Written Rivers
A Home Amongst Rivers
Chapter 12: A Lull in Work
Haku had been right about one thing, the Bathhouse jobs hadn't changed much but the significant difference was definitely in the unity amongst the staff. There wasn't much last time she was there, but it was much, much worse this time around. There were yuna and frog spirits lounging around the staff corridors like they had nothing to do for the rest of the night to come, while others did their job half-heartedly. Chihiro was, least to say, not happy about this.
Rumi stood next to her in the salmon pink Bathhouse uniform, her hair pulled back in a high ponytail. She was examining the color and fabric used to make the outfit and she didn't seem to like it from the crease between her brows. Rumi had been super excited to see what her job would be at the Bathhouse, needless to say, Chihiro didn't have the heart to tell her that the jobs weren't going to be much different from the bathhouse she worked at in the Human World… Mainly because she'd be too busy laughing at the Hiiragi's realization.
Earlier, after the girls had tucked Boh in for bed, they took a walk through the garden before the sun started to set on the evening. Chihiro's frustration with Yubaba had still been fresh in her mind and she knew Rumi had similar feelings and she didn't even know the witch. Her mind was simaltaniously trying to figure out what she'd do when she saw Yubaba and what they'd have to do with Boh for the meantime. But she was also worried about Rumi. Rumi had been taking everything a little too well, and maybe it was thanks to Yuuka, but it caused Chihiro to worry for her friend.
"I don't like this Yubaba." Rumi finally said. "Who abandons their child? Didn't she love them at all?"
Chihiro shook her head. "To be honest, next to money, Boh was the only thing she loved more than anything. I don't know what would drive her to abandon him."
Rumi stared off to the distance for a moment then grimaced. "Yuuka said that any number of spells could have caused her to go mad like she did. Spells, curses? Geez, that's a lot to take in." She chuckled nervously.
This time Chihiro nodded. "Yeah. How are you taking it by the way? We haven't had much of a chance to talk since the forest."
Rumi walked attentively around a bush and stared at some flowers in front of her. "Like I said, it's a lot to take in. But, for some reason, I'm ok. It's probably thanks to Yuuka." She tapped her temple. "She explained a lot of this stuff to me a while ago but only images and feelings. It's definitely different seeing this stuff in real life."
Chihiro nodded again absently. "What about you personally?" She hesitated. "I know we sort of took this trip to distract you from… your family, but with so much more going on, I want to check on you."
Rumi didn't say anything as they turned a corner and they came to a clearing that looked over the water and cliff in the distance. Rumi sat in the grass and took in the view. "Honestly? I don't know, Chihiro. I don't know why I'm taking it so well, I don't know why I can't bring myself to cry. It hurts but…" She didn't have words.
Chihiro sat next to her and wrapped her arm around her shoulders. "I know you hate it, but we don't always have to be strong, Rumi-Chan. You know I always have and always will be here when you need me."
Rumi leaned her head on Chihiro's shoulder. "How do you put up with me?"
"I don't." She deadpanned.
Rumi sat up and gaped at her.
The Ogino chuckled. "You're like a sister, there's nothing to put up with."
Rumi mocked a glare and punched Chihiro in the arm playfully. "Oh, shut up."
The girls sat their talking for a little longer before they went inside to get ready for their shift in the Bathhouse.
When they got back inside, they were given a mix of reactions. Looking around the staff lounge, Chihiro recognized many of the other staff, and most them did the same to her. Earlier she'd managed to escape the eyes of the staff do to the lack of staff on floor during day hours, but now in the wake hours of night and the Bathhouse about to open, everyone was awake, and everyone one was gossiping about the two humans in the Bathhouse. Chihiro glanced around and many stood around them, shamelessly pointing and talking about them, mumbling about how humans had been let in again and how Chihiro had practically thrown herself at Haku earlier, a few of them smiled and gave waves. She really couldn't tell who was actually happy to see them, if any.
