Chapter Six: Surprise at School
Chihiro looked at the teacher as she taught math. Math was not her favorite subject and she found it quite boring. Her eyes, which had been shining with delight the night before when she first changed into a dragon, were now dull black orbs. She hadn't told anyone that she had changed into a dragon. As the lesson dragged on, Chihiro felt that a presence was watching her. A presence that shouldn't be there, she quickly dismissed the thought.
Keiko listened attentively to the teacher and took careful notes. She nudged Chihiro when she saw her friend hadn't written anything down. Chihiro nodded and took some notes; the presence seemed to edge closer and closer to her. She felt worried and tense as if waiting for something, an attack that was soon to come.
"Come closer little one," Chihiro thought she heard something whisper, "I have something I want to show you." Her eyes fearful she slowly looked behind her but saw nothing. Chiding herself for being so afraid she paid close attention to her teacher's lesson.
"Is something wrong?" Keiko asked her friend, worried. Chihiro shook her head and flinched when she felt something clammy brush across her hand. Dark blood lined her hand and she starred in fear, Keiko gasped when she saw the blood.
"Is there something wrong you two?" the teacher asked them and quickly walked over to the two friends.
"Chihiro is bleeding." Keiko quickly explained and the teacher nodded, Chihiro was excused to the nurse's office. The nurse quickly wiped the blood off of her hand and put a bandage on the large gash that had developed. As she walked back to her classroom, she saw dark shadows on the walls, shadows that seemed to surround the halls with perpetual darkness. As she walked into her classroom and sat down the lights went out suddenly.
People started to scream in fear as a voice was heard, "Give me the dragon; hand her to me." Chihiro shivered in fear, she knew that the voice was talking about her.
"What dragon?" the teacher quivered. "There isn't a dragon in the school." The dark voice started to laugh and Chihiro immediately recognized it as the Evil One.
"There is even though you don't know it." He sneered. "I can sense her presence within this building, one of my henchmen marked her with her own blood." Keiko and the rest of her class starred at Chihiro, who was trying to locate where the voice was coming from.
"You're a dragon?" Keiko asked her. Chihiro quickly nodded and looked around; shadows seemed to move across the walls surrounding them. The doors to all of the classrooms suddenly were locked, unable to be opened.
"Hand me the dragon and you will be set free or face a painful death trying to protect her!" The Evil One shouted. Chihiro thought for a moment, she knew it was risky but she quickly transformed into her dragon form. Her long serpent body took up much of the space in the classroom; she snorted and pointed to the window concentrating. The windows of the school immediately shattered and she flew outside. Keiko quickly climbed aboard her friend as did the rest of her class and the teacher, and she flew to the ground and carefully landed. Everyone climbed off of her and Chihiro made several more trips to the building saving as many people as she could.
A dark cloud hovered above the school and dark mist surrounded it, lighting struck the school and a fire quickly started. Haku quickly spotted the fire and changed into his dragon form along with Natsuko and Yoshiro, their friends climbed aboard them. They quickly flew to the school and saw Chihiro on the ground, Rin and Zeniba quickly climbed off of the dragons. The four dragons quickly summoned water to put the fire out, large amounts of steam rose to the air as they poured gallons of water over the ruby flames. Chihiro walked over to Haku and snorted in fear, he nodded and watched as fire trucks quickly surrounded the school, the firefighters were surprised to see that the fire had been put out. The dragons quickly changed back into their human forms before anyone noticed them. Haku, Yoshiro, and Natsuko all looked to be around 17 years of age and Chihiro grinned.
In the chaos that followed as the mist started to snake around the building creating more fires, Keiko quickly ran over to her friends. The firefighters starred at the mist in disbelief and tried to put out the fires to no avail. "Please do something;" Keiko begged her friends, "I am afraid that the fire will completely destroy the school." Haku nodded and started to summon water; Yoshiro stopped him and shook his head.
"Not yet," he whispered, "I'll tell you when." Haku nodded and stopped summoning water; Keiko walked up to Yoshiro and started to slap him. He caught her hand before she could; she yelled and stepped on his foot. Yoshiro winced and slapped her in the face, and left a stinging red mark on her left cheek. Chihiro stepped between the two before Keiko punched Yoshiro. The golden sun was completely covered by the dark clouds and a brisk wind blew through the area.
