Chapter Five: Decisions
"It's getting quite crowded here," Rin muttered, "I don't think that Haku is going to be able to fit comfortably here."
"True," Zeniba said, "Chihiro I think your hiding spot is getting too crowded, Rin has been complaining about it for a while now. I think we must decide upon places where people can stay."
"I could stay with Chihiro," Haku mused, "maybe someone else could also stay with me." Chihiro blushed at the thought.
"I'll stay with you two," Rin quickly offered, "it's better than sleeping in this crowded hiding spot anyway!"
"Okay then," Chihiro said, "Rin and Haku will stay with me. I think that a third person would probably fit, anyone else want to stay with me?"
"Someone could stay with me if they wanted too," Keiko admitted, "don't worry I won't tell anyone about you guys."
"I think I will stay with Chihiro," Natsuko said, "I don't want Rin getting into any trouble at your house. Beside I think Rin might enjoy the company."
"Then I'll stay with Keiko," Yoshiro grumbled, "I am sure that if too many people stay with Chihiro it will get crowded and I know that you would hate that Rin." Keiko blushed and grinned, Chihiro could tell that she wanted Yoshiro to stay with her.
"Humph then I'll stay with Keiko so that I can make sure that she won't tell anyone." Zeniba told everyone.
Chihiro nodded, "Then it's settled Haku, Rin, and Natusko will stay with me while Yoshiro and Zeniba will stay with Keiko. Please don't let anyone see you, please hide if you see anyone coming. We'll call out your names if we are coming so you'll know it's us." The spirits nodded, and Chihiro smiled.
"I think we should leave now," Keiko said looking around them, "it's going to be dark soon and I am sure our parents would get worried if we stay for too long."
"Chihiro, where are you?" the sound of her mother's voice startled Chihiro for a second.
"I thought so, we should leave now bye Chihiro!" Yoshiro and Zeniba followed her as she left towards her home.
"Bye Keiko!" Chihiro cried out. Haku, Rin, and Natsuko followed her as they headed towards Chihiro's house.
"Please don't say anything," Chihiro begged her friends, "I'll show you a spot where you can hide, don't come inside until I tell you too okay?" Her friends quickly nodded, Chihiro showed them the hiding spot behind the maple tree in their front yard. She walked inside her house, smiling. Her mother and father smiled when they saw her.
Her mother had just finished dinner, as they sat down to eat her mother said, "I wonder what happened to those friends of yours, they left so quickly. I hope they don't live too far away."
"I am sure they will be fine," Chihiro assured her mother, "they don't live too far away."
In fact they are currently living right here.
She thought to herself, her father though was frowning at the thought of her friends. "I still don't approve of letting them in," he said, "after all Chihiro has never mentioned them." Her mother only shook her head.
As night steadily approached and her parents were fast asleep, Chihiro quickly let her friends inside the building. "Try not to make any noise," Chihiro hissed, "it might alert my parents that you are here and we do not want that. I'll try to get something for you guys to eat as soon as I can. I don't think my bedroom is going to be able to fit so many people so ether up to two of you will have to sleep in the living room. Try to wake up before my parents do and hide so they won't notice you, don't make a mess ether or they will get suspicious."
Rin and Natsuko looked at each other and replied, "We'll sleep in the living room!"
"Shh, be quiet! Okay I guess then Haku will sleep with me in my room." Haku looked at her for a second and the small group of friends entered the house. Quietly Chihiro slipped into the kitchen and grabbed some snacks for her friends to eat. Natusko and Rin quietly accepted the food and were soon sleeping soundly in the living room.
Haku followed her to her room where she handed him some food. He thanked her quietly before accepting and eating the food. Chihiro closed her window as it still was quite chilly outside. They didn't say anything, but both were quite sure that Rin and Natsuko asked to sleep in the living room so that they could sleep together. "It was clever of them to both agree to sleep in the living room so that we could sleep together in my room." Chihiro finally said, voicing their thoughts and breaking the silence that had enveloped around them.
"It was," Haku agreed, "you've grown Chihiro."
Chihiro nodded, she didn't want to say anything. The stars glittered and the bright moon was thinly covered by dark silky clouds. Somewhere out in the darkness, an owl hooted and swooped down on its unsuspecting prey. An awkward silence had once again enveloped them, nether one saying anything to break it.
"I wonder how Yoshiro and Zeniba are doing at Keiko's house." Chihiro finally said.
"I am sure that they are fine." Haku absently replied. Chihiro nodded and closed her eyes, she soon fell asleep. Haku smiled, but for some reason he couldn't sleep. Quietly he got up and walked towards the living room. Natsuko seemed to feel the same way, unable to sleep.
"It's strange," she told him, "it's like I fell something is going to happen soon, but I do not know when or what is going to happen."
"I wonder if Yoshiro feels the same way," Haku said, "I certainly feel the same way. I wonder what's going to happen." Natsuko nodded, they quickly walked outside and changed into their dragon forms, they soon saw a silvery dragon with a dark forest green mane headed for them. Its dark emerald green eyes seemed to be worried about something. It landed on the ground with a muffled thump, Natsuko and Haku could immediately tell that he also felt the same way they did. Together they flew in the direction of the gate, even though it was quite late there were still many people walking through the gate. They were also very surprised to see that a number of other dragons had also gathered there. They seemed to be waiting for something although what it is they didn't know. Suddenly, the people stopped and Haku could see his friends among those in the crowd.
