Written Rivers

A Home Amongst Rivers

Chapter 9: Inviable

Things started to go a bit wrong around an hour into their trip to the Bathhouse. The trio had passed through many forests and plains, the moon and stars lit their path as they continued north. Chihiro seemed to recognize some of the land marks and some of the hiking trails that she and Rumi had done in the past. Makoto explained that the land is the same in both worlds however, only landmarks that are strongly connected with the Spirit World remain in both. Kumano Kudo was just one of the many sacred grounds that could be found in both realms.

The cool air of the night felt good in Chihiro's face, until she heard a squeak from Rumi behind her. She looked over her shoulder with a concerned frown. "What is it Rumi-Chan?"

"Ch-Chi-Chan! My hands!" Rumi had a very panicked look on her face as she raised her hands up to show that her were transparent.

Chihiro gapped. "Oh no." She looked at her own hands and saw that they were slowly turning transparent. This happened during her first trip here. "Aaaah, Makoto we have a problem." She hollered over the wind from all the running.

"Can it wait?" Makoto grunted.

"Nuh-uh." She replied, looking at Makoto's fur through her hands. "This needs to be taken care of now."

"Chi-Chan…" Rumi was going into panic mode, she could hear it in her voice.

Suddenly, Yuuka took over. "Makoto! Pull over! They have the-"

Makoto halted abruptly, dirt and dust kicking up around him. "Do not treat me like a car!"

"They have the inviable illness!" Yuuka exclaimed. "They'll disappear if we don't get them food!"

The wolf was suddenly very concerned and cursed under his breath. "This is why we needed to be more prepared if we were coming to the Spirit Realm." He turned his head toward the girls and saw their bodies fading a little at a time from the corner of his eye. "It is not just food we need. We have to find them medicine." He pawed the earth anxiously.

"Don't tell me the next med and food source isn't until the Bathhouse?" Yuuka pleaded.

Makoto turned his nose to the air and tried to find some sign of food. He grunted. "No, we will just have to speed our way to the Bathhouse. It should be less than another hour if I move fast enough."

"Then less talking more moving! I can already feel Rumi getting nauseous!" Yuuka shot back.

He jerked his head in a nod and sped off. Chihiro could feel the wind moving past them faster than before, the wind stinging her face with frigid air.

"If we needed food, why didn't we get food back in the village?" Chihiro shouted over the wind.

"Uuuummm… Well, that kinda wasn't on our mind at the time was it?" Yuuka replied, fighting the wind to get her voice to her. "We were trying to make sure you didn't get, I don't know, possessed by a kitsune!"

"Oh, right…" She grumbled in response. Nausea was starting to kick in. She didn't remember feeling this sick the first time around, then again, she hadn't been riding a five-foot wolf across the plains of the Spirit World before. Her hands were almost completely see through and she was starting to see her forearms and feet disappear. Yuuka explained that the inviable illness was something that happened to humans when they stayed in the Spirit World too long without food or proper medicine. If needs weren't met, they'd disappear and cease to exist. Suddenly, she felt like the speed Makoto was going wasn't going to be fast enough.

Makoto raced through the different valleys, forests and rivers that laid across the Spirit Realm, weaving around trees and boulders that may block his path. The hour felt like the longest hour ever as Chihiro watched herself slowly disappear. If she weren't disappearing, she may have taken the time to appreciate the scenery of the Spirit World, but that kind of wasn't on her radar. She'd occasionally check on Rumi to make sure she was still at least somewhat whole and not about to be sick all over her. The next time Chihiro seriously looked up at her surroundings, the landscape looked familiar.

A large river was set before them, lights flickered in the distance and danced across the reflecting water. On a little peninsula that extended into an open ocean was a tall red and green building, with lit up shuddered windows and steam blowing from a large silo-like exhaust. Below the building was a grassy hill with a garden maze that led down to it and a small village of food stalls and restaurants. It was the Bathhouse. Chihiro had never felt so relieved in her life to see a bathhouse.

