A/N: Okay, this is the fourth chapter that I've started in one day. The on and off humor in the last chapter came from my dinner, peanut butter jelly, yum! But anyways this one shall, hopefully be much longer, and maybe not end on a cliffie.

Chapter 4: Healing

"What?" Chihiro muttered groggily as she sat up. Aiso was crouced in front of her, her work uniform stained in crimson liquid. Blood. "Aiso, why are you covered in-"

"No time!" she hissed, grabed Chihiro's arm and dragged her to her feet despite Chihiro's complaints of not being fully dressed. "It doesn't matter!"

Finally the pair scooted out of the dormitory without waking anyone. She still had a firm grasp on Chihiro's arm and was dragging her into a room down the hall from the dormitories.

"It was an old storage room, but it hasn't been used in years," she explained, and picked up a basket off the floor that was filled with little jars and bandages. "I managed to drag a futon and some blankets and a small pillow in here. Don't tell anyone about this."

"What about…?"

"The others? I don't see any reason for them to know yet."

"Know what though?"

Aiso pulled the door open and Chihiro stepped in as she shut the door behind them, and gasped.

In the pale moonlight fluttering in through the door which led out onto the balcony which was slightly open. It was Haku.

She ran over to him and dropped to her knees. Aiso lit a candle and placed it by his bed so that she could see his face.

There were three large gashes across each of his cheeks, a large black bruise adorned his right cheek. A deep gash above his left eye had caused the blood to fall over it and scabbed there.

There were numerous gashes, scratches, and bruises covering his body, and his clothes were torn badly. Aiso placed the basket above his head, she watched Chihiro silently.

Chihiro reached out a hand and cupped his cheek, rubbing her thumb against his cheek bone. When she drew her hand back, his blood covered her palm, the wounds hadn't even began to scab over.

Aiso wordlessly began removing bandages and small jars from the basket. Chihiro broke the silence, "What is in those jars?"

"Antiseptic, and poultices," Aiso replied. She stood up and left, returning with a bowl full of warm water and a cloth. "Should we start with his face?"

Chihiro nodded, as Aiso kneeled across from her, she reached out, took the damp cloth from the bowl and began dabbing gently at his face, wiping the dried blood off his eye (A/N: I blame CCS for the inspiration for that. T.T).

As daylight approached Aiso stood, it had taken them two hours just to clean up his face, "I'll be right back; I'm going to dump this water and get some fresh water. Don't leave this room."

Chihiro didn't look up, but nodded silently.

Aiso turned and sighed, before leaving the room. As she headed toward a washroom, Lin and Teran stopped her, "Aiso, have you seen Chihiro?"

"Not since last night," Aiso replied evenly. Lying came naturally to her, the ability to keep her face straight and her voice calm and smooth. "Why?"

Teran added in looking around, "We woke up this morning and she wasn't in the dorm. We thought you two were up to something."

Aiso laughed, "Like what?"

"Staging a rescue mission without a proper plan." Yuki this time, she came up behind Teran and Lin. "Aiso, what are you doing with that bowl?"

"I was going to empty it and get some more."

"Why?" Dia asked, pushing her glasses up her nose a little. "Are you doing something you're not telling us?"

"No, I'm just doing some cleaning, and I need some fresh water," Aiso lied again. "And I haven't seen Chihiro-san."

Aiso brushed by, and was almost passed Lin, when said person noticed the hue of the water, "Aiso, if you're doing cleaning, why is the water red? Like…" Lin didn't finished her sentence, she let the thought hang.

"… blood," Teran finished. The five stood in absolute silence, Teran, Lin, Yuki, and Dia trying to figure out what was going on, Aiso trying to lie her way out of this situation.

"One of the – HEY!" Yuki snatched the bowl out of Aiso's hands. "Give it back!"

Yuki shook her head, and held the bowl out of Aiso's hands, "Explain Aiso-chan."

"There's nothing to explain," Aiso replied, her hands balling into fists. "And it isn't my secret to tell. You'll have to ask elsewhere. I will not betray secrets that are not mine."

Yuki handed the bowl back to Aiso with a look that said 'I will be finding out with or without your consent.' Aiso rolled her eyes and continued onward.

The three turned toward Yuki, Teran muttered angerly, "Why'd you let her go?"

"She made a point," Yuki replied. "We'll have to find out ourselves. Just have some faith and patience."

Dia smiled here, "Patience is one thing Teran lacks."

The four continued downstairs, Teran and Lin were assigned to cleaning the big tub, while Dia and Yuki cleaned up one of the guestrooms.

"How often is this thing cleaned?" Teran asked, clearly disgusted. "Eew… it's like wading through a sewer."

"We only clean it once every five months or so," Lin explained. "But we only use it for the most dirty of the customers."

Teran wrinkled her nose in disgust, "It's worse then the bathroom at my old school…"

"What was so bad about it?"

"The fact that the girls' bathroom was flooded so often that we had to use the boys'," Teran explained. "The fact that some people enjoyed smearing the contents of the toilets didn't help the clean factor in any way."

"Okay, I see…"

Finally, late in the evening, Chihiro and Aiso managed to clean Haku up, many of the wounds hadn't scabbed over yet, but Chihiro was optimistic.

"Do you think he'll recover rapidly?"

"He'll probably be fine in a couple of days; stable anyway," Aiso stood up. "By the way, the others wer looking for you. They want to know where you went."

Chihiro remained silent and continued looking at Haku, "I'll stay here for the night. You can go and get something to eat."

Aiso bowed, at the waist, the bowl balanced on her hip, "I thank you very much for helping me Chihiro-san. I will try to sneak you something to eat."

Chihiro watched the young girl leave the room before returning her gaze to Haku.

Like most spirits, he'd aged slightly, (A/N: I'm guessing here.) so he only looked a few years older then herself.

She stroked his brow before lying down on the floor beside him.

Yeah, sorry about the suspense last chapter. But you did review! I am still recovering from those stab wounds... (pulls some antiseptic out of pocket, removes bandage and slathers it on, blood gushes out) OWIE!