"Now you can summon water!" Yoshiro shouted above the howling wind. His friends nodded and summoned water to put out the fire, the chilly wind froze some of the water. A barrier of wind prevented the water from touching the fire. Chihiro summoned wind to break through the barrier and they tried again, the water never touched the flames. Chihiro quickly summoned both water and wind, and managed to put out some of the flames. She continued doing this until the fire was gone, she sighed.
Haku thought he saw something walk out of the building and nudged Natsuko. She nodded and they watched as the object walked towards the large crowd. "I know you are here young dragon," it hissed, "show yourself unless you want your beloved dead." Chihiro looked nervously at Haku, who stood in front of her.
Chihiro walked towards Haku, who tried to comfort her. "I know you have escaped Kohaku," The Evil One sneered, "but I also know that you are present. If you want to see your beloved alive, I suggest you reveal yourself Chihiro." Chihiro gasped and shook her head; Keiko looked nervously at the Evil One who was advancing closer and closer to her friend. The crowd parted to let him pass. Quickly she stood in front of her before the Evil One could see Chihiro.
"Stand aside," He barked at her, "unless you too want to die to protect your little friend!" Keiko refused to move, Chihiro carefully backed away from the Evil One. The wind howled in Keiko's ears as large storm approached the area. Lighting flashed across the skies creating intricate patterns of light. The Evil One laughed menacingly and prepared to strike Keiko.
Tears fell out of Chihiro's eyes as he summoned wind, Haku looked at her sympathetically. Zeniba whispered into Chihiro's ears, "Run away, I will protect Keiko, but you must run before he does the same thing to you!" Chihiro nodded and ran away; the Evil One looked at her angrily and started to chase her. Keiko gasped in horror and tried to block his way; the Evil One summoned a powerful spell and aimed it at her. She fell to the ground with a thud, unconscious and nearly dead.
Haku looked at the Evil One and quickly transformed into a dragon, foolishly thinking that he could prevent him from finding Chihiro. "You are still a very foolish dragon Haku and you will pay for that." The Evil One laughed and a lighting bolt struck Haku. He roared in pain before falling to the ground, weak and motionless. Anger filling his eyes Yoshiro changed into a dragon and attacked the Evil One. To his frustration he quickly dodged his attack.
"You are just as weak and foolish as your brother," he said to Yoshiro, "and like him you will pay dearly for that." A lighting bolt was aimed at Yoshiro, but he moved before it could hit him. He snorted, but another one hit him before he realized what was happening. He too fell to the ground, weak and unable to move. Natsuko looked at the two brothers and idea developing in her mind, she transformed into a dragon.
"You are making a mistake just like your friends." The Evil One told her. A lighting bolt was aimed at her. She carefully dodged it and others that were aimed at her, timing her attack perfectly she lashed out with her tail. It surprised the Evil One and was able to successfully whack him. She smiled smugly as he looked at her angrily. The Evil One turned around, and saw Chihiro running farther and farther away.
He smiled wickedly and ran after him, Natsuko snorted with surprise. Snarling at her opponent she chased him and tried to block his way. Several lighting bolts hit her and she fell to the ground, immobile and severely weakened. Chihiro stopped running and turned around to see three dragons on the ground unconscious among them was Haku, Keiko too was unconscious. Wiping away her tears she quickly turned into a dragon and faced the Evil One. A silvery shield of light surrounded her to protect her from any lighting that might hit her.
I am ready. She thought to herself and snarled angrily at the Evil One. Her sharp claws and fangs glittered and sparkled. Quite confident in herself Chihiro roared and her eyes sparkled with a deadly light. The Evil One looked at her, unmoved, and watched as she roared her challenge. Zeniba and Rin started to walk over to Keiko and the three unconscious dragons when a ball of bright light surrounded them and they were teleported to some unknown place. Rin shook her head and looked at the empty space were an unconscious Haku had once been she sighed, Chihiro looked the Evil One disbelief present in her eyes.
"Oh," he told her, "you'll see your precious friends again, but for now I thought it would be better if they went for a little trip." He laughed evilly, illuminated for a second by the lighting that cut through the clouds. Snow started to pelt her hide, gently at first and then harder and harder until it turned into a dangerous snowstorm. The wind blew the snow in every direction making it hard for Chihiro to see in front of her. She heard faint screams and headed towards the noise, faint shouts could also be heard masked by the wind. Sleet and rain filled the air above her she shivered both in fear and because she was quite cold. Determined she headed towards the screams, the Evil One roared in laughter at the pathetic dragon before him. Unable to see where she was going, she was blind and alone. The shield that she had created had faltered at the strength of the storm. She summoned another more powerful one to no avail, frustrated she hurled a ball of fire through the storm momentarily creating a path for her to follow. Rin narrowly dodged the ball and watched as it hissed through the storm only to be put out by the rain a few feet beyond her.
