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 read somewhere that answering questions and comments were against regulations…is that true?

.: .The Lost Princess.: .

CHAPTER FIFTEEN—'THE GOOD EARTH'

by: Cecile Li

Recap.

"I want to hate you for ruining my life. I want to hate you for making me not able to hate you. Because I like you. You're the best friend I've ever had.

And I can't hate you even if you are better than me."

Keiko woke up with a huge headache. She was sleeping on a bed but she had no idea how she got there. At this early, she had no idea of anything.

"Keiko? Are you awake?"

"Ugh….." She mumbled intelligently.

"It's okay, I'll go make some breakfast. When you feel better, you can come down and eat." And then, Chihiro left.

Keiko groaned again. God, her head felt like it was split apart and put back together clumsily. She sat up with difficulty, daring not to open her eyes. What had happened?

Oh right. She got drunk on eggnog. Keiko had to smile at that. The she frowned. What incriminating things had she said? Oh god. She had said how much she loved Ryo and how much she hated and liked Chihiro. Her headache increased. How was she supposed to face Chihiro now?

Chihiro could barely go to sleep the night before. How did these things happen? A week ago everything was perfect. Her grades had been good and she had such nice friends. It was because she went back to the Spirited World. And now, two sketchy characters had showed up in her life. Sora Kasama, the princess's friend. Chihiro wasn't sure if she had imagined those red eyes or not. And Ryo Tanaka. From what Keiko said, it seemed like the two were very involved. What was with the abrupt engagement then? Both Keiko and Naoko thought Ryo had changed suddenly. Something was wrong, she thought, and it revolved around Ryo. But what was it?

The most important thing right now, she decided, was to get Keiko back to the Spirited World. Then Chihiro would come back and carry on her normal life. She didn't belong in a world of magic and dragons.

She lay down on the soft ground of the forest. She had always loved being outside. It always welcomed her, even when she was the ugliest meanest girl. Flowers bloomed for her and the calm earth embraced her. The earth….the good earth….it had told her not to. It had told her she was already good enough. But the water…it showed her what she was, what she looked like. It taunted her. Oh how she hated it. So she sought to change her appearance. But then, she realized, even that wasn't enough. Prince Kohaku had fallen in love with the white princess.

"You forced me to," Sora whispered, her long blood red nails capturing a rose, squeezing the thorny stem, "KANNA!" She screamed, ripping grass off the ground, "KANNA! You forced me to! You forced me to do this! You made me do this…"

Ryo leaned against the pine tree, behind the screaming Sora. Crazy. She was crazy. Somewhere when she was learning the forbidden magic to change that ugly face of hers, she had gone mad. The magic messed up her brain.

Ryo smiled mockingly. "It was forbidden for a reason, beautiful Sora."

He picked up the blood-soaked rose. "What a fickle thing, beauty is. In exchange for beauty, you lost your sanity. Even in this new life of hers, Kanna has someone just like you, desperate for her beauty. I wonder…will she follow the same path as you?"

Chihiro and Keiko walked slowly through the forest. It was a quiet morning and the birds had just started singing their song. The morning dew glistened everywhere, even on the slender blades of grass under their feet.

Keiko stole a glance at Chihiro. Even now, she looked calm and peaceful. Keiko looked back down at her feet. She was so jealous of Chihiro. But it was okay. She had told Chihiro and now? It didn't hurt as much.

Keiko sighed. Oh how she wished she was a better person. How she wished that Ryo hadn't changed. How she wished her mother didn't give her up when she was born. How she wished…

"Keiko?" Chihiro interrupted Keiko's thoughts, "We're almost there. Are you sure you want to leave?"

And so Keiko looked at the girl that was always composed that didn't look quite so calm at the moment. In fact…if Keiko didn't know better…Chihiro looked almost like she would…

"Chihiro, are you okay?" Keiko asked, reaching for her.

And then all hell broke loose.

Haku flew to the temple. It had been over two days and neither Sora nor Chihiro was back. He didn't bother to ask Yubaba to leave. She wouldn't let him.

She was in the forest. He could feel it. He didn't know why, but ever since he met her when she almost drowned, he had always known where she was. For years, until he had met her the second time, he didn't know what that weird feeling was. But now…Chihiro was in some sort of trouble. He knew it.

