I'm back! So sorry for the wait. School was being and is still being very evil! Grrr….

WARNING! The first bit of this chapter is dark and has violence, 1 bleeped out curse and allusions to sexual situations. I might be pushing the rating a bit… Kiddies be warned! For mature teens and up.

I'm a bit nervous about this one but it should be curiosity piquing. The dark first part is probably going to be confusing since I'm introducing brand NEW OCs! Not pretty ones though. Ok enough blabbering…Let see what you make of it…

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Punishments

"You couldn't find them?" An acid voice articulated.

"Master gives you one easy mission and what do you do?" A large greenish shadow loomed across the dimly lit room. Several knuckles cracked menacingly.

A tense silence laced the air. Defiant eyes glared though the dim light.

"Answer me you f-in brat!"

There came no reply.

"That's it you asked for it-" A fist whistled though the musty air and connected with lean flesh. There was thud of a body hitting the hard ground. But after a brief moment of shocked silence, he was back up on his feet unflinching, unchanged. The huge green mass slunk taxingly around the stoic figure.

"Wimp!" A vicious kick landed on a vulnerable spine. The smaller body fell forward onto his knees with a rasp of painful breath, still not recovered from the blow to his stomach. "At least give me the pleasure of a good fight! Hmm?" A foot grated tauntingly against a clenched jaw. Rough sand scratched his face.

A burst of anger escaped him. "Get the hell off me." he snapped in a clear voice. Flinging the foot off his face, he jumped back onto his feet.

"Oh I'm so scared! The little brat who can't fight me back is threatening me!" A sadistic laugh echoed through the silence.

Disgust dripped from a steady voice. "The only reason I keep my end of the promise is because-"

"Of your precious bitch?"

Eyes narrowed to burning slits. "Shut up."

"What did say to me?" The acid voice said in a deadly whisper. "You've got some nerve little-"

Rough hands shoved the smaller form to the ground. A flurry of taunting but painful punches rained down on his flinching face. The blows kept his neck snapped back as he tried to dodge them and backed away. Suddenly the attack stopped and he was tossed onto his back. Groaning, he curled himself into a protective crouch.

"Master will kill you." he said between coughs. He spat out some blood as he slowly got back to his feet.

"He only said not to kill you." He leered and closed in again. "Don't worry. I'll beat you up until you'll want death." The smaller shadow slowly circled away, wiping off a bloody lip. A massive foot shot out aiming right at the base of his skull. The air rushed around his ears and he knew it was too late to duck. He braced himself for the impact…

A soft but commanding female voice pierced the air. "That's enough."

The shadows stopped moving. The foot slowly lowered itself to the ground. Feeling the presence of the leg move away, the smaller figure gave into a quiet sigh of relief.

The green shadow pouted. "Aww baby I was just getting started!"

"Master told you not to kill him." the woman said coldly.

"Not dead yet is he?"

Eyes turned a chilling ice blue under thick black lashes and glared. After some grumbling the greenish shadow walked over to the woman. Hypnotizing eyes relaxed to a warm aqua and she flashed him a seductive look. Claw-like nails raked a greenish cheek. "Be a good boy and go wait in the bed." the she purred red lips smiling coyly and pressing her supple body against his. A yellow leer lit the room and footsteps promptly receded into the distance. The woman strode to the shadow crouched in the middle of the room, doubled over in pain.

"You should have kicked his ass." He looked up solemnly.

"No. I promised."

"Yourself?"

"Yeah."

The woman gazed at him for several blank moments. Then she took his hand and slipped a small bottle of balm into it. With a quick kiss on the top of his head, she slipped out the door.

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Yubaba clutched her throbbing head. Bo's incessant screaming still rang in her ears. What has gotten into him! She sighed. At least he stopped now. But of course there's this. She looked at the agonizing, simple note in her hand and snarled. She crushed the paper, compressing it into a tiny ball. Her long wrinkled nosed twitched with restrained fury and she gave a roar that rattled all her office furniture.

"What's wrong Mommy?" Bo's huge mass waddled through the curtain between his room and Yubaba's office.

