AN: Chapter three is up, I feel so proud, and this is more than I have ever written before. I'd like to thank all those little people out there who helped to make me feel big. lol. Oh, and Smophie-chan, if you're reading this, I have a question for you, do you reckon that lesbian gerbils use their tails? We were discussing this topic in art today and we decided that it depended on the discretion of the gerbils involved (lol) what do you think? My thanks go out to all of my two reviewers so far, I feel so unloved :: sob:: because I luv you guys for giving me reviews anyone who sends in a review will get a personal dedication and comment at the beginning of each chapter.

Anee: many thanks for the great review, I'm glad you liked that line. Am gladder that you liked it enough to send me a review, really made my day as I had just done ten tonnes of math prep and it stopped me from strangling someone. This is not a good thing to feel as my anger management therapist says that killing people for giving you extra prep 'cos you were mucking around in class is a bad thing. But honestly, how many people can pay attention to a lecture on changing the subject of the formula. As for the thing about the moon being destroyed, this is a crossover and therefore I have a license to mess around a bit. I was going to make Sen a river spirit like Haku, but I wanted her to be different. If you haven't watched Spirited Away, I recommend you do so, or read the first chapter again, 'cos otherwise this is going to get veeeeery confusing.

Smophie-chan: Hi there, mon chum whose user name is very long and complicated and impossible to remember, please send in more reviews or I will hold Memnoch the devil hostage, the fact that you could retaliate by holding appleseed hostage is irrelevant. I hope what I have written so far is more interesting than the first chapter so your input is essential for my continued existence. Life is pretty crap at the mo' loads of prep and I've had to quit my paper round so that I can continue to go to LAMDA. Teachers are evil and everyone else wouldn't know the difference between anime and pokemon if Vegeta danced naked in front of them with a ribbon tied round his, er, private body parts. ::Wipes drool off of computer, bed sheets, cd player, random cds lying on bed, t-shirt, maths homework, carpet and just about anything with in a certain radius:: (lol) I've had a brill idea for something for our website, will call you soon or sooner. Luv ya hun. Merrick aka Sayuri aka Lucy aka crazy book one (k I have many aliases need to compound them how about Merurcy one lol)

The necessary legal mumbo jumbo: I don't own dragon ball z or spirited away, I'm just building sandcastles for free in other peoples' sandpits. Sue me and I will feed you to Goku you will get no money as I have spent my allowance on manga again. Why do they not have any decent shops in Cambridge?

:: I have PMS and ESP, I'm a bitch who knows everything::

Here is the third chapter

Just coming up

Keep going down

And down

Flames will be used to toast my bread every morning so send

As

Many

As

You

Want

(lol I've been waiting for a chance to do that for ever)

Here is the beginning of the real chapter three

Chapter three: After all these years and miles we meet again

(warning : sentimental mush approaching)

Silence fell like a shroud over the small lounge in capsule corps. Some had fallen silent out of respect for the momentous news that Chihiro had just received but most were still coaxing their shocked minds into processing the information that they had only just heard stated so blankly, even Goten and Trunks were silent, something that Chihiro had inadvertadly caused them to be twice in the same afternoon, an amazing feat in anyone's books. Then Chihiro broke the silence that she had involuntarily created by saying in a shaky voice,

'That can't be right it just can't be because if I were a spirit then I wouldn't have smelt and earth's moon was blown up years ago so that can't e right it just is wrong.'

'Why dear? Why can't you be a spirit who was hidden in human form in the human world because of a prophecy?' Baba asked in a gentle voice,' you're not from this world, so whether it has a moon or not has no effect on you.'