Zeniba groped around her, everything was so white and for a moment she thought she was blind. Chihiro snorted and soared into the air, and unknowingly flew towards Zeniba and Rin, they climbed onto her and she quickly flew away from the scene. They soon arrived at Chihiro's house and the three companions entered her home. Making sure all the windows were closed, she made some hot tea for herself and her friends to drink. Tears fell out of her eyes as she thought of Haku. "I am sure that he and the others will be fine." Zeniba tried to assure her. "They are stronger than you know."
"I am still worried about him though," Chihiro said, "I just hope that he'll be alright." Rin nodded and they looked outside, everything was pure white and it was impossible to see anything. Zeniba nodded, she too was worried about Haku and the others; she herself doubted that they would be alright when they met again.
"There is good reason to be," Rin said, "unfortunately there is nothing we can do about it. We could try to find them, but we have no clue as to where they may be, though the Spirit World would be a good place to look."
"It would be a good idea to search the Spirit World but it is dangerous." Zeniba told Rin and Chihiro, "The Evil One already controls it and his henchmen may have orders to stop us. True we may not know where to look, but we can think of places to look and places not to look. There are other reasons why we should go the Spirit World besides to look for our friends, I am sure that there are people who would want to know about your powers Chihiro. Don't worry they don't want to harm you or me or anyone else. That and I think it would be a good idea to train Chihiro how to use magic and such." Rin nodded in agreement and looked at Chihiro, who was busy writing a note.
"There all set," she told her friends, "the note said that I am going on a camping trip with Keiko, tomorrow's Sunday anyway and beside Keiko is missing; it should explain her absence for a while anyway. I just hope that no one will notice that I am missing." Zeniba and Rin nodded and they looked outside, the snow had stopped falling and had layered the ground with a sparkling layer of snow. The wind though made the outside environment nearly inhabitable, as she walked outside Chihiro quickly changed into her dragon form. Her feet sinking into the deep layer of snow, the winds blew the snow around creating large white hills. Chihiro snorted with impatience as Rin climbed on and Zeniba closed the door behind her before climbing onto her. Chihiro looked at the air and shook her head in disbelief at the conditions in which she would have to fly in. She leapt into the air and they flew towards the gate, the conditions still did not stop the mass of huddled bodies from crossing the border, Chihiro looked worried. The border was already severely weakened and in moments it collapsed altogether, the transparent wall gone, spirits and humans were now free to cross it and into the other world.
Chihiro shook her head and watched as a silvery dragon headed for her, for a second she thought it was Haku, but its ruby eyes and mane suggested otherwise. She shook her head and let it pass by her, as they crossed into the Spirit World it seemed to grow both chillier and windier. Zeniba looked around her and said, "I can see the train, follow it and it should lead you to the swamp." Chihiro nodded and looked below her following the moving silvery line that was the train. Smoke billowed up from it, creating a gray cloud against a background of white. They flew downwards when Rin spotted the house, and Chihiro landed with a soft thump as her feet sank into the delicate snow.
With a snort and a grunt Chihiro quickly changed back into her human form, following Zeniba and Rin as they walked into the small cabin. No-face happily greeted her, and she smiled. "It's good to be back," she sighed. Zeniba smiled and sat at the table, tired from the journey.
I wonder where Haku is, I wonder if he is okay. Haku, I miss you so much. She thought to herself, a small tear appearing out of the corner of her eye. It dropped to the ground and created a small liquid pool, another one quickly followed it, and another. Rin noticed that she was crying and walked over to her, "Are you worried about Haku? I am sure that he'll be fine."
"I am and I have a good reason to be." Chihiro stammered. "I am worried about what the Evil One could do to him, it worries me."
"I am sure it does, but crying won't make the situation any better, but if it helps you feel better go ahead. Don't worry about him Chihiro; we'll rescue him and the others as soon as we possibly can." Chihiro nodded at Rin and started to smile a bit.
"Thanks Rin, that makes me feel better. I hope we can rescue him soon."
"So do I Chihiro." She hugged her friend and walked away to help Zeniba prepare lunch, Chihiro looked out at the foreign landscape outside. She sighed and walked towards her friends who were busy making lunch.