At some point during the last part of the hour, Rumi had slumped over Chihiro's back and lost consciousness. She was taking this a lot worse than the Ogino, who was feeling the nausea but not to the extent Rumi was feeling it. As soon as the Bathhouse came into view, she shook Rumi gently awake.

"Hey, Rumi-Chan." She coaxed. "We're here."

Rumi blinked her eyes open groggily, she was never a morning person. "Where?" She yawned.

"The Bathhouse."

Rumi looked ahead, and her eyes widened. "Wow." She murmured.

As they got closer, the Bathhouse became clearer. The little waterfall and ponds in the front, the shudders that billowed from the steam and wind, the flags that soared over head that read "Aburaya" or "Oil Shop," it was all coming back to Chihiro.

While she took it all in, she heard Rumi squeak. She turned and saw Rumi panicking again about the inviable illness, as if remembering it were real and was not just a dream she'd just had. She looked at her own self and grimaced at how her whole being was barely visible, she was now nothing but a trick of the eye or a holograph.

"You're doing great, Makoto." Chihiro encouraged, leaning down on his neck and into his warm brown fur. "We're almost there."

He made a grunting sound of contentment in the back of his throat and urged forward and up the hill. Makoto hadn't taken a break since they discovered they were ill, Chihiro was getting worried, she didn't want to overwork him. He may have been part god, but from what she understood he was still part regular dog, as much as he hated to admit it, and he wasn't invincible.

Soon, Makoto was bounding through the village and across the bridge and treading carefully down the side staircase that led down to the boiler room. Chihiro had to wonder how his weight wasn't causing the steps to snap like her prior trip down the steps did.

The large wolf skid to a stop outside the Bathhouse. Chihiro looked up at the door and gulped. This was it. The first step to her return to the Bathhouse. She dismounted the wolf and helped her queasy friend down from the wolf, Yuuka didn't even bother to try and take over to try and help, leaving Chihiro to assume that the illness effected the spirit that took refuge in the human as well.

After the girls were off his back, Makoto shifted to his human form and shouldered both girls on each arm. He was out of breath and looked like he could pass out at any moment. Chihiro lifted her hand weakly and attempted to turn the door knob but her hand passed right through it. Makoto reached out and turned the knob. He took the girls through the doors and hurried into the main room, avoiding to touch the hot pipes.

"Kamaji-San!" He gritted as the entered the door way.

Startled, Kamaji and a whole line of susuwatari dropped whatever they were holding, the sound of a hammer and coal hitting the ground echoing throughout the room. "What in the name of- Makoto?"

"Do not think so highly of me, Kamaji-San." Makoto grunted. "Help, they need the medicine, or they will disappear." He laid the girls carefully on a bed of blankets and pillows on the platform behind Kamaji. The girls were almost completely faded, both shivering.

Kamaji frantically rummaged through his drawers and pulled out two small pills and reached for his half-eaten bowl of rice and shoved them toward Makoto, who put the pills in little balls of rice and encouraged the girls to eat them. Soon the girls were chewing and attempting to swallow the food, becoming more solid once again.

Chihiro started to cough and was the first of the two to sit up and take in her surroundings. She craned her neck around and faced Kamaji. She grinned, "Hello Kamaji-Jii-San."

Kamaji squinted at her before sitting back in disbelief. "Sen?"

She giggled and nodded, removing her backpack. "It's me, Jii-San."

Rumi coughed behind her and sat up, confused. "Jii-San?"

"Oh!" Chihiro gasped, remembering to introduce her friend. "Oh! Jii-San. This is Rumi, my best friend from the Human World. Rumi-Chan, Kamaji. He helped me in my first visit."

"Pleased to make your acquaintance." Kamaji gruffed, kindly.

Rumi nodded, unsure. "Nice to meet you…" She said warily, taking off her backpack slowly as her eyes wandered the boiler room, skeptically. Nothing had changed in the room, except for the bed of pillows and blankets that now lined the elevated platform behind Kamaji's workstation. The two walls behind the old man were still lined with drawers filled with different dry herbs that Kamaji would mix for the baths and a large boiler sat at the head of the room, billowing with fire and heat. Chihiro suddenly heard Rumi squeak as she took in the little balls of soot on the ground that were gathering near their feet.