Before Chihiro could really start approaching the other spirits, Rin came into the lounge area where many of the spirits gathered for briefing before opening. Rin came in hollering everyone to be quiet and to gather around, fixing her hands on her hips once she got everyone's attention.
"Alright, ladies and gents! We all know the rules and our tasks! I expect everyone to be on their best behavior tonight! We're trying to boost our numbers back up and we can't do that if you're all lounging around down here! Now, we have some old guests returning, hoping to give this place a second chance. Let's show them that the Bathhouse can still uphold the name of prestige it once had!"
A few cheers came from parts of the crowd, but many looked away or picked at their nails, barely even attempting to feign interest. This put a knot of anger in Chihiro's throat. What happened to them? Since when did they cease to care? Rumi must have noticed her chest puff up, because she grabbed Chihiro's forearm in an attempt to hold her back.
"Thank you for the underwhelming response." Rin grumbled. "Now. You all have probably noticed a few new members in the crowd."
"Sen!" A voiced called from the middle of the crowd, seemingly the only excited one.
Rin mumbled how she wanted to make the announcement but grinned. "You're right! Sen is here for a visit. Please treat her and her friend, Rumi, kindly and remind her how things are done around the Bathhouse." A cold glint passed over her eyes. "I'll remind you before our shift starts that Makoto and Yuuka are back and I will not be so kind if anything happens to our human guests. But I doubt we'll have any issues, right?" She grinned, passive aggressively.
The staff seemed to simultaneously gulp and nod, their gaze shifting between the girls and Rin.
"Alright then! Get to work! I don't want to see any of you down here unless you're on break! Let's go!" Rin called, dismissing the staff to their assigned tasks. She turned to the two human girls. "You ready?"
"Were the threats really necessary?" Chihiro asked.
Rin pierced her lips together in a half smile, considering her question before answering. "Yup. Now let's go show them how to get the job done. I'm gonna start giving incentives next week."
The Bathhouse was rather… quiet. There were a few loyal guests that came through, but it wasn't as nearly as busy as the last time Chihiro had been there. The reputation of the Bathhouse must have been seriously damaged for it to have gotten this low. Surprisingly, Chihiro recognized some of the guests, a few ootori, a handful of ushioni, and the oshira, the radish spirit she'd met the first time she came to the Spirit World. Chihiro seemed to notice that they had a lot more smaller spirits coming in as well, yosuzume, a strangely familiar kitsune, a few tanuki. She didn't remember seeing smaller spirits like them before, maybe Haku opened the Bathhouse to lesser spirits as well to help boost the numbers.
Right now, Chihiro had her salmon sleeves pulled back as she scrubbed the sides tub of a recently used tub. She lost Rumi sometime in the last couple hours since the Bathhouse opened, she assumed she was pulling her own in another stall on the floor. Chihiro herself wasn't finding much difficulty in her tasks, they weren't much different from her job at the bathhouse back in the Human World. She recalled her parents always complaining about how she'd do every chore at work but never at home. She chuckled inwardly at the memory of her mother's sour face.
She stopped scrubbing. What was she going to do about the Human World? In fact, when did she stop calling it home? If she somehow convinced Haku to let her stay, what would she do? Yeah, she had thought about it back before she closed off her memory, but now that she was here, she really didn't know what to do? She never thought she'd actually make it this far? What would she tell her parents? God, her parents thought she was crazy before, now what would they think? They'd send her to the nuthouse…
Her shoulders slumped. Was it worth it?
Chihiro shook her head and glanced around the stall she was in. She'd have to let those thoughts sink in later. She gave the tub a last scrub and took a bucket and rinsed the suds away. After she drained the excess water from the tub, she crawled out and collected the cleaning supplies, and started to head to the foyer for her next guest. As she headed through the halls she looked up to where yuna lined the awnings above her where the bridges sat overhead the baths. The yuna's eyes followed her as she moved, some glaring, some curious. She hated the attention. She remembered the spirits being unwelcoming her first visit, but it ended alright after she pacified Kaonashi. Haku mentioned that she had left an impression on them the last time she'd been there, but she wasn't so sure what kind of impression he meant. As far as she knew, the staff weren't rekindling that warm kind feeling she'd left with.
