Chapter 8
Chihiro ignored the continuous knocks on her door as Haku's voice came flooding into the room.
"Chihiro, I know you're in there! Open the door and talk to me, what are you running away from?"
After he spoke the entire room went silent and after about ten minutes Chihiro could hear his footsteps walk away from the room.
"I guess he finally decided to give up."
Suddenly the window to her room shot open and Haku flew inside. He immediately ran up to Chihiro and placed his hands on her shoulders, shaking her gently.
"Why are you running away from me? Have I done something to lose your trust?"
Chihiro snatched herself from his grasp. "You say you love me, yet every time I see you, some girl is hanging off of you! What is with that Haku? Are you sure you even love me at all?"
Haku looked at her taken aback. "What are you talking about? You know I love you and would do anythin-"
Chihiro couldn't hear this, she knew she would break down if she heard him say he loved her again. She abruptly interrupted him. "First time I saw you, you were with Jayna, do you know my shock when the boy I have waited for practically my whole life shows up out of the blue at the side of a girl who can get any boy she desires? And even here at the bath house, you have beautiful girls fawning over you? Haku, I don't want to compete for your love! Do you really love me, or do you only think you do?"
Haku couldn't believe he was hearing correctly, he tried to calm himself down.
"Chihiro, are you saying you think that I am unsure of my feelings for you?"
Haku took a step towards her, he could feel the tears sting the back of his eyes. "Why doesn't she how deep my feelings are for her? What do I need to do to make her understand!"
Chihiro took a step back and tripped over the white shirt that was discarded on the floor and fell backward onto the bed. Slightly shaken, she looked up into Haku's sad eyes.
"I-I'm just asking if you are positive you love me."
Haku marched over to the bed and leaned over Chihiro causing his hair to brush across her face.
"Chihiro, I am positive that I will only love you. And no one could ever take that love away from me."
Chihiro smiled as she felt a smooth tingling sensation spread throughout her body. With one hand she reached up, softly grazing his smooth cheek. Haku leaned over slightly and kissed her gently. Chihiro returned the kiss and draped her arms around his neck. Haku slowly slid hands underneath the back of her uniform shirt and began to massage her bare skin. A flash of red darted into the room from the open window causing Haku to immediately jump off of Chihiro and quickly stand to his feet. Chihiro looked up to see Yukari standing in the center of her room with tear stained cheeks. Chihiro sat up quickly in shock and spoke before she could stop herself.
"What are you doing here?"
Yukari opened her mouth to speak, but nothing came out. Instead tears began to fall down her cheeks. Haku immediately embraced his best friend, creating jealously inside Chihiro again, but this time it wasn't as bad. Yukari looked at Chihiro over Haku's shoulder.
"I-Im so sorry Chihiro! I don't want to steal Haku away from you. That is the last thing I want to do, he is my best friend. Haku is the only one here who befriended me, and didn't care about my past. I couldn't help but have strong feelings for him, I hope you understand."
Haku released Yukari and turned to face Chihiro.
"Chihiro, Yukari is an fallen angel. She was banished from the gates of heaven because she killed an angel. It was an accident, but nerveless, the punishment for murder is exile. But once you get to know Yukari, you would know she could never kill another being."
Chihiro sat in shock and stared at Yukari. "An angel?" She thought about how beautiful she Yukari was when she was soaring through the sky with her wings outstretched. Everyone was suddenly silent except for the soft whimper of Yukari crying. Chihiro's voice suddenly broke the silence.
"Yukari, you must have been through so much, I should of just faced you instead of running away. You are lucky to have Haku by your side."
Yukari smiled and wiped away her tears.
"I don't know where I would be if I didn't have him with me."
Chihiro strangely did not feel jealous, she was glad Yukari was not alone. Suddenly the gold bracelet Chihiro was wearing began to shine brightly. Yu-Babba's loud voice filled the room.
"I'm sorry to interrupt such a touching moment, but we are swarming with customers and our workers should all be doing their jobs. Haku! I would like to have a word with you, come up immediately."
The bracelet stopped glowing and returned to its normal color. Haku looked angrily at Chihiro.
"Why didn't you tell me you were wearing that?"
Chihiro couldn't believe how worked up he was getting.
"What is the big deal? She gave it to me after I signed my contract."
"When you wear that, Yu-Babba can hear and see everything you do!"
Chihiro shrugged, "What's the big deal?"
