Chapter 14— Yubaba's Offer
Splinters flew from the door, making Shizuka raise her arms as shields, only to see that the shards went straight through her. She hadn't gotten better at all. Looking back up, she saw two figures in the doorway.
First she saw a beautifully handsome boy that looked not much older than she was, with dark, green-looking hair, long and with straight-cut bangs. His hair seemed to flow in the air, fighting the cloth that bound it at the nape of his neck. His eyes were intense and emerald green, shining brightly, even in the dim fire light of the room. He was wearing a white top and blue bottom, that she had remembered seeing on other male workers down in the baths. His fist that he'd obviously just used to break the door down, though it made no sense how, with bandages on it and such a slender arm, still hung in the air. Behind his outstretched arm, stood a girl…
"Chihiro?" Shizuka cried, lowering her arms and staring with her wide, sky-blue eyes.
The boy's hand slowly fell, and Chihiro ran to her friend, digging hurriedly in her pocket. Grabbing Shizuka's shoulder, Chihiro pulled out the wrapped rice cake.
"Here, Shi, eat this…" she showed the rice to her friend. Shizuka looked at her, puzzled. "Hurry, you have to eat some food of this world, or else you'll completely disappear!" Chihiro found herself saying the same thing that Haku had told her years ago.
Shizuka took the rice cake, and slowly took a small bite, still skeptical, but convinced by her friends concern.
"Haku, really, did you have to break down the door!" Yubaba fumed, putting the door back together and on the hinges with a few waves of her hands. "You don't even have the authority to go barging in this room anymore, you gave that up! You want another punishment!"
"See, you're ok!" Chihiro meanwhile said to her friend, taking hold of her now solid hands.
Wincing at the sound of Yubaba's threat, Chihiro tried to take the heat off of Haku, who was bearing the brunt of Yubaba's wrath.
"Hey, Granny," Chihiro built up her confidence to face the witch. "If it's me you want, then stop yelling at Haku!" She declared defiantly, looking Yubaba directly in the eyes.
"You told them to bring up Shizuka, because you knew I'd follow, didn't you? Well, what do you want?" Chihiro's slender form stood tall and confident, her eyes blazing in the light of the glowing fire to her right.
Haku watched silently, admiring the girl for all the courage she'd collected. She'd changed so much by the time she left six years back, and she kept the change. She was seeing right through Yubaba's plan, and the old hag knew it.
Haku looked over at Yubaba, wanting to see her face when she knew that Chihiro had figured it out, but something was wrong.
The old witch spirit was grinning.
Haku suddenly sensed Yubaba's cunning nature, and knew something wasn't right. She was planning something, alright. He glared at Yubaba, watching as she waltzed over to her desk, picking up a piece of paper that displayed her seal on it.
"I was merely offering your friend a job, with my generosity!" Yubaba smiled menacingly, turning the paper in her hand to better catch the light.
Chihiro turned to her friend, terrified.
"Did you sign the contract, Shi?" She asked her, fear evident in her voice. Shizuka watched the fear rise in Chihiro's brown eyes, and sunk lower into confusion.
"Y-yeah…She lied to me!" The frightened Shizuka pointed at Yubaba, recalling that it hadn't been the contract, but Chihiro's provision of food that saved her. "She told me that signing that thing would stop my body from disappearing!"
Chihiro's heart sank, remembering what Haku had told her about signing one of Yubaba's contracts.
"Tear it up!" Chihiro found herself suddenly yell at Yubaba, who'd found Shizuka's contract a home in one of her desk drawers. "Tear up Shizuka's contract!"
"No, unfortunately Izu is my employee now, and a much needed one, my supply of lazy bums has decreased significantly since you left. Workers ended up asking for deals on their own contracts in droves…" Yubaba sighed. Haku was watching her intently; his narrowed emerald eyes focused on her every move. She peered up from her desk to add, "…So, I turned them into pigs."
Shizuka stared at the woman, unbelieving at what she was hearing. First the threat of turning her into coal, and now this rubbish of turning workers into pigs!
Chihiro stood there, between Shizuka and the witch, her fists clenched and shaking with rage at her sides, still glaring at Yubaba.
"How about you, Sen? Want to renew your contract and keep your friend company?" Yubaba continued, smiling bitter-sweetly at Chihiro.
Shizuka stared at the back of Chihiro's head for a moment at the third mention of this person called 'Sen.' Chihiro was Sen?
"Or do you want to leave my bath house immediately? Because those are your choices." Yubaba continued matching Chihiro's glare.
Haku remained silent at the freshly fixed door, trying to place Yubabas next move. He felt his feet glued to the ground, unable to decide to come to Chihiro's aid yet or to let her fight her own battle. Why would Yubaba be asking Chihiro and Shizuka to become her employees?
'The number of employees has gone down as she said, but still, turning to humans for work? Yubaba couldn't be that desperate…' he tried to sort it all out in his mind.
