Chapter Twenty-three: In a Place Forgotten
Chihiro silently watched the large silvery moon, imagining that there was a long squiggly snaking towards the palace and her room in particular. Haku I wish you were here. She sleepily closed her eyes thinking of Haku, just as she fell asleep her bracelet began to glow.
Haku shifted restlessly in his cell, his bracelet too had started to glow. The brilliant flashing light awakened Natsuko who looked at bracelet sleepily. Should I tell Haku that the bracelet is glowing? He seems really tired. She gazed wearily at Haku's resting form and quickly decided not to. She closed her eyes and fell asleep within seconds.
The light of the glowing bracelets did not falter until dawn when both Haku and Chihiro had begun to wake. Their synchronized flashes of brilliant light began to quicken when one particular dream began to reveal itself to both lovers.
A brilliant golden aura enshrouded Chihiro as she stared at the bright moon. Her feet dangled off of the edge of balcony. A sudden gust of chilly wind forced her to walk inside the building in order to warm herself. Inside Rin was waiting for her. "Where were you Chihiro?" Rin asked furiously. "You were supposed to give Kamajii his meal today!"
"Sorry Rin," she replied meekly, "I was thinking about something outside."
"Okay just make sure that you don't let it get in the way of your work." She quickly left the room, there were more important things she had to get done than to play messenger. Chihiro sighed, and left the room as well. A slight change in the shadows made her glance behind her, but there was no one there. Perplexed Chihiro grabbed the basket Rin had left by the doorway and nimbly ran towards the boiler room. There she found the boiler man humming a pleasant tune as he worked.
"Oh there you are Chihiro," he said as she entered, "I thought you were sick or something when you didn't arrive to give me my mea speaking of which I still haven't had." Chihiro nodded and wordlessly handed him a bowl of food. The soot balls gathered into a small crowd as she sprinkled sugary treats over their heads. They scrambled over each other in order to grab a few of the treats. She turned around at the sound of the small door opening and was surprised to see Haku standing behind her.
"I knew I would find you here." He said his tone hard and bitter. "Come with me."
Chihiro nervously glanced at Kamajii before following him. She became even more nervous when she found their destination to be Yubaba's elaborately furnished office. The witch looked at her and smiled, "Hello Chihiro, it's been a while since I last saw you. How have you been?"
"Fine," She replied sullenly.
"Good, anyway I brought you here for a reason. I thought that you might be very useful in what I have planned. Haku you tell her, she believes whatever you tell her."
"She wants you to spy on the workers," Haku told her, "especially Rin. Yubaba believes that they are planning to overthrow her." Chihiro hesitated before agreeing to her plan, she didn't want to spy on her friends but it didn't appear as if she had any choice in the matter.
"Wonderful," Yubaba chortled, "well that was all I wanted to tell you, you may leave now." Chihiro nodded and left, and ignored Haku who was walking besides her. It was his fault that she was now spying on her friends for the person she hated the most and for this she didn't wish to talk to him anymore.
She rushed through her chores that day, careful to avoid him whenever possible. Chihiro decided to take a break from her duties once she finished most of the work expected of her, she walked towards the balcony. To her surprise she found Haku standing there, watching the skies as if he was expecting something. Scowling she began to leave. "Chihiro," Haku said suddenly, "I want to talk to you about something."
She thought about what he asked of her for a moment before walking towards him. "Does it have anything to do with what Yubaba expects me to do?" Chihiro snarled.
"No, I just wanted to talk to you for a moment about some recent events."
"Like what?"
"Sakura's disappearance and the fight seen over at Aburaya between the dragon and the dark spirits." The wind blew harder around the two, sending eddies of rushing air flowing around them in massive quantities.
It took a moment for her to understand what he was trying to tell her. "Why do you want to talk about that? Do you suppose they're related?"
"I thought it would be an interesting topic as you're related to Sakura and I believe the two incidents may be related in some way."
Chihiro stared at Haku thoughtfully, she was just about to reply with the answer when a sudden thought occurred to her. "How do I know you're really him?" she asked.
Haku blinked, "what are you talking about?"
"It just occurred to me that you're not really him, like the two dragons impersonating Haku and Yoshiro the day that we arrived at the palace. You're just trying to get information aren't you? You're just a common spy? That's what this dream was about; that you're spying on me like Yubaba wants me to spy on my friends." In that instant the entire scene shattered and darkness engulfed her and Haku.
An infuriated scream was heard over the darkness, "You think that you're really clever don't you? Just wait until your own friends are found spying on you! I will get your powers no matter who I harm and what risks I have to take." The darkness swirled around her with greater intensity, at times blinding her. Her own golden aura seemed insufficient against it, and she felt as though she was falling into a pit of shadows.
"Chihiro, where are you?" Chihiro looked around her trying to trace the source of the voice. Was it really him or the Evil One impersonating him?
She opened her mouth and cried out, "Over here! I don't know if you can see me though." The shadows around her began to shift violently as a faint light appeared in front of her, it grew brighter the closer it crept towards her. Chihiro backed away from it, unsure what sort of creature was generating such light and whether it was friend or foe.
Only did she realize that it was Haku did she dare approach. "Good you're okay." He said when he saw her approach.
Chihiro stopped. "Should I be?"
"Well I did see the Evil One walk towards you and he did look as if he was about to attack, so I was worried about your safety." Chihiro nodded but otherwise didn't respond, Haku looked as if he was going to inquire about something but didn't say anything. The darkness slowly faded away to reveal a patch of grassy land by a rapidly running river. Its water was as clear as thousands of sparkling crystals and reflected everything in the sky above it.