"Why are you getting so upset?"
"Because If she knows how I feel about you, she will use it against me! And to make maters worse, she now knows everything about Yukari's past!"
Yukari looked down at the ground, trying to hide the fear on her eyes. A bell summoning Haku rang for all to here. He turned on his heels, and walked out of the door slamming it closed behind him. Chihiro still could not understand why he was so angry. Yukari continued to stare at the floor before speaking in a low voice.
"Well, um, I guess I better get to work."
She turned into a orb of red light a dashed out the window exactly like the way she entered, leaving Chihiro alone in her room. Chihiro exited her room and went down to the baths, which was packed with customers. She began to enter each stall, squeezing through the crowds, searching for Lin. Chihiro found her mopping the floor near a tub which sat two extremely large birds. She picked up a mop and began to clean with her, telling Lin about Haku, her journey, and Yukari. Chihiro couldn't hold anything in anymore. Lin didn't seem the least bit surprised when Chihiro told her that she was in love with Haku.
"It was so obvious you two would end up together. You used to always ask about him. After you left, he was always moping around the bath house looking all depressed, like someone had trampled over his soul."
Chihiro and Lin began cleaning another stall when Haku had come and interrupted them.
"You two are needed in the assistance of cleaning the rooms on the eighth floor. We have more customers than expected, and we need rooms available for them."
Lin glared at him, feeling outraged.
"Those rooms haven't been used in years! They must be covered in dust!"
"That is why we need as much staff as possible to clean them."
Chihiro looked into Haku's cold eyes for a hint of friendliness, but could not find anything the least bit happy about them. Haku stared down at Chihiro.
"We will be leaving early tomorrow morning. Go to bed early tonight so you wont be tired."
With that he turned and vanished through the crowds of people leaving Chihiro with an empty feeling in the pit of her stomach. Together her and Lin headed made thier way up to the quarters.
"A regular prince charming isn't he?"
Chihiro shrugged at Lin's remark, "Is Haku still mad at me? Why is he overreacting?"
When they reached the eighth floor they saw workers scurrying in and out of rooms carrying clean sheets and holding large push brooms. Chihiro and Lin opened a door to a room that was covered completely with dust. It had a bed, a lamp and a small table that sat across from the bed. One entire wall of the room was nothing but a large window. Chihiro's room was bigger than this by far, it was nicer than this room as well. Together Lin and Chihiro began to dust down the entire room, they then mopped the floor and cleaned the windows. After changing the sheets on the bed, Chihiro was exhausted. She wished she could go to bed then, but she continued to clean four more rooms until all the rooms on that floor were ready for guests. Yu-Babba came up and inspected the rooms before releasing the workers for the night. Chihiro and Lin went downstairs and ate before saying goodbye and each headed off to bed.
When Chihiro got into her room, she changed out of her uniform and into the white shirt she wore the night before. She laid in bed for several moments before determining that Haku would not be coming to visit her. Chihiro buried herself in her covers feeling ten times worse than she had when she woke up that morning.
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A knock an the door woke Chihiro from her dreamless sleep. She staggered to the door and leisurely slid it open. Haku stood there with a black cloak draped around his shoulders.
"Get dressed. It's time to leave."
Chihiro turned and began to change slowly into the clothes she had worn when she came into the spirit world, not caring if Haku was watching her or not. She folded up her uniform and laid it neatly on her bed. When she was done dressing she turned to find his eyes on her. He offered her a black cloak identical to his.
"Put this on."
She obediently pulled the cloak over her school unifom, it felt unusually light. She expected to follow Haku out of the room, but instead he walked inside and slid the door closed behind him. She thought he was going to kiss her, but instead he walked past her and opened the window in her room. He turned and grabbed Chihiro's hand quickly before he flung both him and her out of the window. They fell for so long, that Chihiro thought they were going to hit the pavement. But when she looked over to Haku, she noticed his skin was turning a pale white, and his body began to stretch out. With in a few seconds he had transformed completely into a dragon. Inches from the ground, they pulled up and soared upward into the dark, morning sky.
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Author's Note: Wow! Eight Chapters and over 30 reviews does a little happy dance. Thank you all so much for reading my story. It really means a lot to me. I hope you continue to read it until the end!
Wow! Eight Chapters and over 30 reviews . Thank you all so much for reading my story. It really means a lot to me. I hope you continue to read it until the end!