Rating: T
Summary: When Chihiro's friend, Reiko, comes across the entrance to the spirit world and wants to explore, the best Chihiro can do is accompany her. After six years, what new adventures await them? What has happened to Haku, and who is this new black dragon, and Yubaba's new assistant...?
Disclaimer: Spirited Away © 2001 Hayao Miyazaki and Studio Ghibli. I own only the fanfiction, Reiko, and Kuro.
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Chapter 1 : Return
Chihiro Ogino yawned, falling back onto her bed and putting an arm over her eyes, shielding it from the setting sunlight coming in through her open window. It had been a wonderful party to celebrate her sweet sixteenth, and the clock on her bedside table currently read: 6:32pm. Her party had started at 10:15pm the previous night, and the last person had left just five minutes ago. She felt her bed bounce as someone plopped down beside her, and Chihiro rolled over on her side to see her good friend Reiko on her stomach beside her, gazing out the window with her chin in her hands. Her orange-golden, waist-length hair fell around her and contrasted against Chihiro's own dark brown hair, much darker than it had been ten years ago and also waist-length, worn down at present but the glittering hair-tie was around Chihiro's wrist, never left behind and never forgotten.
Chihiro's eyes held the same kindness as they had acquired in the spirit world six years ago, though they had lightened a bit to a darker amber, which held a quizzical look at the smug glow in Reiko's stormy-gray ones as their gazes met. "Why are you looking at me like that…?"
Reiko laughed, softly enough so as not to wake Chihiro's parents who had gone to bed hours ago. "Akira was sure flirtatious, wasn't he?" she whispered, a knowing look on her face. "He's liked you for a while, which is nothing bad, mind you. In fact, you should be more than happy because he is absolutely the hottest thing on this planet."
Chihiro did not even blush, she simply gave an irritated look and sat up, bringing her knees to her chin and wrapping her arms around her legs. She shrugged and smiled a bit. "Yeah, yeah, he's cute. And he's asked me to be his girlfriend."
"He has?" Reiko asked, looking far too elated and sitting up as well, staring into the deep pools of amber that were Chihiro's eyes, always filled with more than anyone else could understand, for one very large, very secret reason. Chihiro nodded. "Well, what did you say?"
"I told him I'd think about it."
Reiko gave a little smirk. "So, playing hard to get in the hopes that suspense will elevate his feelings for you?"
Chihiro smiled a bit. "No, I told him I'd think about it because that's exactly what I'm going to do. But you know me, thinking things through tends to cloud the original intent, so it won't take me long."
"Is that why you're so spontaneous?"
"But, not rash. I think a better word to describe it is instinct." Chihiro straitened her legs and touched her feet to the floor, still facing the window, and looked out at the town and roads below her. Reiko nodded.
"No, you're not rash." She grinned a little, nudging her friend playfully. "You're just far too mature for your age."
Chihiro laughed, and shrugged. "Well I'm tired of hearing 'act your age' anyway. Let's go do something." Chihiro stood up and stretched with her hands up over her head, then turned to face her bed and an excited-looking Reiko.
"You mean, like sneak out?"
Chihiro nodded.
A gleam appeared in Reiko's stormy eyes. "Then I have the perfect place we can go."
Changing swiftly from their party clothes, Chihiro dressed now in a short blue-green spaghetti-strap tank with a collared, button-up long-sleeve over it, white with pale blue horizontal stripes and the two bottom corners simply tied and buttons ignored with the sleeves rolled to her elbows, and a pair of short, low, black shorts that fit like volleyball spandex but were made of a dull sort of fabric. She wore her white sneakers, as always, though she had decorated them with small blue and green stars and dots. Reiko wore some of Chihiro's clothes, a pink tee and a mini jean skirt, with black shorts like Chihiro's except that they extended to just above her knees. She wore white and pink sneakers, which she tended to clean almost religiously. Chihiro swore she would scrub right through the shoe one day.
The pair pushed the little red Toyota Prius down the driveway before hopping in and starting the engine, so as not to awaken the sleeping Ogino's. Chihiro knew Reiko was a good driver, despite being underage, but Chihiro couldn't help become a little stony-faced when her friend began driving down that overgrown road in the forest, past the little shrines clustered around the giant tree near the start, a road that Chihiro knew like the back of her own hand but had never traveled down accompanied after the first time with her parents.
