-Catgirl-of-Bavaria- : Hello again, another update for you.
As much fun as I had with curious Haku in the last chapter, I had even more fun writing him in this chapter! Yay for insomnia driven inspiration!
Chapter 12 – Journey to the Second Human
It wasn't even an hour into the night when Haku woke from slumber, being revisited by muscle aches and spasms. Sitting up carefully as to not disturb Chihiro, he gave a yawn, and flexed some select muscles. They still remained tight and sore.
'Yubabas getting pretty good at these punishments,' He thought to himself. 'The pain lasts for hours…'
He decided to stay in the blanket nest, over Chihiro, and took to watching the soot balls feed coal to the insatiable furnace. Kamaji was hard at work, grinding herbs in his mortar and tugging at the bath tokens that found their way to his vision. Leaning his heavy head back onto the drawer of some unknown herb behind him, Haku sighed deeply, wishing he could shut his eyes without these phantom pains.
"When did Sen arrive?" Kamaji asked Haku as he continued his work. Haku had begun stirring just moments before, causing the old spirit to finally notice his wakefulness.
"Just hours ago." Haku answered as he tied back his straight hair with the strip of cloth that he'd tied around his wrist before seeing Yubaba. His fingers nimbly worked behind his head as he rose out of his side of the futon.
His hair now successfully tied back, Haku pulled at the covers of their nest and sheltered Chihiro with them. He noticed her hair was dry now, spreading gracefully around her shoulders, hiding the pink of her uniform with streaks of chestnut brown. Haku smiled and couldn't resist temptation to stroke it lightly with his fingers. It was even silkier than he'd ever thought to imagine.
She gave no response, rather continued emitting low, content breaths. He briefly wondered if she was dreaming, and what about. Perhaps of distant memories of her last visit to this world.
"Keep a watch on Sen for me, Kamaji." Haku requested, regretfully taking his attention from the sleeping girl and starting for the servant door. Kamaji looked at the river spirit as he added some herb to the mixture in his mortar.
"Ooh? You're not leaving, are you?" he asked him quietly. "RIn told you to take time off, and get some rest."
"I know, Kamaji, and I do appreciate your hospitality in letting me stay here, but I should be out there working right now." Haku responded professionally and with a bow. "If Yubaba senses that Sen is here, then it would be suspicious if I were not present at work. She'd expect me to be gone, that's what would confirm her suspicions of Sen being here."
"Ooh, well…What if she comes looking for the girl herself?" Kamaji suggested.
Before Haku had a chance to answer, the servant's door slid open as suddenly as a flash of lightning.
"Haku, you gotta come quick, they say there's a human girl here!" Rin announced, crouching through the door and promptly shutting it with her foot. She looked slightly sweaty, and Haku sensed breathlessness hiding under her words. She'd obviously just run there with everything she had.
"I heard some slugs gossiping, they said that she's just about how old Sen would be now!" Rin now loomed inches above Haku, a wide and ecstatic grin on her face.
Haku stared at her. How would the other workers know of Chihiro's arrival? She had gone straight to the boiler room with him, and hadn't left.
"Where'd they see her?" Haku asked, suddenly fearing someone had spotted them in the garden.
"I don't know much, but I heard they saw her just out front, just as the lamps were being lit!" Rin told him excitedly. Haku was even more confused. He and Chihiro were in the boiler room and just going to sleep at sunset. There was no way that they'd spotted Chihiro in front of the establishment at that hour…
'Unless…' Haku narrowed his glimmering eyes in thought, drawing the only possible conclusion.
"Hmmmm…." The shifting form of Chihiro gave a little moan, making Rin jump with a curse. "R-Rin?" Chihiro murmured, coming out of her sleep to the woman's voice. She sat up in her blankets, staring half-asleep at Haku, Kamaji and Rin.
"Sen!" How'd you get down here?" Rin asked, confused, but happy to see her young friend nonetheless.
"Sen wasn't the human who's upstairs." Haku told her calmly coming to stand between Rin and Chihiro, to ensure that his conclusion got to the woman.
"There are two human girls in the bath house…" He told her thoughtfully.
"Two?" Chihiro blinked, coming to life at the mention of another human.
"Yeah, apparently they're someone your age!" Rin told her. "The welcome slugs told me that she was found just outside the Bath house entrance just as the lamps were lighting. I think I heard something like she was looking for something…Chihiro…Cheerio...or something…I thought they were all talking about you, but--" Rin informed them all casually with her hands on her hips.
Chihiro looked wide eyed at the woman. Haku had frozen as well.
"Did you say she was looking for Chihiro?" Chihiro cried, cutting Rin off as a lump formed in her throat.
"Yeah, why? You know Cheerio?" Rin answered.
