Chapter 2: A Stranger and Old Friend

"I'm so sorry," said the young man, bowing. "Please forgive me, honored guest." Somehow that gesture combined with his formal speech as well as the antique-looking cos-play worker's tunic and pants made him seem like he didn't belong to the present day. There was something oddly familiar about him, although she was sure she'd remember a guy who had hair cut straight across his eyes and thick locks hanging just above his shoulders that looked as if someone had cut his hair with the assistance of a pail. Odd hair cut, thought Chihiro to herself, trying not to stare. Kind of out of style, nowadays… But those eyes…What a beautiful color…Is he wearing contacts?

"No, it's my fault for not looking where I was going," she said absently. "I was just searching for another pair of slippers." He pulled a pair out from behind him.

"I think these are your size," he smiled. She tried them on and they fit perfectly.

"Hey, you're right! You're good at guessing shoe sizes. Thanks again!" She made a polite bow and headed back to the bathing pool where Sachi was already basking in her private happiness.

She heard the gate close behind her.

"You're very welcome, Chihiro-san," said the young man softly from behind the bamboo fence. Sitting at the edge of the pool, staring into the cloudy mineral water, she paused to think for a moment. How did he know my name?

"What's wrong, Chihiro? asked Sachi, opening one eye to look at her friend.

"That guy knew my name, but I don't remember telling him."

"You and I are the only ones in here and the voices carry along the stone walls. He must have heard me call your name," reasoned Sachi. As Chihiro took a spare wash cloth and bucket to wash the day off of her in a corner stall, she pondered his familiar eyes and his soft black hair. She didn't go near enough to touch it but she was certain that it felt silky.

"The reasoning is quite logical, yet so foreign coming out of your mouth," smiled Chihiro as she finished scrubbing down. Her friend splashed her with water. Both of them giggled as Chihiro slipped out of her towel and into the calming green water for a relaxing herbal soak.

000

"My goodness, look at all the leaves!" said the innkeeper's wife as she swept the front steps of the hotel. Chihiro was trying to avoid getting leaves swept onto her new shoes when she overheard the woman say, "It's as if a dragon had burst through here last night." Chihiro stopped for a moment and recalled bits and pieces of a dream she had last night after she and Sachiko went to bed.

It was a most peculiar dream. In it she stood amid vast bodies of water; falls, streams, brooks, lakes, rivers and seas everywhere stretching out into the horizon. She was in a place that was shrouded by mist, a place that was both endless and timeless. Nearby, the trees swayed and shook their leaves and branches together, as if to keep time with some silent drum. In the dream, she felt as though she was being watched but there was no one around that she could see. The wind suddenly picked up, blowing her long hair out behind her. She saw it trail out longer and longer, as if it was growing before her eyes. Then she thought, Kohaku, is that you? The wind died down just as quickly as it had come, and she felt very alone. Don't go, Kohaku! Her voice echoed in her head.

When she woke up, she was sitting up in bed, and Sachiko was stirring. Chihiro had cried out in her sleep and felt rather embarrassed. It was just a dream, nothing more, she thought to herself. Still, there was something in her that didn't feel right. It felt something akin to a longing, but she had no idea what her heart was longing for.

"Hey Chihiro! You're holding up the line," said Sachiko, nudging her friend in the arm with an elbow. Chihiro realized that she had stopped in mid step when she overheard the inkeeper's wife talking to herself, and so put her other foot down, and continued moving her feet, the left one and then the right one, until she made it back onto the bus.

"What's wrong with you today, Chihiro?" asked her friend.

"Nothing, why do you ask?"

"Well, you're acting strangely. I don't think you slept very well. I didn't either because the wind was howling last night! Almost like a wolf or a dog. It was kinda scary. But today you're spacing out on me. What's up?"

"Nothing. I'm fine, just tired, I guess. Too much walking," she smiled weakly.

"You love walking, though," her friend replied.

Chihiro shrugged. "Everyone has their limits."

"No, it's not that." She turned to look Chihiro in the face and felt her friend's forehead with the palm of her hand. "It's like…like, you're distracted with something," said Sachiko. "Or maybe someone?" Chihiro swatted her friend's hand away as if swatting a bug.