"Reiko, what are…"
"You'll see, Chihiro. It's amazing…"
Chihiro took a deep breath, the image of the large red building that she knew resided at the end of the road appearing in her mind just before the car rounded the corner, and it was there…
The entrance to the spirit world.
Parking the car just before hitting the little two-faced statue, Reiko opened her door and stepped out, smiling at the old building that towered above them. "Isn't it great…?"
The voice of Chihiro's father echoed a moment in her head. "This building's not old. It's fake. These stones are just made of plaster."
"C'mon, let's go in, I want to see what's on the other side." Chihiro jumped, realizing this next sentence was from Reiko, and stepped out from the car as well, walking with her friend to the tunnel entrance, peering in. "I found this place yesterday. I was at Mae's so her mom drove us to your house for your party, but we missed the turn and decided to take this road instead. But, as you can see…" She smiled as a faint wind blew past them, pulling a few stray leaves down into the tunnel.
It's pulling us in…
"It's so fascinating. Let's just take a look, Chihiro!" Reiko said, turning to Chihiro and giving her a pleading look. "Or," she added with a playful grin, "you can just wait in the car."
Chihiro simply stared down the tunnel, not quite sure what was happening to her. She almost jumped at Reiko's last comment, and turned to stare at her in something like disbelief.
Chihiro, just wait in the car then.
But Mom!
Reiko frowned. "What's the matter, 'Hiro?" She relaxed into a slight smile. "Don't be such a fraidy-cat, it's just a tunnel."
"I know where it goes!" Chihiro snapped, looking back down the dark passageway before them. Reiko blinked, startled.
"You do?"
Chihiro was silent, upset at her outburst. "Forget it." She looked up at the sky, and saw the sun just starting to vanish, still hovering a bit on the horizon as if pondering the possibility of pulling an all-nighter just to mix things up. "The fields should be filling with water soon…" she whispered softly to herself.
"What?"
"The fields fill up with water at night." Chihiro said simply.
"The…what? Chihiro, are you playing games?" But Chihiro started walking down the tunnel without a word. Reiko blinked, then grinned triumphantly, and ran to catch up with her, linking her arm around Chihiro's. As they continued farther into the tunnel, Chihiro suddenly realized how tightly she was gripping Reiko when her friend laughed. "Chihiro, don't cling like that, you'll make me trip!"
Chihiro picked up the pace and dragged Reiko after her. "What…Chihiro, what's the matter with you…? Oh!" Reiko walked strait into Chihiro before realizing her friend had stopped at the end of the tunnel, as if unsure now whether to take the last step, or turn and run. Because running away was the best thing to do right now, in Chihiro's mind. She didn't know what would happen if she went back. What if the fields were still filled with water? "Ow…Chihiro, what are you doing?" Chihiro, startled, looked over her shoulder at Reiko, who was rubbing her smarting forehead and smiling a bit at her friend. "You really are scared, aren't you." But Chihiro watched Reiko like she had just realized she was there. What would happen if Reiko entered the spirit world? She'd vanish, eventually, if she didn't eat something from that world, like what would have happened to Chihiro if Haku hadn't…
Chihiro's eyes widened and she stared back out of the tunnel into the new room and scanned the benches and the colored glass windows, eyes starting to water a bit at the memories of this place. Haku. Chihiro relaxed a bit, and nodded. "C'mon, Reiko. Let's go." Chihiro took a deep breath, then stepped out of the tunnel, wandering farther into the room, eyes resting on the doorway out. It was grassy fields beyond.
"Chihiro, listen! Do you hear that?"
"It's a train…"
"We must be near a train station."
Chihiro nodded, smiling softly. "I'm sorry, Reiko. Are you okay?"
Reiko laughed and nodded. "Of course, you just startled me is all. How about you, are you okay? You've been acting sorta weird, no offense."
Chihiro smiled a bit more, and shrugged. "I dunno. C'mon, out here." Chihiro lead Reiko out of the room and, while Reiko stared awe-struck at the beautiful fields before them, Chihiro turned and looked up at the massive clock tower, hearing the slight moan of the building they had emerged from.
