Promises Broken and Dreams Fulfilled

By: Darkblade Wielder

Disclaimer: I don't own Spirited Away

Chapter 1: She Needs Me

"Haku!" cried Rin, searching for the young boy,"Haku, Yubaba wants you!"

"Tell her that I am no longer her slave and that she cannot call me at anytime and expect me to always obey," answered a calm, deep voice. The speaker was leaning on one of the many statues in the meadow surrounding the great bathhouse.

"Haku, you've been sitting there for days now. Sen isn't coming back if she hasn't by now. And besides," she broke out in a grin,"Yubaba would kill me if I said that to her!" It had only been a year in the Spirit World since Chihiro had stumbled upon it, while it had been 5 years in the human world. That year had not changed Rin much at all.

Haku, on the other hand, had changed so when he saw Chihiro again, if he ever did, they would look the same age. His once shoulder-length, jet black hair had been cut just below his ears. It looked like he had done it himself. It was no longer strait and perfect like 5 years ago, but was uneven in places and didn't look like he had brushed it in weeks. His shoulders were broader and his voice was deeper. He had grown taller, too. Even though he was a spirit and was hundreds of years old, he had the body of a normal 15 year old---if you could call being the Kohaku River spirit normal. The only thing that hadn't changed was his emerald green eyes, which were now focused on the same tunnel that Chihiro had emerged with her family what seemed like centuries ago. "I know, Rin but I cant help thinking she needs me," he replied continuing to stare at the tunnel.

Little did he no that the very girl he was focused on was staring at the same tunnel, except on the other side, the human side

15-year-old Chihiro sat on top of the statue in the middle of the road, staring into the dark tunnel, longing to enter it and run into the Spirit World she had left behind so many years ago. But she knew she couldn't she had tried just a week after her adventure, only to find that at the end, there was a brick wall that seemed to have popped up over night. Oh Haku, why aren't you here? You promised me. A pearly white tear rolled down her cheek as she waited, watched, hoped that the boy she had known so long ago would come out of the entrance, holding her and telling her that it wasn't a dream, that she really did enter the spirit world, that she really did work at the evil witch Yubaba's bath house to save her parents and her name. Because if it was a dream, her entire life after the age of 10 would have been a lie.

Chihiro slid off the statue, stumbled for a moment and started to walk home slowly. Her long brown hair was always left undone and now swished behind her in the wind. She too had grown a lot over the years. Her once flat chest now had curves. She was a lot taller and sturdier than the scrawny 10-year-old she used to be. On her wrist she wore a glittering hair band that she never took off. Woven by my friends she thought, smiling at the memory. She missed her friends in the spirit world. Zeneba, Rin, No-Face, Boh, and most of all, Haku, or as she corrected herself, Kohaku. No, Haku was more than a friend, at least, she wanted him to be. She loved him. She didn't want to though she didn't want to be heartbroken when she found out that he had forgotten all about her. After all, she was a weak silly human girl, while he was a powerful river spirit.

Her gray-blue eyes looked weary. She had not been sleeping well for a few weeks. The same dream had been haunting her every night.

DREAM

Chihiro was running through the same tunnel she had been staring at. This time she made it to the spirit world. She ran through the grass and saw Rin

"Sen! It's been so long! Its so good to see you!"

Rin's image faded and Haku was standing in her place. "Haku!"

"What are you doing here human? How do you no my name?" he asked

End Dream

She always woke up there. Chihiro started to cry. How could he not remember me?

-Edited-