Thanks for all the reviews that I've received. I do appreciate 'em all. With no further ado, here is the next chap!


Revelations and Surprises

By the time she reached her destination, Chihiro was already an agitated mess of bruises and swells. The ever-familiar mocking spirit statue sitting outside the entrance stared sightlessly into the dark. The red, ashen walls were apparently intact, and she wondered what could be going on in the other side. All the while, her thoughts never left Haku. Gritting her teeth, she limped towards the entrance, her feet now stinging unbearably. It was stupid of her not to have searched for her lost sandals, but it doesn't matter now.

Long ago, Kohaku had warned her against returning to this place, saying that it was dangerous for her to return for the second time around; the spirits governing that world may not be as kind. But her safety was now of least importance. She didn't know how she could do it, but she had to save him, no matter what the cost.

As she was about to enter, a loud thumping sound echoed from the tunnel and forcibly pushed her out. Cutting wind combined with a strange forceful energy slammed against her body. With a scream, Chihiro found herself flying, the statue stopping her flight as her back hit it with a painful thud. For a moment, she was stunned by the impact, but as she looked up at the entrance, she gasped and struggled to stand. The tunnel, or rather, where the tunnel used to be, was no more. It was merely a red and flat vertical surface. Nothing, not even a tiny door, or a crack was in place. Chihiro gave a cry of desperation as reality struck her. She was shut out, totally shut out from his world. He was in danger, possibly dying or dead for all she knew, and she could do nothing.

Ignoring the protests of her hurt back and feet, she ran to the wall and banged her fists against it, shouting and cursing for all the gods and spirits to hear. It was a very unwise thing to do but she was neither wise nor sensible at the moment. Her mind was strangely fuzzed by her very hysterical and frustrated thoughts. "OPEN THIS DOOR, DAMN IT! CAN YOU HEAR ME! LET ME IN, LET ME IN, LET ME INNNNNN!"

Taking a deep breath, she continued her rants. "You have no right, no right to shut me out of there! Haku needs me. So…so, I have to get in, do you hear?"

"Tut-tut, human. How much do you know of the rights of gods?" Came a gravelly voice behind her. She almost jumped in surprise.

Looking around suspiciously she wondered out loud. "Who spoke?"

There was an earthy scoff that might as well be a snort. "I did."

"Who?" She was too tired to feel terrified at hearing bodiless voices. "Will you please show yourself? I'm not up to games of hide and seek."

"Mortal, your impudence is both highly amusing and displeasing," came the wry voice. "It is quite hard to believe that you are that same snot-faced child who was desperately crying for her mother and father. And you are looking at the wrong direction. You will not find me amongst the trees. You really need not look too far."

With shock, her eyes focused on the small statue to see that it was no longer smiling; an immaculate frown replaced the expression on his face as he looked calculatingly at her. She shouted in astonishment. "GAHH! You—you spoke? How can that be?"

"Eh? So you still have energy to shout around, eh? Heh, that's good. You'll need all of your energy if you're going there," said the stone in the most matter of fact way. He/It coughed up some dust and muttered apologetically. "So sorry—not used to so much excitement and talking."

"You're a spirit—a guardian spirit?" she murmured slowly.

"Yes, I am. You may call me Ishi-san. I'm the one that guards the EME—"

"G-gomen, but what is EME?"

"East Main Entrance. And don't you know it's rude to interrupt when someone is talking?"

"Ah, gomen….so there are other entrances?" she asked, hands clenched in desperation.

"Of course! There are thousands of entrances around the world, but there are four official main entrances; the North, South, East, and West. Of course, there is a fifth main entrance but the Bermuda Triangle hasn't been used for quite some time now. So there are four main entrances, but there are also some other ones, small minor ones."

"So—so there is a way!" and running towards the statue, she placed her hands on the shoulders of the entity. "Please mister, please help me get there! Can you please open this portal? I need to get to Haku—"

"Yes, I know he's in pretty big trouble, child—and will you please unhand me? I am a deity, not some lesser being!" said the stone god irritably.

"Ah, gomen," she said, hastily pulling her hands away. "So, mister, can you please help me?"

"And anyways, I can't open that one even if I wanted to. I am the guardian of the EME. I had to close it immediately before the evil spreading in the Spirit world can penetrate the human world."

Chihiro was crestfallen. "What do you mean? What is really happening there?"