It's just the wind.
"Wow…what are those weird buildings?"
I knew it. It's an abandoned theme park. See? The built them everywhere in the early 90's, then the economy went bad and they all went bankrupt. This must be one of them.
"I don't know. Come on, Reiko. Down this path." The two continued down the slightly worn path, through the fields and strange rocks and buildings, Reiko staring at each like she couldn't believe something like this existed so close to home.
"Oh, what a beautiful place! We should have brought some snacks, then we could have had a picnic!" She mused, clearly delighted. "Look! That's a sad little river, isn't it?" She picked up her pace and hopped onto one of the rocks in the riverbed, poking a finger in the trickling water. Standing up as Chihiro joined her, she followed her gaze to the stone steps that lead up to more odd buildings, a stone frog sitting on the top stair. "Smell that, Chihiro?"
Chihiro's gaze hardened. "Don't eat anything unless I say so."
Reiko shot her friend a look like she didn't know whether to laugh or be upset. "What are you talking about?"
"Just do what I say, I'll explain it all later."
Reiko sighed, rubbing the back of her neck. "Chihiro, you really do have the oddest little quirks. But okay, you lead. I trust you."
Chihiro nodded, and started up the steps, remembering the way she had followed her father as he sniffed out the food that had gotten them into such a mess. She lead Reiko various ways, and Reiko didn't question her again, simply eyeing the strange buildings and statues, like the stone fish head she almost tripped right over at the top of yet another set of stone stairs. "How odd, these are all restaurants!"
Chihiro nodded, but kept walking, eyes on the place where the scent of food was emerging, the same place as before. Chihiro paused, Reiko bumping lightly into her. Blinking a bit, Reiko looked up and smiled excitedly as the lanterns strung across between buildings above them started to glow, but this expression soon faded as dark shapes started to move within the buildings. "Chihiro…Chihiro, what are those…?"
"Hurry up." Chihiro said, grabbing Reiko by the wrist and jogging towards the last flight of stairs, where she knew the bathhouse stood, hidden now by the tree she knew had grown there before, but had become much larger than she remembered. Pulling Reiko hurriedly as she felt her friend press closer to her, Chihiro seemed completely oblivious to the tall, black blobs of spirits that walked around them as the doors to the restaurants opened, and the cried of "Welcome, valued customer!" were heard from various places and the different dialects and languages of the spirits could be heard as the whole place became alive as the sun set. There was no turning back.
"A…wait, Chihiro, that's a bathhouse, right?"
Chihiro nodded, pausing at the start of the bridge. "Yes. The Aburaya Bathhouse." Reiko emitted a startled gasp as a spirit passed a little to close to her, and almost screamed as she saw that some of the spirits had taken on solid shapes. Chihiro smiled gently, seeing a group of Kasuga-Sama walk by, remembering when she had first seen them, coming off of the boat.
"Oh, Chihiro! Look! They're like giant chicks!" Chihiro smiled, and nodded, following her finger to a pair of Ootori-Sama. She then made her way to the railing of the bridge and peered over, asking, "Where are we?" when she saw the train rush by beneath them. "Oh, there's the train!"
"Damnit, more humans?" Reiko jumped and spun around, grabbing Chihiro's arm and nudging close to her as a boy, maybe a year older, froze and saw the pair, anger gleaming through his steely green eyes. "You shouldn't be here. Get out of here, now!" He looked around himself and cursed again in realization. "It's already night, you can't get back across…"
Chihiro blinked, shocked. "H…Haku?"
The boy's gaze snapped back to her, and scanned her amber eyes a moment. Reiko tugged on Chihiro's sleeve, whispering sharply into her ear, "You know him? What's going on!"
A faint smile flickered on Chihiro's mouth, and soon the boy's gaze softened and the anger was replaced with joy and a bit of disbelief. "Chihiro…what are you…?"
