Chapter 4

Haku had to do something... Ubaba had a nasty plan up her sleeve to trap Chahiro in the spirit world again, unless he did something to stop her, he just knew it... It had been three days since her last visit, and he'd been growing increasingly worried as time passed... She'd neglected to give him food and water for those three days as well, so he was growing rather weak and fatigued... But no matter what, he couldn't bring himself to simply forget the girl, Chahiro, and what she'd done for him all those years ago... She had helped him remember who he was all those years ago, and for that, he would be eternally grateful... But now, Ubaba had him under her control once again, and had an even stronger blood magic... The only way he would ever be free of her, is either one of the two... Either his one true love has to give her life in order for him to be free, or kill Ubaba and use her blood to free himself from her curse...

And there was no way in hell he would ask Chahiro to sacrifice her life for his freedom... He'd rather die as Ubaba's servant or kill her, then to risk Chahiro's life... Meanwhile, Ubaba went back up to her own personal pent house on the top floor of the bathhouse and got out her crystal mirror...

" Show me Sen..." Ubaba hissed grinning at the mirror.

The mirror took on a smokey hue before it cleared to reveal the image of a lovely young lady with long light brown hair and reddish brown eyes... She was laughing with a girl a little older and a boy about her age... Ubaba grinned happily as she watched the unsuspecting trio, anxious to get the girl in her clutches once more... Her plan was a simple one, she had an ancient spell book that only could be opened by a drop of blood from someone untainted by greed and pure of heart... The spell also had to be recited by that same person so that she could gain a ghost like form and enter the human world to catch her targeted prey...

Luckily, being a witch of black magic, she can control humans of her choosing from a distance as well as speak to them through the mind... She had the power to read minds and do whatever else she wanted to do on a whim... She loved having the power to control innocent lives, to the point where it made her drunk on the power, and killing was also an enticing power enhancer... Over the years, Ubaba had been secretly killing powerful demons and absorbing thier power... But it wasn't enough, She knew that she only had maybe another hundred years or so, before her time living would run out, and she didn't wish to be the owner of a spirit bathhouse forever... No, she had big plans to make the human world her domain to rule over, once she gained enough power to gain immortality... Ubaba listened closely as the three friends through the mirror began a conversation, unaware that they were being watched...

"So, Chahiro?" Kira asked.

" Yeah, Kira?" Chahiro answered.

" Are you really thinking of going to Naira's party next weekend?" Kira asked.

" Yeah, it would be kinda rude not to..." Chahiro said, " After all, she is really trying to make an effort to change and be nicer... It'd be wrong of us not to give her a chance..."

In the spirit world, Ubaba grinned evilly as she listened to Chahiro's conversation with her friends, her eyes sparking with interest...

" Hmmm... A party at a mean girl's house, eh?" Ubaba said to herself grinning, " Perhaps I'll use this girl, Naira to get Chahiro in my grasp... All I have to do is find her and talk to her... Show me the girl, Naira..."

The mirror once again clouded over for a few moments before once again clearing to reveal an image of a dark haired girl with dark blue eyes... She was with three boys, one had black hair and blue eyes, one had brown hair and brown eyes, and one had light brown hair and hazel eyes... With a wave of her hand, she was able to here Naira as she spoke with some of her friends as well...

" So..." The boy with dark blue eyes and black hair asked grinning, " When do we get to torment this little girl you hate so much?"

" Next week at my party..." Naira said excitedly, " But first, you and Gavin need to go do some spying on her at Kira and Micah's house and see what her fears are... Find out what she's afraid of... Aric, make sure to leave nothing out... I want to scare her senseless..."

"Alright." Aric said grinning, " This will be fun..."

" Most definitely!" Gavin said happily.

" I don't know, you guys..." Cam said unsure, " I don't want her to end up in a hospital... What she ends up having a bad panic attack?"

" Don't be such a wuss, Cam..." Gavin said darkly, " She'll be fine... It's not like we're planning a murder or something!"

" Yeah... I know..." Can said worriedly, " But still... I don't want her to end up hurt..."

" Do you want to be popular like us?! Or not?!" Naira said with her hands on her hips.

" Yeah..." Cam said nervously.

" Alright then... Since you seem so genuinely interested in her well being, why don't you tell us what you know about her?" Naira said grinning.

" Well, it's really not much more than you guys do..." Cam said, eyes down, " I saw in her medical records that she suffers from severe night terrors..."

" How severe?" Naira asked with interest.

" She ran in her sleep when they first appeared after missing for a year, because of her night terrors and ended up falling out the window of their two story house..." Cam said worriedly, " She broke her right arm and her left leg, and hurt her back really really bad... It's a miracle that she was even able to walk again..."

" Go on..." Naira said.

" She's said names in her sleep as well... Haku, Ubaba, Lin... Kamaji I think..." Cam said puzzled, " She's mainly talked about Haku... Maybe he's her boyfriend or something? I'm not sure... She's always talking about dark spirits whenever they've done sleep studies on her, in her nightmares, she's always chased by dark spirits and a witch... It's pretty scary stuff..."

" Hmmm..." Naira said, genuinely interested now, " I think I've heard the name, Ubaba, before... There's a weird building outside of town on the other side of the dark woods... There's a legend of it about how it's supposedly a gateway to the spirit world... Maybe we should do some research on it, it's possible that her and her parents got lost on the other side for a while..."

"Um... Shouldn't we steer clear of a place that has anything to do with spirits?" Aric said nervously, " It's not really wise to anger them... And trespassing would definitely most likely make them angry..."

" I think I want to go check it out..." Naira said excitedly, " If that is the place where Chahiro was when her and her family disappeared, it would be the perfect place to get a good scare out of her!"

" But..." Cam said nervously.

" No buts!" Naira shouted angrily, " Tomorrow night at midnight... Be ready..."

And with that, the girl stormed off, leaving the three boys behind horrified...

Ubaba laughed with glee as the mirror went blank...

" Things are going much better than I could have planned!" Ubaba hissed happily.