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Chapter Seven

It is Happening Again, Chihiro

Chihiro met up with Kibou, Tenshi, Unmei, Tora, and Niji outside of the kitchen. Kibou stepped up to her, concern in her eyes. She put a hand on Chihiro's shoulder.

"Sen, are you alright? I'm sorry, I did not realize that what I got out of you would make you feel so upset." Chihiro shook her head.

"No, Kibou, do not apologize. I'm fine! So...what do we do now?" she asked. Tenshi tilted her head at Chihiro.

"Aren't you hungry? We saved you some okonomiyaki." Tenshi held out a wrapped okonomiyaki. Chihiro took and bit into it. It tasted delicious.

"Eat while we explain!" Unmei said. The six girls walked down the hall. "We need to go into the performance hall where we sing and dance to help awaken some of the groggy spirits who come to watch us. Because we are pretty, mostly male spirits come. Don't display yourself in a slutty or whorish way, but make yourself somewhat enchanting to them. Does that make sense?" she asked. Chihiro nodded before finished the last of her breakfast.

"Here, I'll take that!" Tora said, taking the wrapper.

"However, Sen, you have to sing. I chose the song, My Will. Here are the words." Kibou handed Chihiro a music sheet. She read it over until she had it memorized backwards and forwards. They came into a large wooden room with pictures of cherry blossom trees painted everywhere, their pink petals drawn being swept away by wind.

The six girls stepped onto a stage where frogs holding instruments sat patiently, waiting. They were each given a music sheet. Tenshi ran Chihiro over their dance steps. After about an hour of practice, numerous spirits started to come into the room and sat down.

"Ready?" Niji whispered. The other five nodded and turned their backs the audience. Chihiro breathed in and out nervously. The music started and the six girls spun and performed their introduction dance. "Now, Sen!" Niji whispered.

Chihiro gulped and stepped forward. "tsuyogaru koto dake shiri-sugite-ita watashi. Dakedo ano toki kara mayoi wa kieta yo." The spirits perked up at the sound of her beautiful voice. "misetai to omou mono ga kitto atte kikasetai kotoba mo takusan aru egao nakigao mo zenbu mite hoshikute matte-iru watashi wa yamete "CHANSU" wo tsukamu yo anata no koto wo omou." The other slugs danced flawlessly to the music, grinning in satisfaction at how well Chihiro was singing. "sore dake de kokoro ga tsuyoku nareru ki ga suru yo hakanai omoi zutto donna toki demo negau yo anata ni todoku you ni to..." The six girls finished dancing to the last beats of the song before the music stopped.

The spirits, mainly the male spirits, stood to their feet and applauded. Many threw bits of gold onto the stage. Chihiro suddenly felt herself remembering something Lin said to her years ago.

"I've got to get out of this place. Someday I'm getting on that train." Some of this gold may help her. Chihiro picked up a handful of it before smiling and bowing to the audience.

"Wow, Sen, we've never gotten so many tips before!" Tora commented, grinning. The other four nodded.

"You were incredible!" Niji cried. Chihiro blushed slightly and smiled. The six girls bowed to the audience. Chihiro looked over at the door absentmindedly. To her surprise, she met a pair of familiar green eyes. Haku blushed and slipped away. She stared at that spot for a moment before shrugging it off and bowing again.

"Hey, Kibou?"

"Yes?"

Chihiro pulled her hair up into a bun and stepped into the tub for her bath. After dancing and singing all day, a bath was just what she needed. "Promise me you won't tell anyone else, but after our performance this morning, I saw Haku peeking in the room. When he saw me looking at him, he blushed and left." Kibou grinned.

"Sounds like somebody likes you, Sen." Chihiro blushed and ran the herbal soap in her hands and rubbed the suds on her arms. She sighed slightly. Did Haku still like her? "Sen, you're a beautiful, talented girl. It's no surprise if Haku likes you. By the way, that's a beautiful necklace. Did your boyfriend give it to you or something?"

"Oh, no...I'm not sure who gave it to me. See, five years ago, when we were moving in our new house, the movers found a wrapped box addressed to me and I found this necklace in the box. There wasn't a note with their name on it, so it left me confused." Kibou pursed her lips slightly.

After her bath, Chihiro put on a robe and went to find Lin. She went to the boiler room and found Lin feeding the soot balls. They were chattering happily while Kamaji ate his shrimp, rice, and pickles.