On her way to the foyer, she stopped by the supply room to return her box of cleaning supplies and ran into a nice little group of yuna, and she was getting school girl bully vibes from them. They were wearing very lose, very revealing yukata that left little to the imagination. The group consisted of about four yuna.
Chihiro sighed and went inside, wondering if Haku was aware of the scantly dressing yuna that worked at the Bathhouse. She bowed curtly as she excused herself past a few of them to get to the shelf she needed and turned around to find them blocking her way. Great… just great.
"I don't see why a human should be working here." One with gaudy red makeup said disgusted.
"I hear she's the same girl from ten years ago." Another chimed, her hair pulled back half up, half down.
"If it is her, then didn't she save Haku-Sama from certain death by Yubaba-Sama?" Another said, quirking a brow while covering her lower face with her sleeve.
"Well, even if she did, why does she think that she can just fling herself onto Haku-Sama?" The last yuna snarked, her gaudy makeup horrible in the light.
Chihiro's expression deadpanned. "If you all are done making observations as if I can't hear you, I'd like to get back to work. It's a wonder the Bathhouse has kept any of the guests up till now with you here." She attempted to brush past them to the door but the yuna who spoke last grabbed her by her ponytail. She bit back a yelp.
"I never! Since when did humans start behaving such!" She gawked.
"My, we must teach her that humans must be respectful and that they don't belong here."
"Whether she has friends in high places or not."
Chihiro grit her teach and wretched her hair free. "Oh, get a grip!" She snapped. "You four sit around bullying the human and, what? Are you getting anything done to help the Bathhouse? We'll be out of the business soon and guess who'll be asked to go first? The one's that don't do any of the hard work!" She grabbed a wet sponge from the shelf next to her and threw it at their feet, causing the to squeal and jump back. "Now make yourselves useful and help bring this Bathhouse to its former glory."
With that, she stepped past the yuna and into the hallway. Once out, she pressed herself against the wall beside the door and let out a breath she didn't realize she'd been holding. She just stood up to and thrown a sopping sponge at those yuna. Had she lost it? No. She was just coming to understand why the Bathhouse had been going under. The staff weren't trying, they really didn't care. The fact that they'd resort to bullying was ridiculous.
Chihiro straightened her back and adjusted her ponytail from the earlier tug. No need to be mopping, there was work to be done.
She continued to the foyer and met with another spirit to take to their bath stall. The spirit appeared as an older man with a receding hairline and sunspots on his skin, his skin crinkled from old age and lots of what could be laugh lines. His round, robe clad body hunched over his cane as a long white beard went down his chest and his long white hair pulled-back in a ponytail at the back of his neck. Chihiro wandered how he got into the building by himself in the first place. She dismissed the thought and bowed respectively.
"Hello sir, I'll be taking care of you today, let me take you to your bath." She stepped to the side and gestured for him to follow, earning a smile from the old man as he followed.
She led him down the hall of the main floor, passing other steaming bath stalls as they went. One of the stalls held two of the earlier yuna, finally putting themselves to good use. Chihiro stopped in front of an empty stall and gestured for the old man to enter. The stall had a slightly smaller round tub that sunk into the ground instead of elevated like the others. The old man handed her a bath token that the foreman had given him, in which she takes it to the wall and sends it to kamaji to retrieve the hot water. After the water came and she started to fill the tub, Chihiro guided the man to the tub and helped ease him into the tub after helping him de-robe, leaving him only with a towel around his waist. When the man was comfortable, she began massaging his hands and feet, letting him relax in the herbal water. She let her mind wander slightly, as she thought about ways to improve the Bathhouse's situation. There was bringing order and motivation back that needed to be done. Then there was Boh… Maybe when she went to visit Zeniba she could leave him there, Zeniba loves her nephew and she wasn't sure who would take care of him and the Bathhouse when they left back for the Human World… when they left…
Suddenly, she realized the man was staring at her and snapped back to focus. "I'm sorry, I must have spaced out, was there something you needed?"
