Author Note: Well. I guess I was just too busy feeling accomplished at my camp. But! I finally got my lazy arse up and started Chapter 12.

Face it. I have no life. TT

Does anyone ever read these author notes? To anyone who does, does anyone have any good song recommendations? I'd love to give any song a try!

I have a few to recommend :

1) Cloud 9 by: Maaya Sakamoto ½ [from Wolf Rain]

2) Dearest y: Ayumi Hamasaki ½ [made famous by Inuyasha]

Now I shall shut up. I feel like I'm spazzing!

Disclaimer: I do not own Spirited Away, but I do own Sora Kasama/Kizuka, Keiko Dobashi, Ryo Tanaka, Ms. Kiyotaka, the Shadow Demons, and the plot. Do not use them without my permission. This disclaimer applies to all the chapters I write for this story.

I would absolutely love to answer any questions, so please send in any questions you've got. Responses will be at the end of the chapter.

.: .The Lost Princess.: .

CHAPTER TWELVE--'CHOCOLATE CHERRIES'

by: Cecile Li

How calm, how beautiful comes on

The still hour, when storms have gone,

When warring winds gave died away

And clouds, beneath the dancing ray

Melt off and leave the land and sea,

Sleeping in bright tranquility.

-Thomas Moore

Recap.

"Sora?" The dragon woman lay on the stark white hospital cot, eyes staring up at the equally white ceiling. "Sora?" Chihiro walked over to Sora, reaching out a hand to touch her.

Sora's head turned then, her heavenly blue eyes bulging out. Her long fingernails captured Chihiro's slender wrist, grasping it tightly. Chihiro watched in horror as Sora's angelic eyes slowly turned red, fiery red; her grip on Chihiro's wrist steadily increasing.

"Sora?!"

"Sora?!" Chihiro pulled her hand frantically, repeatedly calling Sora's name. "Sora! Sora!! Let go!" Her hand grew white and every movement in her hand hurt like a searing flame. Chihiro squeezed her eyes shut, and pulled her free hand back to slap her friend. "WAKE UP!"

Another cold hand caught her flying hand. "Chihiro. What is the meaning of this?" said an equally icy voice, filled with disbelief.

Chihiro peeked an eye open. A discomfited, disbelieving, disconcerted Sora stared up at her, her saintly sky blue eyes back to normal, now brimming of hurt. Glancing down at the red circle around her wrist and back at Sora, she could do nothing but gape at her. "Wha-bu-how-what?"

Sora pursed her lips and sat up, neatly folding her hands in her lap. "Chihiro. I awoke to find your hand dangerously close to my face. I only missed it in time." She looked at Chihiro expectantly, her eyes narrowed into little slits.

"I..." Chihiro's mouth opened and closed, but no words came out. "You..." Sora continued to glare at her, fume practically coming out of her perfect ears.

"Chihiro!" Ryo called out, his handsome face peeking in the doorway. Both females turned to look at him and he waved cheerfully. "Hello Ms. Kizuka! I'm here to pick Chihiro up."

Chihiro sighed in relief. Ryo, as much as a bastard he was, at least he saved her just in time. Turning to Sora, she smiled brightly. "It was nice chatting with you, Sora! I'll see you later!"

"Yes," Sora smiled back, her smile not quite reaching her hard eyes, "I look forward to seeing you again."

And as Chihiro exited, those merciless eyes bore holes into her memory. Where have I seen those before?

Keiko woke up, her throat sore as hell. "Doctor?" She choked out, her voice barely a whisper. She tried getting up and staggered. Walking sluggishly around her hospital room, she recognized the outline of a chocolate box. Squinting her eyes, she made out the words, the World's Best White Chocolate. Keiko wrinkled her nose, but the first smile that day graced her tired features. White chocolate was Ryo's favorite.

They walked casually, almost as if they were best friends, laughing and joking with each other, in comfortable silences, but if you glanced closer, lines of tension riveted off the girl and the boy walked carelessly, carrying a secret little smile.

Ryo's face was full of innocence and good intentions. Behind that complete façade, lay a mastermind of cruel plots and world domination. A genius he was, a prodigy gone bad.

"Ryo...Thanks so much for bailing me out." Chihiro said slowly, staring at her hands. "I'm...also really sorry for throwing Pepsi at you."

Ryo turned and laughed a short modest yet nervous laugh. "No problem. You were under a lot of stress. And besides, I know Ms. Kizuka can be intimidating some times even though she seems nice."

You have no idea...Chihiro thought, no idea.

An awkward stillness fell and Chihiro wrung her hands uneasily. What to do, what to do. She still hadn't told him that she wanted to break the engagement.

