Chapter two! Yay!
Chihiro sat Haku up against a wall and grabbed his food, "Here, you need to eat. It'll help."
Haku let out a short laugh, "Déjà vu, eh?"
At first Chihiro didn't know what he was talking about, but then she remembered her first day working at the bath house when he took her to see her parents. He'd brought her enchanted rice cakes, "Yeah…" Chihiro smiled.
Haku managed to eat half of the rice and most of his water. He had enough strength to stand with help from Chihiro.
"I think that you should stay here while I figure out a way to get to Zaniba. It would be safer that way." Chihiro said holding onto Haku, who was now quite a bit taller than her.
"I think you're right…" Haku groaned.
"I'm going to take you to Kamaji though so he can watch over you while I am gone. You'll be safe." Chihiro led Haku slowly up and out of the hatch.
They made their way to the boiler room and crawled through the door.
"Sen, Haku!" Kamaji exclaimed.
"Kamaji, can I leave Haku here with you while I go and ask Zaniba to help me get him away?" Chihiro laid Haku down in the same spot where he'd recovered from Zaniba's spell five years before.
"Yes, yes child of course you can. He'll be safe here." Kamaji took a ragged old blanket and draped it over Haku.
"Thank you," Chihiro smiled and bent down to be eye level with Haku, "I'll be back soon I promise. Just hold on…"
"Chihiro…" Haku grasped her hand as she stood to leave again, pulling her back.
"Yeah?" Chihiro's voice shook.
"Be careful…Please..." Haku whispered, losing strength again.
"I will, just--" Chihiro started, but Haku cut her off.
"Chihiro, I love you." Haku's voice was barely audible. He was slipping unconscious yet again.
"Haku…I love you too! Just hang on, I'll save you. I will…" Chihiro placed a light kiss on Haku's cheek and ran from the boiler room, tears threatening to fall.
zzzzz
Chihiro knew that Yubaba would not be in yet, but she would be soon. She had to get to that nursery, and she had only minutes to do it. She sped up several flights of stairs, purposefully avoiding the elevators and public. Finally, she reached Yubaba's home. She sneaked in and slipped into the nursery.
"Baby, Baby, are you here?" Chihiro looked around.
Suddenly, there was a rumbling noise from under a pile of cushions. After a moment, a gigantic baby emerged, rubbing his eyes sleepily.
"Who are you?" he said loudly.
"It's Sen Baby, I've grown up some since you last saw me." Chihiro said, hoping that Baby would believe her.
"Sen!" Baby exclaimed after a moment.
"Baby, I need your help very badly. Haku is in trouble, and I need Zaniba err—Granny to get him out of it. Do you know how to reach her?" Chihiro explained quickly.
"Yes I do, she gave me a seal that I can use to talk to her," Baby said, fishing out a silver object from the pile of cushions, "Use it."
"How?" Chihiro took the seal from Baby.
"Squeeze it and talk." Baby said.
Chihiro did as she was told and squeezed, "Granny!"
Suddenly a transparent figure sprang up in front of Chihiro, "Yes—Why, Chihiro! How are you?"
"Not so great Granny…Haku's hurt, I think he's dying and Yubaba's been holding him captive. I need to get him away from the bath house before I lose him all together. I just need some help getting him past everyone else unnoticed." Chihiro explained sadly.
"Oh dear, let me think…There is one spell that I could give you. It's extremely dangerous; you and Haku would have to have complete trust in each other for it to work. If you don't, he will die." Granny said, thinking hard.
"I have to try…" Chihiro said her voice cracking.
Zaniba told Chihiro the spell and how to use it and wished her good luck, "If you need to, you can come to me if you need to run anywhere and can't get out of this world."
"Thank you Granny, see you!" Chihiro bowed quickly as Zaniba vanished.
"Good luck Sen." Baby said as Chihiro thanked him and ran from the room as fast as her legs could carry her.
zzzzz
"Kamaji, I'm back! Kamaji, what's wrong?" Chihiro burst through the boiler room door to find Kamaji bent to the floor, head in hands.
"Sen…Its Haku. He—He's about to pass. He is barely breathing." Kamaji got up on his work table and let Chihiro look at Haku.
He looked dead already. His face was paler than it had ever been before, and he was hardly breathing. Chihiro had to concentrate to see the rise and fall of his chest. Immediately, she burst into tears and ran to Haku's side.
"No, please don't die Haku…You can't leave me now, not like this! I found a way to get you out of here; you just have to trust me. Please hear me Haku, just trust me!" Chihiro cried.
Remembering the spell Chihiro cleared her mind, "In the name of trust and love, hold Haku to me and hide him."
Chihiro took Haku's hand and he slowly vanished. Chihiro gasped and stood up. She checked herself over to make sure she was alright, which she seemed to be.
"Where did he go?" Kamaji looked around for any sign of Haku.
"He's…inside of me. He's in my soul," Chihiro managed to say, "I have to go, I don't have long before the spell wares off."
Kamaji looked around again, "Well I'm betting that the river has filled in by now Sen. You won't be able to leave until at least the morning."
"That's fine. So long as I can get him to Zaniba's place, Haku will be okay. I have to go now, thank you for everything Kamaji. Tell Lin I said thank you too." Chihiro ran for the door to the outside. Kamaji nodded and waved as she escaped the bath house.
Chihiro got to the train tracks and began to run. She knew no other way to get to Swamp Bottom. She didn't have any tickets, and it was too dangerous to wait and see if the conductor would let her have a free ride. She ran with all her might, and before she knew it, she was at the sixth stop.
"Whew, so close…" Chihiro panted. She could feel Haku's spirit inside her. She knew he was very weak, but he was still alive. "…hold on Haku."
So, what did you think? I am really having a good time writing this story, and I'm glad that the reviews I've got have all been positive. There's two or three chapters left in the story…We'll see. Okay, time for you to review!
Serena Gemini