There was much confusion as no one knew why they were there. A large black storm cloud suddenly headed their way from the Spirit World, and everyone started to grow worried. Suddenly in the middle of the crowd a dragon flew upwards into the sky. It had a golden mane and a light bluish body its horns were a creamy color. A gold aura surrounded it, it snorted when it saw the black clouds. Anger seemed to lace its dark brown eyes. It surged forward into the oncoming storm; all of the dragons followed it. As it passed over the large mass of spirits and humans they bowed and cheered the young dragon.
Natsuko snorted in surprise, she knew who the dragon is. Unable to talk in her dragon form she nudged Haku and pointed her snout towards the dragon. Haku though shook his head unable to understand what Natsuko was trying to say. She growled in frustration and shook her head. Sighing he followed the large crowd of dragons.
Happy thoughts filled Chihiro's mind, she had finally turned into a dragon. Instinct told her that the Evil One was located in the large storm cloud. When the cloud stopped moving towards them, she stopped as did the legion of dragons that had followed her. It grew larger and larger, lightning bolts streaked it, the wind grew stronger and howled warnings towards her. Undaunted she flew closer and closer towards the cloud. Evil laughter filled the air and a voice reached her ears, "Do you really think that you can defeat me young dragon? Do you really think that you shall win? I think not!"
Chihiro snarled, and the Evil One laughed, "Then try to defeat me, you shall never succeed!" Chihiro growled at the dark cloud, her alabaster teeth gleaming in the moonlight.
Haku looked at the dragon curiously. He somehow knew the dragon although he had never seen or meet this particular dragon before. He thought of Chihiro and wondered if she was sleeping well, the noise caused by both the dragon and the Evil One was enough to wake anyone up.
A fiery blaze encircled the dragon as she prepared to use magic against her opponent. Chihiro laughed at the Evil One, with a flick of her tail the fireball shot itself towards the cloud. Streaking it with ruby flames, the Evil One though suffered no damage, "Is that the best that you can do? You will have to try harder than that if you want to defeat me."
Chihiro shook her head, her eyes challenging her opponent; little did he know that she had more than a few tricks up her sleeve. "As you wish my young dragon," the Evil One sneered, "be warned though this is much more powerful than anything you could ever do." A dark ball of wind and snow was shot at Chihiro, she growled at the ball and a silver shield of light appeared, blocking the ball from striking her. The ball dispersed and snow fell harmlessly towards the earth.
Haku looked at the dragon with amazement; he did not expect her to be able to use such a powerful spell. It had taken him many years to master the same spell yet she had mastered it on her first try. Natsuko grinned; her friend seemed quite impressed with the dragon.
The Evil One though was just as amazed. He snarled, "So you were able to destroy my spell with one of yours. You are more powerful than I thought, but no matter for your powers will soon be mine!" Large fiery streams were aimed at Chihiro, but she dodged them expertly and destroyed the spell with one of hers. She snorted and growled at the Evil One, he simply looked at her, amused.
Chihiro eyed the Evil One cautiously, a large ball of wind and water gathered in front of her and she aimed it at the Evil One with little difficulty. Breaking through the cloud it hit the Evil One before he had a chance to defend himself. Severely weakened, he left and Chihiro smiled. Tried she flew back towards the gate and her own world. The dragons parted to let her pass; Haku looked at her with great interest. He flew back towards Chihiro's house with Natsuko and they changed back into their human forms before walking inside. Haku was glad to see that Chihiro was fast asleep, he too was soon asleep.
It was still dark outside when Haku woke up; noises from Chihiro's parent's room alerted him that he and his friends needed to hide. Quietly waking his friends they hid in Chihiro's closet and hoped that they would not be seen. Chihiro stirred a little bit at the noise, but did not wake. Her alarm suddenly went off startling the three spirits. They were not used to such a loud noise, Chihiro groaned and quickly turned the alarm clock off. She yawned, and quickly got dressed. School would be over soon, just two more days before summer vacation. Then she would be headed for college, quickly eating her breakfast she soon walked outside Keiko was waiting for her as usual and together they headed towards school. Her parents were soon seen leaving for work. "Finally they left." Rin said, exuberant. They quickly opened the closet door and walked out.
Rin decided to explore the house, but Natsuko went with her in case she caused any trouble. Haku decided to follow them as there seemed nothing else to do. He thought about the dragon that he had seen the night before and remembered that Natsuko was trying to tell him something.
"Last night what did you want to tell me?" he asked her.
"Well I was going to tell you that…" Natsuko hesitated, "I'll tell you later, perhaps after you met the dragon."
Haku starred at her, thoughtful, he wondered what Natsuko wanted to tell him. They quickly found a note on top of Chihiro's dresser.
"Don't worry," Haku read, "I'll be back. Be warned though, my parents come back before I do. Feel free to go to the woods, Yoshiro and Zeniba should be there, Keiko told them how to get to the woods from her house. I left some food in a hiding spot in case you got hungry, hopefully the bird and the squirrels didn't run away with it." Rin grinned and together they walked to the woods, Zeniba and Yoshiro were already there chatting about something. Between them there was a plate with some cookies on it.
Yoshiro smiled when he saw his brother, "Hi Haku, we were just talking about Chihiro."
"Why are you talking about her?" Haku asked, curious.
"Well she did change into a dragon last night; you know that dragon that we saw fighting the Evil One that was Chihiro." Haku looked at Natsuko who nodded.
Zeniba chuckled, "I see that you didn't figure it out, but it's true Chihiro changed into a dragon yesterday and fought the Evil One."
"Well now I know," he replied. He thought of Chihiro and frowned, she was now in more danger than ever.