"Rip it up." Chihiro was staring the woman down, holding her ground. "You can have your grudge against me for losing you money, workers and an apprentice, but you have no right to bring my best friend into this! This is between you and me!" She felt her knuckles going white from the rage that coursed through her body. No way was Yubaba going to take her one true human friend from her like this.
"Well, ok, if that's your attitude, I guess I'll just turn this girl into a pig like what happened to your parents, if you can't make a decision." Yubaba told her.
Chihiro was silent, trying to fit any pieces that she had together. Yubaba was trying, for some reason, to get her back into contract. She knew Chihiro wouldn't leave her friend there, and she wouldn't let her turn into a pig. That only left taking the contract again.
'But why?' She screamed in her head, looking for the missing piece. She opened her mouth to speak, but Haku had suddenly blocked Yubaba from view.
"Yubaba, Chihiro won her freedom fairly from you six years ago. You made a deal!" He reminded her. "Chihiro is rightfully free!"
"Yes, and part of the deal was that she went back to the human world, too, Haku, but here she is, back for more!" Yubaba growled. "That deal is meaningless anymore."
"A deal is a deal, Yubaba!" Haku slammed his hands onto her desk, immediately wishing he hadn't, for the wounds that were still in his palms. With his fists' collision with the desk, his magic flared, sending a shockwave out from them, scattering papers and jewels and all other contents flying in every direction off the desk's surface. The wave met Yubaba, only rippling her clothes and hair as he met his glare with narrow eyes.
"I don't know what you're planning, but I'll fight it with all I have to keep Chihiro and her friend out of your way!"
He suddenly felt the old witch take over his body again, making his blood run hot and fiery once more, the pressure growing alarmingly fast in his head. He brought his hands to hold his throbbing head, the only thoughts in his head were about her, behind him watching.
'No…not in front of her…' His whole body tensed as he fell to the floor, cursing Yubaba with every fiber of his being. She was just using him to get her to sign the contract! He was used to being her tool, but this…
Chihiro saw Haku falter, saw his muscles tensing, his hands rising through the air to clasp his head. She heard a moan emitting him, and knew at once. Yubaba was using the same torture techniques on him that she'd witnessed in her vision. For a second, Haku staggered backwards, almost falling into Chihiro, before collapsing to the ground in front of her, holding his head and suppressing his yells of pain.
"HAKU!" She cried, falling to her own knees and reaching for his shoulders before wondering if that would hurt him more. "Leave him alone!" She cried helplessly to Yubaba.
Shizuka came to her knees behind her and grasped the brunette girl's shoulders, trying to comfort her friend.
'He's already so weak…I know he was just hiding how exhausted he really was in the lift…' Chihiro thought desperately, watching the boy's quivering shoulders as he kneeled on the rug.
"He's growing weaker by the second Sen," Yubaba told her. Chihiro whirled to face the woman above her, sending her tail of brown hair flying behind her. "He won't be able to endure it for much longer. What'll it be?" She sent a contract through the air with a pen as a companion.
'No….Chihiro….' Haku told her, unable to mouth the words, the pressure beginning to take over his head, his vision going dark. He felt his remaining energy drain as his muscles burned and ached, adding pain onto soreness. He couldn't give in to Yubabas punishment, he couldn't. He had to protect her. He promised her…
Chihiro stared at the floating pen and paper that had just shoved themselves between her and the dragon. Yubaba met her gaze when the girl looked up at the witch, full of spite. Haku emitted a painful groan as the sweat glistened on his forehead that just barely brushed the carpet. It was the same as her nightmare, he was completely folded on the ground, his still gorgeous hair laying in a pile beneath his face, sweat and tears draining into it.
She had no choice, if she hesitated any longer, Haku was going to die, right there in front of her. A bead of sweat traveled down her own face as she maliciously grabbed the contract and scrawled her signature on it, feeling nothing but hatred for Yubaba. Tears pulled at her eyes as the paper flew back to Yubaba, followed closely by the pen.
Haku began to relax, little by little. His body was still in a heap, shaking, and breathing laboriously. She gently pulled him back, laying his head in her lap as she stroked the brown hair in his bangs. The dragon had lost consciousness.
"Don't worry, he isn't dead." Yubaba told Chihiro scathingly as the girl fought back tears as she cradled the limp Haku in her arms. "Just get him out of here. Sen, Izu, I'd better see you at work tomorrow. As for Haku, I don't care, just get his partner, Rin or whatever to take you as assistants." She commanded them before vanishing into her residence.
Shizuka fell from her knees heavily to the floor as she watched her friend cry into the boy named Haku's hair. She had never been so confused in her life, but she knew one thing was clear about Chihiro. She was in love with this boy. Suddenly it all made sense. Why she came back here. Why she was always so distressed at school. She missed this boy that she loved so much.
She stared at the red rug beneath her, and felt a flow of guilt. If she hadn't come to this place, then Chihiro wouldn't be holding her loves lifeless body…and crying into his hair as she rocked back and forth.
'I should have just ran away when I had the chance down at the door at sunset,' she told herself, not bearing to look at her friend anymore.