Alrighty, next chapter! Woot! Okay, not much to say about this one except enjoy and review!

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Disclaimer: Still don't own Spirited Away. And so my dreams shatter like a glass window…

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RECAP:

"I knew you were good…" She whispered in her sleep. Unknown to her, watchful eyes guarded her dreams…

NOW:

A long silver dragon glinted in the moonlight outside Chihiro's window. With a low grunt, it whipped through the air, into the forest, and out of the human world.

Sunlight streamed through the window as Chihiro blinked her eyes open. She smiled as she recalled her dreams of that night. She loved sleeping, dreaming, it always brought her back to the Spirit World, to the place she felt she most belonged. She sighed as she pulled herself out of bed and got ready for school.

"Chihiro! Hurry up, you're going to be late!" Her mother yelled as Chihiro stumbled down the stairs.

"I know!" She replied. She grabbed her backpack and pulled it over her shoulder. "Seeya Mom!" She ran out the door and to the street corner where the bus waited. The doors opened and Chihiro was about to step in when she saw something from the corner of her eye.

"Is that… No, it can't be…" She whispered to herself.

"You coming?' The buss driver gruffly asked.

"Yeah, sorry." She found a seat in the back of the bus and thought to herself. She wasn't sure, but she could've sworn she'd seen… a soot ball…

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Chihiro passed the day daydreaming and paying absolutely no attention to her classes, as usual. Lunch came and Chihiro walked through the line to get her food. She held the red tray in her hands as she listened in on conversations around her as she waited. It was an old habit she had; she couldn't help it.

"You know that girl Chihiro?"

"Yeah, what about her?"

"I hear that she went insane after she moved here. She was raving on about dragons and spirits or something like that, so they had to give her counseling." The girls talking about her laughed.

"Someone hit their head a little so hard." One of them giggled, sending the rest of them into fits of laughter.

Chihiro felt like sitting down where she was and crying, but that wouldn't help her circumstances. She dropped her tray on top of a few others and sped off to the nurse's office. Unshed tears stung her eyes as she ran through the empty hallways.

"Good morning Chihiro, how are you?"

"Not so good," she said. "I have um… a really bad stomach ache." She wasn't lying entirely; she didn't feel good at all.

"Oh, okay sweetheart, do you feel well enough to stay at school?" Chihiro shook her head. "Alright then, can your mom or dad come and pick you up?" Chihiro nodded and called her mom and waited outside the office for her. She thought as she waited. People were so heartless. So she did need to have counseling, but that didn't mean they could make fun of her for it. How did they hear about it anyway?

"Honey?" Her mom's voice interrupted her thoughts. "Are you ready?" Chihiro nodded and they left towards home.

They pulled up into the driveway and Chihiro got out of the front seat.

"I've got to go back to work, so try to get some rest okay, Chihiro?" Her mother said to her.

"Alright, bye Mom." She waved as her mother drove out of sight. Right then, she was almost entirely sure she had seen a little frog in a kimono jumping out of sight through the trees. She blinked a few times and it was gone. She shrugged it off and went inside.

Turning the TV on, Chihiro grabbed a tub of ice cream and threw herself onto the couch. Tears began streaming down her face and she shoved ice cream into her mouth spoonful after spoonful. Finally, she fell asleep on the couch.

The telephone's loud ringing woke Chihiro from her nap. She got up and answered the phone.

"Hello?"

"Hey honey, feeling better?"

"A little."

"That's good. Well, I'm going to be staying at the office a little later than usual. You can make dinner by yourself right?"

"Yeah, I can make it."

"Alright, get better Chihiro. I love you."

"Love you too."

"Bye."

Click. Chihiro sighed and threw the empty ice cream container into the trash. She turned off the TV and walked up to her room. She pressed play on her radio as the music rang through her ears.

Midnight workings, weather down the story line
I try to find the truth between all the lies
When bleeding is feeling and feeling ain't real
Will I see you when I open my eyes?
Will I see you when I open my eyes?

Chihiro listened to the words. They rang so loud and true for her. She saw Haku in every dream she had and every thought. But when she opened her eyes, he was never there. As much as she wanted him to be with her, he never was. Tears began to slip down her face.

When Breathing's a burden we all have to bear,
And trust is one thing we're taught never to share,
Somehow you just seem to shine,
When loving means breaking and saying goodbye.

Why did she have to see the Spirit World? Why did she ever have to meet Haku, or fall in love with him? She remembered holding Haku's hand as he promised they'd see each other again. She remembered the last time her fingers brushed against his hand as she left back to her world. She never looked back, and she regretted it. She should've held on to him, and she wished she had looked back just one more time just to see his face.

And I can't help but wonder what it is you do.
You help heal the pain, and the thoughts of the truth.
You're a question to the universe, a wonder to the world,
And somehow, when I'm with you, I never get burned.

Everyone's faces flashed through Chihiro's head as she pulled the hair band out of her long brown hair. She wished they'd just leave her alone. Memories of them were killing her slowly. She sobbed harder as each memory went though her mind. They haunted her like an unfulfilled promise. If only they'd just leave her alone. But everytime she tried to forget, it felt even worse.

Caught in a trap of what we're taught to believe.
When night overcomes day, life's so hard to perceive.
And the clock keeps on ticking through night-shattered skies,
Where the stars are all broken, and so are all the ties.
But the one thing remaining is you,
When I'm broken and bleeding, you pull me right through.

Out of rage and pain, she threw the hair band Granny had given her against the wall, her elbow knocking the radio off its stand. She stood there for a moment, face vacant of emotion. The music had stopped and she just stared at the glimmering hair band lying in the ground. Without it, she felt naked, incomplete. She dropped to her knees and wept. She just wanted it all to go away. But still, she couldn't live without it. It was a part of her; it was who she was. She crawled across the floor and held the hair band to her heart and cried till she fell victim to sleep.

Chihiro saw herself squatting by a wall of brilliantly colored flowers next to Haku. He held a piece of bread in his hands as Chihiro ate a piece of her own. She saw herself begin to cry and Haku comforted her by putting a hand on her shoulder.

Chihiro suddenly felt herself awaken. There she sat, bathed in cold sweat, kneeling by the wall clutching the hair band. She sniffed a few times and wiped away cold tears. She picked herself up and put her hair back into a ponytail. She opened her turned off the light as she walked out of her room. There was no light to lead her; she had to guess it was around midnight when she walked down the stairs, out the door, down the sidewalk… She didn't know why she was doing it, why her legs were leading her to the very spot she tried so very hard to forget. She stepped down the beaten, dirt, path. The trees passed by her as she swept by them. She went from walking, to jogging, to running through the forest. She tripped over tree roots, rocks, and other objects hidden by the night. But she picked herself up and continued to run. Thunder boomed in the distance, followed by a strike of lightning that rolled across the sky. Rain began to pour down on Chihiro and she couldn't tell if it was rain or tears running down her face. Finally, Chihiro stopped at the little statue in front of the gigantic building. It smiled at her mockingly, somehow making Chihiro feel that it knew why she had come. She walked past it, trying to ignore the smirk it had etched across its face. Her breathing was hard, having been running so long. She stared into the tunnel. To someone else it would have been frightening and menacing, but to Chihiro, it was warm and welcoming. Chihiro panted as she bent over and coughed. She stood up as much as she could and stumbled into the looming darkness.

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Yes, we will be seeing Haku in the next chapter or the one after that. Not sure which one though, I'm just making it up as I go along. :dodges flying vegetables:

See that little button on the bottom left of this page? Yeah, that one. Click it. See where it says review? Click that too. Woot! We're making progress! Review please!