wouldn't be all too surprised if it in fact, did not have a body. Either way it always said the same thing and she could never decipher it any better than the first...
"The prophecy begins when first we meet
Traveling on a river's feet
Master always of disguise
We move the fastest in the skies
And so weathering trials for these two ordinary worlds
Protect the light's forsaken pearls
And to firmly protect both places
Within the constraints of time's compressed spaces
Take up arms and valiantly fight
For, Child, thou art our savior, our light."
Chihiro always heard the same thing. She always made the same nothing out of that same thing. And she always woke up to that same nothing she made it into. This time though, even as the fog in her dream closed around her like cool drapes across a grand window of the future, she felt she would be waking up to something different.
What she didn't expect was for that difference to be vaguely familiar and charming, just as it had been the first time.
Absently her sleeping mind remembered something she'd never really forgotten: Spirit World...
And she was for the moment, none the wiser that that was in fact, where she was headed.
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Chapter Four up. Review if you have time! I love reviews. Thank you to all who are reviewing for me. I appreciate it beyond words. Hope this was an okay chapter.
-Kaji