Rat Race

Haku brought Chihiro out into the garden to look up at the moon with him. It was round and bright, showing the clear wonder radiating from her dark chocolate eyes. Never in his life had he experienced such wonder as when he was with her. They say it is rare for a Spirit to fall in love for the simple fact that their lives were so long. Because of that, not much of a need for reproduction existed, and thus they tended to keep more to themselves. However, this wasn't the average crush. This girl…she was the long missing half of his gentle soul. No matter how cheesy or corny that sounded.

"Stay with me forever," she whispered, "I don't want to be alone anymore." In response, Haku pulled the girl closer to his body, caressing the back of her head. Chihiro smiled at his reaction. She knew Haku would never desert her. He was the one person she would like to spend her life with.

Looking at Chihiro's peaceful expression, Haku began smiling. Then, he leaned his face forward to give her a kiss. The girl, noticing his intentions, leaned forward as well. Their lips met in an instant, holding peacefully in their position. It was like Heaven itself had come down to shower them in light.

"Well, well, well…what have we here? A little rat of a River Spirit playing with what is rightfully mine. Boy! You would do good not to challenge the might of Inferno," the voice of the lustful Volcano Spirit rang out. The two snapped to attention to see their nemesis hovering over them. He eyed Chihiro with hunger in his vision. In response, Haku pulled her closer, refusing to let that monster hurt his beloved.

Haku stated, "She is not yours. Chihiro and I promised ourselves to each other before you had entered the picture. I was just in a long and rigid training session so I could not see her. And even if she was not my girlfriend, you have no right to simply steal her away against her will. Women are not just playthings for men. They are their own beings! Both men and women exist to compliment one another, to help one another in forming a society. Neither is slave to the other! If you touch her…you will die!"

Inferno smirked; he loved hearing the foolish laments of others. "Touching boy. But I don't believe in that equality stuff. If the girl catches my eyes, I can take her. Why are you fools always getting in my way? I've been prepping this one a thousand years to become my wife; that will not be wasted!"

With that, he sent a blast of fire at the couple. Haku, shielding Chihiro, was hit with the full brunt of the attack. She screamed as he fell to the ground wounded. Upon sensing his lifeforce was still burning brightly, the young girl let out a sigh of relief. However, there was still Inferno to contend with.

"You monster…" she whispered, "Nobody touches Haku and gets away with it." With that, she began to transform into her Dragon state. Her tail wildly swung around in anger; she wouldn't let him live it down. With that, the River Spirit called up a mystical aura of water to protect her beloved from being injured in the backlash. Then, she turned her face towards her enemy, rage peaking over what he did.

"You wish to fight me? The mighty Inferno. None of my brides have been so brazen before. But then again, what should I expect from one who was born human. I will defeat you and bring you back to my palace. Then…I will make sure that you never leave again," Inferno threatened. He then called the fires to wrap around his body. When they cleared, he had become a Dragon as well. However, it was not a Chinese Dragon like Chihiro. He was of the European variety, decked in red scales and yellow belly.

The two beasts stared at one another. Then, suddenly, Inferno let out a lash of fire from his mouth. Chihiro, knowing she wouldn't be able to dodge it in time, called up an aura of water. She immediately transformed her barrier into a jet stream; thrusting it out to counter the storm of flames.

She thought, 'Water puts out fire. Fire melts ice which turns to water to wash the flames away. The winds blow the loosened soil around. Light conquers the darkest of nights. Looks like that little elemental lesson I got from Yume is really paying off. I know how to fight now; how to protect Haku.'

Suddenly, the water thrust the flames back to their caster. Inferno was thrown into the garden wall; injured from contact with not only his enemy/victim's power, but that of his own body. The wicked Spirit laughed; she was just too much. "You are powerful. I know that you will bring forth strong sons for me! Now…come along quietly. Unless you want to risk an accidental hit destroying that foolish Spirit!"

But before she could respond, a cage of flames appeared in the sky and dropped over Chihiro's position. She called up her watery aura once more, thrusting the waves at the devilish trap. However, unlike the normal flames of Inferno's attack, these would never go out. It was his ultimate weapon, the trump card he mastered in case his brides tried to fight back. In fact, this was the first time he'd cast it.

'Blast it!' the young River Spirit thought, 'How can I break out of this one? He's obviously thought of everything; then again, he has dealt with six escapes. Haku…I'm sorry. I'll have to find another way.' In a final act of desperation, Chihiro rammed her head into the bars of the cage. Save the really nasty burn she acquired as a result of this, nothing happened. This really was an impenetrable forcefield.

But suddenly, the entire cage vanished. Looking back, Chihiro saw Haku had recovered from his earlier bout with the flames. And he was mad! The anger over Inferno taking Chihiro away against her will again caused his own powers to increase tenfold. Thus, he'd transformed and shot a stream of water at the flaming bars. His beloved raced from her position to stand by her side to take a stand together.

"When we fight as one…our power is greater. I promised that I would never let Chihiro suffer again and by the Great Spirits I will keep that promise!" he yelled. With that, they both shot a stream of water at their enemy simultaneously. However, Inferno simply teleported away before being hit by them.

His voice echoed, "You two are to be commended. I've never seen someone fight as hard as this to protect another. Well…this won't last. I will return for the lovely Chihiro! And then I will have a plan of how to deal with this little boy. Good night, my darling!" With that, he let out a laugh that rang for miles.

The two became human again and Haku clenched his fist. "He will not get away with this. I swear that if he even thinks about touching you…I'll kill him. No one hurts you and gets away with it." With that, he began walking towards the door, returning inside. Chihiro followed him in, smiling.

Teefa's Last Words...

Don't mind me; I'm running off a La Pucelle fanfic binge when I wrote this chapter; that game had a lot of romance in it. The entire thing was filled with Prier fighting to defend either her daughter or Croix; though I'm still wishing that I had him with his shirt off at some point. Errrr...don't mind me. I have this obession with forcing the cute guys to go topless a lot in my fics just to satisfy the other fangirls.