Thanx 4 all the nice reviews. It's great to hear from you guys so much. Keep em coming!

Devlinn Reiko-sama: Thanx. Glad you still like it.

Baka Psycho: Anytime. And I will definitely be changing things. For instance (HINT, PEOPLE!), there will not be a Noh Face fiasco.

Jgal: -laughs- Yeah, Inuyasha would be a great help. but a spell like Yubaba's won't be so easily broken. He just had a leak is all.

And now to the story.

Ch. 6

"How far is it from the bath…uuughh…"

Maru felt his stomach take a turn. The stink spirit was most obviously before them. He had to struggle to keep his hands down as his eyes watered profusely. It entered slowly, dripping slime all over the ground.

"Oh, look. See the valued customer, Maru? Go on…take his money and get him to the baths," Yubaba managed to croak.

"Y-yes ma'am…"
Maru held out his hand, holding back the urge to gag as a small bit of gold and a large amount of slime fell into his hand.

"Gggh…th-this way, sir…" he stammered. The spirit followed him to the large tub.

There goes all that cleaning time…he thought in dismay. My little spot of clean is doomed…

Luckily, the tub had already filled up, and Rin was no longer in sight.

Now is not the time to have sharp senses and low tolerance, he thought. I am about to vomit, there's no doubt…

The spirit went into the water, saturating it with slime and making the tub overflow. Maru was pushed back into the wall very roughly. He groaned and blacked out for a moment, head spinning, next to his bucket of bath tokens. He came to his senses in time to see the stink spirit ask him to refill the tub.

"A moment, please," he groaned, getting to his feet. The slime came to his knees and it covered his arm, causing his nose to burn. His empty stomach churned in a mix of hunger and revoltion as he pried the door to the bath water rope open. His eyes were so watery that he dropped the first token into the sludgy abyss his feet were in, but the second he managed to clip on and send. As soon as he did, he covered his mouth, fearing he would be sick; however he wasn't.

Maru began to inch back to the tub and climbed it slowly so as not to lose his footing. The spirit breathed onto him and his head sunk down in dizziness. The beast's breath was awful! However, he managed to pull the water rope before collapsing in weakness. His head stuck in the fetid slime inside the tub for but a moment before he was pulled back out. He coughed, then leaned forward. The stink spirit seemed to be directing him…

And his slender fingers came upon something he recognized as the side of a picture frame.

"Someone!" he yelled as loud as he could. "This is a river god! He has been polluted!"

Yubaba instantly made her way to Maru and threw a rope to him. He fumbled madly to tie it. Luckily, Rin was there to help him. She wound the rope and tied it off around the frame.

"Hold on, Maru…Maru, wake up!"

The former demon slid from the spirit's grip and into the water. He was unconscious as Yubaba commanded the others to pull the junk from the spirit's body. He didn't see the gold showered among the ground, nor would he have cared…

"Mmm…unh…"

"Maru, are you okay?"

"Unh…what is going on…?" he muttered thickly.

"You passed out before we pulled that stuff from the river spirit," Rin explained. "You don't look so well."

"I do not feel so well," Maru admitted. "It is frighteningly cold in here…"

"No…actually its warm…let me see…oh, wow, you're burning up! Just take it easy, this fever will fade out by tomorrow…"

"What…?"

Maru noticed something in his hand. He unclenched it and looked at the object in his blurry vision. It was a brownish ball of something. He inhaled with his slightly sharper senses and was just able to identify that it was an herbal remedy. He could not discern what, for his senses were not so strong.

"Maru, are you hungry? I have half a dumpling left…"

Maru sighed. He knew Rin was offering her dumpling half. As it were, he felt very ill in his stomach anyway, so he declined.

"Get a good night's sleep. You'll need it," Rin told him.

It was no task. Maru fell asleep instantaneously…

The Next Day

Maru was much better in the morning. He had cried only a little.

However, his rest was interrupted by Haku early on. The boy had come into his and Rin's quarters with a message.

"Meet me at the bridge. I have something for you."

And so he had headed for the bathhouse exit at Kamajii's.

"Hn? Where are my shoes?" he wondered. "I left them here…"

A handful of little soot balls carried his shoes from their home in the wall and presented them to him.

"Thank you," he said softly, so as not to wake Kamajii. He slipped on the old footwear and made his way to the bridge. From there, Haku led him to a sort of manmade meadow. Beyond that was a pigpen, but it did not concern Maru.

"So. It was observant of you to see that the stink spirit was actually a river god," Haku complimented. "How did you know?"

"I knew…because I have begun to see it. Humans develop their homes, and in return, destroy animal's habitats. They dump their belongings into the rivers of our world, which pollutes them and their spirits."

Suddenly, Maru had to clutch his aching abdomen. He doubled over, trying to squash the pain away.

"Are you hungry?"

"I was starving when I came, and I haven't had anything filling in my system while I was here…" Maru told Haku.

"Well, I know you may be getting tired of my unorthodox rice balls…"

"Quite the contrary, Haku. I enjoy sweet things, and I am overpoweringly hungry at the moment."

"Then here. Sweet rice balls. I put a spell on them so that they'll strengthen you again. I made four."

"Thank you."

Maru grabbed one and took a small bite from it. He then felt his heart pang with guilt. His Rin would love these. As soon as he thought this, tears began to fall from his eyes. He swallowed the last bit of the rice cake in one gulp, then began to sob almost hysterically.

"Come now," Haku said. "Keep on eating, you'll be fine."

Maru took the other rice balls and stuffed them down as he cried in lamentation. After he was done, Haku gave him a bundle.

"M-my clothes…" he said, sniffing.

"Yes."

"And the swords as well…"

"I took good care of them."

Maru reached into the breast pocket of his haori and pulled out a small paper his Rin had done for him. It was his name in very sloppy kanji and hiragana.

"Sesshoumaru…that is my name, is it not? I had almost forgotten…how could I forget my own name!"

"It fades away the longer Yubaba holds you prisoner. I almost lost mine, but a human girl helped me regain it. However, I chose to stay at this bathhouse, to help any unfortunate soul that might fall prey to Yubaba's trickery. It was in memory of Chihiro herself..."

"Who…never mind. Forget you heard that."

"I barely heard it in the first place. However, should you find the courage, I'm always open to questions," Haku said.

"Thank you."

"Hide those clothes. Hold them dear. If you forget your name, you are doomed, understand?"

"Yes…"

"Now, let's go back."

R and R please!