Seeming to accept this argument, Chihiro asked with barely constrained excitement,

'Does this mean I can go back, back to the spirit world, back to Haku?' her voice cracked on the last word

'I'm afraid you must, and you must return soon for otherwise you will disappear unless you eat spirit food. Are you sad to have to leave?' The old woman asked soothingly. Chihiro seemed to contemplate this question before answering the fortune-teller in an almost puzzled voice,

'I'm not sad to be returning there but I don't want to leave my new family and friends. I love Haku more than I thought I could ever love someone, but I love you guys as well, if in a different manner. Gohan is the best brother I could ever have asked for and you have all been so very could to me, so much more than I deserve. You have given me the childhood I never had and an understanding and love of life that means so much more than I could possibly say if I had a million years to tell you in. Part of me wishes I could just stay here and live with you guys for whatever mortality I have left, but another part of me says that I can't just pretend that I am not what I am and that I have to embrace who I am and return to my home and Haku. I know that I will miss you guys terribly but I am a spirit so I have to return to my world. Please don't be too sad that I have left for I will find a way of visiting you and maybe talk Yubaba into letting you visit me occasionally. I will always be with you guys in my heart and I hope you feel the same way about me.'

With this speech over, Chihiro stood up and went to each person in turn and hugged them around the waist, when she came to Vegeta she hesitated for a moment before shrugging to say, so what if they think what they want to think, and threw her arms around him. When she came to Chichi, she hugged her foster mother so hard that it seemed that se would never let go. She eventually did and then lifted up a teary eyed Goten and hugging him even harder than she had hugged Chichi. She put him back down and turned to her brother and through her arms around his neck and started to sob into his shoulders. Gohan lovingly raised her chin so that he was looking straight into her cerulean eyes. He said in a harsh whisper,

'I'm coming with you when you go back, not for ever but long enough so that I can see your world and make sure your happy, I probably am being terribly selfish but I just can't let you go yet. I wish I could come and live in your world but I have a world here that I can't abandon either. I just want to tell you that I love you and I always will, no matter how many miles and years lie between us. So, when do we leave?'

Chihiro stood shocked for a few minutes until she finally shook herself from her delirium to reply in an almost inaudible voice

'Tomorrow, we'll leave tomorrow.'

She then turned to the others and said in a shaky voice

'I have to go back but can we treat this last day like any other day. Part of me wishes that I didn't have to go, but I know I have to and that I can't live here. I just want things to be as normal as possible. Who knows, maybe when I get to the spirit world, Yubaba may let me come and visit you guys occasionally? Whatever happens, I will always love you guys.'

With this speech said the party attempted to continue but, despite Chihiro's pleadings, there was a slightly muted feel to the company and the party soon ended of it's own accord. They all arranged to meet again the next day to say goodbye to Chihiro and disappeared off to their residences. The Son family was the last to leave and there was an uncomfortable silence for a moment before Vegeta took everyone by surprise and hugged Chihiro, hard. None of them but Chihiro heard what he whispered in her ear except for Chihiro,

'I'm proud of you brat and I'll miss you.'

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The next day came none too quickly for Goten as the atmosphere in the 439 mountain district had been overlaid with sadness and the young child didn't really understand why his beautiful older sister had to leave like daddy left. He remembered asking Sen if she was leaving because she didn't love him, this episode had provoked many tears from both parties.

FLASHBACK

***Goten's pov***

The party was over and everyone was back home. Strange stuff happened at the party and all I know is that Sen is leaving me. Why does everyone leave me? Daddy left me and now Sen is leaving. Is it 'cos I'm bad, I've tried very hard to be good, except for that thing with the hair die and the thing when me an' Trunks swapped around the sugar an' the salt and the time where we ate all the ice-cream when we weren't supposed to and the thing with the water balloons…

I approached big sis' when she had gone into her room. She was brushing her hair and I made a face, the last time 'kaasan had tried to brush my hair the brush broke and I got hit with IT, the one and only frying pan of terrorÔ . I don't know why girls always insist on brushing their hair but Sen likes to do it and what she likes must be good at some point. I walked into her room and though I thought I was being all quiet like Trunks taught me she turned around and got off of the stool where she was sitting and asked me,

'Hey squirt, you wanna talk?'

I nodded quietly and then asked,

'Why are you leaving, is it cos' you don't love me? Did I do something wrong?'

Then, to my utter surprise she wrapped her arms around me and squeezed me tight. When she spoke her voice was slightly muffled and I realised she was crying.

'You haven't done anything wrong Goten and I love you to pieces, why would you think that I don't love you?'