"Yes, she's me!" Chihiro panicked. "So this human is a girl, my age, and was looking for me?" Chihiro pulled it all together, talking almost to herself. She pulled herself out of the blankets in deep and worried thought and approached Rin.
"Rin, where is she now?" She asked Rin with distress in her eyes. Haku stood to the side, not wishing to interfere. Rin raised her hand to touch her chin in thought.
"Uh, I think I actually heard them say that they were going to take her up to see…"
She froze, her hand falling slightly in front of her.
Chihiro stood there, stunned and staring unbelieving at Rin. Haku's breath caught in his throat. Even the sound of Kamaji's rolling mortar had suddenly ceased.
"Yubaba." Haku muttered.
Chihiro's brown eyes widened in terror. Without another word, she turned on her heel and leapt through the pen of busy soot balls, nearly crushing a few with small panicked 'sorry's and 'excuse me's.
"Chihiro!" Haku cried out, worried about her sudden behavior.
They watched as she grabbed her dry clothes off of the floor in the steam room and whipped them on just out of sight, Rin raising a stern hand to cover Haku's green eyes.
Carrying the pink uniform back across the river of coal and soot balls, she grabbed her shoes and jammed them on.
"Sen, what are you doing?" Rin asked, taken aback by the girl's madness.
"Haku," Chihiro panted, ignoring Rin for a moment. "Haku, could you take me to the top? I need to find the human girl, and hopefully stop them from getting her to Yubaba."
She stood up as she sloppily tied the last knot of her boot. She took the hair tie off her bandaged wrist and whipped it into her hair at the nape of her neck, making it glimmer as she worked it.
"You want to go up to Yubaba?" Haku asked, bewildered. Rin stared, just as confused, but not daring to interrupt.
"Not if I can avoid it." Chihiro said determinedly "Please, just help me catch up to the human girl." She pleaded, interlocking her fingers with his.
"I don't have time to explain right now, Haku!" She cried, seeing his confused and reluctant expression.
"Alright, just stay close." Haku melted, giving into the girl he'd do anything for. He took her hand and led her quickly through the servant's door.
"Thank you, Rin!" Chihiro cried before disappearing.
"What just happened here?" A confused Rin asked Kamaji seconds later as the footsteps of Haku and Chihiro died away.
----
Haku once again found himself leading Chihiro through blurred surroundings, scattering other workers who undoubtedly started rumors of Chihiro's arrival soon after they were passed. He didn't head straight up to Yubaba's office, but instead ran to the foreman.
"Foreman!" Haku barked harshly, coming to slow down gracefully just before the desk. Chihiro bumped lightly into his back from the change of pace, but he kept his attention on the Foreman.
"Ah! Master Haku! Did you have a pleasant meeting with Yubaba yesterd—" His taunt cut short, noticing Chihiro standing there. Squinting towards her direction, he squealed with surprise.
"Sen! Oh, how long it's been! We never have forgotten that you saved us from the terrible mons—" This time Haku cut him off.
Haku had his hand outstretched, using his magic to silence the frog. The foreman found his mouth unable to move, stuck halfway through the word 'monster', and stared frightfully at the powerful river spirit. The river spirit, in return, glared back with threatening eyes that told the Foreman by themselves to cooperate and give him the information he wanted.
"Tell me what you know about the human girl. Not Sen, the other one." Haku firmly demanded before lowering his spell. Chihiro watched as Haku shifted into the stone Haku that she'd met a long while ago. Around her she heard a variety of whispers.
"Ooh, it's Sen! She's returned!" an excited slug girl proclaimed.
"Two humans in the bath house at once?" grumbled a frog's voice. "The place is gonna start to stink worse than a stink spirit!"
"The human girl…Oh, yes, well, she was found outside by the welcome frogs, who headed out to greet customers. They brought her in here, to me, and they told me she'd been out there, calling for a Chihiro or Cheerio, or something." The nervous Foreman explained.
Chihiro flinched at the second time her name had been butchered. Haku stared at him relentlessly, commanding him to continue with his menacing dragon eyes.
"I-I called Yubaba, to tell her the situation, and uh, she told me to get the girl escorted up to her office…" The frog continued, sweat dripping down his oddly shaped head.
"Where is the girl now?" Haku glared at him.
"Oh! Uh, heh, she just left not…five minutes ago?" The foreman estimated, wrinkling his face in thought. "She is being escorted up there by a couple of slug girls. She was a bit flustered, but she calmed down when Yubaba told me to tell her, that she knew where Chihiro was…"
Chihiro, still standing behind Haku, turned on the spot and ran towards the stairs that led to the final lift to Yubabas level, her hiking boots making distinct vibrations as they hit the wooden ground.
