Disclaimer: I do not own spirited away or any of the characters in it.
A/N - hey! heres the very first chapter of my story...the prologue wasnt exactly very long...so i had to lengthen the middle section abit...sorry to whoever found it boring...plus im not a top pupil in English...so im not exactly the best of writters so my stories arent all that good...lol...but i hope u enjoy anyways! pls review!! thanks
Chapter 1 : School
"Will we meet again someday?"
"I'm sure we will,"
"Promise?"
"Promise, now go and don't look back..."
As she gazed longingly outside into the clear, blue, cloudless sky, this short, but so meaningful good-bye echoed in her far-away mind. Giving a long sigh, she recalled the words once more, "I'm sure we will,"
"But when?..." she whispered sadly to herself.
In her mind, she called to him, almost yearning for him. "Haku, I miss you…I need you..."
"Chihiro..." a distant voice was calling her name.
"Chihiro..." again, the quiet voice whispered in the back of her mind.
"Chihiro!" a nearby class mate nudged her. Realising she had drifted off into another day dream and it was only a class mate calling her name, she felt disappointed.
"Chihiro! Stand up!" her class mate hissed at her. Chihiro noticed that everyone was standing up and the entire class were glaring at her, looking very impatient.
She looked at the clock and realised it was the end of the school day.
"Chihiro! The bells gone! Stand up!" another class mate ordered her.
She stood up immediately, seeing the teacher was also glaring at her, waiting for her to stand up to dismiss the class. He gave her an unkind look, indicating to her that he was not at all impressed with her lack of concentration.
"Welcome back to reality, Miss Ogino" the teacher said mockingly. He did not like Chihiro, as she was not brightest of students and did not pay much attention in class. Instead whenever she would attempt to make an effort to participate, he would just say something to ridicule her, so Chihiro gave up on the idea of trying to fit in for quite some time now.
"Oh, I'm very sorry class, I did not mean to hold you up again," Chihiro gave a low bow of apology. They just ignored her, making her feel even more of an outcast.
"Why did I even bother?" she thought to herself "They never pay any attention to me anyway. Even if it is polite to apologise, they're not exactly being very polite in return."
"Good afternoon class,"
"Good afternoon, Mr. Koizumi" they said in unison.
"Have a nice weekend everyone!" after saying this, he left the room abruptly.
The class exited from the room, filing out after the teacher had left. Many were greeted by cheerful friends from other forms who had waited for them after being dismissed themselves.
Chihiro was last to leave the room as always. Walking past two girls to her locker to put her books away, they seemed not to notice her shy presence, over hearing them talk:
"Miwako! What held you up? We're going to be late!"
"Hey Akiko! Sorry, but that freak Ogino girl held up the WHOLE class again!"
Surprised, the girl replied "I would have thought she'd be quite popular since she is not exactly fat and not ugly either, in fact many of the boys in my form say she's very pretty and some even fancy her."
Chihiro opened her locker and frowned at hearing this. In her opinion all the boys that attended her school were ALL unattractive, immature, juvenile delinquents, who smelt awful! Well, maybe that isn't all true and was slightly a bit too harsh, but she definitely thought they were unattractive and immature, so she didn't pay much attention to them or have any interest in them for that matter.
"I guess the people in your form haven't taken any classes with her. She sits on her own at the back of the class and just day dreams all the time," the girl explained "She's a loner with no friends."
At this point, Chihiro gripped onto her maths book tighter than before, almost ripping it. She felt angered at the girl's hurtful words, yet at the same time more lonely than ever.
"No friends…" she thought "No, your wrong, you all are. No body understands me, that's why. I DO have friends and Haku WILL come for me. They remember me as much as I remember them! At least, I hope they do…"
She had no way of knowing. Her heart sank and a feeling of lost faith suddenly swept over her. An unexpected tear rolled down her face and dropped onto her maths book, causing a small colourless patch to appear on her class work book, as the dye had soaked through onto the pages. Realising what happened, she flicked through the pages speedily, hoping the dye hadn't soaked right through to stain her picture. With relief, she took the drawing from lodged between the back pages of her book and stared at it, miserably.
It was a beautiful image of a green/black haired young boy with intense green eyes, who she had drawn with great care and passion. The immense detail shown, made it seem almost life-like. Over the years, Chihiro had become quite a talented young artist and has drawn many pictures of her friends in the spirit world. She usually did this in her spare time, at weekends, after studying.
"Hey Miwako, Akiko! Come on! What are you still doing here! We're going to be late for our hair appointments!...the party is tonight...remember?!?!" another girl rushed in, shouting down the almost empty corridor.
Chihiro was startled by this sudden intrusion, dropping all her things onto the floor. The three girls just stood there staring and began laughing at her. None of them offered to help her.
Her face blushed slightly, as she knelt down to pick up her books. The girls began to mock and tease her, pointing and laughing. Chihiro's face flushed and became even redder than before. But not from feeling embarrassed, instead, from feeling frustrated at them. She felt provoked enough to just scream out at them, but instead she decisively chose to remain silent, as she wasn't very good at arguing with others and wasn't very quick at thinking of snappy come-backs.
She packed her bag as quickly as she could and walked through the corridor, with her head down, looking at her feet. The trio were still there, despite the time, shouting out scornful mockery and giving her intimidating looks. Chihiro was desperately attempting to ignore them but she could not take much more of this...
"Why me?" she thought angrily "Why is it always me they tease, make fun of…I've had enough!"
"What's the matter Ogino? Are three mean girls bullying you? Are you going to run to mummy and daddy for help?" said Akiko in a cruel sarcastic voice. The three burst out laughing once more.
As she walked past Akiko, Chihiro suddenly stopped abruptly. She was not much of a fighter,as she didn't have an aggressive nature,but she had seen enough films with violent fighting scenes to know what to do. She turned around and slapped the girl painfully hard across cheek. Akiko was so shocked, she stepped back a few steps and fell over, collapsing in a heap on the floor. The two other girls knelt down quickly to help her. The girl's already pink face became as red as a beetroot, steaming up anger, when she realised what had been done to her! This was one of the raremoments Chihiro wanted to laugh...
"Just leave me alone!" Chihiroyelled at them, before running out of the school towards home. She felt she had won a small victory of some kind and was pleased at her own courage to stand up for herself. She felt happy, something she hadn't felt for a long time...