The man smiled gingerly. "No, but you can stop massaging this hand, I believe it is quite relaxed." He chuckled and Chihiro promptly let go of his hand, her face turning a bright red.
"I'm terribly sorry, sir. I won't let it happen again."
He waved his hand dismissively. "You need not worry. I am more curious how a human like you got employment here." His dark eyes glinted with curiosity.
Chihiro let out a nervous laugh. "I guess you can say I have friends in high places, sir."
He titled his head. "I am sure you can." His eyes considered her, his eyes smiling and warm. "You have not changed much, have you child? Still lost…" His expression was empathetic.
She blinked and gaped like a fish in response. "Excuse me?"
The man took her hand with sudden urgency. "You must find your path and follow it without falter. Your friend will have to make a decision soon and you will have to be their anchor. You must convince your friend of their duty." He was stern, like he held the fate of the world in his words.
Chihiro's eyes were wide as her heart beat loudly in her ears. She gave a small tug of her hand and let out a small whimper, the old man was stronger than he looked. Who was this man? Her path? A decision? Her friend? What was he going on about? She tugged at her hand again. "Sir, I ask that you please let go."
His grip tightened slightly. "You must find your path, Ogino Chihiro."
Chihrio faltered when he said her name. "Sir, I don't understand." She exasperated.
Instead of answering her question, he released her hand and rose from the tub, raising his hand out in the air and his cane flew to it. Chihiro sat on the floor, her brows knit together in confused fear. The man smiled and nodded his head in a thank you.
She then heard foot steps to in the hall and looked to the sound to see Haku turning the corner into the stall. When her eyes flew back to the old man, he was gone. All there was to prove that he had been there was a pile of gold sitting at the edge of the tub.
"Chihiro…" Haku stressed, his eyes wide with a mixture of alarm, concern and frustration.
"Haku… I…" Chihiro couldn't get her brain to form a sentence. What in the world just happened? She didn't know what to do with what that man had said?
Haku strode over to her and knelt to where she was, looking her over. "Chihiro, what happened?"
Chihiro shook her head, trying to clear her thoughts. "Who was that?"
He grimaced. "A powerful spirit. Very powerful. You seem to have a talent for attracting them."
Chihiro's brows knit together. "He… He said that I had to find my path and be someone's anchor in a decision they have to make. Do you know what he's talking about?"
If he knew the answer, Haku did a decent job at hiding it. He shook his head. "It is something you need not worry about. It would be best to visit and consult with Zeniba-"
"Will you stop saying that it's not something for me to worry about!" Chihiro interrupted. "He spoke to me about it! It was practically a prophecy. Obviously I'm part of whatever is going on-"
"And I pray it does not come to that!" Haku hissed. "You leave in six days. You will not tempt fate to make you a part of whatever is boiling in the Spirit World."
"But Haku-"
"End of discussion." He stated, standing up. "You can go on break for now. Thank you for all you have done so far."
With that, Haku left the stall, leaving Chihiro fuming.
A/N:
Late chapter, mah bad, it was a busy weekend. ;-;
And sorry guys! I didn't realize till after, but the last chapter was supposed to take place in the morning after Haku found out about Chihiro. So then their meeting with Boh would be in the afternoon. I'm really sorry, I need to work on setting the time in the story. I'll probably go back and edit this little slip up.
In reference to the spirit names: ootori-sama are the big duck like spirits, ushioni-sama are the ogre like spirits and then oshira-sama is the radish spirit. I try to use as many Japanese terms as possible if you noticed.
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
