Chapter 9:

I shot upright only to find that someone still holding onto me, my head tucked in between the persons head and shoulder. "Shhhh, calm down" Haku whispered to me, rocking me until I calmed down. After a minute or two he pulled away and looked me in the eye, probably trying to see if I was okay. He probably didn't expect me to throw my arms around him the minute our eyes met, but then again, I was known for doing the opposite of what people think I'm going to do.

"You won't make me leave will you? Please don't force me to go" I pleaded to him, my voice husky for some reason. "Hey, I'm not sending you anywhere. I just got you back" he answered his voice soft and filled with emotion which brought me to tears once again. He sat back and gave me a moment to pull my sorry self-back together, that took a while. "I'm sorry" I whispered through ragged breathes while wiping furiously at my eyes to stop the tears that seemed to be endless the past few days. After my breathing seemed to have returned to normal - only the occasional hiccup - Haku thought I was stable enough to talk to him.

"I'm sorry if I startled you, but you were screaming and I panicked" he said without looking me in the eye once, almost as if it was embarrassing to tell me that he couldn't handle the situation. When I didn't say anything he continued "Where you having a bad dream? Tell me please" he pleaded to me. I took a deep breath and explained to him what had happened, conveniently leaving out the part about me wanting him to kiss me on the bridge; he really didn't need that part. I wanted to tell him how terrified I had been but it felt like I would start crying again so I just stopped talking and pulled my legs up to my chest, my head bent down.

I waited for Haku to say something but he simply leaned forward and wrapped his arms around my bundled up figure. "Like I told you before, I'm not letting you go anywhere" he kept repeating the last part over and over again until my body loosened in his arms. He pulled away and stood up, extending his hand out for me so that he could help me up. I took it and he pulled me up. His hand was warm and soft in mine, it made me feel even more ashamed of the stupid dream I had just a few minutes ago. "What where you doing out here Chihiro?" Haku asked me once we had gotten back inside his room. "I came out this morning and the door shut behind me so I decided to wait for someone to figure out I was gone" I said, pulling my shirt back over my head and tying it around my waist with the belt.

I didn't know what else I could possibly tell him, it's not like I saw anyone close the door behind me which meant I must have done it without realising so myself. Haku regarded me with steady eyes before sighing and turning around. "Let's go" he said and gestured with his hand for me to follow him out the room. "Haku, where do you sleep at night?" I asked him on the way down the stairs. He turned around to look at me "What kind of question is-" he started to say but never finished because I hadn't been able to stop when he did and I lost my balance. I fell forward, crashed into Haku and the two of us went rolling down the stairs. We hit the ground and there was a sickening crunch, but I didn't feel any pain.

I sat up and rubbed my head, checking for any spots of pain but there were none. Then I saw why. Lying beneath me was Haku and he didn't seem to be moving. "Haku" I asked quietly at first but when he didn't respond I started to panic. I leaned forward and hovered my cheek just above his mouth, feeling for hot breath against it. Luckily he was breathing, but his eyes were closed. "Wake up Haku!" I yelled at him but he gave no indication that he could hear me or anything for that matter.

I placed my hands on the ground at both sides of his head so that I could move closer to his ears. At that moment the only logical thing in my head to do was to keep yelling at him until he woke up. Yes, this might not have been the best way to go about things and no, I couldn't think of any other way to help him. When started to get plainly obvious that this wouldn't work I pulled myself into a sitting position where I was straddling Haku. I couldn't think of anything else that would possibly help him.

Out of sheer frustration I slammed my fist into his chest, not thinking that it would actually help, but it seemed that violence could be the answer because Haku's eyes flew open and he let out a gasp. "Shoot, Haku, I'm sorry" I said when his breathing returned to normal. "For pushing me down the stairs or knocking my wind out" he asked between gasps. He probably meant that as a joke but I was so wound up that all that came out was a choking sound because any other sound seemed impossible at that moment. Haku must have found the sound very funny because he burst out laughing but flinched when his head must have hurt.

Slowly Haku sat up and supported his upper body with his one arm and with the other he pushed some hair back from my face. "Hey, I'm okay. It'll take allot more if you want to kill me" he said with a kind tone of voice. making made me even more upset. All I've done since I got here was cause trouble for him and he just fixed whatever needed fixing with out complaining even once. It wasn't fair to him. I was thinking so hard about this that I didn't realise when his hand cradle the side of my face, his thumb tracing just below my bottom lip.

I opened my eyes and since I was straddling him I was looking down into his eyes. His thumb moved up until it was touching the line of my upper lip, his face inching forward all the time. When he stopped inches away from me I was scared that he would pull away. I put my hand on his chest and closed my eyes as if to indicate that he could continue with what he was planning to do. Now it was all up to him.

Slowly his lips pressed onto mine, sending shivers down my back. When he knew that I wouldn't pull away he put his supporting arm around my waist and started to kiss me more intensely. I didn't know what to do next since this was the first time a boy ever kissed me and it made my head spin so badly that all that stuck long enough was the feeling of pure bliss. My free hand that had been dangling at my side came up and wound around his neck without my brains permission.

My lips still felt tingly even after he pulled away. I opened my eyes and felt my heart sink when I saw his face. His mouth was open as if he was trying to say something and his eyes looked panicked. "I'm sorry" he mumbled before he pushed me off of him and sprang up from the ground. "That shouldn't have happened" he said, more to himself then to me and then he walked out of the room. I just sat there, trying very hard to figure out what had just happened.