"No I'm not! Don't be ridiculous…." She said, noticing that her voice was trailing off. "I just had a bad dream that's all." Chihiro put her headphones on and listened to her L'arc en Ciel CD play on her mp3.

"Well, the next temple we're going to see has a lot of charms. Ms. Matsui said so. I'm sure we'll be able to find something to ward the bad spirits away."

"Mm-hmm," responded Chihiro, but her thoughts were already drifting away from her friend's company.

The bus took the students a short way from the lodge and closer to the foothills of Mt. Ena-San. There, they another small village with cultural significance and a history that Chihiro missed completely as she was lost in her own thoughts. Ms. Matsui told them that today consisted of a nature hike up the mountain, and the rest of the day was going to be a play day before the bus took them back to their lodge. Mr. Takada was in charge of teaching on the nature hike, and Ms. Matsui fell behind in the back of the group to make sure no one got lost. Chihiro and Sachiko stayed near the back, as they both enjoyed taking pictures. Eventually, Ms. Matsui walked on ahead of them and warned them not to fall behind, and the two girls ended up bringing up the rear of the group as usual. The path they were walking followed a small stream, and Chihiro walked as close to the stream bank as she could get. Throughout the entire walk, she felt as though she was being watched. But whenever she turned around, there was nothing but trees and the sound of summer cicadas behind her.

Chihiro walked closer to the small stream, recalling the story of when she was little and nearly drowned. Her family had gone on a picnic when she was small to a place she did not really remember. But her pink shoe had fallen into the river as she was catching tadpoles. As she was reliving the memory, a butterfly caught her eye, hovering over the tall grass next to the stream. It reminded her of the place she had picnicked with her parents long, long ago. Where had that been? I just remember waves of grass, so green and thick, as far as I could see…

"Chihiro! Chihiro, come on! We're gonna be left behind," said Sachiko as she pulled her friend's arm up the trail. "I need to keep up the pace or else I'll get really tired going slow. The teachers will kill me if I lost you. C'mon!" Chihiro let her friend pull her away from the river bank.

"All right, all right. I'm coming," she replied. "You're just in a hurry because you want to be first in line for those charms."

"Of course.. I've wanted Mamoru to notice me since we were in seventh grade. This is my chance—the charms here are supposed to be really accurate," said Sachi.

"You know, love doesn't really work that way. You can't force or take away love with magic," laughed Chihiro. "Especially not with cheesy charms."

"You'll see. I'll get him to notice me," smiled Sachiko. "I'll buy you a charm too, so that someone will notice you."

"Please don't," grimaced Chihiro.

The group finally made it back to the lodge after dark, and the rest of the evening, the students spent their time at the local village festival, a seasonal tradition bringing the close of summer. Most of the festivities took place around the local shrine and its offerings for the night during the festival was selling charms. Some students decided to visit the karaoke lounge on the other side of town. Mamoru wanted Chihiro to join him and his friends paddle boating in the lake. The waters were enchanting and lit up with glowing festival lanterns, but Chihiro declined and insisted that they take Sachiko instead. For this, Sachiko gave her a very grateful look.

Chihiro left the group to be alone with her thoughts. The shrine was near enough to walk to and so she decided to go back to visit it on foot along the lamplit dirt path. When she reached the praying altar, Chihiro tossed a few coins into the brass tray, rang the bell, and put her hands together in prayer.

I don't know what to wish for right now. So I'll just clap my hands like this and go through the motions so that people can watch and wonder what it is I'm thinking... Curiously, evern since she was little, Chihiro had never been in the habit of making wishes. Whenever she tried to conjure up a wish, she would end up feeling rather empty, as if she had no desires whatsoever.

An old woman came out from behind the shrine and came right up to Chihiro. She nodded at Chihiro in greeting and smiled. Chihiro bowed politely.

"You are fortunate to have found our temple. This altar is said to grant many wishes of the deserving," said the old crone. "Behind the altar it is said that there is a solid gold dragon statue. Inside that sculpture is said to be one of the talons of the river god himself. Many villagers come here to pray and many wishes are granted." The old crone clasped her hands as if in prayer. "It is because of this relic that many tourists come to our village. It has blessed us for many years now. You should pray to it."