I thought it was obvious and told her so, grown-up people can be so dumb sometimes,

' Cos' you're leaving and daddy left an' that means that you an' daddy don't love me cos' if you loved me you'd have decided to stay and if daddy loved me he would have stayed as well.'

This seemed to upset her more and when she replied her voice was choked with tears,

'I have to leave Goten, if I stay here I'll get very sick and die like your daddy did and you won't be able to wish me back as I'm not a human or even an alien and I don't really belong in your world. Your daddy loves you too and he only left cos' he wanted to make sure you would never have to be in times of danger and be forced to watch your friends die before they had to. And, like I told your bro' a long time ago, you'll see him again cos' he loves you and if you love people you won't have to spend all your life away from them.'

I considered this, it had to be true cos' big sis' knew everything and could not be wrong cos' if she was wrong then everything would just come to and end. I then answered,

'Can't I come with you?'

'Not where I'm going squirt,' She answered 'Not even Gohan can stay with me when he comes to stay for a bit and we all know just how strong big brothers are.'

'Can't I just come to stay for a bit as well?' I asked hopefully

Her answer surprised me. I had thought that this tactic would work as everyone was always telling me that I should be more like Gohan and if he was going then I would be able to go to be like him. Instead of the acceptance that I had expected, she looked at me for a moment before answering,

'No squirt, not where I'm going. You don't always have to be like Gohan cos', believe it or not, he's not perfect and you'll gain more by not striving to be perfect. I'll tell you something Piccolo told me once, when your brother was younger than you were he was a cry-baby and a coward. He changed a lot and he is himself and you were born with the right to be yourself. Don't anyone let you tell you anything else 'kay.'

I was surprised, 'kaasan was always telling me to be more like Gohan, more dedicated to my studies, more serious, more responsible, more brave, more just everything…

END OF FLASHBACK

***End of Goten's pov***

After this the evening had been rather quiet and even though Gohan and Chichi and Chihiro had all tried to continue as normal there was still an undeniable essence of sadness and contemplation. Supper had been as wonderful as usual but no-one enjoyed it quite as much as they normally would have done. The three children still trained after supper but none of their hearts were quite in it that night. They retired early and none of them slept, and when they did finally succumb to the need to rest then they slept uneasily and most had bad dreams.

They woke early the next morning and the air was fresh with anticipation. Chihiro had put all the tings she wanted to take with her into capsules and had these in a pocket of the jeans that she was wearing. The few things that she had left behind she had given to either Gohan or Chichi. Breakfast was eaten quickly, as it always is when there are Saiyans at the dinner table, and the family was ready to meet the rest of the gang and their friends at capsule corps.

Goten was thrilled when he was told that he would be allowed to use the Nimbus cloud that day as he usually got carried by one of his siblings, which, although fun, made him feel very immature. Gohan volunteered to carry Chichi and Chihiro was allowed to carry nothing on this flight.

Because Goten was flying the Nimbus cloud, they flew slower than usual and didn't reach capsule corps 'till a few minutes before the rest of the gang turned up. They were all there, even master Roshi who didn't know Chihiro that well as Chichi wouldn't let her foster daughter near that old pervert unless it was unavoidable. When the whole gang was present they all crammed themselves into Bulma's largest capsule car and flew of towards the village where the wood was where the entrance to the spirit world was.

As they were walking through the village, Bulma got mobbed by fans, Vegeta attempted to blow up a few people for looking at his mate in a way he didn't approve of, Bulma yelled at him for trying to rule her life and the chibis caused their customary mayhem. Finally they managed to find the path through the woods to the entrance to the spirit world. When they reached it, the group came to a halt and it was obvious to them all that this was really the end and that they had to say good bye now. Chihiro turned to the people who had become her family and close friends in the five years that she had known them.