Haku, not bothering with the foreman anymore, chased after the girl. Chihiro was ahead and heading for a large group of slug and frog workers. They all cheered when they saw her coming their way, immediately recognizing her as their savior who'd chased the misunderstood creature, No-Face out of the Bath house.
They swarmed around her as if she were a huge star running into a group of loving fans.
"Sen!"
"Sen, where've ya been?"
"I haven't seen you in so long, Sen!"
Chihiro fought her way through the crowd, to no success.
"Please, excuse me, I have to get through here!" She pleaded, desperately trying to push her way through her excited fans.
Haku came up fast behind her, flying just above the ground as he did first trying to get Chihiro into the bath house six years ago.
"You heard her, move out of the way!" He yelled ahead.
Collecting Chihiro's small hand in his own, he flew through the crowd with the girl in tow, forcefully parting the sea of slugs and frogs. Making it past another swarm of fans, and up a few flights of stairs, Haku gracefully landed them back on their feet, where they continued running across the huge bridge at a break-neck speed.
On the other side of the bridge, was the lift that went to Yubabas level. Haku commanded the door open with a wave of his hand, and it obeyed, letting the dragon and Chihiro run in and wait for the ride to be over. Haku pulled the lever, and leaned against the side of the box, panting and begging his muscles to stop shaking.
"Haku, are you alright?" Chihiro asked, worried about him. She'd never seen him this worn out, especially after such a short trip.
"Yes, don't worry about it, Chihiro," He forced his voice to show no shakes. "I'm just still a little weak from yesterdays…incident…" He told her.
He tried to reassure the still-concerned Chihiro with a little smile, but knew it was fake. He knew he was more than just a little weak, he was exhausted. His muscles all screamed in protest, and he was surprised he conjured that much magic to begin with. This incident with Yubaba had really left a significant dent in him.
'She must have enchanted it to really last...' he thought to himself, trying desperately to catch his breath before Chihiro became more concerned. 'This is not good. I won't be able to protect Chihiro if I need to in this state…'
"Chihiro…Why are you so intent on going after this girl?" he asked finally, realizing she now had the time on the lift to give him the gist of her situation.
"Because…" Chihiro said quietly. "A human girl. My age. Looking for me. There's only one person I know, my age, that would have followed me into this world. She's the only one who would even care where I was going so secretively." Chihiro fought back the lump in her throat. She looked back up at Haku with big brown and pensive eyes.
"Shizuka." She told him simply. Turning her face to the closed lift door as it hummed slowly up the track, she explained. "My best and only friend in the human world."
Haku looked at the girl, suddenly understanding why she had acted so erratically in the boiler room; She'd gone to change clothes as to not frighten and confuse her friend further. She begged him to get her up to Yubaba's before the witch used her trickery to bring Shizuka harm or trap her name with a contract. So Yubaba couldn't turn her into a pig.
"I regret to think that she'd have already made it to Yubabas office by now…" Haku told her quietly. "But I don't think she'll turn her into a pig, yet."
"She was looking for me…so Yubaba will know I'm here." Chihiro put together with narrowed brown eyes. "She's going to use Shizuka to try and get my location…That's the only explanation for not turning her into a pig already…but then what? What does Yubaba want from me?" Chihiro looked to Haku for the answers. Her brown eyes held the same fear in them as the time that he'd found her crouched behind a spirit shop, when she was beginning to disappear.
'Oh no…' Haku suddenly realized. 'I wonder if this Shizuka has had any food of this world…' He began to rummage through his uniforms breast pocket.
He was relieved to find a small rice cake that he'd swiped for himself hours ago when he was snooping in the kitchen for soup to give Chihiro. It was still neatly wrapped in paper, and he must have forgotten he'd had it.
"Chihiro, take this." He said, giving her the onigiri. "You'll have to give it to Shizuka if she hasn't eaten anything yet. It's a good thing I remembered now, or she wouldn't take it from me…"
"Oh…Thank you, Kohaku…You always think of everything," Chihiro smiled gratefully as she coaxed the wrapped morsel into her pants pocket.
Hearing her speak his true name, even in the heat of things, made Haku melt all over again. He was getting quite used to this new sensation of 'melting'.
The lift began to near its final stop, the tackiest hallway of any world that Haku could imagine. Haku gathered up all of the strength he could, and decided to just run through the hallways to conserve his arcane energy for later, when he prayed he didn't need it.
Grasping Chihiros warm hand, he gently squeezed, telling her through the contact that he'd do anything to protect her, and her friend Shizuka. Nothing would happen to her while he was alive. He promised her that.
The door of the lift sidled open.
-Catgirl-of-Bavaria- : Another cliffie! Well, tomorrow I'll get the next chapter up, assuming my internet doesn't decide to go into another coma… -whacks computer again- But right now, it is late, and my eyes are tired from staring at this white screen for so long…
'Til later, then!