Disclaimer: I do not own Spirited Away or any of the characters in it.

BattleAngelKurumi- YOU'RE MY FIRST REVIEWER!! And I love u for it!! Thank u!!! u dnt no how happy I was wen I saw I had a review! Lol and WOW, ive never inspired n e one b4! It's a first! Lol thankies!!

Depressed Pixie- Thank u! im glad u like it!! I seriously thought it was going to be rejected at first and no one was going to like it…but I hav reviewers that like it! Yay!! Lol

Honey Nut Loop – Thank u for reviewing! Ive reviewed ur story and I think its great! And yep, I agree, English class is all analyze this and that, and annotate this and that, and write essays on this and that….it becomes so boring sometimes. Lol…but o well….life is life…lol

Katzeye - thankies for ur nice review – it gave me a slight confidence boost , which I needed I guess lol! I will definitely keep on writing (even if it kills me, lol) heres the next chappie…hope u like…

Ogino Chihiro – lol!! Thank you for reviewing and yep, your right…they are just complete BLEEP .lol!

A/N heylo! Sorry if this chappie doesn't match up to ur expectations but it IS a long chapter (in my opinion at least) so pls forgive me!…I was ill when I was writing this so my brain wasn't functioning properly. Lol, n e ways im feeling all better now and I hope u'll enjoy it…pls review afterwards! Thankies! oh and btw…to n e one who wants to no wen Haku will be making an appearance: he shud be in chapter 4 or 5, hopefully or maybe chapter 6 …BUT no guarantees, so pls dnt kill me if hes not…lol…but dnt worry…hes definitely going to be in the story and Chihiro's life wont always be doom and gloom…it will get better, I promise because she'll…lol…okay…im giving away the plot! NO!…bad Lisa! hits self with book lol

Chapter 2: Parents' Persuasion

Shortly after she darted out of the school, Chihiro arrived home and went up to her room straight away. She changed out of her school uniform into more comfortable, casual clothes, hanging her uniform neatly on her wardrobe door, as she always does.

Pulling out a shoe-box from underneath her bed, she sat at the edge of her mattress looking down at the dusty container, glumly. It was where she kept the only remaining memories she had left of the spirit world. Amongst many of the items enclosed, the baggy T-shirt and shorts that she wore when she ventured through the plaster-made, artificially-old tunnel and the glimmering, purple hair tie were included.

Rummaging her way through, she pulled out a small card from beneath the mound of objects, at the bottom of the box. On the card, it read:

'…Good Luck, Chihiro

We'll meet again…'

It was the good-bye card that she had received from her best friend in her previous home town, along with a bouquet of pink flowers as a fare-well gift, before moving to her new home. It held many precious memories for her. The memories of the care Haku showed her – giving back her name, saving her.

Giving a deep, empty sigh of despair, she fell back onto her springy bed, letting her shoulder length hair, sprawl out freely over her feather-soft duvet. She stared at the card, contemplatively, as she held it up in the air in front of her. Reflecting on this memory, which made her life feel so forlorn, as it was stabbing agonizingly in the back of her clouded mind, she closed her eyes tightly, desperately attempting to dismiss the torturing misery, tearing at her heart.

'Chihiro, dinner's ready!' called her mother from the bottom of the staircase 'Chihiro, are you even listening to me!?'

Chihiro woke with a start and sat up abruptly.

'I must have dosed-off…' she murmured to herself, drowsily

Rubbing her eyes, she stood up and stretched; cracking her bones to relieve herself from the stiffness in her back.

'Chihiro!?'

'Coming' she replied 'I'll be down in a second!'

'Okay, hurry up then dear'

Placing all the bits and pieces back carefully into the box which she had emptied earlier, she reached over to black school bag, which lay by her wooden writing desk, and pulled out the drawing of Haku. She took one last look at it, before reluctantly placing it on top of the pile swiftly, and replacing the lid back onto the box, pushing it deep under her bed.

Chihiro descended down the steep staircase of her house with no haste, as every evening, dinner with her parents was always the time for awkward questions that were nearly always followed by eternity-lasting, uncomfortable silences, with occasional glances at each other.

Entering the pale green, oriental-decorated dining room, she was cheerfully greeted by her loving father, who was always trying to bring a smile to the young teenager's face.

'Chihiro!' he beckoned; gesturing her to sit down 'How are you? A moron at the office today, somehow got his tie trapped in a locked filing cabinet and he didn't know what to do,'

Chihiro gave him a light smile as she sat down and she began digging into her cold meal. They were having home-made sushi, with some fried noodles as a side dish. Seeing that his daughter was not paying much attention to him, he turned to look at his wife, instead.

'It was actually quite amusing to watch,' he continued, with a wide grin on his face 'because the entire hour that he was stuck, before we had found the key, he could have just taken his tie off and left it hanging there, instead of just standing around, looking absolutely ridiculous!'

Chihiro's mother gave a soft laugh 'Well didn't he even think of just cutting it off? – that's quick and simple' she questioned.

'Well I don't know…' her father said in response, almost whining 'the strangest thing, was that the boss didn't even notice when he walked past. Well. There again. He is a little dense, sometimes.

'Bosses…' her mother shook her head, discrediting them, as she thought out loud to herself 'they think they're all that...but they're not!'