Ishi coughed up again. "Come. If I'm going to tell you things, I'd be uncomfortable doing it as a stone. Wait a bit." And with that, a bright light snaked from the ear of the statue and took a tangible form beside it. Chihiro gasped. There stood, stretching before her, a small, lithe child barely as tall and as wide as his stone form. His pale face was incredibly serious but his eyes mirrored mirth and satisfaction at occupying his real form. Even his large pointed ears were twitching.

"But mister—I mean, Ishi-san—I didn't think you'd be just a—just a—" she wrinkled her nose, not knowing for sure how to call him "kid" or "child" without sounding rude.

"I heard that," he glowered cheerfully, and this itself was a mystery; how can a person glower cheerfully? "Fortunately, or rather unfortunately, I can read minds when I am in my real form. Don't mistake me for a kid, kid. I was already more than a millennium old when I replaced my forefather in his task—and that was more than three thousand years ago."

"I see. Please forgive my rudeness," she murmured, though still having difficulty believing that one so old could look so young. But then again, Haku is no way younger than him.

Haku…She squeezed her eyes shut to keep herself from crying. She had to be strong if she was going to find the dragon. And when that happens, she won't ever let him go.

The guardian took her hands in his small ones sympathetically. "I'll teleport us to my abode. It is near enough. Close your eyes. It will feel slightly uncomfortable."

She did as was told. "Just relax, dear child."

It was a strange sensation, as though she was being sucked into a giant drainage pipe, or a tiny black hole. Her body was stretching and stretching to impossibility. Bile rose in her throat for a few seconds but she gulped it back down furiously. Just relax, just relax, just relax, just—

"Open your eyes now. We're here," said a kindly voice. The brown-haired girl opened her eyes, the world focusing and refocusing in her eyes. She felt slightly unbalanced but the god's surprisingly strong hands held her upright.

"Where is this place?" she murmured in awe. They were in a room—obviously the library as there were many shelves and books stacked together in piles. It was slightly messy with papers strewn across the desk, some on the floor. Surprisingly, the structure, the furniture, and even the cover of the books were made of earth and stone. There were no windows but there was air and light. She gaped at the high ceiling; there was a huge and magnificent chandelier made of mirrors and bright gems. She breathed. "Beautiful."

"Thank you. But I believe you know this place, or rather, what is above it," he said knowingly and touched her forehead with his finger. She suddenly remembered riding in the car with her parents when she first came there. Her child self had pointed to some piled stones which oddly resembled rubbles of fallen buildings. And her mother had said something…it was a…

"A shrine," she continued, wrinkling her nose at the memory. "So this is under the old shrine for spirits."

"Yes. Deep beneath, in fact. The shrine was my favourite haunt when I was a younger. When the people were still praying to the spirits of the earth, the soil was more fertile and beautiful. The ancient people used to be favoured by us, gods. I wish those good days would come back, when spirits and humans still interacted freely. But of course, the people started becoming power-hungry and bloodthirsty, forgetting about the old rituals. Technologies and sciences were the new perspective, and religion was forgotten. Slowly, the spirits withdrew from their earthy manifestations, concentrating mainly on taking care of their homes. Many shrines were abandoned, and that shrine above is one of them; it is nothing but old rubble now. Pity, such a pity," the spirit sighed nostalgically. Chihiro nodded sympathetically.

"I'm so sorry to hear about that, sir," she began said slowly. "But will you please tell me what is going on now? I am worried over Haku."

That is the biggest understatement of the year, she thought wryly. Her hand sought the warmth of her scale-pendant and uttered a plea for Haku to be safe.

An armchair slid behind Chihiro and she buckled her legs in a squeal as she fell on the seat. The spirit somberly sat on the chair behind the desk, and with a tiny nod of his head, the disarray of papers and items flew back to their places. It made her slightly reminiscent of Yubaba and a small smile passed across her lips. He raised his brow at her as if to say "I heard that."

"Now, we are all settled," he began when everything was neat. Chihiro shifted uneasily in her seat and bit her lower lip in worry. "It won't take long, if that is what you are worrying about.

"The story begins in continuation with my earlier narration. The humans started to become greedy, their minds fed by the seeds of evil. Nature started deteriorating when the humans began interfering with the natural ways. Mountains were shaved of trees, fields were burned down, animals became extinct, the air, lands and seas were polluted, rivers were covered with earth…You must imagine how hurt and enraged the spirits were. The humans they used to protect were destroying them. They were very angry, but they did nothing, could do nothing. There were rules, and the rules forbid the spirits from committing revenge. The anger, the hatred may soil the heart but the actual actions of violence and retribution dirties and blackens those hearts completely."