"Well, I'm not sure if I am deserving, but I don't think I should wish for anything because I'm not really a believer," smiled Chihiro.

The old crone smiled back at her. "You have a certain glow about you, child. As if you were blessed by the spirits themselves, or protected by their spell. Your wishes may yet come true. Take heart." When the woman finished praying, she added to Chihiro as she was leaving, "Don't forget to shake the prayer sticks, dear. They are also very accurate."

"Thank you," said Chihiro. "I'll do that." But when she reached for the prayer stick container, some of her other classmates were approaching. Feeling a bit silly, and to avoid their inquiries as to what she was praying for, Chihiro snuck away behind a painted screen just out of sight of the others. When she had found a quiet place behind the main room, she started shaking the joss sticks for a fortune. One stick teetered out to the edge.

"Why the secrecy?" asked a voice from behind her. The voice had startled her so unexpectedly, she nearly jumped. The sticks flew out of their holder all at once scattering everywhere.

"Shoot," said Chihiro looking at all the prayer sticks lying on the floor. She only needed one. But, prayer sticks weren't an exact science, either, Chihiro admitted to herself. She turned around and saw the young man from the onsen the previous night.

"You?" she asked questioningly. A cool breeze blew through her untied hair obscuring her vision as the young man from last night approached. She pushed her locks back to see he was wearing more casual attire now, a wrinkled button up white shirt hung lazily over fashionable, loose fitting khaki pants folded up at the hems and dirty tennis shoes casually slipped onto his feet. His hair, however, was still as outdated as it was before, but at least it was tied back. He moved very close and looked into her eyes with a look that puzzled her, but she did not step away or avert her gaze. The young man seemed wise beyond his years though he looked to be about her age.

"Let me help. It's my fault for startling you. I didn't mean to. Which really begs the first question. Why the secrecy?" he asked, stooping down to pick up all the sticks in his hands. She started to help as well.

"Well, I just didn't want them to see me. I have a reputation of not really believing in these things. Or at least doubting their usefulness. If my classmates saw me do this, they'd laugh at the irony," smiled Chihiro.

"By the way, aren't you supposed to be working or something back at the hotel?"

"This is my day off. I have relatives here. This is my father's village."

"Oh, you mean he's the village elder?"

"You could say that. He's more like a patron, of sorts." He looked at the stick holder in her hand. "Did you intend to read that? It's the only one that didn't fall out. It must be your fortune." Chihiro looked down and saw the one stick that was remaining, the same one she had shaken loose from the rest, hanging on precariously to the stick holder. She pulled it out, and then walked over to the shelves where they keep the paper fortunes. Selecting the correct shelf and column, she pulled out a thin rice paper fortune.

"It says here that I am having the best luck in my life this very moment," smiled Chihiro.

"May I see it?" he asked. She handed it over to him. "It says that you are protected by the gods. You will encounter a stranger who is an old friend and good fortune will follow."

"How can I meet someone who is both a stranger and an old friend?" laughed Chihiro. "I knew these fortunes were loopy."

"Chihiro-san, when did you become so jaded?" asked the young man with a wry smile.

"You speak as though you knew me from a time when I wasn't. How can you be so familiar with me and I don't even know your name?" asked Chihiro.

"Forgive me. My name is Haku," he responded. For a moment, she thought she saw disappointment in his eyes.

"Haku," said Chihiro. The name lingered on her lips and summoned strange and familiar feelings inside of her. But no memories surfaced in her mind.

"Have you and I…met before?" she asked, hesitantly. He paused to look at her for a moment, searching her eyes.

"No," he finally answered. "Why?"

"It's just that there's something familiar about you. But I can't quite put my finger on it," said Chihiro, haltingly. He smiled, bowed, and started walking away.

"What? You're leaving?" He made no response and just left her to her own thoughts. "Was it something I said?" she called out after him. For some reason, she really wanted to talk to him more, but he had already disappeared behind the corner. She fought the urge to follow him.

"Hmph, wierdo," she frowned.