But he was cut short as Chihiro flung her arms around his neck and buried her face between his neck and shoulder, pressing her warm tears against his skin. Haku blinked and blushed a bit in surprise, then exhaled and relaxed in amusement and returned the embrace, being able to feel her there seeming to confirm that he wasn't dreaming. "Haku, I – "
"AHHH!" Chihiro and Haku broke apart as Reiko screamed, and Chihiro whirled around to see her friend staring in complete horror at her own hand, which was now partially transparent. "I'm see-through!"
"What, humans!" came another voice, this time belonging to an Aogaeru, a little frog, one of the workers at the bathhouse. "What are humans doing here, Haku?"
"It's okay, they're with me." Haku replied, grabbing Chihiro by her wrist and pulling her after him towards the bathhouse. Chihiro snatched Reiko similarly and the three hurried across the bridge, and into the little secret door so familiar to Chihiro that she almost froze up when Haku opened it for her and waited for her to go through, Reiko after her. "Hurry, Chihiro." He whispered, seeing the little frog dash into the bathhouse, clearly off to tell someone about the humans he had seen. Haku lead the two into the familiar side-garden of the bathhouse, and reached into his pocket to retrieve something small and red like a berry, and held it out to Reiko who was now transparent up her legs and to her elbows. She looked very close to tears, and stumbled back as Haku held the food out to her.
"Just eat it, Reiko." Chihiro said, taking the little red berry from Haku's open palm and pushing it into Reiko's mouth. Reiko looked ready to spit it out, so Chihiro added, "Do you want to vanish? Just swallow it!" Reiko hesitated fearfully a moment, then swallowed and exhaled heavily as she relaxed. "See, you're all better." Chihiro said with a faint smile, taking Reiko's hands into her own. Reiko met her gaze, and Chihiro remembered how she had felt when all of this had happened to her.
Chihiro released Reiko's hands and turned, so see Haku watching her with slight amusement. Chihiro blinked, then looked as the side door to the bathhouse slid open, revealing a distressed-looking Aniyaku, whose eyes lit up in relief at seeing Haku. "Oh, Haku! Yubaba wants to see you…and the humans." He added, seeing Chihiro and Reiko and making a sort of face as he sniffed.
Reiko frowned and whispered, "Do we smell bad or something?"
"It's the scent of humans – they don't like it." Chihiro replied softly, with a faint smile. "Don't worry about it, our smell will go away after a few days."
Reiko nodded, then linked her arm in Chihiro's as they followed Haku inside, leaving their shoes and socks and following the boy to the elevators. Suddenly, she heard a girl say, "Sen?"
Chihiro turned to see a small group of Yuna, the female bath workers, who had paused their cleaning to give the humans a closer look. Chihiro smiled a bit, and waved.
"Sen! It is Sen, I told you, I could recognize that girl anywhere!" the girl cried, and soon a crowd had formed around them, crying "Sen! Sen, you're back!" This excited everyone, of course, who came to see the girl they had met six years ago. There were whispers of, "Sen, she's back! Who is that other human with her? Are more coming…?" and other such questions, which only came to confuse poor Reiko even further. Chihiro smiled reassuringly at her friend, silently promising to explain everything later.
Chihiro smiled as Haku lead them through the crowds, and said, "Hello, nice to see you! It's been a while," and the like as they finally reached the first elevator and stepped inside, waving good-bye as the elevator door closed.
"Why are they calling you Sen?" Reiko asked as the door closed, taking one last look at all the strange things she was seeing.
"The last time I was here my name got taken away, and everyone called me Sen." Chihiro replied softly. "And you…" she turned to Haku, who was still watching her in curiosity. "They don't call you 'Master' Haku anymore. Did Yubaba release you from your contract…?"
Haku shifted a bit, and said, "Well I have my name back, thanks to you. And I talked to Yubaba right after you left. I'm not longer her apprentice, but…well, seeing as, like you said, they've built buildings in my river, I can't very well go back to the human world. So, she said I should continue to work at the bathhouse until I decided what to do. I take care of stray humans, such as yourselves." The elevator door opened and the three emerged, and Haku lead them around the second floor to the next elevator. "I wanted to go to the human world to see you, but I like it here. If Yubaba is in a good mood, maybe she'll grant you permission to come here whenever you want…"
Chihiro nodded silently. She hadn't though about how she would be getting home. And Reiko… Chihiro glanced at here friend, who seemed to be recovering and was now looking about herself in excitement and awe. Yubaba would most likely be upset to see that the little girl who had created such an uproar in her bathhouse six years ago had not only returned, but brought a friend along.