Closing his eyes for a moment, he pinched the bridge of his nose as though wearied and went on. "Do you know what happens when the entities which the gods or spirits govern die? The deities, having thus lost their property, become temporarily insane, or they may lose their memories. Those entities are reminiscent of who they are and what they are, and they have already incorporated large parts of themselves into their ownerships, so that those things, whether they be animal or plant, water or soil, earth or sky would be able to protect and help the people, the humans. And so, when destroyed, they lose a big portion of their sanities. As expected, many became insane and sought revenge until finally twelve years ago, some revenge-maddened spirits united to punish the humans. They threatened to send the world into eternal damnation, and naturally, they had to be stopped.

"And they were, before they could do real damage," he continued, shaking his head. "The Great Kami ordered them captured, and after a brief war in the Spirit world, they were thrown into the Isle of Solitude. There, they are purged to purification. They can only be released once the seed of hatred is removed from their hearts. It may take years, millennia, eons, maybe never."

"Sorry, but, what about Yubaba? And—and there are some other evil spirits in the spirit world, as Haku told me, but why aren't they in the Isle, too?" she asked, meekly.

"Fine question. That is because it is in her nature to be what she is. She is a witch. She is not necessarily evil, but she acts according to what nature dictates to her. As it is a hunter's nature to hunt."

"I…see," she said, scrunching her nose for a moment. "Please continue."

"Recently, those who were thrown into the Isle of Solitude escaped. No one knows how, but it is believed that an outside connection perpetuated their escape. From what I've heard, they are recruiting every spirit or god they could bring to their side."

"But why Kohaku?" she asked, fearing for the worst.

"You forget, my dear, that humans destroyed his river—the Kohaku river. He had become temporarily mad before, but for some reason, he managed to control it. Extremely weakened by his loss, he sought for Yubaba's aid. You know the rest."

Turning paper-white, she gulped. "So—so they're hoping to use him? To—to make him one of them? He won't—I know him, he's not the kind who will succumb to such evil measures."

Shaking his head sadly, he mused. "In the Spirit world where magic and energy is at its peak, anything is possible. Kohaku is very powerful. He may be able to fend them, but with their numbers, it can be only for a while."

Chihiro stood up shakily, nauseated by the whole story. It was all so absurd—but she knew it to be real. Haku…her dear Kohaku…would be forced to do things against his wishes. When he is no longer useful to them, they would surely kill him. When that happens, she might not be able to bear it.

"Please!" she began, clenching fists determinedly. "Please help me find him! Let me go—back to the Spirit world!"

"Foolish human, have you no sense? After all I've told you, you still persist! If those spirits capture you, they will surely use you against him."

The seventeen-year old bit her lip uncertainly but continued. "Please let me! I will brave all dangers if I have to!"

"You have no protection—"

Squeezing the silvery scale which hung across her neck, she defended stubbornly. "I need your help, sir! Please, please…" and, to the guardian's surprise she roughly kneeled down on the ground, prostrating herself humbly before him. Tears escalated from her eyes and fell to the ground. "Help me!"

"But," he said hesitantly. "You will need a guide. Aburaya and Zeniba's territory are the only places that you know of—"

"If a guide's your only problem, then let me," said a voice from amongst the book cases. Chihiro gasped and looked up to the direction of the speaker. She knew that voice…

A woman with a shock of long pink hair materialized, leaning casually against the shelves, arms draped across her chest. Along with her appearance came the sweetest scent of flowers. An equally pink dress which oddly resembled the Grecian outfit covered her ochre flesh. She walked towards Chihiro, who was suddenly aware of her own shabby appearance. The woman helped her to her feet; she was smaller than her. Her startlingly red eyes gazed at her intently. Finally, she smiled. The smile was all too familiar to the brown-haired girl…

Unceremoniously, the very elegant-looking woman took her hands and grasped them tightly. "Hi, Chi."

Realization dawned on her. "R-Rei?"

The spirit chuckled and Chihiro fell back on the armchair roughly. Rei smiled; she's in for some explaining.


Hmm, I'm not exactly sure if I like this twist that I've made. I mean, I really like it but...do you?

I wouldn't know if no one tells me so...

A review

would be

very

helpful!

Tomatoes?

Potatoes?

Orange juice?

Please Review!