"No worries, Rumi-Chan. They won't hurt you. At most they'll complain or huddle at your feet." Chihiro chuckled.

Rumi was still wary, bringing her legs to her chest and away from the ledge. "Yuuka prepared me for this by showing me memories of the Bathhouse, but I guess it's just really different seeing it all in real life."

Chihiro nodded understandingly. It was a lot to take in. Suddenly, she heard a loud thud to her left and Rumi gasped. "Makoto!" Rumi cried out.

Chihiro went over to the wolf-man and looked him over. He had doubled over and landed on the elevated platform face first. She felt his forehead and it was a bit warm, even by… wolf standards? His breathing was heavy, and his normally pale face was red. Chihiro let out a sigh of relief.

"He must be exhausted." Kamaji said for her. "The equinox usually takes a lot out of him."

"What do you mean?" Chihiro blinked. Rumi and her were now moving Makoto to be more comfortable on the pillows.

"Makoto is only part spirit, he doesn't have the strength or energy of your average spirit, let alone wolf god. While he is part spirit, part dog, he can freely move between worlds without an anchor or host." Kamaji explained, nodding to Rumi, who sheepishly waved. "However, the drawback is that he can only travel during the equinox and solstices and sometimes during a full moon, and when he does travel, it takes a lot of his energy."

"And add on the distance we just ran, non-stop." Rumi added. "It probably wasn't good for him."

Chihiro bit her lip and looked down at Makoto, brushing his hair out of his flushed face. She felt horrible, he was forced to go on an unintended trip to the Spirit World and just ran them all the way from Chikatsuyu for two hours straight. What kind of owner/friend was she? Where was the pound to take him away? Could they take a five-foot wolf to the pound?

"Now, Sen," Kamaji started. "How did you get here, exactly?"

Before she could answer, the sound of a sliding wooden door caught Chihiro's attention. In the doorway, a little boy poked his head in, humming a little tune. "Good evening, Kamaji-San!" He said gleefully, crawling through the opening. He was young boy, looking to be around the age of ten, sandy blonde hair pulled back in a ponytail with the bottom half shaven. He carried an old red umbrella and wore a green and blue suikan like outfit. At the moment, though, his bright hazel eyes were fixed on Chihiro, as if he'd forgotten about Kamaji.

"Chihiro-San?" The boy asked.

"Move it, Ame!" The boy stumbled forward from his mid-crawl through the doorway, his head bonking the floor as he went.

"Owww, Rin-San." He whined, looking back to the doorway and rubbing his head with a pout.

"Then don't block the doorway, kid!" A rough female voice chastised from the door. "Next time I'll leave you with the frogs!" A lean woman with long brown hair, balancing a basket of food crawled through the door, glaring at the boy.

"B-but, Rin-San. It's…" The boy named Ame pointed in Chihiro's direction.

The woman followed his gaze to Chihiro and dropped her basket, susuwatari racing for the stars and food that tumbled out of the basket. "S-S-Sen?!"

"Present." Chihiro raised her hand sheepishly and stuck out her tongue.

"This is Rin?" Rumi said, pointing at the stunned spirit. "The slave driving, boisterous spirit that helped you-" Chihiro quickly covered her friend's mouth.

"Excuse me?" Rin raised an eyebrow as she straightened, eyeing Rumi as if sizing her up.

"N-nothing." Chihiro grinned nervously.

"Who is she?" Rin asked.

Rumi groaned inwardly and closed her eyes. When she opened them again they were purple, and she smirked. "What's up, Rin?"

Rin rolled her eyes. "Yuuka?"

Chihiro averted her eyes. "Loong story…"

Rin nodded slowly before her eyes fell on Makoto. "Is this the mighty, wolf god?" Her eyes seemed to dance with mischief, as if a rival was put out of commission.

"Yeah, he helped up get here." Chihiro said.