The elevator doors opened, but the three did not step out. Haku reached for the lever to bring them up to the last floor, but paused as someone pushed through a crowd of Ushioni and raced towards the elevator, throwing her arms around Chihiro and crying, "Sen! It's really you, Aniyaku wasn't lying after all!"
Chihiro squirmed a bit in the tight embrace, and muttered through the other girl's shirt, "Rin?" The girl released Chihiro and stood back to study her, looking totally elated and not much different than the last time Chihiro had seen her.
Rin smiled. "So you remember me still! Wow, you've grown so much, you're just as tall as I am!" Chihiro smiled, then noticed that Haku was now taller than Rin by a couple inches. "How have you been? And – oh! Who's this?"
"I'm Reiko, it's very nice to meet you." Reiko replied as she bowed, and Rin gave her an approving look.
"Geez, Sen. How come you didn't have manners like this when you first showed up?" Rin commented, causing Chihiro to frown and cross her arms across her chest. "What are you doing here?"
"Rin, if you don't mind." Haku interrupted, and Rin gave him an irritated look. Obviously the two hadn't bonded at all over the six years that Chihiro had been gone. "I need to take them to Yubaba. Wait for them in your sleeping quarters, Kuro will probably bring them down."
Rin nodded and returned her gaze to Chihiro, smiling. "I'll see you later, then." Chihiro nodded and Rin backed out of the elevator, waving as Haku pulled down the lever, the doors closing and the elevator moving up again.
Haku shifted again, shaking his bangs from his eyes as the elevator door opened once more and the three stepped out into the decorated halls leading to Yubaba's office. Reiko looked about herself, taking in the beauty of this new place, but a little uneasy about where they were going. She knew nothing of this strange place.
"Haku?"
"Yes?" Haku replied softly as he and Chihiro lead Reiko past the large, decorated pots that lined the walls, to the maroon and golden doors.
"Who's Kuro…?"
Haku started to answer when suddenly Yubaba's voice was heard as the golden doorknocker began to speak, sending Reiko rigid in fright and hiding behind Chihiro. "What's this? Haku, is that Sen?"
"Did…that doorknocker just talk to us?' She whispered shakily. Chihiro simply nodded and nudged her to be silent.
Haku nodded and replied to the doorknocker, "This is Chihiro."
The doorknocker squinted a bit, and rolled its eyes in its sockets, resting its gaze on Reiko. "What, and another human? What is this, the next human exodus? It better not be, I can't be having humans running around this place, it'll be bad for business…"
"I'm not planning on bringing any more, ma'am." Chihiro spoke up, bowing a bit in apology. "I'm sorry, but she found the entrance to this place and there was no talking her out of coming. I figured I'd at least tag along and make sure she didn't cause you any trouble."
The doorknocker eyed the two humans for a moment, then rolled its eyes again and they could hear Yubaba sigh. "Very well. Come in."
The lock on the door clicked and the doors opened, along with all the other doors behind the first, the chandeliers all glowing, illuminating the decorated rooms that now stood revealed. Reiko's jaw introduced itself to the ground as it dropped.
"Hold on, Reiko." Chihiro warned.
"What?"
Suddenly, all three were being pulled strait in by Yubaba's magic, the doors closing behind them. Reiko screamed as the three rounded a corner and sped through another hallway, decorated like the rest of the top floor. Soon, a door came towards them, or, rather, them towards it, and Reiko held up her arms to shield herself though the door flew open at the last minute, and the three came to a sudden stop. This time, along with Haku, Chihiro stayed on her feet. Reiko, however, went flying head-over-heels, landing flat on her face. When she lifted her head to look around, she emitted a shriek of terror to find herself staring strait into the eyes of nothing but a large, green head – one of three Kashira. She scrambled to her feet and hid again behind Chihiro, peeking out in horror as the three heads began to bounce towards them, grunting in their own language.