'I woke this morning and wished I could stay here but now I'm here I know I can't stay, that my world is through this tunnel. As I've said before, I love you guys to bits and I always will. I hope you don't forget about me. Don't be too sad that I've gone cos' I always will be with you in spirit. I also have selfish reasons for returning to my world, which most of you will be aware of, and if anything happens between me and Haku then I will make sure you guys find out as soon as I can persuade Yubaba, using my newly learned Vegeta persuasion techniques, that I can come visit you guys. Vegeta, thanks for all the friendship and support that you've given me and I hope I wasn't too awful a sparring partner. Bulma, you've been like a second mother to me and I wish you all the happiness in the world. You've all told and given me so much and I will never forget you. Mum, you've been the mother I never knew and I love you so much. Goten, remember that you are always your own person and that you done have to spend your life fighting to be like someone else.'

While his sister was saying her goodbyes, Gohan was hugging his friends and family and promising his mother that he would study when he could. When the two had finished their preparations, they turned away from their friends and family and walked resolutely down the tunnel towards the spirit world. As they walked away, Bulma turned to Chichi and said,

'I haven't felt sadder to lose something since Goku died.'

The others agreed vocally and even Piccolo grunted his agreement. What surprised them most was Vegeta's action of putting his arm around his mate's shoulders and hugging her close to him, letting her cry into the material of his armour. Chihiro's departure seemed to have opened some restrictive emotional floodgate and soon everyone who had anyone to hug was hugging him or her, all except Trunks.

Trunks had never felt very confident about his family dynamic and had always had almost no emotional connection to the man who had fathered him; he could never bring himself to call him father. For emotional comfort he had always gone to his mother and had often wondered how it was possible that he existed at all. His mother was so loving and HE was always so harsh and cruel, never thinking of anyone but himself. Sometimes he thought that HE might have made his mother bare him so that HE had an heir. It seemed like the kind of thing that HE would have done. Only rarely did HE come out of his precious gravity chamber for anything but food and on those rare occasions HE ignored the woman who he had mated. So seeing his parents like this was a bit of a shock for the young demi-saiyan who thought his father incapable of all the weak human emotions he had so often dismissed as foolishness. Vegeta seemed to sense his son's discomfort and turned towards his heir. There was a moment of uncomfortable silence as father and son looked each other in the eye. Then, to everyone's astonishment, Vegeta unwound one of his arms from around Bulma's waist and held out his hand for his son. After another moment's silence, Trunks extended his hand to take it.

If one had decided to look into that clearing at that moment one would have had a great shock. One would have seen a world famous baseball player, a famous martial artist or three, an emperor, a woman who some might have recognised as the daughter of the Ox-King and the wife of Son Goku, a young boy who looked the spitting image of a young Son Goku, a beautiful blonde woman and Bulma Briefs with her arms wrapped around a short man with gravity defying hair and a young boy with purple hair. The last three were in what could only be described as a family hug.

(The temptation to finish here is very strong)

(Shall I?)

(Shall I continue?)

(The choice is up to you)

(::runs off and hides in nuclear shelter::)

(:: cackles insanely and glomps Vegeta doll::)

(Vegeta: get off me baka human female)

(Me: fine spoilsport)

(Readers; hold nuclear missiles and politicians threateningly)

(Me: fine, fine I'll write some more but you could have asked nicely)

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(AN: from now on each bit will start with something telling you where the scene is set and whose point of view it is from)

THE ENTRANCE TO THE SPIRIT WORLD, THE SPIRIT WORLD AND THE BATHHOUSE.

THIRD PERSON

Gohan followed his foster sister through the tunnel into a room, which looked remarkably like a train station waiting room. He looked around him, wondering if there was some sort of secret entrance hidden in here, which needed to be opened to access the spirit world. He cast a glance at his sister and opened his mouth to ask her if they had to do anything special to get into the world she and told him so much about. One look at her face persuaded him not to ask, her eyes had a strange look in them, like she wasn't really in her body at all but remembering something long ago or even that her soul had left her body and she was somewhere else. He knew that he would just have to trust her and follow her.

Quite suddenly, she blinked and it seemed as though a light had been switched on behind her eyes. Her head turned towards him and she beckoned him to follow. Gohan didn't ask anything, something about this place seemed to suggest power and great sorrow. He followed his sister through the arched waiting room out of the door into a sunlit green expanse of land, exactly like he had always imagined it to be from her descriptions.

