-Catgirl-of-Bavaria- : Another update for you! Enjoy and review
Chapter 6— Assistants and Friends
Haku walked calmly through the chaotic bath house, a bucket of dirty wash rags at his hip. It was rather busy today, but he still heard the whispers that floated around him from the other workers. They were almost never too busy to not pause momentarily for a brief bit of gossip.
"I still can't believe he used to be Yubaba's apprentice!"
"Now he's just a regular worker? I wonder what happened…"
"They say that he's been really depressed lately…"
Haku was used to it by now. It had been going on for six years, after all. He was actually surprised that the others hadn't gotten over his drastic change of vocation by now.
After Chihiro had left, he kept his vow that he'd stop being an apprentice to Yubaba, but he still found himself tied to the bath house. He knew that it would be where Chihiro would come, if she revisited the spirit world again. He thought about going to see Zeniba, Yubaba's sister in Swamp Bottom, but decided he'd rather stay in the bath house, close to the gateway, even if the resort was a hive of corruption and his boss the queen bee.
Reaching the wash room, the dragon dumped out all of the soiled rags into the wash pile and turned to leave.
"Haku!" He heard a voice trying to find him. He recognized it at once as Rin. She came into view, and she saw him there, empty bucket in hand, staring back at her. "Oh, there you are. Look, they just assigned us the big tub…It's gotten completely out of hand again, so we have to get over there and start now." She said, an ugly expression of loathing for the foremen spread across her face.
"C'mon, let's go, just leave the bucket here." She grabbed his hand and hastily pulled him away with other workers staring at the odd partners.
"Ugh, this is completely disgusting." Rin complained as they stood in the entrance to the big tub area. It was once more covered in reeds and grime. "It's just the same as when they told me and Se—" She cut herself off, remembering Haku and his heartache for the girl.
She quickly glanced at him to see if her words had phased him, but he only stared at the grimey tub.
"Nevermind, let's just get to work…" She muttered, a small blush of embarrassment spreading across her face as she hunched over her broom and began to push the reeds to one corner.
Over the years that Haku had worked as a regular bath house attendant, he had learned the tricks of the trade, and become almost as skillful as his new partner, Rin. He remembered how he came to be in Rins teachings six years ago…
"You what!" Yubaba screeched, nearly dropping her cigarette to the rug of her office.
"I said, I no longer desire to be your apprentice." Haku stated calmly and firmly, his brilliant green eyes glittering in the dim candle light.
"And what brings this on all of the sudden?" She demanded. "That human brat, no doubt!"
"I just don't want to work that close to you any longer. I am willing, however, to take a normal job in the bath house as a worker." He stated, keeping his cool and repressing his annoyance at her insult of Chihiro.
"Ah, and what makes you want to work down there? Isn't it better being an apprentice to the big boss, hmm?" She said, beginning to circle him where he stood. "Isn't it better to have privileges than to just be another meaningless worker bee?" she taunted him. Haku kept his intense eyes focused forward.
"With all due respect, I nearly died on the errand to retrieve Zeniba's Gold seal a few days ago. The errand that," He looked at her. "You assigned to me? That you forced me to do with that little black slug?"
Yubaba stared at him for a few seconds. How did he know about the black slug that she had used to control him! It must have been destroyed, she thought, for the way he's talking to me! But who would have…
"Sen…" She muttered inaudibly. Haku's eyes widened. He knew he heard her say something…
"Alright alright, fine, you're of no use to me anymore, Haku. I have no tolerance for rebellious dragons." She walked over the the human skull that acted as a phone to the foreman's desk. "Foreman! Foreman!"
"Yes, ma'am? Sorry for the delay it's just busy today." Chattered the skull with the foreman's voice.
"You've got someone who needs an assistant down there, don't you? Send her up!" Yubaba barked at the skull.
"Oh, yes, right away, Yubaba ma'am!" The skull went quiet.
Yubaba sat down at ther desk, muttering something under her breath and starting to play with her jewelry. Haku stood there, waiting for the person that the foreman would send up. Several minutes passed, and the door to Hakus right slowly opened.
"You wanted to see me, ma'am?" The young woman in the doorway bowed her way in, her long brown hair sliding on her shoulders. She looked up and saw Haku, who was also staring at her. He recognized her as Rin, the girl that he'd given Chihiro to. He had known that despite her first impression as someone cold and impatient, she would take care of the girl like she was her own little sister.
And he was glad to have been right.
"Ah, yes…It's my understanding that you no longer have an assistant, since the human girl left." Yubaba said coldly noting Chihiros existence and not looking up from her precious gems.
"That's right, ma'am." Rin said calmly and respectfully.
"Well, meet your new assistant, Haku."
"How's the tub coming, Haku?" Rins voice came between the dragon and his memories. He looked at his progress, and it was actually coming along. He'd absent-mindedly cleaned half the tub already. It wasn't sparkling, but the grime was gone
"Wow, you're really doing a good job!" Rin exclaimed upon peeking over the side of the enormous basin.
She was a whole lot nicer to him than when they were first partners. He started out a little clumsy with orders, which annoyed her. She hadn't even liked him to begin with. But after a while, Haku fell into the worker spirit and adapted quickly. Upon seeing that Haku had detached himself from Yubaba, she started to soften up and became a friend to the dragon.
Haku had to admit, it wasn't anywhere near like having Chihiro around, but it was great having a friend to at least share company with during the long work nights.