Chihiro was concentrating on her plate of food and was deep in thought, thinking only of the grief and boredom she was living through, not really taking note of the topic of which her parents were conversing on. Although, she did hear them speak, each sounding word uttered from their mouths, just did not process in her distant mind, as it, in her opinion, seemed only like some meaningless nonsense passing through her ears – which in fact, it was! But so caught up in her anguish thoughts, Chihiro was completely unaware and had not even noticed her father ask her to pass the small bottle of wasabee sauce.

He waved his hand in front of her face, seeking her attention 'Earth to Chihiro,' he said in a joking voice, slightly mocking her 'your father requests, and is in need of some wasabee sauce on his sushi please…'

Snapping back into reality, Chihiro jerked back into her chair slightly in the event of surprise. 'What? Oh…erm…here you go…sorry…'

Shaking the bottle with difficulty to get the sauce out, he began questioning his daughter 'SO…Chihiro…day dreaming hmm? So…Which boy is it?!' he asked in such a teasing way that he almost burst out laughing whilst saying it.

She knew he was joking, but nevertheless 'No one!' she shouted back defensively, her cheeks turning pinker than usual, blushing.

'It IS a boy, isn't it!? Come on…you can tell your old man!' he blurted out with a huge grin on his face. He loved to tease her with accusations such as this.

'Dad! It's no one. I wasn't even thinking about a boy…I just got bored of what you were talking about, so I just tuned out I guess…that's all…' she replied. She could see how unconvinced her father was and screwed up her face, feeling slightly annoyed at him.

'Why can't he just leave me alone…I AM telling the truth…well…sort of, at least…Yes. I was thinking about a boy…but not like one he was talking about…meaning all the disgusting ones, that just hit puberty! eww…'

'Oh well then, never mind…I see you don't trust your own father any more…' he accused her; trying to use reverse-psychology. But Chihiro knew better from past experience, than to fall for that commonly used old trick and so decisively chose to ignore him

'Oh Chihiro, I almost forgot…I was talking to our neighbour the other day and she was telling me about the school dance at your school tonight, and I asked her to ask her son if he would take you, since you two are in the same year as each other, and guess what? He agreed,' announced her mother, suddenly, smiling at her.

'WHAT?!' she screamed at her mother, slamming her chop-sticks down onto the dining table in complete fury. Anger swept over her as fast as wind. 'mum! How could you do that without even consulting me!! I mean…you of all people should know how anti-social I am!!'

'Chihiro! Calm down!' her mother replied, in complete astonishment of her daughter's sudden rage 'I'd thought you'd be happy. And. Well maybe it's time that you ought to go out more and socialize more often. I think it's great that you are concentrating so hard on your academic work and studies, but, Chihiro, your 15…turning 16 very soon, and well, I guess I just wanted to see you happy, going out with a bunch of friends…inviting them home to study with you…'

'I don't have friends! Don't you understand!?' she cried, as her tears began streaming down her cheeks, before rushing back up to her room leaving her parents utterly speechless at her reaction.

'I can't believe her! How could she do this to me? I feel so…so betrayed by her. Everyone at school thinks I'm a social outcast. They'll all just laugh at me if I show up…why did she…? Argh! I feel SO annoyed with her!' Chihiro thought angrily, as she lay on her bed, crying.

-knock, knock-

'Go Away!!' she howled at them.

Despite the answer, her parents gently opened the door and came into her bedroom. Chihiro's parents were masters of using reverse-psychology, especially her mother. She could get Chihiro to do anything she wanted,if she used the right tone of voice and had the perfect look on her face.

'Chihiro, I'm sorry,' apologised her mother 'Listen. If you don't want to go, then I'm not going to force you,' she said in a sympathetic, soothing voice. Chihiro looked up from her bed and gave her mother a soft smile, before her mother continued 'but, I was desperately hoping that you would,' her mother at this point began looking down at her feet 'Well, you see, I was told that the dance was only on for two hours, and I thought that you might consider the idea, so I went out last weekend to buy you a pair of new shoes and a beautiful dress, especially for the occasion…'

Chihiro looked at her mother 'She seems so upset that I'm not going, she looks so sad…I can't say no now… she made the effort to go out and buy me a new dress. It wasn't my intent to make her so unhappy, but she DID do it behind my back so…why am I blaming myself? But she did seem to be really concerned about me and care about me a lot…so I can't exactly let her down. I feel so guilty…Why is guilt such a powerful emotion? She uses it every time to manipulate me to do things...'

Chihiro gave a warm smile to her mother. 'Mum, you know, sometimes it's scary how persuasive you can be.'

'So, you're going then!?' she shouted, changing her tone completely, looking incredibly excited.

'Yes, I'm going…' Chihiro nodded back to her mother.

'Erm…and might I add it ALL came out of MY wallet!' interrupted her father, finally saying something.

Her mother smiled in a cheeky fashion, whilst Chihiro just gave a small chuckle.

'Erm…I know this maybe a stupid question, mum, but, who's our neighbour's son?'

'He's called Arashi Kanzaki…' she replied

Chihiro's eyes widened. 'The swimming team-captain!?'

'THE MOST POPULAR BOY IN SCHOOL? Maybe this was not such a good idea after all…Why did HE agree to take ME!?' she wondered to herself, feeling thoroughly confused.

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