The fire was lit in the fireplace and it warmed Chihiro's back, and she took in the details of the room through her peripheral vision. It was all so familiar, so rich, so classy, so very much like the witch of the bathhouse. Chihiro's eyes were in fact glued to her, to Yubaba, who sat at her desk and was flipping through what looked like contracts similar to the one Chihiro had first signed.
At Reiko's scream Yubaba looked up in annoyance, though her eyes rested on Chihiro. "Well, well. What have we here." She said, finally, after setting the papers down and closing the maroon and gold box on her left, filled with little bags of money. "Chihiro," she muttered to herself, pushing a stray strand of hair back up into perfection, "such a pretty name…" She folded her hands on her desk and scanned the two humans for a moment.
Chihiro could feel Reiko tensing uncomfortably, but she stood still under Yubaba's gaze, and soon met it. Yubaba nodded.
"Well, what is it that you want?"
"We'd like to get temporary jobs." Chihiro said. Haku glanced sidelong at her, but said nothing, and Chihiro could feel Reiko's confused gaze on the back of her head. "I came so that my friend Reiko could see this place without causing too much trouble, but I still feel I owe you for some of the things that happened last time."
"Yes, yes." Yubaba mumbled, rubbing her temple with one of her be-jeweled fingers. "Don't remind me." She was silent a moment, placing a cigarette in her mouth and lighting it with a flame produced on her fingertip, then finally looked back up again at Chihiro and exhaled a cloud of smoke. "I supposed you can have temporary jobs, like I said the first time, I have all the lazy bums I need, but you worked hard the last time despite a few…harder times…" Yubaba paused again and took a deep breath, as if pushing those thoughts from her head, then continued. "But you made good money with the River God, so I think it should be okay."
For a moment Chihiro remembered what had happened the first time she had come here, asking for a job over and over until she had upset the baby, Bou, and a frustrated Yubaba had given her a job just to get rid of her. Chihiro blinked a bit, remembering the big baby Bou, and Yu-Bird. Chihiro snapped back to reality, however, when Yubaba spoke again, saying, "What about her?" She waved a hand at Reiko, who still peeked over Chihiro's shoulder.
Chihiro blinked and glanced at Reiko, stepping aside so that Reiko stood by herself. Swallowing, Reiko straitened up a bit and bowed respectfully. "I…I'm a hard worker, Ma'am, you don't have to worry about me."
Yubaba eyed her a moment, then let out another breath of smoke and, with a wave of her finger, lifted two contracts and two pens from a silver box on her right, sending them flying over to Chihiro and Reiko. Reiko, surprised, took a hold of her paper and pen, but Chihiro hesitated a moment. Yubaba sighed. "Don't worry, you're keeping your names this time and you can release the contract whenever you decide to go. But we'll all call you Sen just of old-time's sake, sound fair?" Chihiro nodded slowly, and took a hold of her contract and pen, finally looking down at it and reading it swiftly. Finally she pressed the paper up against the marble of the fireplace and signed her name. Reiko, after seeing that Chihiro had agreed to sign, signed her own as well, and looked up at Yubaba who was organizing a few things on her desk. When she was finished she sent the contracts and pens back into the air and over to her desk, the pens returning to her pencil jar and the papers to her hands. "Very well. Haku, you can go. Kuro will take things from here…"
As if on cue, a boy, Haku's age, with charcoal hair and unearthly red eyes, walked into the door, saying, "You called for me?" Chihiro couldn't help but notice the look of dislike that Haku gave this new boy. It was subtle, but Haku didn't show expressions regularly anyway so it was easy for Chihiro to pick it out.
"These girls signed a contract." Yubaba said. "Set them up with jobs. Preferably with Rin, am I right?" Yubaba looked to Chihiro for confirmation. Chihiro nodded.
"Very well. What're your names?" He turned to the two humans, ignoring Haku's presence entirely.
"I'm Sen." Chihiro said. "She's Reiko."
Kuro nodded, and Chihiro couldn't help but feel uncomfortable under his strangely demonic stare.
"They're on different contracts, Kuro, so you don't have to worry to much about them." Yubaba said. "That one, Sen, has been here before. They're on temporary contracts, so they're void whenever these two decide to leave."
Kuro nodded, then turned to Chihiro and Reiko.
"Well then. Follow me."