Chihiro watched as the river water flowed around a few boulders that lay in its path, and down a small ledge some yards away from her. "It's beautiful here," she commented, "I felt as if I've seen it before but I can't actually recall what it's called and having actually been here."
"I'm not surprised." Haku said his tone an undistinguishable mix of loss, sorrow, and joy. She looked at him wondering what he was thinking and if he knew where they were. A small pink shoe drifted past them in the unseen swirling eddies of water.
At first she was confused, but she later figured out where they were. "Oh I see," Chihiro murmured softly, "it must be painful for you to see it again." He didn't reply as he walked towards the river, its gentle blue waters rushing past them as if it had better places to be. A single tear fell out of his eyes and into the river, creating ripples that distorted his reflection.
She watched him, wondering what exactly happened to his river. The last time she saw it was when she moved from their old house by it to a new one miles away from it. "I guess you could say that I really missed it," Haku replied solemnly, "It's been a while since I last saw it in this condition. It's the same way for both Yoshiro and Hikari." As curious as she was, she did not ask what happened to either his or his sibling's rivers. It was apparent that he did not wish to dwell upon the subject she walked towards him thinking that she might comfort him.
Chihiro found herself starring into the river's swirling currents as she stood next to Haku, its crystal waters rushing towards another place. "So what's happening at the palace?" Haku suddenly asked. "How's Hikari been doing, she hasn't caused any trouble has she?"
"I thought that you wouldn't be able to talk about stuff like that here." She replied quite shocked.
"We have to learn to move on, especially after a traumatizing incident. If we didn't, then the entire world would be a sadder place with everyone thinking of the sorrows they encountered in the past. Think of what things could happen in a world ruled by sorrow, a world without joy. There wouldn't be anything worth living for, and evil could easily destroy what little light was left."
"I guess, but I still don't understand how you can move on without being reminded of the sadness that you fell and have felt."
"I am reminded, everyday I look around myself some little aspect of life always seems to remind me of my river. You still have to move on though; you have to learn that there are more things in life than just plan sadness. You still haven't answered my question though."
Chihiro carefully said the words wondering if the Evil One was present, "She's doing fine, nothing really big happened besides Sakura's disappearance."
"Who's Sakura?" Haku asked confused.
"Oh I forgot to tell you, a female dragon spirit came to the palace a few days ago. Her name was Sakura and she turned out to be a relative of mine?"
"How do you know that she wasn't lying?"
"Hikari knew her, and she found the connection between me and her."
"Hikari knew her?"
"Yeah she met her a couple of years ago."
"Hmm," Haku said thoughtfully, "Hikari never talked about Sakura though Keiko did mention that she and Hikari went on a trip to the Spirit World a few years ago. I wonder if that's when she met her, during that trip. So Sakura disappeared? Do you know where's she might be?"
"Well she did leave a letter in her room, and it said that she was going to search for you. Then it said not to worry about her because she felt she was going to be of more help searching for you and the others rather than just staying in the palace. At the end it said that she would be staying in a place that some of us are familiar with, but will not remember because of the darkness that surrounds it."
Haku repeated the message to himself trying to see if he would remember something. Then it occurred to him where Sakura might be. "Do you suppose that she went to Aburaya?"
"Why would she want to….oh I see. It fits the description given in the letter, but isn't Aburaya a famous bathhouse or something? If that's true then I'm sure a lot of spirits would know about it."
"That's true, but not everyone's familiar with the bathhouse itself. Many spirits only know of a bathhouse called Aburaya, but for those that haven't visited or worked there. They wouldn't know of much of it." Chihiro nodded, Haku's logic made a lot of sense to her.
"For some reason though, I don't think that she went there. Something about her going to that place doesn't seem right."
"Well it's the only place that I can think of that fits those terms, unless she was talking about a place that lay outside of Aburaya but close enough so that it would be threatened by the dark forces."
Chihiro thought for a moment before speaking, "Do you suppose that she went to Swamp's Bottom?"
"You think that she went to Zeniba's cabin?" Haku asked quizzically. "Unless you guys told her about it and where it was located she wouldn't know about it."
"I don't think we told her about it directly, but we might have mentioned it in one of our conversations with either Sora or Hikari. She might have overheard if we did."
"Then she's probably at Swamp's Bottom with No-face. Unless he came with you on this little trip or left Zeniba's cabin for some reason, both of which I doubt." A silence soon enveloped them in its silent arms, and the numerous voices of the river could be heard. Chihiro watched quietly as the river sped past them, and both her and Haku's reflections were cast upon its glossy surface like a natural mirror.
"It's almost as if we were meant to be together." She thought to herself. Haku sensed the same thing and shifted uneasily, unnerved by the distance between him and his love.
The area around them began to grow brighter, and the scenes began to disappear. The last thing she saw before she opened her eyes was the rushing river and Haku.
Chihiro groaned, unwilling to open her eyes. Sunlight streamed through her room in great quantities. Snatches of her conversation with Haku flashed through her mind. One statement spoken by Haku stayed rooted in her mind, unable to shake it off she absently thought about its meaning. Moments later she was found in a pale pink kimono walking out of her room.
Rin was walking out of her room at that time. She smiled when she saw her friend, "Good morning Chihiro."
"Hey Rin is it okay if I talk to you about something?" Chihiro asked. "First we have to wait for the others to wake up though, because I want them to hear what I have to say as well."
"Fine with me, but let's get some breakfast first." Chihiro agreed and the two walked towards the Indigo Room.