I cannot imagine an easy way to tell someone they must die. The human television programs make it look so easy. Chihiro now knew that she needed to become a dragon in order to be with Kohaku, but she didn't understand the very difficult process. After all, if it were easy, then everyone would be a dragon.

Sitting on the beach, knees drawn up to her chest and arms folded on top, Chihiro had a mask of deep concentration. I craned down my neck, giving her a soft nudge with my snout.

"How?" was whispered, barely audible to even my keen dragon ears.

My frame shook as I gave a great sigh, "First, you need to understand what the consequences will be."

Arms unfolded, she twisted to sit on her knees and brought both eyes to meet mine with a sharp look.

"First of all, you will have to get used to the body of a dragon. It is very hard to be able to control your powers and temper, let alone the weird stuff."

Eyebrows narrowed, she gave a slight grin. I rolled my eyes.

"Molting during season changes, needing to sharpen your claws, NOT biting your tongue (I've nearly sliced my own off….), rituals, guarding, territory, the list goes on!"

"I can do that."

"And kangaroos wear green pantyhose."

"WHAT!"

"Exactly."

"Oh, never mind. What else?"

"You have to take an oath of supreme justice, wear dirty underwear for three weeks, and stop Yubaba from her latest plot- stealing the world's supply of deodorant!"

The small girl's eyes nearly popped out of her head.

I gave an even bigger draconic grin than before.

"Are you ever going to tell me?"

"Ok, ok. I don't know if you'll ever be able to come back to the mortal plane. You'll be able to visit, see them as apparition, but it is highly unlikely you'll ever truly see them again," I replied with a more serious expression.

Chihiro looked extremely heartbroken. After her trip to the spirit world, Chihiro's mom became pregnant. This was a terrific surprise because she had been declared permanently barren by mortal doctors. Surviving a trip to the spirit world typically leaves humans with some gifts, healing is very common.

At the age of twelve, Chihiro was still very happy to have a baby brother, Bade. From the time he was a baby, Chihiro knew Bade was special. There was something about his gaze that made anyone in his presence feel as if they were looking upon the next emperor. The child was very smart, but adored Chihiro more than anyone else. She played with him, helped him with homework, and drove him around town to meet his friends. He also seemed to know Haku.

Bade once spent the afternoon at the tender age of three drawing very realistic looking white dragons. He absolutely refused to draw anything else but scribbles and his mother was convinced he was drawing the pictures from Chihiro's frequent bedtime stories. When Chihiro saw her dragon on the pages, she asked Bade for a copy. She always kept hidden a particularly impressive drawing of a white dragon flying away in the sky on her nightstand.

"Can I say goodbye?" she pleaded.

I nodded.