Chihiro laughed suddenly, a wonderful, rippling laugh that seemed like the full sound of a bell resonating around the open land. She danced on the spot, not caring who saw or what they thought. She turned and ran up the slope that she remembered so well. When she reached the top she looked around, everything was exactly how she had left it, the statues were exactly where they had been and everything had that timeless air of the spirit world to it. She laughed again and called down to Gohan, who had remained at the bottom of the slope,

'Come on up Gohan, it's exactly like I remembered it. It feels so alive, not muted like your world. It's wonderful.'

She laughed once more and span in circles on the grass turf. Gohan ran quickly up the slope to join her and she threw her arms around his neck and kissed him on both cheeks. She ran off again, teasing him to follow. This game continued for a time, with her running off and letting him catch up with her and him running to meet her and then her running off again. Gohan seemed also to be infused with the life of the place and as she ran closer to the dried up streambed, he flew after her. She was not expecting him to remember about ki and was not ready for his arrival. He tackled her to the ground and started tickling her. She squirmed and laughed uncontrollably and he continued in his merciless torture. She begged him to let her up and he smirked in a manner very reminiscent to Vegeta and said

'Say uncle.'

'Never,' she declared and used her newly discovered magic to push him off of her. She stood up and dusted herself off and then walked towards the streambed. As she neared the bed of the stream, she became more serious and stood there, waiting for the comforting support of Gohan by her side.

'What is it, little sis'?' He asked gently

'It's just that I really want to go back, but what if no-one here remembers me or cares about me.' She sniffed

'No-one could ever forget you.' He said in the soothing voice that only people in entirely in platonic love could have for each other. 'And if they have, then they're fools and don't deserve you. Anyway, you can always take Vegeta's method and beat the crap out of them if they annoy you.'

Chihiro smiled and, taking Gohan's hand stepped into the riverbed.

They crossed the river a lot quicker than it had taken Chihiro and the Ogino family all those years ago and soon were in the main street of the town. Chihiro had to drag Gohan away from one of the restaurants, finally threatening him with no food ever again if he even thought about eating from there. They climbed the final slope and reached the bridge leading to the grandiose, and extremely tacky, bathhouse.

Some of Chihiro's earlier gaiety returned and she ran laughing across the bridge. Gohan finished sulking about being denied food when he remembered about the Ogino's transformation into pigs and he ran across the bridge after his sister. Chihiro opened the almost invisible side door she had told Gohan about and crawled through, motioning for Gohan to follow her. He crawled through after her and stood in the small side garden. He turned to ask Chihiro where they were going now and saw her opening a small side door, which he had missed. She smiled at is questioning glance between her and the doors which she fondly remembered Haku going through and said in her lilting alto,

'Well, that way would be quicker, or we could fly up to Yubaba's quarters, but I thought we might as well take the scenic route.'

And with that she ducked through the gate way and beckoned for her stupefied brother to follow her, after all, there was only so much that can be expected from males, particularly those with any amount of saiyan blood running through their veins. Gohan followed and found himself looking down a very steep flight of steps to where his sister stood at the bottom,

'How do I get down?' He asked her through a sibling bond that had mysteriously developed over the years, though Gohan now suspected that Chihiro had unknowingly used her spirit powers to create it.

(AN: Italics will be used to show conversation through the sibling bond)

'Well you can do what I did the first time and try to carefully descend the stairs and trip on the second stair and slide the whole way down and run into the wall at the bottom, or you can do what I did this time and fly down.'

Gohan laughed mentally and quickly flew to join his sister at the entrance to the boiler room. She turned the wheel to open the door and mentally prompted him to only speak through the bond so as not to wake anyone. The door slid open smoothly and the two slipped inside and quietly closed the door after them.

They slipped through the anteroom and into the main boiler room. Kamajie was sleeping in his usual position and Gohan started at the sight of him. Chihiro laughed mentally and asked him teasingly,

'You wouldn't have thought that you were trained by a Namek and were a half alien from your look on your face when you saw our dear Kamajie. Is ickle Gohan-chan fwightened of the big bad nasty spiwit?'

