Author's Note: How do you like the story so far? I wanna know! be sure to R&R!

Chapter 5

Haku sat at the end of the unmade hotel bed. All of his thoughts were on Chihiro. "She is going to come back with me. She is willing to leave everything behind for me. Is she making the right choice?" Haku fell back onto the bed. He grabbed the pillow Chihiro had slept on and held it to his face. He inhaled deeply taking in her scent. "Am I making the right choice by making her come with me? Am I taking her away from a life she was content with until I came along?" His thoughts went back on the tall dark-haired boy he saw holding hands with Chihiro. "Well, she must not have been in a relationship if she let me kiss her." Haku hugged tighter to the pillow and rubbed its smooth surface against his skin.

"Oh Chihiro, How I have missed you..."

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Chihiro awoke from her mother gently shaking her.

"Yeah?" Chihiro spoke in a raspy voice with her eyes still closed.

"Telephone honey, its Jake"

Chihiro woke up almost immediately and took the cordless phone that her mother was holding.

"Hello?"

"Hi Chihiro, how are you feeling?"

"Um, Okay I guess..."

"I'm sorry if I scared you yesterday, it's just, well, I can't hide my feelings from you."

Chihiro held her breath not knowing what to say.

"I'm fine now, its just I'm trying to sort through my emotions and I'm a bit "mentally unstable" at the moment."

"I do love you though Chihiro, I know you might not love me, but I will wait until you do."

Chihiro felt the back of her eyes begin to sting.

"Okay Jake. I gotta go, Ill see you as school tomorrow okay?"

"Okay, sorry if I disturbed you Chi, bye then."

Chihiro pushed the off button on the phone and tossed it across her bed. How could so much happen in her life only after a day? Chihiro called Akari and Hatsumi, asking them to come over. No more than 15 minutes later she heard the doorbell ring downstairs. She ran down the stairs and opened the door to greet her friends. They quickly noticed by red her eyes, that she had been crying. They made hot chocolate in the kitchen and went up to Chihiro's room to talk.

Chihiro couldn't take it any more and told them everything. About her journey to the spirit world, the bath house, and Haku. Her friends seemed shocked at first and Chihiro was waiting for them to ease away from her and call the police reporting that their friend had gone mentally insane. But to her surprise, they believed her. They asked questions about her journey like how she knew that none of the pigs were her parents and how she ever survived that ordeal. Chihiro was so happy she thought she would burst.

"So you are leaving with him tomorrow after school?", said Akari sounding depressed. Before she was all giddy because Chihiro's story reminded her so much of all the sitcoms she loved so much.

Chihiro nodded her head, "Yes, I don't know if I made the right decision in going back with him, but all I want, is to be with him."

Hatsumi put down her mug and grabbed Chihiro's hand. "All we want is for you to be happy, Chihiro." Akari nodded in agreement.

A single tear ran down Chihiro's cheek. "Oh thank you guys!" She threw her arms around both of them. "I'm so glad you understand." Chihiro was suddenly extremely grateful that she had friends like them and was sad to see them leave.

"Well see you tomorrow morning Chihiro, and remember that we will always be behind you, what ever you do."

Chihiro walked them out the front door, waving goodbye, and watched them walk down the street into the darkness. After Chihiro shut the door, she walked into the kitchen and gave her mother (who was washing dishes) a huge hug. Her mother almost dropped the plate she was drying.

"What was that for Chihiro?"

Chihiro smiled, "Just a hug for no reason."

Chihiro helped her mother finish the dishes before going into the dining room to see her dad busy at his work, like he was every single night. She gave him a hug from behind, knocking off his reading glasses.

"Chihiro-"

"Love ya dad." Chihiro kissed her father on the cheek before rushing out the room, leaving her father looking extremely confused, and dashed up the stairs.

Chihiro closed the door to her room and began to cry softly, but quickly wiped her tears away.

"It was my decision to leave, there is no need for me to cry anymore. It's not like I'm never coming back, I need to be brave."

The next day at school seemed to fly by to Chihiro. There was no softball practice that day, so she walked down to the main entrance with Akari and Hatsumi, preparing to leave. She left a note on her bed that morning to her parents saying,

"I have to go away for a little while, but don't worry about me, I'm fine and I'm safe." She signed it with "See you when I get back, Loving you always, Chihiro."

It had taken all her energy to leave her house that morning, but she managed.

As she walked out onto the school's entrance grounds, she saw Haku standing near the front gate with his hands stuffed in his pockets. She waved to him and began to walk over to him, but was intercepted by Jake. He unexpectedly wrapped his arms around Chihiro for a tight embrace. Haku didn't like this at all. He quickly began walking over to them. Chihiro saw this and tried to pry Jake off of her. But Jakes grip stayed firm.

"Chihiro, I stayed up all night thinking about you. I can't live my life without you."

Haku looked from Jake to Chihiro, back to Jake with a upset look on his face. "Surely there has to be a mistake, Chihiro cant love some one else." Haku decided to speak up.

"Uh, Chihiro?"

Jake looked up at Haku as if he was interrupting something very important.

"Who are you?"

Chihiro quickly tried to clear things up before they got messy.

"Jake, this is Haku, he is uh, a childhood friend."

Hatsumi and Akari shared astounded expressions.

"So this is Haku?", said Akari trying to keep herself from jumping up and down at the fact so much drama was happening.

"Haku, I would like you to meet my two best friends Akari and Hatsumi, and my um, friend Jake."

Haku respectfully bowed to each of them.

"I'm pleased to meet all of you." Haku said politely, but still giving Jake the evil eye, "Chihiro are you ready to go?"

Jake released Chihiro and looked at her with sad eyes.

"Where are you going?"

"Um, well, I'm, uh"

Hatsumi decided to step in.

"Geeze Jake, you don't need to know where Chihiro is every second of the day!"

Jake's cheeks turned a deep shade of red. Chihiro shot an extremely grateful look towards Hatsumi, who sent a wink back at her. Haku had a look of impatience on his face, which made Chihiro decide it was time for them to go. She suddenly hugged Akari and Hatsumi individually and whispered into their ears.

"Ill miss you two so much, I'll be back as soon as I can."

She turned to Jake and to everyone's surprise, kissed him gently on the lips. Haku looked as if he was going to be sick.

"Bye Jake, see you later."

She then grabbed Haku's hand and ran out the yard before she would start crying, but not before catching on last glance at her friends. When they were a long ways away from the school Haku asked, "So, um, Who was that guy back there?"

"My boyfriend, but don't worry, it was nothing crucial."

Haku seemed to look confused and hurt. Chihiro squeezed his hand.

"Don't worry, you are the only one that I love."

Haku smiled and tried to hide it, but an unmistakable blush crept into his cheeks.

As they walked through the path that lead to the grassy field. Memories came rushing back to Chihiro. She remembered clutching to her mother's arm because she was scared half to death. She chuckled at the funny reminiscence. As she stepped out on the grassy plains, she released Haku's hand and lifted her arms in the breeze, letting the wind to envelop her body.

Haku watched as she ran across the fields before she plummeted down into the meadow. He went over and laid down next to her. Together they stared up into the cloudless sapphire sky.

After a few moments they walked down the endless paths of restaurants before stopping in front of the bathhouse. Chihiro hesitantly began to walk up bridge before pausing on its hub. She gazed up at the giant bath house, and she finally realized,

"This is not a dream, After all this time I've returned to the spirit world."

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