Rin brought her focus back to Chihiro, calculably. "Wow, you've changed a lot." Rin wondered aloud.

The girl in question laughed. "You too, Rin."

"Get over here, you dope!" Rin and Chihiro gave each other a tight hug, the weasel spirit nearly squeezing the air out of Chihiro. "You'll have to tell me everything!"

Before Chihiro could comprehend what was going on, Rin and Ame bombarded the girls with a barrage of questions. How did they get there? How had she been living until now? What was the Human World like? Did she ever miss the Bathhouse? What happened on their way to the Bathhouse? Chihiro and Rumi answered the questions to the best of their ability, with Yuuka chiming in here and there. At some point, Makoto aroused from his sleep and was scolded briefly by Rin before she had asked him twenty questions as well. They explained everything that had happened that day, from entering the Kumano Kudo to failing to enter Chikatsuyu before ōmagatoki, and their dash across the Spirit World to get to the Bathhouse before Chihiro and Rumi could disappear. Chihiro was running out of things to say, her brain starting to fry.

When billion questions was over, Chihiro got to the thing that had really been weighing on her mind since she got there. "Where's Haku? I want to see him."

Rin hesitated. "I'd wait until morning to see him. Haku has been really busy lately, especially after Yubaba left."

Before Chihiro could inquire further about Yubaba, Ame tugged at Rin's sleeve. "Speaking of, Rin-San. It's time for us to go back upstairs." Watching the tags fall from the ceiling and a bell in the corner giving a persistent ring.

"Uugh, I guess you're right. We'll talk more in the morning, Sen." Then Rin jabbed a finger at the still, groggy Makoto. "And you! You have a lot more explaining to do."

Makoto moped in response. Chihiro could imagine his pointy dog ears folding over and drooping if he weren't in his human form.

When she was satisfied with Makoto's response, Rin turned to Ame. "And you, kiddo. Don't go around telling the whole staff that Sen is here, especially not Haku! He's got enough on his plate!"

Ame jerked a nod and saluted, his face beaming with energy.

"Okay we'll see you guys in the morning." Rin did her own salute and picked up the basket and mess from the spill and headed out the door with Ame.

With sudden realization, Kamaji called out. "Hey! How about my dinner?!"

The only response he got was the door snapping shut behind them.

The four of them sat in silence. Chihiro was the first to break it. "I'm sure they'll be back with more." She laughed nervously.

Kamaji huffed in response. "They better." He mumbled something else about being underpaid or not enough respect and started inspecting the tags that had fallen from earlier.

For the rest of the evening, Chihiro and Rumi insisted on helping the spider spirit around the boiler room. Makoto took the chance to catch up on his much-needed sleep, transforming into his Shikoku mix form and curled in the corner, out of the way of the busy spirits. Chihiro had asked why he almost always was in his wolf or dog form, in which he replied that he was much more comfortable in his canine form rather than human.

Chihiro and Rumi helped Kamaji sort and check stock on the herbs and even helping the susuwatari by encouraging them, since the spider spirit discouraged actually taking on their job. As the night lulled, Kamaji prompted the girls to go to sleep, telling them to rest in the pillows after their long day. The girls hadn't realized just how tired they were until their bodies sunk into the warm cushions and their eyes shut, letting the wariness of their day drift them away.


A/N: Hey guys! Soooooo I got a hold of The Art of Miyazaki's Spirited Away from a friend and it opened me to a whole new world of Spirited Away that I wasn't aware of. So I had an "aaaaaagh" moment and now feel the need to change some details in previous chapters. .* It's a beautiful book thooooough!

I will also be putting a link up on my profile for the character designs on my original characters for the story. I will update it as the story goes on and will let you know when I put a character up. :)

Thanks for reading and don't forget to review! And for those that do review, I thank you a bunches!

Thank you for the reviews from: Amidstsnow, Firetail Finch, Prismae, RSBCS, Sofrick16, Spirited-PKMN Ranger, Luin-fanel and Picklesisadeadcat!

God bless! KawaChou