'Shut up you' he quipped back at her and started to walk across the room.

When they reached the other side of the room Chihiro and Gohan knelt and took off their shoes. Suddenly, a few score of the dust balls that Chihiro had told Gohan about rushed out and quickly surrounded Chihiro. After this first reunion, the shoes disappeared into the tunnels where the dust balls lived. The two went through yet another secret door and went towards the elevator. They managed to make it all the way to the top floor without disturbing anyone and Chihiro grabbed a dumpling for Gohan so that he wouldn't turn invisible while they were talking to Yubaba or something equally embarrassing.

When they finally reached the doors to Yubaba's rooms Chihiro turned to Gohan and said to him,

'Call me Sen while we are with lots of people but otherwise you are to call me Chihiro. And don't let Yubaba disturb you, she likes seeing people frightened of her.'

With that warning given, Chihiro walked resolutely towards the overstated doors to Yubaba's quarters. Instead of negotiating with the doorknob, she used her ki to open the doors in front of them in much the same manner as Yubaba had done to her at her first visit here.

The two siblings walked down the grandiose halls towards where Chihiro remembered Yubaba's private rooms. When they arrived in the same grand office that Chihiro remembered from all those years ago, Yubaba was sitting at her desk, counting out some of the gold on her desk. Gohan stared at the strange woman for a moment, disbelief etched on his countenance, and then remembered Chihiro's warning and looked away. Yubaba was exactly like Chihiro had remembered her, except for the fact that her eyeshadow was now red and her dress purple.

Yubaba started when the two entered her room and hurried to hide the gems she had been counting. She then looked at her guests, sizing them up and deciding whether or not they were rich. They both looked in their mid teens and had a strange air of power about them. The boy wore and orange and blue training gi and had gravity defying hair, he was not a spirit but he didn't seem entirely human either. The girl was a spirit and a very powerful one at that. There was something oddly familiar about her; she was tall with long black hair. Her eyes were a piercing shade of blue and her skin was pale. The girl was dressed in a close fitting black top and a calf length black skirt. Suddenly Yubaba remembered why this girl looked so familiar and flew out of her chair towards her.

'Sen', She yelled at the top of her voice. 'Why are you a spirit, girl?'

Gohan was slightly shocked by this extraordinary woman's lack of courtesy and was about to comment on this over the mental bond when he noticed that Chihiro seemed actually to be pleased by this woman's discourtesy and was smiling at her happily whilst accepting her proffered embrace. She smiled at Gohan over the shoulder of the woman who was now wrapped around her waist and made thumbs up sign at him. She then detached Yubaba from her person and answered her question.

'I am a moon spirit who was hidden in the human world because of a prophecy saying that I had to save people from a destiny of eternal sadness. I gained my true form yesterday and have returned to my world.'

'A moon spirit?' Yubaba gasped questioningly, 'who is this with you? What is he?'

'Yes, I am a moon spirit and this is my foster brother, Son Gohan, he is half alien and a martial artist. I would ask you that he is allowed to remain with me for a while. He is no trouble when he is not eating.' Chihiro answered laughingly

'Oh, make fun of my saiyan appetite will you, you will suffer the consequences most painfully.' Gohan quipped and turned, with a Vegeta-esque look on his face, to begin teasing his sister when Yubaba interrupted their verbal sparring with a question to Chihiro,

'Someone whom you might remember has been moping around since you left and we should tell him you have returned.'

'Oh! Who is this person?' Chihiro asked in a tone of mock ignorance.

Yubaba realised what Sen was doing and smirked as the answered,

'He's called Haku, do you remember anyone of that name?'

'I do recall someone of that name,' Chihiro said and then dropped the joke to talk to Yubaba in what could only be described as a confidential tone, 'I have a little plan as to how we could break the news to Haku.' Something about the tone that his sister used reminded Gohan of Vegeta and he wondered exactly what the two would do to Haku. Even as he wondered, the two conspirators planned their devious plan to torture Haku.

**************************************************

Argh I'm tired and this thing is long, I'm going to listen to loud music and make out with Vegeta

Tbc