"Chihiro…" He whispered, "I'll definitely save you."

The first thing Chihiro noticed that was profoundly wrong was the shadows. Shadows shouldn't be changing like that. They shouldn't be holding dangerous swords and weapons. They shouldn't be holding Keiko at knifepoint. They shouldn't be moving.

She just stood there in shock for a moment before Keiko's piercing screams woke her. A huge shadow was aiming a small knife at Keiko.

"KEIKO!" Chihiro screamed, jumping at her, and breaking Keiko from her shadowy prisons. "Keiko, are you all right?"

As Keiko gulped and nodded, Chihiro hurriedly scanned their location. "Keiko, we need to move. We need to escape. We need to--" Chihiro stopped talking. She felt a cold, cold knife at her throat.

Keiko's blue eyes were wide in shock. "Ms. Kizuka?"

Chihiro slowly twisted her neck to look at her assailant. She shielding her eyes from the glare of the sun. "Sora."

Sora smiled a heartless, cruel smile. "K--" She started, before a sudden knife was thrown at her head. The blunt side of the knife caught her temple and she crumpled at once in unconsciousness. A silent shadow replaced her knife. Chihiro hear someone laughing, a big triumphant laugh. It took Chihiro a second to realize it was not coming from the shadow. It was coming from the handsome teenage boy in the center of the plain.

"Ryo."

Keiko was scared, no doubt about it. Not the kind of scary movie scared, or 'I'm-gonna-pee-in-my-pants' scared, but 'oh-my-god-this-is-actually-happening' scared. This was real. This was real. This was more real than anything she had ever seen. These people were out for Chihiro and her.

That's when Keiko realized she was going to die.

Keiko stifled a sob then. Chihiro heard her. Ryo heard her. And Chihiro couldn't help but wish she could too. What was she supposed to do? They were after the princess, Chihiro was sure. Well, they had her now…what would they do with her? Stop, Chihiro sternly commanded herself, you need to think about escape…think of saving Keiko from them.

But even her brain couldn't hide the fact that she was most likely not going to escape from her.

"Ogino Chihiro." Ryo greeted respectfully, bowing slightly. "Dobashi Keiko."

Chihiro nearly fell over in shock. What was Ryo playing at? This situation was ridiculous. Moving shadows, Sora, and now Ryo was bowing at her? This was too much.

Ryo walked up to the two girls and the shadow. He took Chihiro's face in his icy hand. He scrutinized her carefully. Then he turned to the shadows behind him. "Kill the unneeded girl. Dispose of her body in the river."

One shadow almost seemed to bow and it took out an arrow and bow. From its far distance, Chihiro couldn't tell where the shadow was aiming at. But she knew that arrow would kill.

Ryo walked away, very calmly and almost swaggering. Then as Ryo was watching the shadow aim at the girl, something crossed his face. He was struggling against something, Chihiro could see it. He mouthed no, no, over and over again. The string was pulled taut. The arrow was released from the bow.

Chihiro remembered the next few events in slow motion. Ryo was running now, running faster than Chihiro ever thought possible. He was running to catch up with the arrow. As it almost reached Keiko's beating heart, he leaped in its path.

Haku scanned the ground for her. She was close.

He stopped suddenly. What was that? It looked like a whole group of people and shadows, even in the daytime. There was a big fire in the middle of the clearing and there was some kind of fight going on. When it stilled, he could see someone walking from the center to two small objects. Then out of the shadows came an arrow, traveling to the two objects.

Those weren't objects, Haku realized. It was Chihiro!

Author Note: Here's a super duper long chapter for the long wait (okay, fine…. maybe not that long). I have not abandoned this story, and I promise I will finish it. I only feel so bad for the readers…. I'm such a bad author! School has not been very busy lately…so I don't have a legitimate excuse except I'm the laziest human being ever!

I'm going to write in a new fandom, Naruto. It's going to be a different style and kind of pairing from the stories I have on this account, so I will change accounts for my new stories.

I have the next chapter planned out, so hopefully it will be out before Christmas or even Thanksgiving if I'm giving enough (haha…. Sorry. Bad pun).

-C.L.