They walked out of the hospital doors and as they passed a particularly cute nurse, Ryo couldn't resist but wink at her. The nurse blushed and smiled shyly back at him. He smirked; yep, Ryo's charm and good looks still hadn't worn off.

Chihiro gawked at this, her face turning red. She shut her mouth and walked a little faster, secretly infuriated. The nerve of that boy still shocked her. How dare he openly flirt with a nurse (probably 2 times his age) in front of his fiancée! With one glimpse of his smug face, she grew angrier. He didn't even notice, the conceited jerk.

As Ryo noticed Chihiro's closed expression, he wondered how he managed to piss her off again. Her being upset with him was not part of the plan. This would not do. No, this would not do at all.

He smiled widely at her, walking closer to her, putting his arm around her waist. Chihiro jumped at his touch, her eyes widening in panic. She tried to make herself as small as possible, looking around frantically for a distraction that required two hands. Fortunately, Ryo found one for her.

"Chihiro, how about I buy you something to eat? I know you must be exhausted from being in the hospital all day." Ryo asked her sincerely, that dumb smile still on his face.

She jumped at the chance. "Yes! I mean, sure. I'd love to have a drink."

"Here," He steered her into the café. "Order whatever you want."

Giggling corruptly inside, she glanced up at the menu and looked for the most expensive thing. Ooo! The pastrami sandwich ($6.25) is the most expensive...I'll order that with an extra large strawberry milkshake ($5.75). Having figured out what she wanted, she walked up to the counter. "Hello, I'd like the pastrami sandwich and an extra large strawberry milkshake."

The cashier nodded, adding up her order. "That'll be a total of $12."

Ryo consented tightly, reaching into his wallet. Chihiro smiled sweetly and waltzed into the eating area, picking an elegant granite table, the chairs shaped in swirls. She waited patiently, congratulating herself on her recent, though small, triumph. Ryo came a moment later, carrying the giant pastrami sandwich and a more than sufficient milkshake with a strawberry propped cutely to the side of the glass. Chihiro eyed the food she ordered, stammering.

"A-are you sure that's what I ordered?"

Ryo checked the receipt. "The pastrami sandwich and the extra large strawberry shake? Yep."

Chihiro sighed and consenting to a long hour in the café. Picking up the sandwich, she felt her hunger suddenly disappearing as she imagined the cow getting slaughtered. Forcing herself to take a bite, she swallowed it down with a loud slurp of her milkshake.

Ryo watched her with those creepy eyes of his, emerald green, growing deeper by the minute. Flicks of gray discolored the green, sometimes making him devilishly handsome and sometimes making him devilishly evil. Chihiro decided that he looked downright devilishly evil and she squirmed under his direct gaze.

"I supposed your favorite food is pastrami sandwich?" Ryo asked serenely, if noticing Chihiro's discomfort, did nothing.

Chihiro fidgeted while maintaining an innocent expression. "Er...I guess so." Settling herself into the pretty, though uncomfortable swirly chair, she asked -just to be polite- what his favorite food was.

Ryo smiled a twisted smile, his gaze lessening a bit as his eyes grew dreamy. Inside Ryo, the Shadow Demon laughed oddly. Was he that confidant of his position? Yes he was.

"Chocolate cherries."

Chihiro's cell phone rang, playing a little melody of the MIDI of Fur Elise. Grabbing her cell phone and flipping it open, she said, "Hello?" Her face in surprise, she listened then quickly answered, "I'll be there in a second! Thank you so much! Bye."

Ryo waited for her to finish her conversation before prompting her with a question. "Who was it?"

Chihiro smiled her first genuine smile. "Keiko's awake! I'm going to go see her."

Ryo struggled to stop him himself from rolling his eyes in exasperation. Just when his plan was going well, that bitch had to wake up. "I'm sorry Chihiro. I can't go. I have baseball practice in 30 minutes." He said apologetically, misunderstanding her imploring expression.

Chihiro laughed nervously. "Oh no, it's alright; you don't need to come, it's just that I need a teensy weensy favor." Ryo stared at her, not quite sure what she was talking about. "See, if I go see Keiko and she's awake, then I want to bring her a present, like flowers or chocolate. But..." Her phony smile stretched, "I don't have any money right now."

Ryo finally understood and sighed resignedly. "Very well. What would you like me to buy?"

Gazing up at the menu again, she spotted something. "How about chocolate cherries?" Ryo froze and unconsciously shook his head. Chihiro stared at him confusedly. "What's wrong?"

Ryo blinked and smiled shakily. "Nothing." Then he stuffed some bills into the girl's hand and ran out of the café.

Chihiro did a double take. What was wrong with him?

Chihiro knocked on the hospital door. The plaque beside the door proclaimed ominously 1378 DOBASHI, KEIKO. She opened the door quietly and stepped inside the room.
"Keiko?"

