Chapter Two: Darkness

Chihiro sat at her desk, thinking of the dream the night before. It had been so vivid, so life-like, that she almost forgot that it was a dream. In it she saw Haku weak and bleeding, his powers drained and an evil person laughing at him. Telling him what a weak little dragon he was, how it was so easy to drain his power. In it she heard a desperate thought from Haku, a cry for help a cry for her.

I'm coming Haku! I am coming to save you!

She remembered thinking. The dream had ended with a scene of Rin flying on a silvery dragon, at first she thought it was Haku, but then she notice the sapphire mane and realized that it could not be him. She felt so helpless; she knew that something was wrong. Tears fell out of Chihiro's eyes and onto her desk, her mother walked into her room at that moment and noticed her daughter crying, "What's wrong Chihiro? What's the matter?"

Chihiro shook her head and ran out of her room, almost running into her father who happened to be looking for her mother. They looked at their daughter running outside crying, and her mother shook her head. She felt helpless, she could do nothing to ease the pain of Chihiro and that made her sad.

Haku, where are you?

She thought as she walked outside, a gentle breeze chilled her a bit and she shivered at the cold. It had been seven years since she had last seen Haku, and she had grown. Her hair was now longer and she had more feminine features. Chihiro had grown to be a very pretty girl, yet she was still shy and only had a small group of friends. Boys chased her, but she always thought of Haku and would not talk to them. Choosing to ignore them, but they would only come back.

"Chihiro," she heard a voice calling for her, "Chihiro come over here we need to talk." She recognized it almost immediately; it was that of her friend Rin's. Surprised she ran into the woods back of her house where the voices seemed to be coming from. Rin was there along with a silvery dragon who seemed both nervous and tense.

Thinking that it was Haku, she hugged Rin and walked over to the dragon. The dragon's crystal blue eyes told her that it wasn't Haku. It seemed familiar though and she suddenly remembered why, it was the dragon from her dreams, the dragon that Rin was riding. It gave a snort and a grunt and quickly changed back into its human form.

Rin looked at Chihiro, "Here let me introduce you two, this is Natsuko, Natsuko this is Chihiro. You don't know this Chihiro, but Natsuko is a river spirit, like Haku. Her river was destroyed around the same time as his. They both came to the bath house around the same time and they have been friends ever since they were still quite young. It was chance that they met after Haku drove out Yubaba and took control of the bath house. Well I guess we better tell her what we came here to tell her." She looked nervously at Natsuko.

"I'll say it then," Natsuko said she sighed, "Chihiro we hate to be the bringers of bad news but we are. Last night a powerful spirit arrived at the bath house, it was looking for Haku. When he didn't find him he started to kill the bath attendants and frogs that had come to greet him. Rin was among those and was lucky to get away before she too died. Haku talked to this spirit and asked him what it wanted, it said that it wanted you Chihiro for reasons we still do not know. When he refused to lead him to you the spirit asked him again and again. Then the third time he refused he drained Haku's powers, I am sorry that you had to hear this but it's true. He then revealed himself to be the Evil One, I don't know if you've heard of him, but he's an evil spirit that's feared by many spirits and dragons such as me. He was captured and imprisoned for some time by a powerful dragon that could control all the elements. It seems like that he has broken free of the imprisonment, and the dragon that I mentioned was the only one that had both the means and cunning to capture and imprison him. Sadly, the dragon was killed in a battle with another demon. Haku though is fine, though he is weak, he asked us to come here and to tell you what has happened, but fainted before he could give Rin any more instructions." Natsuko was silent as she watched Chihiro consider what she had said. Tears started to fall out of her eyes and Rin looked at her with sympathy.

"I never knew that something like this could happen." Chihiro finally replied. "Thanks for telling me, I guess I just needed to know." The gentle breeze was now blowing harder and it turned chillier and chillier despite the fact that it was mid-summer, both Rin and Natsuko frowned, the same thing had happened when the Evil One had arrived at the bath house. Chihiro chanted something that she never heard before, quietly so that Rin and Natsuko didn't hear. The wind slowed and it grew warmer, Rin and Natsuko looked around in both surprise and fear. They knew that magic had been used to slow the wind and stop the cold, but they didn't know who did it and for what purpose. The Evil One hissed behind a tree at the sight, his spell had been stopped by a stronger one, and he knew exactly where the spell was coming from.

Chihiro smiled and started to walk back to her home, Rin and Natsuko following her unsure of where they were going. She then suddenly realized that it would be difficult for her to explain about the two and that they might not be able to stay with her. Chihiro turned around to face her two friends and explained, "I can't let you be seen so I'll have to hide you, I know a spot in the woods where you won't be seen and shouldn't be found. I'll leave blankets, some food, futons, and some clothes for you to wear." The wind grew stronger and the weather turned colder. Chihiro shivered from the cold, and looked at her friends; they too were shivering a bit. She quickly decided that it would be best for them to go inside, no matter what her parent's said.

"Chihiro," she heard her mother yelled, "Where are you? Please come inside it's getting colder outside."

