Hey everybody! This chapter is done from Haku's perspective. Now, before you guys skip ahead to the next chapter, please read this one. It will definitely be referenced further down the story, and I want to make sure you guys are in-the-know! ;)

Also, I wanted to bring up something. This story is the redone version of another story (written by me) titled Spirited Away: One Summer's Day. I had gotten to chapter 9 in the previous story, and it wasn't even finished. Sadly, my mother moved out of the country soon after posting it; and to be honest, I didn't have the drive to write anymore. Gomenasai. But now I'm back for good, you guys can't get rid of me now ;) I forgot the email associated with my other account (alwayswithme123) and so I decided to just start over. Some of you may still be suspicious of plaigerism, so feel free to bring it up with the 'alwayswithme123' account. I guarentee none of you will get a response, considering she's here now haha :3

So, without further ado, here's the chapter. I hope you all enjoy. Please leave a review and follow, and maybe give some tips on what I can do to improve my writing!

Haku's POV

Many things had changed in the bathhouse. Haku kept his promise to Chihiro and went to Yubaba immediately after she left; quitting on the spot.

Yubaba had been in a bad mood that day already, making this the finishing blow to send her into a frenzy. At first, she assumed he was joking, but after Haku repeated himself several times, she was furious. Yubaba claimed it was all because of 'Sen'; calling her a sly, deceitful brat.

This sparked something in Haku. Hearing Yubaba blatantly slander Chihiro for no good reason worked him up. Without thinking, he mustered all the magic within him; using it to thrust himself down the length of the room. His target: The fat lady's neck. Before he could reach her, Yubaba caught on and froze him; mid-air.

Slowly circling the room, she began her rant; calling him a filthy gutter rat, cursing him for attempting to assault his own boss, and firinghim from his current position as apprentice; claiming he was too dangerous. This was highly ironic, considering the reason he wanted to talk to Yubaba in the first place.

From that moment onward, he was demoted to Chihiro's old position; cleaning the tubs.

6 Years Later

Haku had been scrubbing the big tub for hours. An Onion Spirit had come in earlier that day, and he unwittingly stunk up the entire batthouse. Now, late at night, the stench still wasn't gone.

At this rate, I'll be here till morning, he thought.

He went to grab for a bigger brush when he felt something tingling in his neck. Haku knew this 'tingle' could mean only one thing: Chihiro was revisiting of the memory again. After years of sensing every time she relived that scene, it soon began a habit of his to tune in and witness it again for himself. It broke his heart to see it continue for so long, but he just couldn't look away. It appeared as though the memory was just as painful for him as it was for her.

Taking a break, he set down his scrub-brushes and closed his eyes, stepping inside Chihiro's dream. He saw her standing there with the Haku from 6 years ago. Haku knew this scene so well; it was almost permanently engraved into his heart and soul.

He began watching and recognizing each movement either of them made; young Haku squeezing Chihiro's hand, her stepping slightly closer to him.

And here is where I say—

"Now run, and don't look back."

He wanted so badly to tell his younger self to shut up. Why did he say something like that?

Because you knew that if she looked back, you would have run to her and told her to stay.

Silencing that voice in his head, he kept watching. Chihiro walked to the middle of the grass field.

Now this is where she runs off,he thought.

But she didn't. She stood there as if frozen. He did a double take as she slowly turned her head and looked behind her.

No way… she looked back?!

His heart began to race. This had never happened before; SURELY his mind must be playing tricks on him.

Chihiro then burst into a sprint. Picking up speed, she soon made it all the way back to where young Haku stood.

There's no way this is happening. His heart was pounding so fast, he didn't know what was going on.

Staring at young Haku for a moment, Chihiro wasted no time as she threw her arms around him in a protective embrace.

This shattered Haku's heart, yet that same heart still continued to pound.

Haku didn't know what he was doing until it was already done. Waving his hand and casting a quick spell, he switched himself for the young Haku in the memory.

There he stood, enveloped in Chihiro's embrace for the first time in 6 years. It had been so long since he had felt her arms around him; he wanted to remember this feeling for as long as he could. Chihiro's face nuzzled into his apron, she began to sob.

"Haku, I don't want to go… I never wanted to go…" As she said this, a fit of wailing came over her.

If only she could have seen his face; eyes misty and closed, mouth in a slight frown.

Chihiro...

What could he say? What could he do to make her stop crying; to take her pain away? This scene broke his heart almost as much as it was breaking hers. God, how he missed her.

Suddenly, the world around him began to fade black. The dream was about to end. The previously crying Chihiro was now frozen; tears and all.

She must be awake already,he thought. But there was something he had to say.

"I don't want you to go, either…" he whispered to the frozen Chihiro, with a sad smile.

Opening his eyes, he stood in the big tub, completely shaken. What had just happened? Why did the scene change? Did Chihiro know it was the real him? He wished so badly he could see what she was thinking or doing right now.

Oh, how much he missed his best friend. All his life, he had always tried his best to never get attached to another person, out of his cowardice for not wanting to get hurt. But it was different with Chihiro. He knew she would never hurt him; it just wasn't in her being. She was pure good. In all his years of living, he had never seen someone so blindly generous or charismatic. Chihiro had gone all the way to Swamp Bottom, with train tickets,for someone so cold hearted as himself. No one had ever risked so much for his sake. It changed him.

And I was the one who sent her away,he thought as he remembered telling Chihiro to 'run and not to look back'.

He wished he had thought it through more. When he told her, he hadn't realized he was sending away perhaps the best thing to ever happen to him in his life. No, not 'perhaps', she wasthe best thing to happen to his life, because she was the one to give his life back to him in the first place.

But it was what she wanted,he retorted. She wanted to be with her family again. Stop being so selfish; get a hold of yourself.

This put an end to all of his other woes. She chose what she chose, 6 years ago, and there was no changing it. But, God, that didn't mean it didn't hurt.

He remembered one more memory. After Chihiro had given back his name, his dragon form had shattered. They plunged downward, both of them crying out of happiness. Every problem they had, had somehow vanished. This was the first and only time he had ever allowed himself to cry in front of another person.

Haku had finally discovered who he truly was, and Chihiro had been the one to give him that freedom. He recalled both of their tears flying upward as they fell, the droplets intermingling with their hands intertwined, as they flew across the ocean.

As he thought about the memory, there was a pang in his heart. He remembered thinking to himself, back then, that he never wanted to be apart from this girl; his best friend. It was the happiest he had ever been.

And now I'm here, he thought. Lonely, while scrubbing a tub that smells like onions.

He wondered what her life was like, in the human world. Did she have other friends? Was she happy? Or was she just as alone as he was? Haku couldn't decide which scene made him feel worse. He wanted, more than anything, for Chihiro to be happy. Seeing her so emotional in that dream proved that to him. But, after seeing her in such a state, he dared to wonder if maybe she would have been happier in the Spirit World.

With you.

Haku wanted to crawl inside his own head and punch the annoying voice who said that. Yes, maybe he had wanted Chihiro to stay. But they both had made that choice, years ago, thinking that would be the best option.

At that moment, he had been sitting on the sludge-covered bottom of the tub for quite some time, but by then he was too emotionally drained to continue cleaning. Putting away his brushes with a conflicted grunt, Haku turned in for the night.