Yubaba froze and forced a frightening smile onto her face. "Nothing dear! Now don't start that screaming again!"

"What's that note say?" He asked feigning innocence, pointing to the ball of paper barely visible in her hand.

"Oh this? This is nothing." She turned the very oversized baby around, nervously. "Now be a good boy and go off to play!"

Bo pouted and pretended to obey. But as soon as the curtain slid shut, he stuck his eye right to the crack between the two thick sheets. He saw Yubaba angrily tear up the note and stuff it into a trashcan. Bo smiled triumphantly.

Then there came three polite knocks.

"WHAT?" Yubaba snapped.

A blank faced Haku sauntered into the disheveled office. "Yubaba."

"Get out dragon! I'm not in the mood!" she hissed.

"I need to report something." Yubaba raised an eye brow and tried to force down a feeling of dread. Could the day get any worse? A chair slammed forward and sat Haku down with surprising grace.

"Spit it out you damn lizard!"

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Bright pink bathhouse outfits were squashed together in buzzing circle.

"Dead humans! How many?"

"No! Not dead! Just unconscious…"

"I heard ten!"

"No way! With that stench the frog described?"

"It must have been twenty!"

"But can we trust that one stupid frog?"

The rumors were endless. With the amount of gossiping Yunas working at the bathhouse, word of the human smell on the bridge had spread very quickly. The one thing that kept them in check was that luckily, the only witness of the group running across the bridge was one puny frog. However he had described the blur of bodies and the sickening stench of human vividly enough to be somewhat convincing.

"It's true I tell you!" the frog threw up its hands. "That smell! It was horrible!" He blubbered and clasped his hands together. "Believe me!" The Yunas still cast doubting glances at him and whispered frantically among their circle.

"Pathetic wimp!" Rin marched toward them tossing her head. "Nobody believes you! Just want the girls talking about you I bet. Scat!" She swung a broom at the frog who whimpered and scurried away. Rin looked up with a look of exaggerated surprise plastered on her face.

"Did you smart ladies actually believe the boneless shrimp? He just wants the attention, that idiot."

The yunas looked at each other uncertainly, but soon laughed collectively. "No of course not!" They cried shaking their head emphatically. "We didn't believe him!"

Rin smiled benignly. Suckers… "And speaking of boneless shrimp." she continued. "I think we're being pretty pathetic ourselves. Letting that fat head Yubaba boss us around!" The yunas gasped.

"Well…" one of the bolder ones started. "She is working us extra hours!"

"And the meals are getting scanty!"

Soon the workers were rallied up. Rin smiled triumphantly at her work. She gave a ear splitting whistle and the women turned to her.

"We must go on strike! Until we have less hours and more food, we will NOT work! We won't take this anymore!" A shout of agreement. "We will march in a circle around all the balconies and others can sit on the floors downstairs. Let's make some noise! Let our voices be heard!" Another shout of agreement and cheering. "Alright ladies, lets go!"

Half an hour later yunas were marching indignantly on all the balconies and banging the floors with fresh made signs of "We won't work till you treat us right!" The whole house rocked with the noises of a valiant protest.

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"What is it dragon!" Yubaba yelled at the completely poker-faced Haku. Suddenly shouts and noises of the strike came echoing up from downstairs.

"What is THAT?" Her eyes narrowed to murderous slits. "DRAGON!"

Haku's face slowly folded into a beautifully cruel smile.

"Your workers are on strike."

Yubaba's scream tore through bathhouse. Rin snickered happily. Their plan was working beautifully.

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The boiler room shook with sounds of stomping angry cries. Yubaba's shrill scream echoed down the shaft. Kamaji and girls giggled.

Zeniba sighed "My poor twin. But now, I'm sure you two will be safe here for least a week!"

Chihiro smiled. "Granny you're the best! You think up the best plans!"

"She had it coming…" Kamaji mumbled.

"Yeah…" Chihiro said as she wobbled on her feet, becoming visibly dizzy.

Zeniba clucked reprovingly. "Now everything's taken care of. Back to sleep!" Chihiro grumbled but obeyed. Soon she was snoring.

