1Disclaimer: I don't own the characters or the movie!

Chapter III: Seeing the Other Side

Chihiro woke up the next mourning with tear-stained cheeks. Falling asleep crying wasn't the best thing you wanted to feel first thing in the mourning. She quickly got up and headed toward the bath room. After she cleaned her face and brushed her teeth, Chihiro looked in the mirror. Her hair was a bird's nest, and her eyes were bloodshot. She sighed and stepped into the shower.

She stepped out, got dressed, and checked the answering machine. Chihiro had turned down the volume on the phone and the answering machine, so she didn't hear how many phone calls there were. Pressing a button she heard:

You have . . . 19 new messages.

Chihiro sighed and continued her way to the kitchen to get some breakfast, while listening at the same time.

Message one: (Rin's voice) Chihiro, sweetie? Ryan told me about what happened in the studio. I know that it was wrong for me to ask him to do that for you but you must understand that what I did was in my best intentions. Call me back as soon as possible, 'kay? Love you.

Chihiro sat down at the table with a bowl of cereal in hand and stared at the machine while she was eating.

Message two: (Her mother's voice) Chihiro, your sister called me for help and I believe that you should call her. She was crying when she got to the phone. Call her back Chihiro.

Chihiro groaned. 'She got MOTHER into this!'

Message three: . . .

Chihiro sat there listening to her father lecture for a ful 15 minutes before he hung up the phone in despair. The other eight messages were the same. They came from, Ryan, her mother, her father, Rin, and even her Aunt Elaine! When it got to message nineteen, Chihiro was rubbing her temples and trying very hard not to scream out in frustration.

Message nineteen: Hey, Chihiro. It's Haku.

Chihiro's eyes flew open at the mention of his name. 'How the hell did he get my phone number! And more importantly, WHY THE HELL IS HE CALLING ME!'

Haku's message continued: I just want to say sorry. I was such a jerk today that I didn't even considered that it would hurt you so much. So . . . I want to make it up to you. I'm inviting you to lunch at the Riverside Café. I'll stop by your house at around 2 in the afternoon and come down to answer a yes or a no. I won't be offended if you say no. Just say yes or no. And if you're wondering, I got your address from Ryan and the same with your number.

Chihiro blinked in amazement and turned slowly to look at the clock. It was already 12:39 in the afternoon, so she had a little less then 2 hours left. She sat there, thinking her decision over, when she bolted out of her chair suddenly. Chihiro walked back to the shower, thinking why he suddenly wanted to be nice.

1:59 p.m.

The doorbell sound, rang throughout the house. Chihiro stuck her head out of the bathroom and yelled down the long hall, "IT'S OPEN!" She heard the door open and Haku's remark, "You know that it's dangerous to have your front door unlock?" Chihiro bit back a remark and retreated back to the bathroom. She checked herself one last time before exiting the bathroom and walking to the living room. Haku looked up at the sound of footsteps and found Chihiro leaning against the door frame. She was wearing a simple red halter top, black knee-length skirt, and black inch heels.

Haku smiled at her, "You ready?" Chihiro nodded and headed out the door. Haku slipped on his sunglasses again (to hide his true self since he was the celebrity in Japan) and followed her out. She waited for him to come out before locking her door. Haku took out his cars keys and pressed a button to unlock the car. Once he saw the lights flash, he opened the passenger side door of his silver Porsche for Chihiro. She smiled at him in thanks and slid in. He walked to the other side of the car and got in the driver's seat.

'So what to you have to be home?" Haku asked her cheerfully. Chihiro laughed softly. "I make my own curfew," she answered him. "Two a.m. it is," he said back with a smile. Chihiro laughed outright, as he steered the car out of her neighborhood.

DMH music studio

"Hey," Ryan said to Jake, Haku's manager. "You know where Haku is?" Jake shook his head. "Nope," he answered him, "All he asked for was a day off. And when I asked him why, he just said 'For someone special.'." Ryan frowned and walked out of the room. 'That's funny. Chihiro not home either and she's not answering her cell. Even if she was pist at us, she wouldn't ignore us for that long.'

Riverside Café 3:03 p.m.

"Did that really happen to you on tour?" Chihiro asked his, shocked written all over her face. Haku laughed at her expression and nodded. 'Yeah it did," he answered her, a smile still on his lips, " She was in a wedding gown, holding up a sign reading, 'Marry Me!'." Chihiro shook her head in disbelief. She laughed softly, picturing the act in her head. His smile grew softer as he say how the afternoon sun glazed her hair and how her hair fell around her face.

Haku cleared his throat and she looked up at him. 'What are you going to do with the contract?" he asked her carefully. She winced then sighed and looked at her cup of coffee in her hands that was on the table. "I don't know," she answered truthfully, but she was still looking down. "The offer was too good to pass up. Besides, I already signed the contract, so I might as well start singing my heart out and working my ass off." Haku chuckled. "Spoken like a true singer," he said to her. He got up and laid the money on the table for their meal. Chihiro looked up at him, confused by his actions. He held out his hand for a her and smiled. "No use of wasting the day," he told her simply. Chihiro sighed, gave him a bright smile, and took his offered hand. He led her out of the café with her hand in his, but did he know that it was a mistake. Haku had forgotten to put on his sunglasses.

Almost immediately a reporter, found Haku, walking with a brown haired girl, hand-in-hand. The reporter took his camera out of his car and yelled, "HAKU!" The people on the streets turned around to look at where the guy had yelled and found Haku and the girl with him laughing, missing out the fact that they had been discovered. "IT'S HAKU KINOMOTO!" a girl screamed a few yards away from them. Haku looked around in surprise and pulled Chihiro toward his car, which unfortunately was a block away. "Come on!" he said loudly to Chihiro. She nodded and followed him, not knowing that her hand was still in his.

The reporter had snapped a great picture of the two laughing together and smiled in content. 'A picture is worth more then a thousand words,' he thought happily.

When the two got into his car, they were breathing heavily. "Does this always happen to you?" Chihiro asked him. Despite his heavy breathing, Haku laughed. "Pretty much," he answered her. He started the car, and slowly drove away from the people outside, trying to catch a glimpse of him and 'his mysterious girl'. When he finally got to a highway, he sped off, with Chihiro in his car, a long way from home.

TBC

A/N: Please REVIEW! I want to know how you guys think of this story!