Keiko sprang up from the cot and hugged Chihiro fiercely. "I'm so sorry." She whispered into her friend's ear. "I was so stupid. Please forgive me."

Chihiro gulped back her tears and returned the embrace. "Please forgive me."

Finally, the two friends sat back onto the bed. Keiko wiped her dangerously close to flooding eyes and tried to smile. "So what did you bring for me?" She asked in a light-hearted tone.

Oh right, the chocolate cherries, Chihiro remembered as she brought the bag onto the bed and dumping the contents out. Keiko picked it up, her face furrowing as she read the words. "Chocolate cherries." Chihiro offered helpfully, "Ryo bought them."

"Ryo?" Keiko asked confusedly, still trying to remember where she heard chocolate cherries from. "Ryo?"

"Yeah. They're supposedly his favorite." Chihiro answer wryly remembering her first experience with chocolate cherries. Ironically enough, it was with Ryo. On the first day of school in 2nd grade, he threw one at her and it burst, leaving stains to this very day on her cute little kimono.

Keiko stopped short, her mouth frozen. "His favorite?" She asked carefully, sure Chihiro was wrong.

"Yep. I know, chocolate cherries are despicable. They're gross aren't they?"

"Chocolate cherries aren't his favorite..." Keiko said to herself softly, thinking hard. When did Ryo talk about chocolate cherries? She could have sworn he said something about them. Keep thinking! She ordered herself. What about the day after the lake? Oh yes, that was when Ryo started turning weird. He always had that funny look on his face and he was always so cold and reserved with her. That was the day when he told her he absolutely loved white chocolate, not the chocolate cherries she had bought him.

Suddenly Keiko remembered.

His eyes were amused when he saw the chocolate cherries. "I love white chocolate, it's my favorite. The only time I'd say I love chocolate cherries is when I'm abducted by aliens or something." He joked playfully. Keiko had stared at him then, unsure of what to reply. In the end, she joined his laughter.

"Chihiro, there's something wrong with Ryo."

A/N: So here's the beautiful ending to Chapter Twelve! Cliffhanger!! Teeheehee!

I'm SO happy!! SIXTEEN REVIEWS!! I was at camp and almost every time I checked (for the first week) I got reviews! I was absolutely estatic. When I have a horrible day (my teacher yells at us, I get 5 hours of sleep, I accidently skipped breakfast, a paper is due the next day) and I see even ONE review, its made my day. Thanks guys, so much!

Responses:

Kaoru Girl [Did I ever mention I absolutely love that name? I was going to use it somewhere in this fic (not sure where) once...believe me, I love that name. About the confusing part....i must say it's part of my fault...I cut out some parts because I didn't want to give too much away...sorry about that! Thanks for your consistent reviews!], Seagal [So this is Fanficmaniac huh? It's nice to see you back! Thanks! I really hope I'm doing as great as you say...], Erkith [yeah, I know, it's pretty confusing...sorry about that...I cut out some parts....sorry!! I'll try to drop hints but I don't want to give it away. The eye color part is important!], Velf [Taught by nuns? I can only imagine how horrifying that is! Thanks, that's so thoughtful of you! I loved camp and I'm planning on going back next year.], x blue belle x [Sure. And since I already know you and I forced this story on you, I will remain silent.], LadyCrescentStar [I wonder how this will end too...Even I don't know yet Thanks for the review. I'm glad that this story has new readers.], Micrll [Thank you! preens At least there's one reader who follows the story...I feel like a failure for all this confusion.], apie [I wanted to like Ryo too! But then, I never got the chance because I already knew he was going to be bad. sigh He's really a good boy though! Naoko will come up soon...don't worry. Well, not soon but she'll come up.], white-Angel1215 [Thank you so much! I'm glad you'd rank it that high! A lot of people actually hate my story...thanks, believe it or not, that really helped!], Shitza [I love writing exciting chapters . I'll update Chapter 13 in a month or so. I hope.], Joker is Poker with a J [ Let's hope it's Chihiro! I get hyper sometimes too...on Pepsi. Teeheehee!], MoonlitIceGodddess [Well, really, Sora turned evil on a stroke of luck...She wasn't really meant to be a strong character...just a minor one who kept causing trouble...but she turned evil. By the way, she was NEVER meant to be for Haku in case anyone was wondering.], Y Sunshine [Well. Wow. You liked Sora. I've gotten several snide comments (more than snide...downright horrible) that they HATED Sora because she was a Mary Sue. Well. I guess I accidently made her into a Mary Sue but she was EVIL anyway. Hope you liked this chapter ], and charice [Thanks! Could this actually be an appropriate sequel? I can only wish that this was worthy!]