Chihiro yelled back, "I'm coming mom!" She shook her head and her friends followed her to the house, the never made it. A sudden gust of wind forced them to stop and the blizzard made it hard for them to see. Chihiro started to shiver hard and sneezed. Strange laughter could be heard all around them. A dark figure materialized in front of them.

"I always get what I want," it said, laughing menacingly, "and I want you, Miss Chihiro."

"What do you want with me?" Chihiro screamed at the strange person. "I am of no use to you!"

"Ah, but you are Chihiro." The dark figure said again. "For you contain one of the most powerful dragons ever to be seen the dragon that could control all elements, the dragon that captured me five hundred centuries ago." Natsuko looked at Chihiro in shock, now she understood why the Evil One had been so intent as to capture her.

"That's not possible," Chihiro said, "if I am the dragon, then why haven't I changed into one yet."

"Because you have never used your powers Chihiro," the dark figure smiled, "until now that is. I know that you used a spell to make it warmer and less windy. That means that your powers have reached the point where you can now use them, and I want those powers of yours. I am sure that your friends have told stories of me, and I am sure that your friends know who I am."

Natsuko enraged summoned water from a nearby stream and aimed it at the Evil One. It was no use though, as he deflected it quite easily. The water surged around Chihiro and for a second she was drowning in the half-frozen water, desperate she started to chant. The words came to her quite easily, though she had never heard them before. The water that surrounded her immediately began to recede, leaving her dripping wet. The wind blew harder and the snow continued to fall, Chihiro shivered from the cold. The Evil One looked at her with hateful eyes and said, "That was only a warning Chihiro, next time you won't be so lucky." He left, but it continued to snow and the wind only blew harder.

"Chihiro where are you?" Her mother cried. "I heard voices outside and I am worried, come inside now!" Chihiro quickly found her secret hiding spot and showed Natsuko and Rin. When she was sure that they would be fine she walked inside, and noticed that her clothes were drenched she grimaced. It would be hard to explain that to her parents. Her mother quickly spotted her wet clothes.

"Chihiro, why are your clothes all wet?" her mother cried shocked. "Who did this; you could have gotten a cold."

"Some boys were running back home and they did notice me," Chihiro quickly lied, "they accidentally ran into me and pushed me into a nearby stream, I fell in. That's why my clothes are all wet."

"Well go upstairs and change your clothes, and if you know who these boys are please tell me." Chihiro nodded and ran upstairs. Quickly changing into dryer clothes, she sat on her bed. Thinking of Haku she looked outside her window, the blizzard was quickly getting worse and worse. Then she remembered Natsuko and Rin, they would be really cold outside in this type of weather. Quickly gathering blankets, futons, and some clothes she went downstairs. Her mother had already prepared dinner and was waiting for her to come downstairs.

"I admit that I do not know these boys," Chihiro quickly lied, "I have never seen them before and so do I not know their names." Her mother nodded, outside in the cold weather Natsuko and Rin were wondering when they would get the things that Chihiro promised to get them.

"It's freezing out here," Rin said crossly, "I wonder if Chihiro forgot about us. I really hope that she didn't." Natsuko nodded and looked at the building that Chihiro had walked into; she wondered if that was where she lived. Having never been in the human world, the sights and sounds were new to both Natsuko and Rin. She then remembered her river, the one that had been destroyed by humans. Tears slowly fell out of her eyes as she thought of her river, the peaceful azure waters and the gentle sounds of rushing water. Rin, noticing that she was crying, tired to calm her sad friend.

When her parent's didn't notice, Chihiro took a bag full of things to give to her friends and walked outside. Quickly finding the hiding spot she gave her friends the things she promised. They were glad to receive them and thanked her. Chihiro smiled and walked back home, her parents didn't notice that she had been missing. Her homework sat on her desk, waiting to be turned in to the teacher the next day. Chihiro sighed and went to sleep.

She saw Haku, bleeding and weak, alone in a locked room. No one noticed that he was there, his eyes were closed. The moonlight shined on the weak boy, and he stirred. "Chihiro," he whispered, "Chihiro I'm coming, Chihiro." He seemed to be having a nightmare, his eyes suddenly opened. He struggled to get into a sitting position and when he did, he nearly collapsed. His jade eyes darted frantically around him; he winced at the pain as he gingerly touched one of his wounds. He looked around him, for a second dazed and confused and then he remembered her. "Chihiro," Haku looked around, but there was no sign of her. His eyes searched the room for something familiar, and then remembered the events the day before. The Evil One, the drain of his powers, Natsuko, and finally the quest Rin agreed to take. He had no idea where he was, no idea of how to get to her, no idea of how to help. The moon simmered and glistened and he looked up, the stars twinkled at him and the moon looked down at him. Haku smiled, and then thoughts of his beloved filled his mind, thoughts of Chihiro when she first came to Spirit World, thoughts of Chihiro when they first flew, and then finally he remembered the promise he made to her. The promise that he would meet her one day, tired he collapsed and fell back asleep.