"Lin!" Chihiro said, walking over. Lin turned around and smiled nicely at Chihiro. She dumped the rest of her star flakes to the soot balls.

"Hello Chihiro! I heard your singing earlier, you're very good." Chihiro smiled.

"Thank you! Oh, I brought you a present." She handed Lin the small pouch filled with gold from her tips. "And I also brought you something too, Kamaji." She handed him another pouch of gold, to pay him back for the train tickets he had given her. (She recently remembered)

"C-Chihiro..." Lin stammered, wide-eyed at the gold. "Why are you giving all of this gold to me?" she asked. Chihiro gave her a small smile.

"So you can pay to get on the train. I will help you get the money for a train ticket." Lin looked up at Chihiro and hugged her, tears starting to grow in her eyes.

"Thank you, Chihiro. You are the greatest friend I've ever had." Chihiro smiled slightly.

"It's no problem! You helped me so much five years ago. This is how I can repay you. Not to mention, I believe you deserve to get on the train out of here." Lin pulled away from Chihiro, brushing a tear away from her eye.

"I'm guessing you're paying me back for the train tickets I gave you five years ago?" Kamaji asked. Chihiro nodded. Kamaji grinned and bowed his head to her.

"Well, I need to get back to my room before Kibou sends a search squad after me. See you Lin, Kamaji." Chihiro climbed through the trap door out of the boiler room. Lin sighed slightly, looking at the pouch of gold clutched in her hand.

"I can't believe she gave me all of this gold...I am so much closer to getting a train ticket..." she breathed. Kamaji nodded. The door from outside of the boiler room opened. Haku stepped in, sighing.

"What's wrong, Haku?" Kamaji asked. He looked over to Kamaji.

"Yubaba kidnapped Chihiro's parents and turned them into pigs again." Lin and Kamaji stared at Haku in disbelief. "I know, she disobeyed the rules of the spirits, but she must have gained power to be able to do such an act. I am going to tell Chihiro tomorrow morning."

"The fact she rescued them last time was a miracle, but how is she going to do it again?" Lin asked. Haku shrugged sadly, completely at a loss for words. "Well, I'm helping her in any way possible."

"As am I!" Kamaji roared. Haku smiled at the two.

The Next Morning

After eating breakfast, bathing, and dressing, Chihiro snuck outside out onto the bridge. She ran across, looking to see that nobody was following. To her luck, she found nobody else on the other side of the bridge. She stood and waited for Haku. He seemed to magically appear behind her.

"Follow me, Chihiro." She obliged and went with him through a place with numerous flowers everywhere. Lilies, goldenrods, roses, and more. "Chihiro, do you remember this place?"

"Yeah...this is the place you took me to before we went to my mom and dad's pig pen. Why?" she asked. Haku sighed and led her out of the flowers to the pig pen. In one stall, two pigs slept.

"Do they look familiar?" he asked. She tilted her head at him and peeked into the pen. Something about these two pigs seemed familiar...she gasped as it hit her.

"Mom? Dad?" she cried. Haku hung his head. She whirled around. "What happened to them? Why are they like this?" she demanded.

"Yubaba disobeyed the rules of the spirit world and kidnapped your parents. She turned them into pigs. Apparently, she's blackmailing you. Why she is blackmailing you is beyond me." Chihiro squeezed her eyes shut and ran out of the pig pen. Haku followed her.

Chihiro sat down next to a wall of flowers, hugging her knees and burying her face into her legs. Haku sat next to her. She was trembling slightly because she was crying. Tentatively, he wrapped an arms around her, feeling her shake.

Instead of slapping him, like he expected, she buried her face into his chest, like a frightened child. Haku hugged her comfortingly, combing through her long hair with his hand gently. How long the two stayed like that was unknown, but Chihiro soon stopped crying and pulled away from Haku, drying her eyes.

"What can I do to save them?" she asked.

"You'll have to convince Yubaba sometime. However, she left this morning. I am unsure when she will come back, so you'll have to wait. I'll help in any way possible, Chihiro." Chihiro looked up into Haku's soft green eyes. She gave him a small smile.

"Thank you, Haku." He smiled and bowed his head to her. The two returned to the boiler room and Chihiro ran to the performance room.

Huzzah! I updated! I hope you liked it.