Zeniba gazed fondly at her. Poor baby. Then she glanced at Mayu quickly under thick lashes. Something about the human girl intrigued her. She sat absently, fingers playing with something hanging from her neck which flashed gold. Zeniba's huge eyes widened as she saw the small gold ring and the tiny sapphire embedded in it.

"Mayu, dear. What a pretty ring!" she cooed, kneeling next to her. Mayu blinked, surprised at the sudden comment but before she could respond, Zeniba quickly shot out a hand and touched the cold metal. An aura of blue sprung up around her and a flash of warning blue sparkled from her caramel wrist. Aha!

Mayu quickly snatched the ring away. "It's very special to me." she said slowly, eyeing the witch suspiciously.

"Oh I'm sorry dear." She said soothingly.

Mayu shrugged, still keeping a wary eye on the witch. "Whatever, it's fine…" Zeniba grinned approvingly as Mayu firmly stuck the ring down her shirt and crossed her arms protectively.

"Well dear, I better get going." She looked up at Kamaji. "Keep an eye on them please. I have to speak to an old friend." Kamaji nodded and shooed her off. Zeniba popped into a paper bird and fluttered out the window.

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Bo waited until Yubaba stormed out after Haku to yell at the protesting workers and the doors slammed shut. Then he slipped into the office and found that luckily the trashcan was nearly empty. He gathered the shreds of the ripped note and walked back into his room where his gritted his teeth. Soon he was in mouse form.

"Chuu!" Yu bird came swooping down in sparrow form and scooped up the plump mouse. They hurried their way down the shaft, Bo clutching the shreds proudly. Soon they arrived at their destination.

"Look! Look what Bo got!" He cried waving the shreds.

"Shhhh!" Kamaji scolded the toddler. "The girls are sleeping! What is it?" he said in a harsh whisper.

"Mommy was reading this note and she got all angry. Auntie said to steal anything that mommy gets mad about so I brought it!"

Kamaji chuckled. Trust Zeniba to recruit a spy under the age of 6... He patted the proud toddler on the head with one hand while he gathered the shreds with two others. "Good boy! Now go back and distract your mum."

Bo grinned. "Tell Chi-chan that I did it!" Kamaji nodded. Yu bird scooped him up and flew on up the shaft.

Kamaji frowned at the shreds. "Need magic to piece it together I guess…"

Just then Haku burst through the boiler room door beaming. "Hey I brought some dinner-"

"Shhh!" Kamaji said quickly. Both girls mumbled sleepily and flipped over in their futons.

Haku make a face. "Did they sleep all day?"

Kamaji nodded. "Pretty much."

He tiptoed over to Chihiro's side and very lightly touched a finger to a dainty nose. "This whole place's in chaos for you." he whispered, emerald eyes twinkling. Chihiro frowned slightly in her sleep and burrowed under her covers. Haku grinned.

Kamaji looked on amused until he remembered Bo's prize. "Oh Haku! Bo stole a note from Yubaba's office. Its shredded up but you can fix it, right?" He reached up a hand and grabbed the shreds.

Haku frowned and waved an impatient hand. The strips glowed green and melted themselves together instantly. He snatched up a now whole piece of paper and read aloud:

"They have not been found. It is still with them."

Kamaji scratched his head. "What's 'it'?" he shrugged. "Well anyways it seems like Yubaba and her cronies don't know the girls are here."

Haku still stared at the note with a look of surprise. "Where's Zeniba?"

"Out. She'll be back."

Haku sat down slowly, staring at the simple words. THEY have not been found? IT is still with THEM? He glanced over at the slumbering Mayu. Then remembering his first encounter with her, he drew his magic up into his vision and looked again. A blue aura shielded her in an impenetrable cage. He couldn't quite make out the source of the protection. It's too strong… Haku drew back his magic and with a sigh. Strange girl.

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Disclaimer: I don't own Spirited Away

A/N: Ok! I got the ball rolling plot wise now. I like my OCs and there are a few more to come. The goal is to make you guys like them too! Haku and Chihiro fans, I will get to them have patience! Man that first bit was dark, eh? Hope it wasn't too much. Till next time!